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this invention pertains to n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolates , a particular example of which is crystalline n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate crystalline form 1 , a particular example of which is n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate crystalline form 1 which may be characterized in the monoclinic crystal system , when measured at about 25 ° c . with mo — kα radiation , by respective lattice parameters a , b and c of about 10 . 589 å ± 0 . 0001 å , 11 . 252 å ± 0 . 0001 å and 17 . 802 å ± 0 . 0002 å and β of 94 . 436 °, by a powder diffraction pattern , when measured at about 25 ° c . with cu — kα radiation , at least three peaks having respective 2θ values of about 8 . 4 °, 9 . 3 °, 12 . 8 °, 13 . 1 °, 16 . 1 °, 17 . 0 °, 17 . 9 °, 18 . 7 °, 20 . 0 °, 20 . 1 °, 21 . 2 °, 24 . 4 °, 25 . 5 °, 25 . 8 ° or 26 . 0 °, or by a combination thereof . the term “ crystalline ,” as used herein , means having a regularly repeating arrangement of molecules or external face planes . the term “ substantial crystalline purity ,” as used herein , means at least about 95 % crystalline purity , preferably about 97 % crystalline purity , more preferably about 99 % crystalline purity , and most preferably about 100 % crystalline purity . the term “ crystalline purity ,” as used herein , means percentage of crystalline n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate in a sample which may contain one or more than one other crystalline forms of n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate . the term “ substantial chemical purity ,” as used herein , means about 95 % chemical purity , preferably about 97 % chemical purity , more preferably about 98 % chemical purity , and most preferably about 100 % chemical purity . the term “ chemical purity ,” as used herein , means percentage of n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate in a sample . a sample of n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate , may contain , for example , acetic acid , ethanol , ethyl acetate , isopropyl acetate , isopropyl ether , methanol , r - propanol , pyridine , pyridine hydrochloride , water , 4 - aminophenol , 3 , 4 - bis ( 4 - hydroxyanilino ) 6 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) imino )- 2 , 4 - cyclohexadien - 1 - one of varying geometric purity , 2 - chloro - 3 - nitropyridine or a regioisomer thereof , 2 , 6 - di - tert - butylphenol , 4 -(( 3 - nitro - 2 - pyridinyl ) oxy ) aniline , para - methoxybenzenesulfonyl chloride , 4 -(( 3 -((( 4 - methoxyphenyl ) sulfonyl ) amino ) pyridin - 2 - yl ) amino ) phenyl 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonate or a mixture thereof . the term “ mixture ,” as used herein , means a combination of two or more than two substances . for mixtures comprising or consisting essentially of an n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide and ethanol , with or without a solvent other than ethanol , the an n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide may be completely soluble or partially soluble in the solvent . it is meant to be understood that solvent molecules from solvated n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide may be used as solvent for preparation of a crystalline n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate . the term “ solvate ,” as used herein , means including a solvent such as acetic acid , acetone , acetonitrile , benzene , chloroform , carbon tetrachloride , dichloromethane , dimethylsulfoxide , 1 , 4 - dioxane , ethanol , ethyl acetate , butanol , tert - butanol , n , n - dimethylacetamide , n , n - dimethylformamide , formamide , formic acid , heptane , hexane , isopropanol , methanol , 1 - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidinone , mesitylene , nitromethane , polyethylene glycol , propanol , 2 - propanone , pyridine , tetrahydrofuran , toluene , water , xylene , or a mixture thereof . causing a crystalline n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate to exist in a mixture comprising n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide and ethanol , with or without a solvent other than ethanol , wherein the n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide is completely soluble in the solvent , is known as nucleation . nucleation may be made to occur by means such as solvent removal , temperature change , solvent - miscible anti - solvent addition , solvent - immiscible anti - solvent addition , chafing or scratching the interior of the container , preferably a glass container , in which nucleation is meant to occur with an implement such as a glass rod or a glass bead or beads , or a combination of the foregoing . the term “ solvent ,” as used herein , means a substance , preferably a liquid or a miscible , partially miscible or essentially immiscible mixture of two or more than two liquids , which is capable of completely dissolving , partially dissolving , dispersing or partially dispersing another substance , preferably a solid or a mixture of solids . the term “ miscible ,” as used herein , means capable of combining without separation of phases . the term “ anti - solvent ,” as used herein , means a solvent in which n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate is essentially insoluble at a particular temperature or concentration . it is meant to be understood that , because many solvents and anti - solvents contain impurities , the level of impurities in solvents and anti - solvents for the practice of this invention , if present , are at a low enough percentage that they do not interfere with the intended use of the solvent in which they are present . the term “ isolating ” or “ isolation ,” as used herein , means separating an n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate and impurity , wherein the impurity may be solvent , anti - solvent , a solid or a mixture thereof . isolation is typically accomplished by means such as centrifugation , filtration with or without vacuum , filtration under positive pressure , distillation , evaporation or a combination thereof . an exemplary n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate may be made by the procedures described hereinbelow . n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide may also be written as r 1 so 2 nhr 2 , wherein r is 4 - methoxyphenyl and r 2 is 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) aminopyridin - 3 - yl . a mixture of 2 - chloro - 3 - nitropyridine ( 2c3np , 138 . 1 kg ), 4 - aminophenol ( 2 . 5 - 3 equivalents ) and n , n - dimethylformamide ( dmf , 4 . 8 ml / g 2c3np ) was stirred until homogeneous , heated at 50 ° c . during which an exotherm raised the solution temperature to 70 ° c ., warmed to 80 - 85 ° c ., stirred until no 2 - chloro - 3 - nitropyridine remained , cooled to 30 ° c ., treated with water ( 10 . 6 ml / g 2c3np ) to precipitate product , then with acetic acid ( 1 . 2 ml / g 2c3np ), then with ethyl acetate ( 0 . 5 ml / g 2c3np ), cooled to 5 ° c ., stirred for 2 hours and filtered . the filtrant was washed sequentially with distilled water ( 1 . 6 ml / g 2c3np ), cold ethanol ( 1 . 2 ml / g 2c3np ) and cold isopropyl ether ( 1 . 2 ml / g 2c3np ), and dried under vacuum . in a preferred embodiment of this process , 4 - aminophenol ( 1 equivalent ) was used with 4 - methylmorpholine ( 1 . 5 equivalents ) in either methanol or dmf , and precipitation was accomplished with 10 % aqueous acetic acid . a mixture of example 1 ( 41 . 05 kg ) and ammonium formate ( 5 equivalents ), with or without 2 , 6 - di - tert - butylphenol antioxidant , was treated with a mixture of 50 % wet 5 % palladium hydroxide on carbon ( 7 % by weight per weight of example 1 ), in dmf ( 6 ml / g catalyst ) then dmf ( total dmf volume : 5 ml / g example 1 ) first with moderate agitation to control an exotherm ( typically peaking at 85 ° c .) then with increased agitation for 1 hour ( incomplete reactions were treated with additional catalyst / dmf mixture ), cooled to 10 ° c ., and filtered . the filtrant was washed with dmf ( 0 . 4 ml / g example 1 ), and the filtrate was added to water ( 29 . 4 ml / g example 1 ) at 10 ° c . to precipitate a solid which was filtered , washed with water ( 7 . 5 ml / g example 1 ), partially dried under a nitrogen stream , and further dried under vacuum at 50 ° c . to about 0 . 5 % moisture . a mixture of example 2 in pyridine ( 9 ml / g ) at 0 ° c . was treated with a mixture of para - methoxybenzenesulfonyl chloride ( 1 . 05 equivalents ) in thf ( 1 . 4 ml / g ) at 0 ° c . at a rate which kept the reaction temperature below 5 ° c ., warmed to 25 ° c ., stirred for 15 minutes , and concentrated . the concentrate was treated with n - propanol to provide a composition having 9 % pyridine in the solvent mixture and to precipitate a solid . the mixture was cooled to 0 ° c . and filtered . the filtrant and washed with ethyl acetate ( 5 - 7 ml / g starting material ) and dried at 45 ° c . a mixture of example 3 and saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate ( 2 equivalents ) was extracted with ethyl acetate ( 6 ml / g example 3 ). the extract was washed with brine ( 4 ml / g example 3 ), treated with n - propanol ( 2 ml / g example 4 ), and concentrated until the ethyl acetate was present in less than 1 %. the concentrate was adjusted to 70 : 30 n - propanol : water ( 150 - 180 mg example 4 / g solution ), and the hot solution was filtered through a 0 . 2 micrometer filter . the filtrate was cooled as quickly as possible to 0 ° c ., adjusted to a solvent composition of 1 : 1 n - propanol : water , allowed to stand until the amount of r 1 so 2 nhr 2 stabilized , and filtered . the filtrant was washed with 40 : 60 n - propanol : water ( 1 . 8 kg / kg r 1 so 2 nhr 2 ) and dried at 45 ° c . under vacuum . an n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate may be made by recrystallizing example 4 from ethanol , with or without a solvent other than ethanol . exemplary n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate crystalline form 1 , for powder diffraction analysis , was applied as a thin layer , with no prior grinding , to the analysis well of a scintag xds 2000 diffractometer having the following parameters : x - ray source : cu — kα ; range : 2 . 00 °- 40 . 00 ° 2θ ; scan rate : 1 . 00 degree per minute ; step size : 0 . 02 °; temperature : about 25 ° c . ; wavelength : 1 . 54178 å . representative characteristic peak positions in the powder diffraction pattern of n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate crystalline form 1 , expressed as degrees relative to 2θ , are , when measured at about 25 ° c . with cu — kα radiation , about 8 . 4 °( 1 , 0 , 0 ), 9 . 3 ° ( 0 , 1 , 1 ), 12 . 8 °( 0 , 1 , 2 ), 13 . 1 °( 1 , 1 , 1 ), 16 . 1 °( 1 , 1 , 2 ), 17 . 0 °( 0 , 1 , 3 ), 17 . 9 °( 1 , 2 , 0 ), 18 . 7 °( 2 , 1 , 0 ), 20 . 0 °( 1 , 1 , 3 ), 20 . 1 °( 1 , 0 ,- 4 ), 21 . 2 °( 1 , 2 , 2 ), 24 . 4 °( 1 , 1 , 4 ), 25 . 5 °( 1 , 3 ,- 1 ), 25 . 7 °( 0 , 2 , 4 ), 25 . 8 °( 0 , 3 , 2 ) or 26 . 0 °( 1 , 3 , 1 ). each peak position is shown with its accompanying miller index ( hkl ) values . the term “ about ” preceding a series of peak positions is meant to include all of the peak positions of the group which the term precedes . it is meant to be understood that peak heights may vary and will be dependent on variables such as the temperature , size of crystal size or morphology , sample preparation , or sample height in the analysis well of the diffractometer . it is also meant to be understood that peak positions may vary when measured with different radiation sources . for example , cu — kα 1 , mo — kα , co — kα and fe — kα radiation , having wavelengths of 1 . 54060 å , 0 . 7107 å , 1 . 7902 å and 1 . 9373 å , respectively , may provide peak positions which differ from those measured with cu — kα radiation . while digital outputs from powder x - ray diffractometers may be set to express peak positions to the one - hundredth and one - thousandth of a degree past the decimal , diffractometers are incapable of accurate experimental determination beyond one - tenth of a degree . accordingly , peak positions reported herein are rounded to one - tenth of a degree past the decimal . peak positions may also be expressed with a variability which accounts for differences between powder x - ray diffractometers , and variability between cu — kα radiation sources , variability from sample to sample on the same diffractometer , and differences in sample heights in the analysis well . this variability is preferably expressed as about ± 0 . 2 °, about ± 0 . 1 °, or a combination thereof . n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate crystalline form 1 , when measured in the monoclinic crystal system at about 25 ° c . with cu — kα radiation , is also characterized by when measured at about 25 ° c . with mo — kα radiation , by respective lattice parameters a , b and c of about 10 . 589 å ± 0 . 0001 å , 11 . 252 å ± 0 . 000 å and 17 . 802 å ± 0 . 0002 å and β of 94 . 436 °. because this monoclinic crystal system has a regularly repeating arrangement of molecules , n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate crystalline form 1 may also be characterized by its space group ( p2 1 / c ) in addition to at least three peak positions in its powder diffraction , such as , for example , at least three peaks having respective 2θ values of about 8 . 4 °, 9 . 3 °, 12 . 8 °, 13 . 1 °, 16 . 1 °, 17 . 0 °, 17 . 9 °, 18 . 7 °, 20 . 0 °, 20 . 1 °, 21 . 2 °, 24 . 4 °, 25 . 5 °, 25 . 8 ° or 26 . 0 ° when measured at about 25 ° c . with cu — kα radiation . the utility of n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate crystalline form 1 is demonstrated in commonly - owned u . s . application ser . no . 10 / 857 , 235 , may 28 , 2004 and u . s . application ser . no . 60 / 575 , 577 , may 28 , 2004 . n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide binds to the colchicine site of tubulin β - subunits and inhibits the polymerization of tubulin . accordingly , the compound is useful as a drug for treating diseases in a mammal which are caused or exacerbated by polymerization of tubulin . such diseases include , but are not limited to , cancer and gouty arthritis , wherein cancer includes , but is not limited to , bone marrow dyscrasias , breast ( ductal and lobular ) cancer , cervical cancer , colon cancer , leukemia , lung ( small cell and non - small cell ) cancer , lymphoma , melonoma , mouth and tongue cancer , neuroblastoma ( including pediatric neuroblastoma ), pancreatic cancer , prostate cancer , rectal cancer , renal cancer , sarcoma , stomach cancer , uterine cancer , and cancers resulting from the metastasis of disease from these areas . the term “ mammal ,” as used herein , means a particular class of vertebrate , preferably a human . compositions made with or comprising an n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate may be administered , for example , bucally , ophthalmically , orally , osmotically , parenterally ( intramuscularly , intraperintoneally , intrasternally , intravenously , subcutaneously ), rectally , topically , transdermally , or vaginally . ophthalmically administered dosage forms may be administered as , for example , elixirs , emulsions , microemulsions , oinments , solutions , suspensions , or syrups . orally administered solid dosage forms may be administered as , for example , capsules , dragees , emulsions , granules , pills , powders , solutions , suspensions , tablets , microemulsions , elixirs , syrups , or powders for reconstitution . osmotically and topically administered dosage forms may be administered as , for example , creams , gels , inhalants , lotions , ointments , pastes , or powders . parenterally administered dosage forms may be administered , as , for example , aqueous or oleaginous solutions or suspensions . rectally and vaginally dosage forms may be administered as , for example , creams , gels , lotions , ointments or pastes . the therapeutically acceptable amount of an n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate depends on recipient of treatment , the disease and severity thereof , the composition containing it , time of administration , route of administration , duration of treatment , its potency , its rate of clearance and whether or not another drug is co - administered . the amount of an n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate used to make a composition to be administered daily to a patient in a single dose or in divided doses is from about 0 . 03 to about 200 mg / kg body weight . single dose compositions contain these amounts or a combination of submultiples thereof . an n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate may be administered with or without an excipient . excipients include , but are not limited to , encapsulating materials and additives such as absorption accelerators , antioxidants , binders , buffers , coating agents , coloring agents , diluents , disintegrating agents , emulsifiers , extenders , fillers , flavoring agents , humectants , lubricants , perfumes , preservatives , propellants , releasing agents , sterilizing agents , sweeteners , solubilizers , wetting agents , and mixtures thereof . excipients for preparation of compositions comprising or made with an n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate to be administered orally in solid dosage form include , for example , agar , alginic acid , aluminum hydroxide , benzyl alcohol , benzyl benzoate , 1 , 3 - butylene glycol , carbomers , castor oil , cellulose , cellulose acetate , cocoa butter , corn starch , corn oil , cottonseed oil , cross - povidone , diglycerides , ethanol , ethyl cellulose , ethyl laureate , ethyl oleate , fatty acid esters , gelatin , germ oil , glucose , glycerol , groundnut oil , hydroxypropylmethyl celluose , isopropanol , isotonic saline , lactose , magnesium hydroxide , magnesium stearate , malt , mannitol , monoglycerides , olive oil , peanut oil , potassium phosphate salts , potato starch , povidone , propylene glycol , ringer &# 39 ; s solution , safflower oil , sesame oil , sodium carboxymethyl cellulose , sodium phosphate salts , sodium lauryl sulfate , sodium sorbitol , soybean oil , stearic acids , stearyl fumarate , sucrose , surfactants , talc , tragacanth , tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol , triglycerides , water , and mixtures thereof . excipients for preparation of compositions comprising or made with an n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate to be administered ophthalmically or orally in liquid dosage forms include , for example , 1 , 3 - butylene glycol , castor oil , corn oil , cottonseed oil , ethanol , fatty acid esters of sorbitan , germ oil , groundnut oil , glycerol , isopropanol , olive oil , polyethylene glycols , propylene glycol , sesame oil , water , and mixtures thereof . excipients for preparation of compositions made with or comprising an n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate to be administered osmotically include , for example , chlorofluorohydrocarbons , ethanol , water , and mixtures thereof . excipients for preparation of compositions made with or comprising an n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate to be administered parenterally include , for example , 1 , 3 - butanediol , castor oil , corn oil , cottonseed oil , dextrose , germ oil , groundnut oil , liposomes , oleic acid , olive oil , peanut oil , ringer &# 39 ; s solution , safflower oil , sesame oil , soybean oil , u . s . p . or isotonic sodium chloride solution , water , and mixtures thereof . excipients for preparation of compositions made with or comprising an n -( 2 -(( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) amino ) pyridin - 3 - yl )- 4 - methoxybenzenesulfonamide ethanolate to be administered rectally or vaginally include , for example , cocoa butter , polyethylene glycol , wax , and mixtures thereof . the foregoing is meant to be illustrative of the invention and not intended to limit it to the embodiments disclosed herein . variations and changes obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be within the scope and nature of the invention as defined in the claims . | 2 |
a general description of the two - group zoom lens of the present invention that pertains to the three disclosed embodiments of the invention will first be described with reference to fig1 that shows embodiment 1 . in fig1 , lens elements are referenced by the letter l with a subscript denoting their order from the object side of the zoom lens along the optical axis x , from l 1 to l 5 . similarly , radii of curvature of the optical surfaces are referenced by the letter r with a subscript denoting their order from the object side of the zoom lens , from r 1 to r 10 . the on - axis surface spacings along the optical axis x of various optical surfaces are referenced by the letter d with a subscript denoting their order from the object side of the zoom lens , from d 1 to d 10 . in the same manner , the two lens groups are labeled g 1 and g 2 in order from the object side of the zoom lens and the optical components belonging to each lens group are indicated by brackets adjacent the labels g 1 and g 2 . the term “ lens group ” is defined in terms of “ lens elements ” and “ lens components ” as explained herein . the term “ lens element ” is herein defined as a single transparent mass of refractive material having two opposed refracting surfaces that are oriented at least generally transverse to the optical axis of the zoom lens . the term “ lens component ” is herein defined as ( a ) a single lens element spaced so far from any adjacent lens element that the spacing cannot be neglected in computing the optical image forming properties of the lens elements or ( b ) two or more lens elements that have their adjacent lens surfaces either in full overall contact or overall so close together that the spacings between adjacent lens surfaces of the different lens elements are so small that the spacings can be neglected in computing the optical image forming properties of the two or more lens elements . thus , some lens elements may also be lens components . therefore , the terms “ lens element ” and “ lens component ” should not be taken as mutually exclusive terms . in fact , the terms may frequently be used to describe a single lens element in accordance with part ( a ) above of the definition of a “ lens component .” the term “ lens group ” is used herein to define an assembly of one or more lens components that are fixed or are movable as a single unit . as shown in fig1 , the two - group zoom lens is formed of , in order from the object side , a first lens group g 1 of negative refractive power and a second lens group g 2 of positive refractive power . the second lens group g 2 includes a stop 3 that controls the amount of light passing through the zoom lens and is positioned at the object side of the second lens group g 2 . also , a plane parallel plate 2 ( such as a cover glass ) is positioned between the second lens group g 2 and the image plane 1 which is centered at the axial point p . an image detecting device ( not shown ), such as a ccd , may be positioned at the image plane to capture the image . in order to improve imaging , at least some of the lens surfaces of the two - group zoom lens are aspheric . all of the aspheric lens surfaces of the zoom lens are defined using the following equation ( a ): z =[( y 2 / r )/{ 1 +( 1 − k · y 2 / r 2 ) 1 / 2 }]+ σ ( a i ·| y i |) ( equation a ) z is the length ( in mm ) of a line drawn from a point on the aspheric surface at a distance y from the optical axis to the tangential plane of the aspheric surface vertex , r is the radius of curvature ( in mm ) of the aspheric surface on the optical axis , y is the distance ( in mm ) from the optical axis , k is the eccentricity of the aspheric lens surface , and a i is the ith aspheric coefficient , and the summation extends over i . in embodiments of the invention disclosed below , only the aspheric coefficients a 4 , a 6 , a 8 , and a 10 are non - zero . as shown in the bottom portion of fig1 , the two - group zoom lens is constructed so that , when zooming from the wide - angle end to the telephoto end , the first lens group g 1 and the second lens group g 2 are moved along the optical axis x so that the spacing between them decreases . additionally , focusing is performed by moving the second lens group g 2 along the optical axis x . the top portion of fig1 shows a cross - sectional view of the construction of embodiment 1 and the bottom portion shows directional arrows that indicate the movements of the lens groups g 1 and g 2 when zooming from the wide - angle end to the telephoto end . the first lens group g 1 includes , in order from the object side , a first lens element l 1 of negative refractive power that is made of plastic ( i . e ., synthetic resin ) and has at least one aspheric lens surface , and a second lens element l 2 of positive refractive power . the second lens group g 2 may be formed of , in order from the object side : a diaphragm stop 3 that functions as an aperture stop to vary the amount of light passing through the zoom lens ; a first lens component consisting of a first lens element such as lens element l 3 having a biconvex shape and made of plastic with at least one lens surface aspheric ; and a second lens component that includes , in order from the object side , a lens element such as l 4 having negative refractive power with the absolute value of the curvature of its object - side lens surface being smaller than the absolute value of the curvature of its image - side lens surface . the lens element l 4 may be a plano - concave lens element and is joined at its image side to the lens element l 5 so as to form a lens component , as defined above . for example , the lens elements l 4 and l 5 may be cemented together . the two - group zoom lens of the present invention satisfies the following conditions ( 1 )-( 3 ): b 1 / 2 & lt ; f g2 / f w & lt ; 0 . 9 · b condition ( 1 ) b is the zoom ratio of the two - group zoom lens , namely , the ratio of the focal length at the telephoto end divided by the focal length at the wide - angle end , f g2 is the focal length of the second lens group g 2 , f w is the focal length of the two - group zoom lens at the wide - angle end , f g1 - 1 is the focal length of the first lens element of the first lens group g 1 , and r g2 - 1 is the radius of curvature of the object - side lens surface of the first lens element of the second lens group g 2 . satisfying condition ( 1 ) helps maintain a good balance between the curvature of field and the distortion and prevents the back focus distance from becoming too large . by satisfying the lower limit of condition ( 1 ), the curvature of field and the distortion are well - balanced . by satisfying the upper limit of condition ( 1 ), the back focus distance is kept sufficiently small so that miniaturization of the two - group zoom lens can be achieved . satisfying condition ( 2 ) helps correct various aberrations , assures a proper back focus distance , and reduces the size of the zoom lens by helping to keep the second lens group small . by satisfying the lower limit of condition ( 2 ), various aberrations occurring in the first lens group g 1 are kept small and this aids in balancing of aberrations occurring in the second lens group g 2 . satisfying the upper limit of condition ( 2 ) helps minimize the size of the two - group zoom lens by miniaturizing the second lens group g 2 while maintaining an appropriate back focus distance for the two - group zoom lens . satisfying condition ( 3 ) helps suppress the degradation of optical performance that tends to result when increasing the separation of the first lens element of the second lens group l 3 from the stop 3 . f g1 is the focal length of the first lens group g 1 , fw is as defined above , and b is as defined above . the first lens group g 1 is moved in order to perform a compensating function during zooming , and satisfying condition ( 4 ) allows the amount of movement of the first lens group g 1 that is required for such compensation to be small . thus , satisfying condition ( 4 ) assists in keeping the overall length ( both in the operational position and in the retracted position ) of the two - group zoom lens small . fw is as defined above , and r 1 is the radius of curvature of the object - side lens surface of the first lens element l 1 of the first lens group g 1 . in addition , the following condition ( 6 ), that is more restrictive than condition ( 5 ), is preferably satisfied : conditions ( 5 ) and ( 6 ) are conditions that assure the easy manufacture of the first lens element l 1 and prevent damage to the first lens element l 1 . if a two - element construction is used for the first lens group g 1 , with the first lens element l 1 having negative refractive power and the second lens element l 2 having positive refractive power , as in the present invention , the refractive power of the first lens element l 1 tends to be large , generating substantial negative ( i . e ., barrel ) distortion . thus , in the present invention , the first lens element l 1 is made of plastic and includes at least one aspheric lens surface . in manufacturing a lens made of plastic , the smaller the curvature of a lens surface , the easier it is to form the lens surface with a precise curvature . also , if the first lens element l 1 is made to have negative refractive power and a convex lens surface on its object side , the more the curvature of the convex lens surface is increased , the greater the depression of the concave lens surface on its image side becomes . therefore , in order to form the lens surface with a precise curvature , it is preferable to make the shape of the object - side lens surface of the first lens element l 1 nearly planar . also , because the first lens element l 1 is plastic , it is likely to be scratched . therefore , if the object - side lens surface of the first lens element l 1 is a convex lens surface having a small radius of curvature , when foreign matter contacts the convex lens surface local forces are applied that may cause damage to the lens surface . furthermore , in order to reduce the overall length of the two - group zoom lens when the zoom lens is retracted , it is preferable to make the shape of the object - side lens surface of the first lens element l 1 nearly planar . f g2 - 2 , 3 is the composite focal length of the second lens element l 4 and the third lens element l 5 of the second lens group g 2 , and fw is as defined above . condition ( 7 ) helps to correct chromatic aberration and suppress degradation of image performance associated with temperature variations of the lens component that is formed by joining lens elements l 4 and l 5 of the second lens group g 2 . if the absolute value of the ratio of condition ( 7 ) is below the lower limit , the lens component formed of lens elements l 4 and l 5 is less able to correct chromatic aberrations . on the other hand , if the absolute value of the ratio of condition ( 7 ) is above the upper limit , and lens elements l 4 and l 5 are made of glass , the effects of the superiority of the characteristics of glass over plastic with temperature variations decrease so much that degradation of imaging performance cannot be avoided . embodiments 1 - 3 of the present invention will now be individually described with further reference to the drawings . in embodiment 1 , as shown in fig1 , the first lens group g 1 is formed of , in order from the object side , a first lens element l 1 of negative refractive power and a meniscus shape with its concave surface on the image side , and a second lens element l 2 of positive refractive power and a meniscus shape with its convex lens surface on the object side . the second lens group g 2 is formed of , in order from the object side , a stop , a first lens element l 3 that is biconvex , a second lens element l 4 that is planar on the object side and concave on the image side , and a third lens element l 5 that is biconvex . the lens element l 4 and the lens element l 5 are joined by , for example , being cemented . additionally , both lens surfaces of lens elements l 1 and l 3 are aspheric lens surfaces with aspheric surface shapes expressed by equation ( a ) above . table 1 below lists numerical values of lens data for embodiment 1 based on the focal length of the two - group zoom lens being normalized to 100 mm . table 1 lists the surface number #, in order from the object side , the radius of curvature r ( in mm ) of each surface near the optical axis , the on - axis surface spacing d ( in mm ), as well as the refractive index n d and the abbe number v d ( at the d - line of 587 . 6 nm ) of each lens element for embodiment 1 . the numerical values for the radii of curvature of aspheric lens surfaces in table 1 are the values near the optical axis . in table 1 , the radius of curvature is set at infinity (∞) when the optical element surface is planar or when the optical element surface does not refract the light . the lens surfaces with a * to the right of the surface number in table 1 are aspheric lens surfaces , and the aspheric surface shape of these lens elements is expressed by equation ( a ) above . table 2 below lists the values of the constants k , a 4 , a 6 , a 8 , and a 10 used in equation ( a ) above for each of the aspheric surfaces indicated in table 1 . aspheric coefficients that are not present in table 2 are zero . an “ e ” in the data indicates that the number following the “ e ” is the exponent to the base 10 . for example , “ 1 . 0e - 02 ” represents the number 1 . 0 × 10 − 2 . in the zoom lens of embodiment 1 , both the first lens group g 1 and the second lens group g 2 move during zooming . therefore , the on - axis spacing d 4 between the two lens groups changes with zooming . with zooming , the focal length f , the back focus distance d 10 , and the f - number of the zoom lens also change . the back focus distance d 10 , is the on - axis distance between the image - side surface of lens element l 5 and the image plane 1 , as shown in fig1 . the back focus distance d 10 , is based on the plane parallel plate 2 of fig1 having a thickness of 12 . 11 and a refractive index of 1 . 52 . table 3 below lists the values of the focal length f , the f - number f no , the on - axis surface spacing d 4 , the back focus distance d 10 , and the field angle 2 ω at the wide - angle end ( f = 100 mm ) and at the telephoto end ( f = 280 mm ). table 3 shows a zoom ratio of 2 . 8 from the wide - angle end to the telephoto end . additionally , the overall length of the two - group zoom lens at the wide - angle end is 991 mm based on the normalized focal length of the two - group zoom lens being 100 mm . the zoom lens of embodiment 1 of the present invention satisfies conditions ( 1 )-( 7 ) above as set forth in table 4 below . fig2 a - 2c show the spherical aberration , astigmatism , and distortion , respectively , of the zoom lens of embodiment 1 at the wide - angle end . fig3 shows the coma of the zoom lens of embodiment 1 at the wide - angle end for various half - field angles ω for both the tangential ( left column ) and sagittal ( right column ) image surfaces at a wavelength of 540 nm . fig4 a - 4c show the spherical aberration , astigmatism , and distortion , respectively , of the zoom lens of embodiment 1 at the telephoto end . fig5 shows the coma of the zoom lens of embodiment 1 at the telephoto end for various half - field angles ω for both the tangential ( left column ) and sagittal ( right column ) image surfaces at a wavelength of 540 nm . in fig2 a and 4a , the spherical aberration is shown for the wavelengths 420 nm , 540 nm , and 680 nm . in fig2 b , 2 c , 4 b , and 4 c , ω is the half - field angle . in fig2 b and 4b , the astigmatism is shown for the sagittal image surface s and the tangential image surface t . in fig2 c and 4c , distortion is measured at 540 nm . as is apparent from these figures , the various aberrations are favorably corrected over the entire range of zoom . embodiment 2 is very similar to embodiment 1 and therefore only the differences between embodiment 2 and embodiment 1 will be explained . embodiment 2 differs from embodiment 1 in its lens element configuration by different radii of curvature of lens surfaces , different aspheric coefficients of the aspheric lens surfaces , and different optical element surface spacings . table 5 below lists numerical values of lens data for embodiment 2 based on the focal length of the two - group zoom lens being normalized to 98 mm . table 5 lists the surface number #, in order from the object side , the radius of curvature r ( in mm ) of each surface near the optical axis , the on - axis surface spacing d ( in mm ), as well as the refractive index n d and the abbe number v d ( at the d - line of 587 . 6 nm ) of each lens element for embodiment 2 . the numerical values for the radii of curvature of aspheric lens surfaces in table 5 are the values near the optical axis . in table 5 , the radius of curvature is set at infinity (∞) when the optical element surface is planar or when the optical element surface does not refract the light . the lens surfaces with a * to the right of the surface number in table 5 are aspheric lens surfaces , and the aspheric surface shape of these lens elements is expressed by equation ( a ) above . table 6 below lists the values of the constants k , a 4 , a 6 , a 8 , and a 10 used in equation ( a ) above for each of the aspheric surfaces indicated in table 5 . aspheric coefficients that are not present in table 6 are zero . an “ e ” in the data indicates that the number following the “ e ” is the exponent to the base 10 . for example , “ 1 . 0e - 02 ” represents the number 1 . 0 × 10 − 2 . in the zoom lens of embodiment 2 , both the first lens group g 1 and the second lens group g 2 move during zooming . therefore , the on - axis spacing d 4 between the two lens groups changes with zooming . with zooming , the focal length f , the back focus distance d 10 , and the f - number of the zoom lens also change . the back focus distance d 10 , is based on the plane parallel plate 2 of fig1 having a thickness of 12 . 11 mm and a refractive index of 1 . 52 . table 7 below lists the values of the focal length f , the f - number f no , the on - axis surface spacing d 4 , the back focus distance d 10 , and the field angle 2 ω at the wide - angle end ( f = 98 mm ) and at the telephoto end ( f = 289 . 1 mm ). table 7 shows a zoom ratio of 2 . 95 from the wide - angle end to the telephoto end . additionally , the overall length of the two - group zoom lens at the wide - angle end is 976 mm based on the normalized focal length of the two - group zoom lens being 98 mm . the zoom lens of embodiment 2 of the present invention satisfies conditions ( 1 )-( 7 ) above as set forth in table 8 below . fig6 a - 6c show the spherical aberration , astigmatism , and distortion , respectively , of the zoom lens of embodiment 2 at the wide - angle end . fig7 shows the coma of the zoom lens of embodiment 2 at the wide - angle end for various half - field angles ω for both the tangential ( left column ) and sagittal ( right column ) image surfaces at a wavelength of 540 nm . fig8 a - 8c show the spherical aberration , astigmatism , and distortion , respectively , of the zoom lens of embodiment 2 at the telephoto end . fig9 shows the coma of the zoom lens of embodiment 2 at the telephoto end for various half - field angles ω for both the tangential ( left column ) and sagittal ( right column ) image surfaces at a wavelength of 540 mm . in fig6 a and 8a , the spherical aberration is shown for the wavelengths 420 nm , 540 nm , and 680 mm . in fig6 b , 6 c , 8 b , and 8 c , ω is the half - field angle . in fig6 b and 8b , the astigmatism is shown for the sagittal image surface s and the tangential image surface t . in fig6 c and 8c , distortion is measured at 540 mm . as is apparent from these figures , the various aberrations are favorably corrected over the entire range of zoom . embodiment 3 is very similar to embodiment 1 and therefore only the differences between embodiment 3 and embodiment 1 will be explained . embodiment 3 differs from embodiment 1 in its lens element configuration by different radii of curvature of lens surfaces , different eccentricities and different aspheric coefficients of the aspheric lens surfaces , different optical element surface spacings , and one different refractive index and abbe number . as in embodiment 1 , the numerical values of lens data for embodiment 3 is based on the focal length of the two - group zoom lens being normalized to 100 mm . table 9 below lists numerical values of lens data for embodiment 3 based on the focal length of the two - group zoom lens being normalized to 100 mm . table 9 lists the surface number #, in order from the object side , the radius of curvature r ( in mm ) of each surface near the optical axis , the on - axis surface spacing d ( in mm ), as well as the refractive index n d and the abbe number v d ( at the d - line of 587 . 6 nm ) of each lens element for embodiment 3 . the numerical values for the radii of curvature of aspheric lens surfaces in table 9 are the values near the optical axis . in table 9 , the radius of curvature is set at infinity (∞) when the optical element surface is planar or when the optical element surface does not refract the light . the lens surfaces with a * to the right of the surface number in table 9 are aspheric lens surfaces , and the aspheric surface shape of these lens elements is expressed by equation ( a ) above . table 10 below lists the values of the constants k , a 4 , a 6 , a 8 , and a 10 used in equation ( a ) above for each of the aspheric surfaces indicated in table 9 . aspheric coefficients that are not present in table 10 are zero . an “ e ” in the data indicates that the number following the “ e ” is the exponent to the base 10 . for example , “ 1 . 0e - 02 ” represents the number 1 . 0 × 10 − 2 . in the zoom lens of embodiment 3 , both the first lens group g 1 and the second lens group g 2 move during zooming . therefore , the on - axis spacing d 4 between the two lens groups changes with zooming . with zooming , the focal length f , the back focus distance d 10 , and the f - number of the zoom lens also change . the back focus distance d 10 is based on the plane parallel plate 2 of fig1 having a thickness of 12 . 11 and a refractive index of 1 . 52 . table 11 below lists the values of the focal length f , the f - number f no , the on - axis surface spacing d 4 , the back focus distance d 10 , and the field angle 2 ω at the wide - angle end ( f = 100 mm ) and at the telephoto end ( f = 280 mm ). table 11 shows a zoom ratio of 2 . 8 from the wide - angle end to the telephoto end . additionally , the overall length of the two - group zoom lens at the wide - angle end is 970 mm based on the normalized focal length being 100 mm . the zoom lens of embodiment 3 of the present invention satisfies conditions ( 1 )-( 5 ) and ( 7 ) above as set forth in table 12 below . fig1 a - 10c show the spherical aberration , astigmatism , and distortion , respectively , of the zoom lens of embodiment 3 at the wide - angle end . fig1 shows the coma of the zoom lens of embodiment 3 at the wide - angle end for various half - field angles ω for both the tangential ( left column ) and sagittal ( right column ) image surfaces at a wavelength of 540 nm . fig1 a - 12c show the spherical aberration , astigmatism , and distortion , respectively , of the zoom lens of embodiment 3 at the telephoto end . fig1 shows the coma of the zoom lens of embodiment 3 at the telephoto end for various half - field angles ω for both the tangential ( left column ) and sagittal ( right column ) image surfaces at a wavelength of 540 nm . in fig1 a and 12a , the spherical aberration is shown for the wavelengths 420 nm , 540 nm , and 680 nm . in fig1 b , 10 c , 12 b , and 12 c , ω is the half - field angle . in fig1 b and 12b , the astigmatism is shown for the sagittal image surface s and the tangential image surface t . in fig1 c and 12c , distortion is measured at 540 nm . as is apparent from these figures , the various aberrations are favorably corrected over the entire range of zoom . the present invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiments , as it will be obvious that various alternative implementations are possible . for instance , values such as the radius of curvature r of each of the lens components , the shapes of the aspheric lens surfaces , the surface spacings d , the refractive indices n d , and abbe number v d of lens elements are not limited to those indicated in each of the aforementioned embodiments , as other values can be adopted . such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the present invention . rather , the scope of the present invention shall be defined as set forth in the following claims and their legal equivalents . all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims . | 6 |
this disclosure of the invention is submitted in furtherance of the constitutional purposes of the u . s . patent laws “ to promote the progress of science and useful arts ” ( article 1 , section 8 ). generally speaking this invention relates to a surveillance system that may be delivered from above ground . the surveillance system provides instant information and relays the information from a remote surveillance assembly ( rsa ) 10 , as shown in fig1 . the rsa 10 covertly houses surveillance equipment and is comprised of a rigid , highly dense material that is substantially impact resistant . the rsa 10 is preferably configured as a telescoping pipe - within - a pipe structure with a first upper pipe 100 being received by a second lower pipe 200 to assist in minimizing damaging impact forces . the upper pipe 100 serves as the housing structure for containing the surveillance equipment . as diagrammatically illustrated in fig1 upper pipe 100 , has a proximal end and a distal end , and houses the camera compartment 700 , the transmitter and receiving ( t / r ) unit 600 , the controller compartment 500 , the battery compartment 400 , as well as an airbag assembly 300 . all of the surveillance equipment is further contained within a cage assembly 115 that rests on top of airbag assembly 300 . the airbag assembly 300 is connected to the proximal end of said upper pipe 100 and exterior to said cage assembly 115 . upon contact with the ground surface , airbag assembly 300 automatically inflates in approximately 2 to 3 ms within the inner diameter of upper pipe 100 . the inflated airbag 300 provides a cushion to the cage assembly 115 and all of the internal components housed therein from impact forces . as can be seen in fig4 b , a spaced distance of height h , is provided between the uppermost portion of the interior of upper pipe 100 and cage assembly 115 . this allotted space h provides displacement room for the cage assembly 115 during inflation of the airbag 300 upon impact . after impact , the airbag assembly deflates and the cage assembly 115 resettles . conceivably , further cushioning devices , such as springs , may be provided within space h to absorb impact forces . for instance , coil springs ( and the like ) or a cushion material ( fabric or expanded foam ) may be adapted either on the ceiling of the upper pipe 100 interior , or the roof of the cage assembly &# 39 ; s 115 exterior . in a preferred embodiment , the method of deployment of rsa 10 is via an airborne delivery vehicle ( adv ) 800 . fig2 a illustrates such a deployment wherein rsa 10 is made airborne and cargoed toward a target site x . as the adv 800 approaches the target site x , the rsa 10 is delivered in a vertical direction relative to the earth &# 39 ; s surface . depending on how the rsa &# 39 ; s 10 are secured to , or within an adv 800 , the rsa &# 39 ; s 10 may be delivered singularly or in scores , as needed . airborne delivery vehicles 800 may be adapted to singularly accommodate the rsa 10 or a plurality thereof in the cargo area . depending on how the cargo area is utilized for internally securing rsa &# 39 ; s 10 , aircraft , such as a c - 130 hercules , for example , ( or similar aircraft ) can hold scores at a time . a helicopter , such as the chinook ch47 can also be employed to handle several rsa &# 39 ; s simultaneously secured to the underside . upon release , each rsa 10 will immediately orient itself to a vertical direction relative to the earth &# 39 ; s surface as seen in fig2 b . this is principally accomplished by the very heavy , dense and aerodynamically shaped nose cone 110 ( fig1 ). the nose cone 110 is constructed of a mass and weight that significantly surpasses the combined weight of the upper pipe 100 and all its internal components . both upper and lower pipes 100 and 200 , respectively , can be constructed of commercially available standard , heavy wall carbon steel piping . in a preferred embodiment , six - inch carbon steel schedule 160 pipe could be used having an outside diameter of 6 . 625 inches with a wall thickness of approximately three - quarter &# 39 ; s of an inch . however , it is to be appreciated that the dimensions ( i . e ., diameter , length , etc . ), of pipes 100 and 200 , may be larger or smaller without departing from the scope of the invention . the heavy wall thickness is required to provide an adequate amount of weight for optimum earth penetration . a six - inch diameter pipe of this type falls in the range of a weight of approximately 1500 pounds , at about 45 pounds per foot . the total length of pipes 100 and 200 will vary depending on such factors as cumulative equipment packaging , signal transmission specifics , adv 800 cargo capability , and the terrain of the target area . a rocky or mountainous terrain would require a different penetration depth than a softer grassy soil terrain . in addition to its dense metallic structure , nose cone 110 is aerodynamically designed of a conical shape . the length and width of the nose cone 110 is dimensioned in accordance with the exact density of the material selected during manufacture . the rsa 10 is configured to rapidly descend at a rate determined by the ejection height from the adv 800 . these combined specifics of the nose cone 110 are capable of penetrating a wide variety of earth materials , and soil types , including various types of rocky surfaces . the nose cone 110 will enter the earth &# 39 ; s surface at the target site x and drive to an appropriate depth to hold the rsa 10 securely in its final position . fig2 c shows the airborne delivered rsa 10 embedded in the earth &# 39 ; s surface at the target site x . although shown in a conical tapered shape , the nose cone 110 may take on other shapes and / or may include beveling indentations that may aide in wedging into the ground surfaces . the pipes 100 and 200 are constructed of heavy wall carbon steel , as described above . the exterior of these pipes 100 and 200 can be painted or embossed with camouflaging indicia 105 that blends with the natural environment of the target site x . thereby , from a distance , the rsa 10 would not appear as an uncommon site . the upper and lower pipes 100 and 200 may also be embellished with camouflaging objects such as vines , branches , and the like ( not shown ). however , such objects are designed of lightweight materials and placed so as not to affect the necessary aerodynamic properties of rsa 10 . the rsa &# 39 ; s 10 internal components housed within cage assembly 115 are protected from the sudden impact force via several mechanisms . one such mechanism is the telescoping pipe - within - a - pipe configuration of upper pipe 100 and lower pipe 200 ( fig1 & amp ; 3 ), which inherently aids in shock absorption . in addition , impact mechanism 205 provides impact resistance wherein lower pipe 200 utilizes a fluid - shock absorbing means . lower pipe 100 is equipped with an impact mechanism 205 which consists of an inner chamber 210 , a lateral fluid seal 220 sealingly spanning a horizontal plane of the inner chamber , a series of breakaway bolts 230 , and a recess 215 , as shown in fig3 . upon impact , a series of breakaway bolts 230 would immediately shear , allowing the upper pipe 100 to break seal 220 . lower pipe 205 has a hollow interior chamber 210 . the seal 220 closes the hollow chamber 210 off to sealingly enclose fluid 212 . in addition to a mechanical sealing , a standard weld bead can be welded into place , or an epoxy applied , all to result in the desired temporary watertight sealing . upon impact , and breaking off of the bolts 230 , the upper pipe 100 then enters through to the interior chamber 210 breaking the seal 220 there between . the proximal end of upper pipe 100 has a section 101 with a diameter d 1 smaller than the diameter d 2 of the remaining length of upper pipe 100 . this smaller diameter d 1 graduates in width resulting in a tapered section 101 . the fluid 212 contained within chamber 210 is pressurized and of a controlled volume such that liquid or gas escapes through the escape flow channel created by recess 215 and the tapered proximal end 101 at a specified slow and controlled rate , thus dampening delivery impact forces . fluid 212 escapes in the direction of arrow 213 . the fluid may be a liquid ( such as water , for example ) or a gas ( such as nitrogen , for example ). if a gas is used , then the gas would be introduced into chamber 210 after the seal 220 is applied . the gas can be introduced through a common valve fitting into the lower pipe 200 . for the purposes of this disclosure , the preferred method of surveillance is video imaging . the video compartment 700 , as shown in fig4 a and 4b , shows the video equipment in a diagrammatic fashion . camera 710 may be equipped with a laser targeting means 712 that transmits a laser beam onto a target for obtaining the best possible imaging . the camera 710 is configured with a pan / tilt mechanism 715 for omni directional movement . it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the camera may be controlled remotely or automatically via a processor contained within the camera compartment 700 or within the controller compartment 500 . the laser targeting means 712 may also be used to maintain a beam on a subject until an aircraft or other military vehicle arrives for further action . the camera means 710 can be equipped with auto - tracking capability that allows the camera to automatically lock onto and follow a preprogrammed subject . this may be accomplished by digitally analyzing pixels to precisely track the subject of interest . the pan / tilt mechanism 715 can be maintained in an automatic mode to keep the subject in a frame and also zoom to ensure that the size of subject remains constant . the upper pipe 100 has a window 730 that traverses the entire perimeter of the pipe 100 in a desired image receiving area to allow for 360 degree imaging by the camera means 710 . the length of the window 730 is of a sufficient height to correspond with the size of the lens aperture of the camera 710 . the window 730 may be of a thick acrylic material that is shatterproof and inherently resistant to external forces . it may be appreciated that window 730 may be made of any other suitable transparent material , such as glass , without departing from the scope of the invention . it is to be further appreciated that the window 730 may be a continuous structure or may be intermittent forming viewpoints around the entire perimeter of upper pipe 200 without departing from the scope of the invention . the camera means 710 may include a camera control unit 711 which comprises an image transmitter for transmitting images to a remote receiver , camera control circuitry for communicating with cpu 510 and for controlling the direction ( i . e ., pan and tilt ), zoom , focus , and aperture of the camera , a radio receiver for receiving remotely transmitted camera control information and for delivering the information to the camera control circuitry . along with controlling direction , the camera control unit 711 may control image adjustments . it is of essence to the video surveillance to provide cameras capable of automatically adjusting certain operational parameters such as focus setting , shutter speed , color adjustments and the like . for instance , in natural lighted environments , it is necessary to equalize or balance the levels of red , green , and blue in a video signal relative to the detected levels of such colors , in accordance with the spectrum of the light in the observed areas . sunlight , for example , has a spectrum that approximates a 5 , 500k blackbody ; hence the spectrum of reflected light from a white object will exhibit a peak in the green region . this is referred to the color temperature of an object . herein , color filters may be used to compensate or equalize the response when color film is used to account for various color temperatures . alternatively , in electronic imaging systems , which may be employed , it is common to provide a variable gain device , known as a white balance system , to equalize the response of an electronic imaging device in accordance with the prevailing color temperature . automatic white balance systems may be employed wherein the levels of compensation applied to the color component of a video image are continuously adjusted in response to the measured color content of the image . the camera compartment 700 may also house a climate control unit 740 . climate control unit 740 provides built - in thermostatically controlled camera operation allowing cold weather operation and prevention of condensation . the climate control unit 740 may be equipped with a temperature gauging means ( e . g ., thermometer ), a cooling unit , a heater and a fan to maintain an appropriate climate for optimum operation of the camera means 710 . the climate control unit 740 will also aid in defogging and defrosting the window 730 which may occur due to external weather conditions . in addition , the camera control unit 711 may include a power supply 713 that provides power to all of the devices within the control unit 711 . the power supply 713 is electrically connected to the battery compartment 400 . the camera means 710 receives images and transmits them via an image transmitter ( not shown ) and relays them to a remote video data receiving means 750 ( fig5 ). the remote video data receiving means 750 may include a display means 751 , such as a monitor , as well as a video recording means 752 to record images received by the image receiver . the camera means 710 can also be equipped with an automatic video motion detection system ( not shown ). these operations performed on the rsa 10 may be controlled via a cpu 505 of controller means 500 . as best illustrated in fig5 remote operation of the camera means 710 is as follows . when a user in a location that is remote from the rsa 10 wishes to view images from the camera means 710 , the operator at the remote control center ( rcc ) 910 may transmit control operations via a remote control transmitter 754 . one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that a number of different wireless communication systems may be used to transmit and receive data signals ( shown in fig5 - 7 as dashed lines ). as shown , wireless signals are transmitted to a satellite device 999 and then subsequently relayed to the transmitter / receiver unit 600 of the rsa 10 . it is envisioned that the satellite 999 may be a member of the global positioning system ( gps ) space vehicles fleet . the nominal gps operational constellations consist of 24 satellites that orbit earth in 12 hours . gps is funded by and controlled by the u . s . department of defense ( dod ). gps provides specially coded satellite signals that can be processed in a gps receiver 660 . authorized users with cryptographic equipment and keys and specially equipped receivers , such as receiver 660 may use the gps for signal transfer as well as the precise positioning service ( pps ), described further below . the master control facility for the gps is located at a u . s . air force base control to the united states . the master control facility measures signals from the space vehicles that are incorporated into orbital models for each satellite 999 . the models compute precise orbital data ( ephemeris ) in which the space vehicles then send subsets of orbital ephemeris data to the gps receivers 660 over radio signals . along with the transmission and reception of long - range radio signals , the gps system may be used to compute position , velocity and time in a virtually real - time mode . the gps may be employed for the precise positioning service for long - range deployment , in lieu of an adv 800 . gps receivers convert space vehicle radio signals into position , velocity and time estimates . four satellites are required to compute the four dimensions x , y , z and time . therefore , the gps receiver 660 may be used for navigation , positioning and time dissemination of rsa 10 . as pictorially illustrated by fig6 precise positioning of the rsa 10 is possible using gps receiver 660 at reference target locations providing corrections and relative positioning data . herein , the rsu 10 may be initially launched and then guided via pps . intended targeting signals can be relayed from a flight command control unit 950 housed in the rcc 910 . the flight control unit 910 then relays the flight path signals to service vehicle satellite 999 that in turn communicates with gps receiver 660 housed in the t / r unit 600 of rsu 10 . one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that the rsa 10 may also be laser guided to a target site x . as shown in fig7 flight guidance signals may be directed from flight control command unit 950 of rcc 910 . these signals may be transmitted to a relay tower 980 , or a series thereof , and subsequently relayed to receiver 610 . receiver 610 is in constant communication with flight control processor 520 housed within the controller compartment 500 . the rsa 10 may be made airborne by launching devices known to those of ordinary skill in the art , and flight guided thereafter as described above in view of fig7 and 8 . these launching devices known in the art can provide propulsion and lift to take rsa 10 to the appropriate altitude for gliding and guidance to the target location x . in such instances , the rsa 10 may be equipped with wings 120 and / or fins 125 to allow for rudimentary flight control . the wings 120 may be removably attached to lower pipe 200 with breakaway bolts ( not shown ). when the rsa 10 impacts the ground , the breakaway bolts will shear , causing the wings 120 to fall off the lower pipe 200 . similarly , fins 125 may also be secured to the upper housing 100 with breakaway bolts ( not shown ). the wings 120 may be attached to the lower pipe 100 by standard servomotors 121 that allow bi - directional movement . the power compartment 400 ( fig1 ) is adapted to provide in - house electrical power for all of the equipment of the rsa 10 . a series of low wattage , long life , and rechargeable batteries 410 may be contained within the power compartment 400 for providing constant , direct current electricity sized to provide adequate energy to all of the operating equipment . the battery cells 410 may be arranged in series stacked on top of one another attached by a redundant conductor harness or bus ( not shown ). the battery cells 410 are designed for extreme rough handling and may be composed of rugged deep - cycle , nickel - cadmium or nickel - metal hydride . battery cells 410 should have a minimum of one thousand hours ( over 40 days ) of continuous operation without recharging . in another embodiment , the rsa 10 may be adapted with a photoelectric , solar power system , as illustrated in fig8 a and 8b . the solar power system may comprise a series of photovoltaic devices 450 , also known as solar cells . these photovoltaic devices 450 may be secured to a number of long tube branch structures 451 attached to the rsa 10 by self - deploying hinges 452 to the upper pipe 100 . the long tube branch structures 451 may be attached in a vertical fashion such that during delivery , they are in a closed state flush with the upper pipe as shown in fig8 a . after delivery to the desired target site x , the long tube branch structures 451 move to an open state via hinges 452 to align the photovoltaic cells 450 toward the sky for absorption of the sun &# 39 ; s energy . photovoltaic cells 450 are constructed of solid - state semiconductor devices that would contain no moving parts that would require maintenance . in conventional solar cell installations , most of the cells are oriented to the south for maximum sun exposure . in the instant case of the rsa 10 , this would not be readily possible . therefore the long tube branch structures 451 are deployed in a 360 - degree manner ( via hinges 452 ) thereby providing maximum sun exposure throughout daylight hours to at least two branches at any time . the long tube branch structures 451 are also configured to have a specific angle of inclination relative the longitudinal axis of the rsa 10 , to take advantage of the target area &# 39 ; s x latitude and season to absorb the maximum amount of solar energy . photovoltaic cells 450 are employed to charge and / or recharge the battery cells 410 during daylight hours in continuous operation and supply energy for the non - daylight hours . photovoltaic cells 450 may be attached by serial or parallel wiring harness to a charge controller unit ( not shown ) to prevent overcharging and / or deep discharge of the batteries 410 . since other modifications and changes varied to fit a particular operating requirements and environment will be apparent to those skilled in the art , the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen for purposes of disclosure , and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute a departure from the true spirit and scope of the invention . for example , as a preferred embodiment , the surveillance device discussed throughout the invention employed the use of video cameras . however , it is to be appreciated that the rsa &# 39 ; s 10 may alternatively or additionally include , for example , still photography cameras , infrared sensors , audio sensors , time lapses or digital cameras without departing from the scope of the invention . furthermore , the surveillance equipment may comprise multiple cameras in conjunction with multiplexers , as well known in the art . in addition , it is contemplated that the system may include other external equipment such as lights , satellite transmission devices , and equipment enabling cell phone applications . as to the housing structure , the pipe housings 100 and 205 may include further multiple telescoping portions . the height of the rsa 10 may vary depending on the elevation of the environment and height most suitable for observing a desired range of the target site x . the invention has been described as having two telescoping pipes , however more telescoping sections may be added without departing from the scope of the invention . the possible uses of the rsa &# 39 ; s 10 are countless . for example , the rsa &# 39 ; s can be utilized as advanced “ eyes ” for scout / recon troops in a battlefield . rsa &# 39 ; s can be deployed in front of troops before entering an area of interest . video signals can be transferred or relayed directly to the troops on the ground . real time information would allow ground troops to deploy in a safer and more effective manner . deploying an rsa 10 to a specific landing zone prior to dropping off troops would allow safety analysis of the area and help prevent casualties . this same information can be relayed during battlefield damage assessment . the rsa &# 39 ; s 10 may be employed to provide visual ( or otherwise ) data if a battlefield during and after battle . having thus described the invention , what is desired to be protected by letters patent is presented in the subsequent appended claims . | 7 |
the present invention is a web site performance monitor operative in a computer network such as the public internet , an intranet , a virtual private network , a combination thereof , or the like . as is well - known , in the internet paradigm as illustrated in fig1 , a client machine , such as machine 100 , may use an application , such as a web browser 102 , to access a server 104 via a computer network 106 . network 106 typically includes other servers ( not shown ) for control of domain name resolution , routing and other control functions . a representative server 104 is a computer or workstation having at least one processor 108 , system memory ( e . g ., ram ) 120 , disk or other permanent storage 122 , i / o devices 124 a - n , an operating system 126 , a server program 128 , and an application programming interface ( api ) 130 that provides extensions to enable application developers to extend and / or customize the core functionality thereof through software programs including plug - ins , cgi programs , java servlets , and the like . a representative server machine is a intel pentium ® or risc - based processor platform running an operating system ( e . g ., unix , linux , windows , apache , or the like ) and a server program such as ibm ® websphere ® version 2 . 0 . of course , any other computer hardware , operating system and / or or server software may be used . a representative client is a personal computer , notebook computer , internet appliance or pervasive computing device ( e . g ., a pda or palm computer ) that is pentium -, powerpc ®- or risc - based . the client includes an operating system such as microsoft windows , linux , microsoft windows ce , palmos or the like . a typical client includes a suite of internet tools including a web browser , such as netscape navigator or microsoft internet explorer , that has a java virtual machine ( jvm ) and support for application plug - ins or helper applications . communications between the client and the server typically conform to the hypertext transfer protocol ( version 1 . 0 or higher ), and such communications may be made over a secure connection . the browser includes the capability to read , interpret and process page scripts located in markup language pages retrieved by the client . as used herein , a “ page script ” or “ script ” is any set of statements , operators , objects and functions that make up a basic script designed to be interpreted and run by a browser . a page script may be written in any given scripting language . javascript , the most widely used scripting language , is a cross - platform , object - oriented language created by the netscape communications corporation . core javascript encompasses all of the statements , operators , objects , and functions that make up the basic javascript language . the client - side version of the language , called client - side javascript ( csjs ), is used in millions of web pages . the objects in csjs enable the page author to manipulate html documents ( checking form fields , submitting forms , creating dynamic pages , and such ) and the browser itself ( directing the browser to load other html pages , display messages , and so on ). microsoft has its own version of javascript , called jscript , which is designed to run in microsoft &# 39 ; s internet explorer browser . another version of javascript , called ecma script , has been standardized by emca , a european association for standardizing information and communications system . the ecma specification is based on javascript 1 . 1 and includes the core javascript language . another known scripting language is vbscript . referring now to fig2 , the inventive performance monitor preferably is implemented in a proxy 200 and its associated management server 202 . as seen in the drawing , the proxy 200 and the management server 202 are each illustrated as being separate computers although this is not a limitation of the invention of course . in this example , the web server 204 has an associated back end data store 206 that is located behind an inner firewall 208 . the web server 204 , the proxy 200 and the management server 202 are located between the outer firewall 210 and the inner firewall 208 . again , this configuration is merely exemplary . although not meant to be limiting , the proxy 202 is an apache server configured in reverse proxy mode . in operation , the proxy 200 supports an application that is capable of determining the approximate round trip time , the approximate page render time , and the request service time for an http transaction in either a secure or non - secure environment . as illustrated , the application preferably is a server - side application that does not require any permanent ( or temporary ) installation at the client endpoint . the data collected by this application may be used to provide answers to end user questions with respect to web site performance , e . g ., in the context of business - to - business and business - to - consumer e - commerce ( and other ) transaction environments . the application may be implemented as a java servlet , as native code , or in any other convenient fashion , such as being built into the web server itself . one of ordinary skill will also appreciate that the invention may also be used to monitor performance criteria for other protocols besides http although , for convenience , the remainder of this description will focus on this protocol . according to the invention , the operator of the web server 204 configures the proxy into the site for monitoring server performance as will now be described . generally , the proxy intercepts ( or is configured to receive ) requests directed to the server 204 . the time at which a request is received at the reverse proxy ( the arrival metric ) is designated t 1 . this request is then delivered to the web server for processing . the time at which the reverse proxy receives the response stream from the web server ( to be passed back to the requesting client ) is designated t 2 . thus , the function t 2 − t 1 represents the approximate server response time , i . e . the amount of time taken to process the page request at the server . as will be seen , before the response stream is passed back to the requesting client , the reverse proxy “ instruments ” that stream by inserting a page script therein . this script , when interpreted at the client , starts a timer at time t 3 . when the page is completely rendered , the timer has advanced to time t 4 ; thus , the approximate client page render or “ display ” time is the function t 4 − t 3 . when the page rendering is complete , the script opens a connection ( e . g ., a socket ) back to the server and sends a packet identifying the render time . this packet is received at the reverse proxy at time t 5 . thereafter , the proxy returns an acknowledgment to the client , e . g ., an http 204 no content response . any valid http response ( e . g ., an http 200 with more web content ) could be sent as well . the difference between time t 1 and time t 5 is a relatively good approximation of the round trip time ( rtt ) for the entire transaction because , although the reverse proxy does not know the time at which the client request was actually issued , the time it takes for the initial client request to travel from the client to the server is approximately the same as the time difference t 5 − t 4 . the actual “ on the wire ” travel time for the entire transaction is then approximately (( t 5 − t 2 )−( t 4 − t 3 )). preferably , there are three ( 3 ) sub - systems that comprise the inventive monitoring application on the proxy computer . as illustrated in fig3 , these sub - systems include : a transaction data consumer ( tdc ) sub - system 302 , a transaction data producer ( tdp ) sub - system 304 , and a controller sub - system 306 . as noted above , any of these components may be integrated together , of course . when a user makes a request to the web server 204 that is using the proxy , the transaction data producer 304 inspects the request , determines if the request is one that matches given criteria dictated by a set of one or more request filters ( as will be described ), creates a new transaction record for the request if the criteria is met , and forwards the request to the server for the target resource . when the transaction data producer 304 receives a response from the server ( e . g ., the requested page ), it attempts to match the response with a transaction record . if a transaction record exists , the transaction data producer 304 instruments the response and forwards it back to the requesting client . as used herein , the response is instrumented by having a given script inserted into the response stream . the script is then executed on the client machine when the page is rendered , as will be seen , to generate an approximate page render time ( at the client ). the script is also used to open a connection to the server that is then used to deliver a packet identifying the page render time calculated by the script . as the transaction data producer 304 interacts with the client request and the server response , it is also calculating a server response time . the transaction data consumer sub - system 302 is preferably a server plug - in ( e . g ., a native apache web server plug - in ). when this module receives a request , it inspects the uri to determine whether this request is a result of the instrumentation supplied by the transaction data producer 304 . if so , the transaction data consumer 302 produces a transaction record , having a given format , and it responds to the calling client to complete the transaction . the resultant transaction record is sent , e . g ., via a socket call , to the controller sub - system 306 . the controller sub - system 306 provides administrative interfaces for accepting and propagating ( e . g ., via http posts ) request filters and constraints to the transaction data consumer 302 and the transaction data producer 304 . as will be described , the controller sub - system 306 is also a parent thread of a record sink thread , which is a server socket that accepts connections for transaction records sent to the controller by the transaction data consumer sub - system . fig4 is a block diagram of a preferred implementation of the controller sub - system . this sub - system is user - visible portion of the application . the responsibilities for this sub - system , as described above , are : receiving task information and start / stop commands and relaying the information to the transaction data producer and the transaction data consumer sub - systems , reading the transaction records that are logged by the transaction data consumer sub - system , and forwarding any constraint violations as events to the management server . the controller sub - system 400 comprises : a constraint and request filter sink 402 , a remote controller 404 , a record sink 406 , a transaction record filter 408 , and an event forwarder 410 . the constraint and request filter sink 402 is a set of apis that provides accessors for setting and getting the constraints and the request filters for the session . in addition , this component exposes an execute operation used by the outside world to begin the session . the sink 402 is responsible for spawning a record sink thread 406 , building an http post method for the tdc and tdp sub - systems , and invoking the remote controller 404 for communication of the request filter information . the remote controller 404 component provides a communication mechanism for communicating request filter information to the tdc and tdp sub - systems . in addition , the remote controller 404 starts and stops the tdc and tdp sub - systems . the method of communication from this component to the tdc and tdp sub - systems preferably is http . the record sink 406 is a server socket thread that listens for connections from the tdp sub - system . upon receiving a request , the record sink creates a child thread that will receive the transaction record from the tdp sub - system . each transaction record preferably is sent along two paths : ( 1 ) to the stream provided for upload to the management server , and ( 2 ) to the transaction record filter 408 for comparison against a current set of constraints . the transaction record filter 408 is responsible for comparing each received record against a current set of constraints . if one of the constraints has been violated , the transaction record filter 408 passes the record off to the event forwarder 410 . the event forwarder 410 is responsible for creating an event object out of the received transaction records and forwarding those events to the management server . fig5 illustrates the transaction data producer sub - system 500 in more detail . as noted above , this sub - system receives configuration and constraint information about a current task from the controller sub - system , e . g ., via http requests . this sub - system is responsible for : creating transaction records for requests that meet the request filter criteria and logging the arrival metric t 1 , determining if a given response exists as a transaction record and updating the transaction record with the response metric t 2 , instrumenting the http response with the gathered t 1 and t 2 metrics , the location of the tdc sub - system , and the script that will be used to determine the render time ( t 4 − t 3 ), responding to the requesting client with the instrumented response , and allowing requests that do match the request filter constraints to simply pass through the mechanism . as illustrated in fig5 , the transaction data producer sub - system 500 comprises a request handler 502 , a response handler 504 , and a request filter 506 . the request handler 502 is responsible for accepting http requests from the outside world , determining if the request meets the request filter criteria , and creating a transaction record if it does . the request handler 502 then forwards the request to the web server . if the request comes from the remote controller 404 ( in fig4 ), then the request handler 502 responds appropriately to the command , e . g ., by updating its constraint filter information or placing itself in an “ on ” or “ off ” mode . the response handler 504 is responsible for matching responses to transaction records when they exist . if they do exist , then the appropriate metrics gathering and page instrumentation occurs , and the instrumented response is sent to the requesting client . if matching responses do not exist , the response is simply passed through to the requesting client . preferably , the matching is done based on the response stream being mime type text / html ( e . g ., . html pages , . jsp pages . asp pages , and the like ). if the original request was from the remote controller 404 ( in fig4 ), then the response handler sends a response signifying the results of the command issued during the request . fig6 illustrates the transaction data consumer sub - system 600 . as described above , this sub - system receives configuration and constraint information about the current task from the controller sub - system , e . g ., via http requests . this sub - system then receives the results of the page instrumentation action , derives the t 5 metric as a result of receiving the request , and persists the data to a log file . the tdc sub - system 600 comprises a request handler 602 , a response handler 604 , and an ipc communicator 606 . the request handler 602 is responsible for determining if the received request has been generated as a result of the tdp instrumenting an http response . if it is , then the request handler passes the transaction record to the ipc communicator 606 for propagation and asks the response handler to generate a response to the client . if the request handler receives a command from the remote controller 404 ( in fig4 ), the request handler responds appropriately to the command ( e . g ., creating the log file , or putting itself into “ on ” or “ off ” mode ). the response handler 604 is responsible for dynamically generating a response and sending the response , via http , to the client . in a simple form , the response is a 204 no content http response . however , any convenient response may be sent . if the original request was from the remote controller , then the response handler sends a response signifying the results of the command issued in the remote controller http request . the ipc communicator 606 is responsible for taking the transaction records passed from the request handler 602 , opening a socket to the record sink component 406 ( of fig4 ), and transmitting the transaction record to the record sink . if this operation fails , the record is persisted to a local file . the monitoring application of the invention provides significant advantages over the prior art . as described above , the application preferably is implemented by the site provider and does not require any client - side involvement . the application monitors performance metrics for a given http request , namely , approximate total round trip time , the request service time at the server , the approximate page render time at the client , and the approximate time that the transaction request is “ on the wire ” between the client and server . the total round trip time is estimated by calculating the difference between the final arrival time metric t 5 and the initial arrival time metric t 1 , as measured at the reverse proxy . the following is a representative script that is inserted into the server response stream by the proxy . when this script starts , the current start time is obtained from the client machine using the starttime = new date ( ) function . the loadhandler function is not called until the page finishes loading . once the page is loaded , the time delta ( t 4 − t 3 ) is calculated using the timediff variable . the location directive forces an http request to the url specified , in this case “ eaa . html ,” which represents a dummy page that is recognized by the proxy . rtt represents , in this example , the start time ( t 1 ), the time at which the original request was received at the reverse proxy . the above - described implementation may be varied without departing from the scope of the present invention . thus , for example , the tdp was described above as including the functionality of matching a response with a transaction record . in an alternative embodiment , such transaction table matching is not required . in particular , the entire transaction can be made stateless by appending information to the url contained in the script . this means that the t 5 request can be received by any of the data collectors , which provides additional implementation flexibility . thus , according to this alternative implementation , all transactions are stateless and the information travels in the argument parameters of the location directive of the script . according to another variation , it is not required to relay data via a socket connection . rather , any convenient ipc mechanism ( e . g ., rpc ) may be used , or the information may simply be stored and gleaned from a log file . the above - described implementation generates a rtt that may include the network or “ on the wire ” approximation , as has been previously described . given that this calculation is only approximate , it may be omitted . as noted above , the inventive mechanism is preferably implemented in client - side code ( a simple page script ) coupled with server - side code ( in the reverse proxy that is provisioned to provide the functionality ). generalizing , the above - described functionality is implemented in software executable in a processor , namely , as a set of instructions ( program code ) in a code module resident in the random access memory of the computer . until required by the computer , the set of instructions may be stored in another computer memory , for example , in a hard disk drive , or in a removable memory such as an optical disk ( for eventual use in a cd rom ) or floppy disk ( for eventual use in a floppy disk drive ), or downloaded via the internet or other computer network . in addition , although the various methods described are conveniently implemented in a general purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by software , one of ordinary skill in the art would also recognize that such methods may be carried out in hardware , in firmware , or in more specialized apparatus constructed to perform the required method steps . further , as used herein , a “ client ” should be broadly construed to mean any computer or component thereof directly or indirectly connected or connectable in any known or later - developed manner to a computer network , such as the internet . the term “ server ” should also be broadly construed to mean a computer , computer platform , an adjunct to a computer or platform , or any component thereof . of course , a “ client ” should be broadly construed to mean one who requests or gets the file , and “ server ” is the entity which downloads the file . having thus described my invention , what i claim as new and desire to secure by letters patent is set forth in the following claims . | 6 |
in accordance with the present invention , a system is proposed which permits the drawbacks mentioned above to be diminished by means of designing an improved system for heat recovery in which the heat evolved by a refrigerant fluid during the prior condensation or cooling process is made use of in a condensation unit or in an intermediate heat exchanger housed between that condensation unit and the discharge line of a compressor or of an array of positive or negative temperature compressors , or of any refrigeration system . starting from this premise , the inventive system is applicable to open retail refrigeration cabinets or lines of same designed for the retail of perishable food products , for positive or negative temperatures . the system comprises a unit for the recovery and exploitation of the heat , as well as a unit for distributing and supplying heated air towards the interior of a retail outlet or a large retail store or an area to be air - conditioned , or any other place . the heat recovery and exploitation unit contains a heat exchanger housed in the unit for distributing and supplying heated air , an intermediate heat exchanger and / or a condenser unit , an insulated tank and a circulation pump . the intermediate heat exchanger and / or the condensation unit is arranged in the discharge line of the compressor or of the array of compressors , with the aim of making use of the heat evolved by the refrigerant fluid during the condensation of cooling process of the latter . the intermediate heat exchanger and / or the condensation unit can be housed in a machine room intended for this purpose or outside of it or in open retail refrigeration cabinets or lines of same . the heat evolved by the refrigerant fluid is absorbed in the condensation unit and / or in the heat exchanger by a secondary working fluid . the recirculation of the secondary fluid is carried out using a circulation pump , interconnected with an insulated tank and with the heat exchanger that is housed in the duct for channelling and supplying the hot air . the geometry , design and number of heat exchangers used in the heat recovery and exploitation unit will depend on the installed cooling power . the unit for distributing and supplying heated air towards the interior of the area to air - condition comprises an air suction grille , an interchangeable filter , a fan unit interconnected with the regulation system for the system and some air diffusers located in the lower part of the open retail refrigeration cabinet . the unit for distributing and supplying heated air can be housed in the rear part of an open retail refrigeration cabinets or outside of it . the entire inventive assembly is provided with a device for regulating and controlling certain established conditions of comfort for the permanence of people and customers in general in these retail outlets . as well as establishing a comfortable climate for the customers , the inventive system described above has the advantage of gradually reducing the relative humidity of the air inside a retail outlet or in a large retail store or in an area to air - condition , or anywhere else , thereby helping to reduce the installed cooling power and the overall energy consumption of these retail outlets . below , in order to facilitate a better understanding of this descriptive specification and forming an integral part thereof , some figures are attached in which , on an illustrative rather than limiting basis , the object of the invention has been represented . fig1 shows a perspective view of an open retail refrigeration cabinet forming the object of the invention . in this case , a curtain of refrigerated air is shown ( m 1a ) and a flow of hot air ( m 2a ), generated starting from the exploitation of the heat evolved during the prior condensation or cooling process of a refrigerant fluid . via certain ducts for channelling and pulsing ( 4 , 7 ) of air and certain air diffusers ( 8 ), the flow of heated air ( m 2a ) is introduced into the interior of a retail outlet or a large retail store or an area to air - condition , via the lower part of the open retail refrigeration cabinets or lines of same . fig2 shows a view in cross - section of an open retail refrigeration cabinet taking as reference the line a - a of fig1 , interconnected with an embodiment of the refrigeration circuit for a system that is embodied with the invention . fig3 a and 3b shows in perspective different alternatives for the embodiment of the duct for the channelling ( 4 ) and supplying the heated air ( 7 ), forming the object of the present invention . fig4 represents a general view of the improved system for heat recovery for air - conditioning and to reduce the cold corridor effect forming the object of this invention . in this case it shows the direction of recirculation of the heated air ( m 2a ), generated and pulsed by the lower part of the open retail refrigeration cabinet by means of some heat diffusers ( 8 ). the flow of hot air is sucked via a suction grille ( 2 ), suitably arranged in a particular position above the open retail refrigeration cabinet , in the inlet duct of the unit for distributing and supplying heated air ( 1 ). making reference to fig1 to 4 , an improved system has been illustrated intended for air - conditioning and to reduce the cold corridor effect . the inventive system , whose embodiment by way of example will be explained below , is applicable to open retail refrigeration cabinets or lines of same , designed for the retailing of perishable food products , arranged in a retail outlet or in a large retail store or in an area to air - condition or any other place . in whatever case , the inventive system comprises a recovery and exploitation system for the heat evolved by a refrigerant fluid during the condensing or cooling of it , as well as a unit for distributing and supplying the heated air via the lower part of the open retail refrigeration cabinets or lines of same towards the interior of a retail outlet or a large retail store or an area to be air - conditioned , or any other place . the heat recovery and exploitation unit contains a heat exchanger ( 6 ) housed in the unit for distributing and supplying heated air ( 1 ), an intermediate heat exchanger ( 15 ) and / or a condenser unit ( 16 ) located in the discharge line of the compressor ( 14 ), an insulated tank ( 17 ) and a circulation pump ( 18 ), as well as the other conventional automata necessary for regulating the refrigerating facility . the unit for distributing and supplying the heated air ( 1 ) contains an air suction grille ( 2 ), an interchangeable filter ( 3 ), fan ( 5 ), some air diffusers ( 8 ) arranged inside the ducts for channelling ( 4 ) and pulsing the heated air ( 7 ), as well as a device for regulating and controlling ( 19 ) the ambient conditions in the vicinity of open retail refrigeration cabinets or lines of same . for the purposes of embodying the present invention , via the upper part of an open retail refrigeration cabinet or lines of same , at least one fan ( 5 ) housed in the channelling duct ( 4 ) sucks a flow of air ( m 2a ) from the interior of a retail outlet or a large retail store or an area to be air - conditioned , or any other place , via some suction grilles ( 2 ) located in the inlet duct of the unit for distributing and supplying the heated air ( 1 ). the airflow ( m 2a ) is pulsed via some interchangeable filters ( 3 ) and at least one heat exchanger ( 6 ), arranged in the duct for channelling ( 4 ) of the heated air . as it passes through the heat exchanger ( 6 ), the air is heated owing to the thermal exchanger that is produced with the secondary fluid air ( m 1f ) of the heat recovery unit . the hot air is distributed and pulsed to the interior of a retail outlet or a large retail store or an area to be air - conditioned , or any other place , by means of some air diffusers ( 8 ) housed in the lower part of the open retail refrigeration cabinets or in lines of same . the supplying the heated airflow ( m 2a ) to the interior of a retail outlet or a large retail store or an area to be air - conditioned or any other place is regulated by means of a control device ( 19 ), which employs certain measuring devices ( 20 , 21 ) suitably distributed in the ambience to air - condition , together with the other conventional automata belonging to the refrigeration circuits of open retail refrigeration cabinets ; which permits the temperature of the air to be maintained in the vicinity of the open retail refrigeration cabinets or lines of same under certain pre - established conditions ; generating a microclimate of comfort for the customers of the retail outlet for the retail of perishable products . | 0 |
the installation 10 with framework 11 for electro - plating on sheets , especially for printed circuits , in movement , is programmed and operated by an electric - electronic drive unit 12 with control panel 13 , comprising a current rectifier 15 with control panel 16 that supplies low voltage direct current , and the motor 17 for translation of the sheets 50 . the installation comprises a channel 18 within which the sheets 50 move on a horizontal plane xx and , in succession , four groups , for preparation 20 , for electro - plating 30 , for washing 38 and for drying 45 . the preparation group 20 comprises the degreasing stations 21 , washing stations 22 and pickling stations 23 . said stations exhibit a series of upper 24 and lower 25 nozzles , the pumps 26 , heat generators 27 and valves 28 . the electro - plating group 30 comprises a device 60 , subject of the invention , the heat generator 33 , pump 32 , cold generator 31 , solenoid valve 34 , impurity collecter 35 and valves 36 . the washing group 38 comprises a set of upper nozzles 41 , lower nozzles 42 , pumps 39 and valves 40 . the drying group 45 comprises a blower 46 , fume chimney 47 and a series of nozzles 48 for drying the sheets 50 . the electro - plating device 60 comprises a series of operative units , like 55 - 57 , these in turn ( as shown in unit 55 in fig4 ) comprising a pair of titanium rollers , called contact rollers , an upper one 62 and a lower one 61 , a pair of rollers , here called finishing rollers , an upper one 91 and a lower one 90 of plastic material and a pair of rollers , here called containment rollers , a lower one 100 and an upper one 101 of plastic material . the upper roller 101 of the pair of containment rollers 100 and 101 , is surrounded by a series of containment rings 106 free to rotate on said roller , their internal diameter being substantially greater than the external diameter of said roller 101 . at a certain horizontal distance from the pair of containment rollers 100 and 101 , there is a second substantially equal pair of containment rollers comprising an upper roller 111 and a lower roller 110 the upper roller is surrounded by a number of rings 116 substantially equal to the rings 106 . downstream of said second pair of containment rollers is a second pair of finishing rollers 120 and 121 downstream of said second pair of finishing rollers is a second pair of contact rollers 130 and 131 . said electro - plating device 60 presents two opposing sides 201 , 202 , inside of which are the opposing plates 160 and 170 that support the rollers of the operative units like the one already described . the upper roller 62 of the first pair of contact rollers has two pins 65 and 66 at its two ends . the lower roller 61 of said pair presents the pin 63 at one end and at the other end a pin 64 that extends nearly as far as the side 202 and has at one end the axial slot 70 for insertion of the tongue 71 of a short shaft 72 supported by roller bearings 80 placed in said side 202 . the pin 63 and the initial part of pin 64 freely penetrate inside the substantially rectangular seats 161 and 171 made in the opposing support plates 160 and 170 referred to above . the pins 65 and 66 of the upper roller of said pair of contact rollers are similarly lodged in said seats 161 and 171 in which they can freely slide . the upper roller 62 therefore weighs on the lower roller 61 while allowing free passage between them for the translating sheets 50 . the containment rollers 100 and 101 respectively present pins 102 and 103 , pin 105 and the extension 104 of the upper roller 101 . said pins 102 , 103 , 105 and said extension 104 freely penetrate inside the substantially rectangular seats 162 , 172 , made in the support plates 160 and 170 . the pins on the lower roller 100 are supported by the base of said seats 162 and 172 while the pins 104 and 105 of the upper roller 101 can slide freely inside said seats 162 and 172 . fixed to the extension 73 of the shaft 72 , mounted on the lower roller 61 of the pair of contact rollers 61 and 62 , is a gear wheel 151 that meshes with the continuous chain 150 moved by an electric motor not shown in the figures for the sake of simplicity . the gear wheel 76 is mounted on the pin 64 of said roller 61 , this gear wheel meshing with the gear wheel 77 mounted on pin 66 of the upper roller 62 of said pair of rollers 61 and 62 . said roller 62 is therefore made to rotate by the roller 61 . as the upper roller 62 freely gravitates on the lower roller 61 and allowing for the length of the teeth on the gear wheels 76 and 77 , rotation of said rollers makes possible free passage of the thin metal sheet 50 to be electro - plated . the other pairs of contact rollers , like 130 , 131 and others , are similarly made to rotate by the gear wheels 152 , 153 and others that mesh with the continuous chain 150 already mentioned , fixed to the extended pins 132 and 142 of the lower rollers of the pair of contact rollers such as 130 and others . at one end 102 of the lower roller 100 of the pair of containment rollers 100 and 101 , is the gear wheel 107 with helical teeth that meshes with the helically toothed wheel 156 on the shaft 155 orthogonal to said rollers and parallel to the trajectory followed by the metal sheets . the gear wheel 108 is mounted on the pin 104 of the upper roller 101 of said pair and is substantially the same as gear wheel 107 with which it meshes . rollers 100 and 101 therefore rotate in opposite directions . the other pairs of containment rollers , like 110 and 111 , are similarly made to rotate by the gear wheels 117 and 118 respectively fixed to the ends 112 and 113 of said rollers , and by gear wheel 157 fixed to the shaft 155 . placed between the second pair of containment rollers and the second pair of contact rollers is a second pair of finishing rollers 120 and 121 . extensions 73 to the short shafts 72 rotate inside grooves 183 in the opposing bars 181 and 182 supported by u - shaped pieces 190 and 191 forming part of the electrical unit 180 . the two bars 181 , 182 are electrically and mechanically connected by a flexible u - bolt 184 fixed by means of tabs 185 . bar 182 is pressure mounted against said extensions 73 to shafts 72 by the compression springs 193 placed between the supports 192 , fixed to the frame of the plant , and the u - shaped piece 191 . bar 181 presses with its weight on said extensions 73 strengthening contact thereby , and is electrically connected by the wire 186 to the generator 15 of direct current . placed between the two pairs of containment rollers , respectively 100 - 101 and 110 - 111 , are oblong opposing sealed chambers , an upper chamber 210 and a lower chamber 230 , with parallelepiped body 211 and covers 212 and 232 . on its lower face opposite the translating metal sheets , the chamber 210 has the tubular nozzles 213 . said chamber communicates with the pump 32 through the beak 214 and a suitable connecting tube 215 , and is supported by the vertical plate 202 by means of the horizontal metal bracket 251 with ends 252 at 900 . said bracket is connected to the oblong electrode 220 , placed inside said chamber , by bolts 221 and nuts 222 and 223 . the end 252 of the bracket 251 is fixed to the metal sides 202 of the frame 11 of the installation , by means of a bolt 255 , bushing 253 and insulating washer 254 . the electrode 220 can therefore be connected to the generator 15 of direct current by wire 257 thus forming the electrical unit 250 . the chamber 230 is substantially the same as the chamber 210 except that , instead of the tubular nozzles 213 , there is a longitudinal nozzle 233 having in it a slit 236 , said nozzle extending for practically the whole length of the series of nozzles 213 for the upper chamber 21 0 , and being substantially in line with said upper nozzles . on the upper plane of chamber 230 , facing towards the metal sheets that translate above it , are edges 235 and 237 that remain substantially in contact with the surfaces of the lower containment rollers 100 and 110 in the pairs of containment rollers 100 - 101 and 110 - 111 . it will be clear from the above how the electro - plating device works . as seen in fig1 said electro - plating device comprises a set of operative units 55 - 57 like unit 55 described in more detail . said operative units 55 - 57 are seen in diagrammatic form in the general fig1 of the installation with only the first pair of contact rollers , like 61 and 62 , of sealed chambers 210 and 230 , the second pair of contact rollers like 130 and 131 , a second pair of chambers 210 ′ and 230 ′, a third pair of contact rollers 130 ′ and 131 ′, a third pair of sealed chambers 210 ″ and 230 ″ and a fourth pair of contact rollers 130 ″ and 131 ″. the sheets 50 that move along line xx towards the first operative unit 55 , pass , as also seen in fig2 - 4 , between the rollers 61 , 62 of the first contact pair , between rollers 90 , 91 of the first finishing pair , between rollers 100 and 101 of the first containment pair , by action respectively of the active liquid 29 emitted from above by the tubular nozzles 213 of the sealed chamber 210 , and from below through the nozzle with slit 233 , of the first pair of sealed chambers , between the rollers of the second pair of containment rollers 110 and 111 , between the rollers of the second pair of finishing rollers 120 and 121 , between the rollers of the second pair of contact rollers 130 131 and then by action from the successive operative units such as 56 and 57 . between the lower rollers of the pair of containment rollers 100 , 110 , placed either side of the pair of sealed chambers , such as 210 and 230 , due to contact between the longitudinal raised edges 235 and 237 of the lower chamber and the surfaces of said lower rollers 100 and 110 , a lower channel is formed in practice bounded by the lower plane ( of the lower sealed chamber ), by the surfaces of the aforesaid two lower rollers and by the advancing sheets 50 , which channel , fed by the liquid emitted especially by the nozzle 233 with a slit 236 in it , is kept full of active liquid 29 thus helping to reinforce the electro - plating action under the sheet 50 . between the upper rollers of the pairs of containment rollers , surrounded by the rings 106 and 116 and the sheets that pass between said pairs of rollers , due to presence of said rings , that maintain contact with the upper face of the advancing sheets 50 , a sort of upper channel is created the base being formed by the advancing sheets and the walls by the external surfaces of the rings 106 , 116 on said upper rollers , which channel , fed through the nozzles 213 of the upper chamber , is kept full of active liquid emitted by said nozzles . the electric unit 180 , formed of the bars 181 and 182 electrically connected to the pairs of titanium rollers 60 and 61 , 130 and 131 and successive ones , is connected to the negative pole of the generator 15 of direct current while the active liquid , pumped under pressure by the pump 32 into the pairs of sealed chambers 210 and 230 and successive ones becomes charged , due to electrodes 220 and 240 , as a consequence of connection of the electric unit 250 comprising said electrodes , to the positive pole of said generator 15 of direct current . electro - plating is thus made more effecient by the synergetic and interacting effect of the projection of active liquid on both faces of the advancing sheets , by formation of a volume of said liquid both below and above said sheets and by closure of the electric circuit between said active liquid and the sheets 50 electrically charged by the titanium contact rollers 61 and 62 and by the others described . fig5 illustrates a variant of the operative units appropriate for electro - plating on oblong sheets 52 to whose longitudinal edges the plastic strips 53 have been applied so making ridges on the two faces of said sheets . the operative units described are varied by replacing the pairs of rollers described with others provided with raised bands of a width corresponding to the width of the sheets between the ridges and of a height greater than the thickness of said ridges on said oblong sheets 52 . fig5 shows said new operative units . the first pair of lower 260 and upper 261 contact rollers respectively carry the raised bands 262 and 263 . the lower 270 and upper 271 finishing rollers respectively carry raised bands 272 and 273 . the lower 280 and upper 281 containment rollers respectively carry the raised bands 282 and the rings 283 . the second pair of lower 285 and upper 286 containment rollers respectively carry the raised bands 287 and the rings 288 . said rings are suitably sized to pass between the raised edges of each sheet for contact both with the faces of said sheets and with said ridges . the second pair of finishing rollers 275 , 276 and the second pair of contact rollers 265 , 266 carry the raised bands already described . placed between the pairs of containment rollers is the pair of sealed chambers with upper nozzle 210 and lower nozzle 245 . the upper plane of said lower chamber has longitudinal edges 246 and 247 shaped to fit with containment rollers 280 and 285 . optimum electro - plating can therefore be carried out as for the flat sheets . | 2 |
to make the figures easier to read they are 20 highly diagrammatic and do not necessarily reflect the relative scale of the various elements which they show . fig1 a and 1 b show a transverse section of a viologenic system using an “ active ” layer 3 of the type described in the abovementioned patent application ep - 0 612 826 and based on polymer and arranged between two clear silica - soda - lime glass substrates 1 and 5 of 4 mm thickness . ( fig1 b is a view taking a section at right angles to fig1 a ). the two substrates 1 and 5 , each coated in advance with an sno 2 : f layer 2 and 4 and laid down in a known manner by cvd have each then been provided with a network 6 and 7 of conducting strips , using a silver paste and the well known technique of screen printing . the conducting strips have a width of 0 . 3 mm and are essentially parallel one to the other and separated one from the other by a distance of about 2 mm . a peripheral seal 8 ensures that the system does not leak . there are therefore two multicomponent electrodes combining a screen - printed conducting network and a doped oxide layer . the layers of sno 2 : f may be replaced by a layer of ito or sno 2 : sb , for example , and have a thickness of about 400 nm . it will be noted that the addition of a screen - printed network which raises the conductivity of the electrode can allow the conducting layers laid down to be of lower thickness while retaining the benefits of the invention , namely a diminution in the coloration front effect and a smaller switching time . if the thickness of the layer of sno 2 : f ( or ito ) is reduced in this way there can be a significant reduction in the cost of the active glazing . the current leads are formed by screen printing perpendicular to the screen - printed conducting strips , parallel and at equal distances of 2 mm . fig2 represents an embodiment of electro - chromic glazing according to the invention : this is electrochromic glazing with a laminated structure and two panes of glass , in a configuration adapted , for example , for use as glazing in a car sun - roof : two clear panes of glass 21 and 22 are shown , with an electrochromic functional system 23 of “ all - solid ” type formed by the stack of functional layers which follows , and a sheet of polyurethane pu 24 ( the sheet of pu may be replaced by a sheet of ethylene vinyl acetate eva or of polyvinyl butyral pvb ): a first 400 nm electrically conducting layer 25 of 30 sno 2 : f , laid down on the glass 22 using cvd , a first 40 nm layer 26 of anodic electrochromic material . made of ( hydrated ) iridium oxide iro x h y ( which may be replaced by a layer of hydrated nickel oxide ), a 100 run layer 27 of tungsten oxide , a second 100 nm layer 28 of hydrated tantalum oxide , a second 370 nm layer 29 of cathodic electrochromic material based on tungsten oxide h x wo 3 , a second 50 nm layer 30 of ito . the entirety of glass pane 22 ,/ functional system 23 is then laminated to glass pane 21 via the sheet 24 of pu of thickness at least 1 . 24 mm which has been functionalized by laying down a network 31 of linear metallic wires parallel one to the other . ( it is also possible for this to be a sheet of eva or of pvb , as stated above , for example with a thickness of the order of 0 . 76 mm ). the network is laid down in a known manner by the process described in the abovementioned patents . as is known , the current leads are two shims arranged on the opposing margins of the sheet 24 of pu , applied with the aid of a soldering iron . they may also be metallic wire braids . the electrical contact between these current leads ( not shown ) and the underlying electrically conducting layer is obtained by pressure , at the time of the lamination . the glazing therefore uses a standard electrode on the glass pane 22 , namely a monolayer of sno 2 : f ( or of ito , for example ) and a second electrode according to the invention combining an electrically conducting layer of ito with a network of metallic wires . as in example 1 , this configuration allows the use of ito layers alongside the pu film which are thinner than those necessary in the absence of the conducting network 31 . this network is formed , for example , by linear parallel wires , made of tungsten or of copper , optionally covered with graphite , of diameter 25 μm on average ( for example between 10 and 50 μm ). each line is separated from the adjacent line by a distance of 2 mm ( for example between 1 and 5 mm ). this dimensioning is appropriate so that the network , although visible at very close quarters , is still very discreet and even invisible in the coloured state , an aesthetic 35 requirement which applies in the context of glazing for a car roof . fig3 indicates the optical and electrical behaviour of glazing according to this example and measuring 35 × 35 cm 2 . the graph 3 describes the optical appearance and the electrical behaviour of the glazing during switching . the x axis gives the time t expressed in second ; and the y axis ( on the left ) gives the value for light transmission t l expressed in % and ( on the right ) the current i in ma at the terminals of the glazing . the curve cl gives the change in tl at the edge of the glazing and the curve c 2 gives the change in t l at the centre of the glazing . it can be seen that the two curves are ( almost ) superposed , and this proves the absence or the virtual absence of coloration front . the curve c 3 shows how the current i changes . fig4 shows another version of “ all - solid ” electrochromic glazing according to the invention . as in fig2 and example 2 , two panes of glass 21 and 22 are seen , combined by lamination with the aid of a film 24 made of pu ( or pvb : polyvinyl butyral ), the layer 26 made of anodic electrochromic material , the layer 29 made of cathodic electrochromic material , these being separated by the layers 27 and 28 , forming the electrolyte . by way of contrast , the electrode 25 ′ arranged on the glass pane 22 is now formed by a stack of layers comprising a 34 nm layer 25 ( a ) of sno 2 on which there is a 10 nm layer 25 ( b ) of silver , on which there is in turn a 50 nm layer 25 ( c ) of ito . this three - layer structure is obtained by cathodic sputtering assisted by a magnetic field , in a known manner . the layer 25 ( b ) of silver is optionally provided with a thin layer 25 ( d ) of metal intended to protect it during laying down of the layer 25 ( c ) of ito , when this latter is laid down by a reactive method in the presence of oxygen . the resultant stack is rendered highly conducting by the presence of the layer of ag , the light reflection from which is lowered with the help of the underlying layer of sno 2 and of the layer of ito lying thereupon , which serve as antireflective layers , by appropriate choice of their thickness . it will be noted that it is necessary here for the layer 25 ( c ) on the silver to be conducting in order to ensure that a voltage is applied to the remainder of the functional layers in the system , but this is not necessary for the layer 25 ( a ) underneath the silver , which essentially has an optical function and which is an insulating dielectric . it is certainly possible to consider replacing this layer ( totally or partially ) by ito or sno 2 : f in order to retain its optical function while at the same time again increasing the conductivity of the entirety of the layers 25 ( a ), 25 ( b ) and 25 ( c ) in the multicomponent electrode . the second electrode 30 ′ is also a multilayer stack , for example one laid down by cathodic sputtering and composed of a first 50 nm layer 30 ( a ) of ito , of a second 10 nm layer 30 ( b ) of silver and finally of a third 34 nm layer 30 ( c ) of ito . it is preferable here for the layer 30 ( a ) and the layer 30 ( c ) to be conducting , although they fulfil the same optical function with respect to the ag layer 31 ( a ) as the layers 25 ( a ) and 25 ( c ) with respect to the silver layer 25 ( b ), since it is simpler to terminate the stack in a conducting layer to which the connecting elements can be affixed , these being here the metallic shims arranged on the sheet of polymer serving as a lamination intercalation . prior to the invention , a system of this type operated with a first 150 nm layer of ito ( adjacent to glass pane 21 ) and a second 300 nm layer of ito ( adjacent to pu 24 ). it can be seen , therefore , that the invention allows the use of much thinner layers of ito or of sno 2 : f , and this has a significant impact on the cost of the final glazing . the invention also allows the use of ag layers with high electrical performance , but without the known disadvantages of these ( very reflective appearance , a certain degree of fragility , etc . ). | 1 |
16 . this disclosure of the invention is submitted in furtherance of the constitutional purposes of the u . s . patent laws “ to promote the progress of science and useful arts ” ( article 1 , section 8 ). 17 . referring to fig1 a semiconductor wafer fragment in process is indicated generally at 10 and includes a semiconductor substrate 12 . in the context of this document , the term “ semiconductor substrate ” is defined to mean any construction comprising semiconductor material , including , but not limited to , bulk semiconductor materials such as a semiconductor wafer ( either alone or in assemblies comprising other materials thereon ), and semiconductor material layers ( either alone or in assemblies comprising other materials ). the term “ substrate ” refers to any supporting structure , including , but not limited to , the semiconductor substrates described above . 18 . isolation oxide regions 14 are formed relative to substrate 12 and define therebetween a substrate active area over which a plurality of capacitors are to be formed . conductive lines 16 , 18 , 20 , and 22 are provided over substrate 12 . such lines typically include , as shown for line 16 , a thin oxide layer 24 , a conductive polysilicon layer 26 , a silicide layer 28 , a protective insulative cap 30 , and sidewall spacers 32 . a plurality of diffusion regions 17 , 19 , and 21 are received within substrate 12 and constitute source / drain regions for transistors which serve as access transistors for the capacitors to be formed . diffusion regions 17 , 19 and 21 define substrate node locations with which electrical communication is desired . an insulative layer 34 is formed over substrate 12 and typically comprises an oxides such as borophosphosilicate glass . of course , other materials such as phosphosilicate glass , borosilicate glass , and the like can be used . subsequently , insulative layer 34 is patterned and etched to define openings 36 , 38 over diffusion regions 17 , 21 respectively , and relative to which capacitors are to be formed . insulative layer 34 defines a substrate outer surface 35 . 19 . a first layer 40 is formed over substrate outer surface 35 . an exemplary and preferred material for layer 40 comprises a conductive or semiconductive material such as conductively doped polysilicon . layer 40 defines at least a portion of a first or inner capacitor plate . layer 40 also has a first conductivity and defines a capacitor plate which is operably adjacent and in electrical communication with the node locations defined by diffusion regions 17 and 21 . accordingly , layer 40 is electrically connected with the node locations defined by diffusion regions 17 , 21 . 20 . referring to fig2 a second layer 42 is formed over first layer 40 . in a preferred implementation , second layer 42 comprises a conductive material which constitutes roughened or rugged polysilicon . an exemplary and preferred roughened or rugged polysilicon is hemispherical grain polysilicon . such is , in one aspect , substantially undoped as formed over first layer 40 . subsequently , and through suitable processing , outdiffusion of dopant from conductively doped polysilicon layer 40 into layer 42 renders second layer 42 conductive . together , layers 40 and 42 constitute a doped semiconductive material having a first average conductivity . accordingly , layers 40 and 42 constitute a first or inner capacitor plate having an outermost surface 44 of hemispherical grain polysilicon . accordingly , outermost surface 44 defines a generally roughened surface area . 21 . referring to fig3 a layer 46 is formed over substrate 12 and outer surface 44 of layer 42 . according to one aspect , layer 46 constitutes a conductive material having a second average conductivity which is greater than the first average conductivity of layers 40 , 42 . a preferred manner of forming layer 46 is through suitable chemical vapor deposition thereof over layer 42 . accordingly , such forms a generally conformal layer over the roughened surface area of the preferred hemispherical grain polysilicon layer 42 . hence , layer 46 is disposed over and operably adjacent layers 40 , 42 . 22 . suitable materials for layer 46 include conductive metal compounds , metal alloys , and elemental metals . other suitable materials include those which are preferably not conductively doped semiconductive material such as polysilicon . accordingly , layer 46 constitutes a material other than doped semiconductive material . an exemplary and preferred material for layer 46 is elemental titanium which is chemical vapor deposited over layer 42 . other materials can be used such as chemical vapor deposited platinum , tin , and the like . layer 46 is preferably chemical vapor deposited directly onto the hemispherical grain polysilicon material of layer 42 . 23 . referring to fig4 layers 40 , 42 , and 46 are planarized to electrically isolate the layers within respective opening 36 , 38 . exemplary planarization techniques include mechanical abrasion of the substrate as by chemical mechanical polishing . other techniques are possible . 24 . referring to fig5 a capacitor dielectric layer 48 is formed operably proximate the first capacitor plate , over layer 46 and within openings 36 , 38 . accordingly , layer 48 is spaced from the material of layers 40 , 42 a distance which is defined by layer 46 . exemplary materials for layer 48 are si 3 n 4 and sio 2 alone , or in combination . other materials such as tantalum pentoxide ( ta 2 o 5 ), barium strontium titanate ( bst ), and other dielectric materials can be used . 25 . alternately considered , the preferred metal layer 46 is formed intermediate conductive capacitor plate 40 , 42 and capacitor dielectric layer 48 preferably by chemical vapor deposition prior to providing capacitor dielectric layer 48 . as formed , metal layer 46 is at least in partial physical contacting relationship with capacitor dielectric layer 48 . accordingly , layer 46 is interposed between capacitor plate 40 , 42 and dielectric layer 48 . in a most preferred aspect , conductive layer 46 consists essentially of non - semiconductive material such as titanium , or titanium silicide . 26 . referring to fig6 a second capacitor plate layer 50 is formed over dielectric layer 48 and operatively proximate layer 46 . in a preferred implementation , layer 50 defines an outer capacitor plate which defines a cell plate layer of a dram storage capacitor . an exemplary material for capacitor plate layer 50 is polysilicon . 27 . referring to fig7 individual storage capacitors are patterned and etched to form capacitors 52 , 54 . an insulative layer 56 is formed thereover and is subsequently patterned and etched to form an opening which outwardly exposes diffusion region 19 . subsequently formed conductive material 58 provides a conductive bit line contact plug , and a subsequently formed conductive layer 60 provides a bit line in operative electrical contact therewith . accordingly , such defines , in the illustrated and preferred embodiment , dram storage cells comprising storage capacitors 52 , 54 . the fig7 construction illustrates but one example of dram storage cell constructions . of course , other constructions which utilize the inventive methodology are possible 28 . the above - described methodology and capacitor constructions provide a desirable solution to concerns associated with charge depletion effects at the interface between a capacitor plate and a dielectric layer . the interpositioning of a layer of conductive material relative to the capacitor plate and the dielectric layer , which is more conductive than capacitor plate , effectively relocates the location of the capacitor &# 39 ; s stored charge to a more desirable location . in addition , in implementations where doped semiconductive material is utilized for an inner capacitor plate and the “ more conductive ” interposed layer is formed thereover , a lesser degree of doping can be utilized such that dopant migration into other substrate structures is reduced . this is particularly useful when the capacitor plate includes an additional layer which is generally undoped as formed and subsequently rendered suitably conductive by outdiffusion of dopant from an adjacent layer . 29 . in compliance with the statute , the invention has been described in language more or less specific as to structural and methodical features . it is to be understood , however , that the invention is not limited to the specific features shown and described , since the means herein disclosed comprise preferred forms of putting the invention into effect . the invention is , therefore , claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the proper scope of the appended claims appropriately interpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents . | 7 |
referring now to fig1 - 7 , exemplary embodiments of the disclosure may be directed toward systems and methods for acquiring and cataloging photographic medical records . such systems and methods may comprise a mobile computing device 10 . such mobile computing devices typically comprise a housing 5 , a touch screen interface 6 , an imaging source ( such as a camera ), a memory storage element ( not shown ), and a processor ( not shown ). the mobile computing device may typically be a camera equipped smart phone or tablet computer such as the apple iphone or apple ipad ; such devices generally have all the above mentioned elements integrated therewithin . such systems and methods may also comprise a database configured to store medical record data of one or more patients , including photographic medical records . the database may be implemented in the local memory of the mobile computing device or implemented remotely with a means of data communication with the mobile computing device . in such embodiments , the mobile computing device may communicate with the database via internet connections , cellular data networks , and the like . in some embodiments , the imaging source may comprise an independent piece of medical imaging equipment that may be in communication with a mobile computing device . such an example may comprise a ct scanner paired to an iphone via a wireless bluetooth connection . embodiments of the mobile computing device are typically configured to run a pda . the pda may serve as a user interface for the mobile computing device which helps the user navigate the database . referring now to fig1 , the user ( typically a medical practitioner ) may typically log in to the pda in order to gain access to the database . the pda may gather patient information from the database and display the patient &# 39 ; s names 4 in a patient list view screen . the top of the patient list view screen may have search field 2 , which when selected may produce a virtual key board allowing the user to search for a patient by name . the patient &# 39 ; s names are typically displayed in alphabetical order with their corresponding dates of birth 3 . the user may scroll through the displayed list with swiping finger motions on the touch screen interface 6 . the patient list view screen may also have a new patient button , that when tapped will allow the user to enter information for a new patient and to update the database with that new patient . the patient list view screen may also have a snap photo button which will bring up the camera preview screen , and allow the user to capture medical images without having a patient profile in the database . captured images are often assigned to auto populated patient profile which may be updated and corrected at a later time . the patient list view screen may also have a preferences button 8 which when tapped will allow the user to change the pda preference settings . the user may select a patient by tapping their name on the touch screen interface . in response to patient selection , the pda may display a patient id screen for the selected patient . an exemplary patient id screen is shown in fig2 . in exemplary embodiments , the patient id screen 11 may show the selected patient &# 39 ; s basic information such as name 12 and date of birth 13 . the patient id screen may also display a patient &# 39 ; s photo 14 and medical record number 15 . the pda is typically configured to allow the user to edit the patient &# 39 ; s basic information from the patient id screen through an edit button 16 , which makes the data fields of the patient id screen editable . like the patient list view screen , the patient id screen may also have a new patient button 30 . the patient id screen may also have a snapshot button 31 and a trash button 32 . the snapshot button will typically bring up the camera preview screen , and images subsequently captured may be uploaded to the database as records for the selected patient . the trash button 32 can be configured to delete the selected patient &# 39 ; s profile . in exemplary embodiments , the pda may present a camera preview screen which may be configured to aid the user in acquiring and cataloging medical images of the patient . an exemplary camera preview screen 35 is shown in fig3 . the camera preview screen 35 may comprises a semitransparent full body map 36 showing different anatomical regions of the patient &# 39 ; s body . this map can be overlayed upon a preview of the image 25 that the imaging source is ready to capture . typically , the mobile computing device will have an integrated camera and this preview is the image that the camera is currently viewing and ready to capture . the user may then tap a location 37 on the full body map corresponding to the location on the patient of where the image is to be taken . the mobile computing device &# 39 ; s imaging source may then capture the image and store the image as a medical record for the patient in the database . the pda may then also tag the image with the anatomical location indicated by the user &# 39 ; s tap and time / date stamp . the camera preview screen may have front and back buttons 21 and 22 to toggle between front and back views for the full body map . typically , the camera preview screen will show the patient &# 39 ; s name 26 at the top of the screen , which when tapped will take the user back to the patient id screen 11 . additionally , in some embodiments the patient &# 39 ; s head shot is shown . if the headshot region is tapped then the preview image is captured and the user is prompted if the captured image should be used to replace the headshot . example front and back full body maps for males and females are shown in fig8 - 11 . for some anatomical regions , such as the feet and face , a greater amount of precision may be desired when tagging the anatomical location . when tapping these anatomical regions in the full body map in the camera preview screen , the pda will present a zoomed camera preview screen . a zoomed camera preview screen is shown in fig4 . the zoomed camera preview screen shows a preview 24 a of an image which may be imminently captured and an overlay of the selected anatomical region instead of the whole body 36 a . tapping within the overlay of the selected anatomical region may result in the image being captured . the captured image may then be time stamped and tagged with the tapped location 37 a within the zoomed anatomical region . a button is typically present to revert back to the non - zoomed camera preview screen . the anatomical regions that trigger a zoomed preview view screen may be selected and changed via the preferences button ( see fig1 ). example maps ( overlays ) for zoomed in anatomical regions are shown in fig1 - 19 . in exemplary embodiments , a timeline button 17 and a “ by location ” button 18 on the patient id screen is configured to trigger an image library timeline view or an image library by location view . either of these image library views allows the user to view all photographic medical records contained in the database for the selected patient . the image library timeline view ( see fig5 ) displays all photographic medical records for the selected patient in chronologically arranged thumbnails 40 . typically , the thumbnails are arranged from left to right with newer images to the right and the current image 41 is shown in the center with the date and time stamp above the image . the user may scroll through the thumbnails by swiping the touch screen interface with his or her finger . tapping on a thumbnail will enlarge the image to produce an enlarged image view screen ( see below ). the image library time line screen may also feature a body map which highlights the anatomical region of the image currently being viewed . there may also be a text box 48 for the user to create notes . the image library timeline screen may also feature one or more of the following buttons : ( 1 ) a “ pt list ” button 30 which will take the user back to the patient list , ( 2 ) a “ share ” button 33 which is configured to allow the user to select and share data and images from the image library timeline screen via e - mail , sms , text messaging , or the like , ( 3 ) a “ snap photo ” button 31 which will take the user to the camera preview screen for another photo of the patient , and ( 4 ) a “ trash ” button 32 which will prompt the user to delete the current image . the image library by location view 50 shows chronologically arranged thumbnails 40 a of the patient &# 39 ; s photographic medical records in the same fashion as the image library timeline screen ( with the selected image 41 a in the center ). however , the image library by location view only shows images from a designated anatomical region 55 ( see fig6 ). the designated anatomical region may be selected by tapping the region on a full body map 52 . regions with no photographic records show up as clear 53 while regions with photographic records will show up as shaded 54 . the currently viewed region ( designated anatomical region ) 55 will show up as bolded on the map . the image library by location view may also feature one or more of the following buttons : ( 1 ) a “ pt list ” button which will take the user back to the patient list , ( 2 ) a “ share ” button which is configured to allow the user to select and share data and images from the image library by location view via email , sms , or other means , ( 3 ) a “ snap photo ” button which will take the user to the camera preview screen for another photo of the patient , and ( 4 ) a “ trash ” button which will prompt the user to delete the current image . as mentioned above , the currently viewed thumbnail / photo graph in either the image library timeline view or the image library by location view may be viewed in an enlarged image view . ( see . fig7 .) this screen will show the selected image 60 maximally filling the screen 6 . swiping from left to right will show the next image , while swiping from right to left will show older images . tapping the screen may toggle the appearance and disappearance of buttons and information . on the top , the patient id 26 a ( name / photo date & amp ; time stamp ) will toggle along with a “ done ” button 61 . the “ done ” button will return the user to the thumbnail view mode from which he or she came . on the bottom of the screen , the “ patient list ” (“ pt list ”), “ share ”, “ snap photo ”, and “ trash ” buttons will toggle . in the center of the image the body map will appear and disappear to demonstrate the location of the image . these buttons have the same functions as described above . in additional aspects of the present disclosure , a mobile computing device may be configured to receive images from the patient , sent via phone or email . the user or the patient may identify the anatomical location of the image via a body map . the user provided image may then be stores in the database as a photographic medical record . additionally , the pda may take steps to merge and or synchronize the database with electronic medical records from various outpatient or inpatient care teams . the body map overlay may be selected from a variety of body maps . a front full body map 1000 for a female patient or subject can be selected as shown in fig8 . the full body map 1000 may comprise a head region 1001 , a neck region 1001 n , a torso region 1001 t , a right arm region 1002 , a left arm region 1003 , a right leg region 1004 , a left leg region 1005 , a right foot region 1008 , and a left foot region 1009 . a back full body map 1010 for a female patient or subject can be selected as shown in fig9 . the full body map 1010 may comprise a head region 1011 , a neck region 1011 n , a back region 1011 ba , a buttock region 1011 bu , a left arm region 1012 , a right arm region 1013 , a left leg region 1014 , a right leg region 1015 , a left hand region 1016 , a right hand region 1017 , a left leg region 1018 , and a right leg region 1019 . a front full body map 1500 for a male patient or subject can be selected as shown in fig1 . the full body map 1500 may comprise a head region 1501 , a neck region 1501 n , a torso region 1501 t , a right arm region 1502 , a left arm region 1503 , a right leg region 1504 , a left leg region 1505 , a right hand region 1506 , a left hand region 1507 , a right foot region 1508 , a left foot region 1509 . a back full body map 1510 for a male patient or subject can be selected as shown in fig1 . the full body map 1510 may comprise a head region 1511 , a neck region 1511 n , a back region 1511 ba , a buttock region 1511 bu , a left arm region 1512 , a right arm region 1513 , a left leg region 1514 , a right leg region 1515 , a left hand region 1516 , a right hand region 1517 , a left foot region 1518 , and a right foot region 1519 . a face map 1501 for a subject or patient , that is , a body map illustration of a zoomed frontal head view , can be selected as shown in fig1 . the face map 1501 may comprise a right forehead region 1501 rf , a left forehead region 1501 lf , a right cheek region 1501 rc , a left cheek region 1501 lc , a right jaw region 1501 rj , and a left jaw region 150111 . additional regions may include one or more ears , one or more eyes , a nose , an upper lip , a lower lip , upper teeth , lower teeth , a tongue , and the throat . a body map of the back of the head can be selected as shown in fig1 which shows a zoomed body map illustration of a back view of a head comprising the head region 1511 and the neck region 1511 n . a body map of the open palm 2006 f can be selected as shown in fig1 which shows a body map illustration of a front view of a right hand comprising an open palm region 2006 pa , a thumb region 2006 th , an index finger region 20061 f , a middle finger region 2006 mf , a ring finger region 2006 rf , and a pinky finger region 2006 pf . a body map of the back of the hand can be selected as shown in fig1 which shows a body map illustration of a back view of a right hand comprising the back of the hand region 2006 bh , the thumb region 2006 th , the index finger region 2006 if , the middle finger region 2006 mf , the ring finger region 2006 rf , and the pink finger region 2006 pf . fig1 shows a body map illustration of a front view 2007 f of a left hand . the front view region 2007 f comprises a thumb region 2007 th , an index finger region 2007 if , a middle finger region 2007 mf , a ring finger region 2007 rf , and a pinky finger region 2007 pf . fig1 shows a body map illustration of a back view 2007 b of a left hand . the back view 2007 b comprises the thumb region 2007 th , the index finger region 2007 if , the middle finger region 2007 mf , the ring finger region 2007 rf , and the pinky finger region 2007 pf . fig1 shows a body map illustration 2008 of a right foot comprising an ankle region 2008 a , a sole region 2008 s , a big toe region 2008 t 1 , a second toe region 2008 t 2 , a third toe region 2008 t 3 , a fourth toe region 2008 t 4 , and a pinky toe region 2008 t 5 . fig1 shows a body map illustration 2009 of a left foot comprising an ankle region 2009 a , a sole region 2009 s , a big toe region 2009 t 1 , a second toe region 2009 t 2 , a third toe region 2009 t 3 , a fourth toe region 2009 t 4 , and a pinky toe region 2009 t 5 . each of above regions may be tapped to capture an image and tag the captured image with the corresponding body part . each of these regions may comprise a plurality of sub - regions which may be tapped to capture an image and tag the captured image with the corresponding body part . it is further noted that the systems and methods may be implemented on various types of computer architectures , such as for example on a networked system or in a client - server configuration , or in an application service provider configuration , on a single general purpose computer or workstation . the systems and methods may include data signals conveyed via networks ( for example , local area network , wide area network , internet , combinations thereof ), fiber optic medium , carrier waves , wireless networks . for communication with one or more data processing devices . the data signals can carry any or all of the data disclosed herein ( for example , user input data , the results of the analysis to a user ) that is provided to or from a device . additionally , the methods and systems described herein may be implemented on many different types of processing devices by program code comprising program instructions that are executable by the device processing subsystem . the software program instructions may include source code , object code , machine code , or any other stored data that is operable to cause a processing system to perform methods described herein . the systems &# 39 ; and methods &# 39 ; data ( for example , associations , mappings ) may be stored and implemented in one or more different types of computer - implemented ways , such as different types of storage devices and programming constructs ( for example , data stores , ram , rom , flash memory , flat files , databases , programming data structures , programming variables , if - then ( or similar type ) statement constructs ). it is noted that data structures describe formats for use in organizing and storing data in databases , programs , memory , or other computer - readable media for use by a computer program . the systems and methods may be provided on many different types of computer - readable media including computer storage mechanisms ( for example , cd - rom , diskette , ram , flash memory , computer &# 39 ; s hard drive , magnetic tape , and holographic storage ) that contain instructions ( for example , software ) for use in execution by a processor to perform the methods &# 39 ; operations and implement the systems described herein . the computer components , software modules , functions , data stores and data structures described herein may be connected directly or indirectly to each other in order to allow the flow of data needed for their operations . it is also noted that the meaning of the term module includes but is not limited to a unit of code that performs a software operation , and can be implemented for example as a subroutine unit of code , or as a software function unit of code , or as an object ( as in an object - oriented paradigm ), or as an applet , or in a computer script language , or as another type of computer code . the software components and / or functionality may be located on a single computer or distributed across multiple computers depending upon the situation at hand . in general , in yet another aspect , a computer readable medium is provided including computer readable instructions , wherein the computer readable instructions instruct a processor to execute step a ) of the methods described above . the instructions can operate in a software runtime environment . in general , in yet another aspect , a data signal is provided that can be transmitted using a network , wherein the data signal includes said posterior probability calculated in step a ) of the methods described above . the data signal can further include packetized data that is transmitted through wired or wireless networks . in an aspect , a computer readable medium comprises computer readable instructions , wherein the instructions when executed carry out a calculation of the probability of a medical condition in a patient based upon data obtained from the patient corresponding to at least one biomarker . the computer readable instructions can operate in a software runtime environment of the processor . in an embodiment , a software runtime environment provides commonly used functions and facilities required by the software package . examples of a software runtime environment include , but are not limited to , computer operating systems , virtual machines or distributed operating systems . as will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art , several other examples of runtime environment exist . the computer readable instructions can be packaged and marketed as a software product or part of a software package . for example , the instructions can be packaged with an assay kit for psa . the computer readable medium may be a storage unit of the present invention as described herein . it is appreciated by those skilled in the art that computer readable medium can also be any available media that can be accessed by a server , a processor , or a computer . the computer readable medium can be incorporated as part of the computer - based system of the present disclosure , and can be employed for a computer - based assessment of a medical condition . additionally , the methods and systems described herein may be implemented on many different types of processing devices by program code comprising program instructions that are executable by the device processing subsystem . the software program instructions may include source code , object code , machine code , or any other stored data that is operable to cause a processing system to perform methods described herein . other implementations may also be used , however , such as firmware or even appropriately designed hardware configured to carry out the methods and systems described herein . the methods of the invention may be packaged as a computer program product , such as the expression of an organized set of instructions in the form of natural or programming language statements that is contained on a physical media of any nature ( for example , written , electronic , magnetic , optical or otherwise ) and that may be used with a computer or other automated data processing system of any nature ( but preferably based on digital technology ). such programming language statements , when executed by a computer or data processing system , cause the computer system to act in accordance with the particular content of the statements . computer program products include without limitation : programs in source and object code and / or test or data libraries embedded in a computer readable medium . furthermore , the computer program product that enables a computer system or data processing equipment device to act in preselected ways may be provided in a number of forms , including , but not limited to , original source code , assembly code , object code , machine language , encrypted or compressed versions of the foregoing and any and all equivalents . information before , after , or during processing can be displayed on any graphical display interface in communication with a computer system ( for example , a server ). a computer system may be physically separate from the instrument used to obtain values from the subject . in an embodiment , a graphical user interface also may be remote from the computer system , for example , part of a wireless device in communication with the network . in another embodiment , the computer and the instrument are the same device . an output device or input device of a computer system of the invention can include one or more user devices comprising a graphical user interface comprising interface elements such as buttons , pull down menus , scroll bars , fields for entering text , and the like as are routinely found in graphical user interfaces known in the art . requests entered on a user interface are transmitted to an application program in the system ( such as a web application ). in one embodiment , a user of user device in the system is able to directly access data using an html interface provided by web browsers and web server of the system . a graphical user interface may be generated by a graphical user interface code as part of the operating system or server and can be used to input data and / or to display input data . the result of processed data can be displayed in the interface or a different interface , printed on a printer in communication with the system , saved in a memory device , and / or transmitted over a network . a user interface can refer to graphical , textual , or auditory information presented to a user and may also refer to the control sequences used for controlling a program or device , such as keystrokes , movements , or selections . in another example , a user interface may be a touch screen , monitor , keyboard , mouse , or any other item that allows a user to interact with a system of the invention as would be obvious to one skilled in the art . while preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described herein , it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that such embodiments are provided by way of example only . numerous variations , changes , and substitutions will now occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the invention . it should be understood that various alternatives to the embodiments of the invention described herein may be employed in practicing the invention . it is intended that the following claims define the scope of the invention and that methods and structures within the scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered thereby . | 6 |
the described rfid system increases the accuracy and ease of locating rfid tagged items and combines visual information to provide a user with a visual representation of located products items and / or information associated with the rfid tagged items . in one example , the location of the rfid tag is determined at a portable electronic device by calculating a distance and lateral position by processing rf waves and , in one particular example , the angles at which the rf waves are received . in additional examples , the system includes a portable electronic device , such as , for example , a pair of goggles or a handheld device , including a transparent display to view the rfid item . the transparent display allows the user to view the background area surrounding the item while viewing product information associated with an rfid tagged item , wherein the associated information is retrieved from a database having entries associated with the code stored in an rfid tag . the portable electronic device is also configured with a communication channel to transfer information to and receive information from the database . the product information from the database and the information associated with the location of rfid tagged item will be processed such that the portable electronic device will display , to a user , a superimposed image of the product information over the background area . thus , a user may view product information as being superimposed over view of the tagged item . fig1 is a diagram of an example rfid system 100 including an example portable electronic device 102 to read received rf wave angles from rfid tags , two of which are generally referred to using reference numerals 104 and 106 . the example portable electronic device 102 includes an antenna 108 to send signals to and receive signals from rfid tags 104 and 106 . the portable electronic device 102 includes an internal transceiver 110 to locate rfid tags 104 and 106 . in one example , the rfid tags 104 and 106 each contain an integrated circuit 112 and 114 that is coupled with an antenna 116 and 118 to transmit data . the rfid tags 104 and 106 also contain memory 120 and 122 that stores information associated with an identification code and other data to be transmitted when the rfid device is activated or interrogated using electromagnetic energy 124 and 126 from the portable electronic device 102 . in the example of fig1 , the portable electronic device 102 includes the antenna 108 , the transceiver 110 , a keypad 128 , and a display screen 130 . the keypad 128 enables a user to input or select a rfid tag when performing search for a particular item . in addition , the keypad 128 is configured to allow the user to filter - out or select multiple rfid tags 109 and 106 , and is further configured to enable the user to update or modify information associated with individual rfid tags stored on a database 132 . the database 132 may store any number of different pieces of information . for example , the database 132 may store a listing of rfid tag identifiers , along with product information to which the rfid tag identifiers correspond . the database 132 may store information such as product descriptions , available quantities , manufacturer names , model numbers , catalog numbers , price , or any other type of information that may be tied to the rfid tag identifier . when the portable electronic device 102 is first initiated , the user may input information corresponding with a particular rfid tag . for example , the user can input a product name , part number , rfid address , etc . using the keypad 128 . the keypad 128 enables the user to enter multiple search criteria to limit the search . with the search criteria in place , the portable electronic device 102 scans an area based on the search criteria . once the portable electronic device 102 receives responses from local rfid tags 104 and 106 via an antenna 108 , the user may select individual tags or filter out multiple tags related to products shown within the display screen 130 . this will isolate the individual product items that are relevant to the search . furthermore , as each item is found , the user may update information on the database 132 by keying - in information associated with a particular tagged item on the keypad 128 . as shown in the example of fig1 , the electronic device 102 includes the antenna 108 and the transceiver 110 to transmit and receives electromagnetic energy 124 and 126 to communicate with reid tags 104 and 106 . when electromagnetic energy 124 and 126 couples with the antennas 116 and 118 on rfid tags 104 and 106 , the microchips 112 and 114 modulate the electromagnetic waves 124 and 126 and the tag ( e . g ., the tag 104 and / or 106 ) transmits a return signal to the device 102 . the returned electromagnetic energy 124 or 126 can contain information , such as the identification number , product information , or any other data stored on the memory 120 or 122 of the rfid tag 104 and / or 106 . the portable electronic device 102 receives the returned electromagnetic energy 124 or 126 from the rfid tags 104 and 106 and converts the received waves into digital data . in an example , the digital data is processed to determine the location of the lagged items using the wave angles received on the antenna 108 . theses wave angles will be used to determine the distance and lateral position of the rfid tags 104 and 106 . additionally , the received waves are analyzed to extract the identification number from an rfid tag . other wave characteristics such as time delay , amplitude change , and other characteristics may also be calculated to verify the location of the rfid tags 104 and 106 . the information obtained in processing the received waves will be configured for display 130 on the portable electronic device 102 . the display or screen 130 is configured to display the location of the processed wave angles that visually represent the location of rfid tags 104 and 106 , as well as product information to a user , discussed further in conjunction with fig2 . fig2 is a diagram showing examples of portable electronic devices capable of being used in an rfid system , such as the rfid system 100 of fig1 . the examples depicted in fig2 , are configured with a substantially transparent display to show the information associated with the rfid tag superimposed over the background including a product having an rfid tag being scanned . a first example includes a hand held device 200 . during use , a user can hold the device 200 at eye level or within the line of sight of the viewer and see through substantially transparent display , for example , rfid tagged items stored on shelves . while viewing rfid tagged items through the substantially transparent display , the hand held device 200 scans for rfid tags that are within the field of view of the substantially transparent display . when rfid tags are found , the hand held device 200 retrieves information associated with the rfid tagged items and displays such information on the substantially transparent display . the information associated with the rfid tagged items may be displayed on the substantially transparent display in proximity 10 the rfid tagged items such that a user can view the product storage areas and information may be superimposed over the view of the storage area in such a way that identification of certain items in view is presented . the identification may include additional information related to the tagged product such as manufacturer , model number , quantity , price , etc . another example form factor for a portable electronic device 102 may be a headset or a pair of goggles 202 . of course , other form factors of portable electronic devices may be provided . in any case , an overlaying image , also known as a heads - up display ( hud ) enables a user to precisely locate a rfid tagged item and provides opportunity to present additional information associated with the rfid tagged item . a hud is any type of display that presents data without blocking the user &# 39 ; s view . this technique was pioneered for military aviation and is now used in commercial aviation , motor vehicles , and other applications . the hud can be integrated into glasses or goggles 202 or can be a stand alone screen , in which the display element moves with the user &# 39 ; s head . such an arrangement is based on a monitoring of the user &# 39 ; s direction of sight and a determination of the appropriate image to be presented . that is , the portable electronic device 102 monitors the direction a user is looking and determines the rfid tag information to be displayed and the position in which it is to be displayed . such an arrangement enables a user to be presented with additional information on a display screen in a position related to the location that the rfid tagged item is seen in the display screen 204 or 206 . huds include a display element 204 and 206 which is largely transparent , meaning the information is displayed in contrasting superposition over the user &# 39 ; s unobstructed view . a common technique by which current huds are implemented is to project an image onto a clear glass optical element called a combiner . current display technologies that have been demonstrated include , liquid crystal ( lc ), liquid crystal on silicon ( lcos ), digital micro - mirrors ( dmds ), organic light - emitting diode ( oled ) and lasers . as shown in fig2 , the display 204 and 206 depicts an image of an item 210 . an enlarged view of the display 208 shows the item 210 and the information associated with the item on a label 212 . the label 212 can include an rfid number , product information , or any other information associated with the item 210 . the label 212 may be an on - screen graphic or any other suitable video overlay . although the foregoing has described portable electronic devices as including transparent displays enabling information related to rfid lagged items to be displayed in proximity to where those items are viewed through the display , this is not necessarily the case . for example , a portable electronic device could use a conventional display screen such as a liquid crystal display ( lcd ) or any other display screen technology in conjunction with a video capture device , such as a miniature video camera or the like . in such an arrangement , a user points the portable electronic device toward an area to be viewed and the camera captures images that are displayed on the display screen . the portable electronic device the detects rfid tags associated with items on the displayed image and presents such information to the user by inserting the information on the display screen in proximity to the rfid items presented on the video display . fig3 is a block diagram representative of an example system 300 for locating rfid tagged items , which may be used in any of the portable electronic devices shown in fig1 and 2 . turning to fig3 , an rfid locator 302 receives from one or more rfid tagged items to be processed an input or electromagnetic energy via an antenna . a wave angle processor 304 operates on the received electromagnetic energy to perform calculations associated with the received electromagnetic energy waves . the location identifier 306 , using the calculations from wave angle processor 304 , determines the distance and lateral position of each input to the rfid tag locator 302 . in one example , after a reader has completed a scan for rfid tags , within proximity of the reader , an index is generated with an entry for each tag containing the received wave angles . in addition to the rfid lagged item in question , the wave angle processor 304 may analyze the received waves from one or more adjacent tags in order to compare or reference multiple wave angles . this additional wave information may be used by the location identifier 306 to triangulate the position or location of an individual rfid tag , using multiple received waves as established reference points . furthermore , the input or electromagnetic energy associated with an rfid tag will be used by the rfid processor 308 to obtain the identification number of an rfid lag . the identification number determined by the rfid processor 308 may then be sent ( e . g ., via communication channel ) to a database 310 . the information generated at the red processor 308 can be used to reference information stored in the database 310 , and the information may also be updated each time an rfid identification number is referenced . additionally , the database 310 may be configured to be networked to the portable unit via , for example , the internet . a central database may be accessed by various branches of a distribution system , thereby providing not only information related to product on hand , but providing information regarding product availability within a network . once the information is referenced from the database 310 , it is sent back through the communication channel to the rfid processor 308 so that it can be further processed for display . the information generated by the rfid tag locator 302 and the rfid processor 308 are then sent to an information processor 312 . the information associated with the location of the calculated rf waves , the reference from the rfid tag , and the data from the database 310 are combined by the information processor 312 and configured for display to a user by an lcd controller 314 . the lcd controller 314 is configured to present the information associated with the rfid tag on screen for hud . fig4 is a flowchart representative of an example process 400 of processing the received information to overlay the rfid tag information on an image . fig4 represents example processes that may be implemented using hardware and / or machine readable instructions comprising a program for execution by a processor ( e . g ., the processor 502 shown in the example processor system 500 of fig5 ). such program ( s ) may be embodied in software stored on a tangible medium such as a cd - rom , a floppy disk , a hard drive , a digital versatile disk ( dvd ), or a memory associated with the processor 502 and / or embodied in firmware and / or dedicated hardware in a well - known manner . for example , the process of fig4 may be implemented using any form of logic , digital or otherwise . additionally , some aspects of the process 400 may be carried out manually . further , although the example processes are described with reference to the flowchart illustrated in fig4 , persons of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that many other methods of implementing the example methods may alternatively be used . for example , the order of execution of the blocks may be changed , and / or some of the blocks described may be changed , eliminated , or combined . further , some or all of the blocks may be performed manually . as shown in fig4 , the location of the rfid tagged item will be determined by processing the characteristics of the returned electrometric energy from the rfid tagged items . the circuitry of the rfid tag returns an electromagnetic signal back to the transceiver of the electronic device . the return rf waves are received and are processed to determine the location of the rfid tag , including wave characteristics ( i . e ., wave angles ) extracted from each received wave ( block 402 ). in addition , the identification number assigned to an rfid tag is obtained and sent to a database as a reference ( block 404 ). the database will update the information associated with each product ( e . g ., location , quantity , reference number , etc .). the database may provide additional information related to the tagged items and that such information may be retrieved and presented for display . in addition , the database may be configured to be networked via , for example , the internet or to a central database to be accessed by various branches of a distribution system . in this manner , any additional rfid tag information stored may be processed in association with the data stored on the database ( block 404 ). as shown in fig2 , the information presented to a user may be configured to include the data from the processed wave angles , the rfid identification , and the referenced information from the database . turning to fig4 , additional processing is required so that each identified tag corresponds to the established location , and displayed with the location is the information from the identification number and the database ( block 406 ). this processed information continuously updates with new information as each scan locates additional rfid tags . the processed information associated with an rfid tagged item is then displayed on the portable electronic device to a user ( block 408 ). inside the portable electronic device 102 , shown in fig1 , includes a microprocessor with functions that include decoding and performing simple calculations ( i . e . adding , subtracting , multiplying and dividing ). the processor . fig5 is a block diagram of an example processor system 500 that may be used to implement the example apparatus and methods described herein . as shown in fig5 , the processor system 500 includes a processor 502 that is coupled to an interconnection bus 504 . the processor 502 includes a register set or register space 506 , which is depicted in fig5 as being entirely on - chip , but which could alternatively be located entirely or partially off - chip and directly coupled to the processor 502 via dedicated electrical connections and / or via the interconnection bus 504 . the processor 502 may be any suitable processor , processing unit or microprocessor . although not shown in fig5 , the system 500 may be a multi - processor system and , thus , may include one or more additional processors that are identical or similar to the processor 502 and that are communicatively coupled to the interconnection bus 504 . the processor 502 of fig5 is coupled to a chipset 508 , which includes a memory controller 510 and an input / output ( i / o ) controller 512 . as is well known , a chipset typically provides i / o and memory management functions as well as a plurality of general purpose and / or special purpose registers , timers , etc . that are accessible or used by one or more processors coupled to the chipset 508 . the memory controller 510 performs functions that enable the processor 502 ( or processors if there are multiple processors ) to access a system memory 514 and a mass storage memory 516 . the system memory 514 may include any desired type of volatile and / or non - volatile memory such as , for example , static random access memory ( sram ), dynamic random access memory ( dram ), flash memory , read - only memory ( rom ), etc . the mass storage memory 516 may include any desired type of mass storage device including hard disk drives , optical drives , tape storage devices , etc . the i / o controller 512 performs functions that enable the processor 502 to communicate with peripheral input / output ( i / o ) devices 518 and 520 and a network interface 522 via an i / o bus 524 . the i / o devices 518 and 520 may be any desired type of i / o device such as , for example , a keyboard , a video display or monitor , a mouse , etc . the network interface 522 may be , for example , an ethernet device , an asynchronous transfer mode ( atm ) device , an 802 . 11 device , a dsl modem , a cable modem , a cellular modem , etc . that enables the processor system 500 to communicate with another processor system . while the memory controller 510 and the i / o controller 512 are depicted in fig5 as separate functional blocks within the chipset 508 , the functions performed by these blocks may be integrated within a single semiconductor circuit or may be implemented using two or more separate integrated circuits . at least some of the above described example methods and / or apparatus are implemented by one or more software and / or firmware programs running on a computer processor . however , dedicated hardware implementations including , but not limited to , application specific integrated circuits , programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices can likewise be constructed to implement some or all of the example methods and / or apparatus described herein , either in whole or in part . furthermore , alternative software implementations including , but not limited to , distributed processing or component / object distributed processing , parallel processing , or virtual machine processing can also be constructed to implement the example methods and / or apparatus described herein . it should also be noted that the example software and / or firmware implementations described herein are optionally stored on a tangible storage medium , such as : a magnetic medium ( e . g ., a magnetic disk or tape ); a magneto - optical or optical medium such as an optical disk ; or a solid state medium such as a memory card or other package that houses one or more read - only ( non - volatile ) memories , random access memories , or other re - writable ( volatile ) memories ; or a signal containing computer instructions . a digital file attached to e - mail or other information archive or set of archives is considered a distribution medium equivalent to a tangible storage medium . accordingly , the example software and / or firmware described herein can be stored on a tangible storage medium or distribution medium such as those described above or successor storage media . to the extent the above specification describes example components and functions with reference to particular standards and protocols , it is understood that the scope of this patent is not limited to such standards and protocols . for instance , each of the standards for internet and other packet switched network transmission ( e . g ., transmission control protocol ( tcp )/ internet protocol ( ip ), user datagram protocol ( udp )/ ip , hypertext markup language ( html ), hypertext transfer protocol ( http )) represent examples of the current state of the art . such standards are periodically superseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having the same general purpose . accordingly , replacement standards and protocols having the same general purpose are equivalents to the standards / protocols mentioned herein , and contemplated by this patent , are intended to be included within the scope of the accompanying claims . this patent contemplates examples wherein a device is associated with one or more machine readable mediums containing instructions , or receives and executes instructions from a propagated signal so that , for example , when connected to a network environment , the device can send or receive voice , video or data , and communicate over the network using the instructions . such a device can be implemented by any electronic device that provides voice , video and / or data communication , such as a telephone , a cordless telephone , a mobile phone , a cellular telephone , a personal digital assistant ( pda ), a set - top box , a computer , and / or a server . additionally , although this patent discloses example software or firmware executed on hardware and / or stored in a memory , it should be noted that such software or firmware is merely illustrative and should not be considered as limiting . for example , it is contemplated that any or all of these hardware and software components could be embodied exclusively in hardware , exclusively in software , exclusively in firmware or in some combination of hardware , firmware and / or software . accordingly , while the above specification described example methods and articles of manufacture , persons of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that the examples are not the only way to implement such methods and articles of manufacture . therefore , although certain example methods , apparatus and articles of manufacture have been described herein , the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto . on the contrary , this patent covers all methods , apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the appended claims either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents . | 6 |
the scope and contents of the present invention are not limited to a scope of the following examples . please refer to fig1 which discloses a schematic diagram of a method of purifying a fluoride in a semiconductor process waste gas of a preferred embodiment of the present invention . in the semiconductor process device , there are provided with a waste gas treating tank 2 in which a pre - processing reaction chamber 20 is formed . the waste gas including perfluorinated compounds ( pfc ) produced in the semiconductor process is guided into the pre - processing reaction chamber 20 in order to do pre - processing dissolution of the harmful perfluorinated compounds ( pfc ). in the present invention , a high temperature mist gaseous water 30 is guided into the pre - processing reaction chamber 20 . the so - called “ guided ” means that the gaseous water is sprayed to obtain a better effect . the high temperature mist gaseous water 30 is produced by heating room temperature water into steam . the water is heated at a temperature of 100 ° c . to produce steam . when the water continues to be heated to a temperature of 370 ° c . or above , mist gaseous water is generated . when water continues to be heated to a temperature of 950 ° c . or above , the hydrogen of the water molecular will be easily decomposed into gaseous hydrogen ion ( h + ). thus , the temperature of the water guided into the pre - processing reaction chamber 20 should be a high temperature from 370 ° c . to 1300 ° c . the requirement condition for exhibiting mist gaseous water is a temperature of 370 ° c . because fluorine ( f ) is very reactive at a high temperature of 850 ° c ., when a temperature of the pre - processing reaction chamber 20 reaches to 370 ˜ 1300 ° c ., the perfluorinated compounds ( pfc ), such as nf3 , f2 , etc . will be fast dissolved into a fluoride ion ( f − ) by the mist gaseous water 30 and the fluoride ion ( f − ) will react with the gaseous hydrogen ion ( h + ) generated by dissolving the mist gaseous water 30 to combine and to produce an aqueous hydrogen fluoride ( hf ). a following reaction equation i discloses a reaction equation when the fluoride is f 2 . a following reaction equation ii discloses a reaction equation when the fluoride is in one preferred embodiment , because fluorine ( f ) is very reactive at a high temperature of 850 ° c ., when the mist gaseous water 30 in the pre - processing reaction chamber 20 is heated to a dissolving temperature of to 850 ˜ 1300 ° c ., a purifying effect of the fluoride ion ( f − ) in the dissolving perfluorinated compounds ( pfc ) is greatly increased and the fluoride ion ( f − ) will easily react with the gaseous hydrogen ion ( h + ) generated by dissolving the mist gaseous water 30 to combine and to produce an aqueous hydrogen fluoride ( hf ). the aqueous hydrogen fluoride ( hf ) is scrubbed and captured by the washing step of the after - processing waste gas treating tank 2 to form a non - harmful gas to be emitted to the outside ( the washing step of the after - processing waste gas treating tank 2 is not the main point or the improvement of this invention , it will not described in more details ). in order to concretely implement the method please refer to fig2 to 4 which demonstrate a second preferred embodiment of the purifying device implemented in the invention . the fig2 discloses a structural diagram of a heat pipe 40 . the fig3 discloses a three - dimensional explosive diagram of the heat pipe 40 . the fig4 discloses an arrangement configuration of the heat pipe 40 disposed at the pre - processing reaction chamber 20 of the semiconductor waste gas treating tank 2 . two guide pipes 21 of the semiconductor waste gas 10 are disposed at the waste gas treating tank 2 . the guide pipes 21 are fluidly connected to the pre - processing reaction chamber 20 . the guide pipes 21 are used for guiding the semiconductor process waste gas 10 containing the perfluorinated compounds ( pfc ) into the reaction chamber 20 . a top cover 23 is disposed at the top of the waste gas treating tank 2 . the guide pipes 21 are disposed at the top cover 23 . a nitrogen pipe 22 is fluidly connected to the guide pipes 21 . nitrogen gas is guided by the nitrogen pipe 22 to enter into the reaction chamber 20 via the guide pipe 21 . a heat pipe 40 inserted into the reaction chamber 20 is disposed in the waste gas treating tank 2 . in implementation , the heat pipe 40 is spaced away from the guide pipe 21 of the semiconductor process waste gas 10 and disposed at the top cover 23 . at both ends of the heat pipe 40 , an outside end 41 located at an outside of the waste gas treating tank 2 and an inner end located at an inside of the reaction chamber 20 are formed . a water injection pipe 47 is fluidly connected to the outside end 41 . room temperature water is guided by the water injection pipe 47 to enter into the heat pipe 40 . a plurality of spit - outs 44 spaced apart and passed through and disposed on the pipe wall 43 of the heat pipe 40 are formed on a periphery pipe wall 43 located at the inner end of the reaction chamber 20 on the heat pipe 40 . a heating rod 45 is inserted into and disposed at the heat pipe 40 . the heating rod 45 can be an electrothermal heating rod . the heating rod 45 is used for heating water injected from the water injection pipe 47 into the heat pipe 40 so as to reach a water temperature of 370 ˜ 1300 ° c . when the water is heated to reach a temperature of 370 ° c . or above to exhibit mist gaseous water which move out of the spit - outs 44 located on the pipe wall of the heat pipe 40 to form the mist gaseous water 30 to be guided into the reaction chamber 20 . in one embodiment , a passage 46 is formed between the heating rod 45 and the pipe wall 43 of the heat pipe 40 . the passage 46 is fluidly connected to the water injection pipe 47 and is fluidly connected to the reaction chamber 20 via the plurality of spit - outs 44 so as produce the mist gaseous water 30 at a high temperature by heating of the heating rod 45 . thus , the mist gaseous water 30 enters the reaction chamber 20 via the spit - outs 44 . because a cross - area of the spit - out 44 is smaller than that of the passage 46 , the mist gaseous water 30 enters the reaction chamber 20 by spraying . the heat pipe 40 , the passage 46 and the heating rod 45 are arranged in a concentric circle way of a straight line so that the mist gaseous water 30 enters the reaction chamber 20 from the different spit - outs 44 under the same pressure in order to uniformly spraying in the reaction chamber 20 . a ring heater 24 is disposed at the periphery of the reaction chamber 20 . the ring heater 24 is used as an inner tank wall of the waste gas treating tank 2 in one embodiment . the ring heater 24 is used for heating and maintaining the temperature in the reaction chamber 20 so as to the temperature of the waste gas 10 and the mist gaseous water 30 reach to a dissolving temperature and so as to increase a dissolving effect of the fluoride ion dissolved in the perfluorinated compounds ( pfc ) because the ring heater 24 is made by an electrothermal heating rod . then , the fluoride ion ( f − ) can be easily combined with the hydrogen ion ( h + ) in the mist gaseous water 30 to produce an aqueous hydrogen fluoride ( hf ). the temperature of the guide pipe 21 inserted in the reaction chamber 20 is increased by the high temperature environment in the reaction chamber 20 . when the waste gas 10 moves through the guide pipe 21 and enters into the reaction chamber 20 , the temperature of the waste gas 10 is increase by contacting with the guide pipe 21 so that the temperature of the waste gas 10 can fast reach to the needed dissolving temperature to increase an purifying effect of the waste gas 10 during purifying duration . please refer to fig4 which demonstrates that the waste gas 10 enters into the pre - processing reaction chamber 20 of the waste gas treating tank 2 via the guide pipe 21 . when the mist gaseous water 30 enters into the pre - processing reaction chamber 20 of the waste gas treating tank 2 via the spit - outs 44 located on the heat pipe 40 , the waste gas 10 and the mist gaseous water 30 which are heated up to the dissolving temperature by the heating rod 45 and the ring heater 24 chemically react with each other in the reaction chamber 20 . for example , the perfluorinated compounds ( pfc ), such as , nf 3 , f 2 , etc . are fast dissolved into the fluoride ion ( f − ) by the mist gaseous water 30 , and the fluoride ion ( f − ) combines with the gaseous hydrogen ion ( h + ) dissolved in the mist gaseous water 30 to produce the aqueous hydrogen fluoride ( hf ). the waste gas 10 containing the hydrogen fluoride ( hf ) is sequentially moved from the pre - processing reaction chamber 20 in the waste gas treating tank 2 and pass through the first air washer 25 and the second air washer 26 located at the post - processing part in the waste gas treating tank 2 . the aqueous hydrogen fluoride ( hf ) is dissolved in the water during a scrubbing step via the first air washer 25 and the second air washer 26 so as to convert the waste gas 10 into non - harmful gas . the non - harmful gas is emitted to the outside atmosphere via the gas discharge port 27 . please refer to fig5 and 6 which demonstrate implementation details of a third embodiment of a purifying device of the present invention . fig5 discloses a cross - section view of the separator plate . fig5 a to 5 d disclose cross - section views of the separator plate of fig5 at different locations . fig6 discloses a configuration view of the separator plate disposed at the pre - processing reaction chamber of waste gas treating tank . please refer to fig5 and 6 . in one embodiment a plurality of separator plates 50 are disposed in the reaction chamber 20 . the plurality of separator plates 50 are arranged and spaced apart in the reaction chamber 20 by locking means or soldering . a reaction tank 53 is formed between the plurality of separator plates 50 . the reaction tanks 53 are fluidly connected to each other via the holes 51 formed on the separator plates 50 so as to form an air duct channel 54 . the waste gas 10 and the mist gaseous water 30 are guided to move through the reaction chamber 20 by the air duct channel 54 . the plurality of separator plates 50 disclosed in fig5 comprise a first separator plate 50 a , a second separator plate 50 b , a third separator plate 50 c and a fourth separator plate 50 d . form fig5 a to 5 d it can be known that the holes 51 formed on the first separator plate 50 a , the second separator plate 50 b , the third separator plate 50 c and the fourth separator plate 50 d are correspondent to each other and located at a first to fourth quadrants in a x -/ y - coordinate plane in a staggered way . the holes 51 formed on the separator plates 50 a to 50 d can be in a single hole way or in a web - like hole layer . a partition wall 52 for partially separating the reaction tanks 53 is disposed between the separator plates 50 . furthermore , the partition wall 52 is used for guiding and connecting the reaction tanks 53 via the holes 51 disposed on the neighboring separator plates 50 so as to construct and to form the tortuous air duct channel 54 . thus , the waste gas 10 and the mist gaseous water 30 are guided to move through the reaction tanks 53 and to increase a staying duration of the waste gas 10 and the gaseous water 30 in the reaction tanks 53 in order to increase the converting efficiency of perfluorinated compounds ( pfc ) dissolved in the waste gas 10 converted into the hydrogen fluoride ( hf ) by the gaseous water 30 . although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that any other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed . | 1 |
now referring to fig1 a , there is provided an injection needle 1 for use in percutaneous vertebroplasty , comprising : a ) a substantially longitudinal first tube 2 having a throughbore 4 , a proximal end portion 3 defining a proximal end opening 5 and a distal end portion 7 defining a distal end opening 9 , b ) a handle 11 surrounding the proximal end portion of the first tube and having an outer surface 13 , wherein the proximal end opening of the first tube opens onto the outer surface of the handle , and c ) a second tube 21 located at least partially within the handle and having a throughbore 23 , a distal end 25 in fluid connection with the first tube at a junction 27 , and a proximal end 29 defining a proximal end opening 31 that opens onto the outer surface of the handle . in some embodiments , the tube component of the present invention can be formed of a material that is distinct from the surrounding handle . in other embodiments , the tube is formed by simply making a throughbore in the surrounding handle . when assembled , the needle comprises a bone access port at its distal end , and two ports on its proximal end . the proximal end of the needle includes a first pathway to the bone access port to accommodate a stylet and a second pathway to the bone access port for attachment of a cement injection system . the second pathway is more horizontally disposed than the first pathway , allowing for improved positioning and ergonomics during delivery of the viscous implant material . the first and second tubes meet at a junction and form an angle α . fig1 a shows a substantially horizontal attachment of the delivery system to the handle ( α = 90 °); however , a more ergonomic approach may have the second pathway directed at an angle ( i . e ., angled up ( α & gt ; 90 °) or down ( α & lt ; 90 °)) from the horizontal . now referring to fig1 b , there is provided an embodiment of the present invention wherein the second tube 30 is directed upwards from the first tube 32 whereby angle α is greater than 90 degrees . in other embodiments , the second pathway is directed at a lateral angle ( i . e ., to the left or right of the handle ). in other embodiments , the angle is rotatably adjustable . this invention provides multiple pathways to the bone access port of an access needle for pv procedures , one of which is an access pathway for a straight stylet . it advantageously provides the surgeon with better positioning in relation to the proximal injection port during delivery of the implant material , while at the same time including the required stylet access for pv procedures . the proper orientation of the proximal access port and delivery system may also eliminate the need for the extension tubing . since the angled design of the present invention displaces the surgeon &# 39 ; s hands laterally ( in relation to the longitudinal axis of the second tube ), it may also allow the surgeon &# 39 ; s hands to be moved out of the fluoroscopy field during implant delivery without the use of an extension tube . because extension tubes often impose additional pressure requirements upon the injection device , the elimination of the extension tube may reduce the pressure requirements to deliver the viscous implant material . in some embodiments , a one - way valve or silicone plug is provided to prohibit backflow of implant material through the second proximal pathway . typically , the one - way valve is located in the first tube at a location proximal of the junction . alternatives to a one - way valve or silicone plug include a thumb - trigger that opens the second pathway when depressed , or a ball - plunger that retracts when the stylet is placed within the second pathway . in order to prevent injection of material while the stylet is in place , the handle includes a feature to fully or partially cover the luer connection 33 ( shown open in fig1 a ) associated with the injection port . an ergonomic handle component is provided that is able to separate into a delivery section and a stylet to partially or fully cover the luer connector to the delivery device so that implant material may not be injected while the stylet is in place . thereafter , when the stylet is removed , there is full exposure of the luer connection . in order to improve ergonomics , the luer connector to the delivery system may be placed at an angle to the handle or adapted to allow rotation to a preferred position . the use of allowable rotation provides a single beveled needle to be optimally oriented ( typically anteriorly ) while allowing the proximal inlet port to be oriented towards the surgeon . this not only provides improved ergonomics , it also may allow for elimination of extension tubing from the system . therefore , in accordance with the present invention , there is provided ( claim 12 ) an injection needle for use in percutaneous vertebroplasty , comprising : a . a substantially longitudinal first tube having a throughbore , a proximal end portion defining a proximal end opening and a distal end portion defining a distal end opening , b . a handle surrounding the proximal end portion of the first tube and having an outer surface , wherein the proximal end opening of the first tube opens onto the outer surface of the handle , and c . a rotatable luer connection disposed at the distal end opening of the first tube in order to increase surgeon visibility to the bone access site , the stylet may be removed from the handle . in so doing , most of the bulk of the handle is likewise removed . also , the handle may include two or more components that contain the stylet and the delivery access tube to the vertebral body . the handle may have a luer connection in the injection system that is partially or full contained within the removal stylet component . therefore , and now referring to fig1 c , in accordance with the present invention , there is provided an injection needle for use in percutaneous vertebroplasty , comprising : a ) a substantially longitudinal outer tube 2 having a throughbore 4 , a proximal end portion 3 defining a proximal end opening 5 and a distal end portion 7 defining a distal end opening 9 , b ) an outer handle 11 surrounding the proximal end portion of the outer tube and having a proximal surface 15 having a recess 17 , wherein the proximal end opening of the outer tube opens onto the proximal surface of the handle within the recess , c ) a substantially longitudinal inner stylet 41 having a proximal end portion 43 and a distal end portion 45 , and d ) an inner handle 51 surrounding the proximal end portion of the inner stylet , wherein the inner stylet is received within the throughbore of the outer tube , and wherein the inner handle fits substantially within the recess of the outer handle . preferably , the inner handle has a proximal surface 53 , the proximal surface of the the outer handle forms a first plane , and the proximal surface of the inner handle lies substantially the first plane when the inner stylet is received within the throughbore of the outer tube during the delivery of the cement and subsequent fluoroscopic assessment thereof , it appears that the large dimensions of the handle may sometimes obstruct the clinician &# 39 ; s view of the injection site . this obstruction may be particularly problematic when the surgeon seeks to use the stylet as a tamp for tamping the bone cement that remains in the delivery tube . therefore , in some embodiments of the present invention , the handle is manufactured as a modular component of the injection needle . the handle can be modularized by providing a first luer attachment at the distal end of the substantially longitudinal first tube , and a second luer attachment adapted to mate with the first luer attachment upon the delivery tube . now referring to fig2 , in accordance with the present invention , there is provided ( claim 28 ) an injection needle for use in percutaneous vertebroplasty , comprising : a ) a substantially longitudinal first tube 71 having a throughbore , a proximal end portion 73 defining a proximal end opening and a distal end portion 75 defining a distal end opening having a first luer connection thereon 77 , and b ) a handle 81 surrounding the proximal end portion of the first tube and having an outer surface 83 , wherein the proximal end opening of the first tube opens onto the outer surface of the handle , and c ) a delivery tube 85 having a throughbore and a proximal end portion 87 defining a proximal end opening having a second luer connection 89 thereon that mates with the first luer connection . in use , the surgeon can inject cement through the needle , and then remove the handle in order to have better visualization of the operative site when using the stylet . alternatively , the surgeon can inject the cement through the delivery tube 85 and second luer 89 without the handle attached . during the manufacturing of long tubes or needles used in pv , there may be manufacturing remnant materials inherently remaining within the tube or on the stylet . this is typically seen as grey material within the cement during injection . while cleaning with brushes or high pressure fluids assists in removing some of the remnant material , there is typically some remnant material left behind . the present invention seeks to reduce the delivery to the patient of debris remaining from the manufacturing process . this is accomplished by providing a coating on the inside surface of the needle to encapsulate or cover the inside of the tube ( or outside surface of the stylet ). the inner surface of the needle may be coated with a variety of materials ( i . e . ptfe ( teflon ), or its surface may be conditioned by a variety of manufacturing methods ( such as electropolishing or plating ) that may cover up undesirable manufacturing debris present upon the inside of the needle , thereby precluding their delivery to the patient . in addition , such a coating may reduce the friction on the inner surface of the cannula , thereby easing the flow of the cement passing through the needle and requiring less pressure to deliver the implant material . therefore , in accordance with the present invention , there is provided ( claim 13 ) injection needle for use in percutaneous vertebroplasty , comprising : a ) a substantially longitudinal first tube having an inner surface defining a throughbore , a proximal end portion defining a proximal end opening and a distal end portion defining a distal end opening , b ) a handle surrounding the proximal end portion of the first tube and having an outer surface , wherein the proximal end opening of the first tube opens onto the outer surface of the handle , and wherein the inner surface of the first tube is coated , electropolished or electroplated . now referring to fig3 a - 3b , in use , the device of the present invention is connected to a syringe contain a bone paste , and the paste is injected into the bone via the needle . the bone paste used in the vertebroplasty procedure may be any material typically used to augment vertebral bodies . therefore , in accordance with the present invention , there is provided ( claim 20 ) a device for use in percutaneous vertebroplasty , comprising : i ) a substantially longitudinal first tube 2 having a throughbore , a proximal end portion defining a proximal end opening 5 and a distal end portion 7 defining a distal end opening 9 , ii ) a handle 11 surrounding the proximal end portion of the first tube and having an outer surface 13 , wherein the proximal end opening of the first tube opens onto the outer surface of the handle , and ii ) a second tube 21 located at least partially within the handle and having a throughbore , a distal end in fluid connection with the first tube at a junction , and a proximal end defining a proximal end opening 31 , and b ) a syringe 61 fluidly connected to the proximal end opening of the second tube . in some embodiments , the syringe can be replaced with a delivery device having a material reservoir and tubing adapted to deliver the cement from the reservoir to the proximal end opening of the second tube . preferred bone pastes include bone cements ( such as acrylic - based bone cements , such as pmma - based bone cements ), pastes comprising bone particles ( either mineralized or demineralized or both ; and either autologous , allogenic or both ), and ceramic - based bone cements ( such as ha and tcp - based pastes ). | 0 |
the present invention relates to a memory system which includes a plurality of point - to - point links connected to a master . at least one point - to - point link connects at least one memory subsystem to the master , ( e . g ., a processor or controller ). the memory system may be upgraded by coupling memory subsystems to the master via respective dedicated point - to - point links . each memory subsystem includes a buffer device that communicates to a plurality of memory devices . the master communicates with each buffer device via each point - to - point link . the buffer device may be disposed on a memory module along with the plurality of memory devices and connected to the point - to - point link via a connector . alternatively , the buffer device may be disposed on a common printed circuit board or backplane link along with the corresponding point - to - point link and master . “ memory devices ” are a common class of integrated circuit devices that have an array of memory cells , such as , dynamic random access memory ( dram ), static random access memory ( sram ), etc . a “ memory subsystem ” is a plurality of memory devices interconnected with an integrated circuit device ( e . g ., a buffer device ) providing access between the memory devices and an overall system , for example , a computer system . it should be noted that a memory system is distinct from a memory subsystem in that a memory system may include one or more memory subsystems . a “ memory module ” or simply just “ module ” denotes a substrate having a plurality of memory devices employed with a connector interface . it follows from these definitions that a memory module having a buffer device isolating data , control , and address signals of the memory devices from the connector interface is a memory subsystem . with reference to fig3 a and 3b , block diagrams of a memory system according to embodiments of the present invention are illustrated . memory systems 300 and 305 include a controller 310 , a plurality of point - to - point links 320 a - 320 n , and a plurality of memory subsystems 330 a - 330 n . for simplicity , a more detailed embodiment of memory subsystem 330 a is illustrated as memory subsystem 340 . buffer device 350 and a plurality of memory devices 360 are disposed on memory subsystem 340 . buffer device 350 is coupled to the plurality of memory devices 360 via channels 370 . interface 375 disposed on controller 310 includes a plurality of memory subsystem ports 378 a - 378 n . a “ port ” is a portion of an interface that serves a congruent i / o functionality . one of memory subsystem ports 378 a - 378 n includes i / os , for sending and receiving data , addressing and control information over one of point - to - point links 320 a - 320 n . according to an embodiment of the present invention , at least one memory subsystem is connected to one memory subsystem port via one point - to - point link . the memory subsystem port is disposed on the memory controller interface which includes a plurality of memory subsystem ports , each having a connection to a point - to - point link . in fig3 a , point - to - point links 320 a - 320 n , memory subsystems 330 a - 330 c , and controller 310 , are incorporated on a common substrate ( not shown ) such as a wafer or a printed circuit board ( pcb ) in memory system 300 . in an alternate embodiment , memory subsystems are incorporated onto individual substrates ( e . g ., pcbs ) that are incorporated fixedly attached to a single substrate that incorporates point - to - point links 320 a - 320 n and controller 310 . in another alternate embodiment illustrated in fig3 b , memory subsystems 330 a - 330 c are incorporated onto individual substrates which include connectors 390 a - 390 c to support upgradeability in memory system 305 . corresponding mating connectors 380 a - 380 n are connected to a connection point of each point - to - point link 320 a - 320 n . each of mating connectors 380 a - 380 n interface with connectors 390 a - 390 c to allow removal / inclusion of memory subsystems 330 a - 330 c in memory system 305 . in one embodiment , mating connectors 380 a - 380 n are sockets and connectors 390 a - 390 c are edge connectors disposed on an edge of each substrate 330 a - 330 c . mating connectors 380 a - 380 n , are attached to a common substrate shared with point - to - point connections 320 a - 320 n and controller 310 . with further reference to fig3 a and 3b , buffer device 350 transceives and provides isolation between signals interfacing to controller 310 and signals interfacing to the plurality of memory devices 360 . in a normal memory read operation , buffer device 350 receives control , and address information from controller 310 via point - to - point link 320 a and in response , transmits corresponding signals to one or more , or all of memory devices 360 via channel 370 . one or more of memory devices 360 may respond by transmitting data to buffer device 350 which receives the data via one or more of channels 370 and in response , transmits corresponding signals to controller 310 via point - to - point link 320 a . controller 310 receives the signals corresponding to the data at corresponding port 378 a - 378 n . in this embodiment , memory subsystems 330 a - 330 n are buffered modules . by way of comparison , buffers disposed on the conventional dimm module in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 513 , 135 are employed to buffer or register control signals such as ras , and cas , etc ., and address signals . data i / os of the memory devices disposed on the dimm are connected directly to the dimm connector ( and ultimately to data lines on an external bus when the dimm is employed in memory system 100 ). buffer device 350 provides a high degree of system flexibility . new generations of memory devices may be phased in with controller 310 or into memory system 300 by modifying buffer device 350 . backward compatibility with existing generations of memory devices ( i . e ., memory devices 360 ) may also be preserved . similarly , new generations of controllers may be phased in which exploit features of new generations of memory devices while retaining backward compatibility with existing generations of memory devices . buffer device 350 effectively reduces the number of loading permutations on the corresponding point - to - point link to one , thus simplifying test procedures . for example , characterization of a point to point link may involve aspects such as transmitters and receivers at opposite ends , few to no impedance discontinuities , and relatively short interconnects . by way of contrast , characterization of control / address bus 130 ( see fig1 ) may involve aspects such as multiple transmit and receive points , long stub lines , and multiple load configurations , to name a few . thus , the increased number of electrical permutations tend to add more complexity to the design , test , verification and validation of memory system 100 . buffered modules added to upgrade memory system 300 ( e . g ., increase memory capacity ) are accommodated by independent point - to - point links . relative to a bussed approach , system level design , verification and validation considerations are reduced , due to the decreased amount of module inter - dependence provided by the independent point - to - point links . additionally , the implementation , verification and validation of buffered modules may be performed with less reliance on system level environment factors . several embodiments of point - to - point links 320 a - 320 n include a plurality of link architectures , signaling options , clocking options and interconnect types . embodiments having different link architectures include simultaneous bi - directional links , time - multiplexed bi - directional links and multiple unidirectional links . voltage or current mode signaling may be employed in any of these link architectures . clocking methods include any of globally synchronous clocking ; source synchronous clocking ( i . e ., where data is transported alongside the clock ) and encoding the data and the clock together . in one embodiment , differential signaling is employed and is transported over differential pair lines . in alternate embodiments , one or more common voltage or current references are employed with respective one or more current / voltage mode level signaling . in yet other embodiments , multi - level signaling - where information is transferred using symbols formed from multiple signal ( i . e ., voltage / current ) levels is employed . signaling over point - to - point links 320 a - 320 n may incorporate different modulation methods such as non - return to zero ( nrz ), multi - level pulse amplitude modulation ( pam ), phase shift keying , delay or time modulation , quadrature amplitude modulation ( qam ) and trellis coding . other signaling methods and apparatus may be employed in point - to - point links 320 a - 320 n , for example , optical fiber based apparatus and methods . the term “ point - to - point link ” denotes one or a plurality of signal lines , each signal line having only two transceiver connection points , each transceiver connection point coupled to transmitter circuitry , receiver circuitry or transceiver circuitry . for example , a point - to - point link may include a transmitter coupled at or near one end and a receiver coupled at or near the other end . the point - to - point link may be synonymous and interchangeable with a point - to - point connection or a point - to - point coupling . in keeping with the above description , the number of transceiver points along a signal line distinguishes between a point - to - point link and a bus . according to the above , the point - to - point link consists of two transceiver connection points while a bus consists of more than two transceiver points . one or more terminators ( e . g ., a resistive element ) may terminate each signal line in point - to - point links 320 a - 320 n . in several embodiments of the present invention , the terminators are connected to the point - to - point link and situated on buffer device 350 , on a memory module substrate and optionally on controller 310 at memory subsystem ports 378 a - 378 n . the terminator ( s ) connect to a termination voltage , such as ground or a reference voltage . the terminator may be matched to the impedance of each transmission line in point - to - point links 320 a - 320 n , to help reduce voltage reflections . in an embodiment of the present invention employing multi - level pam signaling , the data rate may be increased without increasing either the system clock frequency or the number of signal lines by employing multiple voltage levels to encode unique sets of consecutive digital values or symbols . that is , each unique combination of consecutive digital symbols may be assigned to a unique voltage level , or pattern of voltage levels . for example , a 4 - level pam scheme may employ four distinct voltage ranges to distinguish between a pair of consecutive digital values or symbols such as 00 , 01 , 10 and 11 . here , each voltage range would correspond to one of the unique pairs of consecutive symbols . with reference to fig4 a , 4 b and 4 c , buffered memory modules according to embodiments of the present invention are shown . modules 400 and 405 include buffer device 405 and a plurality of memory devices 410 a - 410 h communicating over a pair of channels 415 a and 415 b . in these embodiments channel 415 a communicates to memory devices 410 a - 410 d and channel 415 b communicates to memory devices 410 e - 410 h . in an embodiment , channels 415 a and 415 b consist of a plurality of signal lines in a relatively short multi - drop bus implementation . the plurality of signal lines may be controlled impedance transmission lines that are terminated using respective termination elements 420 a and 420 b . channels 415 a and 415 b are relatively short ( i . e ., are coupled to relatively few memory devices relative to a conventional memory system , for example see fig2 a and 2b ) and connect to an i / o interface ( not shown ) of each memory device via a short stub . signal lines of channels 415 a and 415 b include control lines ( rq ), data lines ( dq ) and clock lines ( cfm , ctm ). the varieties of interconnect topologies , interconnect types , clocking methods , signaling references , signaling methods , and signaling apparatus described above in reference to point - to - point links 320 a - 320 n may equally apply to channels 415 a and 415 b . in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention , control lines ( rq ) transport control ( e . g ., read , write , precharge . . . ) information and address ( e . g ., row and column ) information contained in packets . by bundling control and address information in packets , protocols required to communicate to memory devices 410 a - 410 h are independent of the physical control / address interface implementation . in alternate embodiments , control lines ( rq ) may comprise individual control lines , for example , row address strobe , column address strobe , etc ., and address lines . individual point - to - point control and address lines increase the number of parallel signal connection paths , thereby increasing system layout resource requirements with respect to a narrow “ packet protocol ” approach . in one alternate embodiment illustrated in fig6 a , individual device select lines 633 a and 633 b are employed to perform device selection . individual device select lines 633 a and 633 b decrease some latency consumed by decoding device identification which normally is utilized when multiple devices share the same channel and incorporate individual device identification values . clock lines of channels 415 a and 415 b include a terminated clock - to - master ( ctm ) ( i . e ., clock to buffer ) and clock - from - master ( cfm ) ( i . e ., clock from buffer ) line . in a source synchronous clocking method , ctm may be transition or edge aligned with control and / or data communicated to buffer device 405 from one or more of memory devices 410 a - 410 d in , for example , a read operation . cfm may be aligned with or used to synchronize control and / or data from the buffer to memory in , for example , a write operation . although two channels 415 a and 415 b are shown in fig4 a , a single channel is also feasible . in other embodiments , more than two channels may be incorporated onto module 400 . it is conceivable that if each channel and memory device interface is made narrow enough , then a dedicated channel between each memory device and the buffer device may be implemented on the module . the width of the channel refers to the number of parallel signal paths included in each channel . fig4 b illustrates a quad - channel module 450 having channels 415 a - 415 d . in this embodiment , channels 415 c and 415 d are routed in parallel with channels 415 a and 415 b to support more memory devices ( e . g ., 32 memory devices ). by incorporating more channels and additional memory devices , module 400 ( fig4 b ) may be implemented in memory systems that require large memory capacity , for example , in server or workstation class systems . in alternate embodiments , channels 415 a and 415 b may operate simultaneously with channels 415 c and 415 d to realize greater bandwidth . by operating a plurality of channels in parallel , the bandwidth of the module may be increased independently of the memory capacity . the advantages of greater bandwidth may be realized in conjunction with larger capacity as more modules incorporated the memory system 305 ( see fig3 b ) increase the system memory capacity . in other alternate embodiments , the modules are double sided and channels along with corresponding pluralities of memory devices are implemented on both sides . using both sides of the module increases capacity or increases bandwidth without impacting module height . both capacity and bandwidth may increase using this approach . indeed , these techniques may increase capacity and bandwidth singly or in combination . other features may also be incorporated to enhance module 400 in high capacity memory systems , for example , additional memory devices and interface signals for error correction code storage and transport ( ecc ). referring to fig4 c , memory devices 410 i and 410 r intended for ecc are disposed on module 470 . in one embodiment , memory devices 410 a - 410 h are rambus dynamic random access memory ( rdram ) devices operating at a data rate of 1066 mbits / sec . other memory devices may be implemented on module 400 , for example , double data rate ( ddr ) dram devices and synchronous dram ( sdram ) devices . utilizing buffer device 405 between the memory devices and controller in accordance with the present invention ( e . g ., see fig3 ) may feasibly render the type of memory device transparent to the system . different types of memory devices may be included on different modules within a memory system , by employing buffer device 405 to translate protocols employed by controller 310 to the protocol utilized in a particular memory device implementation . with reference to fig5 , a block diagram of a buffer device according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated . buffer device 405 includes interface 510 , interface 520 a and 520 b , multiplexing 530 a and 530 b , control logic 540 , write buffer 550 , optional cache 560 , computation block 565 , clock circuitry 570 and operations circuitry 572 . in an embodiment , interface 510 couples to external point - to - point link 320 ( e . g ., point - to - point links 320 a - 320 n in fig3 a and 3b ). interface 510 includes a port having transceiver 575 ( i . e . transmit and receive circuitry ) that connects to a point - to - point link . point - to - point link 320 comprises one or a plurality of signal lines , each signal line having no more than two transceiver connection points . one of the two transceiver connection points is included on interface 510 . buffer device 405 may include additional ports to couple additional point - to - point links between buffer device 405 and other buffer devices on other memory modules . these additional ports may be employed to expand memory capacity as is described in more detail below . in the embodiment shown in fig5 , buffer device 405 may function as a transceiver between point - to - point link 320 and other point - to - point links . in one embodiment , termination 580 is disposed on buffer device 405 and is connected to transceiver 575 and point - to - point link 320 . in this embodiment , transceiver 575 includes an output driver and a receiver . termination 580 may dissipate signal energy reflected ( i . e ., a voltage reflection ) from transceiver 575 . termination 580 may be a resistor or capacitor or inductor , singly or a series / parallel combination thereof . in alternate embodiments , termination 580 may be external to buffer device 405 . for example , termination 580 may be disposed on a module substrate or on a memory system substrate . in another approach , signal energy reflected from transceiver 575 may be utilized in a constructive manner according to an embodiment . by correctly placing a receive point spaced by a distance from the end of point - to - point link 320 , a reflected waveform is summed with an incident waveform to achieve a greater signal amplitude . in this approach , layout space may be saved by eliminating termination 580 . system power may also be saved using this approach since smaller incident voltage amplitude waveforms may be employed . this approach may be equally applicable to the transceiver end of the point - to - point link , or to channels 415 a and 415 b ( see fig4 a to 4c ). with further reference to fig5 , interfaces 520 a and 520 b receive and transmit to memory devices disposed on the module ( e . g ., see fig4 a , 4 b and 4 c ) via channels . ports included on interfaces 520 a and 520 b connect to each channel . in alternate embodiments of the present invention , interfaces 520 a and 520 b include any number of channels e . g ., two , four , eight or more channels . according to an embodiment of the present invention , multiplexers 530 a and 530 b perform bandwidth - concentrating operations , between interface 510 and interfaces 520 a and 520 b . the concept of bandwidth concentration involves combining the ( smaller ) bandwidth of each channel in a multiple channel embodiment to match the ( higher ) overall bandwidth utilized in a smaller group of channels . this approach typically utilizes multiplexing and demultiplexing of throughput between the multiple channels and smaller group of channels . in an embodiment , buffer device 405 utilizes the combined bandwidth of interfaces 520 a and 520 b to match the bandwidth of interface 510 . bandwidth concentration is described in more detail below . cache 560 is one performance enhancing feature that may be incorporated onto buffer device 405 . employing a cache 560 may improve memory access time by providing storage of most frequently referenced data and associated tag addresses with lower access latency characteristics than those of the memory devices . computation block 565 may include a processor or controller unit , a compression / decompression engine , etc , to further enhance the performance and / or functionality of the buffer device . in an embodiment , write buffer 550 may improve interfacing efficiency by utilizing available data transport windows over point - to - point link 320 to receive write data and optional address / mask information . once received , this information is temporarily stored in write buffer 550 until it is ready to be transferred to at least one memory device over interfaces 520 a and 520 b . a serial interface 574 may be employed to couple signals utilized in initialization of module or memory device identification values , test function , set / reset , access latency values , vendor specific functions or calibration . operations circuitry 572 may include registers or a read - only memory ( rom ) to store special information ( e . g ., vendor or configuration information ) that may be used by the controller . operations circuitry may reduce costs by eliminating the need for separate devices on the module conventionally provided to perform these features ( e . g ., serial presence detect ( spd ) employed in some conventional dimm modules ). according to an embodiment of the present invention , sideband signals are employed to handle special functions such as reset , initialization and power management functions . sideband signals are connected via serial interface 574 and are independent from point - to - point link 320 for handling the special functions . in other embodiments sideband signals are independently coupled to memory devices 410 a - 410 h to directly promote initialization , reset , power - up or other functionality independently of buffer device 405 . other interconnect topologies of sideband signals are possible . for example , sideband signals may be daisy chained between buffer devices and coupled to the memory controller or daisy chained between all memory devices to the memory controller . alternatively , dedicated sideband signals may be employed throughout . clock circuitry 570 may include clock generator circuitry ( e . g ., direct rambus clock generator ) which may be incorporated onto buffer device 405 and thus may eliminate the need for a separate clock generating device . here , module or system costs may be decreased since the need for a unique clock generator device on the module or in the system may be eliminated . since reliability to provide adequate clocking on an external device is eliminated , complexity is reduced since the clock may be generated on the buffer device 570 . by way of comparison , some of the conventional dimm modules require a phase lock loop ( pll ) generator device to generate phase aligned clock signals for each memory device disposed on the module . according to an embodiment of the present invention , clocking circuitry 570 includes one or more clock alignment circuits for phase or delay adjusting internal clock signals with respect to an external clock ( not shown ). clock alignment circuitry may utilize an external clock from an existing clock generator , or an internal clock generator to provide an internal clock , to generate internal synchronizing clock signals having a predetermined temporal relationship . with reference to fig6 a , and 6 b , block diagrams of a memory system according to embodiments of the present invention are illustrated . memory system 600 includes modules 400 a and 400 b , controller 610 , and populated primary point - to - point links 620 a and 620 b . unpopulated primary point - to - point links 630 are populated by coupling additional modules ( not shown ) thereto . the additional modules may be provided to upgrade memory system 600 . connectors may be disposed at an end of each primary point - to - point link to allow insertion or removal of the additional modules . modules 400 a and 400 b may also be provided with a connector or may be fixedly disposed ( i . e ., soldered ) in memory system 600 . although only two populated primary point - to - point links are shown in fig6 a , any number of primary point - to - point links may be disposed in memory system 600 , for example , three primary point - to - point links 400 a - 400 c , as shown in fig6 b . with reference to fig7 and fig4 b , a block diagram of a memory system employing a buffered quad - channel module according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated . memory systems 700 incorporate quad - channel modules 450 a - 450 d , each coupled via point - to - point links 620 a - 620 d respectively . referring to fig4 b , buffer device 405 may operate in a bandwidth concentrator approach . by employing quad channels 415 a - 415 d on each of modules 450 a - 450 d , bandwidth in each module may be concentrated from all quad channels 415 a - 415 d on each module to corresponding point - to - point links 620 a - 620 d . in this embodiment , throughput on each of point - to - point links 620 a - 620 d is concentrated to four times the throughput achieved on each of quad channels 415 a - 415 d . here , each of channels 415 a - 415 d transfers information between one or more respective memory devices on each channel and buffer device 405 simultaneously . any number of channels 415 a - 415 d , for example ; two channels 415 c and 415 d may transfer information simultaneously and the memory devices on the other two channels 415 a and 415 b remain in a ready or standby state until called upon to perform memory access operations . different applications may have different processing throughput requirements . in addition , the throughput requirements of a particular application may dynamically change during processing . typically , more power is consumed as throughput is increased as power consumption relates in proportion to operation frequency . the amount of throughput in a system may be implemented on a dynamic throughput requirement basis to save on power consumption . in this embodiment , memory system 700 may concentrate bandwidth as it is required while in operation . for example , memory system 700 may employ only one of channels 415 a - 415 d and match throughput to the corresponding point - to - point link . as bandwidth requirements increase , memory system 700 may dynamically activate more of channels 415 a - 415 d and increase the throughput on the point - to - point link along with the number of channels accordingly to meet the bandwidth requirements for a given operation . with reference to fig8 a , a block diagram of a large capacity memory system according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated . memory system 900 includes modules 470 a - 470 p , coupled to controller 610 via repeaters 910 a - 910 d , primary links 920 a - 920 d , and repeater links 930 a - 930 p . primary links 920 a - 920 d provide a point to point link between controller 610 and a respective repeater 910 a - 910 d . in an embodiment of the present invention , each of repeaters 910 a - 910 d decode packets transmitted from controller 610 which are then directed over one or more , or none of repeater links 930 a - d , depending the type of access required . each repeater link 930 a - 930 p may utilize a point - to - point link configuration . by incorporating , repeated links 930 a - 930 p and repeaters 910 a - 910 d , a larger number of modules may be accessed and a larger capacity memory system may be realized . such a large capacity may be suited in a computer server system . fig8 b illustrates another approach utilized to expand the memory capacity of a memory system in accordance to yet another embodiment . here , a plurality of buffered modules 950 a - 950 d are “ daisy chained ” via a plurality of point - to - point links 960 a - 960 d to increase the overall memory capacity . connection points of each point - to - point link are connected to two adjacent buffered modules . each of buffered modules 950 a - 950 c transceive signals between adjacent point - to - point links 960 a - 960 d . point - to - point link 960 a may be coupled to a controller or another buffered module . additional point - to - point links may be coupled to a buffer device in a tree configuration approach . for example , three point - to - point links 970 a - 970 c each having a single end connected to one buffer device may be employed as shown in fig8 c . while this invention has been described in conjunction with what is presently considered the most practical embodiments , the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments . in the contrary , the embodiments disclosed cover various modifications that are within the scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims . | 6 |
the invention is concerned with a method for preparing 3 - alkoxyacrylonitriles of the formula ## str1 ## wherein r 1 has the meaning h , straight - chain or branched alkyl moieties of 1 to 20 carbon atoms , straight - chain or branched moieties --( ch 2 ) n -- cn , --( ch 2 ) n or 4 or --( ch 2 ) n -- ch ( or 4 ) 2 with the meaning n = 0 to 5 , r 4 is alkyl and cyc = isocyclic or heterocyclic , mono - or polynuclear aromatic or cycloaliphatic ring systems which bear in some cases substituents on the rings ; and wherein r 3 has the meaning of straight - chain or branched alkyl or alkenyl moieties with 1 to 12 carbon atoms , isocyclic or heterocyclic , mono - or polynuclear aromatic or cycloaliphatic ring systems , which in some cases bear substituents , or --( ch 2 ) p -- cyc with cyc in the previous meaning , the moieties --( ch 2 ) p -- or 4 with p = 1 to 5 as well as r 4 in accordance with the previous meaning ; characterized in that an aliphatic nitrile of the formula wherein r 1 has the same meaning as above , is reacted with an alcoholate of the formula wherein m is an alkali metal with m = 1 or an alkaline earth metal with m = 2 and r 2 is a straight - chain or branched alkyl moiety of 1 to 5 carbon atoms , and with carbon monoxide at elevated pressure and temperature to form the corresponding alpha - formyl alkali or alkaline earth salt of compound ii , and this salt , without the need for further treatment of the resulting reaction mixture , is reacted at elevated temperature with a halogen compound of the formula wherein r 3 has the above - given meaning and hal represents chlorine , bromine or iodine . in a greatly preferred embodiment of the method , the nitrile of formula ii serves as starting substance and as solvent . this method of procedure operates with very low consumption of carbon monoxide because of a suppression of side reactions . in working up the product it is therefore possible simply to separate a mixture of formic acid ester , alcohol , residues of the halide r 3 - hal and the excess nitrile by distillation without fractionation , and this mixture is then reusable . alkali or alkaline earth alcoholates can be used as the alcoholates of formula iii . sodium and potassium salts of methanol or ethanol are preferred for practical reasons of easy availability . it is greatly preferred to perform the reaction in the presence of a basically reacting compound of the alkali or alkaline earth metals . for example , alkali or alkaline earth hydroxides , hydrogen carbonates , carbonates or oxides , preferably ca ( oh ) 2 , can be used . the basically reacting compound is used in a ratio of 0 . 05 to 1 equivalent , preferably 0 . 4 to 0 . 6 equivalents , for each mole of alcoholate . to increase selectivity and yield it is furthermore greatly preferred to use tertiary amines or quaternary ammonium bases as catalysts . the tertiary amines can contain identical , or in some cases different , linear or branched cycloalkyl , aralkyl or alkyl moieties of 1 to 20 carbon atoms . of the cyclic moieties , monocyclic moieties are preferred , and of the aliphatic moieties those of 1 to 6 carbon atoms are preferred . the quaternary ammonium salts can contain the named moieties or aryl or aralkyl moieties and a monovalent anion . of the cyclic moieties , monocyclic are preferred , and of the aliphatic moieties those of 1 to 6 carbon atoms are preferred . preferred catalysts are trimethylamine , triethylamine and tetra - n - butylammonium chloride or bromide . the catalysts are added in concentrations of 1 to 10 %, preferably 3 to 5 %, of the weight of alcoholate used . the chlorine compounds are preferred as halides of formula iv . the bromides or iodides , which can also be used , offer no advantages over the chlorine compounds . the carbon monoxide can be used at pressures from 5 to 100 , preferably 10 to 50 bar . higher pressures are possible , but unnecessary . the carbon monoxide can be mixed with other gases such as nitrogen or hydrogen . the reaction with the halides takes place between standard pressure and 50 bar , preference being given to standard pressure or a slightly high pressure . the temperature can be between 20 ° and 220 ° c . in the reaction with carbon monoxide , temperatures from 35 ° to 100 ° c . are preferred . in the reaction with the halides , the preferred temperatures range from 90 ° to 150 ° c . since the nitriles used as starting materials are also solvents , they are used in such an amount that the reaction mixture can be easily stirred . in general , 5 to 20 moles of nitrile are used per equivalent of the alcoholate . thus , virtually all of the alcoholate is reacted . the excess of the nitrile surprisingly suppresses , to a great extent , the formation of formic acid esters from the alcohol being released and the carbon monoxide . the consumption of carbon monoxide amounts to only 1 . 2 to 1 . 7 mol co per mole of alcoholate , while at the same time the formic acid ester can be re - used as a source of carbon monoxide . the halides of formula iv are used in amounts of 1 to 2 moles per equivalent of the alcoholate . the excess halides can be recovered . all in all , the method results in a considerable saving of materials , energy and time , especially in view of the reusability of the starting substances and adjuvants . all of the starting substances and adjuvants , with the exception of the halides , can be added right at the beginning of the reaction . it is advantageous that iodides are not necessary in the reaction . the amounts of the basically reacting compounds which have been mentioned are relatively small . advantageously , only 4 to 6 % of c - alkylated products are formed , by weight . the reaction times , of only 1 to 2 hours , are short , but after the halides are added it is desirable to allow time for the completion of the reaction . at the end of the reaction time , solid components are removed by filtration or centrifugation . very advantageously , the low - boiling products can first be separated by distillation , and then the product can be separated from the solids . the reaction product consists of e - isomers and z - isomers . * if nitriles in which r 1 is hydrogen are used , the 3 - alkoxynitrile will contain small amounts of the acetal formed by addition of the reaction alcohol r 2 oh , and of a compound containing the moiety r 3 in position 2 due to alkylation . the acetal can be cleaved to the desired 3 - alkoxyacrylonitrile by adding mineral acids such as h 3 po 4 , h 2 so 4 or hcl or acid salts or mineral acids such as khso 4 , while it is being worked up . at the same time , this will transpose the z - isomer to the more stable e - isomer . the alkylation product is separated by fractional distillation . it is desirable that the moieties r 2 and r 3 be the same . in a two - liter autoclave with a lifting stirrer , carbon monoxide is injected at a co pressure of 40 bar and a temperature of 60 ° c . into a mixture of 1100 g of acetonitrile , 102 . 0 g ( 1 . 5 mol ) of sodium ethoxide , 55 . 5 g ( 0 . 75 mol ) of ca ( oh ) 2 and 5 . 1 g of triethylamine , until 30 minutes later no more carbon monoxide was absorbed . then , at standard pressure , 193 . 5 g ( 3 . 0 mol ) of ethyl chloride is added and the suspension is stirred for 6 hours at 120 ° c . then the solid is removed by filtration , washed with acetonitrile , and the combined filtrates are fractionally distilled . at standard pressure , a mixture of formic acid ester , alcohol , acetonitrile and a remainder of the ethyl chloride is distilled out . the residue is fractionally distilled in vacuo . 119 . 6 g of distillate boiling from 80 ° to 92 ° c . ( 13 torr ) is obtained as product . composition , determined by gas chromatography : 82 . 3 fl .-% ( z / e )- 3ethoxypropenenitrile ( a ), 9 . 0 fl .-% 3 , 3 - diethoxypropanenitrile ( b ) and 8 . 7 fl .-% ( z / e )- 3 - ethoxy - 2 - ethylpropenenitrile ( c ). the total amount of ( a ) and ( b ), reckoned as ( a ), gives a yield of 73 . 4 % with respect to the alcoholate . same as example 1 , but with 1000 g of acetonitrile ; the reaction is performed with carbon monoxide . after the addition of the ethyl chloride at 120 ° c ., the suspension obtained was distilled with thorough mechanical stirring . yield of ( a ) composed of ( a ) and ( b ): 70 . 1 % with respect to the alcoholate . same as example 1 , but using 2 . 9 of tetra - n - butylammonium chloride instead of triethylamine . 119 . 0 g of distillate is obtained ( 83 . 2 fl .-% ( a ), 8 . 5 fl .-% ( b ) and 8 . 3 fl .-% ( c )). yield : 72 . 8 % with respect to the alcoholate . same as example 1 , but using 245 . 1 g ( 2 . 25 mol ) of ethyl chloride . the product is 104 . 3 g of distillate ( 74 . 1 fl .-% ( a ), 16 . 7 fl .-% ( b ) and 9 . 2 fl .-% ( c )). the yield , reckoned as ( a ), amounts to 61 . 2 % with respect to the alcoholate . same as the procedure of example 1 , but using 81 . 0 g ( 1 . 5 mol ) of sodium methoxide . the alpha - formyl sodium salt is produced at 70 ° c . and 50 bar co , and reacted with 151 . 5 g ( 3 . 0 mol ) of methyl chloride as in example 1 . in the distillation , 89 . 5 g of distillate is obtained , boiling from 64 ° to 81 ° c . at 12 torr ( gas chromatographic analysis ; 78 . 5 fl .-% ( z / e )- 3 - methoxy - propenenitrile , 17 . 6 fl .-% 3 , 3 - dimethoxypropanenitrile and 3 . 7 fl .-% ( z / e )- 3 - methoxy - 2 - methyl - propenenitrile ). yield : 66 . 0 %, reckoned as 3 - methoxy - propionitrile , with respect to the alcoholate . example 1 is repeated , but 1100 g of propionitrile was reacted . instead of acetonitrile , at 75 ° c . and 50 bar co pressure . the vacuum distillation yields 121 . 4 g of distillate boiling from 81 ° to 99 ° c . at 12 torr ( 93 . 2 fl .-% ( z / e )- 3 - ethoxy - 2 - methyl - propenenitrile and 6 . 6 fl .-% 3 , 3 - diethoxy - 2 - methyl - propanenitrile ). yield : 71 . 3 % with respect to the alcoholate . as in example 6 , 1000 g of propionitrile is reacted with 81 . 0 g ( 1 . 5 mol ) of sodium methoxide at 80 ° c . with co at 50 bar pressure , and reacted with 151 . 5 g ( 3 . 0 mol ) of methyl chloride . the vacuum distillation yields 100 . 8 g of distillate ( boiling from 68 ° to 73 ° c . at 12 torr ). yield : 69 . 3 % ( z / e )- 3 - methoxy - 2 - methylpropenenitrile , with respect to the alcoholate . a reaction mixture as in example 1 containing 1000 g of butyronitrile is made to react at 85 ° c . with carbon monoxide of 45 bar pressure , and transposed as in example 1 with 193 . 5 g ( 1 . 5 mol ) of ethyl chloride . product : 122 . 0 g of distillate ( boiling from 87 ° to 106 ° c . at 12 torr ). yield : 65 . 0 %, calculated as 3 - ethoxy - 2 - ethyl - propenenitrile . it will be understood that the specification and examples are illustrative but not limitative of the present invention and that other embodiments within the spirit and scope of the invention will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art . | 2 |
referring to fig1 , a wafer carrier 20 , is seated on automated processing equipment 22 . the wafer carrier comprises a container portion 24 including a top 26 , a bottom 28 , a back 30 , a pair of opposing sides 32 and 34 , and an open front 36 . inside the container portion 24 are supports 38 for holding a plurality of horizontally aligned and spaced wafers . a machine interface 30 is attached to the exterior of the bottom 28 of the container . open front 36 is defined by a door frame 40 with latch receptacles 42 . the container portion 24 further has a robotic flange 44 on the top 26 of the container portion . a wafer carrier door 46 fits into the door frame 40 to close the open front . referring to figs . ______ , door 46 generally includes door chassis 48 , latching mechanisms 50 , 52 , and mechanism covers 54 , 56 . fig . ______ , depicts a partial view of latching mechanism 50 in exemplary fashion . the mechanism shown has a rotary actuating member in the form of cam member 68 . latching arms 58 , 60 , each have a cam follower portion 62 , 64 , respectively , engaged with the periphery 66 of cam member 68 at cam portions 70 , 72 . as depicted in fig . ______ , each of latching arms 58 , 60 , has a latching portion 74 , 76 , at the end opposite from cam follower portions 62 , 64 . when key 78 is inserted into key slot 80 and rotated , cam follower portions 62 , 64 , slide along cam portions 70 , 72 . due to the shape of cam member 68 , latching arms 58 , 60 , are translated radially , extending or retracting latching portions 74 , 76 , through latch openings 82 , 84 . latching portions 74 , 76 , are received by latch receptacles 42 in the wafer carrier , allowing the door to be secured in place . which are provided to protect the latching mechanisms 50 , 52 from physical damage and contamination , and to serve as guides for latching arms 110 , 112 , 114 , and 116 . in the preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in figs . ______ , latching mechanism 50 is shown in the open position with latching arms 58 , 60 , fully retracted . spring member 86 is pivotally attached to cam member 68 at pivot 88 and is also pivotally attached to door chassis 48 at spring pivot 90 . spring member 86 restrains cam member 68 rotationally and is neutrally biased , exerting no biasing force on cam member 68 in the position shown . thus , spring member 86 provides a favored position for latching mechanism 50 in this position . if cam member 68 is rotated clockwise , however , spring member 86 will be biased in tension and will exert a steadily increasing biasing force in a counter - clockwise direction . this counter - clockwise biasing force serves as a “ soft ” rotational stop for cam member 68 in the clockwise rotational direction from the favored position . if cam member 68 is rotated further in the clockwise direction , cam follower portions 62 , 64 , eventually contact mechanical stops 92 , 94 , on cam member 68 . if cam member 68 is rotated counter - clockwise from the neutral position as shown , spring member 86 is biased in compression and initially exerts a steadily increasing rotational biasing force on cam member 68 in a clockwise rotational direction . as cam member 68 is rotated further counter - clockwise and reaches the mid - point of its rotational travel range , the biasing force of spring member 86 is directed through the center of cam member 68 . in this position , spring member 86 , although compressed , exerts no rotational biasing force on cam member 68 . as cam member 68 is further rotated in the counter - clockwise direction past the mid - point of its rotational travel range , spring member 86 exerts a biasing force , now urging cam member 68 in the counter - clockwise direction . as cam member 68 rotates further in the counter - clockwise direction , the rotational biasing force exerted by spring member 86 steadily decreases as spring member 86 decompresses . once cam member 68 reaches the fully latched position as shown in fig . ______ , spring member 86 once again reaches a neutral position and exerts no rotational biasing force in either direction . thus , spring member 86 has another favored position in this location . as before , if cam member 68 is rotated further counter - clockwise from this neutral position , spring member 86 is loaded in tension and exerts a steadily increasing rotational biasing force urging the cam member clockwise . eventually , as cam member is turned further counter - clockwise , cam follower portions 62 , 64 , contact mechanical stops 96 , 98 , on cam member 68 . the latching mechanism illustrated in fig3 and 4 has a number of distinct advantages . first , spring member 86 provides two favored positions for cam member 68 corresponding to the neutral positions described above . these favored positions are created with a single spring member and without the need for sliding contact between parts that can cause undesirable particulates . secondly , spring member 86 provides a rotational biasing force , urging cam member 68 toward either of the favored positions , depending on the rotational position of cam member 68 . in operation , cam member 68 experiences about 90 degrees of rotational travel range . spring member 86 provides a rotational biasing force over nearly the entire range , exerting no biasing force only when cam member 68 is at the mid - point of its rotational range , and when it is at either of the two favored positions . thus the effective rotational range where spring member 86 provides a rotational biasing force urging cam member 68 toward its favored positions is nearly 45 degrees in each direction . finally , as explained above , spring member 86 provides a biasing force resisting rotation of cam member 68 beyond each of its favored positions . as a result , when cam member 68 is rotated to either of its favored positions , it is decelerated in a controlled fashion by spring member 86 as it moves past the favored position , and its momentum is absorbed . once the momentum has been absorbed , spring member 86 contracts , pulling cam member 68 to its favored position . the result is that the favored positions are “ soft ”, and do not involve the collision of mechanical parts , which can generate vibrations . such vibrations are undesirable in that they can tend to “ launch ” any particulate matter present on the door or in the container , creating the possibility of contamination of the wafers . another advantage of avoiding the collision of mechanical parts as in “ hard ” favored positions is that such collisions can themselves generate undesirable particulates . the material and geometry of spring member 86 may be selected so that sufficient bias force is exerted to effectively prevent unintended rotation of cam member 68 , but is not excessive so as to unduly hinder intended rotation of cam member 68 when operated in use . in the preferred embodiment of figs . ______ , spring member 86 may be comprised of thermoplastic material , but could be made from any compatible resilient material suitable for use in a wafer container . the material may also be made electrically conductive if desired , for instance , by the addition of carbon fiber fill , to provide electrical conductivity for a grounding path . it will be appreciated that , by varying the length , cross - section and material used for spring member 86 , it is possible to achieve a range of the amount of spring biasing force exerted by spring member 86 . it is preferable that the spring biasing force be effective for at least 5 degrees of the rotational travel range of cam member 68 proximate to each favored position , but a range of up to nearly 45 degrees of the rotational travel range proximate to each favored position is possible as described above in addition , although spring member 86 is depicted as having an arcuate shape , other geometries are possible and are within the scope of the invention , such as the s - shaped spring 100 of fig . ______ or the coil spring 102 of fig6 . two or more spring members 104 , 106 , of smaller dimension may be used if desired , as depicted for example in fig . ______ . in addition , one or more torsion springs disposed within cam member 68 could be used to similar effect . another embodiment of the invention is depicted in figs . ______ . in this embodiment , cam member 68 has radial protuberance 108 . arcuate shaped spring member 110 is rigidly mounted to mechanism cover 118 at a point intermediate to tips 194 and 198 . spring member 190 has a v - shaped bends 192 and 196 proximate to tips 194 and 198 respectively . tips 194 and 198 are shaped conformingly to protuberance 180 . when mechanism cover 118 is installed on door chassis 102 , tips 194 and 198 are proximate to the periphery of cam member 108 . when cam member 108 is at a position corresponding to a latch - closed condition as shown in fig8 , radial protuberance 180 of cam member 108 is engaged and captured with tip 194 , providing a favored position for cam member 108 . spring member 190 is not loaded and thus has a neutral bias in this position . as cam member 108 is rotated clockwise , v - shaped bend 192 rides over protuberance 180 , biasing spring member 190 in bending . the resilience of spring member 190 exerts a biasing force acting through v - shaped bend 192 , tangential to protuberance 180 . this biasing force urges cam member 108 in a counter - clockwise direction , resisting the clockwise rotation . as cam member 108 is rotated further clockwise , protuberance 180 clears v - shaped bend 192 , and spring member 190 returns to an unloaded condition . spring member 190 remains out of contact with cam member 108 and exerts no rotational biasing force on it until cam member 108 nears a position corresponding to a latch - open condition , and protuberance 180 contacts v - shaped bend 196 . as cam member 108 is rotated further clockwise , v - shaped bend 196 rides over protuberance 180 again loading spring member 190 in bending . once protuberance 180 clears v - shaped bend 196 , the resilience of spring member 190 acting through v - shaped bend 196 urges cam member 108 clockwise . protuberance 180 is captured and held by the shape of tip 198 , constituting a favored position for cam member 108 corresponding to a latch - open condition . spring member 190 once again has a neutral bias in this position . if cam member 108 is rotated further clockwise from this position , the distal end of tip 198 is pressed radially outward by protuberance 180 , biasing spring member 190 in bending . consequently , spring member 190 exerts a biasing force directed radially inward , increasing the sliding friction between the distal end of tip 198 and radial protuberance 180 . thus , a force resisting rotation of cam member 108 clockwise beyond the favored position is provided . if cam member 108 is rotated still further clockwise , cam follower portions 130 and 132 contact mechanical stops 150 and 152 on cam member 108 , but before the distal end of tip 198 clears protuberance 180 . in the embodiment shown in fig8 - 10 , spring member 190 exerts a biasing force urging cam member 108 toward each of the two favored positions configured as detent stops for a rotational range of cam member 108 of about 5 - 15 degrees surrounding each detent stop , thus resisting disengagement of the cam member from the detents . in addition , this embodiment also has the advantage of “ soft ” favored positions configured as soft detent stops , due to the biasing force provided by the distal end of tips 194 and 198 against protuberance 180 as cam member 108 rotates in either direction past the detent stops . in the embodiments shown in fig8 - 10 , spring member 190 and cam member 108 are made from thermoplastic material , each preferably having abrasion resistant qualities . as a person of skill in the art will appreciate , however , the scope of the invention includes members made from any suitable and compatible materials . the latching arms themselves , rather than the rotating element of a latch assembly , may be provided with a spring bias toward favored positions , as shown for example in fig1 and 12 . although shown here with a rotary actuating member , such an assembly would be particularly well adapted for a latch mechanism having no rotary actuating member , using for instance , a four bar linkage for actuation . spring members 204 and 214 in this embodiment of the invention function similarly to a belleville type spring . two favored positions are provided , corresponding to a latch - open and a latch - closed position . spring member 204 is mounted between pivots 200 and 202 and is attached to latching arm 114 at center pivot 206 . similarly , spring member 214 is mounted between pivots 208 and 210 , and is attached to latching arm 116 at center pivot 212 . each of spring members 204 and 214 is normally straight , but slightly longer than the distance between the pivots to which it is attached . thus , spring members 204 and 214 take on a slightly arcuate shape when installed between the pivots and with no load applied as shown in fig1 and 12 . when cam member 106 is rotated counter - clockwise from the latch - open detent position shown in fig1 , latching arms 114 and 116 are translated radially outward along the longitudinal axis of each latching arm , causing center pivots 206 and 212 to also move radially outward . spring members 204 and 214 are consequently loaded in compression , and exert a force acting through center pivots 206 and 212 resisting the radial movement of latching arms 114 and 116 . when center pivot 206 reaches a point on a line directly between pivots 200 and 202 , and center pivot 212 reaches a point on a line directly between pivots 208 and 210 , each spring member 204 and 214 is fully compressed and exerts no radial biasing force on latching arms 114 and 116 . when cam member 106 is rotated further counter - clockwise so that center pivots 206 and 212 move further radially outward , spring members 204 and 214 begin to decompress and exert a force directed radially outward , urging latching arms 114 and 116 toward the latch - closed detent position . when latching arms 114 and 116 are fully extended as shown in fig1 , spring members 204 and 214 are once again in a neutral position , exerting no biasing force on latching arms 114 and 116 . those of skill in the art will recognize that , by varying the length , cross - section and material used for spring members 204 and 214 , it is possible to achieve a range of the amount of spring biasing force exerted by spring members 204 and 214 . it is preferable that the spring biasing force be effective for at least 10 % of the longitudinal travel range of the latching arms proximate to each favored position , but a range up to nearly 50 % of the longitudinal travel range proximate to each favored position is possible . another embodiment wherein a biasing force is provided directly to the latching arms using a spring arrangement having a single pivot on the door chassis is illustrated in fig1 . those of skill in the art will recognize that many other such variations are possible and are within the scope of the invention . additional objects , advantages , and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows , and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention . the objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims . although the description above contains many specificities , these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention . thus , the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents , rather than by the examples given . | 7 |
fig2 shows a borescope plug 40 , incorporating the principles of this invention , installed in a borescope inspection port which comprises an outer casing port 42 , a borescope plug mount 44 and a flowpath port 46 . the borescope plug therefore extends from outside the engine through an outer casing 48 and an inner casing 50 so that it may fill the flowpath port 46 in the flowpath structure 52 . the borescope plug 40 comprises a plug body 54 , a plunger portion 56 and a tip portion 58 . the plunger portion is positioned for sliding coaxial movement relative to the plug body and the tip portion 58 is firmly attached to the plunger portion 56 . the plug body 54 extends from outside the outer casing 48 through the inner casings 50 . a hole 70 in the center of plug body 54 minimizes plug weight while maintaining adequate tortional stiffness . a drive interface 60 is also provided in the form of a square drive hole 62 which is coaxial with cavity 70 and the long axis of the cylindrical plug body . the drive interface 60 is designed for interlocking attachment of a common square drive socket wrench and has a guide flange 66 and four locking holes 68 . the locking feature interacts with a conventional spring ball in a square drive socket wrench to make a positive attachment between the borescope plug 40 and the square drive wrench . this insures that the borescope plug is only be removed from interlocking wrench with depression of a conventional socket release mechanism the borescope plug body 54 also comprises a seating shoulder 72 which seats to a borescope plug mount 74 on the inner casing 50 . a lower portion of the borescope plug body is provided with threads 76 that engage threads 78 on the plug mount 74 . shoulder 72 sits on plug mount 74 when the borescope plug is firmly threaded down . the lower portion of the plug body comprises an axial cavity 80 having circular spring seat 82 . a cylindrical spring 84 extends from the spring seat 82 to the plunger portion 56 which has a complimentary spring seat 86 . the spring 84 tends to force the plunger 56 as far down in the axial cavity 80 as possible . the plunger is equipped with a flange 90 that engages retainer 88 to prevent exit of the plunger 56 from the axial cavity 80 of the plug body 54 . the plunger portion will bottom against retainer 88 when disassembled from the borescope inspection port . plunger 56 extends from the plug body cavity 80 to include the tip portion 58 that seats in the flowpath structure 52 of the turbine engine . a spherical chamfer 92 seals against a flowpath chamfer 94 in order to properly position the tip 58 relative to the flowpath fluid surface 96 . tip surface 98 will either be at or slightly recessed from the flowpath surface 96 when the tip chamfer is seated . the borescope plug 40 also comprises cooling means for cooling the borescope plug tip and seal means to prevent escape of cooling air . cooling airflow is directed from internal flowpath cavity 100 into recess 102 of the borescope tip . holes 104 through the tip direct the air to surface 98 which is exposed to the engine airflow . excess cooling airflow about the tip is prevented by the spherical chamfer 92 on the plunger portion which seals with reciprocal flange 94 of the flowpath structure 52 . a tube seal 106 in combination with sliding seal 108 prevents escape of cooling airflow by trapping the air from cavity 100 adjacent to the plunger portion 56 . sliding seal 108 is retained adjacent to plug body 54 by annular retainer 110 whereas tube seal 106 has a slight interference fit with a portion of the flowpath structure 112 and is flared for a sealing fit to the support structure 114 . uncontrolled flow of pressurized air is therefore prevented by the sliding seal 108 , the tube seal 106 and the exit chamfer 92 which seats against the flowpath structure 52 . an advantage of the borescope plug of fig2 is its ability to be installed with the plug tip conforming to a conical or angled flowpath . surface 98 is angled and properly oriented relative to surface 96 for a conforming flowpath surface . this orientation is provided by a keyway 116 in the plunger portion and a key 118 provided at or through the tube seal 106 . by using this key feature the plug is always aligned with the correct orientation when the borescope plug is screwed into place . when the borescope plug is threaded into the inspection port the plunger portion 56 rotates with the borescope plug body until the keyway 116 engages the key 118 . the plunger portion is then snapped down by spring 84 in the correct orientation relative to the flowpath 96 . without such a key feature the angled plug tip could protrude into the engine flowpath and cause airflow and thermal problems . borescope plug 40 of this invention has several advantages over the conventional borescope plugs . since borescope plug 40 extends through both the outer and the inner engine casings 48 , 50 it removes the visual uncertainty of whether or not a borescope plug has been properly installed . no borescope cover plates need to be removed to check the seating of the borescope plug . further , the borescope plug is provided with holes and grooves to maintain proper tip cooling and allow use of the borescope plug in higher temperature airflow environments than would otherwise be possible . this borescope plug can be positioned in close proximity to adjacent flanges and structures since no large cover plate and mounting arrangement is required . in some instances it may be desireable to use a borescope plug incorporating some of the features of the borescope plug of fig2 but only extending through a single casing . an embodiment of a borescope plug for penetrating a single casing is shown in fig3 . the shortened borescope plug 130 is in most respects identical to borescope plug 140 of fig2 . the shortened borescope plug 130 comprises a plug body 132 , a plunger 134 an a plunger tip 136 . the plug body 132 extends through an inner casing 138 into a support structure 140 . the plunger 130 and tip 136 extend through the flowpath structure 142 . plug body 132 is similar to plug body 154 of fig2 except that the central extension with the weight reducing cavity ( 70 ) has been omitted . a drive interface 142 is , however , still provided for interlocking with a square drive wrench and incorporates locking holes 44 for positive interlock with the wrench . the plug body threads down into a plug mount 146 in the inner case and seats against top surface 147 with the bottom surface 148 of the drive interface section 142 . an interior axial cavity 150 is provided for spring 152 which seats in annular spring mounts 154 and 156 . a flange 158 is provided on the plunger 134 for interaction with retainer 160 in order to maintain plunger 134 within the axial cavity 150 . the plunger 134 is identical to plunger 56 of the previous embodiment . a sealing flange 162 is provided for engaging flange 164 on the flowpath structure 142 . tip flowpath surface 166 is angled to conform with the flowpath surface 168 of the flowpath structure 142 and cooling holes 170 are fed from a cooling cavity 172 . a keyway slot 178 and key 180 are provided for orientation of angle tip surface 166 with flowpath 168 . the seal means once again comprises flange 162 , tube seal 174 and floating seal 176 . in all respects these sealing means are identical to that discussed in reference to the previous embodiment . the locking feature 144 in the drive interface allows for assembly and disassembly of the borescope plug without risking accidental loss of the plug in the duct work . the cooling , sealing and flow conforming attributes of this smaller borescope plug 130 are otherwise the same and have the same advantages as those previously discussed with reference to the first embodiment . while the invention has been discussed with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in substance and form can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in the attached claims . | 5 |
referring to the drawings and particularly to fig1 , 3 and 4 , one form of the golf training apparatus of the invention is there shown and generally identified by the numeral 14 . this form of the apparatus comprises an elongated , substantially planar paddle component 16 having a first end 18 , a second end 20 , and a tapered body portion 22 disposed intermediate said first and second ends . as seen in fig1 , first end 18 has a first extremity 18 a and a second extremity 18 b . similarly , second end 20 , which is substantially longer than first - end 18 , has a first extremity 20 a and a second extremity 20 b . extremities 18 a and 20 a are interconnected by a generally straight first side 24 , while extremities 18 b and 20 b are connected by a spaced apart second side 26 . second side 26 has a first segment 26 a that extends substantially parallel to first side 24 and along with a portion of first side 24 , defines a hand grip portion 27 . second side 26 also includes a second segment 26 b that extends from said first segment at an obtuse angle “ a ” ( fig2 ) and interconnects the hand grip portion with extremity 20 b of second end 20 . as indicated in fig1 of the drawings , side 24 is of a first length “ l ”, while side 26 is of a second length “ l + x ”. for reasons presently to be described , first length “ l ” is less than second length “ l + x ”. the apparatus of the present invention also comprises an elongate tubular member 30 that is rotatably connected to end 20 of the generally planar paddle component 16 by means of a threaded screw that functions as the pivot pin 32 ( see fig3 and 4 ). tubular member 30 has an open end 30 a and a closed end 30 b and is provided with a central aperture 33 that will allow a screw driver to permit interconnection of tubular member 30 with the panel member . a washer 35 is provided between the tubular member and the paddle in a manner indicated in fig4 of the drawings so that the tubular member can be smoothly rotated relative to the paddle in the manner indicated by the phantom lines in fig3 . as indicated in fig3 a , the plane “ p ” of open end 30 a , rather than being perpendicular to the side wall of the tubular member , extends at an angle of approximately 68 degrees with respect thereto . also forming a part of the apparatus of the present invention is a practice ball assembly 36 that comprises a first practice golf ball 37 and a second practice golf ball 38 . both the practice golf balls are sized so that they will closely fit within the tubular member 30 and , as indicated in the drawings , are connected by an elongated elastomeric cord 40 . turning now to fig5 of the drawings , in using the training apparatus of the invention , one of the practice golf balls such as golf ball 36 is inserted into the open end 30 a of the tubular member 30 , while the second ball 37 is allowed to remain outside the tubular member on the side of the tube farthest away from the trainee . with the practice golf balls in this position , the trainee grips the hand grip portion member 27 with the right hand and moves the apparatus from the starting position shown in the solid lines in fig5 to an upright position shown by the phantom lines in the left - hand portion of fig5 . from this position , the trainee starts the downward swing in the manner illustrated by the arrow 41 of fig5 . due to the novel construction of the apparatus of the invention , as the trainee continues the downward swing in a direction toward the starting position , the trainee will experience the feeling of the inward hand action and the practice ball 37 that is on the outward side of the tubular member will be pulled further away from the trainee in the manner indicated by the phantom lines in fig5 a and will drag the practice ball 36 out of the tubular member and toward the target in the manner illustrated in fig5 b of the drawings . this result is due largely to the fact that because of the unique configuration of the tapered body portion 22 and because the length of side 26 is somewhat greater than the length of side 24 , a centrifugal force ( outward shaft flex action ) is generated during the swing that causes the practice ball assembly 34 to act in the manner described and in the manner illustrated in fig5 a and 5b of the drawings to uniquely simulate the feeling of the inward golf swing . if desired , and in order for the practice ball 36 to more freely exit the tubular member , the tubular member can be rotated in the manner indicated by the phantom lines in fig3 relative to the paddle component into an optimum position in using the training apparatus of the invention to practice the outward golf swing , the paddle component 16 is inverted in the manner illustrated in fig1 a , 2 and 6 of the drawings and the tubular member 30 is rotated approximately 180 degrees relative to the paddle component 16 in the manner illustrated in fig2 of the drawings . this done , one of the practice golf balls , such as golf ball 36 , is inserted into the open end 30 a of the tubular member 30 , while the second ball 37 is allowed to remain outside the tubular member on the side closest to the trainee ( see also fig2 ). with the practice golf balls in this position , the trainee grips the hand grip portion member 27 with the right hand and moves the apparatus from the starting position shown in the solid lines in fig6 to an upright position shown by the phantom lines in the left - hand portion of fig6 . from this position , the trainee starts the downward swing in the manner illustrated by the arrow 43 of fig6 . due to the novel construction of the apparatus of the invention , as the trainee continues the swing toward the starting position , the trainee will experience the feeling of the outward golf swing and in this instance the practice ball 36 that is inside the tubular member will be propelled forward in the manner illustrated in fig6 b of the drawings and will drag the practice ball 37 toward the target in the manner illustrated in fig6 c of the drawings . the lag created by this action simulates inward shaft flex action thereby helping to square the club face at impact . as before , this result is due largely to the fact that because of the unique configuration of the body portion 22 which is now inverted into the position shown in fig6 and because the length of side 26 is somewhat greater than the length of side 24 , a centrifugal force is generated during the swing that causes the practice ball assembly 34 to act in the manner described herein ; as illustrated in fig6 , 6 a , 6 b and 6 c , to uniquely simulate the feeling of outward hand action . as before , if desired , and in order for the practice ball 36 to more freely exit the tubular member , the tubular member can be rotated relative to the paddle in the manner illustrated by the phantom lines in fig3 into an optimum position . turning next to fig7 through 11 of the drawings , an alternate form of the golf training apparatus of the invention is there shown and generally identified by the numeral 44 . this form of the apparatus , which is similar in some respects to the earlier described embodiment , comprises an elongated , substantially planar paddle component 46 having a first end 48 , a second end 50 , and a tapered body portion 52 disposed intermediate the first and second ends . as seen in fig7 , first end 48 has a first extremity 48 a and a second extremity 48 b . similarly , second end 50 has a first extremity 50 a and a second extremity 50 b . extremities 48 a and 50 a are interconnected by a generally straight first side 54 , while extremities 48 b and 50 b are connected by a second side 56 that is spaced apart from first side 54 . second side 56 has a first segment 56 a , which along with a portion of first side 54 , defines a hand grip portion 57 . second side 56 also includes a second segment 56 b that extends from said first segment at an obtuse angle “ a ” ( fig7 ) and interconnects the hand grip portion with extremity 50 b of second end 50 . the apparatus of the present invention also comprises an elongate , generally tubular member 60 that is rotatably connected to end 50 of the paddle component 46 by means of a threaded screw that functions as a pivot pin 62 ( see fig9 ). tubular member 60 has spaced apart open ends 60 a and a 60 b ( fig8 and 11 ) and is provided with a central aperture 63 that will allow passage of a screw driver shaft to permit interconnection of tubular member 60 with the panel member in the manner shown in fig9 . washers 65 and 67 are provided between the tubular member and the paddle in a manner indicated in fig9 of the drawings so that the tubular member can be smoothly rotated relative to the paddle in the manner indicated by the phantom lines in fig1 . as indicated in fig1 , the planes of the open ends of the tubular member , rather than being perpendicular to the side wall of the tubular member , extend at an angle of approximately 68 degrees with respect thereto . outwardly extending extension tabs 60 t are provided proximate each end of the tubular member 60 . also forming a part of the apparatus of the present invention is a practice ball assembly 66 that comprises a first practice golf ball 67 and a second practice golf ball 68 ( fig1 , 12 a and 12 b ). both of the practice golf balls are sized so that they will closely fit within the tubular member 60 and , as indicated in the drawings , are connected together by an elongated elastomeric cord 70 . the apparatus of this latest form of the invention further uniquely includes an elongated rod 74 having first and second ends 74 a and 74 b and a body portion 74 c disposed intermediate first and second ends 74 a and 74 b . as best seen in fig7 of the drawings , first end 74 a is curved to define a rod hand grip 76 . affixed proximate the second end 74 b of the rod is a generally spherical member 75 that provides a visual reference point to the trainee during the training swings . as indicated in fig7 , generally planar paddle 46 is of a first length “ l ” and elongated rod 74 is of a second length “ l − 1 ”, greater than first length “ l ”. planar paddle 46 is connected to elongated rod 74 by longitudinally spaced connectors , shown here as screws 78 having eyelets 78 a that closely receive the body portion 74 c of the elongated rod ( fig8 and 9 ). screws 78 are connected to first side of paddle 48 and extend therefrom in the manner illustrated in the drawings . with the construction shown in the drawings , planar paddle 46 is free to rotate relative to rod 74 between a first position shown in fig7 wherein paddle 46 is above rod 74 and a second position shown in fig1 wherein paddle 46 is below rod 74 . during the practice swing , planar paddle 46 is also free to slide longitudinally of rod 74 against the urging of a coil spring 77 between a first retracted position shown by the solid lines in fig7 and a second extended position shown by the phantom lines in fig7 . as indicated in fig7 , coil spring 77 circumscribes the outer extremity of body portion 74 c and has a first end 77 a that is connected to paddle 46 and a second end 77 b that engages ball 75 . turning now to fig1 of the drawings , in using the training apparatus of the invention one of the practice golf balls , such as golf ball 67 , is inserted into the open end 60 a of the tubular member 60 , while the second ball 68 is allowed to remain outside the tubular member on the side of the tube farthest away from the trainee . with the practice golf balls in this position , using the right hand the trainee grips the paddle grip portion 57 of paddle 46 and using the left hand the trainee grips the rod grip portion 76 of rod 74 ( see fig7 and 12 ). this done , the inward practice swing can be undertaken in a manner to move the apparatus from the starting position shown in the solid lines in fig1 to an upright position shown by the phantom lines in the left - hand portion of fig1 . from this position , the trainee starts the downward swing in the manner illustrated by the arrow 81 of fig1 . due to the novel construction of the apparatus of this latest form of the invention , as the trainee continues the downward swing in a direction toward the starting position , the trainee will experience the feeling of the inward hand action and the practice ball 68 that is on the outward side of the tubular member will be pulled further away from the trainee in the manner indicated by the solid lines in fig1 a and will drag the practice ball 67 out of the tubular member and away from the tubular member in a direction toward the target in the manner illustrated in fig1 b of the drawings . as before , this result is due largely to the unique configuration of the tapered body portion 52 wherein the length of side 56 is somewhat greater than the length of side 54 . with this unique construction a centrifugal force ( outward shaft flex action ) is generated during the swing that causes the practice ball assembly 64 to act in the manner described and , in the manner illustrated in fig1 a and 12b of the drawings , to uniquely simulate the feeling of the inward golf swing . if desired , and in order for the practice ball 67 to more freely exit the tubular member , the tubular member can be rotated in the manner indicated by the phantom lines in fig1 relative to the paddle component into an optimum position . during the downward swing , paddle 46 will move downward along rod 74 against the urging of spring 77 . in using the training apparatus of the invention to practice the outward golf swing , the paddle component 46 is rotated relative to rod 74 into the lowered position illustrated in fig1 of the drawings and the tubular member 60 is rotated in the manner shown in the drawings approximately 180 degrees relative to the paddle component 46 . this done , one of the practice golf balls , such as golf ball 67 , is inserted into the open end 60 a of the tubular member 60 , while the second ball 67 is allowed to remain outside the tubular member on the side closest to the trainee . with the practice golf balls in this position , using the right hand , the trainee grips the paddle grip portion 57 of paddle 46 and , using the left hand , the trainee grips the rod grip portion 76 of rod 74 ( see fig1 and 17 ). this done , the outward practice swing can be undertaken in a manner to move the apparatus from the starting position shown in the solid lines in fig1 to an upright position shown by the phantom lines in the left - hand portion of fig1 . from this position , the trainee starts the downward swing in the manner illustrated by the arrow 83 of fig1 . due to the novel construction of the apparatus of the invention , as the trainee continues the swing toward the starting position , the trainee will experience the feeling of the outward golf swing and in this instance the practice ball 67 that is inside the tubular member will be propelled forward in the manner illustrated by the sold lines in fig1 b of the drawings and will , in turn , propel the practice ball 68 toward the target in the manner illustrated in fig1 c of the drawings . the lag created by this action simulates inward shaft flex action thereby helping to square the club face at impact . as before , this result is due largely to the fact that because of the unique configuration of the paddle 46 , which is now rotated relative to rod 74 into the position shown in fig1 . because the length of side 56 is somewhat greater than the length of side 54 , a centrifugal force is generated during the swing that causes the practice ball assembly 66 to act in the manner described herein and , as illustrated in fig1 a , 18 b and 18 c , to uniquely simulate the feeling of an outward hand action . if desired , and in order for the practice ball 67 to more freely exit the tubular member , the tubular member can be rotated relative to the paddle in the manner illustrated by the phantom lines in fig1 into an optimum position . as in the earlier described practice swing , during the downward swing the paddle 46 will be urged forward against the urging of spring 77 . having now described the invention in detail in accordance with the requirements of the patent statutes , those skilled in this art will have no difficulty in making changes and modifications in the individual parts or their relative assembly in order to meet specific requirements or conditions . such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention , as set forth in the following claims . | 0 |
fig1 schematically illustrates a magnetic head slider with a precise positioning actuator in a preferred embodiment according to the present invention . in the figure , reference numeral 10 denotes a magnetic head section constituted by a very thin substrate 10 a with a thickness of about 50 μm for example and a thin - film layer 10 d with a thickness of about 35 - 50 μm formed on the substrate 10 a , and 11 denotes an actuator section fixed by an adhesion for example to a rear surface of the magnetic head section 10 , which is opposite to an element - formed surface or a front surface . the thin - film layer 10 d includes a thin - film magnetic head element 10 b and its terminal electrodes 10 c . the actuator section 11 is constituted by a base member 11 b and a thin actuator layer 11 a laminated on the base member 11 b . an surface of the actuator layer 11 a , which is opposite to a surface laminated on the base member 11 b is fixed to the rear surface of the magnetic head section 10 . on a bottom surface of the actuator section 11 , which is hidden in the figure or which is perpendicular to the element - formed surface of the magnetic head section 10 , an abs is formed . the substrate 10 a of the magnetic head section 10 , in the embodiment , is an al 2 o 3 - tic substrate that has been typically used for a magnetic head slider substrate . however , a thickness , namely a length in a top - and - rear direction , of the substrate 10 a is determined to a very small value as about 50 μm for example . the thin - film magnetic head element 10 b and the terminal electrodes 10 c are fabricated by a thin - film manufacturing process similar to the conventional process . the actuator section 11 is fabricated using a semiconductor integrating process . namely , on a relatively thick zirconia base member 11 b with the similar thickness as the conventional al 2 o 3 - tic substrate typically used for the magnetic head slider , an actuator layer 11 a with an electrostatic effect structure is formed by the semiconductor integrating process . as will be described later , since this actuator section 11 is individually fabricated from the magnetic head section 10 , any type of actuator structures such as a piezoelectric effect structure , a electrostrictive effect structure and electromagnetic inductive structure can be easily adopted other than the electrostatic effect structure . a size of the magnetic head slider with the magnetic head section 10 and the actuator section 11 in this embodiment is 1 . 25 mm × 1 . 0 mm × 0 . 3 mm for example which is substantially the same as that of the conventional magnetic head slider , and also an outer shape of this magnetic head slider is substantially the same as that of the conventional magnetic head slider . by applying a drive voltage to the actuator layer 11 a via signal electrodes ( not shown ), this actuator layer 11 a linearly displaces to a lateral direction as shown by an arrow 12 . thus , the magnetic head section 10 linearly displaces in the lateral direction in a similar manner to precise position the magnetic head element 10 b . since the magnetic head section 10 that is a movable part is thin and very light in mass , a sufficient displacement can be expected even by a very small drive force . it is important that the displacement is occurred at the magnetic head section 10 only and that no displacement is occurred at the abs formed on the base member 11 b of the actuator section 11 . therefore , the attitude of the abs will not change so as to always keep a stable flying characteristics of the slider . because of the extremely light mass of the movable part , following various advantages can be obtained : ( a ) an actuator of a low - voltage drive type can be utilized to avoid to have a detrimental effect on an electromagnetic conversion characteristics of the magnetic head element ; ( b ) an actuator can be formed with a structure and of a material that will present a small displacement force ; ( c ) high flexibility in designing an actuator can be expected ; and ( d ) a vibration characteristics of a suspension will not be deteriorated because a mechanical resonance occurs at a relatively high frequency . fig2 illustrates a flow of a part of a manufacturing process of the magnetic head slider in the embodiment of fig1 , and fig3 illustrates a part of a manufacturing process of the magnetic head slider in the embodiment of fig1 and its various modifications . here , the manufacturing process of the magnetic head slider in this embodiment will be described . first , an al 2 o 3 - tic wafer 30 with the same thickness as that of the conventional wafer is prepared ( step s 1 ). then , by forming many thin - film magnetic head elements and their electrode terminals on the al 2 o 3 - tic wafer 30 using the conventional thin - film integration technique , an wafer 32 with a thin - film layer 31 on its surface is obtained ( step s 2 ). then , a rear surface of this element - integrated wafer 32 is ground to obtain a very thin wafer 33 with a wafer section thickness not including a thickness of the integrated elements , of about several tens μm ( step s 3 ). current working machine can grind the wafer to such thin thickness but in future it may be possible to grind the wafer thinner . it is possible to integrate thin - film magnetic head elements on an wafer preliminarily thinned . however , in this case , the wafer may be easily deformed during the integration process causing the fabrication process of the thin - film magnetic head elements to become difficult . thus , it is desired to grind the wafer after the integration of the thin - film magnetic head elements thereon . thereafter , the thinned wafer 33 is cut and separated into individual pieces of magnetic head sections 34 ( step s 4 ). on the other hand , a relatively thick zirconia ( zro 2 ) wafer 35 with the same thickness as that of the conventional al 2 o 3 - tic wafer is prepared ( step s 5 ). then , by forming many electrostatic structure actuator elements on the wafer 35 using a semiconductor integration technique , an wafer 37 with the actuator layer 36 on its surface is obtained ( step s 6 ). then , the wafer 37 is cut and separated into individual pieces of actuator sections 38 ( step s 7 ). abss are formed on bottom surfaces of the actuator sections during this cut and separation process . more concretely , after the wafer 37 is diced into a plurality of bar members each having a plurality of actuator sections aligned , the abss are formed on the bottom surfaces of the respective actuator sections and then each bar member is cut and separated into individual pieces of the actuator sections 38 . thereafter , a surface of the actuator layer 36 of each actuator section piece 38 is adhered or bonded to a rear surface of each magnetic head section piece 34 by a resin adhesive or by a glass bonding and thus an individual magnetic head slider 39 is obtained ( step s 8 ). fig4 illustrates a flow of a part of a manufacturing process of a magnetic head slider in a modification of the embodiment of fig2 . here , the manufacturing process of the magnetic head slider in this modification will be described with reference to fig3 and 4 . first , an al 2 o 3 - tic wafer 30 with the same thickness as that of the conventional wafer is prepared ( step s 11 ). then , by forming many thin - film magnetic head elements and their electrode terminals on the al 2 o 3 - tic wafer 30 using the conventional thin - film integration technique , an wafer 32 with a thin - film layer 31 on its surface is obtained ( step s 12 ). then , a rear surface of this element - integrated wafer 32 is ground to obtain a very thin wafer 33 with a wafer section thickness not including a thickness of the integrated elements , of about several tens μm ( step s 13 ). current working machine can grind the wafer to such thin thickness but in future it may be possible to grind the wafer thinner . it is possible to integrate thin - film magnetic head elements on an wafer preliminarily thinned . however , in this case , the wafer may be easily deformed during the integration process causing the fabrication process of the thin - film magnetic head elements to become difficult . thus , it is desired to grind the wafer after the integration of the thin - film magnetic head elements thereon . thereafter , the thinned wafer 33 is diced into a plurality of bar members 40 each having a plurality of magnetic head sections aligned ( step s 14 ). on the other hand , a relatively thick zirconia ( zro 2 ) wafer 35 with the same thickness as that of the conventional al 2 o 3 - tic wafer is prepared ( step s 15 ). then , by forming many electrostatic structure actuator elements on the wafer 35 using a semiconductor integration technique , an wafer 37 with the actuator layer 36 on its surface is obtained ( step s 16 ). then , the wafer 37 is diced into a plurality of bar members 41 each having a plurality of actuator sections aligned ( step s 17 ). abss are formed on bottom surfaces of the actuator sections of the bar member 41 . thereafter , a surface of the actuator layer 36 of each bar member 41 for the actuator sections is adhered or bonded to a rear surface of each bar member 40 for the magnetic head sections by a resin adhesive or by a glass bonding to obtain a bar member 42 with a plurality of magnetic head sliders aligned ( step s 18 ). then , each bar member 42 is cut and separated into individual pieces of the magnetic head sliders 39 ( step s 19 ). fig5 illustrates a flow of a part of a manufacturing process of a magnetic head slider in another modification of the embodiment of fig2 . here , the manufacturing process of the magnetic head slider in this modification will be described with reference to fig3 and 5 . first , an al 2 o 3 - tic wafer 30 with the same thickness as that of the conventional wafer is prepared ( step s 21 ). then , by forming many thin - film magnetic head elements and their electrode terminals on the al 2 o 3 - tic wafer 30 using the conventional thin - film integration technique , an wafer 32 with a thin - film layer 31 on its surface is obtained ( step s 22 ). then , a rear surface of this element - integrated wafer 32 is ground to obtain a very thin wafer 33 with a wafer section thickness not including a thickness of the integrated elements , of about several tens μm ( step s 23 ). current working machine can grind the wafer to such thin thickness but in future it may be possible to grind the wafer thinner . it is possible to integrate thin - film magnetic head elements on an wafer preliminarily thinned . however , in this case , the wafer may be easily deformed during the integration process causing the fabrication process of the thin - film magnetic head elements to become difficult . thus , it is desired to grind the wafer after the integration of the thin - film magnetic head elements thereon . on the other hand , a relatively thick zirconia ( zro 2 ) wafer 35 with the same thickness as that of the conventional al 2 o 3 - tic wafer is prepared ( step s 24 ). then , by forming many electrostatic structure actuator elements on the wafer 35 using a semiconductor integration technique , an wafer 37 with the actuator layer 36 on its surface is obtained ( step s 25 ). then , a surface of the actuator layer 36 of the wafer 35 for the actuator sections is adhered or bonded to a rear surface of the wafer 33 for the magnetic head sections by a resin adhesive or by a glass bonding to obtain an wafer 43 ( step s 26 ). thereafter , the wafer 43 is cut and separated into individual pieces of magnetic head sliders 39 ( step s 27 ). abss are formed on bottom surfaces of the actuator sections during this cut and separation process . more concretely , after the wafer 43 is diced into a plurality of bar members each having a plurality of magnetic head sliders aligned , the abss are formed on the bottom surfaces of the respective actuator sections and then each bar member is cut and separated into individual pieces of the magnetic head sliders 39 . in the aforementioned embodiment and modifications , the abss are formed on the bottom surface of each bar member . however , the abs may be formed on the bottom surface of each piece of the separated actuator section or the separated magnetic head slider . also , in the aforementioned embodiment and modifications , the magnetic head sections are thinned by grinding the rear surface of the element - integrated wafer . however , it is possible to thin the magnetic head section by grinding a rear surface of each bar member with a plurality of magnetic head sections aligned or a rear surface of a separated piece of the magnetic head section . fig6 schematically illustrates a magnetic head slider with a precise positioning actuator in another embodiment according to the present invention , and fig7 illustrates the magnetic head slider of the embodiment of fig6 , seen from the abs side . in these figures , reference numeral 60 denotes a magnetic head section constituted by a very thin substrate 60 a with a thickness of about 50 μm for example and a thin - film layer 60 d with a thickness of about 35 - 50 μm formed on the substrate 60 a , and 61 denotes an actuator section fixed by an adhesion for example to both side ends of the magnetic head section 60 . the actuator section 61 is located at a rear surface side of the magnetic head section 60 , which is opposite to an element - formed surface or a front surface . the thin - film layer 60 d includes a thin - film magnetic head element 60 b and its terminal electrodes . the actuator section 61 is constituted by a base 61 a , a pair of movable arms 61 b and 61 c substantially perpendicularly extending frontward from both side ends of the base 61 a , and a static part 61 d formed between the movable arms 61 b and 61 c with spaces from these movable arms and substantially perpendicularly extending frontward from the base 61 a . the magnetic head section 60 is fixed to the actuator section 61 by for example adhering side surfaces of the magnetic head section 60 to top ends of the movable arms 61 b and 61 c , respectively . on a surface of the static part 61 d , which is shown in the figure or which is perpendicular to the element - formed surface of the magnetic head section 60 , abss 61 e are formed . the substrate 60 a of the magnetic head section 60 , in the embodiment , is an al 2 o 3 - tic substrate that has been typically used for a magnetic head slider substrate . however , a thickness , namely a length in a top - and - rear direction , of the substrate 60 a is determined to a very small value . the thin - film magnetic head element 60 b and its terminal electrodes are fabricated by a thin - film manufacturing process similar to the conventional process . the actuator section 61 is mainly formed in this embodiment by a zirconia base member with a e - shaped section . the movable arms 61 b and 61 c of this actuator section 61 are fabricated by forming actuator layers 61 f and 61 g with a piezoelectric structure on side surfaces of arm members respectively using a semiconductor integrating process , a thick - film laminating process or a printing process . as will be described later , since this actuator section 61 is individually fabricated from the magnetic head section 60 , any type of actuator structures such as a piezoelectric effect structure , a electrostrictive effect structure and electromagnetic inductive structure can be easily adopted other than the electrostatic effect structure . a size of the magnetic head slider with the magnetic head section 60 and the actuator section 61 in this embodiment is 1 . 25 mm × 1 . 0 mm × 0 . 3 mm for example which is substantially the same as that of the conventional magnetic head slider . by applying a drive voltage to the actuator layers 61 f and 61 g via signal electrodes ( not shown ), the movable arms 61 b and 61 c linearly displace to a lateral direction as shown by an arrow 62 . thus , the magnetic head section 60 linearly displaces in the lateral direction in a similar manner to precise position the magnetic head element 60 b . since the magnetic head section 60 that is a movable part is thin and very light in mass , a sufficient displacement can be expected even by a very small drive force . it is important that the displacement is occurred at the magnetic head section 60 only and that no displacement is occurred at the abss 61 e formed on the static part 61 d of the actuator section 61 . therefore , the attitude of the abss 61 e will not change so as to always keep a stable flying characteristics of the slider . because of the extremely light mass of the movable part , following various advantages can be obtained : ( a ) an actuator of a low - voltage drive type can be utilized to avoid to have a detrimental effect on an electromagnetic conversion characteristics of the magnetic head element ; ( b ) an actuator can be formed with a structure and of a material that will present a small displacement force ; ( c ) high flexibility in designing an actuator can be expected ; and ( d ) a vibration characteristics of a suspension will not be deteriorated because a mechanical resonance occurs at a relatively high frequency . fig8 illustrates a flow of a part of a manufacturing process of the magnetic head slider in the embodiment of fig6 , fig9 illustrates a part of a manufacturing process of the magnetic head slider in the embodiment of fig6 and its modifications , and fig9 illustrates a part of a manufacturing process of the actuator section in the embodiment of fig6 and its modifications . here , the manufacturing process of the magnetic head slider in this embodiment will be described . first , an al 2 o 3 - tic wafer 90 with the same thickness as that of the conventional wafer is prepared ( step s 31 ). then , by forming many thin - film magnetic head elements and their electrode terminals on the al 2 o 3 - tic wafer 90 using the conventional thin - film integration technique , an wafer 92 with a thin - film layer 91 on its surface is obtained ( step s 32 ). then , a rear surface of this element - integrated wafer 92 is ground to obtain a very thin wafer 93 with a wafer section thickness not including a thickness of the integrated elements , of about several tens μm ( step s 33 ). current working machine can grind the wafer to such thin thickness but in future it may be possible to grind the wafer thinner . it is possible to integrate thin - film magnetic head elements on an wafer preliminarily thinned . however , in this case , the wafer may be easily deformed during the integration process causing the fabrication process of the thin - film magnetic head elements to become difficult . thus , it is desired to grind the wafer after the integration of the thin - film magnetic head elements thereon . thereafter , the thinned wafer 93 is diced into bar members 94 each having a plurality of magnetic head sections aligned ( step s 34 ). then , each bar member 94 is cut and separated into individual pieces of magnetic head sections 95 ( step s 35 ). on the other hand , a relatively thick zirconia ( zro 2 ) wafer 96 with the same thickness as that of the conventional al 2 o 3 - tic wafer is prepared ( step s 36 ). then , this wafer 96 is diced into a plurality of bar members 97 ( step s 37 ). then , an outside shape of each bar member 97 is worked to form a shaped bar member 98 which has an e - shaped section and includes a base , a pair of movable arms substantially perpendicularly extending frontward from both side ends of the base , and a static part formed between the movable arms with spaces from these movable arms and substantially perpendicularly extending frontward from the base ( step s 38 ). then , actuator layers 99 with a piezoelectric structure are formed on side surfaces of arm members of the shaped bar member 98 to obtain a bar member 100 for actuator sections ( step s 39 ). thereafter , this bar member 100 is cut and separated into individual pieces of actuator sections 101 ( step s 40 ). thereafter , side surfaces of each magnetic head section piece 95 is adhered or bonded to top end portions of each actuator section piece 101 by a resin adhesive or a glass bonding to be caught therein and thus an individual magnetic head slider 102 is obtained ( step s 41 ). then , by forming abss on bottom surfaces of the static part of the magnetic head slider 102 , a final magnetic head slider 103 is obtained ( step s 42 ). fig1 illustrates a flow of a part of a manufacturing process of a magnetic head slider in a modification of the embodiment of fig6 . here , the manufacturing process of the magnetic head slider in this modification will be described with reference to fig9 - 11 . first , an al 2 o 3 - tic wafer 90 with the same thickness as that of the conventional wafer is prepared ( step s 51 ). then , by forming many thin - film magnetic head elements and their electrode terminals on the al 2 o 3 - tic wafer 90 using the conventional thin - film integration technique , an wafer 92 with a thin - film layer 91 on its surface is obtained ( step s 52 ). then , a rear surface of this element - integrated wafer 92 is ground to obtain a very thin wafer 93 with a wafer section thickness not including a thickness of the integrated elements , of about several tens μm ( step s 53 ). current working machine can grind the wafer to such thin thickness but in future it may be possible to grind the wafer thinner . it is possible to integrate thin - film magnetic head elements on an wafer preliminarily thinned . however , in this case , the wafer may be easily deformed during the integration process causing the fabrication process of the thin - film magnetic head elements to became difficult . thus , it is desired to grind the wafer after the integration of the thin - film magnetic head elements thereon . thereafter , the thinned wafer 93 is diced into bar members 94 each having a plurality of magnetic head sections aligned ( step s 54 ). on the other hand , a relatively thick zirconia ( zro 2 ) wafer 96 with the same thickness as that of the conventional al 2 o 3 - tic wafer is prepared ( step s 55 ). then , this wafer 96 is diced into a plurality of bar members 97 ( step s 56 ). then , an outside shape of each bar member 97 is worked to form a shaped bar member 98 which has an e - shaped section and includes a base , a pair of movable arms substantially perpendicularly extending frontward from both side ends of the base , and a static part formed between the movable arms with spaces from these movable arms and substantially perpendicularly extending frontward from the base ( step s 57 ). then , actuator layers 99 with a piezoelectric structure are formed on side surfaces of arm members of the shaped bar member 98 to obtain a bar member 100 for actuator sections ( step s 58 ). then , side surfaces of each bar member 94 is adhered or bonded to top end portions of each bar member 100 for actuator sections by a resin adhesive or a glass bonding to be caught therein and thus a bar member 104 for magnetic head sliders is obtained ( step s 59 ). thereafter , this bar member 104 is cut and separated into individual pieces of magnetic head sliders 102 ( step s 60 ). then , by forming abss on bottom surfaces of the static part of the magnetic head slider 102 , a final magnetic head slider 103 is obtained ( step s 61 ). in the aforementioned embodiments and modifications , a plurality of bar members 97 for actuator sections are formed by dicing a zirconia wafer 96 . however , a bar member 105 for actuator sections may be directly formed by molding a zirconia material in a bar member shape and by sintering the molded zirconia bar member . also , a shaped bar member 106 for actuator sections may be directly formed by molding a zirconia material in a bar member with an e - shaped section and by sintering the molded zirconia bar member . furthermore , although in the aforementioned embodiments and modifications , a rear surface of an element - integrated wafer is ground to obtain a thin magnetic head section , it is possible to obtain a thin magnetic head section by grinding a rear surface of a bar member for magnetic head sections or a rear surface of each individual magnetic head section . the present invention has been described with reference to magnetic head sliders with thin - film magnetic head elements . however , it is apparent that the present invention can be applied to a head slider for a head element such as an optical head element other than the thin - film magnetic head element . many widely different embodiments of the present invention may be constructed without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described in the specification , except as defined in the appended claims . | 6 |
in the present invention , a ceramic powder consisting of at least 95 %, preferably 96 - 99 %, of aluminum nitride powder and not more than 5 %, preferably 1 - 4 %, of a sintering aid is combined with a binder such as paraffin and allyl type resin and optionally an organic solvent . the resultant mixture is molded in the form of plates not more than 2 mm , particularly 0 . 3 - 1 mm , in thickness by the press molding method , the slip casting method , the doctor blade method or some other proper molding method known to the art . examples of the aforementioned sintering aid include oxides of rare earth element such as yttrium oxide , oxides of aluminum , magnesium , calcium strontium , and barium . not more than 20 such molded plates of the mixture are superposed on a ceramic support base , with a ceramic powder of an average particle diameter of 1 to 50 μm interposed between the support base and the lowest molded plate and between the individual molded plates . examples of the aforementioned ceramic powder include boron nitride powder , aluminum nitride powder , and alumina powder . among other ceramic powders cited above , the boron nitride powder proves particularly desirable . for the ceramic powder to fulfil its purpose advantageously , the grain size thereof is required to fall in the range of 1 to 50 μm , preferably 1 to 20 μm . this ceramic powder can be applied to the surface of the support base and on the surface of the molded plates of mixture by suspending the ceramic powder in an organic solvent such as acetone , alcohol , etc ., and directly applying the resultant suspension on the surface by means of a spray , a brush , or a roll by dipping the surfaces in the suspention , or by simply sprinkling the supension on the surfaces . the deposition of the ceramic powder on the molded plates may be effected on both sides or on only one side . the layer ceramic powder deposited on the surface of the molded plates is desired to have a thicknbess of not less than 1 μm . the plurality of molded plates of mixture are placed in an atmosphere formed of one more non - oxidative gases such as n and ar or a vacuum atmosphere and burned at a temperature in the range of 1 , 600 ° to 1 , 850 ° c ., preferably 1 , 700 ° to 1 , 800 ° c ., for a period of one to three hours , under appication of no pressure or under a load of not more than 400 kg / cm 2 . the sintered aluminum nitride plates consequently obtained experience virtually no occurrence of cracks or fractures because the superposed plates of mixture are effectively prevented from mutual fusion by the intervening ceramic powder during the course of the firing . then , the sintered plates of aluminum nitride obtained as described above are given a corrective treatment for the elimination of warp and undulation by the following method . five to ten such sintered plates of aluminum nitride are superposed on a support base , with another support base placed as a weight on the highest of the superposed plates . optionally a plurality of sets of superposed plates are piled up , capped with a weight . the superposed sintered plates are placed in an atmosphere formed of one or more non - oxidative gases such as n 2 and ar or in a vacuum atmosphere and heated therein for a period of 10 minutes to three hours under application of no pressure or under a load of not more than 400 kg / cm 2 . for the purpose of preventing the sintered plates from mutual fusion and keeping grains from further growth , this heating is desired to be carried out at a temperature 50 to 100 centigrade degrees lower than the temperature at which the molded plates of alumina nitride were burned . specifically , this temperature is desired to fall in the range of 1 , 500 ° to 1 , 800 ° c ., for example . the ceramic powder to be used for separating the sintered plates is the same as that which has been used for separating the molded plates . further , the method by which the ceramic powder is interposed between the opposed surfaces is the same as that which has been used for the molded plates of aluminum nitride . for the ceramic powder to fulfil its purpose advantageously , the required to be not less than 1 μm . the sintered aluminum nitride plates are honed with alundum particles 100 to 1 , 000 mesh in grain size or ground with diamond particles 100 to 600 mesh in grain size to remove the ceramic powder adhered on the surface until the surface roughness is decreased to below 10 μm ( in trerms of maximum height , rmax ). the sintered aluminum nitride plates which have been obtained by the method described above optionally have their surface oxidized to be coated with a stable alumina layer 1 to 10 μm in thickness so as to facilitate adhesion thereto of a conductor foil or conductor film . this alumina layer can be formed by heating the surface in the air or some other oxidative atmosphere at a temperature in the range of 1 , 000 ° to 1 , 400 ° c . for a period of 0 . 5 to 10 hours . the surface roughness which the sintered aluminum nitride plates are required to possess varies with the nature of the use for which the plates are intended . properly , the surface roughness is not more than 5 μm where the plates are substrates for thick layers using au , ag / pd , cu , glass , and resistor ; not more than 2 μm where the plates are substrates for thin layers using cu , tl , ag , and au ; not more than 6 μm where the plates are substrates to which copper patterns are directly joined ; and not more than 10 μm where the plates are substrates for structures . in the case of substrates for thickn layers , the surface roughness is desired to be not leas than 2 μm because excessively high smoothness results in loss of adhesive strength of layers . now , the present inventioin will be described below with reference to working examples . a mixture obtained by combining aluminum nitride powder containing 3 % by weight of yttrium oxide with 7 % by weight of acryl type resin as a binder and further adding thereto an organic solvent was molded by the doctor blade method to produce a thin plate 1 mm in thickness . rectangular pieces 80 × 40 mm were punched out of the thin sheet and were degreased in a nitrogen atmosphere at amount 700 ° c . for one hour . separately , 10 g of boron nitride powder having an average particle diameter of 3 μm was suspended in 100 cc of acetone . with a brush , the resultant suspension was applied to the surface of a support base made of aluminum nitride and the surface of the aforementioned rectangular pieces of aluminum nitride to form thereon a layer of boron nitride powder 15 μm in thickness . then , on the support base on which the boron nitride powder had been applied as described above , ten of the rectangular pieces of aluminum nitride ceramic mixture were superposed with the same boron nitride powder interposed between the superposed rectangular pieces . the superposed rectangular pieces were placed in a container of alumina and burned under atmospheric pressure of n 2 gas at 1 , 800 ° c . for two hours . the sintered rectangular pieces consequently obtained were not fused with the support base or with one another and the boron nitride powder could be easily removed from the sintered rectangular pieces . the sintered rectangular pieces possessed a good surface shape showing no discernible sign of crack or warp . a mixture obtained by combining aluminum nitride powder containing 3 % by weight of yttrium oxide with 7 % by weight of acryl type resin as a binder was processed by following the procedure of example 1 , to give rise to rectangular pieces measuring 80 mm × 40 mm × 0 . 8 mm . these rectangular pieces were similarly degreased . then , 20 such rectangular pieces were superposed in the same manner as in example 1 and burned in an atmosphere of nitrogen gas at 1 , 800 ° c . for two hours . part of the sintered rectangular pieces were found to be warped by a maximum size of about 2 mm in the direction of length . the sintered rectangular pieces which were warped were collected . separately , 10 g of boron nitride powder about 400 mesh in grain size was suspended in 100 cc of acetone . the suspension was applied with a brush on the surface of a support base made of aluminum nitride and on the surface of the sintered rectangular pieces of aluminum nitride to form a layer of boron nitride powder about 1 - 10 μm in thickness . then , on the support base of ceramic on which the boron powder had been applied , 10 sintered rectangular pieces of aluminum nitride were superposed each in a total of five sets , with boron nitride powder interposed similarly between the opposed surfaces and support bases placed one each on the sets of superposed sintered rectangular pieces . the superposed rectangular pieces on the support base ( about 0 . 5 kg ) were placed in a container made of alumina and heated in nitrogen gas at about 1 , 700 ° c . for one hour to correct deformation . the sintered rectangular pieces after this heating had warp mended to flatness of not more than 80 μm . the corrected sintered pieces were not fused with the support base or with one another . the boron nitride powder could be easily removed from the sintered pieces . a mixture obtained by combining aluminum nitride powder having particle diameters of 1 to 2 μm and containing 3 % of yttrium oxide with 7 % of acryl type resin as a binder and adding thereto an organic solvent was molded in the form of a plate , degreased in nitrogen gas at about 700 ° c . for one hours in the same manner as in example 1 , fired under atmospheric pressure , subjected to honing to remove the ceramic powder from the surface and then heated in the air at about 1 , 200 ° c . for one hour to give rise to a flat alumina nitride type ceramic substrate having a stabilized alumina layer about 8 μm in thickness formed on the surface thereof and possessing a surface roughness of 5 μm ( rmax ). a thin copper sheet 0 . 3 mm in thickness was placed on the substrate and joined thereto at 1065 °- 1080 ° c . under application of heat to test the substrate for tight adhesiveness with the thin copper sheet , and electrical properties . consequently , the adhesive strength to the cooper sheet was found to be about 2 . 5 kg / mm 2 , and the electric resistance to be about 2 . 0 ω - cm . a substrate was produced by following the procedure of example 1 , using aluminum nitride powder of particle diameters of 2 . 5 to 4 μm and 3 % of yttrium oxide . the produced substrate had a surface roughness of 13 μm ( rmax ). this substrate was honed with abrasive abour 600 mesh in grain size to reduced the surface roughness to 8 μm ( rmax ). when a thin copper sheet was joined to this substrate by following the procedure of example 3 , the results were similarly satisfactory . when a thin copper sheet was joined similarly to example 3 to the ( oxidized ) substrate of a surface roughness of 13 μm ( rmax ) obtained in example 4 , it was not joined uniformly throughout the entire surface area . the copper sheet partly peeled from the substrate . | 2 |
referring to fig1 , a system includes a dut 10 supported by a circuit board 16 , which may be a pcb . dut 10 includes a transmitter ( tx ) 12 that provides a differential signal with d + and d − signal components to channels 18 and 20 . the transmitter can also be called the source . the differential signal may be referred to as either the transmitter output signal or the channel input signal . the d + signal component has voltage v 1 and current i 1 , and the d − signal component has voltage v 2 and current i 2 . in fig1 , channels 18 and 20 include traces in circuit board 16 coupled to connectors 34 and 36 , such as , for example , prior art sma ( subminiature version a ) connectors . the traces in circuit board 16 include conductors 22 and 24 of channel 18 and conductors 26 and 28 of channel 20 . some embodiments include coupling capacitors c 1 and c 2 . conductors 38 and 40 couple connectors 34 and 36 to tester 46 . as examples , tester 46 may include an oscilloscope and / or logic analyzer . conductor 38 carries a signal having a voltage v 3 and a current i 3 , and conductor 40 carries a signal having a voltage v 4 and a current i 4 . the magnitudes of currents i 3 and i 4 may be the same as the magnitudes of i 1 and i 2 . in some embodiments , tester 46 includes a receiver ( rx ) 50 that receives the signals on conductors 38 and 40 and provides received versions of them to de - embedding logic 52 . in some embodiments , rx 50 is an oscilloscope . in other embodiments , rx 50 is something else or is not included at all . the signals provided by rx 50 have voltages v 3 * and v 4 *, and current i 3 * and i 4 *, which are ideally the same as voltages v 3 and v 4 , and currents i 3 and i 4 . in some embodiments , rx 50 is designed such that voltages v 3 * and v 4 * are the same v 3 and v 4 , but currents i 3 * and i 4 * are not necessarily the same as currents i 3 and i 4 . the signals received by either rx 50 or de - embedding logic 52 may be considered tester input signals . in some embodiments , de - embedding logic 52 is hardware circuitry , and in other embodiments , it includes a processor , such as a digital signal processor ( dps ), microprocessor , or embedded processor , or a combination of hardware and a processor . in some embodiments , de - embedding logic 52 provides differential signals having de - embedded voltages v 1 * and v 2 * which are ideally the same as originally transmitted voltages v 1 and v 2 . analysis logic 54 receives the signals having voltages v 1 * and v 2 * and draws conclusions about dut 10 , such as whether it is operating properly . in some embodiments or modes , the signals provided by de - embedding logic 52 have currents i 1 * and i 2 *. in some embodiments or modes , i 1 * and i 2 * are ideally the same as currents i 1 and i 2 , but in other embodiments or modes , that is not the case . fig2 illustrates portions of some embodiments of tester 46 , but other embodiments of tester 46 do not include some of these details . referring to fig2 , interface circuitry 62 receives signals on conductors 38 and 40 that having voltages v 3 and v 4 and provides signals representative thereof to processor 66 . for example , interface circuitry 62 may include analog - to - digital converters to provide digital signals to processor 66 . processor 66 performs instructions that are stored on memory 68 . memory 68 may be flash memory , dynamic random access memory ( dram ), a hard - drive , or some other sort of memory . in some embodiments , memory 68 is also used to store data . in some embodiments , processor 66 performs some or all the functions of both de - embedding logic 52 and analysis logic 54 . a display and / or other output circuitry may be used to provide conclusions of the analysis . fig3 illustrates a more schematic version of the structure of fig1 . in the case of fig3 , v 1 and v 2 are the transmitter output signals to be estimated , and v 3 and v 4 are the channel output signals measured by the tester . fig4 is similar to fig1 and 3 , but includes a single ended tx 80 , channel 82 , and tester 86 . some testers have both single ended and differential capability . in the case of fig4 , v 1 is the transmitter output signal to be estimated and v 2 is the channel output signal measured by the tester . in some embodiments , there are capacitors between the channel and the tester , but that is not the case in other embodiments . in the illustrated example , the channel input is the output of tx 12 or tx 80 and the channel output is the input of tester 46 ( ignoring connectors 34 and 46 ). in some embodiments , an inventive algorithm described below uses measurements performed after the pcb traces to derive signals at the transmitter outputs . more generally speaking , in some embodiments , the algorithm uses time domain measurements at the channel output to derive the time domain signal at the channel input . the algorithm may significantly reduce the number of incorrect component failures . s - parameters and abcd parameters are well known and described in the prior art literature . two port abcd parameters are represented in matrices as shown in fig5 . four port abcd parameters are represented in matrices as shown in fig6 . the four port abcd matrix is called t in this disclosure . fig7 is a generalized representation of s - parameters 88 of a two port ( single ended ) channel between signal conductor ends 92 and 96 with incident waves a 1 and a 2 and reflected waves b 1 and b 2 . ground is represented with reference numbers 94 and 98 . ground is included in the system of fig4 , but is not shown in fig4 . fig7 also includes a corresponding generalized representation of abcd parameters 90 with currents i 1 and i 2 and voltages v 1 and v 2 . fig8 is a generalized representation of s - parameters 108 of a four port ( differential ) channel between signal conductor ends 112 , 116 and 122 , 126 with incident waves a 1 , a 2 , a 3 , and a 4 , and reflected waves b 1 , b 2 , b 3 , and b 4 . ground is represented with reference numbers 114 , 118 , 124 , and 128 . ground is included in the system of fig1 and 3 , but is not shown in them . fig8 also includes a corresponding generalized representation of abcd parameters 110 with currents i 1 , i 2 , i 3 , and i 4 , and voltages v 1 , v 2 , v 3 , and v 4 . the following algorithm is used in some embodiments . in other embodiments , the algorithm is different . a network analyzer or other instrument in tester 46 ( or tester 86 ) may measure the channel s - parameters in the frequency domain . tester 46 ( or tester 86 ) transforms s - parameters into abcd parameters . tester 46 samples voltages v 3 and v 4 in the case of differential channels as in fig3 , and tester 86 samples voltage v 2 in the case of single ended channels as in fig4 . tester 46 ( or tester 86 ) transfers the measured signal to the frequency domain using a fourier transform . a filtering algorithm ( discussed below ) may be used to filter background noise . an input signal calculation may be performed as follows . the equation of fig9 relates the single ended circuit of fig4 described by equation in fig5 . v 1 and v 2 are input and output voltages , where a , b , c , and d are abcd parameters , zo 1 is the transmitter output impedance load and zo 2 is the tester input impedance load . the measurement of zo 1 may be made for one board or a few boards to get an accurate value and then reused in connection with other duts on the same or very similar boards . the value of zo 2 may be provided by the tester manufacturer or measured using network analyzer . the calculated input signal v 1 is transferred to the time domain using an inverse fourier transform . for use in the differential case related to the circuit described in the picture in fig3 and in the equation in fig6 , the equations of fig1 and 11 show t load and t source matrices , where t source is an impedance of the transmitter output and t load is an impedance of tester 46 as reviewed from the channels . a product matrix n is defined in equation ( 1 ) as follows : wherein matrix t is shown in fig6 , matrix t source is shown in fig1 , and matrix t load is shown in fig1 . n is called the product matrix because it is the product of multiplication . the matrix t includes characteristics of the path from tx 12 to tester 46 including channels 18 and 20 . the values of t can be obtained from measurement . the matrix t source includes impedance characteristics of transmitter 12 and the matrix t load includes impedance characteristics of the input of tester 46 . the channel input voltage signals v 1 and v 2 can be calculated by tester 46 by using the following equations ( 2 ) and ( 3 ). wherein v 1 , v 2 , v 3 , and v 4 are the voltages of fig1 , n 11 is row 1 , column 1 of the matrix n of equation ( 1 ); n 13 is row 1 , column 3 the matrix n of equation ( 1 ), n 31 is row 3 , column 1 of the matrix n of equation ( 1 ); n 33 is row 3 , column 3 the matrix n of equation ( 1 ). note that equations ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) are just for the v terms . in some embodiments , the i terms i 1 and i 2 can be obtained by replacing v 3 and v 4 with i 3 and i 4 and replacing n 11 , n 13 , n 31 , and n 33 with n 22 , n 24 , n 42 , and n 44 . the calculated input signals v 1 and v 2 for the differential case can be transferred to the time domain using an inverse fourier transform . signals measured by an oscilloscope or other tester contains instrument internal noise . this noise may be increased by a de - embedding algorithm and may mask signals . accordingly , in some embodiments , the noise may be filtered before de - embedding the algorithm is applied . there are various ways in which the filtering algorithm may be implemented removing background noise from the whole measured spectrum or from the part of the measured spectrum . in some embodiments , the filtering algorithm includes the following details , while in other embodiments it includes somewhat different details — and in still other embodiments , the filtering algorithm is not used . in some embodiments , a noise power mean level is found . for each bin in a frequency domain , bin power is compared with the noise power mean level . the following is some pseudo code . as an example , the algorithm is tested by measuring a 3 . 125 ghz signal with the oscilloscope at the channel input and at the channel output . then , the channel input is estimated from the channel output measurement using the algorithm and compared to the channel input measurement . as a result of the de - embedding process described herein , fewer components may be failed during the dut test process . the “ logic ” referred to herein can be implemented in circuits , software , microcode , or a combination of them . an embodiment is an implementation or example of the invention . reference in the specification to “ an embodiment ,” “ one embodiment ,” “ some embodiments ,” or “ other embodiments ” means that a particular feature , structure , or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments is included in at least some embodiments , but not necessarily all embodiments . the various appearances of “ an embodiment ,” “ one embodiment ,” or “ some embodiments ” are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiments . when it is said the element “ a ” is coupled to element “ b ,” element a may be directly coupled to element b or be indirectly coupled through , for example , element c . when the specification or claims state that a component , feature , structure , process , or characteristic a “ causes ” a component , feature , structure , process , or characteristic b , it means that “ a ” is at least a partial cause of “ b ” but that there may also be at least one other component , feature , structure , process , or characteristic that assists in causing “ b .” likewise , that a is responsive to b , does not mean it is not also responsive to c . if the specification states a component , feature , structure , process , or characteristic “ may ”, “ might ”, or “ could ” be included , that particular component , feature , structure , process , or characteristic is not required to be included . if the specification or claim refers to “ a ” or “ an ” element , that does not mean there is only one of the element . the invention are not restricted to the particular details described herein . indeed , many other variations of the foregoing description and drawings may be made within the scope of the present invention . accordingly , it is the following claims including any amendments thereto that define the scope of the invention . | 6 |
fig1 shows a data processing apparatus . the apparatus contains a processing unit 10 ( for example a 80c51 processing core ), a programmable non - volatile memory 12 ( preferably a flash eeprom ) and an auxiliary memory 14 ( for example a 16 byte ram memory ). the processing unit 10 has address and data connections to the non - volatile memory 12 and the auxiliary memory 12 . the non - volatile memory 14 has a “ ready ” output and a “ suspend change ” input coupled to the processing unit 10 . the non - volatile memory 12 contains instructions for execution of a program in processing unit 10 . the apparatus shown in fig1 is a low - cost apparatus , containing a minimal amount of memory . for cost reasons a single non - volatile memory is provided for storing both instructions and data for use by the instructions . the memory regions for storing instructions and data are so related that the non - volatile memory would normally prevent access to the instructions while the value of data is changed . fig2 shows a flow chart of program execution . program parts 20 , 21 , 25 , 29 that consist of instructions loaded from non - volatile memory 12 are shown separated by a dashed line 18 from program parts 22 , 23 , 24 , 26 , 27 , 28 that consist of instructions loaded from auxiliary memory 14 . in a first program part 20 , the processing unit 10 executes normal instructions loaded from non - volatile memory 12 . these instructions may read data , such as control parameters , dates etc . from non - volatile memory 14 . at a certain point during the execution of the program it may become necessary to write or change data in the non - volatile memory 12 . at this point , program part 21 is executed , which loads the data and an address or addresses for storing the data into a register in the processing unit 10 or into auxiliary memory 14 . alternatively , the data may be indicated implicitly , for example in case the content of the relevant addresses must be cleared . subsequently , program part 21 causes the processing unit to jump to an instruction address in auxiliary memory 14 . this is the instruction address of an instruction in program part 22 . program part 22 causes the processing unit 10 to signal the non - volatile memory 12 to start a data change operation . once the data change operation has been started , the processor unit 10 continues to execute instructions from auxiliary memory 14 . instructions from a program part 23 instruct the processing unit to test whether an exceptional situation arises . if not the processing unit 10 continues with instructions from program part 27 , which instruct the processing unit 10 to poll the non - volatile memory 12 to determine whether the change of data has been completed . if not , execution of program part 23 is repeated . if the change of data has been completed , an instruction from program part 28 causes the processing unit 10 to jump back to an instruction from program part 29 in non - volatile memory , which resume execution of the program of program part 20 . if the test of program part 23 shows that an exceptional situation occurs , processing unit 10 starts executing instructions from program part 24 in auxiliary memory 14 . these instructions cause the processing unit 10 to issue a signal to the non - volatile memory 12 to suspend changing of data . subsequently , these instructions from program part 24 in auxiliary memory 14 cause the processing unit 10 to jump to an instruction in program part 25 in non - volatile memory 12 . the instructions in program part 25 cause the processing unit 10 to perform whatever actions are appropriate in response to the exception . after these actions program part 25 causes the processing unit 10 to jump back to an instruction from program part 26 in auxiliary memory 14 . program part 26 causes the processing unit 10 to signal to the non - volatile memory 12 that the suspended changing of data must be resumed . subsequently , control of the processing unit is give back to program part 27 . the instructions of program part 25 in non - volatile memory perform for example processing of an incoming data sample , or timed control of some peripheral ( not shown ). clearly , these instructions cannot use the data whose changing has been suspended to execute these instructions from non - volatile memory 12 . preferably , therefore the program stored in non - volatile memory contains provisions to avoid use of such data , for example in the form of flags which indicate which data may be used or which parts of the program may be executed . if use of the changing data cannot be avoided , the data is preferably copied to auxiliary memory 14 before the start of changing the data in non - volatile memory 12 . in this case , when instructions from non - volatile memory 12 are executed during suspension of data changing , these instructions preferably read the relevant data from auxiliary memory 14 . this may be realized by using instructions that compute the address of the data from an address in base register . in this case , the base register is used to point to non - volatile memory 12 when the instructions are executed normally ( i . e . without suspension ) and the base register is used to point to auxiliary memory 14 when the instructions are executed during a suspension of a data change . the instructions in the auxiliary memory 14 may be loaded into the auxiliary memory when the apparatus of fig1 is initialized , or they may be loaded by program part 21 when a change of data is to be executed . alternatively , a rom ( read only memory ) or a small non - volatile memory may be used as auxiliary memory 14 . as shown in fig2 the signal to suspend the changing of data is generated by a program part in the auxiliary memory . this provides a very flexible low cost control over suspension , but without deviating from the invention , suspension may also be controlled by hardware . fig3 shows a further apparatus , where suspension of data changing is controlled by hardware . in addition to the components shown in fig1 the apparatus of fig3 has an interrupt input 30 and a suspension flip - flop 32 . the interrupt input 30 is coupled to the processing unit 10 and a set input of the suspension flip - flop 32 . the suspension flip - flop 32 has an output coupled to the suspension input of non - volatile memory 12 . the processing unit 10 has an output port coupled to a reset input of suspension flip - flop 32 . in operation , when a data change is executed , program control is transferred to instructions in auxiliary memory 14 , as before . a flag is set in auxiliary memory , to indicate that data changing is active . an interrupt on the interrupt input 30 causes suspension of data changing ( by setting the suspension flip - flop 32 ) and transfer of control to an interrupt program with instructions stored in non - volatile memory . in response to the interrupt the processing unit 10 loads an interrupt address in the non - volatile memory 12 and executes instructions starting from that address . after the interrupt has been handled , it is tested whether a data change was going on when the interrupt occurred , for example by testing the flag in auxiliary memory 14 . when this is the not the case , program control is normally transferred back to instructions in non - volatile memory 12 . if data changing was going on , control is given passed to instructions of a “ finish interrupt routine ” in auxiliary memory . these instructions reset the suspension flip - flop 32 and then pass control back to the instruction in auxiliary memory to was to be executed when the interrupt occurred . | 6 |
fig1 is a schematic diagram of a system 100 for a speech system that includes speaker - dependent recognition grammars for passwords in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein . in system 100 , a user 110 can interact with a speech system 120 , which includes an automated speech recognition ( asr ) engine 122 . a data store 124 can be used by system 120 to store one or more speech recognition grammars . the grammars of store 124 can include a password grammar 126 . the speech system 120 can permit user 110 to provide audio from which recognition grammar entries are generated . these generated entries can include a password entry which is used to authenticate the user 110 for a secure resource . the password entry can be free - form in nature and can be any user 110 supplied utterance which can include any utter - able sound , word , phrase , etc . an acoustic baseform 128 can be generated from the password containing utterance which can also be recorded 129 and stored . a user &# 39 ; s interactions with the speech system 120 can occur through many different clients or interfaces . in one embodiment , user 110 can utilize a web browser 112 to interact with web server 114 provided content . served web pages can be speech - enabled content which is processed by speech system 120 . in another embodiment , a voice only interface / device 116 can communicate with a voice response system 118 which uses the speech system 120 for speech processing operations . in still another embodiment , the speech system 120 can be part of an integrated device , such as a computer , kiosk , or mobile device , having an audio transducer 119 for accepting and presenting audio to and from the user 110 . the speech system 120 can be a commercial off - the - shelf speech processing system . the speech system 120 can acoustically generate baseforms using a variety of known techniques , such as those disclosed in the cross - referenced application entitled “ solution that integrates voice enrollment with other types of recognition operations performed by a speech recognition engine using a layered grammar stack ”, u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 615 , 900 , filed dec . 22 , 2006 . the asr engine 122 can be a standard speech recognition engine instead of a speaker recognition engine which incorporates speaker identification and verification ( siv ) technologies . thus , the system 100 leverages asr technologies to achieve lightweight speaker verification capabilities without the overhead or infrastructure requirements of a full function siv system . because system 100 stores baseforms 128 as password , the system 100 is more resistant to many malicious attacks than other systems that store and use text based passwords . fig2 is a flow chart of a method 200 for creating and using spoken free - form passwords to authenticate users in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein . the method 200 can be performed in the context of a system 100 or any system having speech recognition capabilities and an ability to acoustically generate and use speaker dependent grammars . the method 200 includes a process 205 to establish a password and a process 225 to utilize established passwords . the password establishment process 205 can begin in step 210 , where a user can be prompted to audibly provide a password . the password can be free - form and can include any user generated utterance , such as a word , a phrase , or any other noise . in one embodiment , the utterance used for the password is used to generate an acoustic baseform and is not converted into text . consequently , the utterance can be in any language or dialect and can include slang . the flexibility of the free - form utterance advantageously permits a user to create a highly unique password which is easy for the user to remember . further , use of an acoustic baseform as a password is uniquely associated with a user &# 39 ; s voice and is not readable by others ( unlike textual passwords ). thus , acoustic baseform passwords are difficult for unauthorized users to steal by invading ( i . e ., hacking into ) a security system . in step 212 , free - form audio input can be received in response to the password prompt . in step 214 , a consistency check can optionally be performed against the free - form input . the consistency check can determine if the received audio input is sufficiently consistent with previously received utterances . if not , then the process can proceed from step 214 to step 216 , where the user can be re - prompted for the password . the process can loop from step 216 to step 212 , where audio input for the re - prompted password can be received . when consistency is achieved in step 214 , the method can move to step 218 , where an acoustic baseform for the password can be added to a speaker - dependent speech recognition grammar . the password utilization process 225 can begin in step 230 , where a user can be prompted for an identifier / account number . in step 232 , results from the prompting can be processed and used to determine a user identity . in step 234 , a recognition grammar associated with the user and a password context can be determined . in step 236 , a user can be prompted for a password . in step 238 , an utterance can be received from the user . in step 240 , the utterance can be acoustically matched against the password recognition grammar . in step 242 , a confidence score generated from the matching can be compared against a minimum confidence threshold . when the score meets or exceeds the threshold , the process can progress from step 242 to step 244 where the user can be authorized to utilize the secure system . when the threshold is not exceeded , the process can progress from step 242 to step 246 , where a determination can be made as to whether a maximum number of attempts has been made . if so , the user can be presented with an access denied message in step 248 . if the maximum number of established attempts is not exceeded , the process can loop from step 246 to step 238 where another utterance can be received from the user . fig3 illustrates a speech dialog showing an instance where a spoken free - form password is created and used in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein . the speech dialog can be performed in the context of a system 100 or a method 200 . the speech dialog includes a password establishment dialog 310 and a password usage dialog 340 . both dialogs 310 and 340 illustrate communications between an automated system 312 , 342 and a user 314 , 344 . in dialog 310 , a voice prompt 320 can be audibly presented that prompts a user to speak a free - form password . a spoken response 322 of “ jack sprat ate no fat ” can be spoken in response . in one embodiment , a confusable phrase grammar can be queried to ensure that the spoken response 322 is not acoustically similar to pre - existing system commands , such as cancel , stop , quit , main menu , and the like . in dialog 310 , the user supplied password is not likely to be confused with pre - existing commands . to insure that new passwords will be accurately recognized when provided to a speech recognition engine , the automated system can prompt the user to repeat the password to insure a minimum number of consistent baseforms are generated . thus , the system can re - prompt 324 a user , who repeats the password 326 . a third prompting 328 can result in the password being uttered a third time 330 . in the dialog 310 , an enrollment session can successfully complete after three successful consistent pronunciations are received . the best audio ( 322 , 326 , and / or 330 ) of the uttered password can be saved ( i . e ., a media resource control protocol ( mrcp ) save - best - waveform support function can be used in one configuration ). the automated system can inform 332 a user that the phrase has been successfully enrolled . additional information , such as a reminder to remember the password , a re - playing of the spoken password , recording size in bytes , recording duration in milliseconds , and the like , can optionally be presented 332 at this point in the dialog 310 . the user provided acoustic baseform can be saved in an indexed fashion in a record or a file associated with the user . in one embodiment , the user utterances provided in dialog 310 can be saved and used to calibrate the automated system . in dialog 340 , a voice prompt 350 can ask a user to speak a user identifier , which the user speaks 352 in response . the automated system can then prompt 354 for a password . the user can utter 356 “ jack sprat ate no fat .” this is the same password created in dialog 310 . a speech recognition system can compare the utterance against a stored baseform created in dialog 310 , which results in a match with a relatively high confidence score . if the confidence score falls below a previously established threshold , the system can re - prompt the user . otherwise , the system can successfully authenticate a user which results in the system presenting 358 a welcome message . fig4 is a table 400 illustrating sample values of a test scenario of multiple different users speaking a stored password in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein . the table 400 shows three columns including a speaker &# 39 ; s identity 402 , an average confidence score 404 , and a system &# 39 ; s confidence in a claimant 406 . the table 400 is based on real - world test input for a spoken password of “ jack sprat ate no fat .” the table 400 assumes that each speaker 412 had somehow acquired an owner &# 39 ; s 410 password and that multiple password requests are made to obtain the average values ( 404 and 406 ) for table 400 . more specifically , table 400 shows that a password owner 410 has an average confidence score of approximately 0 . 67 and a speaker confidence value of one hundred percent . each other speaker 412 has lower values for the average confidence score and speaker confidence value . the table 400 shows only a password owner can be one hundred percent authenticated by a free - form password system , such as system 100 . thus , use of acoustic grammars spoken by a user into a standard speech recognition system increases system security . in one embodiment , confidence thresholds ( over 0 . 665 in the example ) can be established so that only an authorized speaker will be authenticated . the confidence threshold can be lowered to permit variance in the owner &# 39 ; s 410 spoken password to still be accepted , which may result in some unauthorized access , such as female hacker # 1 and / or male hacker # 6 . thus , an established confidence score can be adjusted depending on whether a system is more concerned that some spoken utterance by an owner 410 is invalidated or is more concerned that some spoken utterance by others will be improperly validated . the present invention may be realized in hardware , software , or a combination of hardware and software . the present invention may be realized in a centralized fashion in one computer system , or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across several interconnected computer systems . any kind of computer system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein is suited . a typical combination of hardware and software may be a general purpose computer system with a computer program that , when being loaded and executed , controls the computer system such that it carries out the methods described herein . the present invention also may be embedded in a computer program product , which comprises all the features enabling the implementation of the methods described herein , and which when loaded in a computer system is able to carry out these methods . computer program in the present context means any expression , in any language , code or notation , of a set of instructions intended to cause a system having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly or after either or both of the following : a ) conversion to another language , code or notation ; b ) reproduction in a different material form . this invention may be embodied in other forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof . accordingly , reference should be made to the following claims , rather than to the foregoing specification , as indicating the scope of the invention . | 6 |
fig1 is an exploded perspective view of lip coloring apparatus (“ lca ”) 10 in accordance with the present disclosure . lca 10 includes body 12 , reservoir 14 , head 16 , wand 18 , center bezel 20 , and seal 22 . body 12 further includes front 24 , back 26 , first side 28 , second side 30 , bottom 32 , and top 34 . first side 28 of body 12 has first cut - out 36 , and second side 30 of body 12 has second cut - out 38 . similar to body 12 , head 16 includes front 40 , back 42 ( not visible ), first side 44 , second side 46 , top 48 , and bottom 50 . first side 44 of head 16 has first tab 52 , and second side 46 of head 16 has second tab 54 . wand 18 includes first end 56 and second end 58 having applicator 60 . when assembled , second end 58 of wand 18 is secured inside of reservoir 14 by a mating relationship between body 12 and head 14 . lca 10 includes body 12 having internal reservoir 14 at a lower end and head 16 at an upper end , which is detached and exploded away from body 12 in fig1 . when fully assembled and locked , body 12 and head 16 form a substantially cuboid shape having curved edges ( see fig3 ). extending downwardly from head 16 and toward body 12 is wand 18 . located beneath wand 18 is seal 20 , and located beneath seal 20 , but above body 12 , is center bezel 22 . when assembled , wand 18 , seal 20 , and center bezel 22 are all received into body 12 ( see fig2 ). body 12 includes front 24 , back 26 , first side 28 , second side 30 , closed bottom 32 and open top 34 , which are all connected by curved edges to from a container for holding internal reservoir 14 ( as well as wand 18 , seal 20 , and center bezel 22 when assembled ). as indicated by their names , front 24 is opposite back 26 , first side 28 is opposite second side 30 , and bottom 32 is opposite top 34 . each portion of body 12 is connected to its adjacent portion by rounded or curved edges , such that body 12 has no sharp corners . reservoir 14 is located inside of body 12 adjacent bottom 32 and includes a liquid cosmetic such as lip gloss . reservoir 14 may be plastic and / or replaceable . first side 28 includes first cut - out 36 , which extends along a depth of body 12 and is continuous with open top 34 . similarly , second side 30 includes second cut - out 38 , which extends along the depth of body 12 and is continuous with open top 34 . first cut - out 36 and second cut - out 38 extend downwardly from top 34 into first side 28 and second side 30 , respectively . both first - cut out 36 and second cut - out 38 are approximately square , but have rounded corners and are configured to mate with head 16 ( see fig3 ). similar to body 12 , head 16 includes front 40 , back 42 ( not visible ), first side 44 , second side 46 , closed top 48 , and open bottom 50 , which are all connected by curved edges to from a cap for attaching to body 12 . as indicated by their names , front 40 is opposite back 42 , first side 44 is opposite second side 46 , and top 48 is opposite bottom 50 like body 12 , each portion of head 16 is connected to its adjacent portion by rounded or curved edges , such that head 16 has no sharp corners . first side 44 includes first tab 52 , which extends along a depth of head 16 and is continuous with open bottom 50 . similarly , second side 46 includes second tab 54 which extends along the depth of head 16 and is continuous with open bottom 50 . first tab 52 and second tab 54 extend downwardly from first side 44 and second side 46 , respectively , past a lowermost portion of bottom 50 . both first tab 52 and second tab 54 are approximately square , but have rounded corners . first tab 52 and second tab 54 are configured to mate with first - cut out 36 and second cut - out 38 , respectively , in order to couple body 12 with head 16 ( see fig3 ). wand 18 is attached to , and extends downwardly from , an inside of cap 18 . wand 18 is cylindrical and includes first end 56 , and elongated center , and second end 58 . first end 56 of wand 18 extends upwardly past bottom 50 and into the interior of cap 18 . second end 58 of wand 18 extends downwardly toward seal 20 , center bezel 22 , and body 12 . attached to the most downward portion of second end 58 is applicator 60 . applicator 60 can be a brush , absorbent material , or any other item capable of applying a liquid cosmetic . when assembled and locked , second portion 58 of wand 18 , including applicator 60 , is inserted through seal 20 and center bezel 22 to reside within reservoir 14 and is moistened with liquid cosmetic . the structure of seal 20 and center bezel 22 are discussed in further detail below with respect to fig2 . fig2 is an exploded perspective view of seal 20 and center bezel 22 from fig1 . seal 20 includes cylindrical post 62 , lip 64 , hole 65 , and ring 66 . center bezel 22 includes bottom 68 , top 70 , shoulder 72 , ring 74 , hole 76 , detents 78 , and indentations 80 . when assembled , seal 20 is received into center bezel 22 , which is received into body 12 ( see fig3 ). seal 20 prevents liquid cosmetic from leaking out of reservoir 14 , and center bezel 22 aids in securing head 16 to body 12 . seal 20 and center bezel 22 form a central portion of lca 10 and are located between wand 18 and reservoir 14 . seal 20 has lower and middle portions defined by cylindrical post 62 , and an upper portion defined by lip 64 . cylindrical post 62 is hollow and contains central hole 65 . lip 64 is circular , has a slightly larger diameter than cylindrical post 62 , and surrounds a top of central hole 65 and cylindrical post 62 . central hole 65 extends continuously through cylindrical post 62 and lip 64 , and has a diameter larger than a diameter of wand 18 , such that wand 18 can extend through a center of seal 20 . extending around an outer surface of cylindrical post 62 near the point of attachment between lip 64 and cylindrical post 62 , is ring 66 . ring 66 encircles post 62 and is slightly raised therefrom to provide an outer surface on seal 20 that can catch or mate with an inner surface of center bezel 22 . center bezel 22 is generally ovular or elliptical in shape . lower end 68 is separated from opposite upper end 70 by a central shoulder 72 . lower end 68 and upper end 70 have similar circumferences while shoulder 72 forms a raised band extending outwardly from an outer surface of bezel 20 . extending around the circumference of lower end 68 , and parallel to shoulder 72 , is ring 74 . similar to ring 66 of seal 20 discussed above , ring 74 forms a raised outer surface on lower portion 68 of center bezel 22 for catching or mating with an inner surface of body 12 . extending through a center of center bezel is hole 76 . hole 76 is slightly larger in diameter than seal 20 and is configured to receive and catch ring 66 of seal 20 . upper end 70 of center bezel 20 further includes two opposite detents 78 ( only one is visible ). detents 78 are rectangular - shaped depressions on either side of upper portion 70 and are configured to form a snap - fit lock with head 16 ( see fig3 ). located on a front and a back of center bezel 20 are elongated indentations 80 . like detents 78 , indentations 80 are depressions , but indentations 80 are configured to catch or mate with an inner surface of body 12 . center bezel 22 is received and secured into body 12 , and seal 20 is received and secured into center bezel 22 , such that wand 18 extends through both seal 20 and center bezel 22 before reaching reservoir 14 ( see fig3 ). fig3 is a perspective view of lca 10 from fig1 in an assembled and unlocked position . depicted in fig3 are body 12 and head 16 . components located inside of body 12 and shown in phantom : reservoir 14 , wand 18 , seal 20 , center bezel 22 , and applicator 60 . first cut - out 36 exposes upper portion 70 and detent 78 of center portion 22 , and mating portions of head 16 are identified : first side 44 having first tab 52 with protrusion 82 . fig3 shows how cap and body 12 appear when in the unlocked position when applicator 60 of wand 18 is ready for removal from body 12 and use . as described in detail above with respect to fig1 and 2 , seal 20 is received and secured into center bezel 22 , and center bezel 22 is received and secured into body 12 . seal 20 and center bezel 22 reside within body 12 above reservoir 14 . applicator 60 of wand 18 is inserted through center hole ( 65 in fig2 ) of seal 20 and down into reservoir 14 in order to absorb or collect a liquid cosmetic . first cut - out 36 of body 12 exposes top portion 70 of center bezel 22 having detent 78 . detent 78 is centrally located within first - cut out . first tab 52 on first side 44 of head 16 is configured to mate and align with first cut - out 36 in order to secure head 16 to body 12 . protrusion 82 is located on an inside surface of first tab 52 and extends inwardly therefrom toward wand 18 . protrusion 82 is configured to snap into and mate with detent 78 in order to secure head 16 to body 12 . more specifically , head 16 is twisted or swiveled such that protrusion 82 can slide into , and be received by , detent 78 . concurrent with the mating between protrusion 82 and detent 78 , first tab 52 comes to rest within cut - out 36 . first tab 52 and protrusion 82 , therefore , form a cantilever snap - fit relationship with first cut - out 36 , upper portion 70 , and detent 78 . it should be appreciated that the same mating relationships occur on the opposite , second side 46 of lca 10 , but are not visible . second tab 54 and protrusion 82 form a cantilever snap - fit relationship with second cut - out 38 , which exposes opposite upper portion 70 of center bezel 70 having detent 78 . in the depicted embodiment , head 16 is mirrored about a central axis so it can attach to body 12 in either direction ( i . e . first tab 52 can mate with second cut - out 38 and second tab 54 can mate with first cut - out 36 ). in an alternative embodiment , head 16 is directional and will only attach body 12 in one direction ( i . e . first tab 52 mates only with first cut - out 36 and second tab 54 mates only with second cut - out 38 ). the locked configuration of lca 10 is depicted and described below with respect to fig4 - 6 . fig4 is a front view , fig5 is a side view , and fig6 is a top view of lca 10 from fig3 in a locked position . shown in fig4 - 6 are components of lca 10 : body 12 ( having front 24 , back 26 , first side 28 , second side 30 , bottom 32 , top 34 , and first cut - out 36 ) and head 16 ( having front 40 , back 42 , first side 44 , second side 46 , top 48 , bottom 50 , and first tab 52 ). also depicted are dimensions height h , depth d , and width w of lca 10 . when assembled and locked , lca 10 resembles rectangular cuboid having fillet edges . in fig4 - 6 , body 12 and head 16 of lca 10 are joined and locked by the cantilever snap - fit arrangement described above with respect to fig3 . open bottom 50 of cap 16 is adjacent and in contact with open top 34 of body 12 . first tab 52 rests within first cut - out 36 . note the space between edges of first tab 52 and first cut - out 36 , which allow for rotation of head 16 with respect to body 12 , such that head 16 can be unlocked and removed from body 12 ( see fig3 ). both closed top 48 of cap 46 and closed bottom 32 of body 12 are convex domes . lca 10 may be formed from bamboo , hemp , plastic , or metal , among other materials . in the depicted embodiment , lca 10 has an overall height h between approximately 2 and 4 inches ( 5 . 08 cm and 10 . 16 cm ) or more specifically , about 3 . 128 inches ( 7 . 95 cm ). cap 16 is between about one half and one quarter of the overall height of lca , with body 12 comprising the remaining one half to three quarters height . as shown in fig3 , wand 18 has a height , a depth , and a width less than a height , a depth , and a width of body 12 , respectively . both cap 16 and body 12 have depths between approximately 0 . 2 inches and 0 . 8 inches ( 5 . 08 mm and 2 . 03 cm ) or more specifically , about 0 . 45 inches ( 1 . 14 cm ). both cap 16 and body 12 have widths w between approximately 0 . 5 inches and 1 . 0 inches ( 1 . 27 cm and 2 . 54 cm ) or more specifically , about 0 . 85 inches ( 2 . 16 cm ). accordingly , cap 16 and body 12 have the same depths d and widths w , but differing heights . in comparison to traditional lip coloring cases , lca 10 is very streamlined and thin so that it is less visible , or even undetectable , when stored in a clothing pocket or small bag of a user . the curved edges on a six - sided shape of lca 10 coupled with the fact that lca 10 is relatively flat ( i . e . has little depth d ) function to define a discrete portable case for liquid cosmetics and an applicator . fig7 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of lip coloring apparatus lca 10 ′ in accordance with the present disclosure . depicted in fig7 are components of lca 10 ′: body 12 ′( including front 24 ′, back 26 ′, first side 28 ′, second side 30 ′, bottom 32 ′, top 34 ′, first cut - out 36 ′, and second cut - out 38 ′) and head 16 ′ ( including front 40 ′, back 42 ′, first side 44 ′, second side 46 ′, top 48 ′, bottom 50 ′, first tab 52 ′ and second tab 54 ′). lca 10 ′ is similar to lca 10 described above with reference to fig1 - 6 and like numeral designate like components . the components of lca 10 ′ cooperate and function as described above for lca 10 . the locking mechanisms of lca 10 and lca 10 ′ are similar and function to contain a liquid cosmetic inside of reservoir regardless of the orientation of lca 10 and lca 10 ′. the primary difference between lca 10 and lca 10 ′ being that lca 10 ′ is ovoid when assembled and locked . lca 10 ′ is an alternative embodiment that achieves the same benefits as those described above for lca 10 . while the invention has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment ( s ), it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention . in addition , many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof . therefore , it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment ( s ) disclosed , but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims . | 0 |
the invention relates to a process and a device for measuring the temperature of a given material or object , using microwave radiation , as well as to an application of the measuring process for the purpose of determining the microwave frequency reflection coefficient of a given material or object . as mentioned earlier , the term &# 34 ; object &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; material &# 34 ; is to be interpreted broadly , to refer to the material of a body to be measured , a body which can , in particular , be material objects , substances or living tissues . furthermore , it should also be pointed out that any material brought to a temperature t x , emits electromagnetic radiation the power of which , in the microwave range , is proportional to the temperature and to the pass - band of the measuring device . in particular , the power picked up by an antenna is given by the relation : wherein k is the boltzmann &# 39 ; s constant ( 1 . 38 . 10 - 23 ), t x the temperature of the material to be measured , δf the pass - band , and | r o x | 2 the reflection coefficient of the antenna . when a direct amplification radiometer is produced , that is to say when an antenna is connected directly to the input of an amplifier - receiver a , and a square law detector d is connected to its output , without intercalating the circulator chain , the voltage v s at the output of the detector is given by the following relation : wherein g corresponds to the gain of the amplifier , τ corresponds to the conversion gain of the detector , t e corresponds to the input noise of the amplifier and t a corresponds to the noise of the amplifier , characterizing its noise factor . however , this relation v s has to be corrected for the radiometric measurement error caused by a possible correlation between the input noise t e and the output noise t a of the amplifier when the load at the input of the radiometer is not matched . the noise t e is linked to the physical temperature of the amplifier and the noise t a is linked to the image of the degradation brought by the amplifier to the input noise . there is said to be correlation between t e and t a . thus , when a circulator is not used , the basic contribution , at a frequency f , of the correlation noise induced by the amplifier , is given by the following relation : ## equ1 ## wherein : k is the boltzmann &# 39 ; s constant , φis the phase difference between the input noise and the output noise of the receiver equal to 2π . l o . f / c ., the total contribution of the correlation noise is thus obtained by integrating the preceding equation in the passband of the amplifier , which gives : ## equ2 ## f 2 and f 1 being respectively the high and low cut - off frequencies of the amplifier , δf being the pass - band of the amplifier , f 2 - f 1 , l being the length of the line between the input of the amplifier and the antenna . as a function of the above , one of the characteristics of the present invention resides in the fact that there is intercalated between the antenna and the said signal processing means , in particular its amplifier , a line of given impedance , which is a function of the input impedance of the amplifier , having a length l which is very large in relation to the wavelength of the signals such that the correlation noise factor of the said means is negligible . in the preceding equation , s cor , the following quantity will thus be obtained : ## equ3 ## which tends towards zero , when α tends towards infinity . this condition is fulfilled when l is very large in relation to the wavelength of the signals processed , namely c / f 2 - f 1 . the graph in fig2 illustrates the influence of the correlation and , more precisely , the ratio v cor / v s as a function of the length l in centimeters between the antenna and the amplifier input . the ratio can be seen to tend towards zero when l is very large in relation to the wavelength . for example , in the case of an amplifier operating in a pass - band of 2 to 4 ghz , we begin to obtain results as from a length l in the order of 10 cm . for the sake of security , use will be made of a length of 40 cm , for example . furthermore , the impedance of this line l has to correspond substantially to the input impedance of the amplifier to avoid a mismatch . in the microwave frequency , the amplifiers used generally have an input impedance in the order of 50 ohms , which is why a line section l will be chosen to conduct energy from the antenna to the amplifier with a characteristic impedance zc of 50 ohms . this being the case , it can then be considered that the radiometric signal is given by the relation indicated previously , namely : thus , according to another feature of the measuring process according to the present invention , the signals received by the antenna are routed , via the said length of line l , to the input of the processing means such that the said voltage v s is obtained at the output , and all the parameters are then calculated periodically by cyclically modifying the structure of the said means . fig1 diagrammatically illustrates , by way of example , a device for measuring the temperature t x of given a material or object permitting implementation of the process according to the invention . this diagram shows an antenna 1 for receiving signals emitted by the object 2 , the temperature t x of which it is wished to determine , connected to processing means 3 via an intercalary line 4 having a length l such as defined above . more precisely , the processing means 3 are constituted by a direct amplification microwave frequency receiver 15 , followed by a square law detector 6 and preceded by a microwave frequency multi - channel switch 8 . as we have already seen , the microwave frequency receiver 15 can also be constituted by an amplifier a , with a microwave frequency pass - band , a large gain g , and a low noise factor . furthermore , given the absence of the traditional amplifier , this amplifier can be produced using integrated monolithic technology . as to square law detector 8 , with a conversion gain τ , it will be formed advantageously by a schottky detection diode , which is also easy to integrate . this being the case , according to the present invention , to determine the value of temperature t x , the equation to be solved will be : wherein the parameters to be determined are gτ , t e , t a , | r o x | 2 , and t x . we thus have an equation with five unknowns , and , with the process according to the invention , the structure of the signal processing means will thus be modified cyclically as many times as necessary to obtain as many equations as there are unknowns . however , in order to facilitate this solution , according to the process of the invention , the said processing means are further subjected selectively and cyclically to the influence of a high impedance ( z & gt ;& gt ; zc ) noise source δt b to avoid disturbing the measuring line , which changes the relationship giving the output voltage v s as follows : v . sub . s = gγ | t . sub . x ( 1 -| r . sub . o x |. sup . 2 )+ t . sub . e | r . sub . o x |. sup . 2 + t . sub . a + δt . sub . b ( 1 +| r . sub . o x |. sup . 2 )] the device according to the present invention , and , more precisely , the said processing means 3 , further comprise , as shown in fig1 a noise source 9 , suitable for reinjecting complementary noise δt b , placed at the input to the said means , and , more precisely , at the input to amplifier 5 . this noise source is an advantageous element which will make it easier to solve the system of equations . in this connection , the said switch 8 will have , advantageously , at least four microwave frequency channels which , as illustrated in fig1 are connected to : a load 10 , of known characteristics , having a temperature t 1 , a line of a length l , similar to intermediate line 4 , this line being short - circuited , the said intermediate line 4 , of a length l , connected to antenna 1 , another load 12 , of known characteristics , having a temperature t 2 , the four different channels of the switch are identified on the figure by a serial number , 1 , 2 , 3 and 4 , surrounded by a circle ; circled round serial number 5 corresponds to a control 5 , in particular a logic control , activating or otherwise the said source δt b . furthermore , in order to command cyclically the said microwave frequency switch 8 and the said control 5 , the device according to the present invention comprises a computing and synchronising unit 13 , in order to permit , in cooperation with the said switch 8 and the said control 5 , the mathematical real - time solution of a system of equations defined for each condition of the switch , with a view to determining at least the temperature t x of the body to be measured . more precisely , according to the measuring process of the present invention , the input of the said processing means , or more precisely the input of amplifier receiver 15 , is connected cyclically to : the load 10 having a temperature t 1 , using the switch on channel 1 , the said load 10 having a temperature t 1 and the noise source 9 , δt b , using the switch on channel 1 and supplying the said source δt b via control 5 , ground via line 11 , by placing the switch on channel 2 , antenna 1 via line 4 l , by placing the switch on position 3 , the said antenna 1 via the said line 4 and the said complementary noise source 9 , by placing the switch on channel 3 and supplying the said source δt b via control 5 , load 12 having a temperature t 2 by placing the switch on channel 4 . thus , at each cycle , we obtain the following system of equations : v . sub . 35 = γg [( 1 -| r . sub . o x |. sup . 2 ) t . sub . x +| r . sub . o x |. sup . 2 t . sub . e + t . sub . a +( 1 +| r . sub . o x |. sup . 2 δt . sub . b ] such a system , with six equations and six unkowns , can be processed using conventional computing means , such as computing unit 13 organized around a microprocessor , an analog input and output interface board ( analog digital / digital analog converter ), a logic input and output board ( pia ) and display means . unit 13 will thus enable the six parameters to be determined and , in particular , the display of the temperature values t x and of the antenna reflection coefficient | r o | 2 . furthermore , if required , the parameters specific to the amplifier , τg , t e and t a , δt b , can be displayed . to conclude , the different parameters will be obtained from the following equations : ## equ4 ## this computing and synchronising unit is managed by a loop program comprising : operation of the four channels of the microwave frequency switch and acquisition of the radiometric signals averaged over &# 34 ; n &# 34 ; samples , for example n = 100 , control 5 activating or not activating the said noise source δt b , computing parameters t x , | r o x | 2 , t e , t a , τg , δt b , as to the structure of loads 10 and 12 , use will be made advantageously of the loads the impedance of which is matched to that of the amplifier input and thus , in the present case , loads having an impedance of 50 ohms which will each be placed at a pre - established , known temperature , t 1 and / or t 2 . as to microwave frequency switch 8 , use will made advantageously of an assembly of four - channel mes fet elements . by way of example , fig3 shows such an arrangement of mes fet elements to form a high insulation two - channel microwave frequency switch . we thus have four mes fet elements 14 disposed in series , the gates of which are controlled two by two respectively at g 1 and g 2 from computing and synchronising unit 13 . between points es 1 and es 2 , we then have the two desired channels , e being the common point of the switch . such a technique is within the reach of one skilled in the art in question and will be extended to the production of a four channel switch . finally , fig4 and 5 represent two forms of embodiment that can be contemplated for noise source 9 . fig4 shows such a complementary noise source 9 formed by a mes fet element 19 of which the schottky contact is used reverse biased until avalanche conditions are obtained . the avalanche noise thus obtained is controlled by a current generator 18 . on the other hand , fig5 shows the use of an avalanche diode 16 placed in series with a resistor r . sub . ρ having a large ohmic value in relation to the input impedance of the said means , arranged at the input of the latter . this circuitry is also within the reach of a man of the art . however , the essential criterion to be kept in mind is to produce a source of noise with high impedance in relation to that of the amplifier input , to avoid mismatching the circuit . as to the antenna , use will be made of any device suitable for picking up microwave frequency radiation , such as any measuring cell , applicator or dipole . to determine the temperature values t 1 or t 2 of loads 10 or 12 , use can be made of various methods , such as those illustrated in fig6 and 7 . in fig6 asga planar resistors , constituting loads 10 , 12 , having a known temperature coefficient , are introduced into a wheatstone bridge 23 , which is , for example , supplied by a d . c . or a . c . generator 22 and outputs at 25 a signal proportional to temperature t 1 or t 2 , via an inductance - capacitance polarizing tee , 20 , 21 . in fig7 a resistive film 24 of nickel - chromium ( nicr ) or tantalum nitride ( nita ), having a known temperature coefficient , is deposited on the asga planar resistors constituting loads 10 , 12 , previously insulated by a polymide element 26 . these nicr or nita resistors 24 are introduced into a measuring bridge , such as a wheatstone bridge 23 , for example , as described earlier . this being the case , the reasoning which has just been set out starts out from the principle that the microwave frequency switch 8 is loss - free . however , such a switch inevitably has a certain resistance , characterized by &# 34 ; a &# 34 ;, which is an image of the transmission of one of the channels of the switch . thus , a part of the thermal noise power will be attenuated by the switch and we can consider that the switch used is equivalent to an attenuator brought to a temperature t com . thus , the general relation for output voltage v s is written as follows : v . sub . s = gγ {[ 1 - a ( 1 -| r . sub . o x |. sup . 2 )-| r . sub . o x |. sup . 2 a . sup . 2 ] t . sub . com + a . sup . 2 | r . sub . o x |. sup . 2 t . sub . e + a ( 1 -| r . sub . o x |. sup . 2 ) t . sub . x + t . sub . a + δt . sub . b ( 1 + a . sup . 2 | r . sub . o x |. sup . 2 )} it should be noted that t com can assume the value t 1 , just as long as switch 8 is placed in the immediate vicinity thanks to monolithic integration of the device . as to the other load 12 , brought to temperature t 2 , it will be thermally insulated from the rest thanks to the heat sinks , which represent a technique well known to a man of the art . a new unknown is then introduced : &# 34 ; a &# 34 ;; it is thus appropriate to determine a new complementary equation . this is possible with the switch as described above , and following additional step will be effected , for example : switch placed on channel 2 and supplying the said source t b via control 5 . and by making : t com = t 1 , the relation becomes : nonetheless , a calculation identical with the preceding one will enable us to arrive at relations determining the different variables if we do not neglect the losses at switch level , and if we fix t com = t 1 namely : v . sub . 3 = gγ {[ 1 - a ( 1 -| r . sub . o |. sup . 2 )- a . sup . 2 | r . sub . o |. sup . 2 ] t . sub . 1 + a . sup . 2 | r . sub . o |. sup . 2 ] t . sub . e + ( 1 -| r . sub . o |. sup . 2 ) at . sub . x + t . sub . a } v . sub . 35 = gγ {[ 1 - a ( 1 -| r . sub . o |. sup . 2 )- a . sup . 2 | r . sub . o |. sup . 2 ] t . sub . 1 + a . sup . 2 | r . sub . o |. sup . 2 t . sub . e + ( 1 -| r . sub . o |. sup . 2 ) at . sub . x + t . sub . a + δt . sub . b ( 1 + a . sup . 2 | r . sub . o |. sup . 2 )} it seems obvious , of course , that one particular application would be that of temperature measurement in an industrial or medical environment or a home robotics application . apart from this field of application , another application of the measuring process according to the present invention should be emphasized : that of determining the microwave frequency reflection coefficient of a given material or object . through this expedient , it will then be possible to determine the dielectric or physical properties of a material , for example moisture content , structure , etc . other embodiments of the present invention , within the grasp of a man of the art , could , of course , be contemplated without thereby departing from the scope of the present invention . | 6 |
the present application discloses a method for manufacturing optoelectronic devices . in order to make the illustration of the present application more explicit , the following description is stated with reference to fig1 through fig8 . fig1 a through fig1 d are schematic diagrams showing the process flow for manufacturing a light - emitting structure 10 and a solar cell structure 20 in accordance with a first embodiment of the present application . as fig1 a shows , a common growth substrate 110 is provided for the epitaxial growth of epitaxial materials formed thereon , wherein the common growth substrate 110 having a first surface 110 a and a second surface 110 b . the material of the common growth substrate 110 may be gaas or ge . a light - emitting epitaxy structure 120 is grown on the first surface 110 a of the common growth substrate 110 by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . in the embodiment , the light - emitting epitaxy structure 120 comprises a first conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer , an active layer , and a second conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer ( not shown ) stacked on the first surface 110 a of the common growth substrate 110 . for example , the first conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer is n - type algainp series material , the active layer is algainp series material , and the second conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer is p - type algainp series material . a stripping layer 130 is grown on the second surface 110 b of the common growth substrate 110 by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . the material of the stripping layer 130 may be alas or algaas . a solar cell epitaxy structure 140 is grown on the stripping layer 130 opposite to the common growth substrate 110 by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . in the embodiment , the solar cell epitaxy structure 140 may be a multiple junction solar cell epitaxy structure , which is a serial connection of three cells of gainp / gaas / ge . a tunnel junction structure is disposed between two neighboring cells wherein every cell is formed of iii - v group compound semiconductor ( not shown ). as fig1 b shows , an adhesive layer 150 is formed on the solar cell epitaxy structure 140 opposite to the stripping layer 130 , wherein the material of the adhesive layer 150 may be al , au , pt , zn , ag , ni , ge , in , sn , ti , pb , cu , pd , or alloys of the aforementioned metals . in another embodiment , the material of the adhesive layer 150 may be silver glue , spontaneous conductive polymer , polymer materials mixed with conductive materials , or anisotropic conductive film ( acf ). a solar cell permanent substrate 160 is provided on the adhesive layer 150 opposite to the solar cell epitaxy structure 140 , wherein the material of the solar cell permanent substrate 160 may be germanium ( ge ), copper ( cu ), aluminum ( al ), molybdenum ( mo ), tungsten copper ( cuw ), silicon aluminum ( sial ), gallium arsenide ( gaas ), indium phosphide ( inp ), silicon carbide ( sic ), silicon ( si ), gallium nitride ( gan ), aluminum nitride ( aln ) or diamond - like carbon ( dlc ). a wet etching solution containing hydrofluoric acid or citric acid is used for removing the stripping layer 130 , then a light - emitting structure 10 as shown in fig1 c and a solar cell structure 20 as shown in fig1 d are formed separately . fig1 e through fig1 h are schematic diagrams showing the process flow for manufacturing a light - emitting device 100 and a solar cell device 200 in accordance with the above mentioned embodiments of the present application . as fig1 e shows , a transparent conductive layer 121 is formed on the light - emitting epitaxy structure 120 , and a first electrode 122 is formed on the transparent conductive layer 121 . a second electrode 111 is formed on the second surface 110 b of the common growth substrate 110 . finally , dicing the transparent conductive layer 121 , the light - emitting epitaxy structure 120 , the common growth substrate 110 , and the second electrode 111 along a cutting line 170 to form a light - emitting device 100 as shown in fig1 f . as fig1 g shows , an anti - reflective layer 142 is formed on a portion of the solar cell epitaxy structure 140 , and a first electrode 141 is formed on the remained portion of the solar cell epitaxy structure 140 . a second electrode 161 is formed on the solar cell permanent substrate 160 opposite to the adhesive layer 150 . finally , dicing the anti - reflective layer 142 , the solar cell epitaxy structure 140 , the adhesive layer 150 , the solar cell permanent substrate 160 , and the second electrode 161 along a cutting line 170 to form a solar cell device 200 as shown in fig1 h . fig2 a through fig2 d are schematic diagrams showing the process flow for manufacturing a light - emitting structure 10 and a solar cell structure 20 in accordance with a second embodiment of the present application . as fig2 a shows , a common growth substrate 210 is provided for the epitaxial growth of epitaxial materials formed thereon . the material of the common growth substrate 210 may be gaas or ge . a light - emitting epitaxy structure 220 is grown on the common growth substrate 210 by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . in the embodiment , the light - emitting epitaxy structure 220 comprises a first conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer , an active layer , and a second conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer ( not shown ) stacked on the common growth substrate 210 . for example , the first conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer is n - type algainp series material , the active layer is algainp series material , and the second conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer is p - type algainp series material . a stripping layer 230 is grown on the light - emitting epitaxy structure 220 by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . the material of the stripping layer 230 may be alas or algaas . a solar cell epitaxy structure 240 is grown on the stripping layer 230 by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . in the embodiment , the solar cell epitaxy structure 240 may be a multiple junction solar cell epitaxy structure , which is a serial connection of three cells of gainp / gaas / ge . a tunnel junction structure is disposed between two neighboring cells wherein every cell is formed of iii - v group compound semiconductor ( not shown ). as fig2 b shows , an adhesive layer 250 is formed on the solar cell epitaxy structure 240 , wherein the material of the adhesive layer 250 may be al , au , pt , zn , ag , ni , ge , in , sn , ti , pb , cu , pd , or alloys of the aforementioned metals . in another embodiment , the material of the adhesive layer 250 may be silver glue , spontaneous conductive polymer , polymer materials mixed with conductive materials , or anisotropic conductive film ( acf ). a solar cell permanent substrate 260 is provided on the adhesive layer 250 , wherein the material of the solar cell permanent substrate 260 may be germanium ( ge ), copper ( cu ), aluminum ( al ), molybdenum ( mo ), tungsten copper ( cuw ), silicon aluminum ( sial ), gallium arsenide ( gaas ), indium phosphide ( inp ), silicon carbide ( sic ), silicon ( si ), gallium nitride ( gan ), aluminum nitride ( aln ) or diamond - like carbon ( dlc ). a wet etching solution containing hydrofluoric acid or citric acid is used for removing the stripping layer 230 , then a light - emitting structure 10 as shown in fig2 c and a solar cell structure 20 as shown in fig2 d are formed separately . the light - emitting structure 10 and the solar cell structure 20 are manufactured by the same process in fig1 e through fig1 h to form a light - emitting device 100 and a solar cell device 200 respectively ( not shown ). fig3 a through fig3 d are schematic diagrams showing the process flow for manufacturing a light - emitting structure 10 and a solar cell structure 20 in accordance with a third embodiment of the present application . as fig3 a shows , a common growth substrate 310 is provided for the epitaxial growth of epitaxial materials formed thereon . the material of the common growth substrate 310 may be gaas or ge . a solar cell epitaxy structure 340 is grown on the common growth substrate 310 by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . in the embodiment , the solar cell epitaxy structure 340 may be a multiple junction solar cell epitaxy structure , which is a serial connection of three cells of gainp / gaas / ge . a tunnel junction structure is disposed between two neighboring cells wherein every cell is formed of iii - v group compound semiconductor ( not shown ). a stripping layer 330 is grown on the solar cell epitaxy structure 340 by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . the material of the stripping layer 330 may be alas or algaas . a light - emitting epitaxy structure 320 is formed on the stripping layer 330 by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . in the embodiment , the light - emitting epitaxy structure 320 comprises a first conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer , an active layer , and a second conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer stacked on the stripping layer 330 ( not shown ). for example , the first conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer is n - type algainp series material , the active layer is algainp series material , and the second conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer is p - type algainp series material . as fig3 b shows , an adhesive layer 350 is formed on the light - emitting epitaxy structure 320 , wherein the material of the adhesive layer 350 may be al , au , pt , zn , ag , ni , ge , in , sn , ti , pb , cu , pd , or alloys of the aforementioned metals . in another embodiment , the material of the adhesive layer 350 may be silver glue , spontaneous conductive polymer , polymer materials mixed with conductive materials , or anisotropic conductive film ( acf ). a light - emitting device permanent substrate 380 is provided on the adhesive layer 350 , wherein the material of the light - emitting device permanent substrate 380 may be germanium ( ge ), copper ( cu ), aluminum ( al ), molybdenum ( mo ), tungsten copper ( cuw ), silicon aluminum ( sial ), gallium arsenide ( gaas ), indium phosphide ( inp ), silicon carbide ( sic ), silicon ( si ), gallium nitride ( gan ), aluminum nitride ( aln ) or diamond - like carbon ( dlc ). a wet etching solution containing hydrofluoric acid or citric acid is used for removing the stripping layer 330 , then solar cell structure 20 as shown in fig3 c and a light - emitting structure 10 as shown in fig3 d are formed separately . fig3 e through fig3 h are schematic diagrams showing the process flow for manufacturing a light - emitting device 100 and a solar device 200 in accordance with the above mentioned embodiments of the present application . as fig3 e shows , a transparent conductive layer 321 is formed on the light - emitting epitaxy structure 320 , and a first electrode 322 is formed on the transparent conductive layer 321 . a second electrode 381 is formed under the light - emitting device permanent substrate 380 opposite to the adhesive layer 350 . finally , dicing the transparent conductive layer 321 , the light - emitting epitaxy structure 320 , the adhesive layer 350 , the light - emitting device permanent substrate 380 , and the second electrode 381 along a cutting line 370 to form a light - emitting device 100 as shown in fig3 f . as fig3 g shows , an anti - reflective layer 342 is formed on a portion of the solar cell epitaxy structure 340 , and a first electrode 341 is formed on the remained portion of the solar cell epitaxy structure 340 . a second electrode 312 is formed under the common growth substrate 310 opposite to the solar cell epitaxy structure 340 . finally , dicing the anti - reflective layer 342 , the solar cell epitaxy structure 340 , the common growth substrate 310 , and the second electrode 312 along a cutting line 370 to form a solar cell device 200 as shown in fig3 h . fig4 a through fig4 d are schematic diagrams showing the process flow for manufacturing a light - emitting structure 10 and a solar cell structure 20 in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present application . as fig4 a shows , a common growth substrate 410 is provided for the epitaxial growth of epitaxial materials formed thereon , wherein the common growth substrate 410 having a first surface 410 a and a second surface 410 b . the material of the common growth substrate 410 may be gaas or ge . a stripping layer 430 is grown on the first surface 410 a of the common growth substrate 410 by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . the material of the stripping layer 430 may be alas or algaas . a light - emitting epitaxy structure 420 is grown on the stripping layer 430 by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . in the embodiment , the light - emitting epitaxy structure 420 comprises a first conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer , an active layer , and a second conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer ( not shown ) stacked on the stripping layer 430 . for example , the first conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer is n - type algainp series material , the active layer is algainp series material , and the second conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer is p - type algainp series material . a solar cell epitaxy structure 440 is grown on the second surface 410 b the common growth substrate 410 by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . in the embodiment , the solar cell epitaxy structure 440 may be a multiple junction solar cell epitaxy structure , which is a serial connection of three cells of gainp / gaas / ge . a tunnel junction structure is disposed between two neighboring cells wherein every cell is formed of iii - v group compound semiconductor ( not shown ). as fig4 b shows , an adhesive layer 450 is formed on the light - emitting epitaxy structure 420 , wherein the material of the adhesive layer 450 may be al , au , pt , zn , ag , ni , ge , in , sn , ti , pb , cu , pd , or alloys of the aforementioned metals . in another embodiment , the material of the adhesive layer 450 may be silver glue , spontaneous conductive polymer , polymer materials mixed with conductive materials , or anisotropic conductive film ( acf ). a light - emitting device permanent substrate 480 is provided on the adhesive layer 450 , wherein the material of the light - emitting device permanent substrate 480 may be germanium ( ge ), copper ( cu ), aluminum ( al ), molybdenum ( mo ), tungsten copper ( cuw ), silicon aluminum ( sial ), gallium arsenide ( gaas ), indium phosphide ( inp ), silicon carbide ( sic ), silicon ( si ), gallium nitride ( gan ), aluminum nitride ( aln ) or diamond - like carbon ( dlc ). a wet etching solution containing hydrofluoric acid or citric acid is used for removing the stripping layer 430 , then a solar cell structure 20 as shown in fig4 c and a light - emitting structure 10 as shown in fig4 d are formed separately . fig5 shows the growth temperatures for growing a light - emitting epitaxy structure and a solar cell epitaxy structure in accordance with a fifth embodiment of the present application . a common growth substrate ge is provided for the epitaxial growth of epitaxial materials formed thereon . a solar cell epitaxy structure is grown on the common growth substrate by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . in the embodiment , the solar cell epitaxy structure may be a multiple junction solar cell epitaxy structure , which is a serial connection of three cells of gainp / gaas / ge ( layer 5 / layer 3 / layer 1 ). a tunnel junction structure is ( layer 2 , layer 4 ) disposed between two neighboring cells wherein every cell is formed of iii - v group compound semiconductor . the growth temperature of the these layers is 600 ° c . a stripping layer ( layer 6 ) is grown on the solar cell epitaxy structure by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . the growth temperature of the stripping layer is 650 ° c . a light - emitting epitaxy structure is formed on the stripping layer by , for example , metal organic chemical vapor deposition ( mocvd ) method , liquid phase deposition ( lpd ) method , or molecular beam epitaxy ( mbe ) method . in the embodiment , the light - emitting epitaxy structure comprises a first conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer , an active layer , and a second conductivity type iii - v group compound ( layer 7 - layer 9 ). the growth temperature of the these layers is 700 ° c . fig6 shows a schematic diagram of a backlight module device 600 in accordance with a sixth embodiment of the present application . the backlight module device 600 comprises a light source device 610 having the light - emitting device 100 in one of the above mentioned embodiments , an optics device 620 deposited on the light extraction pathway of the light source device 610 , and a power supplement 630 which provides a predetermined power to the light source device 610 . fig7 shows a schematic diagram of an illumination device 700 in accordance with a seventh embodiment of the present application . the illumination device 700 can be automobile lamps , street lights , flashlights , indicator lights and so forth . the illumination device 700 comprises a light source device 710 having the light - emitting device 100 in one of the above mentioned embodiments , a power supplement 720 which provides a predetermined power to the light source device 710 , and a control element 730 which controls the current driven into the light source device 710 . fig8 shows a schematic diagram of a solar cell module 800 in accordance with an eighth embodiment of the present application . the solar cell module 800 comprises a heat sink 860 which provides the heat dissipation , a receiver 850 on the heat sink 860 , a solar cell device 200 in one of the above mentioned embodiments on the receiver 850 wherein the solar cell device electrically connects with the receiver 850 by wire 840 , a secondary optic lens 820 on the solar cell device 200 , and a first optic lens 810 on the secondary optic lens 820 wherein the first optic lens 810 and the secondary optic lens 820 are used for focusing the sunlight . in accordance with the embodiments in the application , the first conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer and the second conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer of the light - emitting epitaxy structure are two single - layer structures or two multiple layers structure (“ multiple layers ” means two or more than two layers ) having different electrical properties , polarities , dopants for providing electrons or holes respectively . if the first conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer and the second conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer are composed of the semiconductor materials , the conductivity type can be any two of p - type , n - type , and i - type . the active layer disposed between the first conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer and the second conductivity type iii - v group compound semiconductor layer is a region where the light energy and the electrical energy could transfer or could be induced to transfer . in another embodiment of this application , the light emission spectrum of the light - emitting device 100 after transferring can be adjusted by changing the physical or chemical arrangement of one layer or more layers in the active layer . the material of the active layer can be algainp or algainn . the structure of the active layer can be a single heterostructure ( sh ), a double heterostructure ( dh ), a double - side double heterostructure ( ddh ), or a multi - quantum well ( mqw ) structure . besides , the wavelength of the emitted light could also be adjusted by changing the number of the pairs of the quantum well in a mqw structure . in one embodiment of this application , a buffer layer ( not shown ) could be optionally formed between the common growth substrate and the light - emitting epitaxy structure . the buffer layer between two material systems can be used as a buffer system . for the structure of the light - emitting device , the buffer layer is used to reduce the lattice mismatch between two material systems . on the other hand , the buffer layer could also be a single layer , multiple layers , or a structure to combine two materials or two separated structures where the material of the buffer layer can be organic , inorganic , metal , semiconductor , and so on , and the function of the buffer layer can be as a reflection layer , a heat conduction layer , an electrical conduction layer , an ohmic contact layer , an anti - deformation layer , a stress release layer , a stress adjustment layer , a bonding layer , a wavelength converting layer , a mechanical fixing structure , and so on . the material of the buffer layer can be aln , gan , or other suitable materials . the fabricating method of the buffer layer can be sputter or atomic layer deposition ( ald ). a contact layer ( not shown ) can also be optionally formed on the light - emitting epitaxy structure . the contact layer is disposed on the second conductivity group type iii - v compound semiconductor layer opposite to the active layer . specifically speaking , the contact layer could be an optical layer , an electrical layer , or the combination of the two . an optical layer can change the electromagnetic radiation or the light from or entering the active layer . the term “ change ” here means to change at least one optical property of the electromagnetic radiation or the light . the above mentioned property includes but is not limited to frequency , wavelength , intensity , flux , efficiency , color temperature , rendering index , light field , and angle of view . an electrical layer can change or be induced to change the value , density , or distribution of at least one of the voltage , resistance , current , or capacitance between any pair of the opposite sides of the contact layer . the composition material of the contact layer includes at least one of oxide , conductive oxide , transparent oxide , oxide with 50 % or higher transmittance , metal , relatively transparent metal , metal with 50 % or higher transmittance , organic material , inorganic material , fluorescent material , phosphorescent material , ceramic , semiconductor , doped semiconductor , and undoped semiconductor . in certain applications , the material of the contact layer is at least one of indium tin oxide ( ito ), cadmium tin oxide ( cto ), antimony tin oxide , indium zinc oxide , zinc aluminum oxide , and zinc tin oxide . if the material is relatively transparent metal , the thickness is about 0 . 005 μm - 0 . 6 μm . it will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the devices in accordance with the present application without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure . in view of the foregoing , it is intended that the present application covers modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents . although the drawings and the illustrations above are corresponding to the specific embodiments individually , the element , the practicing method , the designing principle , and the technical theory can be referred , exchanged , incorporated , collocated , coordinated except they are conflicted , incompatible , or hard to be put into practice together . although the present application has been explained above , it is not the limitation of the range , the sequence in practice , the material in practice , or the method in practice . any modification or decoration for present application is not detached from the spirit and the range of such . | 8 |
the following examples set forth various embodiments of the present invention . it is to be understood , however , that these examples are provided by way of illustration and should not be taken as limiting the overall scope of the invention . a vapor wand was constructed of 1 . 9 cm od copper tube 10 which is 75 cm in length with multiple 0 . 6 cm holes 12 in the distal 20 cm portion of the tube . a distal end - cap with hole 14 is fitted to introduce liquid isoflurane ( iso ) via a hypodermic syringe into a full - length cotton wick 32 . the proximal end is fitted with a 0 . 6 cm hose barb 22 and a female leur fitting 24 to allow additional iso administration . the vapor wand 10 is constructed of a metallic ( stainless steel , brass , or copper ) tube 10 with multiple holes 12 in the distal end . a distal end - cap 14 with injection hole is fitted to introduce inhalant anesthetics in the liquid form into the vapor wand via a hypodermic syringe ( not shown ) into a full - length fibrous wick 32 that may be made of cotton . the proximal end is fitted with a hose barb 22 and female leur fitting 24 to allow additional anesthetic administration . the air pump 16 , or other recirculation device , is connected to the hose barb 22 via flexible tubing 26 . the apparatus can be constructed in a variety of sizes to accommodate different cage sizes . the appropriate size of the apparatus is determined by the amount of anesthetic that is initially loaded onto the cotton wick 32 in order to achieve the desired target anesthetic concentration . for small volumes a smaller wand with a shorter wick can be used . similarly , for cages with large volumes , a larger wand with longer wick can be used . embodiments of the present invention allow a desired amount of anesthesia to be delivered to caged animals in order to temporarily immobilize the animal , while adequate respiration and heart rate are maintained so that the animal can be safely and humanely removed from the cage for subsequent treatment . formulas have been developed , depending on cage volume , to produce a target anesthetic concentration that is shown in fig2 and 3 . upon presentation of the animal in a cage , the cage is measured and the volume of the cage is calculated . the cage is then enclosed in a heavy , close fitting plastic bag . after injecting the desired volume of anesthetic into the wick 32 of the vapor wand , the distal end of the vapor wand is introduced through a small hole cut into the plastic bag . the opening of the bag is sealed around a transparent window to facilitate ongoing observation of the animal . the proximal end of the vapor wand remains outside of the cage . a gas tight air pump 16 , or other circulating device , is then attached to the hose barb 22 and is pumped using air pump handle 30 to cycle cage gas back and forth through the vapor wand to enhance vaporization of the liquid anesthetic in the wick 32 . the more frequent the cycling of the syringe , the faster the liquid is vaporized and the faster the animal becomes anesthetized . the device illustrated in fig1 was used to anesthetize different species and sizes of animals , including domestic cats , dogs and mandrills ( small baboon ). cage volumes ranged from 28 to 275 liters ( 1708 to 16780 cubic inches ). liquid volume of isoflurane ( iso ) was calculated to produce a target concentration of five percent if complete vaporization occurred . the speed of induction time varied directly with cage volume . induction times ranged from 2 . 07 to 7 . 5 minutes . at completion of induction of anesthesia and immobilization , the bag was rapidly opened and a mask was fitted on the patient &# 39 ; s nose and attached to an anesthetic circuit to maintain anesthesia . fig2 is a graph 200 illustrating the liquid isoflurane requirements for anesthetic induction of animals in enclosed cages . the graph shows the percentage of isoflurane vapor plotted for cage volumes from 0 to over 240 liters versus the amount of isoflurane in milliliters . fig3 is a graph 300 illustrating the liquid isoflurane requirements for anesthetic induction of animals in enclosed cages . the graph shows the percentage of isoflurane vapor plotted for cage volumes varying from 0 to 40 liters versus the amount of isoflurane in milliliters . this example pertains to a ferel cat presented by a police department animal control officer . the cage containing the cat measured 12 ″× 12 ″× 21 ″ with a volume 3024 cubic inches . the target concentration of isoflurane vapor equaled five percent . the cage was placed inside a plastic bag and was then sealed around a small transparent window . the vapor wand was loaded with 12 . 4 ml isoflurane liquid and inserted through a small hole that was cut into the bag . the air pump was manually pumped to cycle cage gas back and forth through the vapor wand to enhance vaporization of the liquid anesthetic in the wick . induction time to complete anesthesia was two minutes and three seconds . the induction was very smooth , with no adverse movements or responses . a mandrill ( small baboon ) was presented in a cage which measured 22 ″× 32 ″× 24 ″ with a volume of 16 , 896 cubic inches . the target concentration of isoflurane vapor equaled five percent . the cage was placed inside a plastic bag and was then sealed around a small transparent window . the vapor wand was loaded with 76 ml isoflurane liquid and inserted through a small hole that was cut into the bag . the air pump was manually pumped to cycle cage gas back and forth through the vapor wand to enhance vaporization of the liquid anesthetic in the wick . induction time to complete immobility and a moderate plane of anesthesia was six minutes and eighteen seconds . the induction was very smooth . the animal was quiet with no struggling . as described above , the vapor wand can be used to safely and effectively anesthetize a variety of aggressive animals while they are in their cages . it should be understood that the implementation shown is illustrative and should not be considered as limiting in any way the scope of the invention . for example , the apparatus and method can be used to anesthetize animals other than those shown . the apparatus can be constructed in varying sizes to accommodate both large and small cages , the size of the apparatus being dependent on the amount of liquid anesthetic required to achieve the target anesthetic concentration . thus , the apparatus and method of use of the apparatus are advancements over the current art , providing an inexpensive , reliable , portable device for anesthetizing animals presented in cages for treatment . the foregoing description of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed , and other modifications and variations may be possible in light of the above teachings . the embodiment was 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 in various embodiments and various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . it is intended that the appended claims be construed to include other alternative embodiments of the invention except insofar as limited by the prior art . | 0 |
u . s . pat . no . 5 , 800 , 575 describes one method of fabricating a metal - insulator - metal ( mim ) capacitor . referring to fig1 ( a ), the fabrication process may start from forming an initial lamination product 50 which includes the fully cured dielectric sheet 40 ′ with conductive foils 28 ′ and 46 ′ laminated or bonded on opposite sides of the dielectric sheet 40 ′. thereafter , the conductive foil 28 ′ is etched as indicated in fig1 ( b ). referring to fig1 ( c ), another lamination product 52 is formed in a similar manner as the lamination product 50 . the lamination product 52 includes the other dielectric layer 42 ′ and the conductive foils 30 ′ and 48 ′. an uncured dielectric sheet 32 ′ is then arranged between the lamination products 50 and 52 so that it is adjacent to both the conductive foils 28 ′ and 30 ′. after a conventional lamination to convert the uncured dielectric sheet 32 ′ to a fully cured condition , the finished capacitive pcb 10 ′ is formed as shown in fig1 ( d ). the thickness of the dielectric sheet 32 ′ is usually reduced in order to obtain large capacitance . however , a thin - dielectric sheet design may cause undesirable metal - to - metal shorting through the thin dielectric sheet . one example of the present invention provides a capacitor which comprises at least one dielectric layer coated on at least one of the conductive layers serving as electrodes of a capacitor , prior to lamination with an intermediate dielectric layer . in this manner , the conductive layers are protected by the at least one dielectric layer from contacting each other . fig2 ( a )-( f ) show methods of fabricating a metal - insulator - metal capacitor in examples consistent with the present invention . the fabrication process may include forming an initial structure 210 which includes a carrier 212 and a conductive layer 214 . in some examples , the carrier 212 may include prepreg , which may be a reinforced material impregnated with epoxy resin or fiber - reinforced material coated with epoxy . in one example , the carrier 212 may have a thickness between about 9 μm to 36 μm and is made of one or more conductive materials , such as copper . the conductive layer 214 may be etched as shown in fig2 ( a ). the conductive layer appropriate for the purpose of the present invention may vary depending on the desired applications . in some examples , the conductive layer 214 may include a material selected from the group consisting of copper , zinc , brass , chrome , chromates , titanium nitride , nickel , silanes , aluminum , stainless steel , iron , gold , silver , titanium , and combinations thereof . in one example , the conductive layer 214 may include or be made of copper , and its thickness may be in the range from 5 μm to 75 μm . as shown in fig2 ( a ), similar to structure 210 , another initial structure 220 is formed to include a carrier 222 and a conductive layer 224 . prior to lamination of the structures 210 and 220 with an intermediate dielectric layer 230 , another dielectric layer is formed on at least one of the conductive layers 214 and 224 . for example , a dielectric layer 226 is formed on the conductive layers 224 as shown in fig2 ( a ) and dielectric layers 216 and 226 are formed on one of the conductive layers 214 and one of the conductive layers 224 as shown in fig2 ( c ). in another example , two dielectric layers 216 and 226 are formed on the both conductive layers 214 and 224 as shown in fig2 ( e ). the dielectric layer may be formed by screen printing , inkjet printing , or any other technique that may provide a thin dielectric layer . the dielectric layer may include a dielectric material having a dielectric constant as high as several hundred and may have a thickness of about 5 μm , but the thickness may be varied depending on the various applications . examples of high dielectric constant or high k materials may include epoxies , polyesters , polyester containing copolymers , aromatic theromosetting copolyesters , polyarylene ethers and fluorinated polyarylene ethers , polyimides , benzocyclobutenes , liquid crystal polymers , allylated polyphenylene ethers , amines , inorganic materials such as barium titanate ( batio 3 ), boron nitride ( bn ), aluminum oxide ( al 2 o 3 ), silica , strontium titanate , barium strontium titanate , quartz and other ceramic and non - ceramic inorganic materials and combinations thereof . after the at least one dielectric layer is applied to one of the conductive layers 214 and 224 , the two structures 210 and 220 may be pressed against the intermediate dielectric layer 230 to form a structure as illustrated in fig2 ( b ), 2 ( d ) or 2 ( f ), where portions of the intermediate dielectric layer 230 are sandwiched between the conductive layers 214 and 224 via at least one dielectric layer 216 and / or 226 . the dielectric layer 230 may be a dielectric material with a high dielectric constant as described above . in one example , the dielectric constant of the dielectric layer 230 may be lower than the dielectric constant of the dielectric layer 216 and / or 226 . the thickness of the dielectric layer 230 may be about 20 μm . with the capacitor design illustrated above , the conductive layers 214 and 224 are protected by the dielectric layer 216 and / or 226 from making contacts or shorting with each other . in addition , by having a dielectric structure comprising the dielectric layer 230 and the dielectric layer 216 or 226 , the dielectric constant of the dielectric structure may be controlled by the intermediate dielectric layer 230 , and the dielectric layers 216 and 226 . in addition , the capacitance depends on the thickness of the dielectric layers 216 and / or 226 and the intermediate dielectric layer 230 . fig3 ( a ) and 3 ( b ) show fabrication of an mim capacitor in examples consistent with the present invention . referring to fig3 ( a ), each of the structures 310 and 320 includes a carrier ( 312 or 322 ) and a conductive layer ( 314 or 324 ). on the patterned conductive layers 314 and 324 , dielectric layers are formed . the dielectric layers formed on the patterned conductive layers 314 and 324 may have different dielectric constants by having different dielectric materials or different combination of dielectric materials . in one example , the dielectric layer 316 a has the same dielectric constant as the dielectric layer 326 a while the dielectric layer 316 b has the same dielectric constant as the dielectric layer 326 b . after lamination of the structures 310 and 320 with the intermediate dielectric layer 330 , capacitors c 1 and c 2 are formed as shown in fig3 ( b ). since the dielectric constant for the capacitor c 1 is different from the dielectric constant for the capacitor c 2 , the capacitors c 1 and c 2 have different capacitance . an equivalent electrical circuit of fig3 ( b ) is shown in fig3 ( c ) where the capacitors c 1 and c 2 are connected in parallel . fig3 ( d ) is the impedance curve of capacitors of fig3 ( b ), which shows that , with capacitors in parallel , the bandwidth , such as the bandwidth for reducing or eliminating noises of different frequencies , for the capacitors may become broader . fig4 ( a )-( b ) show an mim capacitor consistent with examples of the present invention . similar to fig3 ( a ), each structure ( 410 or 420 ) includes a carrier ( 412 or 422 ), a patterned conductive layer ( 414 or 424 ), and a dielectric layer ( 416 or 426 ) on the patterned conductive layer . in addition , there are thin conductive layers 418 and 428 formed on each dielectric layer as shown in fig4 ( a ). after lamination of the two structures 410 and 420 with the dielectric layer 430 , a capacitor with higher capacitance as shown in fig4 ( b ) may be formed . as illustrated in fig4 ( c ), the distance between the conductive layers 414 and 424 may be reduced by the thin conductive layers 418 and 428 . accordingly , the capacitance may increase . in one example , a number of thin conductive layers may be included between the conductive layers 414 and 424 to reduce the distance between the conductive layers , thereby increasing the capacitance . the conductive layers and the thin conductive layers may include or be made of one or more of the conductive materials noted above . the thin conductive layers 418 and 428 may be formed on an underlying dielectric layer using a printing and / or coating technique . each dielectric layer may include or be made of one or more high dielectric constant materials noted above and may be printed and / or coated on its underlying layer . fig5 ( a ) shows an mim capacitor in examples consistent with the present invention . in this example , the structures 510 and 520 may include a carrier ( 512 or 522 ), a conductive layer ( 514 or 524 ) and a number of spots or other patterns ( 516 or 526 ) of a high - dielectric - constant material on the surface of the conductive layers ( 514 or 524 ). the spots may be formed by inkjet printing or other techniques . the spots may form any pattern or any combination of patterns and the pattern may be formed through the control of the formation process , such as an inkjet printing process . the structures 510 and 520 with spots may be pressed against the intermediate dielectric material 530 as shown in fig5 ( b ). where the spots 516 or 526 are formed from a dielectric material , these spots may protect the conductive layers 514 and 524 from metal - to - metal shorting . in addition , the dielectric constant for the capacitors 500 a and 500 b may depend on the distance between the neighboring spots . fig5 ( c ) shows another mim capacitor in examples consistent with the present invention . similar to fig5 ( a ), the structures 510 and 520 may include a carrier ( 512 or 522 ), a conductive layer ( 514 or 524 ) and a number of spots ( 516 or 526 ) provided on the surface of the conductive layer ( 514 or 524 ) by inkjet printing or other techniques . the spots include dielectric spots ( 516 a or 526 a ) of a high dielectric constant material and conductive spots ( 516 b or 526 b ) of a conductive material . the structures 510 and 520 with the spots may then be pressed against an intermediate dielectric material 530 as shown in fig5 ( d ). in one example , the dielectric spots 516 a and 526 a and the conductive spots 516 b and 526 b may form a crossed or checkered pattern . the conductive spots and dielectric spots , depending on the spot or pattern arrangements , may provide a capacitor with a wave - like dielectric layer formed by connecting the dielectric spots from the two structures , as shown in fig5 ( e ). with the illustrated example , the capacitance depends on the minimum distance × between the two conductive spots as illustrated in fig5 ( e ). in another example , the spots or the dielectric layer may be formed by dielectric materials with different dielectric constants . fig6 ( a ) shows the structure of the capacitors after lamination . referring fig6 ( a ), capacitor 600 a has a dielectric layer 630 having three different dielectric constants by having different dielectric materials or different combinations of dielectric materials . as a result , three capacitive elements in parallel are formed . since these three capacitive elements share the conductive layers 614 and 624 , no additional wiring is required for connecting these capacitive elements in parallel . fig6 ( b ) is an example of an equivalent electrical circuit of the structure of fig6 ( a ). fig6 ( c ) is the impedance curve of the capacitor of fig6 ( a ), which shows a broader effective bandwidth than that of the smd capacitors in parallel as shown in fig6 ( d ). above discussion is directed to a single mim capacitor . in some examples , a number of capacitive elements 710 a , 710 b , 710 c consistent with the present invention may form a set of capacitors 720 as shown in fig7 ( a ). fig7 ( b ) shows another exemplary set of mim capacitors consistent with the present invention . fig7 ( b ) includes capacitive elements 730 a and 730 b in parallel and a capacitive element 730 c . fig7 ( c ) shows an exemplary set of mim capacitors consistent with the present invention . fig7 ( c ) includes capacitive elements 740 a , 740 b and 740 c . as shown in fig7 ( c ), one of the electrodes of these three capacitors , such as the ground plane 750 , may be coupled together . it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof . it is understood , therefore , that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed , but it is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims . | 8 |
referring to fig1 a schematic perspective view illustrates the essential components of this invention . the kit 10 comprises three components , a catheter 12 , an introducer needle 14 and a syringe body 16 . the syringe 16 is conventional and need not be discussed further . the catheter 12 is typically an elongated hollow plastic tube of suitable internal diameter and stiffness . the distal end 18 is beveled and tapered to aid in penetration . the bevel matches that of the needle . the proximal end has a connector section 20 . in this preferred embodiment the connector section 20 is oriented 90 ° to the axis of the catheter via an elbow portion . it is apparent that the connector section 20 need not be at right angles to the axis of the connector . this section has a flange 22 and a hole 24 into which the syringe 16 is inserted . it is apparent that a valved “ y ” connector can also be attached at this point instead of the syringe . the connector has a flattened section 26 which is aligned with the longitudinal axis of the catheter that is parallel to the internal bore of the catheter . the outer thickness of the section 26 matches the width of the slit of the introducer needle , as will be explained herein . the introducer needle 14 is metal or rigid plastic . it has a distal end that is sharpened and beveled . the proximal end has a holding flange 30 . this is in the form of a tab portion suitably roughened by knurling or the like to provide a secure thumb and finger grip . preferably the tab portion is wrapped around the needle to provide two protruding ends . the introducer needle has a longitudinal groove or slit running the length of the needle . as illustrated the needle circumference is about 270 ° with the groove comprising about 90 °. the exact angular extent of the wrap around of the needle 14 vis - à - vis the catheter 12 is not critical so long as the needle is held in position on the catheter , that is , a co - axial relationship is maintained during the placement phase of the procedure . the groove may be as large as slightly less than 180 ° in the case of a relatively stiff and / or large diameter catheter where in either case the catheter will support the needle . it may alternatively be relatively thin in the case of flexible catheter requiring a greater degree of support about its circumference . a second preferred embodiment is illustrated in fig2 . like elements are identified with the same numbering as in fig1 and need not be discussed . in this embodiment , the catheter 12 has two sections , a full diameter portion 34 and a reduced diameter portion 36 . the introducer needle 14 is mounted on the full diameter portion 34 and is slidable as in the first preferred embodiment . the reduced diameter portion 36 is used to remove the needle from the catheter , as will be described herein . while the connector is illustrated as coaxial with the catheter , it is apparent that it could be angled as in the first preferred embodiment . the operation of the invention will now be described . in the fig1 embodiment the catheter 12 and the introducer needle 14 are either pre - assembled as illustrated in the figure or the needle is slid over the distal end of the catheter . the distal ends of the needle and catheter are aligned so that the bevels 18 and 28 co - incident with each other . the clinician then holds the catheter in one hand by the knurled portions of the needle flanges and the tab 30 with the other . the assembled needle 14 and catheter 12 are then percutaneously inserted intra - vascular or intra - cavitary to a proximal position . then , holding the needle in a stationary position , the catheter is advanced to the desired placement position . as such , the needle moves relatively backward toward the proximal end that is closer to the connector 20 . with the catheter in its proper position , the needle is fully retracted by a sliding movement using the tab 30 . when the tab reaches the connector 22 , the tab portions 30 are either spread apart or peeled back to a position opposite the slit 32 . the needle then passes over the connector with the slit riding over the reduced cross - sectional portion 26 . as such the needle is removed and can be discarded by merely holding it and moving the needle with the tabs 30 . this is illustrated in fig4 . alternatively , the needle 14 may be “ docked ”, that is left in position adjacent the connector for removal at a later date . in the case of the embodiment of fig2 , the introducer needle 14 is slid down the length of the catheter until it reaches the reduced diameter portion 36 . the tabs are then reversed and the needle stripped off the catheter . as in the fig1 embodiment , the needle may be docked over the reduced section but again the risks related to delayed needle removal include catheter puncture or shearing by the introducer needle tip if mishandled . in both embodiments the syringe 16 or a stop valve , not illustrated , can be attached to the catheter at any point in the procedure . that is , it may be affixed to the connector 20 before the needle is introduced or after the needle is stripped off , or at any time in between . the syringe can be used for the introduction of medicine or as a space occupied evacuation system . it will be appreciated that by this combination of introducer needle and catheter achieves accurate percutaneous placement of a catheter and yet the needle can be easily withdrawn and safely removed without disturbing the catheter or forcing a break in the collection circuit . a valve for use with this system is illustrated in fig3 . the valve 40 has a hollow body portion 42 with three ports 44 , 46 and 48 . the body portion 42 has an internal wall 60 with a pair of thru - holes 62 , 64 . port 44 is an open conduit to be attached to a source of reduced pressure such as suction or , as illustrated , syringe 16 . two stop elements 50 , 52 are positioned in ports 46 and 48 respectively . the stop elements each have a stopper 54 and a guide 56 . the stoppers 54 are sized to seal either the port 46 and prevent backflow into port 46 or opening 64 . the stop elements are reversed , as shown , so that port 46 constitutes and “ in ” and port 48 an “ out ”. the port 46 is typically connected to the catheter 12 via the connector 20 . the port 48 is attached to a collection bag , not illustrated . in operation with these components attached , when the syringe piston is withdrawn pressure within the body 42 is reduced causing stopper elements 50 and 52 to move toward and seat on the wall 60 . in this position , fluid communication is established between catheter 12 and hollow body portion 42 while the stopper 54 seals the output 48 . by the application of further suction by action of the syringe , the body 42 and potentially the syringe body 16 will fill with fluid . when the piston is advanced , the stoppers 50 and 52 move toward the ports 46 and 48 . this seals the input 46 and opens the output 48 allowing the fluid to be collected in the collection bag . it will be appreciated that if the source of suction coupled to port 44 is another source , such as a continuous vacuum , the material collected can be immediately and directly removed . it is apparent that alternatives of these embodiments are within the scope of this invention . for example , the cross section of the needle and catheter need not be round . it can be configured to any cross - sectional shape desired as a function of the procedure , such as oval , triangular or the like . the tab on the introducer needle does not have to be knurled to provide a grip . it may be perforated , corrugated , roughened by other techniques or made sticky to tactile grip . the tab may be modified to be a fixed protrusion on the needle at a position that does not block the groove . the dimensions of the longitudinal groove and the geometry are functions of the materials used and the diameter of the catheter . in the case of a relatively thin and / or flexible catheter the groove may be thin and still allow the needle to be stripped off . if the catheter is relatively stiff , the groove may be larger , approaching one - half the circumference of the needle yet the needle will still be held on the catheter but easily stripped off . although not illustrated , the groove may have a wider circumferential portion at the proximal end to facilitate the stripping process by “ starting ” the needle off of the catheter . additionally the connector section can have a stop valve attached or made integral to it to prevent fluid communication between the catheter and ambient conditions . | 0 |
figures from 1 to 3 are diagrams illustrating the embodiment of the driving circuit in a zoom lens applied to the present invention . this embodiment includes a limit - switch of which a micro - switch having a normal - close terminal and normal - open terminal switching mechanism is employed ; so that upon the zoom lens in fig4 reaching either the wide - angle or telephoto extremity , power is cut to the d . c . motor , a short brake is activated , and rebounding is prevented . fig4 is a simplified diagram of the limit circuit for a cctv motorized zoom lens according to the embodiment of the present invention . the lens motor 11 ( d . c . motor ) drives a known zoom mechanism 21 which moves lens groups l2 and l3 . the zoom lens has a focusing lens group l1 , movable lens groups l2 and l3 , and a master lens group l4 ; and zooming is performed by altering the relative distance between the lens groups l2 and l3 . when the lens groups l2 and l3 are moved so as to approach the focusing lens l1 , the focal distance shortens , that is , a wide - angle zooming operation is performed ; when the lens groups l2 and l3 are moved away from the focusing lens l1 , the focal distance lengthens , that is , a telephoto zooming operation is performed . the wide - angle zoom stopper 23 of fig4 prevents the movement of the lens groups l2 and l3 in the wide - angle zooming direction ; the telephoto zoom stopper 25 ( also of fig4 ) prevents the movement of the lens groups l2 and l3 in the telephoto zooming direction . power terminals a and b in the motor driving circuit 31 and input terminals 12 and 13 are connected via the limit switch sww at the wide angle extremity and the limit switch swt at the telephoto extremity , respectively ; the switches sww and swt are usually closed . the limit switch sww at the wide - angle end is a micro switch which can detect whether the zoom lens groups l2 and l3 have reached the wide - angle extremity , activates a short break to the lens motor 11 and cuts the power supply . similarly , the limit switch swt at the telephoto end is a micro switch which can detect whether the zoom lens groups l2 and l3 have reached the telephoto extremity , activates a short brake to the lens motor 11 and cuts the power supply . as shown in fig1 each limit switch sww and swt at the wide - angle end and at the telephoto end , is usually closed , which is usually connected to the normal close terminal nc and the common terminal c . when the lens groups l2 and l3 reach the wide - angle extremity , the wide - angle switch sww , connected to the common terminal c , switches from the normal close terminal nc to the normal open terminal no . similarly , when the lens groups l2 and l3 reach the telephoto extremity , the telephoto switch swt , connected to the common terminal c , switches from the normal close terminal nc to the normal open terminal no . the wide - angle and telephoto limit - switches ( sww and swt ) are connected in parallel with diodes d1 and d2 , respectively . more specifically , the normal close terminal nc and the common terminal c of the wide - angle and telephoto limit - switches ( sww and swt ) are by - passed via the diodes d1 and d2 which allow the reversing of the current flow from the input terminals of the lens motor 11 , wherein the standard ( forward ) direction of current flow is from power terminals a and b to the input terminals 12 and 13 of the lens motor , respectively . moreover , diode d4 allows the path from terminal b to input terminal 13 to be by - passed to terminal 12 via the normal open terminal no of limit - switch sww . similarly , diode d3 allows the path from terminal a to input terminal 12 to be by - passed to terminal 13 via the normal open terminal no of limit - switch swt . furthermore , as known , limit - switches sww and swt are installed in order to detect the wide - angle and telephoto extremities of the lens groups l2 and l3 , and voltage is applied to power terminals a and b via a known motor drive - circuit 31 . either of the wide - angle and telephoto limit - switches sww or swt of fig1 when either switch is switched to the normal close nc terminals ( when the movable lens groups l2 and l3 are at an intermediate position ), can cause the lens motor 11 to rotate in the wide - angle or telephoto directions , respectively . in short , if a positive voltage is applied to power terminal a , the lens motor 11 rotates toward the telephoto direction . similarly , if a positive voltage is applied to power terminal b , the lens motor 11 rotates toward the wide angle direction . the relationship between the power terminal voltage and the rotative direction for the lens motor 11 at the above - mentioned intermediate position is as the following table 4 . table 4______________________________________voltage at power voltage at power rotational directionterminal a terminal b of lens motor______________________________________ + 0 telephoto direction0 + wide - angle direction______________________________________ if the lens motor 11 for the movable lens is rotated toward the telephoto direction from the intermediate position as shown in fig1 by applying a positive voltage to the power terminal a , the zoom lens group moves to the telephoto direction . if the zoom lens group arrives at the telephoto extremity , the limit switch of swt at the telephoto end switches from the normal close terminal nc to the normal open terminal no ( fig2 ). thereupon , as diode d2 is in the reverse direction in respect to the voltage of power terminal b , the current to the lens motor 11 is broken . whereas , the telephoto limit - switch swt allows current to flow to the other input terminal 13 from power terminal a via diode d3 . at this point , if the lens motor 11 tries to rotate further in the telephoto direction due to the force of inertia , since the induced electromotive force of the lens motor 11 will be in a forward direction with respect to the diode d3 , the current flows from the input terminal 12 to the other input terminal 13 via the wide - angle limit - switch sww , diode d3 , and telephoto limit - switch swt , causing a short - brake to occur . hence , a load is applied in a stopping direction in accordance with the rotative speed of the lens motor 11 which is stopped . consequently , impact on the stopper 25 at the telephoto end decreases and the rebound of the zoom lens groups l2 and l3 is prevented . in this telephoto extremity state , if a positive voltage is applied to power terminal b , the current flows to the lens motor 11 via diode d2 . therefore , the lens motor 11 rotates in the wide - angle direction . the relationship between the power terminal voltage in the above - mentioned position of the telephoto end and the rotative direction for the lens motor 11 is shown in the following table . table 5______________________________________voltage at power voltage at power rotational directionterminal a terminal b of lens motor______________________________________ + 0 stopped0 + wide - angle direction______________________________________ moreover , if the lens motor 11 is rotated toward the wide - angle direction by applying a positive voltage to the power terminal b at the intermediate position of the moving lens as shown in the fig1 or from the telephoto extremity as shown in the fig2 the zoom lens group moves in the wide - angle direction . further , if the zoom lens group arrives at the wide - angle extremity , the limit switch of sww at the wide - angle end switches from the normal close terminal nc to the normal open terminal no . thereupon , as diode of d1 is in the reverse direction in respect to the voltage of power terminal a , the current to the lens motor 11 is cut . whereas , the wide limit - switch sww allows current to flow to the other input terminal 12 from power terminal b via diode d4 . at this point , if the lens motor 11 tries to rotate further in the wide - angle direction due to the force of inertia , since the induced electromotive force of the lens motor 11 will be in a forward direction with respect to diode d4 , the current flows from the input terminal 13 to the other input terminal 12 via the telephoto limit - switch swt , diode d4 , and wide - angle limit - switch sww , causing a short - brake to occur . hence , a load is applied to the stopping position in accordance with the rotative speed of the lens motor 11 and the motor stops . consequently , impact on the stopper 23 at the wide - angle end decreases and the rebound of the zoom lens groups of l2 and l3 is substantially prevented . in this wide - angle state , if a positive voltage is applied to power terminal a , the current flows to the lens motor 11 via diode d1 . therefore , the lens motor 11 rotates in the telephoto direction . the relationship between the voltage at the power terminals and the rotational direction of the lens motor m at a wide - angle extremity is shown in the following table . table 6______________________________________voltage at power voltage at power rotational directionterminal a terminal b of lens motor______________________________________ + 0 telephoto direction0 + stopped______________________________________ according to the embodiment of the present invention , if the zoom lens group arrives at the telephoto extremity or at the wide - angle extremity , the limit switch swt at the telephoto extremity or the limit switch sww at the wide - angle extremity is activated , and as a result , a short brake is applied to the lens motor 11 . therefore , mechanical endurance can be improved and the prevention of the zoom lens group from rebounding in the opposite direction to the driving direction due to the reaction of the mechanical stop becomes achievable . furthermore , if the timing of the detection of the limit - switches is set before the collision of either stopper ( 23 or 25 ), the endurance factor is effectively improved . the embodiment of the present invention is that of a limit - circuit for a lens motor that drives a lens group . however , the present invention is not limited to this embodiment and is applicable to motors for driving focusing lens groups , motors used to open and close an iris , or for any device which employs a control mechanism having a travel extremity for a moving body . as can be understood from the above explanations ( and as clearly stated in claim 1 ) of the present invention , since a short - brake is applied to the d . c . motor and the travel - limit detection device cuts the power thereto when the moving body , driven via the d . c . motor , reaches its travel limit , the induced electromotive force of the d . c . motor acts as an electrical brake . hence , the d . c . motor and moving body drastically reduces the speed thereof and upon stoppage , collision or rebound is prevented , or at least reduced substantially . as stated in claims 3 and 4 of the present invention , a micro - switch is provided which changes the connection of one of the power terminals and one of the input terminals of the d . c . motor to the connection of one of the input terminals to the other input terminal of the d . c . motor when the travel - limit detection device detects a travel extremity ( end - of - travel ). moreover , since a diode is provided ( within the circuit extending from one of the input terminals of the d . c . motor ) which changes the induced electromotive force via the micro - switch to a ` forward ` direction when the rotational direction of the d . c . motor is toward a travel extremity , a simple travel - limit circuit ( having a short - brake ) without necessitating a special control circuit can be achieved . while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particulars disclosed and extends to all equivalents within the scope of the claims . | 6 |
fig1 illustrates an intraocular lens delivery system 100 according to a particular embodiment of the present invention . the delivery system 100 includes an injector body 102 having a bore 104 along with a plunger 200 to advance an intraocular lens within the injector body 102 . as used within this specification , the term “ injector body ,” an example of which is injector body 102 , refers to any portion , components , or collection of components enclosing a bore 104 through which the plunger 200 advances when pushing the intraocular lens . the term “ plunger ” describes any component advanced through the bore 104 to push an intraocular lens through the injector body , which can be ( but need not be ) connected to other components of the intraocular lens delivery system 100 . in particular , plungers 200 of various embodiments of the present invention may be made compatible with the lens delivery systems described in detail in u . s . pat . no . 7 , 156 , 854 to brown et al ., which is incorporated herein by reference . in particular embodiments , the entire injector body 102 may be formed as a single piece from a suitable material , which may include , for example , polypropylene or polyethylene . in other embodiments , the injector body 102 may be formed by coupling part of a reusable handpiece that forms a continuous bore 104 to a disposable cartridge holding the intraocular lens having a nozzle portion for injecting the intraocular lens through a surgical incision . various embodiments may also include a lubricious coating within the bore 104 of the injector body 102 to facilitate advancement of the intraocular lens . however , one difficulty with previous intraocular lens delivery systems is that the plungers may also slide too easily within the bore 104 , thus removing any real tactile feedback during advancement of the intraocular lens . particular embodiments of the present invention provide a solution to this difficulty by producing a resistance to advancement of the plunger 200 , as described in greater detail below . the plunger 200 pushes the intraocular lens by advancing a shaft 202 of the plunger 200 through the bore 104 . coupled to the plunger 200 are two deflectable members 204 on opposite sides of the plunger 200 . fig2 a and 2b show additional views of the deflectable members 204 of fig1 . in the depicted embodiment , the deflectable members 204 are arc - shaped , resilient extensions from the shaft 202 of the plunger 200 . the peaks of the deflectable member 204 are configured to contact and to be deflected by an inner wall of the injector body 102 when the plunger 200 is placed within the bore 104 . the resulting force from the deflection of the deflectable members 204 helps to position the plunger 200 within the bore 104 so that the shaft 202 of the plunger 200 is reliably oriented relative to the intraocular lens . the deflectable members 204 also fit sufficiently tightly within the bore 104 that , when the deflectable members 204 are compressed by the inner wall of the injector body 102 , the friction against the inner wall resists advancement of the plunger 200 . this produces a tactile resistance to the plunger 200 sliding through the bore 104 , which in turn both assists the surgeon in realizing when the plunger 200 is correctly engaged in the intraocular lens delivery system 100 and provides a steady resistance that facilitates controlled application of force during the lens delivery process . because the resistance varies with the force produced by deflection of the deflectable members 204 , it is possible to adjust a design for the deflectable members 204 in order to vary the resistance of the intraocular lens delivery system 100 . advantageously , the force can be adjusted to correspond to a desired “ feel ” for surgeons . for example , the resistance may be calibrated based on a survey of physicians to evaluate what resistance feels most suitable . in another example , typical resistance forces for handpieces of intraocular lens delivery systems preferred by various surgeons can be measures , and the deflectable members 204 can be adjusted to produce a suitable resistance . in yet another example , multiple different resistance values can be selected for multiple intraocular lens delivery systems 100 , allowing physicians to choose plungers 200 that are relatively “ stiff ” ( i . e ., having high resistance to advancement ) or plungers 200 that are relatively “ yielding ” ( i . e ., having lower resistance to advancement ). the deflectable members 204 can be formed separately from the plunger 200 or formed simultaneously as a single piece with the plunger 200 from a selected material suitable for use in ophthalmic applications , e . g ., polypropylene . forming the plunger 200 with the deflectable members 204 as a single piece has an advantage in reducing the number of manufacturing steps using techniques such as injection molding . the resistance force created by the deflectable members 204 can then be adjusted by varying the shape of the deflectable members 204 with respect to a selected material , so that plungers 200 with characteristic resistances can be produced . alternatively , the same shape for the deflectable members 204 could be used with a variety of selected materials of different resiliency . in general , any adjustment known to be suitable to change the resistance of the plunger 200 to advancement may be employed . multiple deflectable members 204 placed along the plunger 200 could also be used to help the stability of the plunger 200 . thus , for example , one pair of deflectable members 204 could be placed closer to a distal end of the plunger 200 (“ distal ” in this context referring to an end of the plunger 200 configured to be placed nearest the incision during lens injection ), while another pair is placed nearer to a proximal end (“ proximal ” referring to the end farthest from the incision during lens injection ). such configurations of deflectable members 204 can help to keep the plunger 200 aligned within the bore 104 as it is advanced . fig3 is a flowchart 300 illustrating an example method of manufacturing an intraocular lens delivery system 100 according to a particular embodiment of the present invention . at step 302 , a desired resistance to advancement of a plunger 200 for the intraocular lens delivery system 100 is determined . the desired resistance may be determined based on a survey of physicians using various designs , force measurements of lens delivery systems used by the physicians , theoretical calculations based on the overall sources of resistance in the system 100 , or a combinations of these techniques and / or any other suitable techniques for determining the value . at step 304 , a shape for at least two deflectable members 204 is determined so that the deflectable members 204 hold the plunger 200 within the bore 104 and provide the predetermined resistance to advancement of the plunger 200 . the deflectable members 204 may be designed according to any of the various considerations described above , including consideration of the material for the deflectable members 204 in determining the shape of the deflectable members 204 . steps 302 and 304 may also be repeatedly iteratively , such as particular designs being made and evaluated by physicians providing feedback used in the next design iteration . finally , at step 306 , the intraocular lens delivery system 100 is manufactured . suitable manufacturing techniques may include injection molding , press formation , lathing , or any other technique known for forming the material in the art . in a variation of the method presented above , multiple plungers 200 for intraocular lens delivery systems 200 with different resistances can be manufactured by selecting different forces at step 302 . in particular embodiments of this variant method , step 302 may include selection of multiple resistance values based on considerations similar to the ones described above to provide for different surgical needs . likewise , multiple designs for the deflectable members 204 may be determined that correspond to the different resistances , and step 306 would then include the manufacture of multiple plungers 200 along with injector bodies 102 that may be either common to the various plungers 200 or customized to work with plungers 200 having particular deflectable members 204 . although this particular variation has been described in detail , it should also be understood that other variations to the manufacturing method consistent with the description of the various embodiments of the intraocular lens delivery system 100 described herein could also be employed . while certain embodiments of the present invention have been described above , these descriptions are given for purposes of illustration and explanation . variations , changes , modifications and departures from the devices and methods disclosed above may be adopted without departure from the scope of the present invention as claimed . | 0 |
referring to fig1 and 3 , my invention involves a double envelope , 2 , made of flexible sheet material , preferably heat - sealable , such as polyethylene . it includes an inner envelope 4 , and an outer envelope 6 , which are sealed to each other at both ends , 8 and 10 . the inner envelope 4 is left open at least at one end , 10 . this is readily accomplished by insertion of a strip of metal , e . g ., aluminum foil , in end 10 of envelope 4 during the heat - sealing step . end 8 may also be left open , but normally inner envelope is closed at this end for convenience in loading . preferably , inner envelope 4 is sealed up to an intermediate point 12 in order to position the article to be packaged . the article 14 can then be simply dropped in open end 10 of inner envelope 4 . next , outer envelope 6 is inflated . the inflating means can be simply a heat - sealable tube 16 of the same material as the envelopes 4 and 6 . the tube may also be closed by mechanical means or may be provided with a valve . after inflation , the tube 16 is heat - sealed , as shown in fig2 or otherwise closed . it is important that envelope 4 be vented to the atmosphere during the inflation of outer envelope 6 . when this is done , inner envelope 4 is collapsed tightly about article 14 , as shown , the air within the inner envelope being expelled through the open end . therefore , end 10 of inner envelope is left open at least until the inflation is completed . i have found that in many cases it is unnecessary to close it at any time . however , it may then be heat - sealed and in some cases this sealing is desirable , as will be explained below . the normal dimensions of the outer envelope are greater in all directions than those of the inner envelope , so that the inner envelope is stretched and the article is suspended spaced from all walls of the outer envelope . the container described above is ordinarily enclosed in a box or casing for shipment . a particularly desirable arrangement is shown in fig3 . casing 18 is first coated on the inside with an adhesive 20 which will adhere tightly to the material of container 2 . the latter is first partially inflated , then , with end 22 of casing 18 open , it is carefully positioned in the casing and inflated until it is pressed against adhesive 20 . it is desirable to heat - seal end 10 of inner envelope 4 at this time . end 22 is then closed . alternatively , the container may be sealed to the casing before inflation . for example , casing 18 may be a cardboard box of the usual type , which is stored in quantities in a collapsed condition with the ends folded out . my container may be packed inside the box , adhesively secured to the sides of the box . when the box is assembled the container will be held in an extended condition . after insertion of the article , the outer envelope is inflated , collapsing the inner envelope about the article . open end 10 of envelope 4 is then preferably sealed . alternatively , the inner envelope may be evacuated while the outer envelope remains at substantially atmospheric pressure . the inner envelope is then sealed . with the container in the casing and adhesively joined to it , the package is very secure . even if the casing and outer envelope should be punctured , the inner envelope will be held suspended and , since it was sealed in its collapsed condition , will continue to hold article 14 securely in position . it may be desirable , particularly if the articles to be packaged are comparatively heavy , to make inner envelope 4 of fabric - reinforced sheet material . in fig4 , and 6 , i show a package for the refrigerated shipment of , for instance , a freshly caught salmon . the heart of the package is a container , 102 , similar to container 2 of fig1 , and 3 . the empty container is shown in fig4 . it comprises an inner envelope 104 and an outer envelope 106 corresponding to envelopes 4 and 6 of fig1 and 2 . in addition , it includes an intermediate envelope 105 . all three envelopes are sealed together and inner envelope is sealed shut at one end , 108 . at the other end , 110 , the three envelopes are sealed together , but inner envelope 104 is left open , as was inner envelope 4 . a filling tube 107 leading to the interior of intermediate envelope 105 is also provided . it is sealed between the intermediate and inner envelopes but is left open . the inner envelope may be sealed at a point 112 if desired , though this is less necessary in this modification than in that of fig1 - 3 . outer envelope 106 is provided with an inflating tube 116 . the next stage in the formation of the package is shown in fig5 . a mold 109 of approximately the same size and shape as the article to be packaged is inserted into inner envelope 104 . water or other liquid , 111 , is then introduced into intermediate envelope 105 through filling tube 107 , which is then sealed . intermediate envelope 105 should be substantially filled . container 102 , with mold 109 in place , is put in a freezer and water or other liquid 111 is frozen . mold 109 is then withdrawn and replaced by article 114 , e . g ., a salmon ( fig6 ). inner envelope 104 is then evacuated and the end 110 is sealed shut . container 102 is then positioned in casing 118 and outer envelope 106 is inflated until it contacts adhesive coating 120 . end 122 is then closed and fastened . it is desirable in this embodiment to then deliberately lower the pressure in outer envelope 106 in order to lessen the heat conduction . ( if adhesive 120 is of a setting type , sufficient time should be allowed to elapse to insure that container 102 is firmly adhered to casing 118 .) for example , tube 116 may be withdrawn through an aperature 121 provided in end 122 and air withdrawn from outer envelope 106 . the pressure should , however , be left greater than that in inner envelope 104 . as soon as the ice 111 begins to melt , inner envelope 104 will collapse around the fish 114 , holding it tighty in position . if the outer envelope is adhered to the box or casing in advance , as described above , it is unnecessary to inflate it , as atmospheric pressure will cause the collapse of the inner envelope if the latter is evacuated and then sealed . the container 2 , fig1 and 2 , which constitutes the heart of my invention can be made by several different methods . for example , the inner and outer envelopes may be formed from extruded polyethylene tubes . the smaller is given the intermediate seal 12 , then inserted inside the larger and they are heat - sealed together and the outer sealed shut , a strip of metal , e . g ., aluminum foil or other material to which the polyethylene will not adhere , being inserted inside one end of the inner tube , as described above , thus leaving the inner envelope open at one end . in a second method each envelope can be formed from a flat sheet which is folded over and sealed at the edges . in this method the inner envelope is first formed , then the outer envelope is folded over and sealed at its edges and to the inner envelope . coaxial extrusion can also be used . in this method , a double tube is extruded and cut to suitable lengths . the procedure is then the same as for the first method . injection molding can also be employed , the inner and outer envelopes being molded in one piece , closed at what becomes seal 12 ( fig1 ). outer envelope 6 exists in the form of an enlarged extension from end 10 of inner envelope 4 . this extension is then folded back and its open end is heat - sealed across the closed end mentioned above , forming end 8 of the completed container . | 1 |
the invention is described in terms of the application to a compact printer system . it will be understood that the invention is not limited to this particular application but rather can be employed with any digital imaging system . nonetheless , the compact printer system provides a convenient environment in which to describe the details of the timer module invention . referring to fig1 to 12 , there are shown various modules that together form a compact printer system . individual modules can be attached and detached from the compact printer configuration to allow a user - definable solution to business - card sized printing . images can also be transferred from one compact printer to another without the use of a secondary computer system . modules have a minimal user - interface to allow straightforward interaction . a compact printer system configuration consists of a number of compact printer modules connected together . each compact printer module has a function that contributes to the overall functionality of the particular compact printer configuration . each compact printer module is typically shaped like part of a pen , physically connecting with other compact printer modules to form the complete pen - shaped device . the length of the compact printer device depends on the number and type of compact printer modules connected . the functionality of a compact printer configuration depends on the compact printer modules in the given configuration . the compact printer modules connect both physically and logically . the physical connection allows modules to be connected in any order , and the logical connection is taken care of by the compact printer serial bus — a bus that provides power , allows the modules to self configure and provides for the transfer of data . in terms of physical connection , most compact printer modules consist of a central body , a male connector at one end , and a female connector at the other . since most modules have both a male and female connector , the modules can typically be connected in any order . certain modules only have a male or a female connector , but this is determined by the function of the module . adaptor modules allow these single - connector modules to be connected at either end of a given compact printer configuration . a four wire physical connection between all the compact printer modules provides the logical connection between them in the form of the compact printer serial bus . the compact printer serial bus provides power to each module , and provides the means by which data is transferred between modules . importantly , the compact printer serial bus and accompanying protocol provides the means by which the compact printer system auto - configures , reducing the user - interface burden on the end - user . image processing modules including a printer module ( fig1 ), a camera module ( fig2 ), and a memory module ( fig3 ). image processing modules are primarily what sets the compact printer system apart from other pen - like devices . image processing modules capture , print , store or manipulate photographic images ; housekeeping modules including an adapter module ( fig1 ), an effects module ( fig8 ), a communications module ( fig4 ), and a timer module ( fig6 ). housekeeping modules provide services to other modules or extended functionality to other modules ; and isolated modules including a pen module ( fig1 ) and a laser module ( fig7 ). isolated modules are those that attach to the compact printer system but are completely independent of any other module . they do not necessarily require power , and may even provide their own power . isolated modules are defined because the functionality they provide is typically incorporated into other pen - like devices . although housekeeping modules and isolated modules are useful components in a compact printer system , they are extras in a system dedicated to image processing and photographic manipulation . life size ( 1 : 1 ) illustrations of the compact printer modules are shown in fig1 to 12 , and example configurations produced by connecting various modules together are shown in fig1 to 16 . [ 0051 ] fig1 shows a printer module that incorporates a compact printhead described in co - pending united states patent applications listed in the background section of this application , incorporated herewith by reference , and referred to herewith as a memjet printhead . the memjet printhead is a drop - on - demand 1600 dpi inkjet printer that produces bi - level dots in up to 4 colors to produce a printed page of a particular width . since the printhead prints dots at 1600 dpi , each dot is approximately 22 . 5 μm in diameter , and spaced 15 . 875 μm apart . because the printing is bi - level , the input image should be dithered or error - diffused for best results . typically a memjet printhead for a particular application is page - width . this enables the printhead to be stationary and allows the paper to move past the printhead . a memjet printhead is composed of a number of identical ½ inch memjet segments . the printer module 10 comprises a body 11 housing the memjet printhead . power is supplied by a three volt battery housed in battery compartment 12 . the printhead is activated to commence printing when a business card ( or similar sized printable media ) is inserted into slot 13 . male connector 14 and female connector 15 facilitate connection of other modules to the printer module 10 . [ 0053 ] fig2 shows a camera module 20 . the camera module provides a point - and - shoot camera component to the compact printer system as a means of capturing images . the camera module comprises a body 21 having a female connector 22 . a lens 23 directs an image to an image sensor and specialized image processing chip within the camera 24 . a conventional view finder 25 is provided as well as a lens cap 26 . an image is captured when the take button 27 is pushed . captured images are transferred to the printer module 10 for subsequent printing , manipulation , or storage . the camera module also contains a self - timer mode similar to that found on regular cameras . [ 0054 ] fig3 shows a memory module 30 comprising a body 31 , lcd 32 , in button 33 , out button 34 and select button 35 . the memory module 30 is a standard module used for storing photographic images captured by the camera 20 . the memory module stores 48 images , each of which can be accessed either at full resolution or at thumbnail resolution . full resolution provides read and write access to individual images , and thumbnail resolution provides read access to 16 images at once in thumbnail form . the memory module 30 attaches to other modules via a female connector 36 or male connector 37 . the male and female connectors allow the module to be connected at either end of a configuration . power may be provided from the printer module 10 via the serial bus or from another source , such as a separate power module . a communications module 40 is shown in fig4 . the communications module 40 consists of a connector 41 and a cable 42 that terminates in an appropriate connector for a computer port , such as a usb port , rs232 serial port or parallel port . the communications module 40 allows the compact printer system to be connected to a computer . when so connected , images can be transferred between the computer and the various modules of the compact printer system . the communications module allows captured images to be downloaded to the computer , and new images for printing to be uploaded into the printer module 10 and the memory module 30 . a flash module 50 is shown in fig5 . the flash module 50 is used to generate a flash with flash cell 51 when taking photographs with the camera module 20 . the flash module attaches to other modules via female connector 52 and male connector 53 . it contains its own power source . the flash module is automatically selected by the camera module when required . a simple switch allows the flash module to be explicitly turned off to maximize battery life . [ 0058 ] fig6 shows a timer module 60 that is used to automate the taking of multiple photos with the camera module 20 , each photo separated by a specific time interval . the captured photos are stored in memory module 30 . any flash requirements are handled by the camera module 20 , and can therefore be ignored by the timer module . the timer module 60 consists of a body 61 housing an optional lcd 62 , start / stop button 63 and units button 64 . the lcd is optional since data from the timer module could be sent on the serial bus to a specific display module . nonetheless , it is convenient to consider the lcd as part of the timer module . a select button 65 allows the user to select time units and the number of units are set by units button 64 . the timer module 60 includes a male connector 66 and female connector 67 . the timer module takes its power from the printer module 10 via the serial bus or from another source , such as a separate power module . a laser module 70 is shown in fig7 . the laser module 70 consists of a body 71 containing a conventional laser pointer operated by button 72 . as the laser module is a terminal module it only has one connector , which in the example is a male connector 73 . the laser module is an isolated module , in that it does not perform any image capture , storage , or processing . it exists as a functional addition to the compact printer system . it is provided because laser pointer services are typically incorporated into other pen - like devices . the laser module contains its own power supply and does not appear as a device on the serial bus . the effects module shown in fig8 is an image processing module . it allows a user to select a number of effects and applies them to the current image stored in the printer module 10 or memory module 30 . the effects include borders , clip - art , captions , warps , color changes , and painting styles . the effects module comprises a body 81 housing custom electronics and a lcd 82 . a choose button 83 allows a user to choose between a number of different types of effects . a select button 84 allows the user to select one effect from the number of effects of the chosen type . pressing the apply button 85 applies the effect to image stored in the printer module 10 . the effects module obtains power from the serial bus . male connector 86 and female connector 87 allow the effects module to be connected to other compact printer system modules . [ 0062 ] fig9 shows a character module 90 that is a special type of effects module ( described above ) that only contains character clip - art effects of a given topic or genre . examples include the simpsons ®, star wars ®, batman ®, and dilbert ® as well as company specific modules for mcdonalds ® etc . as such it is an image processing module . it consists of a body 91 housing custom electronics and a lcd 92 . select button 93 allows the user to choose the effect that is to be applied with apply button 94 . the character module obtains power from the serial bus through male connector 95 and female connector 96 . the adaptor module 100 , shown in fig1 , is a female / female connector that allows connection between two modules that terminate in male connectors . a male / male connector ( not shown ) allows connection between two modules that terminate in female connectors . the adaptor module is a housekeeping module , in that it facilitates the use of other modules , and does not perform any specific processing of its own . all “ through ” modules have a male connector at one end , and a female connector at the other end . the modules can therefore be chained together , with each module connected at either end of the chain . however some modules , such as the laser module 70 , are terminating modules , and therefore have either a male or female connector only . such single - connector modules can only be connected at one end of the chain . if two such modules are to be connected at the one time , an adaptor module 100 is required . [ 0065 ] fig1 shows a pen module 110 which is a pen in a module form . it is an isolated module in that it attaches to the compact printer system but is completely independent of any other module . it does not consume or require any power . the pen module is defined because it is a convenient extension of a pen shaped , pen sized device . it may also come with a cap 111 . the cap may be used to keep terminating connectors clean in the case where the chain ends with a connector rather than a terminating module . to assist with accurately feeding a business card sized print media into slot 13 of the printer module 10 , a dispenser module 120 is provided as shown in fig1 . the dispenser module 120 comprises a body 121 that holds a store of business card sized print media . a printer module 10 locates into socket 122 on the dispenser module 120 . when correctly aligned , a card dispensed from the dispenser module by slider 123 enters slot 13 and is printed . in the sense that a minimum configuration compact printer system must be able to print out photos , a minimum compact printer configuration contains at least a printer module 10 . the printer module holds a single photographic image that can be printed out via its memjet printer . it also contains the 3v battery required to power the compact printer system . in this minimum configuration , the user is only able to print out photos . each time a user inserts a business card 130 into the slot in the printer module , the image in the printer module is printed onto the card . the same image is printed each time a business card is inserted into the printer . in this minimum configuration there is no way for a user to change the image that is printed . the dispenser module 120 can be used to feed cards 130 into the printer module with a minimum of fuss , as shown in fig1 . by connecting a camera module 20 to the minimum configuration compact printer system the user now has an instant printing digital camera in a pen , as shown in fig1 . the camera module 20 provides the mechanism for capturing images and the printer module 10 provides the mechanism for printing them out . the battery in the printer module provides power for both the camera and the printer . when the user presses the “ take ” button 27 on the camera module 20 , the image is captured by the camera 24 and transferred to the printer module 10 . each time a business card is inserted into the printer the captured image is printed out . if the user presses “ take ” on the camera module again , the old image in the printer module is replaced by the new image . if the camera module is subsequently detached from the compact printer system , the captured image remains in the printer module , and can be printed out as many times as desired . the camera module is simply there to capture images to be placed in the printer module . [ 0072 ] fig1 shows a further configuration in which a memory module 30 is connected to the configuration of fig1 . in the embodiment of fig1 , the user has the ability to transfer images between the printer module 10 and a storage area contained in the memory module 30 . the user selects the image number on the memory module , and then either sends that image to the printer module ( replacing whatever image was already stored there ), or brings the current image from the printer module to the specified image number in the memory module . the memory module also provides a way of sending sets of thumbnail images to the printer module . multiple memory modules can be included in a given system , extending the number of images that can be stored . a given memory module can be disconnected from one compact printer system and connected to another for subsequent image printing . with the camera module 20 attached to a memory module / printer module compact printer system , as shown in fig1 , the user can “ take ” an image with the camera module , then transfer it to the specified image number in the memory module . the captured images can then be printed out in any order . by connecting a communications module 40 to the minimum configuration compact printer system , the user gains the ability to transfer images between a pc and the compact printer system . fig1 shows the configuration of fig1 with the addition of a communications module 40 . the communications module makes the printer module 10 and any memory modules 30 visible to an external computer system . this allows the download or uploading of images . the communications module also allows computer control of any connected compact printer modules , such as the camera module 20 . each module is visible on the serial bus . each module is self identifying and self - configuring using standard usb protocols . apart from the standard protocol functions ( including identification ), there are a number of functions to which each module is also capable of responding . these are outlined in table 1 . each module also has a number of module - specific functions . these commends allow the modules to be controlled by an external device , such as a personal computer , and by other modules . in some situations , certain modules may be configured without the printer module . for example , it may be convenient to configure a camera module 20 and a memory module 30 for capturing and storing images for later printing by the printer module 10 . the timer module 60 and the flash module 50 may be added to the camera module 20 and memory module 30 to produce a digital camera having many of the features of a conventional camera . additional memory modules can easily be added to provide virtually unlimited memory storage . the above commands allow images to be transferred to and from the modules without going through the printer module . for example , the memory module 30 can act under control of the timer module 60 to transfer a captured image from the camera module 20 to the memory module 30 using the transferimage command . the camera module 20 will have a module specific ‘ capture ’ command for capturing an image . in the general case , the printer module holds the “ current ” image , and the other modules function with respect to this central repository of the current image . the printer module is therefore the central location for image interchange in the compact printer system , and the printer module provides a service to other modules as specified by user interaction . a given module may act as an image source . it therefore has the ability to transfer an image to the printer module . a different module may act as an image store . it therefore has the ability to read the image from the printer module . some modules act as both image store and image source . these modules can both read images from and write images to the printer module &# 39 ; s current image . the standard image type has a single conceptual definition . the image definition is derived from the physical attributes of the printhead used in the printer module . the printhead is 2 inches wide and prints at 1600 dpi in cyan , magenta and yellow bi - level dots . consequently a printed image from the compact printer system is 3200 bi - level dots wide . the compact printer system prints on business card sized pages ( 85 mm × 55 mm ). since the printhead is 2 inches wide , the business cards are printed such that 1 line of dots is 2 inches . 2 inches is 50 . 8 mm , leaving a 2 mm edge on a standard business - card sized page . the length of the image is derived from the same card size with a 2 mm edge . consequently the printed image length is 81 mm , which equals 5100 1600 dpi dots . the printed area of a page is therefore 81 mm × 51 mm , or 5100 × 3200 dots . to obtain an integral contone to bi - level ratio a contone resolution of 267 ppi ( pixels per inch ) is chosen . this yields a contone cmy page size of 850 × 534 , and a contone to bi - level ratio of 1 : 6 in each dimension . this ratio of 1 : 6 provides no perceived loss of quality since the output image is bi - level . the printhead prints dots in cyan , magenta , and yellow ink . the final output to the printed page must therefore be in the gamut of the printhead and take the attributes of the inks into account . it would at first seem reasonable to use the cmy color space to represent images . however , the printer &# 39 ; s cmy color space does not have a linear response . this is definitely true of pigmented inks , and partially true for dye - based inks . the individual color profile of a particular device ( input and output ) can vary considerably . image capture devices ( such as digital cameras ) typically work in rgb ( red green blue ) color space , and each sensor will have its own color response characteristics . consequently , to allow for accurate conversion , as well as to allow for future image sensors , inks , and printers , the cie l * a * b * color model [ cie , 1986 , cie 15 . 2 colorimetry : technical report ( 2 nd edition ), commission internationale de l &# 39 ; eclairage ] is used for the compact printer system . l * a * b * is well defined , perceptually linear , and is a superset of other traditional color spaces ( such as cmy , rgb , and hsv ). the printer module must therefore be capable of converting l * a * b * images to the particular peculiarities of its cmy color space . however , since the compact printer system allows for connectivity to pcs , it is quite reasonable to also allow highly accurate color matching between screen and printer to be performed on the pc . however the printer driver or pc program must output l * a * b *. each pixel of a compact printer image is therefore represented by 24 bits : 8 bits each of l *, a *, and b *. the total image size is therefore 1 , 361 , 700 bytes ( 850 × 534 × 3 ). each image processing module is able to access the image stored in the printer module . the access is either to read the image from the printer module , or to write a new image to the printer module . the communications protocol for image access to the printer module provides a choice of internal image organization . images can be accessed either as 850 × 534 or as 534 × 850 . they can also be accessed in interleaved or planar format . when accessed as interleaved , each pixel in the image is read or written as 24 bits : 8 bits each of l *, a *, b *. when accessed as planar , each of the color planes can be read or written independently . the entire image of l * pixels , a * pixels or b * pixels can be read or written at a time . the timer module 60 is used to automate the capture of multiple images with a camera module 20 , the capture of each image being separated by a specific time interval . the captured images are stored in an on - line memory module 30 . any flash requirements are handled by the camera module 20 , and can therefore be ignored by the timer module . [ 0093 ] fig1 shows a magnified perspective view of the timer module 60 , as previously described with reference to fig6 . the optional lcd 62 provides visual feedback . it contains a 2 - digit numerical display 68 representing the number of time units between captured images . three time units are available : seconds , minutes , and hours , represented by s , m , and h lcd segments respectively . a multi - segment thermometer 69 provides an animated countdown between image captures . as shown in fig1 , the lcd 62 is showing all segments active . [ 0094 ] fig1 is an exploded perspective view of the timer module 60 . the lcd 62 is mounted on a flexible printed circuit board ( pcb ) 300 . with reference to fig1 , also formed on the pcb 300 is a simple microcontroller 351 which is suitably an application specific integrated circuit ( asic ) 350 . in reference to fig1 , the units button 64 is a double button and operates in the manner of a known rocker switch to increment or decrement the number of time units . selections made using the units button 64 are communicated to the pcb 300 via contact 301 . the flexible pcb 300 is mounted on a support 303 of chassis molding 302 . in the preferred embodiment the pcb 300 is mounted such that the lcd 62 lies substantially parallel with a front face 304 of the support 303 . the flexible pcb 300 passes over the support such that the asic 350 lies substantially parallel with a back face 305 of the support 303 . the flexible pcb 300 passes under the asic 350 and extends away from the base 306 of the chassis molding 302 . the contact 301 conforms to a curved edge of the support 303 allowing the base of units button 64 to lie substantially parallel with a side face 310 of the support . the male bayonet connector 66 comprises a cap molding 307 , a latch strip 308 and a plurality of contact strips 309 . the upper end of the cap molding is essentially dome - shaped and comprises two holes 311 positioned diametrically opposite each other . the holes 311 are positioned and shaped to receive the folded ends 312 of latch strip 308 . the lower end of the cap molding 307 comprises an elongated section 313 that is shaped to carry contact strips 309 . the contact strips extend from the upper end of the cap molding , where they form part of the male connector 66 , to the bottom of the elongated section 313 . the bottom of the elongated section fits into a recess 314 in the base 306 of the chassis molding such that the contact strips 309 form part of the female bayonet connector 67 . raised portions 315 of the contact strips 309 fit into an aperture 316 in the elongated section 313 of the cap molding . contacts on the flexible pcb 300 mate with the raised portions 315 to make contact with the serial bus . the start / stop button 63 and the select button 65 are incorporated in a molding 317 . a contact in the base of the molding for each button connects with the pcb 300 when one or other of the buttons is pressed . the internal components of the timer module 60 are contained within a metal extrusion 318 that comprises a plurality of apertures . it is clear from fig1 the manner in which the buttons 63 , 64 and 65 , and the male connector 66 protrude from the extrusion through the associated apertures to perform their function . a fascia molding 319 clips into the aperture 320 and provides a protective cover for the lcd 62 . the timer module 60 connects to a compact printer configuration via the male connector 66 or the female connector 67 . either the male or the female bayonet connector joins the timer module to the serial bus via contact strips 309 . power is provided to the timer module from the printer module 10 via the serial bus or from a separate power module . alternatively , the timer module 60 may be connected to a compact printer configuration via both the male and female bayonet connectors . an example of this principle is shown in fig1 where the memory module 30 is connected to the printer module 10 via its male connector and is connected to the communications module 40 via its female bayonet connector . the timer module 60 must be used in conjunction with a camera module 20 and at least one memory module 30 . the first stage of timer module use is therefore to construct a configuration containing at least these modules . power may be provided from a power module , a printer module 10 or a personal computer through the communications module 40 . however , the modules may be connected in any order . the modules are joined together using the bayonet connectors as previously described . the timer module queries all the modules in the system to locate the camera module and any number of memory modules . a list is compiled of available memory modules and ranges of available image numbers within those modules . the total number of available image storage locations n is recorded . the timer then instructs the camera n times to capture images and transfer the images to the memory module until all storage locations are full . the timer waits an elapsed time between each image capture . the elapsed time is set by the user using the buttons or commanded from an external source using the timer module command set . the timer module commands the transfer of the captured image from the camera module to the memory module using the transferimage command described above . once the start button 63 is pressed , the timer module 60 counts down the specified time , and then instructs the camera module 20 to capture and transfer an image to the appropriate memory module 30 . when only a single memory module is present in the configuration , after the start button 63 is pressed , the timer module continues to capture an image after every time interval has elapsed and transfer each captured image to the single memory module until that memory module is full . when there are multiple memory modules in the configuration , the process is the same as for the single memory module , except that the memory modules are filled up one by one until all memory modules have been filled . the first memory module to be written to is the one physically closest to the camera module 20 , and the last memory module to be written to is the one physically furthest from the camera module . two tasks need to be accomplished before the timer module 60 can be activated to begin a countdown . the duration of the time interval between the capture of each image must be set and the initial image number on the memory module ( s ) must be set . these tasks can be performed in any order . the duration of the time interval between the capture of each image is set by selecting the time unit using the select button 65 and then selecting the number of those units using the units button 64 . for example , a time interval of 30 seconds can be accomplished by selecting the seconds units , and then adjusting the number to 30 . a time interval of 15 minutes can be accomplished by selecting the minutes units and then adjusting the number to 15 . the timer unit maintains a context for each unit so as to minimize the change required by the user . alternatively the duration can be set from a personal computer or another module using the timer module command set . the first image to be written to a specific memory module will be written to the current image number displayed on that memory module . the image number is then incremented . the image number is set by means of the select button 35 on the memory module . setting the initial image number before the timer module is activated lets the user specify how many images each memory module will capture . for example , setting a 48 image memory module to 40 allows the capture of 9 images : images 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , and 48 . once the image count reaches 48 it stops and no further images are written to that memory module . if multiple memory modules are present , the memory module next closest to the camera module will be written to . once the two preliminary tasks have been done , the timer module &# 39 ; s start / stop button 63 can be pressed to start the timer module . pressing the start / stop button 63 a second time stops the timer module . while the timer module is actively counting down , feedback is given in two ways . firstly , the time unit lcd segment ( s , m or h ) flashes on and off ( 1 second on , 1 second off ) to let a user know the countdown is active . secondly , a multi - segment thermometer 69 provides an animated countdown of the proportion of time elapsed until the next image capture time . as mentioned above , the timer module contains an integrated circuit 350 . the elements of the integrated circuit 350 are shown in fig1 . these elements include a simple microcontroller 351 , a serial bus interface 352 , a small scratch ram 353 for storing timing instructions and a small program memory 354 . state information is limited to the current time unit setting ( seconds , minutes , hours ), the number of time units ( 2 - 60 seconds , 1 - 60 minutes , 1 - 96 hours ), whether the timer is active ( yes , no ), the time until the next image capture ( 2 - 60 s , 1 - 60 m , 1 - 96 h ), the current camera module target , the current memory module target and the next memory module image number . instructions are limited to setting the time units , setting the number of time units , starting and stopping the timer . also included in the asic is a memory decoder 355 and parallel interface 356 ( that communicates with the lcd and various buttons ). a joint test action group unit 357 may be included for self - test purposes . in some circumstances a clock 358 and crystal oscillator 359 may be required . the combination of the memory module 30 with a camera module 20 constitutes a digital imaging system . this combination allows an image captured by the camera module to be stored in the memory module . the addition of the timer module 60 allows multiple images to be captured and stored automatically . throughout the specification the aim has been to describe the preferred embodiments of the invention without limiting the invention to any one embodiment or specific collection of features . persons skilled in the relevant art may realize variations from the specific embodiments that will nonetheless fall within the scope of the invention . | 6 |
fig1 shows a plan view of the ic sorting system 5 according to one embodiment of the present invention . here a loading station as shown in fig2 a to 2d includes a lift 11 lifting two platforms 10 , 13 having cassettes 12 , 14 of frames for delivery to the sorting system . the individual frames are loaded into the cassettes prior to placement on the platforms 10 , 13 . the platforms are movable vertical through a lift 11 , so that the first platform 10 can empty the corresponding cassette 12 , before moving the next platform 13 upwards , as shown in fig2 d , to maintain feeding frames into the device . as the first cassette empties , the next moved into place and the first can be slid outwards , as shown in fig2 c to replace the empty cassette with a new one . thus , the supply of cassettes is maintained , so long as the cassettes are replaced . the process commences with a frame taken from the available cassette 12 , 14 engaged by a gripper 15 . the gripper 15 pulls the frame from the cassette and places onto two laterally projecting ledges within a receiving station , as shown in fig3 a to 3c . the ledges are movable in the lateral direction so as to accommodate the placement of the frame . thus they retract as the frame is delivered and project into the space provide so as to support the frame in place . a frame engagement assembly , such as a frame picker 25 , then lowers to engage the frame by extending a first vertically oriented actuator 22 . the ledges are then retracted again , and the frame picker 25 is lowered further to a carriage 28 , by the first and a second vertically oriented actuator 24 , mounted in series with the first 22 . as shown in fig4 a to 4c , the carriage 28 receives the frame which delivers the frame from the receiving station 51 to a unit picking station 54 along a conveyor 52 . in this case , the conveyor 52 is a worm drive operated by a motor to move the carriage into place . at a point along the delivery path the frame undergoes a first inspection from a first vision device 40 . the purpose of the first vision device 40 is to identify and record the type of unit being processed and the alignment of the singulated units . the camera 40 is movable along a rail 30 which , together with the orthogonal movement of the conveyor 52 allows each unit to be inspected whilst located in the carriage 28 . following inspection the carriage continues on to the unit picking station for the removal of units from the frame . within the unit picking station is an ejector 45 as shown in fig5 a to 5c for individually engaging and lifting individual ic units from the frame to be engaged and removed by a picker 60 . the ejector 45 is located beneath the frame and is movable along a rail 55 . the frame is further rotatable on a turntable 53 , and together with linear movement of the ejector 45 along the ejector rail 55 allows the ejector 45 to access each unit within the frame . the turntable 53 rotates for orientation and alignment . the turntable 53 is movable in the y - direction and the ejector 45 is movable in the x - direction along the rail 55 , so that the ejector 45 can access each unit within the frame . as shown in fig6 a to 6d , the picker 60 is movable along a rail 65 to transport an array of units from the frame to a flipper 95 . the picker , in the embodiment engages 10 units at one time , with the flipper accommodating 10 units . it will be clear that any number of units may also be accommodated in alternative embodiments . the type of picker 60 used in the embodiment is one having reciprocating probes arranged in pairs such that the first of each pair engage five units , then retract to allow the second of each pair to engage the final five units . it will be appreciated that different types of picker may be suitable , and that the type described here is merely one of such suitable types . the picker 60 moves along the rail 65 so as to deposit the units on the flipper 95 and in so doing passes the second inspection station 70 having vision to collect data on the units transported by the picker 60 . in particular the vision 70 is placed beneath the rail 65 so that the vision images the underside of the units which in this case provides a check of the pad of each unit for later determination for sorting . the flipper then inverts . fig7 a to 7c show the flipper 95 and idle block 80 which are mounted upon a worm gear so as to bring the idle block 80 beneath the flipper 95 to receive the ic units on flipping so as to expose the opposed face of the units . the idle block 80 then returns to its original position whereupon the units residing on the idle block are engaged by a picker 90 for eventual placement in the respective bin . fig8 a to 8c show the arrangement of the picker 90 and the idle block 80 . it further shows a third inspection station 75 having vision to check fiduciary marks . in a further embodiment , this inspection station may be a 2 . 5d inspection , having an array of mirrors arranged in a rectangular arrangement about the camera 75 . the third inspection station 75 may be arranged such that the picker moves to the extreme end of the rail 85 and extends the unit to be inspected into the mirror array . here , not only can the camera have a view of the underside of the unit to check fiduciary marks but also have a side vision due to the array of mirrors to check among other things , any bleeding of leads between cells which may short circuit the integrated circuit unit . thus the four way mirror array allows a view to check horizontally and thus rather than a three dimensional inspection is known as a 2 . 5d inspection . the picker 90 then moves towards the unloading area whereby the picker is arranged to deposit the units according to the results recorded at the previous inspection stations . for instance , the units may be placed in the good bin 100 , rework bin 105 , reject bin 110 or to a tube offloader 130 . the results recorded by each inspection station may be stored on a database accessible for the purposes of sorting said units according to said results . with respect to the good bin 100 and rework bin 105 , fig9 a to 9d show a sequential process for the good bin 100 . it will be appreciated that the process shown in fig9 a to 9d is equally applicable to the rework bin 105 , both of which may be generically called housings . here , a stack of empty cartridges 101 are vertically disposed on a vertical lift 108 ready to be placed upon the receiving platform 116 . with reference to the loading arrangement of the bins shown in fig1 a , 10 b and 10 c , the position of the loading platform 116 is shown in fig9 a is at the same level as the carriage 111 used to receive the integrated circuit units from the picker 90 . after receiving a topmost empty cartridge from the good bin 100 , the carriage 111 travels along a rail which moves along an orthogonal axis to the rail 85 of the picker 90 . the movement of the picker 90 along the rail 85 together with the movement of the carriage 111 along its respective rail permits access to place the integrated circuit units in a suitable array within a cartridge placed on the carriage 111 . on filling the cartridge within the carriage 111 , it is returned to the bin 100 and specifically onto a second platform 104 . the platforms 104 and 116 then move upwards to place the filled cartridge into the existing stack of filled cartridges 102 in the removable bin 103 as shown in fig9 b . fig9 c shows the platform 105 returning to the bin of empty cartridges 101 which is moved upwards by lift 108 to place an empty cartridge onto the platform 116 , and so be the topmost empty cartridge to commence the process again . a gripper then grips the topmost empty cartridge and places it on the carriage 111 to receive the new batch of ic units which will again be placed in the upper platform 104 for eventual placement within the removal bin 103 . returning to fig1 a to 10c , it can be seen that the empty cartridges are placed within a bin 114 which slides outwards for easy loading of the bin 114 . an alternative unloading option is the tube offloader 131 as shown in fig1 a to 11c . here , a shuttle 122 receives the integrated circuit units from the picker 90 . the shuttle 122 has a central groove into which the units are placed which is then subject to a pusher 120 having a probe that corresponds with the groove . when the shuttle 122 is full , the probe moves along the groove to push the units into an awaiting tube . on filling the tube , the tube is pushed into the racking system 130 shown in fig1 a to 13c , ready for transportation . it will be noted that the shuttle 122 is aligned to place the units into the tube and so is positioned such that the groove is co - linear with the tube as seen in fig1 . for convenience in an alternative embodiment , the shuttle may be rotatable so as to receive the integrated circuit units from the picker 90 parallel to the rail 85 upon which the picker 90 moves . thus in this alternative embodiment , the picker can deposit the units as a group as in this alternative embodiment , the groove and line of units will be co - linear . in the embodiment shown in fig1 a to 11c , because the groove is orthogonal to the rail 85 , the units must be placed individually . whilst this is convenient for the tube offloader and reduces the cost of infrastructure , there is advantage through speed and convenience to have the shuttle rotatable from a position where the groove is parallel to the rail 85 to a position where the groove is co - linear with the tube into which the ic units will be placed . referring back to fig1 and the unit picking station , in a further embodiment , following the removal of the units from the frame , it is still necessary to remove the frame from the system . in one embodiment , the frame may be returned on the carriage 28 for removal by an operator . however , to prevent a bottleneck of empty frames in one direction and full frames in the other , fig1 a to 12c show an alternative embodiment where the frame is removed from the unit picking station directly . here , a further frame engagement assembly , such as frame picker 41 , is mounted to a rotor 42 for rotating the frame picker 41 . in operation , the frame picker 41 engages an empty frame 39 after all the units have been removed . it lifts the frame and rotates away from the unit picking station to a frame bin 46 whereby the frame is released and dropped into the bin . when a supply of empty frames 44 reaches a certain number , it can be removed more efficiently by an operator ready for recycling . | 7 |
referring now to fig1 and 2 , the invention 1 consists of a frame and housing 3 that supports a number of components . the machine 1 is designed to operate on wheels 5 . it has a housing 3 that holds a drive motor 4 , to drive a set of wheels 5 . a needle drive system 6 is also provided to operate the needles 7 that are mounted in the front of the machine . a vacuum 8 that has a duct 9 that connects to the needle drive system 6 at nozzle is provided to help remove dust produced by the machine . the machine 1 has a control panel 11 mounted on the top . the control panel includes controls that control the speed or intensity of the needles in their application to the floor surface . the machine has a handlebar 15 . the handlebar 15 is used to control the direction and speed of the drive motor 4 by the operator . in the preferred embodiment , it has a “ dead man ” drive bar to shut down the machine when the handlebar is released . fig3 is a rear view of the invention . here , the housing 3 , wheels 5 , control panel 11 and the handle 15 are shown . fig4 a is a left side front perspective view of the needle drive assembly 6 . this assembly consists of several components , discussed below . all the components , except for the motor 20 , are housed in a housing 21 . the motor 10 is an industrial type with a typical speed of 1800 rpm and a horsepower of ???. the motor 20 is bolted to the top of the housing 21 as shown . fig4 b is a right side front perspective view of the needle drive assembly . here , the motor 20 is shown as before . the door 22 to the cam cylinder is removed , showing the cam cylinder 23 . the motor 20 drives the cam cylinder to operate the machine . the motor has an output shaft 24 that mechanically connect to the cam cylinder shaft 25 . fig1 shows gears 27 and 28 for this mechanical connection , but other methods , such as drive belts may be used . the gears are covered with a guard 26 for safety as well as cleanliness . fig5 is a detail view of the cam cylinder 23 . the cam cylinder has a cylindrical body 30 that has a number of ribs 31 extending outward from it . the cylinder body has a shaft 25 and supported on the ends by bearings in square housings 32 that conform the outer housing 21 . fig6 is a detail view of the upper portion of the needle drive housing 21 showing the can follower compartment . here , the guard 26 and gear 28 are shown along with the motor 20 . at the base of the upper part of the housing 21 is a compartment 36 for the cam follower . note that the cam 30 and one of the ribs 31 can be seen in the center portion of the upper portion of the housing . the cam cylinder and cam follower act as a “ means for periodically compressing said top plate in a downward motion for a limited period of time ”. this produces a number of “ compression periods ” and a number of “ non - compression periods ”. fig7 is a perspective top view of the cam follower 40 . the cam follower 40 has an ovular body 40 a . the top has a number of roller bearings 41 that are shaft - mounted in the body ( see fig9 ). as the cam is turned , the ribs make contact with the roller bearings on the cam follower , which is then pushed downward to make contact with the needle plate ( see below ). roller bearings are preferred because the do not heat up excessively during the operation of the machine . note that the spaces in between the groups of bearings are filled with shaft support members 42 . fig8 is a side view of the cam follower 40 . as mentioned above , the roller bearings 41 are shown . to keep the bearings lubricated , oil is pumped into the upper portion of the housing . to retain the oil , o - rings 44 are placed around the follower body as shown . the o - rings act like piston rings in a piston engine to retain the oil as the follower is reciprocated within the housing . fig9 is a cross - sectional view of the cam follower taken along the lines 9 — 9 of fig8 . here , a roller bearing 41 is shown with the bearing shaft 45 through the center . in the preferred embodiment , the bearings are 1 - inch o . d . and ½ - inch wide . the bearing shaft has a ½ - inch o . d . fig1 is a cross - sectional view of the cam follower taken along the lines 10 — 10 of fig8 . here , a section of the shaft support 46 is shown . the shaft support 46 is a series of portions of the cam follower that maintain the shaft in position . the shaft support section also retains the bearing sets in position . note that the shaft support sections also contain caps that fit over the shaft to secure it in place . fig1 is a side perspective view of lower portion 50 of the needle drive housing . this piece acts as the needle support . note that wheels 5 can be attached to the housing , if desired . the vacuum nozzle 10 is shown attached to the housing as well . the lower portion has a number of holes 51 that retain the needles . note that the top of the lower portion forms a trough 52 that holds the drive plate and rubber piece ( discussed below ). fig1 is a front view of the needle assembly 54 . this assembly has a number of needles 55 in a multiple row configuration . fig1 shows five rows of needle supports . in the preferred embodiment , each row has 42 needles . of course , these numbers and configurations can be varied , as desired . the important thing is that sufficient needles are used to create a tight pattern , which provides the most efficient floor treatment . the needles are held in place by a metal plate 56 , which fits into the trough 52 on the lower portion 50 . the cam follower makes contact with this plate as it is pushed down by the cam . below the metal plate 56 is a rubber form 57 . the rubber form is a resilient member . this form also sits in the trough 52 under the metal plate 56 . after the cam follower has pushed the metal plate down , the rubber form resiliently causes the metal plate to rise in anticipation of the next operation of the cam ribs on the cam follower . thus , the rubber form acts as a “ means for moving said top plate upward during said number of non - compression periods ”. in this way , the needles are reciprocated in the housing to make contact with the floor surface . fig1 is a diagrammatic view of the needle drive assembly , showing the placement and relationship of all the parts of the drive assembly with no housing shown . here , the motor 20 is shown above the cam cylinder 23 . gears 27 and 28 are shown attached to their appropriate shafts . an discussed above , the motor turns the cam cylinder 23 , which in turn causes the cam follower 40 to be pushed down against the top plate 56 , which in turn pushes down the needles 55 . the downward motion happens every time one of the ribs on the cam cylinder contacts the cam follower . in between contacts by the ribs , the rubber form 56 pushes up the top plate , which raises the needles for the next stroke . in this way , the needles are reciprocated at a high rate of speed . this is highly effective in breaking up the top surface of a concrete floor . typical travel of the needles is between about 1 / 16 - inch and 3 / 16 - inches . fig1 and 15 show an electromagnet as part of a second embodiment of the needle drive unit . the electromagnet 60 is a cylinder that has a pair of wires 61 the feed from it . these wires connect to a power source 77 ( see fig1 ). fig1 is a top view of a single needle head or needle set 63 in the second embodiment . in this embodiment , the needles are separated into distinct groups . fig1 shows one set 63 that has a number of needles 64 . note that the needle pattern can be varied and is not limited to that shown . fig1 is a top view of a number of needle sets positioned in sequence . note that the end pieces 65 have squared ends to fit into the frame . however , the opposite end is angled . this is done to allow the needles to seat properly in the unit . note that the center portions 63 are angled on both ends , as shown . note that the preferred angle is about 30 degrees . fig1 is a diagrammatic view of the needle drive assembly of the second embodiment showing the placement and relationship of the key parts of the drive assembly with no housing shown . here , the motor and cams structure is eliminated . the magnet 60 is positioned above the needle assembly as shown . the magnet &# 39 ; s wires connect to a power source 77 as shown . this power source is suitable for the magnet to operate . the needle assembly is similar to that of the first embodiment , except that in this embodiment , there is a top steel plate 70 , a center rubber portion 71 and a bottom steel plate 72 . in this way , the magnet works to lift the needles in one part of the cycle and the rubber works to return the needles to their lower position for the next up cycle . due to the high frequency and speed of operation , the rubber portion in both embodiments must be a rubber capable of handling high temperatures and a high duty - cycle of compression cycles . the present disclosure should not be construed in any limited sense other than that limited by the scope of the claims having regard to the teachings herein and the prior art being apparent with the preferred form of the invention disclosed herein and which reveals details of structure of a preferred form necessary for a better understanding of the invention and may be subject to change by skilled persons within the scope of the invention without departing from the concept thereof . | 1 |
with reference to such figures , the instant device comprises a box - like base 1 of rather flattened shape , at the center whereof is a sleeve 2 , wherewithin a vertical shaft 4 is journalled through bearings 3 . the shaft 4 , below the box 1 , is acted upon by driving members not shown in the drawings , which impart to that same shaft a rotation in the direction shown by the arrowhead a . above the sleeve 2 , there are coupled to the shaft 4 , through a second sleeve 5 , a first plate 6 and second plate 7 , being horizontal and parallel to each other . the second plate 7 , located above the first closes an opening defined by a cylindrical side 8a which raises from a plate 8 , attached to the top portion of the box 1 . the edge of the plate 7 is bent downwards externally to the upper edge of the side 8a . the first plate 6 is provided peripherally with a gear ring 9 meshing with a gear wheel 10 connected to a shaft 11 . said shaft 11 is supported , through bearings 12 , in a bushing 13 inserted into and secured to the plate 8 , and carries above the latter a gumming roller 14 whereby , as explained hereinafter , glue is applied onto the label picking up members . in the plates 6 , 7 there are provided a plurality of holes 15 ( in the embodiment shown , six in number ), which are drilled symmetrically along a respective circumference , substantially intermediate to the radius dimension of the plates themselves , and distributed at equal angles to the center . in each pair of coaxial holes 15 of the two plates 6 and 7 there are arranged respective pivot pins or shafts 16 , carried by bushings 17 , which shafts extend parallel to the central shaft 4 . each shaft 16 acts as the fulcrum for a lever arm 18 disposed between the plates 6 and 7 and pivotally engaged at one end in the central portion of said shafts 16 . by contrast , at the other end , each lever arm 18 configurates a sleeve 19 , with a vertical axis , wherein is in turn pivotally engaged , through bushings 20 , a respective shaft 21 also having a vertical axis . the shafts 21 project downwards from the first plate 6 and upwards from the second plate 7 , through suitable slotted holes formed in said plates . to the portion thereof which is located above the second plate 7 , there is attached a withdrawal sector 22 , configurated mushroom - like in a horizontal plane and comprising a certain radial arm 23 , locked onto the shaft 21 , and a cylindrical segment 24 , the center of curvature whereof is located on the axis of the shaft 4 and is equal to the one of the gear ring 9 . said cylindrical segment 24 has a developed length and a height at least equal to the length and respectively height of the labels to be picked up . at the portion located below the first plate 6 , the shaft 21 carries a further bushing 25 , to the outer surface whereof is coupled a bearing 26 . the bearing 26 is engaged in a groove 27 defined between the outer profile of an inner radial cam 28 and the inner profile of an outer radial cam 29 extending in the same plane as the cam 28 . the cam 28 is affixed to the base 1 with the interposition of the plate 40 , which will be referred to hereinafter , and has a profile which , as may be seen in fig1 is for a greater angle than 180 ° circular with center on the axis of shaft 4 , while the rest of the angle is shaped . the cam 29 circumscribes the cam 28 and is fixed to the same plate 40 with the interposition of blocks 30 . the shaft 21 carries , at its lower end underlying the cam 28 , a gear segment 31 attached to the shaft through a lug 32 , which from the segment 31 projects inwardly . the withdrawal sector 22 and the gear segment or toothed sector 31 form , together with the shaft 21 , whereto they are mounted rigidly , a member which may be oscillated about the axis of the shaft 21 and is pivoted , through the lever arm 18 , to the rotating drum constituted by the pair of plates 6 and 7 . the gear segment 31 meshes with a stationary rack 33 rigid with a magazine 34 of sheets or labels . in particular , the magazine 34 is disposed such that the leading sheet or label therein is tangent to a circumference with radius equal to the distance between the axis of shaft 4 and the outer surface of the cylindrical segment 24 . in fig1 that circumference is indicated at 35 and shown with a dash - and - dot line . that same circumference 35 , moreover , represents the pitch line of the gear between the gear segment 31 and rack 33 , which is thus aligned in the same plane as said leading label of the magazine 34 . by contrast , at the radially inner end , the radial arm 32 of the gear segment 31 bifurcates in a sort of &# 34 ; y &# 34 ; to originate a pair of short arms 36 . each of such short arms 36 is crossed by a pin 37 carrying a bearing 38 below the short arms themselves . the bearings 38 are inserted inside a groove 39 of a second cam 40 . the cam 40 is also a radial one and attached to the base 1 below the first cam 28 . as may be seen in fig1 the profile of the groove 39 of the second cam 40 , substantially semicircular over one half of its extension , bifuractes in to branches 41a and 41b at the magazine 34 , which branches or legs cross each other shortly after the latter centerline , to then merge together in a single groove . in each of such legs 41a and 41b of groove 39 is inserted , with its respective bearing 38 , one of the two pins 37 of each gear segment 31 , such as to enable this gear segment 31 and the withdrawal segment 22 connected thereto to rotate about the axis of the shaft 21 , thus allowing the cylindrical segment 24 to roll onto the leading one of the labels contained in the magazine 34 . correspondingly , the groove 27 defined between the cams 28 , 29 which guides the radial movements of the shaft 21 , forms sort of an elbow 27a which brings the shaft 21 closer to the magazine 34 , thus enabling the gear segment 31 to mesh with the rack 33 along the pitch line 35 . downstream of the magazine 34 , again in the direction of rotation a , there is located an assembly 42 which , in a known manner , is operative to separate the sheets or labels from the cylindrical segments 24 . for example , the assembly 42 may comprise a carousel carrying peripherally arranged grippers controlled to grip the labels and release them onto the article to be labelled . the device described in the foregoing operates as follows . the positions taken by the oscillating members comprising the withdrawal segment 22 and gear segment 31 , mounted on the shaft 21 , are assumed to be successive working positions taken by one only of such members , during one machine cycle . it is also assumed that movement starts from the position indicated at b , along the direction of rotation a , as shown in fig1 . in that position , the outer periphery of the cylindrical segment 24 and gear segment 31 extends along the same circumference concentrical with the rotation axis of shaft 4 . while retaining that position , the cylindrical segment 24 moves past the gumming roller 14 which applies on the outer surface of the segment 24 a coating of an adhesive material . during the contact between the gumming roller 14 and cylindrical segment 24 , the relative speed is zero , i . e . there occurs no slip , since the roller itself is driven through its gear wheel 10 by the ring gear 9 of the plate 6 which drives the cylindrical segment 24 . after applying the film of glue , the oscillating member begins to lean forward , position c , owing to the special shape of the groove 39 . in fact , the cam 29 urges the shaft 21 inwardly and forces the first leading one of the pins 37 to deviate inwards . at this point , when the first of such pins 37 is started along the innermost leg 41a of the cam 40 , the shaft 21 is guided by the groove 27 such that the second pin 37 is started along the leg 41b , thus contributing to the rotation of the oscillating member about the axis of the shaft 21 . as the oscillating member reaches the desired inclination , the shaft 21 moves into the elbow portion 27a , thus controlling the rear edge of the cylindrical segment 24 to approach the edge of the leading label in the magazine . upon the cylindrical segment 24 contacting the label ( position d ), the gear segment 31 meshes with the rack 33 . it should be noted that , owing to the special configuration of the legs 41a and 41b , the oscillating member is imparted rotation in the opposite direction to the previous one , thereby upon the gear segment 31 meshing with the rack 33 , there occurs no relative speed between such two parts . the successive approaching and crossing of the legs 41a and 41b of the groove 39 of the second cam 40 enables the gear segment 31 to roll along the rack 33 wherewith it is in mesh engagement . simultaneously , the cylindrical segment 24 of the withdrawal segment or sector 22 , by rolling over the leading label in the magazine 34 , allows the label to separate , which remains attached to the outer surface of the segment 24 , to receive glue therefrom . on completion of the label withdrawal from the magazine 34 , the successive mutual approaching of the legs 41a and 41b of the groove 39 of the second cam 40 again reverses the direction of rotation of the oscillating member about its shaft 21 , position e , until it brings it back to its original radial disposition with respect to the shaft 4 . in the foregoing device , the special configuration of the cams 23 , 29 and 40 , and their split action , one for the radial movement of the oscillating member and one for the rotation thereof about its respective axis of the shaft 21 , affords a minimization of the angular size of those elements , as shown in fig1 thereby enabling a larger number of labels to be picked up for a given size of the rotating drum comprising the plates 6 and 7 . furthermore , thanks to the rack 33 , the cams 28 , 29 and 40 also serve as guides and not as biassing elements for the oscillating members . this reflects in less stresses being imposed , such as would occur , for instance , in overcoming the dead centers . a further advantage connected with the use of the rack 33 resides in the elimination of relative movements or slip between the cylindrical segment 24 of the withdrawal segment 22 and the label , the rolling of one upon the other being rigidly guided by the gear segment 31 meshing with the rack 33 itself . the invention is susceptible to many variations , according to the type of sheets or labels contained in the magazine ; thus , for example , to pick up the sheets , rather than utilizing the adhesive power of the glue coating on the cylindrical segments 24 , sucker members connected to a suction pump , or grippers , may be provided . | 8 |
the emulsion prepared in accordance with the present invention is an oil - in - water emulsion . the oil phase typically contains a silicone fluid such as a volatile cyclic silicone or a volatile short chain linear silicone , a linear non - volatile silicone , or mixtures of silicone fluids ; and an ethylene oxide / propylene oxide silicone copolymer which will be referred to hereinafter as an &# 34 ; eo / po silicone surfactant &# 34 ;. the water phase typically contains an ethylene oxide silicone copolymer which will be referred to hereinafter as an &# 34 ; eo silicone surfactant &# 34 ;; or the water phase may contain an &# 34 ; eo / po silicone surfactant &# 34 ;; water ; and if desired , other adjuvants such as electrolytes and humectants which typically occur in personal care consumer cosmetic products . the &# 34 ; eo / po silicone surfactant &# 34 ; is a siloxane polyether having the formula : ## str1 ## wherein r a is an alkyl group of one to six carbon atoms ; r b is the radical -- c m h 2m --; r c is a terminating radical which can be hydrogen , an alkyl group of one to six carbon atoms , or an aryl group such as phenyl ; m has a value of two to eight ; p and s have values such that the oxyalkylene segment --( c 2 h 4 o ) p --( c 3 h 6 o ) s -- has a molecular weight in the range of 400 to 5 , 000 ; the segment preferably having fifty to one hundred mole percent of oxyethylene units --( c 2 h 4 o ) p -- and one to fifty mole percent of oxypropylene units --( c 3 h 6 o ) s --; x has a value of 80 to 120 ; and y has a value of 2 to 10 . preferably r a and the terminating radical r c are methyl groups ; m is preferably three or four whereby the group r b is most preferably the radical --( ch 2 ) 3 --; and the values of p and s are such as to provide a molecular weight of the oxyalkylene segment --( c 2 h 4 o ) p --( c 3 h 6 o ) s -- of between about 1 , 000 to 3 , 000 . most preferably p and s should each have a value of about 18 to 28 . the &# 34 ; eo silicone surfactant &# 34 ; is a siloxane polyether having the formula : ## str2 ## wherein r a is an alkyl group of one to six carbon atoms ; r b is the radical -- c m h 2m --; r c is a terminating radical which can be hydrogen , an alkyl group of one to six carbon atoms , or an aryl group such as phenyl ; m has a value of two to eight ; p has a value of 8 to 16 ; x has a value of 6 to 12 ; and y has a value of 1 to 8 . it should be understood that in both formulas ( i ) and ( ii ) shown above , that the siloxane - oxyalkylene copolymers of the present invention may , in alternate embodiments , take the form of endblocked polyethers in which the linking group r b , the oxyalkylene segments , and the terminating radical r c occupy positions bonded to the ends of the siloxane chain , rather than being bonded to a silicon atom in the siloxane chain . thus , one or more of the r a substituents which are attached to the two terminal silicon atoms at the end of the siloxane chain can be substituted with the segment -- r b -- o --( c 2 h 4 o ) p --( c 3 h 6 o ) s -- r c or with the segment -- r b -- o --( c 2 h 4 o ) p -- r c . in some instances , it may be desirable to provide the segment -- r b -- o --( c 2 h 4 o ) p --( c 3 h 6 o ) s -- r c or the segment -- r b -- o --( c 2 h 4 o ) p -- r c at locations which are in the siloxane chain as well as at locations at one or both of the siloxane chain ends . methods of making such siloxane - oxyalkylene copolymers are known in the art , and are described in detail for example , in the volume &# 34 ; chemistry and technology of silicones &# 34 ;, walter noll , academic press inc ., 1968 , pages 373 - 376 . for the sake of brevity , the siloxane polyether of formula ( i ) shall be referred to in the examples and in the tables as the &# 34 ; eo / po silicone surfactant a &# 34 ;, and the siloxane polyether of formula ( ii ) shall be referred to as the &# 34 ; eo silicone surfactant &# 34 ;. it should be understood that where reference is made to &# 34 ; eo / po silicone surfactant a &# 34 ; in the examples and tables , that this material constitutes a mixture containing about thirteen percent by weight of the eo / po silicone surfactant as active ingredient , and about eighty - seven percent by weight of a volatile cyclic silicone . reference will also be made to an &# 34 ; eo / po silicone surfactant b &# 34 ; which is essentially the same as &# 34 ; eo / po silicone surfactant a &# 34 ; except that material does not contain the volatile cyclic silicone . the hlb value of &# 34 ; eo / po silicone surfactant a &# 34 ; is about 1 . 8 . the hlb value of the &# 34 ; eo silicone surfactant &# 34 ; is about 13 . 6 . the hlb value of the &# 34 ; eo / po silicone surfactant b &# 34 ; is about 5 . 9 . the volatile silicone used in the &# 34 ; eo / po silicone surfactant a &# 34 ;, and volatile silicone used as a component of the oil phase of the emulsion of the present invention is a low viscosity methylsilicone fluid . these volatile low viscosity methylsilicone fluids correspond to the formula ( ch 3 ) a sio . sub . ( 4 - a / 2 ) wherein a is an integer having an average value of from two to three . the methylsilicone fluid contains siloxane units joined by si -- o -- si bonds . representative units are ( ch 3 ) 3 sio 1 / 2 , ( ch 3 ) 2 sio 2 / 2 , ( ch 3 ) sio 3 / 2 , and sio 4 / 2 . these units are present in molar amounts such that there is provided an average of from about two to three methyl groups per silicon atom in the methylsilicone fluid ; whereby the methylsilicone fluid has a viscosity of less than about one hundred centistokes measured at twenty - five degrees centigrade , preferably less than about ten centistokes . the volatile low viscosity methylsilicone fluid contains dimethylsiloxane units and optionally trimethylsiloxane units . representative compounds are cyclopolysiloxanes of the formula [( ch 3 ) 2 sio ] x , and linear siloxane compounds of the formula ( ch 3 ) 3 sio [( ch 3 ) 2 sio ] y si ( ch 3 ) 3 , in which x is an integer having a value of from three to ten , and y is an integer having a value of from zero to about four . the volatile low viscosity methylsilicones have boiling points generally less than about two hundred - fifty degrees centigrade , and as noted above , preferably possess viscosities less than about ten centistokes . most preferably , the viscosity is 0 . 65 to 5 . 0 centistokes . the cyclopolysiloxanes have been assigned the adopted name &# 34 ; cyclomethicone &# 34 ; by the cosmetics , toiletries and fragrance association , inc ., washington , d . c . ( ctfa ). both the cyclopolysiloxanes and the volatile linear siloxanes are clear fluids which are essentially odorless , nontoxic , nongreasy and nonstinging . cosmetically , these methylsilicone fluids are nonirritating to skin and exhibit enhanced spreadability and ease of rub - out when applied to the skin . once applied to the skin , the materials evaporate leaving behind no residue . methylsilicone fluids which are operable in accordance with the present invention leave substantially no residue after thirty minutes at room temperature when one gram of the fluid is placed at the center of a no . 1 circular filter paper having a diameter of 185 mm supported at its perimeter in open room atmosphere . by methylsilicone fluid is meant a composition containing two or more silicon atoms , all of which are bonded by way of at least one oxygen atom to at least one other silicon atom and at least one methyl radical , each silicon valence not satisfied by oxygen being satisfied by a methyl radical . representative methylsilicone fluids found to be especially useful in accordance with the present invention are hexamethyldisiloxane which has a boiling point of 99 . 5 degrees centigrade and the formula me 3 siosime 3 ; octamethyltrisiloxane which has a boiling point of 152 degrees centigrade and the formula me 3 siome 2 siosime 3 ; hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane which has a boiling point of 133 degrees centigrade and the formula [( me 2 ) sio ] 3 ; octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane which has a boiling point of 171 degrees centigrade and the formula [( me 2 ) sio ] 4 ; and decamethylcyclopentasiloxane which has a boiling point of 205 degrees centigrade and the formula [( me 2 ) sio ] 5 . these methylsilicone fluids may be used alone , or as mixtures in combinations of two or more . mixtures of the methylsilicone fluids will result in a volatile material having an evaporating behavior different from any one of the individual methylsilicone fluids . in some instances , it may be desirable to replace one or more of the methyl groups in the methylsilicone fluid with other groups . thus , there may be substituted alkyl radicals having two to twelve carbon atoms ; or aryl radicals having six to ten carbon atoms . the oil phase of the emulsion may contain a linear non - volatile silicone component which is a polysiloxane film former having a viscosity in excess of 10 and up to twenty - five million centistokes , preferably a range of about 10 to about 20 , 000 centistokes . a mixture of non - volatile polysiloxanes having relatively higher and relatively lower viscosities may also be employed . such polysiloxanes contain the repeating unit ## str3 ## wherein n is an integer having a value greater than 1 ; r 1 is an alkyl radical containing 1 to 7 carbon atoms , or a phenyl group ; r 2 is an alkyl radical containing 1 to 7 carbon atoms , or a phenyl group . illustrative polysiloxanes encompassed by the above formula are silicone oils and silicone gums such as polydimethylsiloxane , polydiethylsiloxane , polymethylethylsiloxane , polymethylphenylsiloxane , polydiphenylsiloxanes , and copolymers of two or more of the foregoing siloxanes . in addition , it may be desirable to include in the oil or water phase of the emulsion other compatible materials such as waxes ; sunscreen agents ; vitamins such as vitamin a , vitamin b , vitamin d , vitamin e , ascorbic acid , and biotin ; hormones ; amino acids ; antioxidants such as propyl , octyl , and dodecyl esters of gallic acid , butylated hydroxytoluene , butylated hydroxyanisole ( bha ), and natural mixed tocopherols ; opacifiers such as titanium dioxide and fatty alcohols ; and solvents such as ethanol and isopropanol . waxes which may be employed include carnauba , beeswax , ceresin , paraffin , candelilla , bayberry , montan , spermaceti , castor wax , ozokerite , microcrystalline waxes , and fisher - tropsch waxes . ester waxes may also be employed such as those products sold by scrota surfactants , ltd ., north humberside , england , under the tradename synchrowax aw1 , bb , be , bse14 , erl , hgl , hr , hrs , rls , and se . colorants include any of the united states government food & amp ; drug administration ( fda ) certified inorganic and organic dyes and lakes such as carmine , iron oxide , mica , titanium dioxide , ultramarines , zinc oxide , bismuth oxychloride ; and d & amp ; c blue no . 1 , d & amp ; c orange no . 5 , d & amp ; c red no . 6 aluminum lake , d & amp ; c red no . 7 calcium lake , d & amp ; c green no . 8 , d & amp ; c red no . 17 , fd & amp ; c blue no . 1 , fd & amp ; c red no . 3 , fd & amp ; c yellow no . 6 , external d & amp ; c violet no . 2 , which are the ctfa adopted names of the cosmetic , toiletry , and fragrance association , washington , d . c . preservatives which may be used are methyl paraben , ethyl paraben , propyl paraben , butyl paraben , diazolidinyl urea , imidazolidinyl urea , and mixtures thereof . where an antimicrobial is required , materials such as triclosan , quaternium - 15 , chloroxylenol , and cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide , may be employed . an acid may be used to adjust the ph to within the range of three to nine , preferably six to eight . any water soluble acid such as a carboxylic acid or a mineral acid can be employed . acids which may be used include mineral acids such as hydrochloric , sulfuric , and phosphoric acid ; monocarboxylic acids such as acetic , lactic , and propionic acid ; and polycarboxylic acids such as succinic , adipic , salicylic and citric acid . suitable neutralizing agents include sodium hydroxide , potassium hydroxide , ammonium hydroxide , monoethanolamine , diethanolamine , and triethanolamine . among the numerous humectants which may be employed are polyhydroxy alcohols such as sorbitol , glycerin , hexylene glycol , propylene glycol , and hexanetriol ; sugar and starch derivatives such as alkoxylated glucose , and hydrolyzed mucopolysaccharides ; d - panthenol , hyaluronic acid , lactamide monoethanolamine , acetamide monoethanolamine , urea , guanidine , glycolic acid and glycolate salts , lactic acid and lactate salts ; and mixtures thereof . emollient oils which can be employed in the present invention include mineral oil , peanut oil , sesame oil , avocado oil , coconut oil , cocoa butter , almond oil , safflower oil , corn oil , cotton seed oil , castor oil , olive oil , jojoba oil , paraffin oil , cod liver oil , palm oil , soybean oil , wheat germ oil , linseed oil , and sunflower seed oil ; fatty acid esters such as isopropyl myristate , isopropyl palmitate , isopropyl stearate , butyl stearate , cetyl stearate , diisopropyl adipate , isodecyl oleate , diisopropyl sebacate , and lauryl lactate ; fatty acids such as lauric , myristic , palmitic , stearic , oleic , linoleic , and behenic , acid ; fatty alcohols such as lauryl , myristyl , cetyl , stearyl , isostearyl , oleyl , ricinoleyl , erucyl , and 2 - octyl dodecanol , alcohols ; lanolin and its derivatives such as lanolin , lanolin oil , lanolin wax , lanolin alcohols , lanolin fatty acids , isopropyl lanolate , ethoxylated lanolin , and acetylated lanolin alcohols such as acetulan ®, a trademark and product of amerchol corporation , edison , n . j . ; and hydrocarbons such as petrolatum and squalane . sunscreen agents may be included in some instances , and can be used in the amount which is within the restricted limits or less as established by the united states government food & amp ; drug administration ( fda ). representative sunscreen agents or mixtures of such agents which may be used include 4 - aminobenzoic acid ; homomethyl salicylate ; 2 - hydroxy - 4 - methoxy benzophenone ; 2 - phenylbenzimidazol - 5 - sulfonic acid ; 4 - dimethylamino benzoic acid 2 - ethylhexyl ester ; 4 - methoxy cinnamic acid isoamyl ester ; 4 - methoxy cinnamic acid 2 - ethylhexyl ester ; 3 -( 4 &# 39 ;- methyl ) benzylidene - bornane - 2 - one ; 1 -( 4 &# 39 ;- isopropylphenyl )- 3 - phenyl - 1 - propane - 1 , 3 - dione ; and 1 -( 4 &# 39 ;- t - butylphenyl )- 3 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl )- propane - 1 , 3 - dione . fragrances which may be used include natural products such as ambergris , benzoin , civet , clove , leaf oil , jasmine , mate &# 39 ;, mimosa , musk , myrrh , orris , sandalwood oil and vetivert oil ; aroma chemicals such as amyl salicylate , amyl cinnamic aldehyde , benzyl acetate , citronellol , coumarin , geraniol , isobornyl acetate , ambrette , and terpinyl acetate ; and the various classic family perfume oils such as the floral bouquet family , the oriental family , the chypre family , the woody family , the citrus family , the canoe family , the leather family , the spice family , and the herbal family . thickening agents which may be used include polyacrylates ; sodium alginate ; gum arabic ; guar gum ; carboxyvinyl polymers ; cellulose derivatives such as methylcellulose , ethyl cellulose , hydroxypropyl methylcellulose , hydroxyethylcellulose , hydroxypropylcellulose , and carboxymethylcellulose ; starch and starch derivatives such as hydroxyethylamylose and starch amylose ; polyvinyl alcohol ; locust bean gum ; vegetable gums ; magnesium aluminum silicate such as veegum , a tradename of r . t . vanderbilt company , incorporated , norwalk , conn . saccharide and saccharide derivatives such as fructose , glucose , and peg - 120 methyl glucose dioleate ; and any of the various organically modified montmorillonite clays sold under the trademark bentone ® by rheox incorporated , highstown , n . j ., such as bentone ® 38 . divalent and trivalent salts may be used as electrolytes , and suitable salts are sodium chloride , magnesium chloride , aluminum chloride , and ammonium chloride . sodium borate may also be employed , as well as certain antiperspirant salts such as aluminum chlorohydrate and aluminum - zirconium chlorohydrate . these electrolytes and salts aid in reducing the particle size of the silicone in the emulsion which has a net thickening effect . the invention is illustrated in more detail in the following examples and tables . oil - in - water emulsions were prepared by separately forming an oil phase in one four hundred milliliter beaker , and a water phase in another four hundred milliliter beaker . an electric mixer was placed in each beaker and used until each phase in each beaker was uniform . the oil phase was slowly added from one beaker to the water phase in the other beaker while agitating the combined phases with the electric mixer . the two phases were mixed together for about ten minutes . the mixed phases were placed on an eppenbach mixer which was set at forty on the variable speed control . the phases were mixed on the eppenbach mixer for about ten minutes . the resulting mixture was placed into an eight ounce bottle . tables i - iii appearing below show the ingredients used to prepare each phase of each of the oil - in - water emulsions . table i______________________________________ emulsion 1 emulsion 2 emulsion 3ingredient weight % weight % weight % ______________________________________oil phasevolatile cyclic 15 . 0 15 . 0 15 . 0siliconenon - volatile 5 . 0 5 . 0 5 . 0linear silicone ( 10 cs . ) eo / po silicone 8 . 0 8 . 0 8 . 0surfactant awater phaseeo / po silicone -- 1 . 0 2 . 0surfactant beo silicone 0 . 5 -- -- surfactantwater 61 . 5 61 . 0 60 . 0sodium chloride 2 . 0 2 . 0 2 . 0propylene glycol 8 . 0 8 . 0 8 . 0combined hlb 6 . 3 4 . 1 4 . 7______________________________________ table ii______________________________________ emulsion 4 emulsion 5 emulsion 6ingredient weight % weight % weight % ______________________________________oil phasevolatile cyclic 19 . 0 19 . 0 30 . 0siliconenon - volatile 5 . 0 5 . 0 5 . 0linear silicone ( 10 cs . ) eo / po silicone 4 . 0 4 . 0 8 . 0surfactant awater phaseeo / po silicone 0 . 5 2 . 0 -- surfactant beo silicone -- -- 0 . 5surfactantwater 61 . 5 60 . 0 46 . 5sodium chloride 2 . 0 2 . 0 2 . 0propylene glycol 8 . 0 8 . 0 8 . 0combined hlb 4 . 1 5 . 2 6 . 3______________________________________ table iii______________________________________ emulsion 7 emulsion 8 emulsion 9ingredient weight % weight % weight % ______________________________________oil phasevolatile cyclic 30 . 0 45 . 0 45 . 0siliconenon - volatile 5 . 0 5 . 0 5 . 0linear silicone ( 10 cs . ) eo / po silicone 8 . 0 8 . 0 8 . 0surfactant awater phaseeo / po silicone 2 . 0 -- 2 . 0surfactant beo silicone -- 0 . 5 -- surfactantwater 45 . 0 31 . 5 30 . 0sodium chloride 2 . 0 2 . 0 2 . 0propylene glycol 8 . 0 8 . 0 8 . 0combined hlb 4 . 7 6 . 3 4 . 7______________________________________ the combined hlb value of the silicone surfactant system of each of the foregoing oil - in - water emulsions was calculated by multiplying the ratio of each of the individual silicone surfactants in each emulsion to the total surfactant content in each emulsion by its individual hlb number , and combining the two values . the combined hlb value of each of the oil - in - water emulsions is shown in tables i - iii . the oil - in - water emulsions formed in accordance with the present invention possess utility in personal care cosmetic products intended for application to the human skin . these emulsions preferably contain from 0 . 1 to 60 . 0 percent by weight of silicone oil or silicone gum ; 40 . 0 to 90 . 0 percent by weight of water ; 0 . 5 to 5 . 0 percent by weight of the silicone surfactants ; and 0 . 35 to 25 . 0 percent by weight of an electrolyte . other variations and modifications may be made in the compounds , compositions , and methods described herein without departing from the essential features and concepts of the present invention . the forms of the invention described herein are exemplary only and are not intended as limitations on the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims . | 8 |
the present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings , which form a part hereof , and which show , by way of illustration , specific exemplary embodiments for practicing the invention . 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 so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete , and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art . among other things , the present invention may be embodied as methods or devices . accordingly , the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment , an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects . the following detailed description is , therefore , not to be taken in a limiting sense . fig1 shows an exemplary computing device that may be included in system 100 for implementing the invention . computing device 100 illustrates a general operating environment that may apply to the present invention . in a very basic configuration , computing device 100 typically includes at least one processing unit 102 and system memory 104 . processing unit 102 includes existing physical processors , those in design , multiple processors acting together , virtual processors , and any other device or software program capable of interpreting binary executable instructions . depending on the exact configuration and type of computing device , the system memory 104 may be volatile ( such as ram ), non - volatile ( such as rom , flash memory , etc .) or some combination of the two . system memory 104 typically includes an operating system 105 , one or more program modules 106 , and may include program data 107 . this basic configuration is illustrated in fig1 by those components within dashed line 108 . computing device 100 may also have additional features or functionality . for example , computing device 100 may also include additional data storage devices ( removable and / or non - removable ) such as , for example , magnetic disks , optical disks , or tape . such additional storage is illustrated in fig1 by removable storage 109 and non - removable storage 110 . computer storage media may include 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 . system memory 104 , removable storage 109 and non - removable storage 110 are all examples of computer storage media . computer storage media includes , but is not limited to , ram , rom , eeprom , flash memory or other memory technology , cd - rom , digital versatile disks ( dvd ) or other optical 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 computing device 100 . any such computer storage media may be part of computing device 100 . computing device 100 may also have input device ( s ) 112 such as keyboard , mouse , pen , stylus , voice input device , touch input device , etc . output device ( s ) 114 such as a display , speakers , printer , etc . may also be included . all these devices are known in the art and need not be discussed at length here . computing device 100 may also contain communications connection ( s ) 116 that allow the device to communicate with other computing devices 118 , such as over a network . communications connection ( s ) 116 is an example of communication media . communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions , data structures , program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media . the term “ modulated data signal ” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal . by way of example , and not limitation , communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct - wired connection , and wireless media such as acoustic , rf , infrared and other wireless media . the term computer readable media as used herein includes both storage media and communication media . fig2 shows an alternative operating environment for a mobile device substantially for use in the present invention . in one embodiment of the present invention , mobile device 200 is integrated with a computing device , such as an integrated personal digital assistant ( pda ) and wireless phone . in this embodiment , mobile device 200 has a processor 260 , a memory 262 , a display 228 , and a keypad 232 . memory 262 generally includes both volatile memory ( e . g ., ram ) and non - volatile memory ( e . g ., rom , flash memory , or the like ). mobile device 200 includes an operating system 264 , which is resident in memory 262 and executes on processor 260 . keypad 232 may be a push button numeric dialing pad ( such as on a typical telephone ), a multi - key keyboard ( such as a conventional keyboard ), or may be not be included in the mobile device in deference to a touch screen or stylus . display 228 may be a liquid crystal display , or any other type of display commonly used in mobile computing devices . display 228 may be touch - sensitive , and would then also act as an input device . one or more application programs 266 are loaded into memory 262 and run on operating system 264 . examples of application programs include phone dialer programs , e - mail programs , scheduling programs , pim ( personal information management ) programs , word processing programs , spreadsheet programs , internet browser programs , and so forth . mobile device 200 also includes non - volatile storage 268 within the memory 262 . non - volatile storage 268 may be used to store persistent information which should not be lost if mobile device 200 is powered down . the applications 266 may use and store information in storage 268 , such as e - mail or other messages used by an e - mail application , contact information used by a pim , appointment information used by a scheduling program , documents used by a word processing application , and the like . a synchronization application also resides on the mobile device and is programmed to interact with a corresponding synchronization application resident on a host computer to keep the information stored in the storage 268 synchronized with corresponding information stored at the host computer . mobile device 200 has a power supply 270 , which may be implemented as one or more batteries . power supply 270 might further include an external power source , such as an ac adapter or a powered docking cradle that supplements or recharges the batteries . mobile device 200 is also shown with two types of external notification mechanisms : an led 240 and an audio interface 274 . these devices may be directly coupled to power supply 270 so that when activated , they remain on for a duration dictated by the notification mechanism even though processor 260 and other components might shut down to conserve battery power . led 240 may be programmed to remain on indefinitely until the user takes action to indicate the powered - on status of the device . audio interface 274 is used to provide audible signals to and receive audible signals from the user . for example , audio interface 274 may be coupled to a speaker for providing audible output and to a microphone for receiving audible input , such as to facilitate a telephone conversation . mobile device 200 also includes a radio 272 that performs the function of transmitting and receiving radio frequency communications . radio 272 facilitates wireless connectivity between the mobile device 200 and the outside world , via a communications carrier or service provider . transmissions to and from the radio 272 are conducted under control of the operating system 264 . in other words , communications received by the radio 272 may be disseminated to application programs 266 via the operating system 264 , and vice versa . the radio 272 allows the mobile device 200 to communicate with other computing devices , such as over a network . the radio 272 is one example of communication media . communication media may typically be embodied by computer readable instructions , data structures , program modules , or other data in a modulated data signal , such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism , and includes any information delivery media . the term “ modulated data signal ” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal . by way of example , and not limitation , communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct - wired connection , and wireless media such as acoustic , rf , infrared and other wireless media . the term computer readable media as used herein includes both storage media and communication media . fig3 illustrates exemplary user interface outputs for an inbox and a today screen that include instant message presence information in accordance with the present invention . inbox 300 includes entries 302 , 304 , and 306 . each entry shows the sender of the e - mail to the user ( e . g ., sender a , sender b , sender c ) and the time and date of the e - mail delivery . as is known with inbox applications such inbox 300 shown , other fields may also be included ( e . g ., subject , etc .) that provided further information regarding the mail sent or received . in accordance with the present invention , each entry ( e . g ., 302 ) may also include an icon ( e . g ., 308 , 310 ) that provides an indication of a relationship between the sender and the recipient as well as the im presence for the sender of the e - mail . for example , sender a is has associated icon 302 . first , icon 302 signifies that sender a is a “ buddy ” of the user . stated differently , sender a is included in a list of individuals or groups to which the user sends or receives im messages , also called a “ buddy list .” the buddy list is described in greater detail below with relation to fig4 . secondly , icon 302 signifies that sender a is “ online ”. “ online ” refers to sender a being currently able to hold an im session with the user . in contrast , icon 304 shows that sender b is a buddy of the user , but the “ x ” through icon 304 indicates that sender b is not online . furthermore , sender c , by not having an associated icon , is neither online nor included within the buddy list of the user . today screen 350 is similar to inbox 300 while providing the user with other information than received or sent e - mails . today screen 350 includes different portions of an application that a user may access to perform various operations . for example , appointment entry 352 may be selected to view a user &# 39 ; s appointments , or tasks entry 354 may be selected to view a user &# 39 ; s tasks . in the example shown , each entry has an associated icon ( e . g ., 358 and 360 ), but in other embodiments may have different or additional information associated with each entry . in accordance with the present invention , today screen 350 also includes an entry , or entries that provide im presence information . for example , entry 356 is included that notifies the user that “ person a is online ”. again , entry 356 has an associated icon 362 , but in other embodiments may include different icons or none . with either inbox 300 or today screen 350 , a user may initiate an im session with a person or group indicated as being online by merely selecting the associated icon or the entry . other methods for initiating an im session through these interfaces may also be used . fig4 illustrates an exemplary block diagram for a system that provides instant message presence information on other applications in accordance with the present invention . system 400 includes im server 402 , im application 410 , protocols 420 , and client applications 440 . 1 m application 410 includes buddy list 412 , chats 414 , custom ui extensions 416 , and emoticons 418 . protocols 420 includes one or more of the protocols net messenger service 422 , rtc / sip 424 , im exchange 426 , and possibly third party protocols 428 . each protocol has an associated user interface ( ui ) 430 . client applications 440 includes inbox 442 , contacts 444 , calendar 446 , and third party applications written with the net compact framework 448 or native code 450 . each client application also includes an imclient . dll , or im client dynamic link library 452 . each client application ( e . g ., 442 ) is populated with instructions for providing im presence information using imclient . dll 452 . the im presence information is provided to each client application ( e . g ., 442 ) through im server 402 . im application 410 uses protocol information according the protocol of the particular user &# 39 ; s im application to present the im presence information in the other applications . fig5 illustrates a logical flow diagram of a process for providing instant message presence information on other applications in accordance with the present invention . process 500 starts at block 502 where a user is logged onto an im service and the imclient . dll is loaded into a selected client application . processing continues at block 504 . at block 504 , the contact for which the client desires to have the im presence information is retrieved . the contact is identified by a name or other identifier that differentiates the contact from the other possible contacts . for example , the client application may be an e - mail inbox ( see fig3 ). the client can therefore be identified according to its string name or e - mail address . once the contact is retrieved , processing continues at block 506 . at block 506 , the im server is searched for by the client in order to initiate communication for the process of retrieving the im presence information for the identified contact . processing continues at block 508 . at block 508 , a determination is made at the conclusion of the search for the im client as to whether the im server exists . the im server may not exist on the mobile device on which the client application is loaded , or a communication error may exist between the client and the im server that prevents transmission of the im presence information . if a determination is made that the im server does not exist or cannot be reached , processing moves to block 510 . however , if the client is successful in locating the im server , processing advances to block 514 . at block 510 , the client enters an “ offline mode ” with respect to retrieving the im presence information . the “ offline mode ” refers to the situation when the client application is unable to retrieve the im presence information . the algorithm for entering the offline mode is provided in the imclient . dll file referred to by the client application . once the client enters the offline mode , processing continues at block 512 . at block 512 , an error message is returned to the client that indicates that that the im server is unavailable . since the process for populating the client with the im presence information can no longer proceed , once the error message is returned processing advances to block 518 , where process 500 ends . in contrast , if the im server is available , communication is initiated between the im server and the client at block 514 . an exemplary process for initiating the communication is described in greater detail in the discussion of fig6 below . once communication has been initiated , processing continues at block 516 . at block 516 , the im server searches for the name of the contact for which the im presence information is requested . if the name is found , the client application may publish the im presence information to the user within the user interface associated with the client application . an exemplary process for searching for the name of the contact and providing an output of the im presence information is described in greater detail in the discussion of fig7 below . once an output is provided to the client regarding the im presence information , processing proceeds to block 518 , where process 500 ends . in another embodiment , steps 504 and 506 may not be necessary for a particular client application . the client application may desire to retrieve the im presence information without a relation to a particular contact . for example , a today screen may include all the current contacts identified through the “ buddy list ” of the im application as being currently online ( see fig3 ). in this case , a contact is not first identified , and the im presence information retrieved for the client application is general rather than specific for an identified contact . fig6 illustrates a logical flow diagram of a process for initiating communication between an im server and client in accordance with the present invention . process 600 enters at block 602 when process 500 enter block 514 as shown in fig5 . processing continues at block 604 . at block 604 , the im server receives a notification from the client application that corresponds to a request from the client application for the im presence information . the notification enters a message queue that includes the messages from that particular client . the im server includes a message queue for each client to which it is providing im presence information . the im server also provides a unique identifier for the client . after the notification message is provide to the im server and the server processes the message , processing proceeds to block 606 . at block 606 , the im server responds to the client with the unique identifier provided to the client and the queue generated for the client . providing the queue to the client synchronizes the client process with the process of the im server . once the client receives and stores the unique identifier and queue , processing continues at block 608 . at block 608 , the im server receives an api ( application program interface ) parameter from the client that instructs the im server to search for the name of the contact . the api parameter and future api parameters , include the unique identifier that signifies from which client the im server is receiving the call . there are a number of api calls that may be made once the communication of the im presence information to the client is established . however , before the capabilities of instant messaging may be applied on the client application , a determination must be made whether any previously identified contacts are associated with the im application . this determination is described in greater detail in the discussion of fig7 . accordingly , once the api parameter initiating the search of the previously identified contact is sent to the im server , processing proceeds to block 610 , where processing returns to block 516 of fig5 . fig7 illustrates a logical flow diagram of a process for searching for a name in response to a query by an im server in accordance with the present invention . process 700 enters at block 702 when process 500 enter block 516 as shown in fig5 . processing continues at block 704 . at block 704 , the server searches for the name of the previously identified contact in the buddy list of the im application . it may be that the person to which the contact applies uses the same e - mail address or alias for their instant messaging as they do in their e - mail program . in such cases , a match may be found for the contact if they are included in the buddy list of the im application . as the im server searches for the name in the buddy list , processing proceeds to decision block 706 . at decision block 706 , a determination is made whether the name or identifier of the contact was found within the buddy list of the im application . if the contact is found , processing advances to block 718 . however , if the contact is not found , processing moves to block 708 . at block 708 , the im server call the contacts application to determine if any matches exists for the name or identifier of the contact within the contacts application . the contacts application refers to a client application that stores a list of contacts for a particular user . each contact includes information about a particular person , such as their address , e - mail address , phone number , and other information that has been entered regarding that person . as the im server searches for the name in the contacts application , processing proceeds to decision block 710 . at decision block 710 , a determination is made whether the contact is found is within the contacts application . if the contact is not found within the contacts application , processing advances to block 716 . however , if the contact is found listed within the contacts application , processing continues at block 712 . at block 712 , the list of contacts in the contacts application is looped through for matches to the name or identifier of the previously identified contact . for example , the e - mail alias for the previously identified contact may be different from their instant messaging alias . however , both aliases are listed and related to the same person within the contacts application . by looping through the contacts application and buddy list , the im server is able to relate the previously identified contact with an instant messaging buddy . the previously identified contact is related to a buddy list entry even though the buddy list and the client have different aliases for the contact . as the im server loops through the contacts application and buddy list for matches , processing continues at decision block 714 . at decision block 714 , a determination is made whether the previously identified contact was found in the buddy list by looping through the contacts application and buddy list for matches . if a match is found between the contacts application and the buddy list , processing moves to block 718 . however , if no match is found between the contacts application and the buddy list , processing moves to block 716 . processing reaches block 716 when no match is found for the previously identified contact among those contacts with related im presence information . in this case , a message ( e . g ., no ) is returned to the client that indicates that the im presence information for the previously identified contact was not found . accordingly , no im presence information is published for the previously identified contact by the client , and processing moves to block 720 where processing returns to block 518 of fig5 . in contrast , processing reaches block 718 when a match is found for the previously identified contact among the contacts with related im presence information . in this case , the server sends the im presence information to the client in response to the specific api calls provided to the server by the client . the im presence information is called for and provided in a format for presentation by that particular client . in addition , the im presence information is dynamic , changing as the contact information related to the buddy list or client application changes . processing then proceeds to block 720 , where processing returns to block 518 of fig5 . the above specification , examples and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the composition of the invention . since many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention , the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended . | 7 |
in accordance with a first aspect , the present invention thus provides a method of producing a functional food product comprising mixing , in a ratio within the range of 2 - 7 : i ) a combination of water and one or more other food grade materials , preferably in the form of an aqueous dispersion or solution thereof , with ii ) egg yolk , wherein the egg yolk is obtained by feeding poultry a diet enriched in at least one pharmacologically active nutrient , collecting the eggs produced by said poultry and taking therefrom the yolk . as used herein the expression “ functional food product ”, refers to a class of processed foods that claims to promote good or improved health , to prevent disease , or the like , beyond the basic function of food which is to supply nutrients to the body . by including a sufficient amount of the egg yolk obtained in accordance with the invention in a food product , this is typically achieved . the present functional food product typically is a so - called ready - to - use product , which means that the product does not require any further processing , such as cooking or baking or mixing with other ingredients , before it is suitable for consumption . in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention the functional food product is a product selected from the group of beverages , such as fruit flavoured drinks or dairy type drinks ; and desserts , such as puddings , custards or spoonable yoghurts . it is furthermore particularly preferred that the functional food product is provided in unit dosage form . a unit dosage form , in accordance with its regular meaning , refers to a form wherein predetermined portions of the product are provided in discrete packages , said portions corresponding to the amount to be taken per administration event . a particularly preferred example includes discrete packages containing a portion corresponding to the daily dosage . more in particular discrete packages are preferably provided containing a single portion to be consumed as a single “ shot ”, “ snack ”, “ refreshment ” or “ bite ”. in accordance with the above , a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention provides closed or sealed packages containing a functional food product as defined herein before in an amount of 50 - 150 ml , preferably 75 - 125 ml . however , in another embodiment that is encompassed by the invention , a package is provided containing a multitude of such dosages or portions of the functional food product , i . e . which are not in discrete unitary dosage packages . typically such packages contain the product in an amount of 250 - 1000 ml , preferably 500 - 1000 ml . the term “ comprising ”, as used herein , is meant not to be limiting to — any subsequently stated elements but rather to encompass non - specified elements of major or minor functional importance . in other words the listed steps , elements or options need not be exhaustive . whenever the words “ including ”, “ containing ” or “ having ” are used , these terms are meant to be equivalent to “ comprising ” as defined above . the term “ egg yolk ”, as used herein may refer simply to untreated egg yolk as separated from the egg white after a shell egg is broken , but also to heat sterilized egg yolk , frozen egg yolk that has been thawed , rehydrated egg yolk that is obtained by adding water to dried powdered egg yolk to the extent of normal egg yolk , and egg yolk subjected to various treatments such as lyso - conversion , decholesterolization , lyso - decholesterolization , etc . the “ term egg - yolk solids ” is intended to mean the solids present in natural egg yolk or in dried egg - yolk products such as those commonly used as ingredients in the food industry . the amounts of solids in egg yolk from chickens eggs and dried egg - yolk products , can be determined using known methods , and are typically about 46 % and about 96 %, respectively . in the art poultry is the category of domesticated birds kept for meat and eggs . these most typically are members of the order galliformes ( which includes chickens and turkeys ). preferably , in accordance with the invention the term poultry is used to refer to chickens . the term “ pharmacologically active nutrient ” refers to any substance that can be found in food products forming part of a normal healthy diet , usually in low or trace amounts , and having a pharmacological effect , meaning that it has therapeutic or prophylactic effectiveness . the term pharmacologically active nutrient thus does not encompass the bulk food ingredients which function as the energy sources and / or building blocks in the normal metabolic processes of the human or animal body . suitable examples of such pharmacologically active nutrients include omega - 3 fatty acids , especially dha ( docosahexaenoic acid ) and epa ( eicosapentaenoic acid ), vitamin d , folic acid , vitamin e , xanthophylls , iodine , selenium and zinc . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the pharmacologically active ingredient is selected from epa , vitamin d , folic acid , vitamin e , xanthophylls , iodine and selenium , more preferably from vitamin d , folic acid , vitamin e , xanthophylls , iodine and selenium . in accordance with one particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention the pharmacologically active nutrient is a lipophilic pharmacologically active nutrient for above - stated reasons . as mentioned before , according to the present invention the egg yolk is obtained by feeding poultry a diet enriched in at least one pharmacologically active nutrient and collecting the eggs produced by said poultry and taking therefrom the yolk . as used herein “ enriched ” has the meaning of containing additional amounts of said pharmacologically active nutrient as compared to standard poultry diets . typically the diet in accordance with the invention is enriched with said pharmacologically active nutrient to the extent that it contains 125 %, preferably 150 %, more preferably 200 % and most preferably 300 % of the amount of said nutrient normally consumed , e . g . on a daily basis , by said poultry . in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the poultry is fed a diet enriched in at least two , preferably at least three , more preferably at least four and most preferably at least five pharmacologically active nutrients in accordance with the invention . furthermore , in accordance with a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention the diet fed to the poultry comprises omega - 3 fatty acids in an amount of at least 5 g / kg of the diet , more preferably within the range of 10 - 50 g / kg ; and / or vitamin d in an amount of at least 1500 iu , more preferably within the range of 2000 - 5000 iu ; and / or folic acid in an amount of at least 10 mg / kg , more preferably within the range of 20 - 100 mg / kg ; and / or vitamin e in an amount of at least 20 mg / kg , more preferably within the range of 100 - 500 mg / kg ; and / or xantophylls in an amount of at least 10 mg / kg , more preferably within the range of 20 - 100 ppm ; and / or iodine in an amount of at least 0 . 75 mg / kg , more preferably within the range of 1 - 5 mg / kg ; and / or selenium in an amount of at least 0 . 2 mg / kg , more preferably within the range of 0 . 2 - 0 . 3 mg / kg and / or zinc in an amount of at least 30 mg / kg , preferably in an amount of at least 50 mg / kg . the expression “ iu ” as used herein stands for international units , which is commonly used in the art for expressing the quantity of e . g . a vitamin in terms of biological activity . typically feeding the poultry diets enriched in one or more nutrients as described here before will result in the poultry producing eggs containing omega - 3 fatty acids in an amount of at least 100 mg / 100 g , preferably at least 150 mg / 100 g ; and / or vitamin d in an amount of at least 1 μg / 100 g , preferably at least 1 . 5 μg / 100 g ; and / or folic acid in an amount of at least 150 μg / 100 g , preferably at least 250 μg / 100 g ; and / or vitamin e in an amount of at least 2 mg / 100 g , preferably at least 3 mg / 100 g ; and / or xantophylls in an amount of at least 500 μg / 100 g , preferably at least 700 μg / 100 g ; and / or iodine in an amount of at least 60 μg / 100 g , preferably at least 90 μg / 100 g ; and / or selenium in an amount of at least 10 μg / 100 g , preferably at least 15 μg / 100 g and / or zinc in an amount of at least 2 . 5 mg / 100 g , preferably at least 3 mg / 100 g . as stated before , these eggs are collected and the yolk is taken therefrom . typically the egg yolk is separated from the egg white using an automated process , although this is not an essential characteristic of the invention . a non - limiting example of an apparatus for performing this kind of processing has been described in ep 1205140 . in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention a method is provided as described above , wherein the combination of water and the at least one food - grade material on the one hand and the egg yolk on the other hand are mixed in a ratio within the range of 3 - 6 , most preferably within the range of 3 . 5 - 5 . the food grade material in accordance with the invention typically comprises at least one material selected from the group of carbohydrates , proteins and lipids . suitable examples of carbohydrates , proteins and lipids are as listed herein below . in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention the combination of water and the at least one food grade material are in the form of an aqueous dispersion or solution prior to mixing with the egg yolk . typically said dispersion or solution at least comprises a dissolved or dispersed carbohydrate protein or lipid material . typically said food - grade material is comprised in said aqueous dispersion or solution in an amount of at least 1 wt %, preferably at least 2 wt %, most preferably at least 5 wt %. typically said amount may be as high as 80 wt %. preferably it does not exceed 50 wt %, most preferably it does not exceed 25 wt %. in accordance with a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention , a method is provided as defined herein before , wherein egg yolk is combined with an aqueous dispersion selected from the group consisting of skimmed milk , semi - skimmed milk , buttermilk , fermented milk , especially yoghurt , soy drink or soy milk , fermented soy milk , fruit juices , fruit purees , syrups , vegetable juices , vegetable purees and combinations thereof . it was surprisingly found that the daily use of a product in accordance with the invention wherein egg yolk and butter milk have been combined does not give rise to significant alterations in plasma cholesterol levels , whereas the ( daily ) intake of a corresponding amount of egg enriched in an pharmacologically active ingredient did give rise to significant increases in plasma cholesterol . these findings are described in more detail in the examples . without wishing to be bound by any theory it is hypothesized that the absence of plasma cholesterol increasing effects may be ascribable to the polar lipids , especially sphingolipids , naturally found in dairy products such as butter milk . therefore , in a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention , a method is provided as defined herein before , wherein the combination of water and one or more other food grade materials comprises buttermilk , skimmed milk , semi - skimmed milk , fermented milk , especially yoghurt , fractions thereof and mixtures thereof . most preferably it comprises whole buttermilk or a buttermilk fraction . in another preferred embodiment of the invention , a method is provided as defined herein before , wherein the combination of water and one or more other food grade materials comprises polar dairy lipids , especially polar dairy lipids selected from the group of sphingolipids and phospholipids , preferably from the group of sphingolipids , e . g . ceramide and / or sphingomyelin . preferably the combination of water and at least one further food grade material comprises , based on the total weight of the functional food product , at least 0 . 05 wt %, more preferably at least 0 . 08 wt % of said polar dairy lipids . it is also hypothesized that the bacteria present in yoghurt and buttermilk may cause or contribute to the absence of adverse effects on plasma lipids and cholesterol observed . therefore another preferred embodiment of the invention concerns a product as defined herein before comprising an effective amount , e . g . 10 4 cfu / ml or more , preferably 10 5 cfu / ml or more , most preferably 10 6 cfu / ml or more , of lactic acid bacteria , more preferably bacteria selected from lactobacillus and lactococcus , more preferably from l . lactis , l . acidophilus , l . casei , l . reuteri , l . gasseri and l . delbrueckii , most preferably from l . acidophilus , l . delbrueckii and l . casei . optionally further ingredients may be added as desired . hence , in a preferred embodiment of the invention a method is provided as defined herein before , comprising the step of adding one or more additional ingredients selected from the group consisting of colouring agents , flavourings , sweeteners , preservatives , anti - oxidants , viscosity modifying agents , emulsifiers , food acids and combinations thereof . preferably the method of the invention additionally comprises the steps of mixing , e . g . using shear , and / or pasteurizing or sterilizing the mixture that is obtained in accordance with the above described method . in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention the method does not comprise a step wherein ethanol is added to the product or wherein the product is processed such as to produce a liquor or alcoholic beverage . in a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention a method is provided as defined herein before , said method further comprising filling a package , preferably a package as described herein before , with the functional food product and sterilizing or pasteurizing said package before or after closing or sealing said package . a second aspect of the invention concerns the functional food product that is obtainable by any embodiment of the method as defined herein before . the functional food product of the invention comprises a mixture of the egg yolk and a combination of water and at least one further food - grade material , as defined herein before . in accordance with a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention a food product is provided wherein said combination of water and at least one further food - grade material is a dispersion selected from the group of skimmed milk , semi - skimmed milk , buttermilk , fermented milk , especially yoghurt , soy drink or soy milk , fermented soy milk , fruit juices , fruit purees , syrups , vegetable juices , vegetable purees and combinations thereof . as explained before , a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention concerns a product comprising buttermilk , skimmed milk , semi - skimmed milk , fermented milk , especially yoghurt , fractions thereof and mixtures thereof . another preferred embodiment of the invention concerns a product as defined before comprising one or more polar dairy lipids , especially polar dairy lipids selected from the group of sphingolipids and phospholipids , preferably from the group of sphingolipids . said lipids are preferably present in a total amount of at least 0 . 05 wt %, more preferably at least 0 . 08 wt %. another preferred embodiment of the invention concerns a product as defined before comprising an effective amount , e . g . 10 4 cfu / ml or more , preferably 10 5 cfu / ml or more , most preferably 10 6 cfu / ml or more , of lactic acid bacteria , more preferably of bacteria selected from lactobacillus and lactococcus , more preferably from l . lactis , l . acidophilus , l . casei , l . reuteri , l . gasseri and l . delbrueckii , most preferably from l . acidophilus , l . delbrueckii and l . casei . in a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention the functional food product comprises a combination of the egg yolk , water at least one further food - grade material selected from the group of carbohydrates , proteins and lipids , and optionally one or more additional ingredients such as colouring agents , flavourings , preservatives , anti - oxidants , viscosity modifying agents , e . g . starch or gelatine , emulsifiers , food acids and the like . it is noted that , although the functional food products of the invention do not require the addition of any emulsifying agent , due to the presence of the egg yolk phospholipids , products containing additional emulsifying agents , for whatever purpose , are encompassed by the present invention . in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention , a functional food product is provided as defined herein before , wherein the amount of egg yolk solids is within the range of 0 . 025 - 0 . 4 g / ml of the functional food product . in an even more preferred embodiment of the present invention a functional food product is provided wherein the amount of egg yolk solids is within the range of 0 . 035 - 0 . 3 g / ml , more preferably , most preferably 0 . 05 - 0 . 2 g / m 1 . as will become apparent from the description hereafter this roughly corresponds to the product containing the complete yolk of 1 chicken egg per 50 - 150 ml , preferably 75 - 125 ml . in this document , the amount of egg yolk is expressed as dry solids weight per milliliter of the functional food product . as will be understood by the skilled person , this is not intended to imply that egg yolk is necessarily added in dry solid form , although such an embodiment is encompassed by the claimed invention . furthermore , in accordance with a preferred embodiment , a functional food product as defined herein before is provided , containing omega - 3 fatty acids in an amount of at least 50 mg / 100 ml of the functional food product , preferably at least 75 mg / 100 ml of the functional food product ; and / or vitamin d in an amount of at least 0 . 5 μg / 100 ml of the functional food product , preferably at least 0 . 75 μg / 100 ml of the functional food product ; and / or folic acid in an amount of at least 75 μg / 100 ml of the functional food product , preferably at least 125 μg / 100 ml of the functional food product ; and / or vitamin e in an amount of at least 1 mg / 100 ml of the functional food product , preferably 1 . 5 mg / 100 ml of the functional food product ; and / or xantophylls in an amount of at least 250 μg / 100 ml of the functional food product , preferably at least 350 μg / 100 g egg yolk ; and / or iodine in an amount of at least 30 μg / 100 ml of the functional food product , preferably at least 45 μg / 100 ml of the functional food product ; and / or selenium in an amount of at least 5 μg / 100 ml of the functional food product , preferably at least 7 . 5 μg / 100 ml of the functional food product ; and / or zinc in an amount of at least 1 . 5 mg / 100 ml , preferably 2 . 5 mg / 100 ml . in an embodiment of the invention , said functional food product thus contains carbohydrates such as mono -, di - and / or trisaccharide and oligo and / or poly - saccharides . preferably said functional food products contains one or more mono -, di - and / or trisaccharides selected from the group of glucose , fructose , maltose , sucrose , galactose and lactose , in an amount ranging from 0 . 5 - 10 wt %, based on the total weight of the product , more preferably 1 - 7 . 5 wt %, most preferably 2 - 6 wt %. also in a preferred embodiment of the invention the functional food product contains one or more fibers , preferably selected from the group of ionic non - starch polysaccharides , including alginates , pectins ( including amidated pectins ), carrageenans , xanthans , gellans , furcellarans , karaya gum , rhamsan , welan , gum ghatti , gum arabic and salts ; neutral non - starch polysaccharides , including galactamannan , guar gum , locust bean gum , tara gum , ispaghula (= psyllium ), beta - glucans , konjac mannans , methylcellulose , gum tragacanth , detarium , tamarind , as well as fructo - oligosaccharides ( fos ), galacto - oligosaccharides ( gos ), inulin , celluloses , chemically - modified celluloses and vegetable and / or fruit fibres . preferably the amount of fibers contained in the food product is within the range of 0 . 1 - 20 wt %, more preferably within the range of 0 . 2 - 10 wt %, most preferably within the range of 0 . 5 - 7 . 5 wt %. furthermore , in an embodiment of the invention , the functional food product contains proteins and / or peptides other than the egg yolk protein , preferably selected from the group of dairy proteins ; vegetable proteins ; meat derived proteins and fish derived proteins as well as partial hydrolysates thereof , especially from the group consisting of whey protein , caseinates , soy protein , pea protein , maize protein , wheat protein , gelatin , albumin , their partial hydrolysates and combinations thereof , in an amount ranging from 0 . 1 - 20 wt %, based on the total weight of the product , more preferably 0 . 2 - 10 wt %, most preferably 0 . 5 - 7 . 5 wt %. in one preferred embodiment the functional food product contains less than 5 wt % of egg white albumin , more preferably less than 3 . 5 wt %, still more preferably less than 2 . 0 wt %, and most preferably less than 1 . 0 wt %. furthermore , in an embodiment of the invention , the functional food product contains lipid materials other than the egg yolk lipids , preferably selected from the group of milk fat , butter fat and vegetable oils , animal fats and fish oils preferably from the group of milk fat and butter fat , in an amount ranging from 0 . 05 - 7 . 5 ″\\ 1 .%, based on the total weight of the product , more preferably 0 . 1 - 5 wt %, most preferably 1 . 5 - 3 ″\\ 1 .%. in addition , the functional food product of the invention may comprise additional ingredients such as colouring agents , flavourings , preservatives , anti - oxidants , viscosity modifying agents , emulsifiers , food acids and the like , which will be applied in conventional amounts known to the skilled person . in accordance with a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention , the functional food product comprises little or no ethanol . preferably the amount of ethanol in the functional food product is below 5 wt %, based on the total weight of the functional food product , more preferably it is below 1 wt %, still more preferably it is below 0 . 5 wt %. most preferably the functional food product does not contain any ethanol . another aspect of the invention concerns a functional food product as described herein before , for use as a medicament . as explained herein before , each of the pharmacologically active nutrients of the invention has been implicated in a variety of conditions and disorders . in a preferred embodiment of the invention the at least one pharmacologically active nutrient is omega - 3 fatty acid and the functional food products is intended for reducing the incidence and / or severity of amd , cardiovascular disease , stroke , adhd , alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease or depression . in another embodiment of the invention the at least one pharmacologically active nutrient is vitamin d and the functional food products is intended for reducing the incidence and / or severity of bone softening diseases , osteoporosis or vitamin d deficiency . in another embodiment of the invention the at least one pharmacologically active nutrient is vitamin e and the functional food products is intended for reducing the incidence and / or severity of cardiovascular disease , cataract growth , age - related macular degeneration , glaucomatous damage of the retina , alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease , parkinson &# 39 ; s disease or vitamin e deficiency . in another embodiment of the invention the at least one pharmacologically active nutrient is folic acid and the functional food products is intended for reducing incidence and / or severity of cardiovascular disease , depression or decreases in short - term memory , mental agility and / or verbal fluency . in another embodiment of the invention the at least one pharmacologically active nutrient is a xanthophyll , especially lutein or zeaxanthine , and the functional food products is intended for reducing the incidence and / or severity of age - related macular degeneration , cataract , atherosclerosis and / or for improving skin health . in another embodiment of the invention the at least one pharmacologically active nutrient is iodine and the functional food products intended for reducing the incidence and / or severity of hypothyroidism or iodine deficiency . finally , in another embodiment of the invention the at least one pharmacologically active nutrient is selenium and the functional food products is intended for reducing the incidence and / or severity of selenium deficiency . yet another aspect of the invention concerns a method of treating or preventing any of the conditions or disorders described here above in a subject by administering to said subject a sufficient amount of the functional food product , wherein the at least one pharmacologically active nutrient of the invention is the one implicated in said condition or disorder . another aspect of the invention concerns the use of egg yolk that is obtained by feeding poultry a diet enriched in at least one pharmacologically active nutrient , preferably a pharmacologically active nutrient selected from the group consisting of omega - 3 fatty acids , especially dha and epa ; vitamin d ; folic acid ; vitamin e ; xantophylls , especially lutein and zeaxanthin ; iodine ; selenium ; and zinc , collecting the eggs produced by said poultry and taking therefrom the yolk , for the manufacture of a functional food product , essentially in accordance with what has been described herein before . in a preferred embodiment , the invention provides the use as defined here above , wherein the functional food product is a product for use in a method of treating and / or preventing a disorder or condition benefiting from supplementation of one or more of omega - 3 fatty acids , especially dha and epa ; vitamin d ; folic acid ; vitamin e ; xantophylls , especially lutein and zeaxanthin ; iodine ; selenium ; and zinc . yet another aspect of the present invention concerns a combination of egg yolk solids and dairy solids , especially buttermilk solids . as will be understood by the skilled person , on the basis of the information provided in this application , and in particular from the examples described below , such a combination constitutes a very suitable matrix for the ( frequent ) oral administration of pharmacologically active substances to a subject , especially fat soluble pharmacologically active substances . such a matrix affords high biological availability of said pharmacologically active substances , typically owing to certain egg yolk constituents , without the concomitant adverse effects on plasma cholesterol levels normally observed as a consequence of egg yolk consumption . a particularly suitable matrix in accordance with this aspect of the invention comprises at least 10 wt %, on the basis of dry solids weight , of a combination of egg yolk solids and dairy solids , more preferably 15 - 99 . 9 . wt %, most preferably 25 - 95 wt %. said combination typically contains the egg yolk solids and the dairy solids in a ratio within the range of 0 . 1 - 100 , preferably 1 - 10 , most preferably 2 . 5 - 10 . in a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention said egg yolk solids are selected from egg yolk phospholipids . in another embodiment the combination comprises whole egg yolk solids . it is furthermore particularly preferred that said dairy solids are selected from buttermilk solids , skimmed milk solids , semi - skimmed milk solids , fermented milk solids , especially yoghurt solids , fractions thereof and mixtures thereof , most preferably from buttermilk solids and fractions thereof . in an embodiment of the invention , the combination comprises whole buttermilk solids . in another embodiment of the invention the combination comprises one or more polar dairy lipids , preferably selected from the group of phospholipids and sphingolipids , most preferably from sphingolipids . preferably said lipids are present in an amount of , based on the total weight of the product , at least 0 . 05 wt %, more preferably at least 0 . 075 wt %. another preferred embodiment of the invention concerns the combination defined before , further comprising an effective amount , e . g . 10 4 c : fu / ml or more , preferably 10 5 c : fu / ml or more , most preferably 10 6 c : fu / ml or more , of lactic acid producing bacteria , more preferably of bacteria selected from lactobacillus or lactococcus , more preferably from l . lactis , l . acidophilus , l . casei , l . reuteri , l . gassert and l . delbrueckii , most preferably from l . acidophilus , l . delbrueckii and l . casei . preferably said combination comprises at least one pharmacologically active substance , preferably at least one fat soluble ( or lipophilic ) pharmacologically active substance , typically in an amount of at least 0 . 01 wt %, more preferably 0 . 05 - 10 wt %, most preferably 0 . 1 - 5 wt %. the above - described combinations of egg yolk solids and buttermilk solids are particularly suitable i ) for use as a matrix for the oral administration of one or more lipophilic pharmacologically active substance ; ii ) for increasing the oral bio - availability of one or more lipophilic pharmacologically active substances ; iii ) for use in a method of treating a subject in need thereof , said method comprising the administration of a lipophilic pharmacologically active substance dispersed in said combination of egg yolk solids and buttermilk solids ; and / or iv ) for use in the manufacture of a pharmaceutical or nutraceutical formulation for improving the oral bio - availability of lipophilic pharmacologically active substances . these uses as such as well as the above - described combinations presented or packaged for these uses are also encompassed by the scope of the present invention . example 1 : production of egg yolk enriched in lutein , zeaxanthin or omega - 3 fatty acids feeds for producing the enriched eggs were formulated and produced within the legal requirements for animal feed . the use of lutein and zeaxanthin is regulated under eu regulation 1831 / 2003 . the dosage of lutein and zeaxanthin in feed did not exceed the legal limit of 80 ppm in animal feed . for omega 3 fatty acids is a component of some ingredients like linseed meal and fish oil . these products are not limited for use as feed ingredient . testing showed the following concentrations for eggs produced by poultry fed the lutein or zeaxanthin enriched feed : the omega - 3 concentration in the eggs produced by poultry fed the omega - 3 enriched feed is approximately 200 ± 10 mg . two types of products have been prepared containing egg yolk as produced in accordance with example 1 . the first product was a 100 ml drink which is intended for daily use ( a so - called “ shot ”). the composition of different types of such drinks is given in table 1 below . the second product prepared in this example was a 150 ml dessert ( a pudding ) which is intended for daily use . the composition of the dessert is given in table 2 below . a randomized placebo - controlled trial is set up using eggs and product produced herefrom in accordance with the present invention , said eggs being enriched in lutein , zeaxanthin and omega 3 fatty acids . the group of test - subjects is divided into 5 groups , consuming either no eggs , normal eggs ( lutein : 0 . 168 ± 0 . 08 , zeaxanthin 0 085 ± 0 . 0017 ), eggs enriched with lutein ( lutein : 0 . 921 ± 0 . 106 , zeaxanthin : 0 . 137 ± 0 . 014 ), eggs enriched with zeaxanthin ( lutein : 0 . 174 ± 0 . 014 , zeaxanthin : 0 . 487 ± 0 . 031 ), or egg product made from the lutein enriched eggs , respectively . the omega - 3 concentration is the same for all eggs and is 200 ± 10 mg . boiled eggs were prepared and packed in board or plastic containers and distributed to the test subjects . also a buttermilk drink containing egg yolk of the enriched eggs was prepared and packed in 100 ml bottles and distributed to the test subjects . the butter - milk drink had the same composition as product no . 2 of example 2 . the expiration time for eggs is 28 days . by using boiled eggs stored in a refrigerator this shelf live can be extended to 8 weeks . the buttermilk product , which is pasteurized , tested for cooled shelf live for a period of 6 weeks , and 4 weeks at room temperature . each test - subject is asked to consume one egg or egg product daily for a period of 90 days . these are either modified or control eggs or a butter - milk drink in accordance with the invention or a control butter - milk drink product . the products are consumed at lunch time . during this period the subjects are asked to fill in questionnaires which are aimed at establishing the willingness of the subject to comply with the treatment regimen , i . e . the willingness to take the egg or the product of the invention on a daily basis . it is especially aimed to establish whether subjects developed disinterest or dislike towards the product . the study includes follow up time after the 3 months actual trial such that the total study time will be 2 years . during the 3 month period there are 3 measuring point at predetermined intervals . at every measuring point ( days 1 , 45 and 90 ) the subjects undergo invasive and non - invasive measuring techniques . for the invasive part of the study blood samples were taken , and the serum levels of cholesterol , lutein , zeaxanthin , triglycerides and lipoproteins were determined . table 3 shows the descriptives of 5 groups . in total there were 96 subjects which completed the whole study . there were no statistical significant deferences between the groups for both age ( p = 0 . 434 ) and gender ( p = 0 . 993 ). for the lipids three groups were compared , namely the control group , beverage group , and the eggs - group — normal , lutein , and zeaxanthin eggs — together . an anova analysis revealed no difference in total cholesterol ( p = 0 . 951 ), ldl cholesterol ( p = 0 . 969 ), hdl cholesterol ( p = 0 . 877 ), or triglycerides ( p = 0 . 542 ) at baseline ( see table 2 ). analysis of the effect of egg consumption on the total cholesterol levels showed no significant change in total cholesterol between baseline and endpoint between the three groups ( p = 0 . 163 ). stratification for gender did however showed a significant effect in the female population ( p = 0 . 018 ). an anova comparison showed no significant change in ldl between the three groups ( p = 0 . 300 ), stratification for gender showed a significant contribution of eggs in the female population ( p = 0 . 025 ). analysis of changes in plasma hdl concentration revealed no significant change between the groups ( p = 0 . 257 ). there was no significant difference in triglycerides change in between the three groups ( p = 0 . 170 ). at baseline there was a statistically significant higher plasma lever of lutein in the lutein egg group as compared to the lutein beverage group ( p = 0 . 036 ) but not with to the control group ( p = 0 . 058 , table 3 ). stratification for gender resulted in no significant difference at baseline . for zeaxanthin there was no difference between the 5 groups there was a significant change in plasma lutein level between baseline and end point for both the lutein beverage as the lutein egg group when compared to the control group ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 in both case ). a repeated measurement model showed the same results with p & lt ; 0 . 001 for lutein beverage and lutein egg group when compared to the control group . a mixed model analysis of the measurement with subject number as grouping factor , plasma lutein levels as dependant , diets as factors and week as covariate revealed a significant effect of week and lutein beverage and lutein egg group as compared to the control group ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 ), the zeaxanthin group did not reach significance ( p = 0 . 080 ). at baseline there was no difference in plasma levels of zeaxanthin between the 5 groups ( p = 0 . 482 ). the change after 90 days was significantly different for the zeaxanthin egg group when compared to the control group ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 ). a repeated measurement model resulted in a significant difference for both the as the zeaxanthin egg when compared to the control group ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 respectively ). a mixed model analysis of the measurement with subject number as grouping factor , plasma zeaxanthin levels as dependant , diets as factors and week as covariate revealed a significant effect of week and all diets as compared to the control group , the normal egg group ( p = 0 . 050 ), lutein beverage ( p = 0 . 042 ), the lutein egg ( p = 0 . 006 ), and the zeaxanthin egg group ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 ). the complete results of the serum analyses of the subjects of the 5 test groups is given in the following tables 4 and 5 for the non - invasive part of the study the subjects underwent the following tests : mean visual acuity test using the early treatment diabetic retinopathy study ( etdrs )— chart , contrast sensitivity using the pelli - robson chart , scanning laser ophthalmoscope ( slo ), optical coherence tomography ( oct ), mpod using heterochromatic flicker photometry ( hfp ), macular photocoagulation study ( mps ) and macular pigment reflectometry ( mpr ). at baseline there were no significant difference between the 5 groups with any of the measuring devices ( p & gt ; 0 . 356 ). however , a repeated measurement analysis shows a significant contribution of both the normal egg as the lutein egg diet for the mpr - lutein measurement in the female population ( p = 0 . 025 and p = 0 . 041 respectively ). a mixed model analysis of the measurement with subject number as grouping factor , mps as dependant , diets as factors and week as covariate showed no significant effect of week and diets as compared to the control group ( p & gt ; 0 . 237 ). at mid point there was a significant difference between the lutein egg group and control group for the mpr - lutein measurement ( p = 0 . 046 ) but this disappeared by end point . stratification for gender showed the difference at midpoint for the mpr - lutein to be in the female population ( p = 0 . 023 ). a mixed model analysis of the measurement with subject number as grouping factor , mpr lutein - mpod as dependant , diets as factors and week as covariate revealed a significant effect of week and lutein egg group as compared to the control group ( p = 0 . 006 ). stratification for gender showed a significant effect of week and lutein beverage ( p = 0 . 039 ) on lutein fraction of the mpod compared to the control group in the male population . the lutein egg group did not reach significance ( p = 0 . 109 ). in the female population there were statically significant changes in both the lutein beverage and lutein egg group as compared to the control group ( p = 0 . 024 and p = 0 . 016 respectively ). a mixed model analysis of the measurement with subject number as grouping factor , mpr zeaxanthin - mpod as dependant , diets as factors and week as covariate revealed no significant effect of week and diets as compared to the control group ( p & gt ; 0 . 291 ). stratification for gender showed a significant effect of week and lutein beverage ( p = 0 . 007 ) on zeaxanthin fraction of mpod compared to the control group in the male population . the normal egg group and lutein egg group both reached significance ( p = 0 . 031 and p = 0 . 026 respectively ) in the female population . a mixed model analysis of the measurement with subject number as grouping factor , mpr - mpod as dependant , diets as factors and week as covariate revealed no significant effect of week and diets as compared to the control group ( p = 0 . 091 ). stratification for gender showed a significant effect of week and lutein beverage ( p = 0 . 003 ) on mpod as compared to the control group in the male population . in the female population there were also significant changes between the normal egg group and lutein egg group as compared to the control group ( p = 0 . 032 and p = 0 . 015 respectively ). a mixed model analysis of the measurement with subject number as grouping factor , slo as dependant , diets as factors and week as covariate revealed a significant effect of week and zeaxanthin group compared to the control group ( p = 0 . 009 ), the lutein group did not reach significance ( p = 0 . 057 ). stratification for gender showed a significant effect of week and lutein beverage ( p = 0 . 013 ), lutein egg ( p = 0 . 036 ), and zeaxanthin ( p = 0 . 007 ) egg on mpod compared to the control group in the female population . there were no significant changes in the male population . comprehensive results of the non - invasive analyses of the subjects of the 5 test groups is given in the following table 6 . the results of the first 3 month trial period show that the product of the invention is a suitable vehicle for delivering lutein and zeaxanthin , as evidenced by the results of the analyses of the blood samples . furthermore , it was established that the level of macular pigment increased throughout the study . the current belief is that lutein and zeaxanthin accumulated in the macular region can help in the prevention of amd by absorbing this blue light and protecting the retina from oxidative stress by neutralizing free radicals . the possible protective nature of omega - 3 is believed to work by regulating inflammatory and immune response in the retina , repairing damaged cells , and improving endothelial cell function . furthermore , the clinical trial results suggest that compliance by subjects taking the product of the present invention will be significantly higher than that by subjects taking eggs , when the regimen comprises daily intake for periods of several months to even years . finally , the clinical trial results show that the daily intake of an egg yolk product containing buttermilk did not give rise to significant adverse changes in plasma cholesterol levels , triglyceride levels and lipoproteins . | 0 |
the following is a description , in conjunction with fig1 - 6 , of the principles of the optical head apparatus of this invention . as shown in fig1 movable magnet 10 is supported by the support structure such that it can move in the focusing and tracking directions f and t , which are 90 ° to each other . movable magnet 10 is magnetized in a direction v perpendicular to both the f and t directions and the ends 12 have an n and s polarity , respectively . first coil 14 and second coil 16 are fastened to fixed stud 18 with set gap between the coils 14 , 16 and ends 12 in the direction of magnetization of movable magnet 10 , respectively . first and second coils 14 , 16 are formed into a substantially rectangular shape with a flat vertical surface in the direction of magnetization of movable magnet 10 by winding a pair of coil elements 14a , 14b and 16a , 16b . that is , surfaces formed by loops of the coils are vertical to direction of magnetization of the magnets 10 . side portions 20a of coil elements 14a , 14b of first coil 14 , which are in contact with each other , are arranged opposing ends 12 of movable magnet 10 , respectively and parallel to direction t . side portions 22a of coil elements 16a , 16b of second coil 16 , which are in contact with each other , are arranged opposing ends 12 of movable magnet 10 and parallel to direction f . with this kind of structure , when a current flows in first coil 14 in direction i 1 as is shown in fig1 - 4 , the lines of magnetic force h and current direction i 1 are distributed as shown . consequently , there is a force acting in direction f 1 of sides 20a , 20b of first coil 14 based on fleming &# 39 ; s left hand rule and the reaction force to this is generated in direction f 2 moving movable magnet 10 . in this way , the force is exerted in the same direction for side 20b of first coil 14 , which is not facing end 12 of movable magnet 10 , as for side 20a , which is facing end 12 . this results in a mutual increase in force , which means that the force acting on movable magnet 10 as the reaction for the force acting on the coil is stronger than the force received by side 20a of first coil 14 facing the magnet . accordingly , high drive sensitivity is obtained . the force received by the other two sides 20c , 20d of first coil 14 is in the t direction and in mutually opposite directions so that they cancel each other out and do not weaken the force in the f direction . when current flows in direction j 1 in the second coil 16 , on the other hand , a strong force is generated for moving movable magnet 10 in the direction t 2 based on the same magnetic action . as shown in fig5 and 6 , when current flows in opposite directions i 2 and j 2 in first and second coils 14 , 16 , respectively , a force is generated which moves movable magnet 10 in directions f 1 , t 1 . the following is a description , in conjunction with fig7 of an actual embodiment of this invention . objective lens 30 for converging the light into a spot on the disk surface is mounted on movable body 32 , which has a rigid construction . the ends of one side of focusing springs 34 , which are formed of metal parallel leaf springs positioned perpendicular to the optical axis , for example , are fastened to movable body 32 to move the entire structure parallel to the focusing direction without any distortion . a pair of permanent magnets 36 are coaxially mounted on the two ends of movable body 32 to thereby form a single unit with objective lens 30 . the direction of magnetization of permanent magnets 36 is perpendicular to the optical axis of objective lens 30 and perpendicular to the tracking direction . the other ends of focusing springs 34 are mounted on the parallel surfaces , i . e ., the upper and lower surfaces , of intermediate support 38 , which is made of a material that is both rigid and light in weight . this then constitutes the support mechanism in the focusing direction . the ends of one side of tracking springs 40 , which comprise two parallel leaf springs , are mounted to the mutually parallel surfaces , which are at 90 ° to the upper and lower surfaces of intermediate support 38 , i . e ., the front and rear surfaces . the other ends of tracking springs 40 are mounted to fixed support 42 . this then constitutes the tracking support mechanism in the tracking direction . focusing spring 34 and tracking spring 40 have their shapes and positions not to intercept an optical path within movable range of objective lens 30 . with this arrangement , focusing springs 34 and tracking springs 40 always maintain a parallelogram relationship when changing shapes , so the optical axis of objective lens 30 itself is always perpendicular to the disk regardless of the direction of movement . focusing and tracking coils 44 and 46 , which are wound into a substantially rectangular shape that forms a flat vertical surface in the direction of magnetization of permanent magnets 36 , are fastened to coil stud 48 such that a constant gap is formed between the coils and the end of permanent magnet 36 . one lengthwise side of focusing coil 44 , which faces the end of permanent magnet 36 , is positioned perpendicular to the optical axis of objective lens 30 , and one lengthwise side of tracking coil 46 , which faces the end of permanent magnet 36 , is positioned parallel to the optical axis of objective lens 30 . the part area of the focusing and tracking coils 44 , 46 facing the magnets 36 is not more than half of the total area of both the coils and openings surrounded by the coils . coil stud 48 and support member 42 connected to the leaf springs are mounted on base 50 to form a single unit . with this kind of construction , objective lens 30 faces the surface of the disk and a light spot for reading out data is projected on the tracks through objective lens 30 . then , the reflected light passes through objective lens 30 and into the detection means ( not shown ) located under base 50 to read out the data recorded on the optical disk . at this time , using the reflected light , the deviations in both the focusing and tracking directions are detected , and electrical signals , which correspond to these deviations , are output . a correction current is respectively send to tracking coil 46 and focusing coil 44 in response to these electrical signals , and , based on the principles illustrated in fig1 to 6 , permanent magnet 36 is driven in the focusing and tracking directions . in this way , tracking springs 40 are displaced by the drive toward the tracking direction of permanent magnet 36 while being kept parallel , and focusing springs 34 are displaced by the drive in the focusing direction of permanent magnet 36 while being kept parallel . consequently , objective lens 30 moves to the optimal position while always maintaining a perpendicular relationship between the disk and the optical axis . the following is a description , in conjunction with fig8 of the second embodiment of the optical head apparatus according to the invention . in this embodiment , the drive system of the invention , namely , focusing coil 44 and focusing spring 34 , is used only for the focusing drive . for the drive in the tracking direction , another driving system may be used . the rest of the structure is the same as that in the first embodiment so the same reference numerals have been used for the same parts , and a description of which has been omitted . the following is a description , in conjunction with fig9 to 17 , of the third embodiment of the optical head apparatus of the invention . base 100 is formed of non - magnetic metals , e . g ., aluminum or engineering plastics having high rigidity such as polyphenylen sulfide ( pps ), etc . base 100 has a hole 102 and coil plates 104a , 104b which project upward , are symmetrically positioned with hole 102 in the center . stopper pin 106 is provided projecting upward between hole 102 and coil plate 104b . coil unit positioning holes 108 are provided in coil plates 104a , 104b . a hole 110 for allowing a laser beam generated from a laser diode ( not shown ) to pass is provided in coil plate 104a . damper member mounts 112a , 112b are provided on base 100 projecting upward and symmetrically positioned around hole 102 in a direction intersecting the line between coil plates 104a , 104b . mirror 114 for changing the direction of the laser beam from the x axis to the z axis is fastened to base 100 between coil plates 104a and hole 102 . support shaft 116 ( hereinafter simply referred to as a shaft ) is inserted into hole 102 and fastened with adhesive , screws or by press fitting to be implanted in the base 100 . movable member 118 , which is formed of dimensionally stable non - magnetic engineering plastic having high rigidity such as polyphenylen sulfide , is fitted to shaft 116 . movable member 118 is provided symmetrically with shaft 116 and has a bushing 120 which is formed of a sliding bearing fitted over shaft 116 . based on the fitting between bushing 120 and shaft 116 , movable member 118 rotates and slides along the shaft 116 . movable member 118 is arranged such that its lengthwise direction is in a straight line between coil plates 104a , 104b and a hole 122 is provided on the end of the coil plate 104a side of movable member 118 . objective lens 124 is fastened to movable body 118 in hole 120 to make the optical axis parallel to shaft 116 . in a position symmetrical with the attachment position of objective lens 124 in relation to shaft 116 , a balance hole 126 , which does not extend all the way through , is provided on the other lengthwise end of movable body 118 for arranging the center of gravity of movable body 118 , which includes a magnet ( to be described later ), along the axis of shaft 116 . the crown of stopper pin 106 , which prevents objective lens 124 from moving too much in the tracking direction y and focusing direction z , is inserted without touching into balance hole 126 with enough of a gap for objective lens 124 to move . magnet positioning grooves 128a , 128b are provided in the side surfaces of the two ends of movable body 118 facing coil plates 104a , 104b . magnets 130a , 130b which have a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape , are fastened to movable body 118 using these grooves 128a , 128b , and arranged with the lengthwise direction of the surfaces facing coil plates 104a , 104b in the tracking direction corresponding to the y axis in fig9 as is shown in fig9 and 10 . the surfaces of magnets 130a , 130b facing coil plates 104a , 104b are convex and the direction of magnetization is perpendicular to the surfaces of coil plates 104a , 104b facing magnets 130a , 130b . damper groove 132a , 132b are provided in the bottom surface of magnet positioning grooves 128a , 128b in which magnets 130a , 130b are fastened . the damper members 134 , which are formed of rubber such as silicone , engage with damper grooves 132a , 132b and magnets 130a , 130b are fastened over them . sections 136a , 136b , which have parts of different widths , are provided in damper grooves 132a , 132b and sections 138a , 138b , which have widths that vary similarly to sections 136a , 136b , are provided in corresponding positions of damper member 134 . the relative position of movable member 118 is determined by damper member 134 and sections 136a , 136b of damper grooves 132a , 132b . damper member 134 engages with damper mounts 112a , 112b to be fastened to base 100 . coil unit 140 is fastened to the surfaces of coil plates 104a , 104b facing movable body 118 . as shown in fig1 and 17 , coil unit 140 comprises reinforcing plates 142a , 142b which are made of a material such as glass fiber reinforced plastic ( gfrp ), flexible printed circuit board 144 , which is made of a resin material such as a polyimide and is fastened to reinforcing plates 142a , 142b , tracking position adjustment coils 146a , 146b , which are oval shaped and fastened to flexible printed circuit board 144 such that their lengthwise directions are in the direction of the optical axis of objective lens 124 , and focusing position adjustment coils 148a , 148b , which are oval shaped and fastened to tracking position adjustment coils 146a , 146b such that their lengthwise directions are in a direction intersecting the optical axis of objective lens 124 , which is direction y . in fig1 and 17 , tracking position adjustment coils 146a , 146b and focusing position adjustment coils 148a , 148b are arranged such that the long sides 146ax , 146bx , 148ax , 148bx face magnets 130a and 130b , respectively . the other long sides 146ay , 146by , 148ay , 148by do not face magnets 130a and 130b . tracking position adjustment coils 146a , 146b and focusing position adjustment coils 148a , 148b are comprised of two serially connected coils 146ai , 146aii and 148bi , 148bii , respectively . all these coils are constructed using conductive wiring having rectangular cross sections . the long side of these cross sections of conductive wiring is in the same direction as the direction of magnetization of magnets 130a , 130b , which are in the x axis . coil positioning holes 150a , 150b are provided in reinforcing plates 142a , 142b . the position of coil unit 140 on coil plates 104a , 104b is determined by coil positioning holes 150a , 150b and coil unit positioning hole 108 , which is provided in coil plates 104a , 104b . with the above construction , movable body 118 is moved in direction z of fig1 by the electromagnetic force generated when current is supplied to focusing position adjustment coils 148a , 148b , to thereby effect the focusing control . movable body 118 is rotated in direction y of fig1 by the electromagnetic force generated when current is supplied to tracking position adjustment coils 146a , 146b , to thereby effect the tracking control . the surfaces of magnets 130a , 130b , which face focusing coils 148a , 148b , are rectangular in shape so , by changing the side / length ratio , it is possible to distribute the desired driving force in the two intersecting directions . this means that a highly efficient driving system can be designed and power consumption can be decreased . for example , with a compact disk ( cd ) apparatus , a larger driving force is required for the focusing direction than for the tracking direction . consequently , in this invention it is possible to increase the driving force in the focusing direction by causing the long sides of magnets 130a , 130b to face the long sides of the focusing coils 148a , 148b that are nearest to magnets 130a , 130b in the 2 - layer position adjustment coils . as shown in fig9 and 12 , the surfaces of magnets 130a , 130b facing focusing coils 148a , 148b are convex . if shown as radius r in fig9 the radius would in reality be 10 - 30 mm . if the surface is not curved in this way , the left and right edges of magnets 130a , 130b will strike focusing coils 148a , 148b , which are arranged with very small gaps , when movable body 118 to which the magnets are attached are rotated for tracking control , making it impossible to position magnets 130a , 130b close to focusing coils 148a , 148b or tracking coils 146a , 146b . however , in order to improve driving sensitivity , the closer the magnets are positioned to the coils the better . in practice , the gap between magnets 130a , 130b and focusing coils 148a , 148b is about 0 . 1 to 0 . 3 mm . accordingly , by making the surfaces of magnets 130a , 130b facing focusing coils 148a , 148b convex , it is possible to decrease the size of the gap between magnets 130a , 130b and focusing coils 148a , 148b , making it possible to effectively utilize the strongest portion of the magnetic field in the magnetic space generated by magnets 130a , 130b , thereby improving the drive sensitivity . according to this invention , magnet positioning grooves 128a , 128b are provided in the side surfaces of movable body 118 and damper grooves 132a , 132b are provided at the bottom of magnet positioning grooves 128a , 128b . damper member 134 is fitted into damper grooves 132a , 132b and the magnets are bonded into magnet positioning grooves 128a , 128b above them . accordingly , it is possible to reliably attach damper member 134 to movable member 118 without bonding . also , movable body 118 is made lighter and power consumption is reduced . movable body 118 and bushing 120 are formed as one unit of a resin material having high rigidity , such as a polyimide or polyphenylen sulfide , so the production cost is low . compared to when the bearing is made of a metal such as aluminum , the sliding characteristics of the bearing is increased according to a lubricating action of the resin material , so that application of lubricants such as a solid lubricant is unnecessary . there is also no degradation of the sliding characteristic due to separation of the lubricant from the surface and there is no fluctuation in the sliding characteristics due to differences in the lubrication coating at the time of manufacture . position adjustment coils 146a , 146b , 148a , 148b are formed of flat conduction wires which have a rectangular cross section . the long side of the cross section is in the direction of magnetization of magnets 130a , 130b . shown by x axis . this results in an increase in the space utilizable in direction x , improving the utilization efficiency of the magnetic field space generated by magnets 130a and 130b and increasing the drive sensitivity . position adjustment coils 146a , 146b , 148a , 148b are substantially oval in shape and the long sides 146ax , 146bx , 148ax , 148bx face magnets 130a , 130b . the other long sides 146ay , 146by , 148ay , 148by do not face magnets 130a , 130b . therefore , the magnetic flux direction of portions 146ax , 146bx , 148ax , 148bx of the position adjustment coils facing magnets 130a , 130b and the magnetic flux direction of portions 146ay , 146by , 148ay , 148by of the position adjustment coils not facing magnets 130a , 130b are in opposite directions . the direction of current is opposite for the parts facing and the parts not facing magnets 130a , 130b . consequently , the direction of force is the same for the parts facing and the parts not facing magnets 130a , 130b , resulting in a more effective force from position adjustment coils 146a , 146 b , 148a , 148b and a reduction in power consumption . the lengthwise directions of position adjustment coils 146a , 148a or 146b , 148b are perpendicular to each other and are stacked into two layers , so one or the other of magnets 130a , 130b can apply an independent force toward two intersecting directions . therefore , movable body 118 is lighter and more compact . each layer of position adjustment coil 146a , 146b , 148a , 148b is constructed of coils 146ai and 146aii , 146bi and 146bii , 148ai and 148aii , 148bi and 148bii being serially connected into pairs . the coils being substantially rectangular or oval in shape together with the above - mentioned construction of the coils 146a , 146b , 148a , 148b mean that coils 146a , 146b , 148a , 148b can be arranged , in the symmetrical positional relationship in regards to magnets 130a , 130b , such that the current in the portion with opposing magnetic flux flows in the opposite direction . thus , when movable body 118 is moved in focusing direction z or tracking direction y , fluctuations in drive sensitivity do not depend on the direction of movement of movable body 118 , resulting in a stable servo system . the lengthwise direction of focusing position adjustment coils 148a , 148b intersects optical axis of objective lens 124 and the coils are positioned nearer to the magnets than tracking position adjustment coils 146a , 146b . position adjustment coils 148a , 148b which provide a force in the focusing direction , are arranged in a stronger field of the magnetic field space generated by magnets 130a , 130b than the field in which tracking position adjustment coils 146a , 146b are arranged . accordingly , the force in the focusing direction must be stronger than the force in the tracking direction , resulting in an efficient well balanced optical head apparatus , which in turn makes it possible to reduce the power consumption . position adjustment coils 146a , 146b , 148a , 148bb are fastened to the top of non - conductive printed circuit board 144 . therefore , no induced electromotive force is generated , even if an alternating current is supplied . futhermore , even in the high frequency region , it is possible to reduce the phase delay between the impressed voltage of the coil and the force acting on movable body 118 , which is generated when position adjustment coils are directly fastened to a conductor such as aluminum , resulting in stable control . coil positioning holes 150a , 150b are provided in flexible printed circuit board 144 so that it is easy to fasten coil unit 140 to the board accurately , thereby improving its mass productivity . according to this invention , the shape of magnets 130a , 130b is not limited to that described in the above embodiments . for example , as shown in fig1 a and 18b , the side of magnet 130a , in its plan view , facing focusing coil 148a may be triangular or trapezoidal . in fact any shape is possible provided movable body 118 does not strike focusing coil 148a . as shown in fig1 and 20 , damper grooves 132a , 132b may have a uniform width . accordingly , the damper may have a uniform width as shown in fig2 . damper grooves 132a , 132b may have a portion which is deeper than the rest . accordingly , the damper may have a portion that is thicker than the rest . it is also possible to provide damper grooves 132a , 132b directly in the side surface of movable body 118 instead of providing magnet positioning grooves 128a , 128b in the side surface of movable body 118 . in this case magnets 130a and 130b are directly bonded to the side surface of movable body 118 after damper member 134 has been fitted into grooves 132a , 132b . damper member 134 is able to carry out its function with only a portion of the member or with a combination of portions of the damper member as shown in fig2 to 25 . this allows the weight and power consumption to be further reduced , thereby improving the drive sensitivity . with the embodiment described above , it is not always necessary that the shape of the movable body be symmetrical with regard to the center . what is necessary is that the center of gravity of the movable body be in the center of the bearing . the shaft may be arranged on the movable body side and the bearing on the base side . with the invention as described above , it is possible to improve the sensitivity of the tracking and focusing control of the optical head . since the surface of the magnet facing the coil is convex , it is also possible to reduce the size of the gap between the magnet and the coil and to effectively utilize the magnetic field space generated by the magnets . accordingly , it is possible to provide an optical head apparatus that has high drive sensitivity with low power consumption . the damper member engages with the damper groove provided in the movable member and the magnet is fastened over top by bonding . accordingly , the attachment of the damper to the movable body is simplified and reliable . also , the movable body is reduced in weight so power consumption can be reduced . | 6 |
reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings , wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout . the embodiments are described below in order to explain the present general inventive concept by referring to the figures . in the drawings , the thicknesses of layers and regions are exaggerated for clarity . fig3 and 4 are sectional views of a vertical gan - based led according to an embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig3 , a support layer 207 is formed in the lowermost portion of the vertical gan - based led . the support layer 207 supports the led and serves as an electrode . a plating seed layer ( not shown ) and a p - electrode 206 are sequentially formed on the support layer 207 . a p - type gan layer 205 and a gan / ingan active layer 204 with a multi - quantum well structure are sequentially formed on the p - electrode 206 . it is preferable that the p - electrode 206 is formed of a metal having high reflectivity so that it can serve as both an electrode and a reflection plate . in addition , light is emitted from the active layer 204 . generally , the active layer 204 is grown to a thickness of about 1 , 000 å at a temperature of 700 - 900 ° c . an n - type gan layer 203 for an n - type electrode contact is formed on the active layer 204 . an etch stop layer 300 exposing a portion of the n - type gan layer 203 is formed on the n - type gan layer 203 . the etch stop layer 300 is formed of material having an etching selectivity different from that of the n - type gan layer 203 . it is preferable that the etch stop layer 300 is formed of at least one material selected from the group consisting of groups iii - v semiconductor compounds , group iii - vi semiconductor compounds , and group iii - vii semiconductor compounds . an n - type transparent electrode 208 for improving the current spreading effect and an n - type reflective electrode 209 for improving the light efficiency are sequentially formed on the etch stop layer 300 and the n - type gan layer 203 . an n - electrode 210 is formed on the n - type reflective electrode 209 . the formation of the n - type transparent electrode 208 and the n - type reflective electrode 209 may be omitted . in this case , the n - electrode 210 may be formed such that it directly contacts the n - type gan layer 203 exposed by the etch stop layer 300 . as illustrated in fig4 , the etch stop layer 300 may have an uneven profile . in this case , light emitted from the active layer 204 is scattered at several angles by the uneven surface of the etch stop layer 300 , thus increasing the luminous efficiency of the led . hereinafter , a method of manufacturing a vertical gan - based led according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail . fig5 a to 5e are sectional views illustrating a method of manufacturing a vertical gan - based led according to an embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig5 a , an undoped gan layer 201 and a lightly doped n - type gan layer 202 are sequentially grown on a sapphire substrate 200 . it is preferable that the lightly doped n - type gan layer 202 has a doping concentration of 10 − 18 e or less . an etch stop layer 300 , a heavily doped n - type gan layer 203 for an n - type electrode contact , a gan / ingan active layer 204 with a multi - quantum well structure , and a p - type gan layer 205 are sequentially formed on the lightly doped n - type gan layer 202 . the etch stop layer 300 is formed of material having an etching selectivity different from those of the lightly doped n - type gan layer 202 and the n - type gan layer 203 . it is preferable that the etch stop layer 300 is formed of at least one material selected from the group consisting of groups iii - v semiconductor compounds , group iii - vi semiconductor compounds , and group iii - vii semiconductor compounds . a p - electrode 106 and a plating seed layer ( not shown ) are sequentially formed on the p - type gan layer 205 . a support layer 207 is formed on the plating seed layer by electrolyte plating or electroless plating . the plating seed layer serves as a plating crystal nucleus when the plating process is performed for forming the support layer 207 . in addition , the support layer 207 supports the final led structure and serves as an electrode . although the support layer 207 is provided with the plating layer formed using the plating seed layer as the crystal nucleus , the present invention is not limited to the plating layer . the support layer 207 may be formed of a si substrate , a gaas substrate , a ge substrate , or a metal layer . moreover , the metal layer may be formed using a thermal evaporator , an e - beam evaporator , a sputter , a chemical vapor deposition ( cvd ), and so on . referring to fig5 b , the sapphire substrate 200 is removed using an llo process . referring to fig5 c , the undoped gan layer 201 and the lightly doped n - type gan layer 202 exposed by the process of removing the sapphire substrate 200 are etched . in this embodiment , the etch stop layer 300 having an etching selectivity different from that of the lightly doped n - type gan layer 202 is provided under the lightly doped n - type gan layer 202 . this etch stop layer 300 can prevent the n - type gan layer 203 from being damaged during the process of etching the undoped gan layer 201 and the lightly doped n - type gan layer 202 . referring to fig5 d , the etch stop layer 300 is selectively etched to expose at least a portion of the n - type gan layer 203 . that is , a portion of the etch stop layer 300 may be etched to expose a portion of the n - type gan layer 203 , or the entire etch stop layer 300 may be etched to expose the entire n - type gan layer 203 . in the former case , the etch stop layer 300 is etched to expose a region of the n - type gan layer 203 corresponding to a region where an n - electrode 210 will be formed later . because the etch stop layer 300 has the etching selectivity different from that of the n - type gan layer 203 , only the etch stop layer 300 can be selectively etched without damage of the n - type gan layer 203 . as illustrated in fig4 , after the process of selectively etching the etch stop layer 300 , the remaining etch stop layer 300 may have an uneven surface . in this case , light emitted from the active layer 204 so as to reach the etch stop layer 300 is scattered in several directions , thus increasing the luminous efficiency of the led . referring to fig5 e , an n - type transparent electrode 208 for improving the current spreading effect and an n - type reflective electrode 209 for improving the light efficiency are sequentially formed on the etch stop layer 300 and the n - type gan layer 203 . then , an n - electrode 210 is formed on the n - type reflective electrode 209 . the process of forming the n - type transparent electrode 208 and the n - type reflective electrode 209 can be omitted . in this case , the n - electrode 210 may be formed such that it directly contacts the n - type gan layer 203 exposed by the remaining etch stop layer 300 . as described above , the etch stop layer 300 having a different etching selectivity different from the lightly doped n - type gan layer 202 and the n - type gan layer 203 is further formed therebetween . therefore , the etch stop layer 300 can prevent the n - type gan layer 203 from being removed or removed during the process of etching the lightly doped n - type gan layer 202 . consequently , the present invention can stably secure the contact resistance of the n - type transparent electrode 208 or the n - electrode 210 formed on the n - type gan layer 203 and can reduce the operating voltage . moreover , by forming the etch stop layer 300 to have the uneven surface , the light that is emitted from the active layer 204 and reaches the etch stop layer 300 is scattered in several directions , thus increasing the luminous efficiency of the led . although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described , it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept , the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents . | 7 |
with reference to fig1 there is shown a hydraulic shock absorber 10 according to the present invention . the shock absorber 10 comprises inner and outer tubes 11 , 41 respectively , telescopically fitted together . the inner tube 11 is disposed substantially downwardly of outer tube 41 which is fitted over inner tube 11 . the lower end of inner tube 11 is closed off by a bottom plug 12 from which integrally extends a mounting portion 13 for attachment to a vehicle body . the bottom plug 12 is threaded at 15 into the lower end of the tube 11 with a sealing member 14 interposed therebetween . the inner tube 11 has at the upper portion thereof a partition member 20 having a central circular opening 21 provided therethrough . as shown in fig2 the partition member 20 is ring - shaped and has a flange 22 having at its outer periphery an externally threaded portion engaging at 16 ( fig1 ) with an internally threaded portion of an inner periphery of the upper portion of inner tube 11 . partition member 20 is provided with an annular ring 23 projecting downwardly , there being an annular space 24 between the outer periphery of ring 23 and the inner wall 17 of inner tube 11 , with annular space 24 opening downwardly . a sealing member 25 is located at a proximal end of ring 23 . an annular orifice 26 is defined by joining a rod , described in detail below , in opening 21 . located upwardly of partition member 20 is a cylindrical spacer 30 , with its lower portion threadedly engaging at 18 with the upper portion of inner tube 11 . spacer 30 is provided in an intermediate portion thereof with an annular projection 31 which is substantially equal in outside diameter to inner tube 11 . a sealing member 32 is disposed in an annular recess above annular projection 31 . the spacer 30 includes at its upper portion a partition 33 having a central hole 34 around which there is provided an annular recess 35 . partition 33 has a number of small holes 36 extending through the bottom of recess 35 . an air bubble suppressor 37 of metal fiber or metal mesh is disposed in recess 35 for breaking air bubbles , the suppressor 37 clogging the small holes 36 . outer tube 41 supports at the top plug 42 thereof a rod 43 disposed coaxially with tube 41 and projecting downwardly . the rod 43 is of a tapered configuration with its diameter progressively smaller from the upper proximal end toward the lower distal end thereof . rod 43 vertically extends through the hole 34 and the circular opening 21 . the annular orifice 26 is thus defined between the circumference of rod 43 and the wall of circular opening 21 , the cross section of orifice 26 being variable by relative movement of rod 43 and opening 21 . the rod 43 has at its upper end an enlarged portion 44 located above plug 42 , and extends from just below the enlarged portion 44 through a central hole 45 in plug 42 , whereby rod 43 is supported in place . the plug 42 includes an air passage 46 . the rod 43 is provided on its lower end with a piston 60 secured thereto and slidably fitted in inner tube 11 . the piston 60 is provided with a skirt - shaped spacer 62 which is annular and projects upwardly from a peripheral portion of a bottom 61 of piston 60 . the spacer 62 has an upper distal end adapted to be fitted in annular space 24 opening downwardly from partition member 20 . the bottom 61 of piston 60 which extends transversely of inner tube 11 has a plurality of orifices 63 , 64 extending therethrough and angularly spaced from each other . orifices 63 are located on an inner imaginary circle concentric with piston 60 , and orifices 64 are located on an outer imaginary circle concentric with piston 60 . the orifices 63 are angularly spaced at equal intervals and are four in number in the illustrated embodiment , and orifices 64 ( also four in number ) are disposed intermediately of orifices 63 . a slide valve 65 fitted over a lower portion of rod 43 is disposed on piston 60 , and is urged against an upper surface of bottom 61 of piston 60 by a spring 67 interposed between an upper surface of valve 65 and a spring seat 66 mounted on a lower portion of rod 43 . the outside diameter of valve 65 is such that valve 65 interferes with substantially half areas of outer orifices 64 to thereby limit or reduce the opening thereof . at the same time , valve 65 closes the inner orifices 63 . a sealing member 68 is disposed around piston 60 . a cap 47 covering plug 42 of outer tube 41 is provided with an internal mounting portion 48 for attachment to a vehicle body , and is of a larger outside diameter than the outside diameter of outer tube 41 , thereby providing a flange 49 . flange 49 has an annular projection 50 extending downwardly from a lower surface of flange 49 , the annular projection 50 fitting over an upper end portion of outer tube 41 . the cap 47 is provided with an air introduction valve 51 and a passageway 52 communicating with passage 46 in plug 42 . disposed around the outer periphery of outer tube 41 is a tubular holder 70 having a much larger diameter than the diameter of outer tube 41 . holder 70 has an upper open end 71 fitted over and threadedly engaging with an outer peripheral portion of projection 50 of cap 47 . the body 72 of holder 70 is of substantially uniform diameter throughout its length , and the lower end portion 73 thereof is tapered downwardly and threadedly engages with an externally threaded portion 53 of an intermediate portion of outer tube 41 . disposed below the threaded portion 53 of outer tube 41 is an annular projection 54 supporting thereon a lower end of holder 70 . thus , holder 70 is connected coaxially with outer tube 41 , there being an annular space a defined between an upper portion of holder 70 and outer tube 41 . the space a is divided into an outer chamber b and an inner chamber c by a partition membrane 80 made of a flexible and resilient material such as rubber . partition membrane 80 is a tapered hollow cylinder in shape with its diameter being progressively smaller from its upper and central portion toward its lower portion . the partition membrane 80 has at its upper and lower ends thickened annular ribs 81 , 82 , respectively . partition membrane 80 is secured in place by inserting it from above between the upper portion of outer tube 41 and holder 70 , and then sandwiching upper rib 81 between upper end portion 71 of holder 70 and projection 50 , and sandwiching lower rib 82 between an area above threaded portion 53 of outer tube 41 and an inner peripheral wall of a lowest portion 73 of holder 70 . more specifically , holder 70 is fitted over outer tube 41 from above and is threadedly mounted in position at its lower end , and the cylindrical partition membrane 80 is inserted while holder 70 and outer tube 41 are being connected at their upper ends by cap 47 threaded in place . the partition membrane 80 can thus be attached concentrically during such assembling process without requiring centering adjustment . when the upper and lower ribs are sandwiched between holder 70 and outer tube 41 , partition membrane 80 provides air - tight sealing between chambers b and c . a valve 74 is mounted on the lowest portion 73 of holder 70 for supplying high - pressure gas into the outer chamber b defined by partition membrane 80 . an upper portion of outer tube 41 is provided with a number of apertures 55 of a relatively large diameter through which the inner chamber c , bounded by partition membrane 80 , communicates with an upper chamber d in outer tube 41 . the upper portion of tube 41 including the apertures 55 is enclosed by a mesh or network 56 of metal for preventing forced entry of partition membrane 80 into apertures 55 . inner and outer tubes 11 , 41 are supplied with a sealed amount of oil . inner chamber c and upper chamber d communicating therewith are loaded with a sealed amount of low - pressure gas , and outer chamber b is loaded with a sealed amount of high - pressure gas . when shock absorber 10 is in the compression stroke , slide valve 65 on piston 60 is lifted to open all of orifices 63 , 64 in piston 60 for allowing full communication between a chamber e below piston 60 and a central chamber f above piston 60 . oil flow is restricted and controlled by annular orifice 26 is partition member 20 above central chamber f , thereby generating a damping force during the compression stroke . orifice 26 is variable because its cross - sectional area is reduced as inner tube 11 is raised over tapered rod 43 during the compression stroke . during the compression stroke , the low - pressure chamber d , c becomes decreased in volume by an increasing amount of oil in a chamber g above partition member 20 . as the pressure in chambers d , c builds up , the partition membrane 80 is bulged outwardly , thereby reducing the volume of high - pressure chamber b . such action is performed rapidly with preselected pressures in the high - pressure and low - pressure chambers , whereby rapid responsiveness can be assured during the compression stroke . when the tubes have moved a predetermined stroke , reduction of the volume of high - pressure chamber b is discontinued , whereupon a damping force is increased . during the extension stroke , slide valve 65 fully closes inner orifices 63 in piston 60 and half closes outer orifices 64 , to thereby reduce the area of orifices 64 and thus restrict the oil flow therethrough . accordingly , a damping force is increased during the extension stroke . in the above described manner , a desired amount of damping force can be obtained by the variable orifice 26 in partition member 20 on the compression stroke , and by orifices 64 in piston 60 on the extension stroke . because the variable orifice produces a damping force during the compression stroke , the amount of damping force depends on the relative positions of tubes 11 and 41 . the variable orifice 26 also provides the same function during the extension stroke , provided that the cross - sectional area of variable orifice 26 is equal to or smaller than the cross - sectional area of orifices 64 controlled by slide valve 65 . during the extension stroke , the volume of chambers c , d increases , and the pressure in chamber b causes partition membrane 80 to adhere to outer tube 41 having apertures 55 . partition membrane 80 is prevented by metal mesh 56 from intruding into apertures 55 , and is thus protected against damage . even if partition membrane 80 is damaged , bubbles are substantially prevented from entering the oil because chambers b , c and d are located upwardly . the bubbles , as introduced into the oil , are broken up by bubble breaker or suppressor 37 so that temporary removal of a damping force , which would otherwise be caused by large bubbles , is prevented . bubble suppressor 37 can function when bubbles enter the oil during reciprocating movement of inner and outer tubes 11 and 41 . with bubble suppressor 37 being located on the side of the gas chambers and over orifice 26 , large bubbles are prevented from passing through orifice 26 so that smooth operation of the shock absorber is ensured . when piston 60 is raised on the extension stroke , oil forcibly flows upwardly through orifice 26 , or during the compression stroke , oil flows up and down to create air bubbles due to such oil disturbances and movements of the shock absorber . such air bubbles , however , are broken up by bubble suppressor 37 and are suppressed to such an extent that the hydraulic damping action will not be adversely affected . when inner and outer tubes 11 , 41 of absorber 10 are at the end of the extension stroke , the distal end of skirt - shaped spacer 62 of piston 60 enters into space 24 below partition member 20 and abuts against sealing member 25 so as to be located in place . at this time , partition member 20 with orifice 26 is disposed centrally between piston 60 and spacer 30 . accordingly , at the end of the extension stroke , an axial span l is provided between a sliding portion a on a lower end portion of outer tube 41 and a sliding portion b on inner tube 11 adjacent spacer 30 , as shown in fig5 . the shock absorber , when subjected to lateral forces tending to bend it at the end of the extension stroke , is prevented by the presence of such span l from being bent or broken . with orifice 26 centrally located , deformation of the cross - sectional shape of orifice 26 around vertical rod 43 is substantially eliminated . accordingly , oil flow is properly governed by orifice 26 , and a predetermined damping characteristic is precisely maintained . a positive damping force can be obtained up to the end of the extension stroke , and thus the shock absorber will be operated properly and smoothly . fig4 shows a modification of the present invention , in which the structural details of the shock absorber are the same as the embodiment described above , and in which like reference numerals denote like parts . the gas supply valve 74 mounted on a lower portion of tubular holder 70 of shock absorber 10 is connected to a pipe 90 which is in turn connected to an adjustment chamber h in a separate container 91 . high - pressure chamber b is thus in communication with adjustment chamber h through an orifice 92 , and the chambers b , h are filled with a sealed amount of a medium such as freon gas which is normally in both gas and liquid phases . the volume of adjustment chamber h is variable by the advancing and retracting movement of a piston 93 coupled to a threaded rod 94 to which a knob 95 is connected . heat generated by frictional sliding movement of inner and outer tubes 11 , 41 is absorbed by latent heat of evaporation of the medium , which then functions as a cooling medium . thus , an increase in springing force caused by heating is suppressed , and changes in the characteristics of the shock absorber due to temperature variations are prevented from occurring , to ensure stable operation . fig7 through 9 illustrate various embodiments of a rod mounting structure . according to the embodiment shown in fig7 a rod 143 has an enlarged base portion 144 having a partially spherical lower surface 144a . a portion of rod 143 just below enlarged base portion 144 extends through the hole 45 in plug 42 , and there is a variable clearance between an upper end portion of rod 143 and the wall of hole 45 . there is another clearance between a bottom surface 49b of a recess 49a formed centrally in cap 49 and an upper surface 144b of enlarged portion 144 . with such an arrangement , there are three sliding portions , namely , a sliding portion at the upper end of inner tube 11 , a sliding portion at the lower end of outer tube 41 , and a sliding outer periphery of piston 60 against the inner wall of inner tube 11 . when the shock absorber is subjected to bending forces applied laterally , the three sliding portions , because they are rigid , are given internal stresses , which increase as the bending forces increase . because the portion of rod 143 adjacent piston 60 is of a small diameter , such rod portion , when subjected to lateral forces , tends to make the orifice irregular in cross - sectional shape . however , the upper end of rod 143 is floatingly supported so that rod 143 is shifted in response to bending forces applied on piston 60 , inner tube 11 and outer tube 41 . such shifting movement is smoothly effected because of the clearance between enlarged portion 144 and recess 49a and of the partially spherical shape of surface 144a . the stresses applied to the piston and rod are rapidly reduced for smoother operation . further , as the partition member is shifted in one direction , the rod also moves in that direction for maintaining the proper cross - sectional shape of the orifice . a plurality of elongated projections 57 are mounted on the upper outer wall of outer tube 41 and located out of alignment with apertures 55 , the projections 57 extending in the axial direction of outer tube 41 and being disposed radially of tube 41 . each of the projections 57 is of a tapered contour with its thickness decreasing from its upper to lower end . due to the provision of projections 57 , partition membrane 80 is prevented from being wrinkled when compressed against the outer tube 41 . although the shock absorber of the fig1 embodiment is not provided with such projections 57 , it is preferable that such projections 57 be provided . fig8 shows a second embodiment of a rod mounting structure , in which an enlarged portion 244 of a rod 243 comprises a sphere . the cap 49 has a semispherical recess 249a in which the spherical portion 244 is fitted . the rod 243 thus supported is displaceable for performing the same function as in the previous embodiment . in accordance with a third embodiment shown in fig9 a rod 343 has a threaded base portion 344 around which double nuts 344a , 344b are threadedly disposed , the threaded portion 344 having a head projecting beyond an upper surface of nut 344a into contact with a bottom surface of a recess 349a . the recess 349a has a greater diameter than that of the nuts 344a , 344b , the nut 344b being retained by a circular clip 342 located at a lower portion of recess 349a . there is thus defined a clearance between the enlarged base portion of rod 343 and recess 349a for movement of rod 343 therein . although the invention has been shown and described in detail , it should be understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of the appended claims . | 5 |
according to a first embodiment of the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention , a process of making polydatin aqueous solution for injection is provided . according to a first exemplary illustration of the first embodiment , a process of making an aqueous solution for injection is described , wherein the aqueous solution has a composition comprising a quantity of polydatin , a quantity of naoh aqueous solution at ph 8 . 5 and a quantity of 3 . 6 % nacl aqueous solution . according to the composition of the first exemplary illustration , the quantity of polydatin is 40 g , the quantity of naoh solution is 8 l , and the quantity of 3 . 6 % nacl is used for adjusting the total volume of the composition into a 10 l solution , wherein the composition of the first exemplary illustration is divided into 1000 unit . the process of making an aqueous solution for injection comprises the steps of dissolving 40 g polydatin in 8 l naoh aqueous solution at ph 8 . 5 ; adding a quantity of nacl until the total volume is 9 . 8 l ; adjusting the ph to 8 . 5 and adding nacl aqueous solution until the total volume is 10 l ; filtering using 0 . 22 μm microfilter membrane ; and dividing the solution into 1000 units and keeping in ampoules or bottles . according to a second exemplary illustration of the first embodiment , a process of making an aqueous solution for injection is described , wherein the aqueous solution has a composition comprising a quantity of polydatin , a quantity of naoh aqueous solution at ph 8 . 5 , a quantity of propandiol , a quantity of tween 80 , and a quantity of 3 . 6 % nacl aqueous solution . according to the composition of the first exemplary illustration , the quantity of polydatin is 80 g , the quantity of naoh solution is 6 l , the quantity of propandiol is 2 l , the quantity of tween 80 is 50 ml , and the quantity of 3 . 6 % nacl is used for adjusting the total volume of the composition into a 10 l solution , wherein the composition of the first exemplary illustration is divided into 1000 unit . the process of making an aqueous solution for injection in the embodiment 1 - 2 comprises the steps of dissolving 40 g polydatin in 2 l propandiol solution ; adding 50 ml tween 80 and naoh aqueous solution respectively and mixing ; adding a quantity of 3 . 6 % nacl until the total volume is 9 . 8 l ; adjusting the ph to 8 . 5 and adding nacl aqueous solution until the total volume is 10 l ; filtering using 0 . 22 μm microfilter membrane ; and dividing the solution into 1000 units and keeping in ampoules or bottles . according to a third exemplary illustration of the first embodiment , a process of making an aqueous solution for injection is described , wherein the aqueous solution has a composition comprising a quantity of polydatin , a quantity of anhydrous alcohol , propandiol , and a quantity of sodium carbon . according to the composition of the third exemplary illustration , the quantity of polydatin is 100 g , the quantity of anhydrous alcohol is 2250 ml , the quantity of propandiol is 1000 ml , and the quantity of sodium carbonate is used for adjusting the total volume of the aqueous solution into 5000 ml . the aqueous solution in the embodiment 1 - 3 is diluted 25 to 50 times by 0 . 9 % sodium fluoride or 5 % glucose injection solution for administration . the process of making an aqueous solution for injection in the embodiment 1 - 3 comprises the steps of dissolving 20 g polydatin in 450 ml anhydrous alcohol ; adding 100 ml buffer solution and mixing by ultrasound or stirring for 2 to 5 minutes such that the polydatin is dissolved ; adding 200 ml propandiol and the remaining buffer solution until the total volume is 1 l ; filtering using 0 . 22 μm microfilter membrane ; and refilling nitrogen and dividing the solution into 1000 units which are kept in brown ampoules or bottles . the buffer solution is prepared by mixing one unit of 0 . 1 mol / l sodium carbonate and nine units of 0 . 1 mol / l sodium hydrocarbonate . a process of making a cool dry powder of polydatin for injection . a process of making a polydatin solution is illustrated in embodiment 2 - 1 . the process of making a polydatin solution in the embodiment 2 - 1 comprises the steps of dissolving 40 g polydatin in 8 l ph 8 . 5 naoh aqueous solution ; adding a quantity of 5 % aqueous manitol solution until the total volume is 9 . 8 l ; adjusting the ph to 8 . 5 and adding 3 . 6 % nacl aqueous solution until the total volume is 10 l ; filtering using 0 . 22 um microfilter membrane ; and dividing the solution into 1000 units and keeping in vial for dry powder . a process of freeze dry is also illustrated in the embodiment 2 - 1 , comprising the step of obtaining the solution obtained from the process of making a polydatin solution , and placing the solution in a freeze dry condition with a temperature at − 35 ° c . such that the solution is kept in − 30 ° c . for 3 hours ; vacuum pumping at condensation temperature at − 40 ° c . and increasing the temperature to 40 ° c . gradually such that the frozen solution is increased gradually ; drying the frozen solution and that the freeze dry product is obtained . the product can then be packed and pressed with piston , enclosed and labeled as a polydatin injection powder . the powder is adapted for dissolving in physiological saline for injection use . a process of making a polydatin solution is illustrated in embodiment 2 - 2 . the process of making a polydatin solution in the embodiment 2 - 2 comprises the steps of dissolving 80 g polydatin in 8 l ph 9 . 5 naoh aqueous solution ; adding a quantity of 5 % aqueous manitol solution until the total volume is 9 . 8 l ; adjusting the ph to 8 . 5 and adding 3 . 6 % nacl aqueous solution until the total volume is 10 l ; filtering using 0 . 22 μm microfilter membrane ; and dividing the solution into 1000 units and keeping in vial for freeze dry powder . a process of freeze dry is also illustrated in the embodiment 2 - 2 , comprising the step of obtaining the solution obtained from the process of making a polydatin solution , and placing the solution in a freeze dry condition with a temperature at − 30 ° c . such that the solution is kept in − 30 ° c . for 3 hours ; vacuum pumping at condensation temperature at − 40 ° c . and increasing the temperature to 40 ° c . gradually such that the frozen solution is increased gradually ; drying the frozen solution and that the freeze dry product is obtained . the product can then be packed and pressed with piston , enclosed and labeled as a polydatin injection powder . the powder is adapted for dissolving in physiological saline for injection use . a process of making an injection solution of the present invention is illustrated in the embodiment 2 - 2 , comprising the steps of mixing 2 l propandiol and 500 ml 0 . 5 % hydrochloric acid ; adding a predetermined quantity of physiology saline such that the total volume is 10 l , filtering using 0 . 22 μm microfilter membrane ; and dividing the solution into 1000 units and keeping in vial . each of the vials comprises 10 ml of injection solution . a package comprising a 10 ml injection solution and a unit of freeze dry powder is preferred such that the freeze dry powder is capable of dissolving in the injection solution for injection . a process of making a composition of polydatin in tablet form . 1000 tablet each having a composition of 50 mg polydatin are prepared according to the routine making process , and that the composition of polydatin comprises a quantity of polydatin , a quantity of lactose , a quantity of starch , a quantity of polyethylene pyrrolidone k30 , and a quantity of magnesium stearate . in embodiment 3 , 50 g of polydatin , 107 g of lactose , 25 g of starch , 16 g of polyethylene pyrrolidone k30 , and 2 g of magnesium stearate are used and that the total weight is 200 g . the polydatin is mixed with lactose and starch to form a mixture . the mixture is transformed into a granule form by using polyethylene pyrrolidone k30 and passing through a no . 16 model unit . after drying , the granule is mixed with magnesium stearate and pressed into a predetermined shape . other polydatin in tablet form having different active composition of polydatin can be made by varying the ratio of the quantity of polydatin and vehicle , or the force of pressing device . a process of making a composition of polydatin in capsule form , comprising the steps of : mixing a quantity of polydatin , a quantity of lactose , a quantity of microcrystalized cellulose , and a quantity of magnesium stearate . in the embodiment 4 , 200 capsules having 50 mg active composition of polydatin are prepared from 10 g polydatin , 19 . 5 g lactose , 10 g microcrystalized cellulose , and 0 . 5 g magnesium stearate , wherein a total weight is 40 g . a process of making a composition of polydatin in ointment form , comprising the steps of : mixing and stirring a quantity of polydatin and a quantity of olive oil ; and adding a quantity of dissolved white vaseline while stirring ; and mixing thoroughly . the ointment is then canned . in embodiment 5 , a 1 % polydatin ointment is prepared from 1 g polydatin , 10 g olive oil , and 89 g white vaseline wherein the total weight is 100 g . a process of making a composition of polydatin in suppository form , comprising the steps of : mixing and stirring a quantity of polydatin and a quantity of glycerol ; and adding a quantity of dissolved glycerol gelatin while stirring ; and mixing thoroughly . the suppository is then canned . in embodiment 5 , a 1 % polydatin suppository is prepared from 1 g polydatin , 5 g glycerol , and 84 g glycerol gelatin wherein the total weight is 100 g . a treatment action for shock related to blood loss of a composition of polydatin . the observation is based on the experiment carried out comprising the steps of ( 1 ) anaesthetizing two groups , namely a treatment group and a control group , of sd rats with urethane ketamine , inducing bleeding by intubulation at femoral artery and recording blood pressure ; wherein femoral vein is used for medication and blood transfusion and cremasteric specimen is prepared by baez method ; ( 2 ) inducing bleeding from femoral artery such that an average arterial blood pressure is maintained between 5 . 1 to 5 . 6 kpa ; ( 3 ) administering a composition of polydatin injection through femoral vein after one hour wherein the dosage of the composition is 0 . 6 ml / kg , that the concentration of polydatin is 4 mg / ml and the dosage is 2 . 4 mg / kg in the treatment group and the composition of polydatin is replaced by physiological saline in the control group ; ( 4 ) conducting blood transfusion after 20 minutes such that the volume of blood loss due to bleeding is equal to the volume of blood loss due to blood transfusion ; and the records are made by using olympus microscope , hitachi monitoring system and physiological recording meter to observe and record microcirculation and blood dynamics . the survival period of each subject of the two groups are recorded . ( 1 ) survival period : a ratio of the survival time of the treatment group and the control group is larger than 5 . 5 , wherein 9 / 10 of the treatment group has a survival period of 24 hours , 8 / 10 of the treatment group has a survival period of 48 hours , and 6 / 10 of the treatment group has a survival period of 72 hours . all the subjects in the control group die within 24 hours . ( 2 ) blood pressure : after experienced shock for 1 hour , the average arterial blood pressure is 5 . 3 + 0 . 2 kpa . after 30 minutes of medication of polydatin , the arterial pressure is increased to 8 . 6 + 0 . 8 kpa in the treatment group , while there is no significant difference in blood pressure in the control group receiving physiological saline . ( 3 ) diameter of micro blood vessel : after experienced shock for 1 hour , the diameter of micro - aneurysm is reduced to 63 . 3 % of the diameter in average before shock . the diameter is then increased by 20 . 3 % after medication of polydatin and there is no significant difference of diameter in the control group . ( 4 ) number of opening capillaries : before shock , the number of open capillary is 5 . 1 ± 0 . 4 per μm 2 . after induced bleeding , the number of open capillary is decreased to 2 . 2 ± 0 . 6 per μm 2 . the number increased to 4 . 2 ± 0 . 5 per μm 2 in 10 minutes after polydatin medication . there is no significant difference of number of opening capillaries in the control group before and after the administration of physiological saline . a treatment action for shock related to skin burn of a composition of polydatin . the observation is based on the experiment carried out comprising the steps of : anaesthetizing two groups , namely a treatment group and a control group , of sd rats with urethane ketamine , burning about 35 % of body surface below waist for 30 seconds with 80 ° c . water ; administering 0 . 6 ml / kg polydatin injection ( comprising 4 mg / ml polydatin and the dosage is 2 . 4 mg / kg ) by venous injection after half hour of burning in the treatment group and replacing the polydatin injection by physiological saline in control group . result : the average survival period of the treatment group is longer than 13 . 3 hours while the average survival period of the control group is 7 . 0 ± 2 . 6 hours . one skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting . it will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished . it embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure form such principles . therefore , this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims . | 0 |
according to one preferred embodiment illustrated in fig1 - 8 , seven u - shaped fluorescent tubes 10 ( 1 )- 10 ( 7 ) are driven by three electronic ballasts 20 . adjusting the ballast voltage controls the output power of the tubes . the tubes 10 ( 1 )- 10 ( 7 ) are supported by a housing 30 and are covered by a polycarbonate shield 40 which directs cooling airflow within the unit and prevents glass - patient contact in the event of tube breakage . an aluminum reflector 50 located behind the tubes increases both the output irradiance and the uniformity of the output distribution . the overall dimensions of the unit are approximately 38 cm h × 45 cm w × 44 . 5 cm d . fig1 shows the position of the patient &# 39 ; s head and nose . according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , seven 36 ″ u - shaped f34t8 ultra blue fluorescent tubes 10 ( 1 )- 10 ( 7 ) provide a maximum visible light - emitting area 36 cm high by 46 cm wide ( approximately 2850 cm 2 ), with a minimum therapeutically active area 30 cm high by 46 cm wide ( approximately 1350 cm 2 ). as shown in fig1 , the tubes have a generally arcuate central region 10 a and arms 10 b extending from respective ends of the central region . fluorescent tubes are a type of gas discharge lamp . they utilize an electric discharge through a low pressure gas to create a plasma which interacts with a fluorescing phosphor to convert electrical energy into light . a typical fluorescent tube consists of a sealed glass tube with electrodes , or cathodes , at both ends . the tube is internally coated with a uniform luminescent inorganic crystalline phosphor . the tube is filled with a low pressure inert gas , usually argon , to which a small amount of liquid mercury is added prior to sealing . the low internal pressure causes some of the liquid mercury to evaporate resulting in an argon / mercury atmosphere within the tube . application of a sufficiently high voltage potential across the cathodes causes the emission of electrons from the cathode , which diffuse along the length of the tube and ionize the argon / mercury vapor . once ionized , the gas mixture within the tube becomes conductive which permits an electrical current to flow and continue to excite the mercury atoms . the magnitude of the tube current controls the number of excited atoms and hence the light output from the tube . as the excited mercury atoms return to a lower energy state , they emit ultraviolet ( uv ) radiation . this uv radiation is absorbed by the phosphor on the tube wall causing the phosphor to fluoresce , efficiently converting the energy of the principle resonant line of mercury to a longer wavelength . the chemistry of the phosphor material determines the characteristic spectral emission of the light output from the lamp . this can be utilized to tune the wavelength output of the light source to suit the requirements of the application , as is the case in the present invention . the output from a fluorescent tube is not inherently uniform . the output measured in the immediate vicinity of the cathode is typically much lower than the output over the rest of the tube . this occurs because ionized gas in the area near the cathode does not emit as much uv to excite the phosphor . this area of reduced emission is known as the faraday dark space . to avoid uniformity problems , one embodiment of the present invention utilizes a plurality of u - shaped tubes 10 ( 1 )- 10 ( 7 ). this arrangement allows the cathodes and their low output area to be located outside the active emitting area ( effectively behind the patient &# 39 ; s ears ). only the more uniform center portion of the tube output is used for patient treatment . another advantage of the arrangement is that uniformity can also be adjusted by varying the lateral spacing of the tubes ( relative horizontal spacing as shown in fig2 ). this is important since it is necessary to compensate for the fact that the output from a flat plane emitting light source drops near the edges . varying the lateral spacing of the tubes creates the same effect as folding the edges of a larger illuminator in on itself , thus emulating an infinite plane emitter with a compact unit . the u - shape minimizes the variations in distance between the emitter and the target , providing a uniform visible light distribution to the face or scalp of the patient ; the tube dimensions were chosen based on the average dimensions of the adult human head . the mounting of the tubes minimizes the impact of the non - emitting area at their ends . this allows the present invention to be more compact and permits easier centering of the patient &# 39 ; s head within the visible light sources . moreover , the “ u ” shape provides the desired irradiance and irradiance uniformity for scalp and facial irradiation , and thus ensures that the proper visible light dosage is applied to all target areas during pdt . the number of tubes used and the spacing between them were chosen to achieve desired uniformity and power output specifications . optimum output distribution has been found to occur when seven tubes 10 ( 1 )- 10 ( 7 ) are placed in the chassis in a symmetric pattern with respect to opposite edges of the unit with the following approximate lateral spacing : 7 cm between the center tube 10 ( 4 ) and each of the two tubes 10 ( 3 ), 10 ( 5 ) adjacent to the center tube 10 ( 4 ); 5 cm between the tubes 10 ( 3 ), 10 ( 2 ) and 10 ( 5 ), 10 ( 6 ), i . e ., the next pairs of tubes out from the center ; and 3 . 5 cm between tubes 10 ( 2 ), 10 ( 1 ) and 10 ( 6 ), 10 ( 7 ), i . e ., the outermost pairs of tubes at the sides of the unit . the outermost tubes 10 ( 1 ), 10 ( 7 ) are approximately 2 . 5 cm from the edges of the housing . the present invention provides a highly uniform output irradiance without the use of an additional diffusing element . however , it is also envisioned that a diffusing element could also be incorporated into the shield 40 . the fluorescent tubes according to preferred embodiments of the present invention utilize a commercially available phosphor — sr 2 p 2 o 7 : eu — that is used in the diazo blueprinting process . when this phosphor absorbs the uv radiation emitted from the mercury it produces an emission spectrum of blue light with a bandwidth having a range of 30 nm at a peak wavelength of 417 nm ( nominal ). a typical fluorescence emission spectrum of the tubes according to the present invention is shown in fig1 . according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the spectral output is selected to match the absorption spectrum of protoporphyrin ix , the photosensitizing species thought to be formed from ala in target tissue . other visible spectral outputs may be provided when utilizing a different phosphor within the tubes . other visible spectral outputs may also be provided when utilizing other light source technologies . achieving satisfactory performance from a fluorescent tube requires the application of a voltage to the tube cathodes to initiate tube conduction and subsequently control the tube current . fluorescent tubes , being gas discharge devices , are particularly sensitive to the electrical voltages and currents used to drive them . higher tube currents will increase the electron yield causing the output irradiance to increase . but higher currents result in higher cathode temperatures , potentially increasing the erosion of the cathode emitting material and contamination of the tube atmosphere by material removed from the cathodes ; this ultimately results in decreased tube life . tube currents that are too low can result in low tube wall temperatures that may cause condensation of the mercury vapor , adversely affecting the uniformity of the lamp output . furthermore , for most tube designs it is necessary to heat the cathodes to achieve proper tube starting . control of the voltage and / or tube current characteristics , as well as heating of the cathodes is accomplished with external electronic circuitry which is usually engineered and packaged into a single device commonly referred to as a “ ballast .” there are many such ballast designs possible ; they range from simple electromagnetic inductors to sophisticated electronic circuits that optimize and control many aspects of tube operation . according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , each ballast 20 comprises three main functional sections : an input filtering circuit , a power oscillator circuit , and a high frequency output transformer . the input filter circuit rectifies the 120 vac line voltage into an internal dc voltage that can be utilized by the power oscillator . the filter also prevents disturbances on the ac line from adversely affecting the operation of the ballast and prevents oscillator switching transients from feeding back into the ac line . lastly , this circuit provides power factor correction so that the peak ac line current drawn by the ballasts is lower than that for a simple rectifier . it is also possible to operate preferred embodiments of the present invention using dc input voltage . the power oscillator provides the mechanism for electrical energy transfer in each ballast unit 20 ; it consists of a pair of switching transistors coupled to a resonant circuit which includes the output transformer . a small signal from the output transformer is fed back to the input of the switching transistors causing them to oscillate when the dc voltage is applied . energy from this oscillation is coupled through the transformer to the tubes . for this ballast design , the magnitude of the oscillation is proportional to the dc voltage which in turn is proportional to the ac line voltage . because the transformer is also connected to the tube cathodes , the magnitude of the tube current is proportional to the ac line voltage . this is known as a non - constant wattage design and it was chosen to allow adjustment of the output irradiance of the present invention . the high frequency transformer couples energy to the tube , as well as performing several other important functions . it provides electrical transformation of voltage levels and a current limiting impedance in order to supply the correct voltage and current to the tubes to ensure proper and safe operation . it also provides feedback to the oscillator to help stabilize its operation and to supply a mechanism to generate an initial high voltage starting pulse . additional windings of the transformer also provide a current to heat the tube cathodes . this lowers the starting voltage requirements and reduces damage to the cathodes from the initial starting current surge . because of manufacturing variations in the production of the tubes , the output irradiance must be adjusted to meet the requirements for the specific pdt indication . furthermore , the output must be adjusted as the tubes age to compensate for degradation within the tubes themselves . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , ballasts 20 are non - constant wattage ballasts , thus allowing the tube output to be adjusted by changing the input voltage to the ballasts . according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , a 40 % variation is possible through the use of two buck / boost auto - transformers 60 on the ac line . the ballast voltage may be adjusted manually or automatically . according to embodiments of the present invention having manual voltage adjustment , the appropriate ballast voltage is set by a technician manually selecting the taps on two buck / boost auto transformers 60 . since variations in input ac line voltage affect the ballast voltage , external voltage stabilization may be used to improve the stability of the output . another preferred embodiment of the present invention has automatic voltage adjustment including an “ active ” system of microcontroller - activated electronic switches to eliminate the need for external voltage stabilization and the need for technician - adjustment of the ballast voltage as the tube output decreases with use . the microcontroller accepts input signals from optical and voltage sensors and then activates the appropriate electronic switch to maintain output irradiance within specified parameters . the active switching system is also able to correct for changes in power output due to line voltage and temperature variation during treatment ; thus external line voltage stabilization is not required in a preferred embodiment of the present invention having the active switching system . automatic voltage adjustment according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is be described more fully below . according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention , three rapid - start electronic ballasts 20 are utilized to drive seven fluorescent tubes 10 ( 1 )- 10 ( 7 ). two of the ballasts 20 ( 1 ) and 20 ( 3 ) drive two tubes 10 ( 1 ), 10 ( 7 ) and 10 ( 2 ), 10 ( 6 ), respectively , and one ballast 20 ( 2 ) drives three tubes 10 ( 3 )- 10 ( 5 ). these ballasts convert 120 vac line voltage available from a standard wall outlet into a high frequency (˜ 25 khz ) sinusoidal current suitable for driving the fluorescent tubes . high frequency operation is desirable to reduce the optical output ripple which is present in all fluorescent tubes and to increase the overall output . output ripple is a small variation in the tube output related to the sinusoidal alternating tube current used to sustain the plasma arc . in order to utilize the visible light emitted from the back of the tubes , and to increase the uniformity of the output distribution , a reflector 50 is positioned approximately 10 mm from the rear surface of the tubes . the reflector 50 is made of polished aluminum sheet which is bent to approximately conform to the configuration of the tubes . the emitting area of the present invention is covered with a low uv transmission plastic shield 40 . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , plastic shield 40 is made from polycarbonate . when fluorescent tube technology is utilized , there is a small quantity of uv emission present in the output . polycarbonate has very low transmission in the uv region of the spectrum and it effectively filters out any residual uv emission from the visible light output of the unit . the shield 40 also protects the patient from injury in the event of tube breakage . since cathode and tube wall temperatures strongly affect the output distribution , a cooling system is provided to ensure proper bulb operation . according to an embodiment of the present invention , the cooling system comprises vents in the polycarbonate shield 40 , the reflector 50 and the housing 30 , as well as fans 70 to displace cooling air . ambient air enters the present invention through intake vents 42 in the polycarbonate shield 40 . the space between the shield 40 and the reflector 50 creates a first zone ( i . e ., a plenum ) in which the ambient air passes over the tubes 10 ( 1 )- 10 ( 7 ). the ambient air is heated by the tubes , and is transferred from the first zone to a second zone between the reflector 50 and the housing 30 through vents in the reflector 52 . the reflector vents 52 are located at ± 45 ° to provide the proper temperature distribution at the tube walls . heated air is exhausted by four fans 70 through exhaust vents 32 in the housing 30 . according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , a plurality of intake vents 42 ( thirty - six are illustrated ) in the polycarbonate shield 40 are evenly spaced along each edge directly over the cathode area of the tubes . the vents 52 in the reflector 50 are pairs of slots machined in columns from its top to its bottom ; the reflector vents 52 are directly in front of the fans 70 which are located at ± 45 ° from the center of the unit . the straight section of the tube between the cathode area and curved section of the “ u ” tubes produces slightly more output than the center portion of the curved section . this has been attributed to differences in the phosphor coating thickness caused by the bending process . to further increase irradiance uniformity , the reflector vents 52 are located in the reflector 50 so that cooling air flows primarily over the straight section and the end portions of the curved section . less cooling air flows over the middle of the tubes between the sets of reflector vents 52 , causing the tube wall temperature to be higher in this region . since the output irradiance for this tube increases ( to a point ) with tube wall temperature , the hotter central region of the tube produces higher output irradiances than the rest of the tube and compensates for the lower emission efficiency of the central region . the user controls according an embodiment of the present invention include a main power switch 80 located on the back of the housing 30 , and an on / off key switch 90 and a timer 100 , located on a side of the housing 30 . the timer 100 includes an exposure time indicator 102 that displays the remaining treatment time . the main power switch 80 is part of a fused power entry module consisting of a two position rocker switch and an international electrotechnical commission ( iec ) standard power cord connector . pushing the rocker switch to the “ 1 ” position supplies power to the system . the fans 70 will operate but the tubes 10 ( 1 )- 10 ( 7 ) will not light until the key switch 90 is turned on and the timer 100 is set and activated . when the main power switch 80 is in the “ 0 ” position all electrical components within the present invention are disconnected from the ac line . the fused power entry module provides over - current protection to the present invention and current limiting in the event of a power surge ; the main power switch 80 will not apply power to the unit if either fuse in this module has blown . the key switch 90 provides a means by which use of the present invention can be restricted to authorized personnel . according to an embodiment of the present invention , operation of the timer 100 and tubes 10 ( 1 )- 10 ( 7 ) requires inserting the key and rotating it clockwise ¼ turn to the “ on ” position . this activates the timer 100 so that the prescribed exposure time can be entered . according to an embodiment of the present invention , the system timer 100 directly controls the operation of the fluorescent tubes 10 ( 1 )- 10 ( 7 ). it contains three adjustment / control buttons 104 : one start / stop and two time select buttons , as well as the exposure time indicator 102 . the timer 100 is used to set the required exposure time and to initiate visible light exposure . it automatically turns off the present invention tubes after the set exposure time has elapsed . the two time select buttons 104 are preferably membrane switches that enable the user to set the exposure time . depressing the button 104 with the “ up ” arrow increases time and depressing the button 104 with the “ down ” arrow decreases time . when first depressed , these buttons will change the display reading slowly . if they remain depressed , the display will begin to scroll more rapidly . small adjustments to the displayed time can be made by quickly depressing and releasing these buttons . in this manner , the prescribed treatment time may set by the user . the start / stop button 104 is a membrane switch that controls the tube operation ; it toggles between the running and stopped states of the tubes and timer . after the exposure time has been set , depressing this button 104 activates the tubes and initiates the timer countdown sequence . depressing it a second time turns off the tubes and stops the timer , thus providing a means for interrupting treatment if required . if the start / stop button 104 is not pressed a second time , the timer automatically turns off the tubes at the completion of the timer countdown . treatment may also be terminated , if necessary , by rotating the key to the off position or by pushing the main power switch 80 to the “ 0 ” position . the exposure time indicator 102 on the timer 100 is preferably a four digit led display which reads in minutes and seconds . prior to pushing the start / stop button 104 to begin light exposure , the display 102 indicates the exposure time that has been set . when the start / stop button 104 is depressed to initiate treatment , the exposure time indicator 102 will count down and display the amount of exposure time remaining . the tubes will automatically turn off when the display reads “ 00 : 00 .” power is supplied via a three conductor hospital grade electrical cord . the power requirements according to an embodiment of the present invention are 120 vac , 2 . 5 amps , 60 hz ac line voltage input that is stabilized using an external commercial voltage regulator ( e . g ., a sola mcr1000 constant voltage transformer ). according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the need for technician - adjustment of the ballast voltage as the tube output decreases with use is eliminated by providing automatic self - adjustment of the ballast voltage . this has been accomplished by replacing the manual tap selection jumpers with an “ active ” system of microcontroller - activated electronic switches ( fig9 a - 9e ). the microcontroller accepts input signals from optical and voltage sensors and then activates the appropriate electronic switch to maintain output irradiance within specified parameters . the active switching system is able to correct for changes in power output due to line voltage and temperature variation during treatment ; thus external line voltage stabilization is not required according to preferred embodiments of the present invention having automatic adjustment of the ballast voltage . all other components of the automatic ballast voltage adjusting embodiments of the present invention , including the tubes 10 ( 1 )- 10 ( 7 ), ballasts 20 , reflector 50 , and polycarbonate shield 40 , are the same as for the manually adjusted embodiments . according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , an electronic control system 110 consists of six functional blocks . a microcontroller 200 is the central processing unit ; it contains firmware which reads the system sensors , determines the system status , controls the ballast voltage ( and tube output ), and provides user information by way of a system status led 112 ( the firmware is described in detail below ). to achieve output irradiance in the specified range , the microcontroller 200 monitors the tube output via a visible light sensor 120 which is located behind the tube reflector 50 . referring to fig1 , diffuse visible light is provided to the visible light sensor 120 by machining slots 122 ( 3 )- 122 ( 5 ) behind each of the center three tubes 10 ( 3 )- 10 ( 5 ) on the reflector panel 50 just left of the center . a voltage detection circuit 210 tells the microcontroller 200 when the timer 100 has initiated its countdown sequence and also when the maximum allowable ballast voltage has been reached . using input from these sensors , the microcontroller 200 compares the current system status with the values stored during calibration and determines whether ballast voltage adjustment is required . ballast voltage adjustment is accomplished with an electronic switch array interfaced with zero - crossing opto - isolators 222 to the microcontroller output lines . finally , if the system is not functioning properly , or cannot produce output power in the specified operating range , the microprocessor 200 activates the system status led 112 to inform the user . the functional blocks of the electronic control system will now be described in greater detail . according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , a fully programmable embedded microcontroller 200 ( e . g ., microchip pic16f84 ) is provided that incorporates an arithmetic logic unit , system ram , non - volatile storage ram , rom and interface circuitry into a single monolithic integrated circuit . the microcontroller 200 also contains an electronically independent “ watch - dog ” timer circuit which is programmed to reset the cpu in the event of a microcontroller hardware failure or a firmware execution error . the microcontroller 200 interfaces . with the system sensors , the system status led 112 and the electronic switch array via twelve programmable digital i / o lines . system calibration parameters are stored in the on - chip non - volatile ram and all system firmware for controlling regulator functions is contained within the on - chip rom storage . firmware is programmed into rom and verified using external programming hardware . according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the visible light sensor 120 ( e . g ., a texas instruments tsl230b photosensor ) is used to detect the tube output , and the output of the visible light sensor 120 is used as the regulation criterion . in the case of the tsl230b photosensor , a large area photodiode and an integrated current - to - frequency converter provide an output signal to the microcontroller as a series of digital pulses . the direct conversion of the optical signal to a digital format reduces circuit complexity and eliminates calibration and drift problems associated with analog circuitry . the visible light sensor 120 is located behind the central tube 10 ( 4 ) and the reflector panel 50 just to the left of center . in order to monitor the visible light contribution from multiple tubes , three slots 122 ( 3 )- 122 ( 5 ) are machined into the reflector 50 behind the central three tubes 10 ( 3 )- 10 ( 5 ). the cross sectional area and position of these slots 122 ( 3 )- 122 ( 5 ) are such that the visible light sensor 120 receives equally weighted inputs from the three bulbs 10 ( 3 )- 10 ( 5 ). according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the ratio of the cross - sectional areas for any two selected slots is proportional to the inverse squares of the selected slots &# 39 ; distances from the visible light sensor 120 . the visible light sensor 120 is covered with a filter to match its spectral responsivity to that of the optometer which was used as the metering standard for calibration . additionally , the visible light sensor 120 is covered with a glass - diffuser to further minimize the positional dependence of the detector relative to the reflector slots 122 ( 3 )- 122 ( 5 ). the voltage detection circuit 210 performs a dual function : it coordinates microcontroller operation with the system timer 100 and informs the microcontroller 200 when the maximum permissible ballast voltage has been reached . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention ( referring to fig9 b ), the voltage detection circuit 210 comprises a cd4046 cmos phase lock loop ( pll ) 214 used as a voltage controlled oscillator ( vco ). a sample of the line voltage present on the ballast is rectified and used both to provide power to the cd4046 and to drive the vco input . this arrangement enables the circuit to produce a digital pulse train whose frequency is proportional to ballast voltage . the pulse train is coupled via an opto - isolator 212 to the microcontroller 200 which determines the ballast voltage by measuring the pulse period . detection of system timer state is accomplished by placing the timer relay contacts in series with the ballast supply leads . when the timer 100 is off ( e . g ., no treatment ), no voltage is present to drive either the voltage detection circuit 210 or the ballasts 20 . upon detecting this condition , the microcontroller 200 resets the system variables and loops until a pulse train ( voltage ) is present . upon initiation of the timer countdown sequence , the timer relay contacts close , supplying voltage to the voltage detection circuit 210 and ballasts 20 . when the presence of a pulse train is detected by the microcontroller 200 , it commences regulation ( see below ). although the regulator circuit can adjust the ballast voltage , treatment duration is hardware - controlled by the timer 100 through the series wiring of the relay contacts . once the visible light treatment has been initiated , the microcontroller 200 monitors the vco pulse train and compares it with a value stored in memory during unit setup and calibration . if the measured value exceeds the stored value , further increases in ballast voltage are inhibited . the value stored in the microcontroller memory corresponds to the ballast voltage at one transformer tap setting less than its maximum rated operating voltage , preventing selection of a transformer tap setting that would exceed the maximum ballast voltage . this technique minimizes unnecessary switching and ensures that the ballast voltage does not exceed its maximum rated operating voltage ( 133 vac in a preferred embodiment of the present invention ) at any time . referring to fig9 d and 9e , the electronic switch array for transformer tap selection comprises six thyristor electronic switches 220 which connect the ballast input lines and the voltage selection taps on the buck / boost auto - transformers 60 . the thyristor switches 220 control gates electro - optically coupled to the microcontroller 200 . the microcontroller 200 thus increases or decreases the voltage applied to the ballasts 20 ( increasing or decreasing the tube output ) by energizing the appropriate control gates to select the appropriate taps . according to preferred embodiments of the present invention , the system status indicator 112 shows when the output irradiance is not within specifications or when a control system failure has occurred . inspection with a separate power meter is not necessary . in one preferred embodiment of the present invention , the system status indicator 112 comprises a single led which indicates the functional status of the system using a coded flash rate . immediately after the key is first turned to the “ on ” position , the led flashes three times to indicate that the system function is normal and is ready for use . if this fails to occur , either the led or microcontroller is not functioning correctly , or the , key switch 90 has been turned on , off , and on again too quickly for the microcontroller 200 to reset the led control . if the led does not flash three times after shutting off the power for several seconds and restarting it , the unit should not be used . rapid flashing immediately after the key switch 90 is turned on indicates there is a checksum error in the microcontroller 200 . this occurs when a problem exists with the values stored in the microcontroller memory for the optical regulation and ballast voltage limits . in this instance , the unit is not operational and will not light . if slow flashing occurs after timed treatment has been initiated , and the regulator attempts and fails 10 times to reduce the tube output to within the specified range , this indicates that the output may be too high and the ballast voltage cannot be further reduced . this may result from a microcontroller or component failure . if the led slowly flashes during treatment , the treatment should be discontinued because the output power may be higher than the specified maximum . if a steady glow occurs after timed treatment has been initiated , and the regulator attempts and fails 10 times to increase the tube output to within the specified range , this indicates that the output power may be too low and the ballast voltage cannot be further increased . if the led glows steadily during treatment , but does not flash , the treatment may be continued , although the efficacy may be reduced as a result of low tube output . the led will turn off if the output irradiance subsequently increases to above the minimum specified limit . the microcontroller firmware has three main executable firmware modules : power - on setup , calibration and regulation . only the power - on setup and the regulation modules execute during patient treatments . the power - on setup module runs only at microcontroller power up when the key switch 90 is inserted and turned to “ on .” at this time , the system variables are reset and calibration values stored in non - volatile ram are retrieved . additionally , a checksum calculation is performed and compared against a stored checksum . any mismatch causes the firmware to shut down the system and initiate the led rapid flashing code . once successful startup has been achieved , control is transferred to the regulation module . upon entering the regulation module , the microcontroller 200 enters a voltage detection loop until it detects either a pulse train from the voltage circuit or contact closure on one of the technician - accessible service buttons / jumpers . the internal clock and the error flags are reset in this loop . if contact service closure is detected , control is transferred to the calibration module ( see below ). after the exposure time has been set on the timer 100 and the “ start ” button 104 has been pressed , the microcontroller 200 detects the pulse train produced by the vco , and enters the main regulation loop . this starts the internal clock ( independent of the timer ). the main regulation loop reads the output of the vco , the visible light sensor 120 , and the internal clock ; selects a new tap switch ( if required ); and displays any system errors every three seconds according to the algorithm described below . loop execution continues until the timer terminates the treatment and the vco pulse train . when the timer countdown sequence is first initiated , the microcontroller 200 sets up the switch array to apply line voltage to the ballasts 20 . during the first 2 . 5 minutes of the treatment ( as determined from the internal clock ), the visible light sensor 120 measures the tube output , and appropriate transformer taps are selected to keep the output irradiance between half the stored minimum and maximum regulation limits ( 9 . 3 and 10 . 7 mw / cm 2 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention ). this is done to provide optimum tube warm - up while maintaining output irradiance within the specified limits . to allow sufficient time for the output to be within the required range at five minutes after any ballast voltage adjustment , the microcontroller 200 switches the minimum regulation limit to the stored value ( 9 . 3 mw / cm 2 in a preferred embodiment of the present invention ) after the first two and a half minutes of operation ; the maximum limit remains unchanged . since the regulation limits are not modified beyond this point , the output irradiance will remain within these limits until treatment is terminated . if the output cannot be maintained between the regulation limits , the system error flags activate the system status led . a system error is not reported until the regulator has made ten attempts to correct the condition . this allows time for the tubes to respond to adjustment and to prevent “ nuisance ” error indications . during each loop , the microcontroller 200 measures the ballast voltage via the vco and sets an inhibit flag if the voltage is at maximum . while this action does not directly cause an error , one may be indicated if the system output is too low but cannot be raised due to the inhibit flag . if the timer 100 has terminated the treatment , the vco pulse train is no longer present , and the microcontroller 200 returns to the voltage detection loop until a new treatment is initiated . data for the calibration module is established prior to clinical installation . the maximum allowable ballast voltage for the voltage detection circuit 210 and the visible light sensor 120 signals corresponding to the minimum and maximum regulation limits are programmed into the microcontroller memory using a setup / calibration algorithm . to set the maximum ballast voltage , a voltage calibration jumper on the printed circuit board is shorted , causing the microcontroller 200 to enter the voltage calibration mode . a variac is used to adjust the ballast voltage to one transformer tap setting below the maximum allowable ballast voltage ( 127 vac in a preferred embodiment of the present invention ). shorting the voltage calibration jumper a second time stores both this voltage value and a checksum in the microcontroller non - volatile memory . each time the voltage calibration jumper is shorted , the system status led flashes to indicate that the action has been completed . next , the maximum and minimum regulation limits are stored in the microcontroller memory by switching to the optical calibration mode . a reference udt optometer ( e . g ., a udt s370 power meter with a 247 detector / cosine diffuser assembly ), is placed at a reference point . according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the reference point is 3 ″ from the polycarbonate shield 40 at the center of the therapeutically active area . the ballast voltage is adjusted with a variac to obtain the desired maximum irradiance on the optometer . the corresponding output signal from the visible light sensor 120 is input to microcontroller memory as the maximum output limit . this procedure is repeated , adjusting the output to obtain the desired minimum irradiance on the optometer and setting the minimum limit of the regulator . finally , a checksum is stored and the microcontroller 200 returns to the power - on setup module , commencing normal operation . as with the voltage calibration , the system status led flashes each time calibration data has been stored . it has been found that , according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the measured output over the active emitting area is within 70 % of the measured maximum when measured with a cosine response detector at distances of 4 ″ and 2 ″, and within 60 % of the measured maximum over all operation distances . one example of a treatment method for precancerous lesions , such as actinic keratosis , by pdt utilizing an illuminator described above in conjunction with 5 - aminolevulinic acid ( ala ) will now be described . essentially anhydrous ala is admixed with a liquid diluent just prior to its use . the ala admixture is topically applied to the lesions using a point applicator to control dispersion of the ala admixture . a suitable applicator is described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 962 , 294 ( filed oct . 31 , 1997 ), and ala is generally discussed further in u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 921 , 664 ( filed sep . 2 , 1997 ). the entire contents of these applications are incorporated herein by reference . after the initial application of the ala admixture has dried , one or more subsequent applications may be similarly applied . approximately 2 mg / cm 2 of ala is administered . formation of photosensitive porphyrin and photosensitization of the treated lesions occurs over the next 14 - 18 hours , during which time exposure to direct sunlight or other bright light sources should be minimized . between 14 and 18 hours after administration of the ala , the lesions are irradiated by an illuminator according to the present invention . the illuminator irradiates the lesions with a uniform blue light for a prescribed period . according to a preferred treatment , the visible light has a nominal wavelength of 417 nm . the invention thus provides a method for photodynamically diagnosing or treating a contoured surface of a patient which includes providing the illuminator described above , placing the patient in the illuminator , and illuminating the patient to diagnose or treat the patient . as described in the documents referred to above , the patient may be illuminated to treat actinic keratoses , acne , photo damaged skin , cancer , warts , or psoriasis . the method can also be used to remove hair and diagnose cancer . since total light dose ( j / cm 2 )= irradiance ( w / cm 2 )× time ( sec ), the only additional parameter that needs to be controlled for delivery of the correct treatment light dose is exposure time . this is accomplished in a preferred embodiment of the present invention by the timer which controls electrical power to the ballasts and which can be set by the physician . data has shown that 10 j / cm 2 delivered from a source with an irradiance density of 10 mw / cm 2 produces clinically acceptable results . from the equation above , this light dose will require an exposure time of 1000 seconds ( 16 min . 40 sec ). a selected light dose may also be administered by additionally or alternatively varying the irradiance density . additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art . therefore , the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details , and representative devices , shown and described herein . accordingly , various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents . | 0 |
the present invention provides a method and apparatus for providing diagnostic information for determining the operational or performance status of a system for preventative maintenance purposes . the present invention permits the prediction of failures in a fluid power circuit including determination of possibly failing components and failure causes . a prediction of the life cycle of the system or its components under the conditions of a particular application may also be obtained . the present invention uses a minimum number of sensors in the system in order to provide the necessary information . referring to fig1 , a fluid power system , such as pneumatic system 10 , generally includes a valve 12 , which is operatively connected to an actuator 14 . actuator 14 may include a drive component 14 a such as a piston which is attached to a piston rod 14 b . the valve 12 receives a signal from a controller 16 , which causes the valve 12 to shift at the predetermined time when movement of the actuator 14 is desired . a system may include a plurality of valves and actuators with the controller coordinating the actuation of the various valves in order to achieve the desired actuator response . in a cyclic system , the system is designed to operate through a particular repeatable cycle . accordingly , the actuation of the valve and corresponding actuator movement is repeated many times . the present invention utilizes variations in a system characteristic over time in order to determine the operational fitness of the system and its components . the present invention preferably utilizes one characteristic of the system to predict failures . in the preferred embodiment , the system characteristic is the flow rate q . integrating the flow rate q over the cycle time t provides a diagnostic value k , also referred to as the flow integral , which can be used to predict preventative maintenance requirements . specifically , the diagnostic value k is calculated using the following algorithm : the characteristic value of the system , i . e . flow rate , can be measured by a transducer or sensor of a type which is known in the art . by integrating the flow rate q over a certain time period , the volume of fluid consumed for that period is determined . a change in the amount of fluid consumed is indicative of changes in the system &# 39 ; s operational status . for example , a system that is leaking air will consume more air than when it was not leaking resulting in an increase in the k value . this change in the diagnostic value is used to indicate that maintenance is required . the integration may be performed in calculating unit 20 shown schematically in fig1 . calculating unit 20 may include a processor 20 a that may be in the form of a microprocessor or in the form of discrete components such as op amps and resisters . if a digital microprocessor is employed , an analog to digital converter 20 c may be used to convert an analog signal generated by the sensor to a digital signal , which can be processed by the microprocessor . calculation unit 20 may also include a memory storage device 20 b to temporarily store information used in the calculation process . the integration of q is preferably done over cycle time t . cycle time t may be the time for one complete cycle of a cyclic system . for example , as shown in fig2 , in a cyclic pneumatic system including a valve and piston driven cylinder , the full cycle time , t , includes the time from valve actuation t 1 until the cylinder piston has returned to its initial position t 5 . cycle time t may be measured and calculated by a programmable logic controller , plc , which may also be used to control the entire fluid power system . cycle time t would be the time it takes to complete one cycle . alternatively , the cycle time t may be calculated using limit switches on a fluid power actuator , such as a linear drive , with the limit switches indicating the two end positions of the cylinder and wherein movement of the piston from one end to the other and back again constitutes one cycle . in a preferred embodiment , cycle time t may equal the entire time for one complete cycle as shown in fig2 . one complete cycle being the time period defined by an actuation of the valve t 1 and a return of the piston to an initial position t 5 . by integrating over the entire cycle time , any deviation from normal operating parameters may be diagnosed regardless of where the problem occurs in the cycle . such deviations may include leakage , excess friction , etc . it is also within the contemplation of the present invention that the period of integration may be chosen to include only part of a full cycle . for example , the integration may be done over the time of piston movement , s , which is period t 2 to t 3 shown in fig2 . in this case the algorithm would include an integration of q over time t 2 to t 3 . alternatively , t may equal the time of valve actuation , u , shown in fig2 as time period t 1 to t 4 k = ∫ t1 t4 q ⅆ t . by limiting the time period to a certain period , a particular component of the system , such as the cylinder , can be more specifically monitored . for example , integrating flow rate q over the time period t 2 to t 3 , provides the diagnostic value k , which in this case is the volume of fluid for the period of piston forward movement . if this value deviates beyond an acceptable parameter , them a problem with the cylinder , such as leakage , may be diagnosed . it is further within the contemplation of the present invention that monitoring of both the entire cycle and portions of the cycle can be performed in order to provide information about the status of the system . in an alternative embodiment of the present invention , the cycle time use for integrating the flow can be derived from the flow q itself . the flow rate q generated by flow sensor 18 can be mathematically differentiated as follows : l , therefore , is the rate of change of the flow over time . in a system having an actuator such as a cylinder , this value can be used to determine the beginning and the end of cylinder movement . it is desirable to integrate the flow q over this period in the cycle . the ability to determine when cylinder movement begins or ends is useful in determining the period over which to integrate the flow in order to determine the diagnostic value k . the behavior of a pneumatic system is graphically represented in fig2 . this graph depicts the response over time of the valve actuation , or signal , voltage u , pressure p , flow q and cylinder piston position s . at t 1 the valve actuation voltage , u , is switched on and the valve opens . a minor flow condition occurs as the tubing running to the cylinder is filled with air . the pressure p builds up in the system until the pneumatic force is larger than the frictional and external forces on the piston . at t 2 , the cylinder piston starts to move ( s & gt ; 0 ). the pressure , p , changes only a small amount depending on the air supply and its ability to supply an adequate amount of air . the flow , q , sharply rises as air fills the cylinder . the cylinder reaches its end position at t 3 and the flow again sharply changes , this time decreasing significantly between t 3 and t 4 . for the time period t 3 to t 4 , the cylinder remains at its end position ( s = fully extended ) and the full pressure , p , is applied to the cylinder piston . the flow q decreases to zero depending on compressibility , leakage and other factors . after t 4 , the solenoid voltage u is zero . the pressure p decreases to zero , and the piston may return to its original position ( s = 0 ) with the flow being negligible . at t 5 , the piston has returned to its initial position . as demonstrated by the graph of fig2 , the flow q has well defined changes in its slope , or rate of change , at t 2 and t 3 which is the period of piston movement . when a fluid power cylinder piston begins to move , the flow rate changes rapidly as the fluid fills the ever - increasing volume created by the moving piston . this sharp change in flow rate , which occurs upon piston movement , can be detected by differentiating the flow that results in a rate of change value . likewise , when the cylinder piston comes to an end position , the flow decreases sharply as the cylinder volume becomes fixed . the significant rate of change of the flow at t 3 can be easily calculated by differentiating the flow . the calculation device can be configured , such as through software , to look for a predetermined rate of change of the flow q , dq / dt , at or above a certain value . for example , a positive predetermined increase in the flow rate would indicate the time t 2 for integration purposes and a predetermined decrease in the flow rate would indicate the time t 3 for integration purposes in the algorithm k = ∫ t2 t3 q ⅆ t . in this case , t equals t 3 − t 2 . accordingly , the start and stop time of a fluid power cylinder can be determined by differentiating the flow rate q . while the piston movement could be determined using positioned sensors , the use of the value l eliminates the need , and associated expense and complexity , for extra components . in the present invention , the flow is already sensed to determine the diagnostic k value ; therefore , no additional sensors are required . the calculation unit that is configured to integrate the flow can also be configured to process the differential of the flow l . it has been found that the diagnostic value k , also referred to as the flow integral , varies with the operational condition of the system . therefore , it can be used for diagnosis and enables an easy statistical analysis and / or pattern recognition with a failure diagnosis of the pneumatic system or circuit . the integration of system flow over the cycle time provides the volume of fluid employed in a given cycle . in a fluid power system , as the components wear and reach the end of their cycle life , seals begin to degrade . such degradation allows air to flow past the seals causing a leaking condition . fig3 illustrates graphically a leak condition in which case the volume of fluid increases over the normal volume of a non - leaking system . this increase in volume is reflected in the diagnostic value k that is an integral of the flow rate q . in a pneumatic cylinder if the seals are worn to permit leakage , the flow to move that particular cylinder is increased . in addition , if bearings on a pneumatic cylinder begin to wear causing increased loading on the system , more pressure will be required to move the cylinder . in order to have this increased pressure , a greater volume of air is required . therefore , the flow would also show an increase . accordingly , a change in the volume of fluid per cycle indicates a system whose components are beginning to fail . it is the integration of the flow over cycle time which averages out peeks and valleys caused by temporary events thereby eliminating unwanted influences on measuring . accordingly , changes in the diagnostic value k demonstrate a change in the operational condition of the system and are used to alert operators of the need to perform maintenance . the calculated k values may be subjected to statistical analysis in order to develop a trend in changing k values . for example , the k values generated may be sampled over a predetermined number of cycles and averaged to determine a mean value , which is then compared to an acceptable range of deviation . in this example , the k value for every 100 cycles could be captured and averaged over 1000 cycles . the average k value would then be evaluated to determine system condition . it is within the contemplation of the present invention that any of a number of statistical methods well known in the art could be employed to determine an average or mean k value , k ave . in order to determine the acceptable limit of k values for a particular system , a system having new components may be initially run to determine a particular diagnostic k value for that system . this could be done for each individual system . alternatively , if several systems are being produced having the same design , then a diagnostic value could be determined for one such system and applied to the other similar systems . depending on the system , an acceptable change in k value would be established . this could be set up as a range or a percentage change in the value . if the diagnostic value k changes a certain percentage or falls outside a particular range , a signal could be sent to an operator indicating that the circuit is in need of maintenance . the present invention may be employed in a wide variety of cyclic systems . in the preferred embodiment , as shown in the schematic of fig1 , the present invention is employed in a fluid power system . the fluid power system 10 may include a variety of valves 12 operably connected to actuators 14 by fluid supply lines 15 . one such valve and actuator is schematically represented in fig1 . the system 10 may be driven by a control device 16 such as a plc or other control device as is well known in the art . the control device 16 may be operatively connected to the various valves and actuators that make up the system and generates a control signal 17 , which actuates valve 12 . the location of flow sensor 18 can be chosen based upon the particular component in the system that is to be monitored . in a pneumatic system including a valve and cylinder , if the sensor were positioned to sense the flow in the fluid supply line to the valve , then the condition of the valve and cylinder would be reflected in the k value . alternatively , if the sensor were disposed in the system to sense the flow between the valve and cylinder , then the condition of the cylinder would be reflected in the k value . the present invention contemplates that one or more flow sensors could be located in various locations throughout the system to assist in determining the condition of the system and its components . in operation , the apparatus of the present invention may include flow sensor 18 for monitoring the flow in the system and generating a flow signal 19 . flow sensor 18 may be of a type commercially available and well known in the art , such as an in - line paddle wheel device , which emits a voltage proportional to the sensed flow rate . flow sensor 18 may be located in the air supply line 15 to valve 12 . the flow signal 19 is fed to calculating unit 20 . in the preferred embodiment , calculating unit 20 includes a digital microprocessor 20 a , a memory storage device 20 b , and an analog to digital ( a to d ) converter 20 c . the flow signal 19 may be analog in nature and converted to digital form by a to d converter 20 c . calculating unit may also be operatively connected to controller 16 . controller 16 may provide calculating unit 20 with a cycle time signal 22 . calculation unit 20 alternatively could include an integration circuit consisting of op - amps and resisters as is well known in the art . based on information produced by flow signal 19 and cycle time signal 22 , the calculation unit 20 integrates the flow rate value q over cycle time 0 to t to generate the k value . the calculation of the k value may be performed at a predetermined number of cycles and averaged over another predetermined number of cycles . an average k value , k ave , may then calculated by the calculating unit 20 . the k ave value is then compared to stored information , which may include an acceptable range of values , to determine if the calculated k ave value is within a particular acceptable range . the result of the comparison may generate system diagnostic information which may displayed on notification device 24 which is operatively connected to the calculation unit . if the calculated k ave is within limits , then a normal operational status may be generated and displayed . the k ave value may also be displayed . if the calculated k ave value falls outside of the acceptable range , an alert may be generated on notification device 24 to alert a user that the system is in need of maintenance . the notification and displays may be in the form of a signal light or audible signal or a message on a visual display . this notification may be displayed on the machine and / or transmitted to a central location such as a plant operator &# 39 ; s computer terminal . in an alternative embodiment , calculation unit 20 may also differentiate the flow value q to determine the beginning and end of a cycle as set forth above with respect to fig2 . in this embodiment , the need to have the cycle time signal 22 inputted into calculation unit 20 would be unnecessary . since only one characteristic of the system needs to be tracked , only a limited amount of data need be collected and stored in order to predict the remaining cycle life of the system . in an alternative embodiment , a change in diagnostic value and a change in cycle times are calculated to provide information regarding the service life of a system . the diagnostic value is evaluated over a plurality of system cycles in order to determine a change in the diagnostic value . the time for completing the cycle time is also evaluated over the plurality of system cycles to determine a change in the cycle time . at predetermined times , the change in the diagnostic value may be compared to the change in the cycle time to determine the performance status of the system . in this embodiment , the diagnostic value k is the integral of the flow q as described above . it has been found that as this value increases and the cycle time remains the same , leakage problems are occurring in the system . it has also been found that as the cycle diagnostic value k increases and the cycle time increases , there is likely an increase in mechanical load or friction in the cylinder . in order to implement this process , the calculation unit 20 calculates and stores in memory device 20 b k values and cycle times t , t being the time it takes to complete a cycle . at a predetermined number of cycles , the change in cycle times δt is calculated , as is the change in diagnostic value δk . the δt and δk are then compared with the results of this comparison and may be outputted to a display or other signal device in order to alert a user of the particular problem , i . e ., leakage or increased mechanical load . for example , the diagnostic value k 1 , is calculated at a first time period t 1 . this diagnostic value at t 1 is compared to the diagnostic value k 2 calculated at a second time period t 2 to determine the diagnostic value delta δk , which is k 2 − k 1 . the cycle time at a first time period t 1 is compared to the cycle time at a second time period t 2 to obtain a cycle time delta δt , which is t 2 − t 1 . the diagnostic value delta δk is then compared to the cycle time delta δt to obtain an operational status of the system . this method relies only on a flow sensor and a time signal generated by a controller , so there is no need for additional sensors or components . while there have been described what is presently believed to be the preferred embodiments to the invention , those skilled in the art will realize that various changes and modifications may be made to the invention without departing from the scope of the invention , and it is intended to claim all such changes and modifications as fall within the true scope of the invention . | 5 |
the following description is of the best - contemplated mode of carrying out the invention . this description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense . the scope of the invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims . fig3 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a sense amplifier of the invention . the first current mirror unit 31 coupled to a high voltage source vdd has a first output 31 a and a second output 31 b , and outputs a current i 1 via the second output 31 b and a current i 2 via the first output 31 a based on a current source ( not shown in fig3 ), wherein i 2 is twice of i 1 . the second current mirror 32 coupled to the high voltage source has a output 32 a and outputs a current i ref via the output 32 a based on a reference current source ( not shown in fig3 ). the third current mirror 33 coupled to the first output 31 a , second output 31 b , output 32 a and ground takes the current i 1 as the reference of the third current mirror 33 . the first impedor 34 coupled to the first output 31 a and ground has impedance z 1 . the second impedor 35 coupled to the output 32 a and ground has impedance z 2 . since the third current mirror 33 takes the current i 1 as the reference current and the currents input to third current mirror 33 from the first output 31 a and the output 32 a are also the current i 1 , thus the current passing through the first impedor 34 is current i 1 and the current passing through the second impedor is ( i ref − i 1 ). in this embodiment , the current i 1 is acquired by applying a predetermined voltage on a memory cell . when the data stored by the memory cell is logic 1 , the current i 1 is i h and when the data stored by the memory cell is logic 1 , the current i 1 is i l . in this embodiment , the reference current i ref is ( i h + i l ). when the data stored by the memory cell is logic 1 , the current i 1 is i h and the current passing through the second impedor is i l , thus , the voltage of the node 37 is ( i h × z 1 ) and the voltage of node 38 is ( i l × z 2 ). the comparator 36 outputs a voltage difference ( i h × z 1 − i l × z 2 ) based on the voltages of nodes 37 and 38 , and when the impedance z 1 is equal to z 2 , the voltage difference is ( i h − i l )× z 1 . fig4 is a circuit diagram of an embodiment of the first current mirror 31 of fig3 of the invention . pmos transistor t 1 has a first source , a first drain and a first gate , wherein the first source is coupled to the high voltage source vdd and the first gate and first drain are coupled to a memory cell source 41 for generating the memory cell current i 1 . pmos transistor t 2 has a second source , a second drain and a second gate , wherein the second source is coupled to the high voltage source vdd , the second gate is coupled to the first gate and the second drain is coupled to the first output 31 a . pmos transistor t 3 has a third source , a third drain and a third gate , wherein the third source is coupled to the high voltage source vdd , the third gate is coupled to the first gate and the third drain is coupled to the second output 31 b . in fig4 , the w / l of the transistor t 2 is twice the w / l of the transistor t 3 , thus the current passing through the transistor t 2 is twice the current passing through the transistor t 3 . fig5 is a circuit diagram of an embodiment of the second current mirror 32 of fig3 of the invention . pmos transistor t 4 has a fourth source , a fourth drain and a fourth gate , wherein the fourth source is coupled to the high voltage source vdd and the fourth drain is coupled to the output 32 a . pmos transistor t 5 has a fifth source , a fifth drain and a fifth gate , wherein the fifth source is coupled to the high voltage source vdd , the fifth drain and fifth gate are coupled to the fourth gate and a reference memory cell current source 51 generating the reference current i ref . in fig5 , the w / l of the transistor t 4 is equal to the w / l of the transistor t 5 , thus , the output 32 a outputs the reference current i ref . fig6 is a circuit diagram of an embodiment of the third current mirror 33 of fig3 of the invention . nmos transistor t 7 has a seventh source , a seventh drain and a seventh gate , wherein the seventh source and the seventh gate are coupled to the second output 31 b for receiving the current i 1 and the seventh drain is coupled to ground . in the third current mirror 33 , the current passing through the transistor t 7 , i 1 , is taken as the reference current source of the third current mirror 33 . nmos transistor t 6 has a sixth source , a sixth drain and a sixth gate , wherein the sixth source is coupled to ground , the sixth drain is coupled to the first output 31 a and the sixth gate is coupled to the seventh gate . nmos transistor t 8 has a eighth source , a eighth drain and a eighth gate , wherein the eighth drain is coupled to 32 a , the eighth gate is coupled to the seventh gate and the eighth source is coupled to ground . in fig6 , the w / l values of transistors t 6 , t 7 and t 8 are the same , thus , the current passing through the first impedor 34 is i 1 and the current passing through the second impedor , i 4 , is ( i ref − i 1 ). fig7 is a circuit diagram of another embodiment of the sense amplifier of the invention . the first source / drains of transistors t 71 , t 72 , t 73 , t 74 and t 75 are coupled to a high voltage source vdd . the gates of transistor t 71 and t 72 are coupled to the gate of transistor t 73 . the gate and the second source / drain of transistor t 71 are coupled to memory cell current source 71 generating the memory cell current i cell by applying a predetermined voltage on a memory cell . when the data stored in the memory cell is logic 1 , the current of the memory , by applying a predetermined voltage , is i h and when the data stored in the memory cell is logic 0 , the current of the memory , by applying a predetermined voltage , is i l . the second source / drain of transistor t 72 is coupled to the first source / drain of transistor t 76 and one node of first impedor 72 , wherein the first impedor 72 has impedance z load . in fig7 , the w / l of transistor t 72 is twice the w / l of transistor t 73 , thus , the current passing through the transistor t 72 is twice the current passing transistor t 73 . the second source / drain of transistor t 73 is coupled to the first source drain and the gate of transistor t 77 . the gate of transistor t 74 is coupled to the gate and the second source / drain of transistor t 75 . the second source / drain of transistor t 74 is coupled to the first source / drain of transistor t 78 and one node of the second impedor , wherein the second impedor 73 has impedance z load . the second source / drain of transistor t 75 is coupled to a reference current source 74 generating a reference current i ref by applying the predetermined voltage on a reference memory cell . in fig7 , the reference current i ref is the sum of i h and i l . the second source / drain of transistors t 76 , t 77 and t 78 are connected to ground . when the data stored in the memory cell is logic 1 , the current of the memory cell is i h ( i cell = i h ) a current mirror comprising transistors t 76 , t 77 and t 78 takes the current i h passing through the transistor t 77 as the reference current , thus , the current passing through the transistor t 76 and the first impedor 72 is i h . transistors t 74 and t 75 forms a current mirror , thus , the current passing through the transistor t 74 is the reference current i ref . the current i ref is input to transistor t 78 and the second impedor 73 , and the current passing through the transistor t 78 is i h , thus , the current passing through the second impedor 73 is i l . comparator 75 is coupled to the first impedor 72 and the second impedor 73 and outputs a voltage v out based on the voltages v o and v ob . in the present embodiment , the voltage v o is ( i h × z load ) and the voltage v ob is ( i l × z load ), thus , when the data stored in memory cell is logic 1 , the sensing voltage range , v out , is ( i h − i l )× z load . when the data stored in the memory cell is logic 0 , the current of the memory cell is i l ( i cell = i l ) a current mirror comprising transistors t 76 , t 77 and t 78 takes the current i l passing through the transistor t 77 as the reference current , thus , the current passing through the transistor t 76 and the first impedor 72 is i l . transistors t 74 and t 75 form a current mirror , thus , the current passing through the transistor t 74 is the reference current i ref . the current i ref is input to transistor t 78 and the second impedor 73 , and the current passing through the transistor t 78 is i l , thus , the current passing through the second impedor 73 is i h . comparator 75 is coupled to the first impedor 72 and the second impedor 73 and outputs a voltage v out based on the voltages v o and v ob . in the present embodiment , the voltage v o is ( i l × z load ) and the voltage v ob is ( i h × z load ), thus , when the data stored in memory cell is logic 1 , the sensing voltage range , v out , is ( i l − i h )× z load . compared with the sense amplifiers of fig1 and fig2 , the sense amplifier of fig7 increases the sensing voltage range and reduces the layout area . fig8 is a circuit diagram of another embodiment of the sense amplifier of the invention . the first source / drains of transistors t 86 , t 87 and t 88 are coupled to a high voltage source vdd , and the gate of transistor t 86 is coupled to the gates of transistors t 87 and t 88 . the second source / drain of the transistor t 86 is coupled to the first source / drain of the transistor t 83 . the second source / drain of transistor t 83 is coupled to the first source / drain of transistor t 81 and the second impedor 83 . memory cell current source 81 coupled to the high voltage source vdd , the first source / drain and gate of transistor t 81 generates a memory cell current i cell by applying a predetermined voltage on a memory cell . when the data stored in the memory cell is logic 1 , the current of the memory , by applying a predetermined voltage , is i h and when the data stored in the memory cell is logic 0 , the current of the memory , by applying a predetermined voltage , is i l . reference current source 84 coupled to the high voltage source vdd , the first source / drain and gate of transistor t 81 generates a reference current i ref by applying a predetermined voltage on a reference memory cell and in this embodiment , the reference current i ref is the sum of i h and i l . the second source / drains of transistors t 81 , t 82 , t 83 , t 84 and t 85 are coupled to ground , the gate of transistor t 81 is coupled to the gates of transistor t 82 and t 83 , and the gate of transistor t 84 is coupled to the gate of transistor t 85 . in fig8 , the w / l of transistor t 82 is twice the w / l of transistor t 81 , thus , the current passing through the transistor t 82 is twice the current passing transistor t 81 . furthermore , the first impedor 82 and second impedor 83 have impedance z load . when the data stored in the memory cell is logic 1 , the current of the memory cell is i h ( i cell = i h ). a current mirror comprising transistors t 86 , t 87 and t 88 takes the current i h passing through the transistor t 87 as the reference current , thus , the current passing through the transistor t 86 and the first impedor 82 is i h . transistors t 84 and t 85 form a current mirror , thus , the current passing through the transistor t 84 is the reference current i ref . the current i ref is input to transistor t 88 and the second impedor 83 , and the current passing through the transistor t 88 is i h , thus , the current passing through the second impedor 83 is i l . comparator 85 is coupled to the first impedor 82 and the second impedor 83 and outputs a voltage v out based on the voltages v o and v ob . in the present embodiment , the voltage v o is ( vdd − i h × z load ) and the voltage v ob is ( vdd − i l × z load ), thus , when the data stored in memory cell is logic 1 , the sensing voltage range , v out , is ( i h − i l )× z load . when the data stored in the memory cell is logic 0 , the current of the memory cell is i l ( i cell = i l ) a current mirror made of transistors t 86 , t 87 and t 88 takes the current i l passing through the transistor t 87 as the reference current , thus , the current passing through the transistor t 86 and the first impedor 82 is i l . transistors t 84 and t 85 form a current mirror , thus , the current passing through the transistor t 84 is the reference current i ref . the current i ref is input to transistor t 88 and the second impedor 83 , and the current passing through the transistor t 88 is i l , thus , the current passing through the second impedor 83 is i h . comparator 85 is coupled to the first impedor 82 and the second impedor 83 and outputs a voltage v out based on the voltages v o and v ob . in the present embodiment , the voltage v o is ( vdd − i l × z load ) and the voltage v ob is ( vdd − i h × z load ), thus , when the data stored in memory cell is logic 1 , the sensing voltage range , v out , is ( i l − i h )× z load . compared with the sense amplifiers of fig1 and fig2 , the sense amplifier of fig7 increases the sensing voltage range and reduces the layout area . fig9 is a circuit diagram of another embodiment of the sense amplifier of the invention . the first source / drains of transistors t 91 , t 92 , t 93 , t 94 and t 95 are coupled to a high voltage source vdd , the gate of transistor t 91 is coupled to the gates of transistors t 92 and t 93 , and the gate of transistor t 94 is coupled to the gate of transistor t 95 . memory cell current source 91 coupled to the second source / drain and gate of transistor t 91 generates a memory cell current i cell by applying a predetermined voltage on a memory cell . when the data stored in the memory cell is logic 1 , the current of the memory , by applying a predetermined voltage , is i h and when the data stored in the memory cell is logic 0 , the current of the memory , by applying a predetermined voltage , is i l . the second source / drain of transistor t 91 is coupled to the first impedor 92 and comparator 95 , and the second source / drain of transistor t 93 is coupled to the first source / drain of transistor t 96 and the gates of transistors t 96 and t 98 . reference current source 94 is coupled to the second source / drain and gate of transistor t 95 . the second source / drain of transistor t 94 is coupled to the first source / drain of transistor t 98 , the second impedor 93 and the comparator 95 . when the data stored in the memory cell is logic 1 , the current of the memory cell is i h ( i cell = i h ). a current mirror made of transistors t 91 , t 92 and t 93 takes the current i h passing through the transistor t 91 as the reference current , thus , the current passing through the transistor t 96 and the first impedor 92 is i h . transistors t 94 and t 95 forms a current mirror , thus , the current passing through the transistor t 94 is the reference current i ref . the current i ref is input to transistor t 98 and the second impedor 93 , and the current passing through the transistor t 98 is i h , thus , the current passing through the second impedor 93 is i l . comparator 95 is coupled to the first impedor 92 and the second impedor 93 and outputs a voltage v out based on the voltages v o and v ob . in the present embodiment , the voltage v o is ( i l × z load ) and the voltage v ob is ( i h × z load ), thus , when the data stored in memory cell is logic 1 , the sensing voltage range , v out , is ( i h − i l )× z load . when the data stored in the memory cell is logic 0 , the current of the memory cell is i l ( i cell = i l ). a current mirror comprising transistors t 91 , t 92 and t 93 takes the current i l passing through the transistor t 91 as the reference current , thus , the current passing through the transistor t 96 and the first impedor 92 is i l transistors t 94 and t 95 forms a current mirror , thus , the current passing through the transistor t 94 is the reference current i ref . the current i ref is input to transistor t 98 and the second impedor 93 and the current passing through the transistor t 98 is i l , thus , the current passing through the second impedor 93 is i h comparator 95 is coupled to the first impedor 92 and the second impedor 93 and outputs a voltage v out based on the voltages v o and v ob . in the present embodiment , the voltage v o is ( i h × z load ) and the voltage v ob is ( i l × z load ), thus , when the data stored in the memory cell is logic 1 , the sensing voltage range , v out , is ( i l − i h )× z load . compared with the sense amplifiers of fig1 and fig2 , the sense amplifier of fig9 increases the sensing voltage range and reduces the layout area . while the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto . to the contrary , it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements ( as would be apparent to those skilled in the art ). therefore , the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements . | 6 |
the present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown . in the drawings , the thicknesses and diameters of elements are exaggerated for clarity . fig1 is a sectional view of a conductive carbon nanotube according to an embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig1 , a carbon nanotube 20 is substantially vertically arranged on a top surface of a substrate 10 . that is , a bottom of the carbon nanotube 20 is fixed on the top surface of the substrate 10 to form a carbon nanotube tip . a ruthenium coating layer 30 is formed on the carbon nanotube 20 and extends toward at least a portion of the top surface of the substrate 10 . the substrate 10 may be a semiconductor substrate or formed of a material such as glass or synthetic resin . however , the substrate 10 is desirably formed of a material that can allow the carbon nanotube 20 and the ruthenium coating layer 30 to be adhered to the substrate 10 with a sufficient adhering force . a protrusion 11 is formed on the top surface of the substrate 10 and the bottom of the carbon nanotube 20 is fixed on the apex of the protrusion 11 . the protrusion 11 may be formed in a shape selected from the group consisting of a circular cone , a polygonal cone , a circular truncated cone , and a polygonal truncated cone , and a polygonal pillar . the top and bottom are referred with reference to the drawing . this will be likewise applied to the following description . a thickness of the ruthenium coating layer 30 may be within a range of approximately 5 - 100 nm . when the thickness is less than approximately 5 nm , it is difficult to obtain the sufficient conductivity by which the carbon nanotube functions as the conductive tip , and when the thickness is greater than approximately 100 nm , the diameter of the tip increases excessively . more preferably , the thickness of the ruthenium coating layer 30 may be within a range of approximately 10 - 30 nm within which the sufficient conductivity can be obtained and the tip can have a diameter appropriate to scan the nano - scale test piece . the ruthenium coating layer 30 may be formed through , for example , an atomic layer deposition ( ald ) process . since the ald process provides good step coverage , the ruthenium can be effectively deposited on the carbon nanotube 20 vertically erected from the substrate 10 . fig2 is a perspective view of a probe of an spm according to an embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig2 , a cantilever 15 has a first end fixed on a support . a protrusion 16 is formed near a second end of the cantilever 15 and the carbon nanotube 20 is vertically arranged on the protrusion 16 . that is , the bottom of the carbon nanotube 20 is fixed on the apex of the protrusion 16 . the ruthenium coating layer 30 is formed on the carbon nanotube 20 and extends toward at least a portion of the top surface of the cantilever 15 . that is , the ruthenium coating layer 30 may be formed on the overall top surface of the cantilever 15 or partly formed on a portion of the top surface around the bottom of the carbon nanotube 20 . although not shown in the drawing , the ruthenium coating layer 30 is electrically connected to a voltage apply unit of the spm , such as the efm or scm . the vertical arrangement of the carbon nanotube 20 relative to the cantilever 15 provides that the carbon nanotube 20 is arranged at an angle where it can transmit a force to the cantilever 15 without being bent when the force is applied to a top of the carbon nanotube 20 in a vertical direction . the cantilever 15 may be formed of , for example , silicon . however , the present invention 15 is not limited to this embodiment . the cantilever 15 is desirably formed of a material that can allow the carbon nanotube 20 and the ruthenium coating layer 30 to be adhered to the surface of the cantilever 15 with a sufficient adhering force . furthermore , the cantilever 15 is desirably formed of a material that can allow the cantilever 15 to be elastically bent within an elastic limitation against the force applied from the probe of the spm and to provide sufficient endurance against the repeated bending action . as described in fig1 , a thickness of the ruthenium coating layer 30 may be within a range of approximately 5 - 100 nm , and more preferably approximately 10 - 30nm . since a diameter of the carbon nanotube 20 is approximately 5 nm , the probe having a resolution that can analyze a nano - scale test piece can be realized . in addition , the ruthenium coating layer 30 and the carbon nanotube 20 may have a relatively high hardness . therefore , the probe of this embodiment has good endurance . fig3 a is an efm image of a pzt test piece , which is obtained using a prior art silicon - based conductive tip . the image of fig3 a shows a 5 × 5 μm 2 area of the test piece and it is noted that a domain boundary is not clear . this shows that the prior art silicon - based conductive tip including a silicon tip and a metal coating layer formed on the silicon tip and having a diameter greater than approximately 100 nm cannot achieve enough resolution for the analysis of a test piece less than approximately 100 nm . fig3 b and 3c are efm images of a pzt test pieces , which are obtained using a probe according to the embodiment of fig2 . the diameter of the conductive carbon nanotube tip of the probe is approximately 20 nm . the image of fig3 b shows a 1 × 1 μm 2 area of the test piece while the image of fig3 c shows a 500 × 500 nm 2 area of the test piece . fig3 b and 3c illustrate that the efm using the probe of fig2 can provide sufficient resolution to clearly show a domain boundary having a size of approximately 100 nm . fig4 a through 4c are views illustrating a method of forming a conductive carbon nanotube tip according to an embodiment of the present invention . referring first to fig4 a and 4b , the carbon nanotube 20 is vertically arranged on the substrate 10 to form the carbon nanotube tip . then , as shown in fig4 c , the ruthenium coating layer 30 is formed on the carbon nanotube tip and at least a part of the substrate 10 . the protrusion 11 may be formed on the substrate 10 . the protrusion 11 may be formed through a chemical etching process , a physical grinding process , or a combination thereof . the protrusion 11 may be formed in a shape selected from the group consisting of a circular cone , a polygonal cone , a circular truncated cone , a polygonal truncated cone , and a polygonal pillar . for example , the prior art silicon tip manufacturing technology may be used . after the protrusion 11 is formed , the carbon nanotube 20 is vertically arranged on the apex of the protrusion 11 . the carbon nanotube 20 has a diameter of approximately 5 nm . in order to vertically arrange the carbon nanotube 20 on the substrate 10 , a variety of methods can be used . for example , the substrate 10 on which the protrusion 11 is formed can be loaded in a reaction furnace and a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition ( pecvd ) performed to allow the carbon nanotube 20 to be adhered to the protrusion 11 and grown . alternatively , a catalytic point formed of transition metal can be formed on the apex of the protrusion 11 so that the carbon nanotube 20 is grown from the catalytic metal point . alternatively , the carbon nanotube 20 can be separately prepared and the bottom of the carbon nanotube 20 adhered to the apex of the protrusion 11 by , for example , welding . next , the ruthenium coating layer 30 can be formed on the carbon nanotube 20 and at least a portion of the substrate 10 through the ald process . the ruthenium coating layer 30 may be formed to fully cover the top surface of the substrate 10 or to partly cover a portion of the top surface of the substrate 10 , which surrounds the bottom of the carbon nanotube 20 using a mask pattern . a thickness t c of the ruthenium coating layer 30 may be within the range approximately of 5 - 100 nm , and more preferably approximately 10 - 30 nm . fig5 is a time chart illustrating the ald process for forming a ruthenium coating layer . source gas a is injected into the reaction furnace so that the source gas a is absorbed in the surface of the substrate . subsequently , a purge or pumping process is performed to allow only a chemical absorption component to remain on the surface of the substrate . thereafter , source gas b is injected into the reaction furnace so that the source gas b reacts with the chemical absorption component remaining on the surface of the substrate . then , the purge or pumping process is performed so that an ab unit layer ( the ruthenium layer in this embodiment ) can be formed by the reaction between the source gas b and the chemical absorption component . this is one cycle for forming the atomic unit layer . by repeating this cycle , the desired layer thickness can be obtained . the source gases a and b may be formed in a variety of combinations including well - known precursors of the ruthenium . the thickness of the ruthenium coating layer 30 may be adjusted according to the number of the cycles repeated . according to the present invention , the conductive carbon nanotube tip is reduced in a diameter and increased in a ratio of the height to the diameter and a bending strength . therefore , when the conductive carbon nanotube tip of the present invention is applied to a probe of a scanning probe microscope , the resolution and endurance of the probe can be improved . while the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims . | 8 |
[ 0040 ] fig1 schematically shows a confocal scanning microscope . light beam 3 coming from an illumination system 1 is reflected by a beam splitter 5 to scanning module 7 , which contains a gimbal - mounted scanning mirror 9 that guides the beam through microscope optical system 13 over or through specimen 15 . in the case of non - transparent specimens 15 , light beam 3 is guided over the specimen surface . with biological specimens 15 ( preparations ) or transparent specimens , light beam 3 can also be guided through specimen 15 . this means that different focal planes of specimen 15 are successively scanned by light beam 3 . subsequent assembly then yields a three - dimensional image of specimen 15 . light beam 3 coming from illumination system 1 is depicted as a solid line . light 17 proceeding from specimen 15 travels through microscope optical system 13 and via scanning module 7 to beam splitter 5 , passes through the latter and strikes detector 19 , which is embodied as a photomultiplier or ccd sensor . light 17 proceeding from specimen 15 is depicted as a dashed line . in detector 19 , electrical detected signals 21 proportional to the power level of light 17 proceeding from specimen 15 are generated and forwarded to processing unit 23 . position signals 25 sensed in the scanning module with the aid of an inductively or capacitatively operating position sensor 11 are also transferred to processing unit 23 . it is self - evident to one skilled in the art that the position of scanning mirror 9 can also be ascertained by way of the adjustment signals . the incoming analog signals are first digitized in processing unit 23 . the signals are transferred to a computer 34 to which an input unit 33 is connected . the user can , with reference to processing of the data , make corresponding selections by means of input unit 33 . in fig1 a mouse is depicted as an input unit 33 . it is self - evident to anyone skilled in the art , however , that a keyboard and the like can also be used as input unit 33 . a display 27 depicts , for example , an image 35 of specimen 15 . illumination pinhole 39 and detection pinhole 41 that are usually provided in a confocal scanning microscope are schematically drawn in for the sake of completeness . omitted in the interest of better clarity , however , are certain optical elements for guiding and shaping the light beams . these are sufficiently familiar to the person skilled in this art . [ 0041 ] fig2 depicts a block diagram of a microscope system 4 for the observation of dynamic processes . microscope 50 of microscope system 4 , which can be embodied e . g . as a scanning microscope , is connected to detector 19 . in one embodiment , detector 19 can also be configured as a ccd sensor . in the case of a point - scanning microscope , at least one individual detector 19 is provided . this detector is then embodied as a photomultiplier . the signals of detector 19 are transferred in suitable fashion to processing unit 23 . processing unit 23 is embodied as a video segmenter and encoder . from processing unit 23 , the acquired data travel via an interface 52 to computer 34 . on display 27 depicted in fig1 the image just acquired or the scenes automatically recorded by microscope system 4 are displayed for the user . it is important to ensure in this context that display occurs according to the user &# 39 ; s settings or criteria . the video segmenter requires these parameters in order to implement the essential core idea of a “ modified ” semantics especially for microscopic specimens and processes . the position signals and detected signals in toto constitute an image frame or a portion of an image frame . as already mentioned above , the description below refers to an example of confocal microscopy . as a rule , a measurement is continuously repeated at fixed time intervals . [ 0042 ] fig3 schematically depicts the principle of a video segmenter . in a ccd - based fluorescence microscope ( i . e . a ccd camera is used as detector 19 ) or a scanning microscope ( i . e . individual points are detected in succession ), image acquisitions are performed periodically . in this context , acquired images are referred to as entire images , entire volumes , etc . an individual acquired image is hereinafter referred to as an image frame 56 . each image frame 56 1 , 56 2 , . . . 56 n is conveyed to a buffer memory 54 . before a subsequent assessment or evaluation of the individual image frames 56 1 , 56 2 , . . . 56 n is performed , at least two image frames 56 1 and 56 2 in succession must be stored in buffer memory 54 . at least the first and second image frame 56 1 and 56 2 are conveyed to a comparator 58 . everyone skilled in the art knows that the number of images flowing into the comparator for assessment of the process must be at least two , but can be unlimited as to maximum . with an increasing number of image frames 56 1 , 56 2 , . . . 56 n for the comparison process , mathematically smoother decision functions can be constructed , for example by selecting higher - order polynomial models . buffer memory 54 and the number of inputs into comparator 58 are varied depending on the desired implementation . after comparator 58 , image frames 56 1 , 56 2 , . . . 56 n travel via a switch 60 to interface 52 . as already described in fig2 computer 34 is downstream from interface 52 . in another exemplary embodiment of the invention , the decisions can additionally be passed from comparator 58 to computer 34 . this alternative is depicted in fig3 with a dotted line , and can simplify a concrete implementation . for implementation of faster systems , the conventional design of the microscope system must be supplemented with a signal processor ( fpga , dsp , pc ) and a ram bank . the signal processor must perform the video segmentation . the ram handles storage of the predecessor . the grouping of image frames into scenes and segments can always be handled by the control computer or computer 34 . the graphical user interface of the control computer then contains new structures such as the storyboard , which now tells a story a posteriori about the “ death of a cell ” ( a bad but common example from everyday life ). an embodiment of a microscope system according to the existing art is an unmodified microscope that implements a fast measured data stream in block fashion . it is also conceivable for the control computer to perform a video segmentation a posteriori , but this has definite disadvantages compared to a fast implementation according to the invention . [ 0045 ] fig4 shows a decoder that can be implemented schematically in pc software . the data acquired by microscope system 4 are conveyed to a data manager 64 . data manager 64 is responsible for performing an evaluation process . if the result of the evaluation process is “ similar ,” that frame is then assigned to the current scene . the various scenes , whether “ similar ” or “ dissimilar ,” are transferred into a structured data structure 66 that is usually expressed as a tree structure . depending on the selection made by the user , the structured data structure can be conveyed to a display 27 for visual presentation . [ 0046 ] fig5 depicts a hierarchical data structure in the memory associated with detector 19 . if the result yielded by the evaluation process is “ dissimilar ,” the old scene is then terminated and is moved into the memory of the linked computer 34 . a terminated scene can optionally be additionally processed . the operation of image acquisition or image frame recording is repeated at fixed time intervals . time - lapse experiments in microscopy are like a “ shot in the dark .” 90 percent of all applications involve waiting for days for just a few events , and measurements must be made continuously , sometimes at high speed . automatic segmentation of the data stream into individual scenes 70 1 , 70 2 , . . . , 70 m allows this quantity of data to be reduced . in long scenes in which nothing is happening , for example , high data compression can be applied . dynamic scenes in which a lot is happening can be recorded with maximum time resolution . the specific segments can be individually accessed in computer 34 , resulting in a drastic data reduction with individual coding . the various scenes 70 1 , 70 2 , . . . , 70 m are stored in different parts of data structure 66 and are directly accessible . as a result , the system becomes more ergonomic , available memory is limited to what is most essential , and attention is limited only to what is of interest . a data structure structured in this fashion also allows the user to navigate in nonlinear fashion through the stream of images . the user does not need to view every image in succession , but rather can jump directly into a scene that interests him or her . hierarchical data structures of this kind are supported by multimedia formats such as mpeg . by calculating various evaluations , it is possible to construct a decision tree that classifies individual image frame transitions and gives access to more detailed analysis . these evaluations are calculated in the video segmenter and are used to control the “ cutter .” the simplest case —“ nothing is happening ”— never occurs in the real world and can be ignored . the second - simplest case , on the other hand —“ almost nothing is happening ”— is the rule . in this case , noise is a changeable accompanying phenomenon . for this reason , an optional smoothing function was inserted into the configuration described above in order to remove noise - related variations . standard image - processing methods can be applied here . examples , with no limitation as to generality , are linear filters ( gauss , binomial , etc . ), morphological filters ( median , opening , closing , rank ordering filters ), wavelet regression methods ( also cited in the literature under the term “ wavelet denoising ”). a variety of dispersion metrics can be used to evaluate two images . the “ sum of absolute differences ” d ( t ) = ∑ i , j ∈ roi i ( t ) ( i , j ) - i ( t + t ) ( i , j ) calculates , pixel by pixel , the distance between two images i at times t and t + t in a selected region or , as the limit case , in the entire image . d ( t ) = ∑ g h ( t ) ( g ) - h ( t + t ) ( g ) based on the images i at times t and t + t , calculates the histograms h at times t and t + t ( by counting gray levels ), and from them the distance . with color images , this distance is calculated separately for each color channel , and an overall distance is then ascertained by averaging . alternatively , it is possible to quantify the motion within a scene using the “ optical flux ” of an image stream , which describes the most probable displacement of a pixel between the frames using a vector : v → ( x , y , t ) = ( v 1 ( x , y , t ) v 2 ( x , y , t ) ) this requires solving the euler - lagrange equation for the flux problem , defined by : λ ∇ 2 v 1 = ( ∂ i ∂ x v 1 + ∂ i ∂ y v 2 + ∂ i ∂ t ) ∂ i ∂ x , λ ∇ 2 v 2 = ( ∂ i ∂ x v 1 + ∂ i ∂ y v 2 + ∂ i ∂ t ) ∂ i ∂ y , ∇ 2 = ∂ 2 ∂ 2 x + ∂ 2 ∂ 2 y this elliptical partial differential equation can be satisfactorily solved , for example , iteratively by finite difference and finite element methods . discrete approaches to a solution , which are advantageously suitable for implementation on a signal processor , also exist . if only certain types of motion ( e . g ., specimens moving linearly ) are being looked for in a specific implementation , it is possible to derive even simpler determination equations and calculation algorithms by using motion equations . motions of specimens within the scene or sample then result in a change in the vector flux , and can be detected with the above - described distance metrics applied to images v 1 and v 2 at times t and t + t . these are sufficiently specified in recent research publications concerning video retrieval . a further pragmatic variant consists in marking one or more cells in an overview image , which limits the system &# 39 ; s attention to portions of the scene . in what is probably the most understandable variant for customers , a feature calculation is performed over these marked scene portions . a tolerance threshold is also defined for the feature ; if exceeded , it results in the “ dissimilar ” classification . examples of such features include the average intensity or the average intensity ratio between two channels . changes in these features are at present used for quantification during offline analysis , and with this invention can be used at runtime as decision criteria from frame to frame . segmentation performance levels could thus be set by defining a tolerance band for changes from frame to frame . “ triggers ” of this kind are common , widespread , and well - understood , e . g ., in physiology and oscilloscope practice . the invention has been described with reference to a particular exemplary embodiment . it is self - evident , however , that changes and modifications can be made without thereby leaving the range of protection of the claims below . | 6 |
a motor 100 having an insert molded end bell 102 is illustrated in fig1 . the motor 100 described is a submersible motor , but the present invention is applicable to other motors , as well . the end bell 102 has a base plate 104 with a rim 106 . the end bell 102 also has a molded insert 108 coupling a bearing 110 to the base plate 104 . a motor shaft 112 protrudes through the end bell 102 . the end bell 102 is held to a housing 114 with fasteners , such as mounting screws 116 . the motor 100 also comprises a conventional motor apparatus 118 . electrical connections to the motor apparatus 118 are made through an electrical connector 120 . more specifically and referring to fig1 - 3 , the base plate 104 has a plurality of mounting holes 122 . the base plate 104 and the housing 114 may be metal , particularly stainless steel . the base plate 104 may be formed in any of several ways , but stamping is used in one embodiment . the rim 106 is substantially normal to the plane of the base plate 104 . the bearing 110 is preferably a conventional hydrodynamic bushing - type bearing , often used in vertically mounted motors , but may also be a ball - bearing , needle bearing or other known bearing . the molded insert 108 couples the bearing 110 to the base plate 104 . in forming the end bell 102 , the base plate 104 and the bearing 110 are aligned and held in place in a molding apparatus ( not shown ). the molding compound is injected to substantially fill in the shape of the end bell 102 , and in the process fully or partially encapsulates the outer surface of the bearing 110 . the molded insert 108 may include other features such as mounting cavities , splines , alignment guides , mounting holes 122 , 124 and the like . the bearing 110 may be fabricated to have a slightly smaller inner diameter than desired for the final application . the bearing 110 may then be machined to the correct diameter for accepting the motor shaft 112 . additionally , while machining the bearing 110 to the correct size , variations of the final placement of the bearing that occur in the molding process can be corrected by machining the inner diameter of the bearing to have a predetermined spatial relationship with the motor apparatus 118 and its shaft 112 . this may be accomplished by machining the bearing 110 in relationship to a feature of merit , for example , a base plate rim 106 , a base plate surface 138 , a mounting hole 122 , or a molded insert surface 140 . the mounting screws 116 that connect through the mounting holes 122 in the end bell 102 to the housing 114 may cause mechanical strain on the molded insert 108 and lead to a malfunction unless supported . to provide support , one or more bushings 132 , such as steel bushings , shown in fig6 , may be inserted to contact the base plate 104 at the mounting holes 122 . the bushings may be present at the time of molding or inserted after molding . alternately , the bushings 132 may be a part of , or mounted to , the base plate 102 . when the bushing is inserted post - molding , a mold feature ( not shown ) approximately equal to the outer diameter of the bushing 132 may be incorporated in the mold to both create the hole for the bushing 132 and to hold the base plate 104 in position during the molding process . the inside diameter of the bushings 132 may be equal to the diameter of the mounting hole 122 . mounting holes 124 can be used for attaching an external wiring connector 134 . the mounting holes 124 may use molded - in or pressed - in fasteners , such as nuts 142 or threaded inserts ( not depicted ). alternately , the external wiring connector 134 can be mounted with screws that extend through the mounting holes 124 and attach to the stator end of the motor , as is known in the art . in another embodiment , a jam nut on the outside of the base plate 104 can secure the external wiring connector 134 . the threads coupling the jam nut may be formed in the molded insert 108 or in the base plate 104 . when the connector 134 is mounted from the inside of the end bell 102 , the threads for the jam nut may be on the external wiring connector 134 itself . referring to fig5 a - c , when forming the end bell 102 it may be desired to secure the molded insert to the base plate 104 . ultimately , when finally assembled , the force applied by the mounting screws 116 between the base plate 104 and the housing 114 will provide the retaining force for the assembly . however , before final assembly , securing the molded insert 108 to the base plate 104 may be accomplished in several ways . one method is to deform the rim 106 of the base plate 104 prior to filling the molding apparatus ( not shown ) with the molding compound . fig5 a shows how the rim 106 may be plastically deformed toward the centerline of the base plate 104 . when the molding compound is injected , the inwardly bent rim 126 will retain the molded insert 108 and any other parts captured by the molded insert . fig5 b shows another mechanism for retaining the molded insert 108 . the rim 106 is bent parallel to a plane formed by the base plate 104 toward its centerline to form a cup - shape 128 . the molded insert 108 is retained by the cup - shaped portion 128 of the rim 106 . fig5 c shows another embodiment wherein burrs 130 are intentionally formed on the rim 106 or other surface of the base plate 104 in contact with the molded insert 108 . similar to the other embodiments , the burrs 130 serve as retention points for securing the base plate 104 to the molded insert 108 , for example , until final assembly or during servicing . after the base plate 104 is prepared , for example , in one of the manners above , the bearing 110 and the base plate 104 are arranged in a conventional and well known molding apparatus ( not shown ). as discussed above , features of the mold may be used to hold and align the base plate 104 in the molding apparatus . the mold is then filled with a molding compound to connectively couple the bearing 110 to the base plate 104 while forming the end bell 102 . finally , the bushings 132 and / or fasteners , such as nuts 142 or threaded inserts may be disposed in holes provided , such as holes 122 and 124 respectively . fig8 shows a hex nut 142 disposed in hexagonal - shaped holes 124 for securing the external wiring connector 134 . the hex nut 142 can be pressed into the hole 124 or molded in the molded insert 108 . the hex nuts 142 may provide a more cost effective alternative to other threaded inserts . referring to fig7 , a steel insert 136 , in one embodiment having a flared - shape , can be disposed circumferentially within the molded insert 108 for additional support , particularly to reduce deflections in the end bell 102 when used in large motors 100 . the steel insert 136 preferably has perforations ( not shown ) for molding compound flow in the manufacturing process and support in operation . the optimum number and placement of perforations is application specific and determined by the composition of the molded insert 108 , mold temperature and pressure . the thickness of the steel insert 136 may vary by application . the steel insert 136 may be formed as part of the base plate 104 , may be welded to the base plate 104 or may be disposed proximately to the base plate 104 . a conventional check valve ( not depicted ) for releasing moisture from the motor 100 may be incorporated into the base plate 104 or molded insert 108 . while the base plate 104 may be a metal stamping , it may be cast , for example of aluminum or made using a powdered metal process . the bearing 110 may be a known hydrodynamic bearing , that is , when spinning , the shaft 112 is supported by a hydraulic layer and is ideally not in contact with the bearing 110 . the bearing 110 may be polyphenlyene sulfide ( pps ), brass or other suitable material . the molded insert 108 may be any suitable moldable plastic , such as rynite 545 ™ ( a trademark of dupont ), a thermoplastic polyester resin , specifically , a glass - reinforced polyethylene terephthalate ( pet ). in one embodiment , the entire molded insert 108 can be formed from polyphenlyene sulfide , or other suitable bearing material , eliminating the need for a separate bearing . in that case , a mold component ( not shown ), with suitable draft for removal of the molded insert , can be used to rough form the bearing inner diameter during the molding operation . as above when using a separate bearing , the final inner diameter of the shaft opening is machined to its final diameter in relationship to one or more features of the base plate 104 . by doing so , the shaft opening is both given a final diameter suitable for the corresponding shaft and aligned for accepting the motor shaft 112 . in another embodiment , the molded insert 108 can have a shaft hole formed or bored and a conventional bearing 110 press - fit into the molded insert 108 of the end bell 102 . the process for press - fit insertion of a bearing is known . in yet another embodiment , the molded insert may incorporate an upthrust bearing ( not depicted ), known in the art , for accommodating situations when the motor rotor ( not depicted ) pushes against the end bell 102 . the upthrust bearing may incorporate a separate plastic disk , but such a surface may be molded into the molded insert 108 or the bearing 110 . various embodiments of methods and apparatus for manufacturing and using insert molded end bells have been discussed and described . it is expected that these embodiments or others in accordance with the principles of the present invention will have application to many rotating machinery applications . the disclosure extends to the constituent elements or equipment comprising such systems and specifically the methods employed thereby and therein . | 7 |
with reference now to the drawings , and in particular to fig1 and 2 thereof , a new urine splatter collection device embodying the principles and concepts of the present invention and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described . as best illustrated in fig1 and 2 , the urine splatter collection device 10 generally may comprise a receptacle 11 conventionally mounted to a structure 25 and having a back wall 12 , a top wall 15 , a bottom wall 16 with a drainage hole 23 disposed therethrough , and may also comprise opposed side walls 13 , 14 , an overhanging wall 17 conventionally depending from the top wall 15 and conventionally interconnecting the side walls 13 , 14 , and may further comprise a barrier wall 18 spaced forwardly of the back wall 12 and integrally extending upwardly from the bottom wall 16 and also integrally interconnecting the side walls 13 , 14 , all of which form a urine collection area 21 in the receptacle 11 . the urine splatter collection device 10 may also comprise a water pipe 22 conventionally disposed through the top wall 15 to provide water to flush the receptacle 11 . the top wall 15 may have a front edge 15 a and a back edge 15 b which is conventionally attached to the back wall 12 . the overhanging wall 17 may be conventionally attached along the front edge 15 a of the top wall 15 and may be spaced forwardly from the back wall 12 and spaced vertically from the barrier wall 18 . the back wall 12 may be conventionally mounted to the structure 25 with the opposed side walls 13 , 14 extending generally perpendicular to the back wall 12 and outwardly from the structure 25 . the top wall 15 may also extend generally perpendicular to the back wall 12 and to the side walls 13 , 14 and outwardly from the structure 25 . the receptacle 11 may further include channels 19 , 20 forming openings each extending into and completely through the top wall 15 and separating the top wall 15 from a respective one of the side walls 13 , 14 and exposed to the outside of the receptacle 11 and also exposed into the urine collection area 21 of the receptacle 11 with the top wall 14 spaced from the side walls 13 , 14 as illustrated in the figures to allow any urine 30 splattered outside the receptacle 11 above the top wall 15 to drain back into the urine collection area 21 . each of the openings 19 , 20 may extend a width of the top wall 15 and may extend from the back wall 12 to the overhanging wall 17 . the top wall 5 may have opposed ends 15 c , 15 d which in cooperation with the opposed side walls 13 , 14 form the openings 19 , 20 therebetween . each of the openings 19 , 20 may have a longitudinal axis disposed perpendicular to the top wall 15 . in addition , the side walls 13 , 14 may extend forwardly of the top wall 15 and the overhanging wall 17 to further collect any splattered urine 30 . in use , a user may be positioned before and urinates into the receptacle 11 and the urine collection area 21 . while urinating into the receptacle 11 , the user may spray urine 30 above the receptacle 11 onto the top wall 15 . instead of the sprayed urine 30 dripping onto and contaminating a floor , the sprayed urine 30 may drain through the openings 19 , 20 into the urine collection area 21 which may prevent unhealthy conditions and possibly the transmission of diseases . as to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of the present invention , the same should be apparent from the above description . accordingly , no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided . with respect to the above description then , it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention , to include variations in size , materials , shape , form , function and manner of operation , assembly and use , are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art , and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention . therefore , the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the urine splatter collection device . further , since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art , it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described , and accordingly , all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to , falling within the scope of the invention . | 4 |
fig2 through 8 represent circuit assemblies 10 , 110 , 210 , 310 , and 410 in accordance with different embodiments of this invention . each circuit assembly 10 , 110 , 210 , 310 , and 410 is shown as including a sm ic package 14 , in which is contained an ic device 20 of any type suitable for sm packaging . each device 20 is shown as having input / output ( i / o ) pads 22 electrically connected with wirebonds and leads 38 to conductors ( not shown ) on a surface 28 of a substrate 12 , which may be a thin laminate pcb or any other suitable substrate material . the orientation of the device 20 to the substrate 12 can be the conventional with its i / o pads 22 located on a surface 32 of the device 20 facing away from the substrate 12 ( fig2 ), or can be unconventional with the surface 32 carrying the i / o pads 22 facing the substrate 12 ( fig3 - 5 and 8 ). in all cases , heat generated by the device 20 is conducted from the package 14 through a heat conductor 16 , which is preferably in the form of what is commonly called a slug . as such , the heat conductor 16 can be a metal plate , such as aluminum , copper , or another material with similar thermally conductivity . the heat conductor 16 contacts and is preferably bonded with solder 36 to the surface 34 of the device 20 opposite the i / o pads 22 to provide a highly thermally conductive path to a heat sink 18 adjacent the package 14 . the heat conductor 16 can be bonded directly or indirectly to the heat sink 18 with a thermally - conductive adhesive or solder , so that the conductive path does not pass through the substrate 12 and avoids the prior practice of through - hole vias ( e . g ., 124 of fig1 ). referring to fig2 , the package 14 is shown as being mounted over a through hole 40 formed in the substrate 12 . the heat sink 18 is located adjacent the lower surface 30 of the substrate 12 opposite the package 14 , and includes a pedestal 24 that projects up through the hole 40 and engages the heat conductor 16 . the facing surface of heat conductor 16 is aligned with and preferably bonded to the heat sink pedestal 24 with a thermal contact material 26 . the interface between the heat conductor 16 and pedestal 24 is not required to be electrically conductive . therefore , while the thermal contact material 26 may be solder such as indium or an indium alloy , a thermal adhesive may also be used . suitable thermal adhesives contain an adhesive matrix material ( e . g ., an epoxy or silicone ) and a dispersion of metal and / or ceramic particles . because the package 14 is bonded to the substrate 12 through the leads 38 and bonded to the heat sink 18 through the heat conductor 16 , it may be desirable to also bond the package 14 directly to the substrate 12 to increase the solder joint interconnect life of the solder bonding the leads 38 to the substrate 12 . for this purpose , fig2 depicts an adhesive 42 deposited to encapsulate the lead solder joints and extend up along the sides of the package 14 . as noted above , the circuit assembly 110 represented in fig3 differs from the embodiment of fig2 by reversing the orientation of the package 14 , i . e ., the surface 32 carrying the i / o pads 22 of the device 20 faces the substrate 12 . with this orientation , the leads 38 contact the lower surface ( 32 as viewed in fig3 ) of the device 20 , instead of its upper surface ( 34 as viewed in fig3 ). an advantage of this orientation is the ability to engage the heat conductor 16 ( again located on the surface 34 of the device 20 opposite the i / o pads 22 ) with the heat sink 18 located above the package 14 , instead of requiring a through - hole 40 through which the pedestal 24 of the heat sink 18 projects as done in fig2 . another advantage is that a larger surface region of the package 14 can be directly bonded to the substrate 12 with the adhesive 42 to promote the solder joint interconnect life of the package interconnects . to promote thermal contact between the heat conductor 16 and the heat sink 18 , fig3 shows a biasing member 44 engaging the lower surface 30 of the substrate 12 , in accordance with commonly - assigned u . s . pat . no . 6 , 180 , 436 , the relevant teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference . the biasing member 44 can be formed of an elastomeric material or be in the form of a mechanical spring , and can permit the use of a thermal grease or pad in place of the thermal contact material 26 used in fig2 to bond the heat conductor 16 to the heat sink pedestal 24 . flexing of the substrate 12 by the biasing member 44 occurs to some degree to ensure good thermal contact , necessitating a sufficiently thin or otherwise flexible substrate material . the circuit assembly 210 represented in fig4 primarily differs from the embodiment of fig3 by forming the heat sink 18 as part of a casing 46 that completely encloses the package 14 on the surface 28 of the substrate 12 . the casing 46 can be bonded to the substrate 12 with solder or a structural adhesive , such as an epoxy or filled epoxy known in the art . because the heat conductor 16 is not biased into contact with the heat sink 18 , the thermal contact material 26 is preferably a thermally conductive adhesive or solder . fig5 and 6 depict multiple packages 14 mounted to both surfaces 28 and 30 of the substrate 12 , with the entire substrate and package assembly enclosed within a two - piece casing formed by casing halves 18 a and 18 b that each serve as a heat sink for packages 14 located on their respective sides of the substrate 12 . the casing halves 18 a and 18 b are assembled and held together with fasteners 48 that determine the force applied by the halves 18 a and 18 b on the packages 14 , as evident from fig5 . as with the embodiment of fig3 , the ability of the circuit assembly 310 to apply a controlled amount of contact force between the individual pairs of heat conductors 16 and pedestals 24 permits the use of a thermal grease or pad in place of an adhesive as the thermal contact material 26 . finally , fig7 and 8 depict an embodiment in which the device 20 within the package 14 includes a vertical semiconductor device , necessitating a backside electrical contact ( not shown ) located on the backside surface 34 of the device 20 . consequently , in addition to the leads 38 electrically connecting the i / o pads 22 to conductors on the substrate surface 28 ( as shown in the section of the assembly 410 represented by fig8 ), the circuit assembly 410 includes backside leads 50 that electrically connect the backside electrical contact to one or more other conductors on the substrate surface 28 ( as shown in a different section of the assembly 410 represented by fig7 ). the heat conductor 16 is shown as forming part of the electrically conductive path from the backside electrical contact to the backside leads 50 , and therefore must be bonded to the device 20 and the backside leads 50 with electrically conductive materials , such as solder 36 . however , to electrically isolate the heat sink 18 , the thermal contact material 26 between the heat conductor 16 and the heat sink 18 is preferably a thermal adhesive . because the backside leads 50 are attached to the heat conductor 16 and the substrate 12 , a cte mismatch does not exist between the two and stress on the solder joints within the assembly 410 is minimal . while our invention has been described in terms of a preferred embodiment , it is apparent that other forms could be adopted by one skilled in the art . accordingly , the scope of our invention is to be limited only by the following claims . | 7 |
it is believed that one skilled in the art can , based on the description herein , utilize the present invention to its fullest extent . the following specific embodiments are , therefore , to be construed as merely illustrative , and not limitative of the remainder of the disclosure in any way whatsoever . 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 to which this invention belongs . also , all publications cited herein are incorporated by reference . the term “ ginkgolide ” are used herein to include all the naturally occurring ginkgolides which are derived from the ginkgo biloba tree as well as synthetically produced ginkgolides and pharmaceutically active derivatives and salts thereof . thus , it includes ( 1 ) the various ginkgolides disclosed in the books “ ginkgolides — chemistry , biology , pharmacology and clinical perspectives ”, edited by p . braquet ( j . r . prous , science publishers , barcelona , spain 1988 ); f . v . defeudis , ginkgo biloba extract ( egb 761 ), pharmacological activities and chemical applications ( elsevier , paris , france 1991 ); rokan ginkgo biloba — recent results in pharmacology and clinic , edited by e . w . feufgeld ( springer - verlag , berlin , germany 1988 ) and in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 734 , 280 and 5 , 002 , 965 ; and ( 2 ) non - toxic , pharmaceutically active derivatives thereof such as 2 , 3 - dehydro , 1 - methoxy , and 1 - ethoxy derivatives of ginkgolide b , tetrahydro ginkgolide derivatives , acetyl ginkgolide derivatives , and alkyl ester of ginkgolide , e . g ., the monoacetate ginkgolide derivatives described in okabe , et al ., j . chem . soc . ( c ) pp . 2201 - 2206 ( 1967 ); and corey , et al ., j . amer . chem . soc . 110 : 649 ( 1988 ). as described in the book “ ginkgolides — chemistry , biology , pharmacology and clinical perspectives ”, pp . 27 - 42 , edited by p . braquet ( j . r . prous , science publishers , barcelona , spain 1988 ), ginkgolides may be extracted and purified from the leaves of the ginkgo biloba tree . see , e . g ., okabe , j . chem . soc . ( c ) pp . 2201 ( 1967 ); and nakanishi , pure & amp ; applied chem . 14 : 89 ( 1967 ). ginkgolides and ginkgolide derivatives have also been chemically synthesized . see , e . g ., corey , et al ., j . amer . chem . soc . 110 : 649 ( 1988 ). furthermore , ginkgolides are available from various commercial sources such as sigma chemical ( st . louis , mo ., u . s . a .). structurally , ginkgolides are twenty carbon molecules with 6 five - membered rings joined together to form a constrained structure which incorporates a t - butyl group . of the 6 rings , 3 are lactone rings , 2 are carboxylic rings joined by a single carbon to form a spiro -[ 4 , 4 ] nonane ring system , and 1 tetrahydrofuran ring . examples of ginkgolides are depicted by the following formula : wherein each of r 1 , r 2 , and r 3 , independently , is h , oh , or c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof . examples of ginkgolides include ginkgolide a ( r 1 ═ oh , r 2 ═ h , r 3 ═ h ), ginkgolide b ( r 1 ═ oh , r 2 ═ oh , r 3 ═ h ), ginkgolide c ( r 1 ═ oh , r 2 ═ oh , r 3 ═ oh ), ginkgolide j ( r 1 ═ oh , r 2 ═ h , r 3 ═ oh ), and ginkgolide m ( r 1 ═ h , r 2 ═ oh , r 3 — oh ) or the synthetic analogs where r 2 is c 1 - c 6 alkoxy , e . g ., 1 - methoxy or 1 - ethoxy derivatives of ginkgolide b . the term “ ginkgolide ” also includes all pharmaceutically acceptable salts of ginkgolides , such as sodium , potassium , and magnesium salts thereof . examples of a ginkgolide to be used to practice the method of this invention has the above formula , in which each , r 1 and r 3 , independently , is h or oh , and r 2 is h , oh , or c 1 - c 6 alkoxy ( such as ginkgolides a , b , c , j , and m ); or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof . the ginkgo biloba extract egb761 , ginkgolide a , and ginkgolide b ( institut henri beaufour - ipsen , paris , france ) were tested for their ability to decrease the number of binding sites for the peripheral benzodiazepine receptor ligand pk 11195 , which binds to an 18 kd peripheral benzodiazepine receptor protein , in adrenal mitochondria . see , garnier , et al ., endocrinology 132 : 444 ( 1993 ). mitochondria were prepared as described in krueger , et al ., j . biol . chem . 265 : 15015 ( 1990 ). mitochondria ( 50 mg of protein ) were resuspended in phosphate buffered saline ( pbs ) and [ 3 h ] pk 11195 ( new england nuclear , wilmington , del ., u . s . a .). binding studies were performed at 4 ° c . in a final incubation volume of 0 . 3 ml , using radioligand in the concentration range of 0 . 019 - 20 . 00 nm and 200 fold excess of unlabeled pk 11195 ( research biochemicals , natick , mass ., u . s . a . ), as described in garnier , et al ., endocrinology 132 : 444 ( 1993 ) and garnier , et al ., mol . pharm . 45 : 201 ( 1994 ). after 120 min . incubation time , the assay was stopped by filtration through whatman gf / c filters and washed with 15 ml ice - cold pbs . radioactivity trapped on the filters were determined by liquid scintillation counting at 50 % counting efficiency . the dissociation constant ( kd ) and the number of binding sites ( bmax ) were determined by standard plot analysis of the data using the ligand ™ program ( kell , v . 4 . 0 , biosoft , inc .). see munson , et al ., anal . biochem . 107 : 220 ( 1980 ). the results are shown below in table i . thus , egb761 decreased the expression of the 18 kd peripheral benzodiazepine receptor protein by 40 %, while ginkgolide a and ginkgolide b reduced the expression by 50 % and 73 %, respectively . this finding was verified by immunocytochemical studies using antisera specific for the 18 kd peripheral benzodiazepine receptor protein . see oke , et al ., mol . cell . endocrinol . 87 : rl ( 1992 ) and garnier , et al ., endocrinology 132 : 444 ( 1993 ). a dramatic decrease in the protein expression was observed after treatment with egb761 , ginkgolide a , and ginkgolide b . the ginkgolide induced decrease in the 18 kd peripheral benzodiazepine receptor protein was also confirmed by immunoblot analysis of mitochondrial extracts obtained from control and treated animals . adrenal mitochondrial proteins were fractioned by one dimension sdspage and electro - transferred onto nitrocellulose as described in oke , et al ., mol . cell . endocrinol . 87 : rl ( 1992 ) and garnier , et al ., endocrinology 132 : 444 ( 1993 ). the nitrocellulose was subjected to immunoblot analysis using anti - peripheral benzodiazepine receptor antibody and goat igg - horseradish peroxidase with 4 - chloro - 1 - napthol as color reagent and hydrogen peroxide as substrate . densiometric analysis of the immunoreactivity protein bonds was performed using sigmagel ™ software ( jandel scientific , san rafael , calif ., u . s . a .). the densiometric analysis of the immunoreactivity found a 60 % decrease of the 18 kd peripheral benzodiazepine receptor protein by ginkgolide b . the ginkgolide induced decrease in mrna expression of the benzodiazepine receptor was also confirmed . total cellular rna from adrenal tissue was isolated by the acid guanidinium thiocyanate - phenol - chloroform extraction method ( chomczynski , et al ., anal . biochem . 162 : 156 - 159 ( 1987 )) using the rnazol b reagent ( tel - test inc ., friendswood , tex ., u . s . a .). rna electrophoresis transfer , probe labelling , and membrane hybridization were performed as previously described in dym , et al ., endocrinology 128 : 1167 - 1176 ( 1991 ). rna was size - fractionated by electrophoresis and transferred to derivatized nylon membranes ( nytran plus , schleicher & amp ; schuell , keene , n . h ., u . s . a .). the blots were then hybridized against the [ 32 p ] cdna probe for pbr labelled by the random priming technique . the 781 base - pair probe for pbr mrna used was prepared as previously described in garnier , et al ., endocrinology 132 : 444 - 458 ( 1993 ). screen enhanced autoradiography was performed by exposing kodak x - omat ar films to the blots at − 80 ° c . for 48 hours . densiometric analysis of the spots was performed as described above . both egb761 and ginkgolide b treatment was found to reduce peripheral benzodiazepine receptor mrna expression by 50 % and 85 %, respectively . adult sprague - dawley rats ( approximately 300 g ; charles river laboratories , wilmington , mass ., u . s . a .) were treated once daily for eight days with either ginkgolide a , ginkgolide b , or a saline control . ginkgolide a and ginkgolide b were injected as an aqueous solution intraperitoneally at a 2 mg / kg . the results shown in table ii are the means of between two to four independent experiments . in each experiment , at least six rats per treatment group were used . after eight days of treatment , the rats were sacrificed . the level of steroids in the rats was measured by radioimmunoassay from organic extracts of the collected serum . the levels of corticosterone ( a glucocorticoid in rats ) and testosterone were measured by radioimmunoassay using antibodies from endocrine sciences ( tarlana , calif ., u . s . a .) under conditions described by the supplier . the level of plasma acth was measured by radioimmunoassay using the method of crousos , et al ., new engl . j . med . 310 : 622 ( 1984 ). the level of aldosterone was measured by radioimmunoassay using a kit from diagnostics products corp . ( los angeles , calif ., u . s . a .). the mean steroid levels for each of the four treatment groups are reported in table ii . ginkgolide a and ginkgolide b were all found to decrease the level of corticosterone in the rats . because glucocorticoid secretion induced by the pituitary acth is modulated by a negative feedback system on the hypothalamus , the decrease in corticosteroid levels in the rats as a result of the administration of ginkgolide a and ginkgolide b will induce a corresponding increase in pituitary acth release and , consequently , plasma acth levels . as shown in table ii , treatment with either ginkgolide a or ginkgolide b was found unexpectedly to cause the rats to naturally respond and increase acth release . furthermore , serum levels of aldosterone ( secreted by the adrenal cortex ) and testosterone ( secreted by the testes ) were unaffected by the treatment of ginkgolide a and ginkgolide b , indicating that ginkgolides specifically affect the adrenal fasciculata - reticular cells of the adrenal gland . by inhibiting the release of glucocorticoids from the adrenal glands , ginkgolides can be used to treat disorders in patients that are secreting a high level of one or more glucocorticoids . examples of such patients include those suffering from cushings syndrome and those with stress - induced hypercorticolism . as discussed above , the levels of acth are naturally elevated in response to the suppression of glucocorticoid release upon administration of a ginkgolide . elevated levels of acth or acth analogs have been shown to inhibit brain aging ( e . g ., inhibit neurological loss and improve learning ). see , e . g ., laudfield , et al ., science , 214 : 581 ( 1981 ). thus , ginkgolides enhance brain function by both inhibiting glucocorticoid and maintaining normal acth release . it is to be understood that while the invention has been described in conjunction with the detailed description thereof , that the foregoing description is intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the invention , which is defined by the scope of the appended claims . other aspects , advantages , and modifications are within the claims . | 0 |
the present invention relates to an improved clip for use with a gun to implant projectiles in animals . the clip not only forms a part of the implant instrument but is also an aseptic package for the implant projectiles containing a biologically active material which projectile may be used for inoculating animals by the nonlethal implantation of the projectile totally within a living animals . following implantation , the biologically active material is released in situ in the animal in response to interaction with the fluids and cells in the animal body . the gun , generally designated 10 , is adapted to receive the clip generally designated 15 to permit the implantation of a ballistic projectile with sufficient velocity to penetrate the epidermal covering of a living animal body and lodge totally within the body . the projectile will then present a biologically active material to the living body which material is released and assimilated by the body fluids and cells surrounding the implanted projectile . the clip 15 provides an aseptic package for protecting and then delivering a predetermined measured dosage of a biologically active material in a concentrated , freeze - dried form which will not be contaminated or diluted or subjected to other deleterious affects prior to the desired use of the projectile . the clip 15 of the present invention comprises a molded structure including a web 16 which is generally rectangular in shape having at one end a tapered edge 17 to facilitate the insertion of the clip into a transverse guide passage 18 in the housing of the gun 10 . on one surface of the web 16 and molded integrally therewith is a plurality of transversely positioned , equally spaced cylindrical chambers 20 having parallel axes . each of the chambers have opposite open ends and are formed with connected wall structures to make the structure more rigid . the chambers 20 are placed in a row along the web . one end of each chamber is closer to one edge of the web than the opposite end for purposes of registration within the gun 10 and one end of the row is spaced from said tapered edge 17 to provide a tongue on the clip . within each of the chambers 20 on the web 16 is a ballistic implant projectile 22 . the projectile 22 comprises a conical nose and annular walls defining a generally cylindrical body which may have a cavity containing the biologically active material . the projectile 22 can be made of any material which is capable of being projected with sufficient force to penetrate a living animal body and which will maintain its integrity , e . g ., will not shatter , on impacting and entering the animal body . any of the numerous biomedically approved plastics can be used with advantage and can be selected from among those which are either soluble or insoluble in the animal body . exemplary of useful insoluble materials are the synthetic organic polymers such as the polyolefins , e . g ., polyethylene and polypropylene ; polysiloxane ; polyamides , such as nylon ; fluorinated hydrocarbon resins ; abs polymers ( acrylonitrile butadiene - styrene polymers ) and the like . a suitable class of polymers which are soluble in animal bodies , e . g . cattle , are the cellulose derivatives such as hydroxypropyl cellulose , available commercially from the hercules powder co . under the trademark &# 34 ; klucel &# 34 ;. the use of soluble projectiles can be particularly advantageous since after implant the projectile will be solubilized in and eliminated from the animal &# 39 ; s body , eliminating the need to retrieve the projectile . the projectile 22 may be a 25 calibre projectile and the nose cone and the cavity opening to the rear of the projectile is loaded with a given dose of biologically active material . the biologically active material may include antigens , tranquilizers , vitamins , narcotics etc . bacterial cells or extracts may be added to the antigen preparations as adjuvants to provoke an increased immune response . the antigens should include materials which when administered to an animal will cause the formation of antibodies by the animal , such as the viruses , bacteria , and toxoids are well known in the art , and would be useful in the practice of this invention . narcotics may be administered to narcotize the animal . on the other surface of the molded structure are spaced transversely extending recesses 27 . the recesses 27 are indexing means and are positioned in corresponding spaced relation to the chambers 20 for positioning an associated chamber in aligned relationship to the barrel of the gun . there is one more recess , as shown most clearly in fig6 than there are chambers to index the clip initially in the gun 10 before the bolt is operated . each of the recesses 27 is formed by walls disposed to form a rectangularly shaped portion for receiving a spring - biased detent and the leading edge wall of each rectangular recess is provided with an arcuate wall portion 29 to receive and position a circular pawl to advance the clip transversely of the housing of the gun 10 to successively align each of the chambers 20 with the barrel of the gun 10 . each of the chambers 20 is sealed by a mechanically rupturable seal at each end to protect and aseptically package the projectile . to protect the projectile means to exclude from the chambers contaminates such as dirt , bacteria etc ., the chambers are sealed in a preferred embodiment by placing a sealing film 25 along the open end of the chambers and bonding the sealing film to the material of the clip defining the chambers at each of the open ends to individually seal each chamber at each end . the films 25 are preferably a laminate of 0 . 5 ( 0 . 0254 mm ) mil polyester and 1 . 5 mil polyethylene . the polyethylene surface is heat sealed to the molded structure to form a good impermeable bond with the molded structure around each chamber opening . the clip preferably is formed of a translucent high density polyethylene permitting the heat sealing of the film thereto . if it is desired that the chambers be hermetically sealed to exclude penetration by gases and moisture the sealing means should include an impermeable material such as heat sealable aluminum foil and the clip should be made of a plastic impermeable to gas and moisture , e . g ., a polyformaldehyde resin . the clip alternatively could be formed of injection moldable polyolefins or polyamides and other sealing films may be used . in operation , the breech of the gun has an obturator which penetrates the sealing means at one end of a chamber 20 aligned with the bore . the obturator then engages the projectile 22 forcing it to rupture the sealing film at the opposite end of the chamber and the obturator extends through the chamber forcing the projectile into the bore of the gun . fig5 illustrates a clip 15 where the sealing film is ruptured on one chamber at the lead end and the projectile has been spent or fired from the gun . the clip can then be removed until another implant is desired and the remaining chambers remain aseptically sealed . while the preferred form of the fire arm for launching or &# 34 ; shooting &# 34 ; the projectile into the animal uses compressed gas , preferably air , it is understood that the gun may use other launching devices such as an expanded gas similar to explosive charges . the projectiles useable in this clip are described in copending applications assigned to the assignee of this application and are identified as drake and paul , ser . no . 497 , 462 , filed aug . 14 , 1974 , now u . s . pat . no . 3 , 948 , 263 , issued apr . 6 , 1976 ; and krogseng and paul , ser . no . 524 , 121 , filed nov . 15 , 1974 , now u . s . pat . no . 3 , 982 , 536 , issued apr . 28 , 1976 . the molded structure is preferably translucent to permit inspection of the projectiles which are formed of material having a distinct color , preferably not including the reds , to color code various biologically active materials . this coding avoids possible confusion when implanting different materials at substantially the same period of time . | 0 |
as referenced above , the present invention achieves secure communication through the use of a unique optical encoding scheme and addressing methodology , which provides both security and efficient communication in an optical network . the method is carried out using optical components , thus allowing all steps to take place in an optical domain . referring now to fig2 , an optical communication system 110 is illustrated which carries out the transmission and communication methodologies of the present invention . as will be further discussed below , this illustrates the basic operating components of such a communication system . it is contemplated that the system will be one part of a larger network , thus only selected components are shown for ease of illustration . the overall communication system of the present invention will include at least one transmission system or transmission node 118 , having at least one source system 120 . further , the communication system will also include at least one destination system 190 . in the example illustrated in fig2 , a methodology and communication system is utilized to communicate messages between source system 120 within transmission node 118 , and destination system 190 within a destination node 180 . as can be anticipated , source system 120 will generate the content for a message to be delivered , and provide this content to an optical transmitter 122 . as well known by those familiar with optical components , optical transmitter 122 will simply convert the necessary signals from electrical to optical signals . at this point , the optical signals are transmitted to an encoder 124 . encoder 124 also has an input from a code generator 126 . code generator 126 controls the security and encoding processes of the present invention to ensure that the transmitted messages are only readable by designated destinations . in order to achieve this security , code generator 126 provides unique codes for each destination or set of destinations of the communication network which are intended to receive the particular message . using this unique code , encoder 124 is capable of encoding the message prior to transmission . once encoded , the message is transmitted to an optical backbone 130 for distribution across an entire network . as illustrated in fig2 , a plurality of nodes 118 , 140 , 150 , 160 , 180 are all connected to optical backbone 130 . each receiving node will include a decoder 142 , 152 and 162 , along with an optical receiver 144 , 154 , 164 and 184 . as can be appreciated , each decoder includes a unique code capable of recognizing messages transmitted across the optical backbone which are intended for that node . as will be more fully explained below , if the messages are not encoded utilizing the same unique code , the various decoders are unable to recognize the message itself , thus providing an initial level of security for the network . as mentioned above , communication system 110 includes a destination system 190 which , in this particular example , is the targeted destination for the relevant encoded messages . destination system 190 is part of a destination node 180 which includes a decoder 182 and an optical receiver 184 . in this particular case , decoder 182 includes the same unique code that was utilized by encoder 124 to encode the particular message in question . consequently , decoder 182 will first recognize that a message exists on the optical backbone 130 and be able to appropriately decode the particular message . once decoded , the message is transmitted to optical receiver 184 and thus communicated to destination system 190 . utilizing this communication scheme , encoded messages are transmitted across the network in a manner to avoid interception by undesired destination nodes . consequently , secure communication is achieved in an efficient manner . while the above example illustrates the transmission of a single message from a source system 120 to a destination system 190 , it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that multiple nodes can be included as part of the optical communication system outlined above and multiple messages can simultaneously be transmitted on backbone 130 . using these multiple messages , network communication traffic can be achieved linking numerous components to one another while also providing selective security to ensure delivery to only a prescribed node . referring now to fig3 there is a general flow chart illustrating the top level steps outlined above . as indicated , process 200 starts with node 1 generating a message at step 202 . next , an appropriate unique code is determined for the message . determining the code in this manner will ensure the same unique code is utilized by both the transmitter and receiver . this is carried out in step 204 of fig2 . following the determination of this unique code , the message is then appropriately encoded utilizing the unique code at step 206 . once encoded the message is transmitted at step 208 . once transmitted across the network , node 2 will recognize the message at step 210 , based upon the unique encoding of the message . lastly , at step 212 node 2 will thus receive the message and take appropriate action as necessary . it is generally anticipated that the systems and process outlined above will be utilized in optical communication systems . one exemplary method for coding is optical code division multiple access encoding ( ocdma ). naturally , other encoding techniques could be utilized . however , utilizing ocdma allows for broadband transmission of messages across a network while also providing the above discussed measures . referring now to fig4 , there is shown a graphical illustration of ocdma coding methodologies . specifically , fig4 illustrates one bit of information which has been encoded using optical signals of four different wavelengths . in this particular example , each cell of the illustrated grid represents a chip 402 . in this particular case , four different wavelengths have been chosen , and are illustrated as λ 1 , λ 2 , λ 3 and λ 4 on the vertical axis of the grid . further , time slices are illustrated , with each designated as t 1 , t 2 , t 3 , t 4 , to t n . for this particular encoding scheme , the shaded boxes illustrate those wavelengths and time periods which would be designated as containing meaningful information . encoders of the present invention will contain the necessary information to encode relevant information at the designated wavelengths and time periods . consequently , any receiver which does not have a corresponding decoder , will not be able to decipher meaningful information from the encoded signal . as can be anticipated , multiple wavelengths and multiple time periods are potentially usable , thus providing for many code variations in the encoding scheme . these code variations can provide strong code separation necessary for secure applications . fig5 is a system diagram illustrating one potential application of the present invention . in a closed optical network environment 500 , several devices are connected to a network 540 via appropriate connections . this example shows an input device 510 , a first sensor device 520 , a second sensor device 530 , a processor 550 and a communication port 560 all connected to network 540 . utilizing the ocdma example discussed above , each of these nodes will include appropriated filters to incorporate an appropriate coding methodology . as illustrated , input device 510 includes an input / output filter 512 at its interface . similarly , first sensor device 520 includes interface filter 522 . second sensor device 530 includes an interface filter 532 , communication port 560 includes an interface filter 562 and lastly , processor 550 includes an interface filter 552 . in this particular illustration , the relevant interface filters have been drawn in slightly different configurations to signify differences there between . specifically , these differences are simply designed to affect different coding using various codes . each of these codes is similar to that illustrated in fig4 above . for example , first sensor filter 522 and second sensor filter 532 are configured to be substantially identical . more significantly , each incorporates the same code . processor 550 includes an interface having multiple filters , thus capable of communicating using several codes . in this particular system , first sensor 520 and second sensor 530 are intended to communicate with processor 550 . similarly , input device 510 is configured to communicate only with processor 550 . likewise , communication port 560 is designed to potentially allow communication only with processor 550 . thus , because different coding is used in the encoder / decoder incorporated in each device ( i . e . node ) this controlled and secure communication is achieved . as an example of the unique coding suggested above , messages are easily passed from input device 510 to processor 550 over the network 540 . that said , first sensor 520 and second sensor 530 will not recognize messages intended for communication only between processor 550 and input device 510 . similarly , messages communicated between processor 550 and com . port 560 will utilize another unique code , thus accommodating the passages of messages while also providing security . as other components attached to network 540 do not have the necessary codes , they again will not recognize information being transmitted . various methodologies may be used for the implementation of filters or encoders / decoders . fig6 illustrates one potential filter for use in the present systems . in this particular device , a fiber 600 is specifically treated to have various reflection points reactive to selected wavelengths . the reflection points are positioned at specified locations in order to achieve a prescribed timing , as illustrated in the related timing diagram . consequently , spread spectrum signals received by this component will have selected frequencies reflected at specific points in time , causing those particular components to be separated and recognized . the reflected signals can be fed to a decoder 620 which is then capable of recognizing the data provided , and performing further processing . this is simply one example , and other examples may exist for relevant filters . while the system and method outlined above provide one mechanism for achieving encoded optical communications , those skilled in the art recognize that many variations and alternatives may exist . these alternatives and variations include all systems and processes coming within the scope and spirit of the following claims . it is not intended or contemplated that the present invention be limited to only the embodiment discussed and illustrated above . | 7 |
in the embodiment schematically shown in fig1 , the laser according to the invention for generating pulsed laser radiation of a first wavelength comprises a laser resonator 1 , which is formed by two resonator mirrors 2 , 3 and in which there are arranged a yb : yag medium 4 as the active medium , an optical coupling - out module 5 , a coupling - out mirror 6 as well as a non - linear optical element 7 for frequency multiplication . the laser further comprises a pumping light source 8 , a control unit 9 for controlling the coupling - out module 5 , as well as a photodiode 10 . the active medium 4 is pumped with light from the pumping light source 8 ( continuously , in this case ) ( arrow p 1 ) and emits primary radiation of a second wavelength ( in the infrared range , in this case ), which differs from the first wavelength ( in the visible green range , in this case ). the coupling - out module 5 can be switched to first and second states by means of the control unit 9 , with the generated primary radiation being coupled out from the resonator 1 in the first state ( arrow p 2 ). in this case , the resonator 1 is open to the primary radiation . in the second state of the coupling - out module 5 , no primary radiation is coupled out from the resonator 1 , so that the resonator 1 is closed to the primary radiation . the resonator 1 is designed here as a laser resonator for the primary radiation . the coupling - out mirror 6 couples out a small portion of the primary radiation ( arrow p 3 ) and directs it to the photodiode 10 by which the intensity of the primary radiation in the laser resonator 1 can be measured . in this case , the non - linear optical element 7 serves to double the frequency of the primary radiation so that the frequency - doubled green laser radiation ( laser radiation of the first wavelength ) is generated as the square of the intensity of the infrared primary radiation . the resonator mirror 3 is provided as a dichroic mirror , which reflects the primary radiation and transmits the frequency - doubled green laser radiation , as indicated by the arrow p 4 shown in broken lines . fig2 shows a specific embodiment of the laser resonator 1 , not showing the coupling - out mirror 6 , the pumping light source 8 , the control unit 9 and the photodiode 10 . in addition to resonator mirrors 2 and 3 , the laser resonator 1 comprises further mirrors 11 , 12 and 13 , and the active medium 4 is provided in the so - called disk laser assembly . the coupling - out module 5 comprises a bbo pockel &# 39 ; s cell ( bbo = beta barium borate crystal ) 14 as well as a thin - film polarizer 15 . the non - linear element 7 is an lbo crystal 16 ( lbo = lithium triborate ). operation of the laser of fig1 and 2 will be explained in combination with fig3 , in which the temporal pulse shape of the infrared beam inside the resonator ( curve k 1 shown in broken lines ), of the coupled - out infrared beam ( dotted curve k 2 ) as well as of the frequency - doubled green beam ( curve k 3 ) are shown , respectively standardized to one . further , the trigger signal is indicated with a rectangular profile ( curve k 4 ) for the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 . if the trigger signal has a value of 1 , the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 is deactivated , so that no generated primary radiation is coupled out from the laser resonator 1 . if the trigger signal has a value of 0 , the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 is activated , so that primary radiation is coupled out ( arrow p 2 in fig1 and 2 ). now , if the trigger signal is switched from 0 to 1 at the time t 1 ( fig3 ), the laser resonator is switched from its open state ( first state , in which primary radiation is coupled out ) to the second state , in which no primary radiation is coupled out . since the active medium 4 is being pumped continuously , at least one resonator mode begins to oscillate after a certain amount of time , so that the intensity ( curve k 1 ) of the infrared signal inside the resonator ( primary radiation ) increases . the non - linear optical element 7 ( of the lbo crystal 16 ) uses the primary radiation to generate frequency - doubled green laser radiation ( curve k 3 ), whose intensity increases as the intensity of the infrared radiation inside the resonator increases . this increasing intensity forms the ascending slope of the desired green laser pulse . at a time t 2 , the control unit 9 activates the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 ( the trigger signal ( curve k 4 ) being switched from 1 to 0 ), so that the generated primary radiation is then coupled out . due to transit times of the electrical signals , the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 responds with a delay of 50 ns in the example described here . this delay is indicated in the graphic representation of fig3 . the primary radiation generated in the resonator 1 ( curve k 1 ) decreases , and as a consequence the frequency - doubled laser radiation ( curve k 3 ) generated by means of the non - linear element 7 also decreases . the intensity of the green laser radiation drops to zero so that the descending slope is formed and the pulse is thus terminated . in contrast thereto , the coupled - out infrared radiation ( k 2 ) increases . the pulse duration of the frequency - doubled green pulse ( curve k 3 ) can thus be set by the activation period of the pockel &# 39 ; s cell . the activation period corresponds to the period δt 1 , during which the trigger signal is 1 . the control unit 9 can modify the period δt 1 and can thus set the pulse duration or pulse width , respectively , of the generated green laser pulse ( curve k 3 ) over said period . since the period δt 1 is approximately 10 times greater here than the pulse duration , said period is not shown to scale in fig3 . the described mode of operation of the laser is similar to the so - called cavity dumping mode of operation . in the cavity dumping mode of operation , the energy in the photon field is stored in the laser resonator , and in order to generate a pulse , the desired pulse is suitably coupled out by means of an electro - optic or acousto - optic coupling - out element . in the embodiment described here , the coupling - out of the primary beam is used to terminate generation of the frequency - doubled laser beam or to allow the intensity of the frequency - doubled laser beam to drop below a desired minimum value , whereby the pulse duration of the generated frequency - doubled laser pulse can be advantageously set within wide ranges . it has been shown that the pulse width of ca . 100 to 500 ns ( for an activation period δt 1 of the pockel &# 39 ; s cell of 2 . 00 to 3 . 50 μs ) at a pulse repetition frequency in excess of 20 khz , in particular at pulse repetition frequencies of 50 to 200 khz , was achieved with a diffraction index m 2 of less than 5 ( in particular 1 ). a pulse duration of 300 ns and a pulse repetition frequency of 50 and 100 khz as well as a pumping power of 450 watts allow to achieve an average power of the green laser pulse of approximately 100 watts . this corresponds to an efficiency in excess of 20 %. as the pumping power decreased down to 150 watts , the average power of the green pulse decreased nearly linearly to approximately 10 watts . the pulse width could be from less than 100 ns up to even more than 1 , 000 ns . the setting of the pulse duration by means of the control unit 9 is carried out in the embodiment example described here by continuously detecting the intensity of the primary radiation via the dichroic coupling - out mirror 6 and the photodiode 10 . if the measured intensity exceeds a predetermined threshold value , the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 is activated . however , it is also possible to arrange the coupling - out mirror 6 inside or outside the resonator 1 such that the intensity of the generated green laser radiation can be measured . in this case , the control can be effected as a function of the intensity of the green laser radiation in the same manner as with respect to the intensity of the primary radiation . further , it is possible to set the period δt 1 to predetermined constant values and to thereby determine the pulse duration of the green laser radiation . the pulse repetition frequency can be set by means of the control unit 9 by appropriately selecting the activation period of the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 . fig4 and 5 respectively show only the generated green laser radiation for three subsequent pulses , with fig4 showing the value of the trigger signal and fig5 respectively showing the activated or the deactivated state of the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 . as is evident from fig4 and 5 , the pulse repetition frequency can be defined by the activation period δt 2 of the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 ( i . e ., the period in which the primary radiation is being coupled out ). if the activation period δt 2 is increased , the pulse repetition frequency decreases . if the activation period is shortened , the pulse repetition frequency increases . therefore , it is possible with the laser according to the invention not only to set the pulse duration via the control unit 9 , but the pulse repetition frequency can also be set or adjusted , respectively ; the pulse duration and the pulse repetition frequency can be set nearly independently of each other . the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 and the polarizer 15 are designed such , in this case , that when the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 is activated , the polarizer 15 has a reflectivity of approximately 50 %. when the pockel &# 39 ; s cell is deactivated , the polarizer has a reflectivity of ( nearly ) 100 % ( respectively related to the infrared primary radiation coming from the mirror 2 and impinging on the polarizer 15 ). however , the voltage to be applied to the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 in order to activate the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 allows to vary the polarization condition of the primary radiation and , thus , in connection with the polarizer , the degree of reflection at the polarizer 15 or its reflectivity , respectively , when the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 is activated . the degree of reflection when the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 is activated determines how quickly the resonator 1 is depleted . increasing the degree of reflection when the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 is activated causes less primary radiation to be coupled out per time unit , so that the pulse width of the green pulse increases for the same activation period of the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 . when the reflectivity decreases by the correspondingly applied voltage when the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 is activated , the pulse duration decreases . thus , while increasing the voltage applied to the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 from 2 . 0 kv to 3 . 5 kv , the pulse duration could be decreased from approximately 400 ns to approximately 200 ns . in the described embodiments , the activation time of the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 is always selected such that it is on the still ascending slope of the frequency - doubled green laser radiation . it is also possible to trigger the pockel &# 39 ; s cell 14 by the fluorescent light of the active medium 4 , because said light increases as the inversion increases . | 7 |
a system and method for electropolishing or electroplating a continuous assembly of interconnected components is described . in the following description , for purposes of explanation , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the exemplary embodiments . it is apparent to one skilled in the art , however , that the present invention can be practiced without these specific details or with an equivalent arrangement . referring now to the drawings , wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views , fig1 is a perspective view of a system for electropolishing or electroplating a continuous assembly of interconnected components in accordance with an embodiment . in this embodiment , the continuous assembly of interconnected components is a conveyor belt 105 . as illustrated in fig1 , two housings 115 a and 115 b are positioned at the edges of conveyor belt 105 in order to electropolish or electroplate edge links 120 a and edge links 120 b , respectively . in some embodiments , however , only a single housing 115 a or 115 b can be positioned on an edge of conveyor belt 105 to electropolish or electroplate only one of edge links 120 a or edge links 120 b , respectively . it is understood that housing 115 b is cutaway in fig1 for purposes of explanation only , and that in practice , the exterior of housing 115 b resembles housing 115 a . further , it is understood that the interior of housing 115 a resembles that shown with respect to housing 115 b . although not shown in fig1 , it is contemplated that other features of the conveyor belt may be electropolished or electroplated with or instead of edge links 120 a and edge links 120 b , such as edge guards or lane dividers . electrical contacts 110 a and 110 b placed on conveyor belt 105 cause the conveyor belt 105 to become an anode ( in the case of electropolishing ) or cathode ( in the case of electroplating ). force may be placed on electrical contact 110 a and / or electrical contact 110 b to ensure consistent contact with conveyor belt 105 and consistent current . such a force can be applied by a spring , a pneumatic system , a hydraulic system , gravity , and / or similar means . in one embodiment , electrical contact 110 a and / or electrical contact 110 b are movable or floating to accommodate variations in the dimensions of conveyor belt 105 . in this embodiment , an electrical conductor 125 b is placed in housing 115 b to serve as a cathode ( in the case of electropolishing ) or anode ( in the case of electroplating ). in a similar fashion , an electrical conductor ( not shown ) is placed in housing 115 a to serve as a cathode ( in the case of electropolishing ) or anode ( in the case of electroplating ). in this embodiment , electrical conductor 115 b is placed proximate to the edge of edge links 120 b in order to target polishing or plating at the weld 135 b of conveyor belt 105 . however , it is contemplated that electrical conductor 115 b can be placed in any position proximate to any particular area to be electropolished or electroplated . in one embodiment , housing 115 a and housing 115 b are made of copper or another conductive material , and can themselves serve as a cathode ( in the case of electropolishing ) or anode ( in the case of electroplating ), with or without electrical conductors internal to housing 115 a or housing 115 b . housing 115 a , housing 115 b and the electrical conductors ( i . e ., the electrical conductor internal to housing 115 a and electrical conductor 125 b ) can be sized and positioned such that the surface of the electrical conductors are equidistant from all surfaces of edge links 120 a and edge links 120 b for even polishing . nonconductive wear surfaces may be placed in housing 115 a and housing 115 b in any practical configuration , such as a bushing or perforated liner , to prevent contact between conveyor belt 105 and the electrical conductors , to prevent contact between conveyor belt 105 and the electrical conductors while allowing current to flow between the electrical conductors and conveyor belt 105 . although shown as rectangular and elongated in shape , it is contemplated that housing 115 a and housing 115 b can be of any shape or size suitable to achieve electropolishing or electroplating as described herein . further , housing 115 a and housing 115 b can be constructed as a single body , or can be made of separable components , such as a body and removable lid . electrolyte may be introduced at any point along the length of housings 115 a and 115 b . in this embodiment , electrolyte is introduced into housing 115 a via inlet 130 a . it is understood that electrolyte is introduced into housing 115 b via a similar inlet ( not shown ). electrolyte may flow in either direction through housings 115 a and 115 b , i . e ., in the direction of travel of conveyor belt 105 through housings 115 a and 115 b , or counter to the direction of travel of conveyor belt 105 through housings 115 a and 115 b . in one embodiment , housings 115 a and 115 b are open at the ends to allow electrolyte to flow out and to allow conveyor belt 105 to pass through . in another embodiment , a separate orifice is provided for the electrolyte outflow . the outflow orifice may be arranged in an upward direction to facilitate removal of gases produced during the electropolishing or electroplating process . orifices are sized to restrict outflow , and housings 115 a and 115 b are provided with seals 140 a and 140 b , respectively , so that the housings 115 a and 115 b are flooded to a level that provides effective electropolishing or electroplating . seals 140 a and 140 b need not stop liquid flow altogether , but rather restrict it enough to cause flooding of the housing . exemplary seals can be made of rubber sheeting or brushes . fig2 is a perspective view of a system for electropolishing or electroplating a continuous assembly of interconnected components in accordance with another embodiment . in this embodiment , the continuous assembly of interconnected components is a conveyor belt 205 having a plurality of center links 220 to be electropolished or electroplated . center links 220 are any links positioned between the edges of conveyor belt 205 , and do not necessarily need to be centered between the edges of conveyor belt 205 . center links 220 are positioned laterally to create a desired turn radius and to control expansion and collapse of the edge links of conveyor belt 205 . a single housing 215 is positioned along the width of the conveyor belt 205 in order to electropolish or electroplate center links 220 . it is understood that housing 215 is cutaway in fig2 for purposes of explanation only , and that housing 215 is rectangular in shape in use . although not shown in fig2 , it is contemplated that other features of the conveyor belt may be electropolished or electroplated with or instead of center links 220 , such as edge guards or lane dividers . further , although shown and described with respect to a single housing 215 and a single column of center links 220 , it is contemplated that multiple columns of center links 220 may be present , or multiple other features to be electropolished or electroplated , as well as their accompanying housings . electrical contacts 210 a and 210 b are placed on conveyor belt 205 in a manner similar to that described with respect to electrical contacts 110 a and 110 b of fig1 . an electrical conductor 225 is placed in housing 215 to serve as a cathode ( in the case of electropolishing ) or an anode ( in the case of electroplating ). in this embodiment , electrical conductor 225 is placed on the bottom of housing 215 , underneath both of the welded edges 235 a and 235 b of center links 220 . however , it is contemplated that electrical conductor 225 can be placed in any position proximate to any particular area to be electropolished or electroplated . as with respect to fig1 , housing 215 can be made of copper or another conductive material , and can itself serve as a cathode ( in the case of electropolishing ) or anode ( in the case of electroplating ), with or without electrical conductors internal to housing 215 . housing 215 and electrical conductor 225 can be sized and positioned such that the surface of the electrical conductor 225 is equidistant from all surfaces of center links 220 for even polishing . nonconductive wear surfaces may be placed in housing 225 in any practical configuration , such as a bushing or perforated liner , to prevent contact between conveyor belt 205 and the electrical conductors , to prevent contact between conveyor belt 205 and the electrical conductors while allowing current to flow between the electrical conductors and conveyor belt 205 . although shown as rectangular and elongated in shape , it is contemplated that housing 215 can be of any shape or size suitable to achieve electropolishing or electroplating as described herein . further , housing 215 can be constructed as a single body , or can be made of separable components , such as a body and removable lid . electrolyte is introduced via inlet 230 at a central location with respect to the length and width of housing 215 , as is described with respect to fig1 . electrolyte may flow in either direction through housing 215 , i . e ., in the direction of travel of conveyor belt 205 through housing 215 , or counter to the direction of travel of conveyor belt 205 through housing 215 . in this embodiment , housing 215 is open at the ends to allow electrolyte to flow out and to allow conveyor belt 205 to pass through . as is described above with respect to fig1 , a separate orifice may instead be provided for the electrolyte outflow . housing 215 is provided with a seal 240 so that the housing 215 is flooded to a level that provides effective electropolishing or electroplating , while minimizing electrolyte loss . in this embodiment , seal 240 is positioned on both sides of center links 220 . although shown and described as separate embodiments , it is contemplated that both the edge links and the center links of a conveyor belt can be polished simultaneously , by combining the embodiment of fig1 with that of fig2 . fig3 is a perspective view of a system for electropolishing or electroplating a continuous assembly of interconnected components in accordance with an embodiment . in this embodiment , the continuous assembly of interconnected components is conveyor belt 305 . to create a continuous electropolishing or electroplating process , conveyor belt 305 is unrolled from an in - feed roll 340 into cleaning station 345 , traveling in a direction a . cleaning station 345 cleans the edge links of conveyor belt 305 and degreases them , for example . conveyor belt 305 is then rinsed at rinse station 350 . electroplating or electropolishing is achieved at electroplating / electropolishing stations 355 . although illustrated with two electroplating / electropolishing stations 355 , it is contemplated that only a single electroplating / electropolishing station 355 can be provided , or multiple electroplating / electropolishing stations 355 can be provided in series . electroplating / electropolishing stations 355 have housings 315 a to polish one edge of the conveyor belt , as well as housings opposite to housing 315 a ( not shown ) to polish the opposite edge of conveyor belt 355 . it is contemplated that housings 315 a , as well as the opposing housings , may be similar or identical to housings 115 a and 115 b , respectively , of fig1 . further , although shown and described herein only with respect to housings 315 a , it is contemplated that a similar or identical process may be carried out with respect to the opposing housings . although not shown in fig3 , it is contemplated that other features of the conveyor belt may be electropolished or electroplated with or instead of the edge links of conveyor belt 305 , such as edge guards or lane dividers . electrical contacts placed on conveyor belt 305 cause the conveyor belt to become an anode ( in the case of electropolishing ) or cathode ( in the case of electroplating ). electrical conductors are placed in housings 315 a to serve as a cathode ( in the case of electropolishing ) or anode ( in the case of electroplating ). electrolytic solution is provided via inlets 330 a to housings 315 a , immersing the edges of conveyor belt 305 within the housings 315 a in electrolytic solution . with respect to electroplating , a current is applied to the electrical conductors , oxidizing the metal atoms that comprise the electrical conductors and allowing them to dissolve into the electrolytic solution . the dissolved metal ions are moved by the electric field to conveyor belt 305 , coating conveyor belt 305 and depositing a layer of metallic material on the surface of conveyor belt 305 . with respect to electropolishing , a current is applied to conveyor belt 305 , oxidizing the metal atoms on the surface of conveyor belt 305 and allowing them to dissolve into the electrolytic solution . the dissolved metal ions in the electrolytic solution are moved by the electric field to the electrical conductors . thus , a smoother , polished surface results on conveyor belt 305 . once conveyor belt 305 has been electropolished or electroplated , it is moved into post - treatment station 360 ( where it undergoes , e . g ., a nitric acid rinse ), then undergoes a final rinse at rinse station 365 . optionally , conveyor belt 305 can be moved through a dryer ( not shown ). conveyor belt 305 is moved onto take - up roll 370 . it is contemplated that conveyor belt 305 can be moved from in - feed roll 340 to take - up roll 370 by any suitable means , such as , for example , a system drive or motor . although shown and described with respect to the electropolishing or electroplating of the edge links , it is contemplated that fig3 can be modified to instead or additionally electropolish or electroplate center links , if present . although described herein with respect to conveyor belts , it is contemplated that the methods and systems described herein can be applied to any rollable and / or conductive materials , including chains or other continuous assemblies of interconnected components . such electropolishing or electroplating applied in accordance with the described embodiments results in improved sanitation , reduced wear and friction on the treated parts , and improved product release characteristics , particularly with respect to food processing applications . the present invention has been described in relation to particular examples , which are intended in all respects to be illustrative rather than restrictive . those skilled in the art will appreciate that many different combinations of materials and components will be suitable for practicing the present invention . other implementations of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein . various aspects and / or components of the described embodiments may be used singly or in any combination . it is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only , with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims . | 2 |
a piezoelectric device according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention and a method for manufacturing the piezoelectric device will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . the piezoelectric device is described below using a plate wave device as an example . the plate wave device includes idt electrodes and generates waves which have vibration displacements on both surfaces of a tabular elastic substance ( in this preferred embodiment , a piezoelectric thin - film 10 ) and which propagate along the surfaces . a configuration and manufacturing method below can be applied to a piezoelectric device including other idt electrodes . fig1 a is a plan view of the piezoelectric device 10 d according to this preferred embodiment and fig1 b is a sectional view of the piezoelectric device 10 d taken along the line a - a ′ of fig1 a . fig1 c is a schematic sectional view of a piezoelectric device 10 d ′ having another configuration . as shown in fig1 a - 1c , the piezoelectric device 10 d includes the piezoelectric thin - film 10 , which has a predetermined thickness , for example , about 1 μm , and a support 30 b . the piezoelectric thin - film 10 includes a piezoelectric single crystal substance such as an lt substrate , an ln substrate , an lbo ( li 2 b 4 o 7 ), or a langasite ( la 3 ga 5 sio 14 ) substrate . the thickness of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 is preferably set depending on each material such that the piezoelectric device 10 d has a target frequency . the support 30 b is preferably made of si or glass or is made from a piezoelectric substrate with a linear expansion coefficient equal or similar to that of the piezoelectric thin - film . the piezoelectric thin - film 10 and the support 30 b are bonded to each other with an adhesive layer 30 a made of an insulating material such as an organic material or a sin and so on . idt electrodes 60 and interconnect electrodes 61 are located on the support 30 b side of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 . the piezoelectric thin - film 10 has conductive through - holes 62 . the conductive through - holes 62 are connected to end portions of the interconnect electrodes 61 that are opposite to end portions of the interconnect electrodes 61 that are connected to the idt electrodes 60 . bumps 90 serving as external connection terminals are provided on a surface of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 that is opposite to an idt electrode - formed surface 12 of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 so as to correspond to the positions of the conductive through - holes 62 . the idt electrode - formed surface 12 of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 includes a region in which the idt electrodes 60 are provided and no support 30 b is disposed but an opening 31 is formed on the idt electrode 60 - formed region . that is , the support 30 b supports a region of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 that is other than the idt electrode 60 - formed region and is not in contact with the idt electrodes 60 or a portion of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 that corresponds to the idt electrode 60 - formed region . in the case of mounting the piezoelectric device 10 d on a circuit board , the support 30 b is attached to the circuit board . that is , the bump 90 - formed surface of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 corresponds to the front surface of the piezoelectric device 10 d and the idt electrode - formed surface 12 is located in the piezoelectric device 10 d . therefore , even if a metal powder adheres to the piezoelectric device 10 d in a back - end step of assembling the piezoelectric device 10 d and another circuit board into a module , the metal powder adheres to the bump - formed surface and does not adhere to the idt electrode - formed surface 12 . thus , short - circuit failure due to the metal powder can be prevented . alternatively , even if an organic contaminant adheres thereto to generate gas , this phenomenon occurs on the bump - formed surface and does not affect the idt electrode - formed surface 12 , which is opposite to the bump - formed surface of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 . thus , the idt electrodes 60 are not corroded by the gas and therefore properties thereof can be prevented from being deteriorated . when the frequency of the plate wave device is adjusted , the surface ( the bump - formed surface ) of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 that is opposite to the idt electrode - formed surface 12 thereof can be readily and uniformly ground or milled by ion milling before the bumps 90 are formed . the idt electrodes 60 are not ground or milled by milling . thus , the piezoelectric thin - film 10 can be readily ground or milled without unnecessarily grinding or milling the idt electrodes . this allows a plate wave device having good properties to be accurately and readily achieved . in the piezoelectric device 10 d , the idt electrode 60 - formed region of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 is open as shown in fig1 a and 1b . the above advantageous effects can be achieved using the piezoelectric device 10 d ′, which has a configuration in which a void 80 is formed on a region which is located on the side of a junction between a piezoelectric thin - film 10 and a support 30 b and in which idt electrodes 60 are formed , as shown in fig1 c . fig2 is a flowchart illustrating method for manufacturing the piezoelectric device , which has the configuration shown in fig1 a and 1b , according to this preferred embodiment . fig3 a - 3e and 4 a - 4 d are schematic views illustrating steps of manufacturing the piezoelectric device in accordance with the flowchart shown in fig2 . a single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 having a predetermined thickness and an area sufficient to arrange or form a plurality of piezoelectric devices is prepared . as shown in fig3 a , hydrogen ions are implanted into the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 , whereby an ion - implanted layer 100 is formed ( s 101 in fig2 ). in this step , a substrate having a plurality of discretely arranged piezoelectric devices is preferably used as the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 . if , for example , an lt substrate is used as the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 , the ion - implanted layer 100 is formed in such a manner that hydrogen ions are implanted into the substrate at a dose of approximately 1 . 0 × 10 17 atoms / cm 2 with an acceleration energy of about 150 kev such that a hydrogen ion layer is formed at a depth of about 1 μm from an ion implantation surface 12 . as shown in fig3 b , the idt electrodes 60 and the interconnect electrodes 61 are formed on the ion implantation surface 12 of the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 ( s 102 in fig2 ). the ion implantation surface 12 corresponds to the idt electrode - formed surface and is referred to as “ idt electrode - formed surface ” in this preferred embodiment to a third preferred embodiment . as shown in fig3 c , the adhesive layer 30 a , which is made of the insulating material such as an organic material or a sin , is formed on the idt electrode - formed surface 12 ( s 103 in fig2 ). in this step , the adhesive layer 30 a is formed so as to have a thickness not less than the thickness of the idt electrodes 60 or the interconnect electrodes 61 and is planarized by cmp or the like so as to have a flat surface . the support 30 b , which is made of an appropriately selected material such as si , glass , or a piezoelectric material identical to the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate , is prepared . as shown in fig3 d , the support 30 b is bonded to the idt electrode - formed surface 12 side of the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 ( s 104 in fig2 ). in this step , the support 30 b is cleanly bonded to the adhesive layer 30 a and is thereby bonded to the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 . as shown in fig3 e , the support 30 b and the adhesive layer 30 a are etched such that the idt electrodes 60 on the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 are exposed from the support 30 b , whereby the opening 31 is formed ( s 105 in fig2 ). a complex prepared by bonding the support 30 b to the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 is heated to , for example , 500 ° c . this allows the ion - implanted layer 100 to serve as a delamination surface , whereby the piezoelectric thin - film is delaminated from the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 and a composite piezoelectric substrate is formed as shown in fig4 a ( s 106 in fig2 ). polarization electrodes are provided on the idt electrode - formed surface 12 of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 and a surface of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 that is opposite to the idt electrode - formed surface 12 thereof using a liquid electrode . the piezoelectric thin - film 10 is polarized by applying an electric field thereto . perforations are formed in portions of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 that correspond to the end portions of the interconnect electrodes 61 that are opposite to the end portions of the interconnect electrodes 61 that are connected to the idt electrodes 60 . a conductor is filled in the perforations , whereby the conductive through - holes 62 are formed as shown in fig4 b ( s 107 in fig2 ). a surface of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 that is opposite to the idt electrode - formed surface 12 thereof is ground or milled for frequency adjustment . this treatment is performed for each piezoelectric device . the piezoelectric thin - film 10 is ground or milled with an ion beam in such a manner that each piezoelectric device is measured for frequency by applying a driving signal to the piezoelectric device through the conductive through - holes 62 and the grinding allowance is calculated from the difference between the target frequency and the measurement . this allows a target frequency to be achieved . since the surface opposite to the idt electrode - formed surface 12 is ground or milled as described above , the idt electrodes 60 are not ground or milled and therefore the deterioration of properties can be prevented . after frequency adjustment is performed as described above , the bumps 90 are formed on the surface of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 that is opposite to the idt electrode - formed surface 12 thereof so as to be connected to the conductive through - holes 62 as shown in fig4 c ( s 109 in fig2 ). through these steps , multiple piezoelectric devices can be manufactured . the multiple piezoelectric devices are separated into pieces , whereby the piezoelectric device shown in fig4 d , 1 a , and 1 b can be manufactured . through the above steps , a configuration in which the idt electrodes 60 are not formed on the piezoelectric device 10 d but are formed therein can be readily achieved . a method for manufacturing a piezoelectric device according to a second preferred embodiment will now be described . the manufacturing method according to this preferred embodiment corresponds to a method for manufacturing the piezoelectric device 10 d ′ having the configuration shown in fig1 c . fig5 is a flowchart illustrating the manufacturing method according to this preferred embodiment . fig6 a - 6e and 7 a - 7 d are schematic views illustrating steps of manufacturing the piezoelectric device in accordance with the flowchart shown in fig5 . in the manufacturing method according to this preferred embodiment , ion implantation and the formation of idt electrodes and interconnect electrodes preferably are the same or substantially the same as those described in the first preferred embodiment and will not be described in detail ( s 201 and s 202 in fig5 and fig6 a and 6b ). after the idt electrodes 60 and the interconnect electrodes 61 are formed , sacrificial layers 40 are formed on a idt electrode - formed surface 12 of a single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 so as to each entirely cover a region in which the idt electrodes 60 are formed as shown in fig6 c ( s 203 in fig5 ). the sacrificial layers 40 may be made of a material that can be removed by a treatment below without affecting the idt electrodes 60 . in the case of using oxygen plasma etching or a nmp etching solution , the idt electrodes 60 may be made of al , cu , au , pt , ti , w , mo , ni , or ta and the sacrificial layers 40 may be made of a resin material , the etching ratio of the resin material to a material used to form the idt electrodes 60 being about 10000 or more . as shown in fig6 d , a supporting layer 302 b is formed on the idt electrode - formed surface 12 of the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 that has the idt electrodes 60 , the interconnect electrodes 61 , and the sacrificial layers 40 ( s 204 in fig5 ). the supporting layer 302 b is made of an insulating material such as sin and has a flat surface polished by cmp or the like . a parent member 301 b , made of an appropriately selected material such as si , glass , or a piezoelectric material identical to the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate , for forming a support 30 b is prepared . as shown in fig6 e , the parent member 301 b is cleanly bonded to the supporting layer 302 b ( s 205 in fig5 ). this results in the formation of a complex including , the support 30 b made of the parent member 301 b and the supporting layer 302 b , and the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 . the complex is heated as described in the first preferred embodiment . this allows an ion - implanted layer 100 to serve as a delamination surface , whereby a piezoelectric thin - film 10 is delaminated from the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 and a composite piezoelectric substrate is formed as shown in fig7 a ( s 206 in fig5 ). a surface of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 delaminated as described above is planarized by a polishing process such as cmp . polarization electrodes are provided on the piezoelectric thin - film 10 and the piezoelectric thin - film 10 is polarized by applying an electric field thereto as described in the first preferred embodiment . a resist is applied to a surface of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 that is opposite to the idt electrode - formed surface 12 thereof and is then patterned . the piezoelectric thin - film 10 is etched by rie or the like , whereby etching windows 71 and through - holes 72 are formed as shown in fig7 b ( s 207 in fig5 ). the etching windows 71 are formed in regions in which sacrificial layers 40 are formed and no idt electrodes 60 are formed . the through - holes 72 are formed at the positions of end portions of the interconnect electrodes 61 that are opposite to end portions of the interconnect electrodes 61 that are connected to the idt electrodes 60 . the resist used to form the etching windows 71 and the through - holes 72 is removed before or after a step of forming the sacrificial layers 40 and the piezoelectric thin - film 10 may be then surface - cleaned . an etching solution is introduced into the etching windows 71 , whereby the sacrificial layers 40 are removed and voids 80 are thereby formed as shown in fig7 c ( s 208 in fig5 ). this eliminates the sacrificial layers 40 from the idt electrodes 60 and a surface of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 that has the idt electrodes 60 and allows a configuration in which the idt electrodes 60 are not in direct contact with the support 30 b to be achieved . as shown in fig7 d , a conductor is filled in the through - holes 72 , whereby conductive through - holes 62 are formed ( s 209 in fig5 ). milling is performed for frequency adjustment as described in the first preferred embodiment , whereby bumps 90 are formed on the surface of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 that is opposite to the idt electrode - formed surface 12 so as to be connected to the conductive through - holes 62 ( s 210 in fig5 ). through these steps , multiple piezoelectric devices can be manufactured . the multiple piezoelectric devices are separated into pieces , whereby a piezoelectric device shown in fig1 c can be manufactured . a method for manufacturing a piezoelectric device according to a third preferred embodiment will now be described . in the manufacturing method according to this preferred embodiment , sacrificial layers 40 are formed in a support 30 b . fig8 is a flowchart illustrating the manufacturing method according to the third preferred embodiment . fig9 a - 9e and 10 a - 10 d are schematic views illustrating steps of manufacturing the piezoelectric device in accordance with the flowchart shown in fig8 . in the manufacturing method according to this preferred embodiment , ion implantation and the formation of idt electrodes and interconnect electrodes preferably are the same or substantially the same as those described in the first and second preferred embodiments and will not be described in detail ( s 301 and s 302 in fig8 and fig9 a and 9b ). after the idt electrodes 60 and the interconnect electrodes 61 are formed , an adhesive layer 30 a is formed on a idt electrode - formed surface 12 of a single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 so as to entirely cover the idt electrode - formed surface 12 as shown in fig9 c ( s 303 in fig8 ). the adhesive layer 30 a is made of an insulating material capable of being etched as described below and has a thickness sufficient to entirely cover the idt electrodes 60 and the interconnect electrodes 61 . as shown in fig9 d , the sacrificial layers 40 and a supporting layer 302 b are formed on a parent member 301 b ( s 304 in fig8 ). the sacrificial layers 40 are preferably formed from the same material as that used to from the sacrificial layers 40 described in the second preferred embodiment . the sacrificial layers 40 are formed in zones including regions in which the idt electrodes 60 are to be formed in such a state that the support 30 b including the parent member 301 b and the supporting layer 302 b is bonded to the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 . as shown in fig9 e , the support 30 b having the sacrificial layers 40 is cleanly bonded to the idt electrode - formed surface 12 of the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 having the idt electrodes 60 , the interconnect electrodes 61 , and the adhesive layer 30 a ( s 305 in fig8 ). this results in the formation of a complex including the support 30 b and the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 . the complex is heated as described in the first preferred embodiment . this allows an ion - implanted layer 100 to serve as a delamination surface , whereby a piezoelectric thin - film 10 is delaminated from the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 and a composite piezoelectric substrate is formed as shown in fig1 a ( s 306 in fig8 ). a surface of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 delaminated as described above is planarized by a polishing process such as cmp . polarization electrodes are provided on the piezoelectric thin - film 10 and the piezoelectric thin - film 10 is polarized by applying an electric field thereto as described in the first preferred embodiment . a resist is applied to a surface of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 that is opposite to the idt electrode - formed surface 12 thereof and is then patterned . the piezoelectric thin - film 10 is etched by rie or the like , whereby etching windows 71 and through - holes 72 are formed as shown in fig1 b ( s 307 in fig8 ). the etching windows 71 and the through - holes are formed preferably under the same or substantially the same conditions as those described in the second preferred embodiment . an etching solution is introduced into the etching windows 71 , whereby the sacrificial layers 40 and the adhesive layer 30 a are removed and voids 80 are thereby formed as shown in fig1 c ( s 308 in fig8 ). this eliminates the sacrificial layers 40 from the idt electrodes 60 and a surface of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 that has the idt electrodes 60 and allows a configuration in which the idt electrodes 60 are not in direct contact with the support 30 b to be achieved . as shown in fig1 d , a conductor is filled in the through - holes 72 , whereby conductive through - holes 62 are formed ( s 309 in fig8 ). milling is performed for frequency adjustment as described in the first preferred embodiment , whereby bumps 90 are formed on the surface of the piezoelectric thin - film 10 that is opposite to the idt electrode - formed surface 12 so as to be connected to the conductive through - holes 62 ( s 310 in fig8 ). through these steps , multiple piezoelectric devices can be manufactured . the multiple piezoelectric devices are separated into pieces , whereby a piezoelectric device can be manufactured . a method for manufacturing a piezoelectric device according to a fourth preferred embodiment will now be described . in the piezoelectric device - manufacturing methods according to the first to third preferred embodiments , the idt electrodes 60 and the interconnect electrodes 61 are formed on the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 as described above . in each of this preferred embodiment and a fifth preferred embodiment below , a method for forming idt electrodes 60 and interconnect electrodes 61 are formed on a support 30 b is described . in each of this preferred embodiment and the fifth preferred embodiment , since the idt electrodes 60 are formed on the support 30 b , a surface of a single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 that is subjected to ion implantation is referred to as an ion implantation surface 12 . fig1 is a flowchart illustrating the manufacturing method according to the fourth preferred embodiment . fig1 a - 12e are schematic views illustrating steps of manufacturing the piezoelectric device in accordance with the flowchart shown in fig1 . a step of forming a composite piezoelectric substrate and steps subsequent thereto ( s 407 and steps subsequent thereto in fig1 ) preferably are the same or substantially the same as those of the manufacturing method according to the first preferred embodiment and will not be described in detail or shown in these figures . a single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 having a predetermined thickness and an area sufficient to arrange or form a plurality of piezoelectric devices is prepared as described in the first preferred embodiment . as shown in fig1 a , hydrogen ions are implanted into the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 , whereby an ion - implanted layer 100 is formed ( s 401 in fig1 ). the support 30 b is prepared separately from the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 . the support 30 b is made of an appropriately selected material such as a piezoelectric material identical to the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate . as shown in fig1 b , the idt electrodes 60 and the interconnect electrodes 61 are formed on a surface of the support 30 b ( s 402 in fig1 ). as shown in fig1 b , an adhesive layer 30 a made of an insulating material such as an organic material or a sin is formed on the idt electrode - formed surface of the support 30 b ( s 403 in fig1 ). in this step , the adhesive layer 30 a is formed so as to have a thickness not less than the thickness of the idt electrodes 60 or the interconnect electrodes 61 and is planarized by cmp or the like so as to have a flat surface . as shown in fig1 c , the support 30 b is cleanly bonded to the idt electrode - formed surface 12 of the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 with the adhesive layer 30 a disposed therebetween ( s 404 in fig1 ). as shown in fig1 d , the support 30 b and the adhesive layer 30 a are etched such that the idt electrodes 60 on the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 are exposed from the support 30 b , whereby openings 31 are formed ( s 405 in fig1 ). heating and delamination are performed as described in the first preferred embodiment . this allows the ion - implanted layer 100 to serve as a delamination surface , whereby a piezoelectric thin - film 10 is delaminated from the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 and a composite piezoelectric substrate is formed as shown in fig1 e ( s 406 in fig1 ). a configuration in which the idt electrodes 60 are not formed on the piezoelectric device but are formed therein can be readily achieved even by the manufacturing method , in which the idt electrodes 60 and the interconnect electrodes 61 are formed on the support 30 b as described above . a method for manufacturing a piezoelectric device according to a fifth preferred embodiment will now be described . the manufacturing method according to this preferred embodiment is preferably the same as the manufacturing method according to the third preferred embodiment and the other thirds except that idt electrodes 60 and interconnect electrodes 61 are formed on a support 30 b . fig1 is a flowchart illustrating the manufacturing method according to the fifth preferred embodiment . fig1 a - 14d are schematic views illustrating steps of manufacturing the piezoelectric device in accordance with the flowchart shown in fig1 . a step of forming a composite piezoelectric substrate and steps subsequent thereto ( s 507 and steps subsequent thereto in fig1 ) are preferably the same as those of the manufacturing method according to the third preferred embodiment and will not be described in detail or shown in these figures . a single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 having a predetermined thickness and an area sufficient to arrange or form a plurality of piezoelectric devices is prepared as described in the above - mentioned preferred embodiments . as shown in fig1 a , hydrogen ions are implanted into the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 , whereby an ion - implanted layer 100 is formed ( s 501 in fig1 ). a parent member 301 b made of an appropriately selected material such as a piezoelectric material identical to the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate is prepared separately from the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 . as shown in fig1 b , sacrificial layers 40 and a supporting layer 302 b are formed on a surface of the parent member 301 b ( s 502 in fig1 ). as shown in fig1 b , in the parent member 301 b having the sacrificial layers 40 and supporting layer 302 b , the idt electrodes 60 are formed on a surface of each sacrificial layer 40 and the interconnect electrodes 61 are formed on a surface of the sacrificial layer 40 and a surface of the supporting layer 302 b ( s 503 in fig1 ). as shown in fig1 c , an adhesive layer 30 a made of an insulating material such as an organic material or a sin is formed over the sacrificial layers 40 and the supporting layer 302 b ( s 504 in fig1 ). in this step , the adhesive layer 30 a is formed so as to have a thickness not less than the thickness of the idt electrodes 60 or the interconnect electrodes 61 and is planarized by cmp or the like so as to have a flat surface . as shown in fig1 d , the support 30 b , which includes the supporting layer 302 b and the parent member 301 b , having the sacrificial layers 40 is cleanly bonded to an ion implantation surface 12 of the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 with the adhesive layer 30 a disposed therebetween ( s 505 in fig1 ). heating and delamination are performed as described in the above - mentioned preferred embodiments . this allows the ion - implanted layer 100 to serve as a delamination surface , whereby a piezoelectric thin - film 10 is delaminated from the single - crystalline piezoelectric substrate 1 and a composite piezoelectric substrate is formed ( s 506 in fig1 ). a configuration in which the idt electrodes 60 are not formed on the piezoelectric device but are formed therein can be readily achieved even by the manufacturing method , in which the sacrificial layers 40 are formed on the support 30 b and the idt electrodes 60 are formed on the sacrificial layers 40 as described above . while preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above , it is to be understood that variations and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention . the scope of the present invention , therefore , is to be determined solely by the following claims . | 8 |
with reference now to the remaining drawing figures , fig2 is a block diagram of an example email forwarding system for automatically forwarding email to a preferred email service 210 . in this system , a forwarding rule 208 is included for the isp email service 206 that instructs the isp email service 206 to redirect email to a preferred email service 210 . in operation , when a mail transfer service 202 sends an email on behalf of an email sender 200 via the internet 204 to the isp email service 206 , the isp email service 206 checks for a forwarding rule 208 for the email recipient . if a forwarding rule 208 is located by the isp email service 206 , then the isp email service 206 sends the email message via the internet 204 to the preferred email service 210 , which is specified by an email address in the forwarding rule 208 . thus , the email recipient does not have to access the isp email service 206 directly to receive mail , but rather may receive all email through her preferred email service 210 . once the forwarding rule 208 has been established , email may preferably be forwarded to the preferred email service 210 without any input from the email recipient . to set up the forwarding rule 208 , the email recipient may supply information regarding her email accounts to an email integration service 201 . the email integration service 201 may then contact the isp email service 201 via the internet 204 to establish the forwarding rule 208 . further detail of the email integration service 201 is provided below with reference to fig4 . fig3 is a block diagram of an example email polling system for automatically forwarding email to a preferred email service 310 . this system includes an email polling agent 308 that is configured to retrieve email messages from a list of email accounts , which may be hosted by different email services 302 . for example , the email polling agent 308 may contact an email service 302 at regular intervals via the internet 306 , and retrieve email messages from listed email accounts . in another example , an email service 302 may be configured to transmit a new mail notification to the email polling agent 308 when a message is received for a listed email account , which triggers the email polling agent 308 to retrieve the new email message from the email service 302 . in order to interface with the email polling agent 308 , email services 302 listed on the email polling agent 308 preferably support a standard method of retrieving email messages via the internet 306 , such as the post office protocol ( pop ), the internet message access protocol ( imap ), or others . in operation , when a mail transfer service 304 sends an email message on behalf of an email sender 300 to a recipient email account on the webmail service 302 , the email message is transmitted via the internet 306 , and received and stored by the webmail service 302 in the email account . the next time that the polling agent 308 contacts the webmail service 302 after the email message has been delivered ( or responds to a new mail message from the webmail service 302 ), the polling agent retrieves the new message and forwards the email message to the recipient &# 39 ; s preferred email service 310 . thus , the recipient need only use a single email client 312 to access the preferred email service 310 in order to retrieve messages sent to either the preferred email service 310 or to the webmail service 302 . the frequency with which the email polling agent 308 contacts email services 302 may be decreased to minimize the amount of network traffic generated by the polling agent 308 . conversely , the frequency may also be increased to minimize the amount of time between when a message is delivered to an email account that the polling agent 308 is polling and when the message is delivered to the preferred email service 310 . once the email polling agent 308 has been established , it preferably operates without any input from the email recipient . to set up the email polling agent 308 , the email recipient may supply information regarding her email accounts to the email integration server 302 , which establishes and configures the email polling agent 308 , as described with reference to fig4 . fig4 is a block diagram of an example email integration service 201 , 307 . the email integration service includes a network connector 400 , which allows the service to communicate via a computer network , a persistent storage module 402 , a user interface 404 , and an email integration logic unit 406 . the email integration service may , for example , be implemented on a single multi - purpose computer , on a system of multi - purpose computers each of which performs different or identical functions , or on another suitable platform . the user interface 404 allows users to interact with the email integration service . the user interface 404 may , for example , include a web application that executes on a multi - purpose computer and that may be accessed via the www , a server application that can be accessed with a specialized client program , or some other suitable interface . in addition , the user interface 404 may use the network connector 400 to receive connection requests or other information from a computer network . the persistent storage module 402 is a memory device for storing data used to establish email forwarding rules and email polling agents , and includes a forwarding service information store 408 and an email service information store 410 . the persistent storage module 402 may , for example , include a computer hard drive , a database management system running on a plurality of computers , a server implementing the lightweight directory access protocol , or some other data storage system or device . the forwarding service information store 408 may include a list of email services that will accept requests for the creation of forwarding rules from the email integration service . for each email service listed , the forwarding service information store 408 may contain a list of email address domain names that are associated with that service . the forwarding service information store may also include information required to connect to the listed email services in order to establish forwarding rules . the email address domain names and connection information may , for example , be populated when the email integration service is configured . the email service information store 410 may include a list of email services that may be accessed using an internet email retrieval method , such as the post office protocol ( pop ). for each email service listed , the email service information store 410 may contain a list of email address domain names that are associated with that service , and a list of the names of email servers that may be accessed to retrieve email from the email service . the email address domain names and email server names may , for example , be populated when the email integration service is configured . the email integration logic unit 406 is operable to control the components of the email integration service . the email integration logic unit 406 may , for example , be a software module executing on one or more multi - purpose computers , a processing device such as a microprocessor or a digital signal processor ( dsp ), or some other type of processing device or system . in operation , the email integration service establishes email forwarding rules and email polling agents . to establish an email forwarding rule or email polling agent , a user may provide account information to the email integration service using the user interface 404 . the account information provided to the email integration service may , for example , include an email address , a username and a password for the email account that they wish to integrate . the email integration service may then use the account information to contact the user &# 39 ; s email service provider to authenticate that the user is allowed to access a particular account . once account information has been provided to the email integration service and the email account has been authenticated , the user may request that the email integration service establish a forwarding rule or email polling agent for the email account . to establish a forwarding rule , the email integration logic unit 406 uses the account information to look up the domain name associated with the email account in the forwarding service information store 408 . if the domain name exists in the forwarding service information store 408 , then the email integration logic unit 406 retrieves the email service name associated with the domain name and any associated connection information . the email integration logic unit 406 may then use the email service name and connection information to contact the email service provider and request that a forwarding rule be established . the email integration logic unit 406 may request that an email service create a forwarding rule by sending a message to the email service using the network connector 400 . a message sent from the email integration service to an email service provider may , for example , be contained in an email message , in an xml document sent via hypertext transfer protocol ( http ), or in some other suitable format . the message may contain account information and may specify a preferred email address to which the user would like to have his or her email forwarded . the account information may be used to authenticate the email account , as described above , before establishing the forwarding rule . the preferred email address may be used by the email service provider to establish the forwarding rule . in addition , messages sent from the email integration service to an email service provider may preferably be encrypted to protect any confidential information . to establish an email polling agent , the email integration logic unit 496 uses the account information to retrieve an email service name , any associated email server names , and any other contact information from the email service information store 410 . the email integration logic unit 406 may then create or configure an email polling agent using one of the email server names retrieved from the email service information store 410 and the account information that was provided by the user . if a domain name for the email service does not exist in the email service information store 410 , or if there are no email server names associated with the email service listed in the email service information store 410 , then the email integration logic unit 406 may access the user interface 404 to request that the user provide an email server name that can be used to access the email service to be integrated . the email information logic unit 406 may then attempt to validate the provided email server name by connecting to it using the network connector 400 and providing the username and password that has been provided by the user . if the email server validates the username and password , then the email server name that the user provided may be considered to be valid for that user , and may be used to configure the email polling agent . when a user has provided an email server name that is successfully validated , then the email server name may be considered for addition into the email service information store 410 , so that it can be used for future email users who wish to integrate the same email service as is associated with the email server name that was validated . before adding the email server name , the email integration service may verify that the email server name provided by the user is actually a valid email server name for the email service . this may be accomplished by the email integration service notifying an administrator of the email integration service , and informing the administrator that there is an email server name that is being considered for addition into the email service information store 410 . this notification may , for example , be contained in an email message sent to the administrator . the administrator may then indicate whether the email server name should be accepted or rejected . if acceptance is indicated by the administrator , then the email integration logic unit 406 may add the email server name into the email service information store 410 . if the email service is already listed in the email integration information store 410 , however , then the email server name is added to the list of email servers associated with the email service . if the email service is not already listed , then the email service , the email domain derived from the email address provided by the user , and the email server name may be added to the email service information store 410 . in addition , upon establishing an email forwarding rule or an email polling agent , the email integration service may establish a sent - from address preference on the user &# 39 ; s preferred email service . the sent - from preference may specify an email address ( i . e ., a “ from ” address ) that appears as the address that an email has been sent from when the user is sending an email message . for example , the user may establish a sent - from address preference to enable email recipients to reply to the email address associated with either the preferred email service or other integrated email accounts . the sent - from address may , for example , be selected from a list of email addresses that are associated with the email services that have been integrated into the user &# 39 ; s preferred email service . in another example , the sent - from address may be dynamically set by the preferred email service based on which email service was the source of the message ( e . g ., for replies or forwards ). the email integration logic unit 406 may then contact the user &# 39 ; s preferred email service using the network connector 400 and set the sent - from preference to the email address that the user has specified . fig5 is a flow chart illustrating an example method of integrating email accounts . at step 500 account information is retrieved from a user . the account information may include an email address , a username and a password for the account to be integrated . at step 502 , the account information is examined to determine whether the email service that corresponds to the email address supports email forwarding . if email forwarding is supported , then a forwarding rule is added at step 506 , and the sent - from address may be set at step 513 , both of which are described above . if the email service does not support email forwarding , then the method continues at step 508 . at step 508 , the email service information store 410 is searched for the name of an email server that can be polled , as described above . if an email server name is found , then an email polling agent is added at step 512 , and the sent - from address may be set at step 513 , both of which are described above . if an email server name is not found , then the method continues at step 514 . at step 514 , the user is requested to enter the email server name using the user interface 404 . then , at step 516 the validity of the email server name is tested by establishing a connection and providing the username and password when the email server requests authentication information . if the username and password are not accepted , then the method returns to step 514 , and the user is asked to re - enter the account information . otherwise , if the email server accepts the username and password , then the connection is valid , and an email polling agent may be added at step 520 and the sent - from address may be set at step 521 , both of which are described above . at step 522 , the email integration logic unit 406 notifies an administrator for the email integration service that a new email server name is being considered for addition into the email service information store 410 . the administrator may then indicate whether the new email server name should be accepted . if the administrator approves the email server name , then the method continues at step 526 , and the email server name is added to the email service information store 410 , as described above . if the administrator rejects the email server name , then the method ends at step 528 . it should be understood that the example method illustrated in fig5 assumes that if email forwarding is available , then the user will want to have email forwarding set - up . in other embodiments , however , the method may also provide the user the option of selecting email polling , even when email forwarding is available . fig6 is a block diagram of an example mobile communication device 610 . the mobile communication device 610 may , for example , be used as an email client 106 , 116 for one or more email services , as described above . the mobile communication device 610 includes a transceiver 611 , a microprocessor 638 , a display 622 , a flash memory 624 , a ram memory 626 , auxiliary input / output ( i / o ) devices 628 , a serial port 630 , a keyboard 632 , a speaker 634 , a microphone 636 , a short - range wireless communications sub - system 640 , and may also include other device sub - systems 642 . the transceiver 611 preferably includes transmit and receive antennas 616 , 618 , a receiver 612 , a transmitter 614 , one or more local oscillators 613 , and a digital signal processor 620 . within the flash memory 624 , the device 610 preferably includes a plurality of software modules 624 a - 624 n that can be executed by the microprocessor 638 ( and / or the dsp 620 ), including a voice communication module 624 a , a data communication module 624 b , and a plurality of other operational modules 624 n for carrying out a plurality of other functions . the mobile communication device 610 is preferably a two - way communication device having voice and data communication capabilities . the device 610 may , for example , communicate over a voice network , such as an analog or digital cellular network , and may also communicate over a data network . the voice and data networks are depicted in fig6 by the communication tower 619 . these voice and data networks may be separate communication networks using separate infrastructure , such as base stations , network controllers , etc ., or may be integrated into a single wireless network . the communication subsystem 611 is used to communicate with the voice and data network 619 , and includes the receiver 612 , the transmitter 614 , the one or more local oscillators 613 and may also include the dsp 620 . the dsp 620 is used to send and receive signals to and from the transmitter 614 and receiver 612 , and is also utilized to receive control information from the transmitter 614 and to provide control information to the receiver 612 . if the voice and data communications occur at a single frequency , or closely - spaced set of frequencies , then a single local oscillator 613 may be used in conjunction with the transmitter 614 and receiver 612 . alternatively , if different frequencies are utilized for voice communications versus data communications , then a plurality of local oscillators 613 may be used to generate a plurality of frequencies corresponding to the voice and data networks 619 . although two antennas 616 , 618 are depicted in fig6 , the mobile device 610 could be used with a single antenna structure . information , which includes both voice and data information , is communicated to and from the communication module 611 via a link between the dsp 620 and the microprocessor 638 . the specific design of the communication subsystem 611 is be dependent upon the communication network 619 in which the device is intended to operate . for example , a device 610 intended to operate in a north american market may include a communication subsystem 611 designed to operate with the mobitex ™ or datatac ™ mobile data communication networks and also designed to operated with any of a variety of voice communication networks , such as amps , tdma , cdma , pcs , etc ., whereas a device 610 intended for use in europe may be configured to operate with the general packet radio service ( gprs ) data communication network and the gsm voice communication network . other types of data and voice networks , both separate and integrated , may also be utilized with the mobile device 610 . depending upon the type of network 619 ( or networks ), the access requirements for the mobile communication device 610 may also vary . for example , in the mobitex and datatac data networks , mobile devices are registered on the network using a unique identification number associated with each device . in gprs data networks , however , network access is associated with a subscriber or user of a device 610 . a gprs device typically requires a subscriber identity module (“ sim ”) to operate the device 610 on a gprs network . local or non - network communication functions ( if any ) may be operable without the sim device , but the device 610 will be unable to carry out any functions involving communications over the data network 619 , other than any legally required operations , such as 911 emergency calling . after any required network registration or activation procedures have been completed , the mobile communication device 610 may send and receive communication signals , including both voice and data signals , over the network 619 ( or networks ). signals received by the antenna 616 from the communication network 619 are routed to the receiver 612 , which provides for signal amplification , frequency down conversion , filtering , channel selection , etc ., and may also provide analog to digital conversion . analog to digital conversion of the received signal allows more complex communication functions , such as digital demodulation and decoding to be performed using the dsp 620 . in a similar manner , signals to be transmitted to the network 619 are processed , including for example modulation and encoding , by the dsp 620 and are then provided to the transmitter 614 for digital to analog conversion , frequency up conversion , filtering , amplification and transmission to the communication network 619 ( or networks ) via the antenna 618 . it should be understood that although a single transceiver 611 is shown in fig6 for both voice and data communications , device 610 may include two distinct transceivers — a first transceiver for transmitting and receiving voice signals , and a second transceiver for transmitting and receiving data signals . in addition to processing the communication signals , the dsp 620 also provides for receiver and transmitter control . for example , the gain levels applied to communication signals in the receiver 612 and transmitter 614 may be adaptively controlled through automatic gain control algorithms implemented in the dsp 620 . other transceiver control algorithms could also be implemented in the dsp 620 in order to provide more sophisticated control of the transceiver 611 . the microprocessor 638 preferably manages and controls the overall operation of the mobile communication device 610 . low - level communication functions , including at least data and voice communications , are performed through the dsp 620 in the transceiver 611 . other , high - level communication applications , such as a voice communication application 624 a , and a data communication application 624 b may be stored in the flash memory 624 for execution by the microprocessor 638 . for example , the voice communication module 624 a may provide a high - level user interface operable to transmit and receive voice calls between the dual - mode mobile device 610 and a plurality of other voice devices via the network 619 . similarly , the data communication module 624 b may provide a high - level user interface operable for sending and receiving data , such as e - mail messages , files , organizer information , short text messages , etc ., between the dual - mode mobile device 610 and a plurality of other data devices via the network 619 . the microprocessor 638 may also interact with other device subsystems , such as the display 622 , flash memory 624 , random access memory ( ram ) 626 , auxiliary input / output ( i / o ) subsystems 628 , serial port 630 , keyboard 632 , speaker 634 , microphone 636 , a short - range communications subsystem 640 and any other device subsystems , generally designated as 642 . some of the subsystems shown in fig6 perform communication - related functions , whereas other subsystems may provide “ resident ” or on - device functions . notably , some subsystems , such as keyboard 632 and display 622 may be used for both communication - related functions , such as entering a text message for transmission over a data communication network , and device - resident functions such as a calculator or task list or other pda type functions . operating system software used by the microprocessor 638 is preferably stored in a persistent store such as flash memory 624 . in addition to the operation system , which controls all of the low - level functions of the device 610 , the flash memory 624 may include a plurality of high - level software application programs , or modules , such as a voice communication module 624 a , a data communication module 624 b , an organizer module , or any other type of software module 624 n . the flash memory 624 also may include a file system for storing data . these modules are executed by the microprocessor 638 and provide a high - level interface between a user of the device and the device . this interface typically includes a graphical component provided through the display 622 , and an input / output component provided through the auxiliary i / o 628 , keyboard 632 , speaker 634 , and microphone 636 . the operating system , specific device applications or modules , or parts thereof , may be temporarily loaded into a volatile store , such as ram 626 for faster operation . moreover , received communication signals may also be temporarily stored to ram 626 , before permanently writing them to a file system located in the persistent store 624 . an exemplary application module 624 n that may be loaded onto the dual - mode device 610 is a personal information manager ( pim ) application providing pda functionality , such as calendar events , appointments , and task items . this module 624 n may also interact with the voice communication module 624 a for managing phone calls , voice mails , etc ., and may also interact with the data communication module for managing e - mail communications and other data transmissions . alternatively , all of the functionality of the voice communication module 624 a and the data communication module 624 b may be integrated into the pim module . the flash memory 624 preferably provides a file system to facilitate storage of pim data items on the device . the pim application preferably includes the ability to send and receive data items , either by itself , or in conjunction with the voice and data communication modules 624 a , 624 b , via the wireless network 619 . the pim data items are preferably seamlessly integrated , synchronized and updated , via the wireless network 619 , with a corresponding set of data items stored or associated with a host computer system , thereby creating a mirrored system for data items associated with a particular user . the mobile communication device 610 may also be manually synchronized with a host system by placing the device 610 in an interface cradle , which couples the serial port 630 of the mobile device 610 to the serial port of the host system . the serial port 630 may also be used to enable a user to set preferences through an external device or software application , or to download other application modules 624 n for installation . this wired download path may be used to load an encryption key onto the device , which is a more secure method than exchanging encryption information via the wireless network 619 . additional application modules 624 n may be loaded onto the dual - mode device 610 through the network 619 , through an auxiliary i / o subsystem 628 , through the serial port 630 , through the short - range communications subsystem 640 , or through any other suitable subsystem 642 , and installed by a user in the flash memory 624 or ram 626 . such flexibility in application installation increases the functionality of the device 610 and may provide enhanced on - device functions , communication - related functions , or both . for example , secure communication applications may enable electronic commerce functions and other such financial transactions to be performed using the device 610 . when the dual - mode device 610 is operating in a data communication mode , a received signal , such as a text message or a web page download , will be processed by the transceiver 611 and provided to the microprocessor 638 , which will preferably further process the received signal for output to the display 622 , or , alternatively , to an auxiliary i / o device 628 . a device user may also compose data items , such as email messages , using the keyboard 632 , which is preferably a complete alphanumeric keyboard laid out in the qwerty style , although other styles of complete alphanumeric keyboards such as the known dvorak style may also be used . user input to the device 610 is further enhanced with a plurality of auxiliary i / o devices 628 , which may include a thumbwheel input device , a touchpad , a variety of switches , a rocker input switch , etc . the composed data items input by the user may then be transmitted over the communication network 619 via the transceiver 611 . when the dual - mode device 610 is operating in a voice communication mode , the overall operation of the device 610 is substantially similar to the data mode , except that received signals are preferably be output to the speaker 634 and voice signals for transmission are generated by a microphone 636 . alternative voice or audio i / o subsystems , such as a voice message recording subsystem , may also be implemented on the device 610 . although voice or audio signal output is preferably accomplished primarily through the speaker 634 , the display 622 may also be used to provide an indication of the identity of a calling party , the duration of a voice call , or other voice call related information . for example , the microprocessor 638 , in conjunction with the voice communication module and the operating system software , may detect the caller identification information of an incoming voice call and display it on the display 622 . a short - range communications subsystem 640 may also be included in the mobile communication device 610 . for example , the subsystem 640 may include an infrared device and associated circuits and components , or a bluetooth ™ short - range wireless communication module to provide for communication with similarly - enabled systems and devices . this written description uses examples to disclose the invention , including the best mode , and also to enable a person skilled in the art to make and use the invention . the patentable scope of the invention may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art . for example , although the examples describe email messages as being transmitted via the internet , another network may be used . the examples also describe the use of post office protocol and simple mail transfer protocol , however equivalent protocols may be used . also , the examples are provided with specific types of email services , such as isp email and webmail services , however any email service may be used in any of the examples . in addition , variations of the architecture of the email polling agent are possible . for example , a single email polling agent may poll all accounts for all users , one email polling agent per email user may be used , or one email polling agent per email account may be used . | 6 |
the present invention will be further described , but not limited by the following examples . without particularly stated , the reagents , materials , methods and devices are all commercial products or conventional ones in this technical field . the steps for preparing a metal - bonded diamond grinding wheel by self - propagating pressure - less sintering include : each metallic powders of bond weighed based on the mass ratio as cu 63 parts , al 7 parts , ni 5 parts , ti 15 parts , and sn 10 parts as well as a liquid paraffin humectant are charged into in a three - dimensional mixer to mix homogeneously for 40 minutes in order to obtain metal bond ; 21 . 68 grams of said bond used as the bond in working layer are mixed with 19 carats of grinded diamond having a grain size of 70 / 80 to mix sufficiently and homogeneously in the mixer for 30 minutes so as to obtain working layer materials ; while 63 . 12 grams of said binder are used as non - working layer binder so as to obtain non - working layer materials . the working and non - working layer materials obtained by step 1 ) are homogeneously charged into a reserved cavity of a mould , respectively . the materials are shaved smoothly and arranged into a compressing machine to be compression molded , so as to obtain a stock of diamond grinding wheel . the compressed stock is quickly charged into a muffle furnace heated to 550 ° c . the self - propagating reaction of the stock is initiated , and the stock is sintered freely in the air . then the power supply is cut off , and the stock is sintered and densified by its own exothermic reaction without applying any external loads . finally , the stock is cooled along with the furnace to a room temperature to obtain a metal - bonded diamond grinding wheel . the obtained metal - bonded diamond grinding wheel has a dimension as follows : φ60 mm × 5 mm ( thickness of the wheel )× 10 mm ( inner pore )× 5 mm ( annular width of the working layer ) the steps for preparing a metal bonded diamond grinding wheel by self - propagating pressure - less sintering include : each metallic powders of bond weighed based on the mass ratio as cu 69 parts , al 5 parts , ni 10 parts , ti 5 parts , sn 8 parts and co 3 parts as well as a liquid paraffin humectant are charged into in a three - dimensional mixer to mix homogeneously for 40 minutes in order to obtain metal bond ; 45 . 65 grams of said bond used as the bond in working layer are mixed with 24 . 6 carats of grinded diamond having a grain size of 140 / 170 to mix sufficiently and homogeneously in the mixer for 30 minutes so as to obtain working layer materials ; while 236 . 58 grams of said bond are used as non - working layer bond so as to obtain non - working layer materials . the working and non - working layer materials obtained by step 1 ) are homogeneously charged into a reserved cavity of a mould , respectively . the materials are shaved smoothly and arranged into a compressing machine to be compression molded , so as to obtain a stock of diamond grinding wheel . the compressed stock is quickly charged into a muffle furnace heated to 500 ° c . the self - propagating reaction of the stock is initiated , and the stock is sintered freely in the air . then the power supply is cut off , and the stock is sintered and densified by its own exothermic reaction without applying any external loads . finally , the stock is cooled with the furnace to a room temperature to obtain a metal - bonded diamond grinding wheel . the obtained metal bonded diamond grinding wheel has a dimension as follows : φ100 mm × 5 mm ( thickness of the wheel )× 10 mm ( inner pore )× 5 mm ( annular width of the working layer ) the steps for preparing a metal bonded diamond grinding wheel by self - propagating pressure - less sintering include : each metallic powders of bond weighed based on the mass ratio as cu 66 parts , al 10 parts , ni 6 parts , ti 12 parts , and sn 6 parts as well as a liquid paraffin humectant are charged into in a three - dimensional mixer to mix homogeneously for 40 minutes in order to obtain metal bond ; 13 . 77 grams of said bond used as the bond in working layer are mixed with 8 . 55 carats of grinded diamond having a grain size of 80 / 100 to mix sufficiently and homogeneously in the mixer for 30 minutes so as to obtain working layer materials ; while 36 . 98 grams of said bond are used as non - working layer bond so as to obtain non - working layer materials . the working and non - working layer materials obtained by step 1 ) are homogeneously charged into a reserved cavity of a mould , respectively . the materials are shaved smoothly and arranged into a compressing machine to be compression molded , so as to obtain a stock of diamond grinding wheel . the compressed stock is quickly charged into a muffle furnace heated to 600 ° c . the self - propagating reaction of the stock is initiated , and the stock is sintered freely in the air . then the power supply is cut off , and the stock is sintered and densified by its own exothermic reaction without applying any external loads . finally , the stock is cooled along with the furnace to a room temperature to obtain a metal - bonded diamond grinding wheel . the obtained metal bonded diamond grinding wheel has a dimension as follows : φ60 mm × 3 mm ( thickness of the wheel )× 10 mm ( inner pore )× 5 mm ( annular width of the working layer ) the steps for preparing a metal bonded diamond grinding wheel by self - propagating pressure - less sintering include : each metallic powders of bond weighed based on the mass ratio as cu 67 parts , al 7 parts , ni 10 parts , ti 10 parts , and sn 6 parts as well as a liquid paraffin humectant are charged into in a three - dimensional mixer to mix homogeneously for 40 minutes in order to obtain metal bond ; 5 . 49 grams of said bond used as the bond in working layer are mixed with 4 . 6 carats of grinded diamond having a grain size of 325 / 400 to mix sufficiently and homogeneously in the mixer for 30 minutes so as to obtain working layer materials ; while 13 . 19 grams of said bond are used as non - working layer bond so as to obtain non - working layer materials . the working and non - working layer materials obtained by step 1 ) are homogeneously charged into a reserved cavity of a mould , respectively . the materials are shaved smoothly and arranged into a compressing machine to be compression molded , so as to obtain a stock of diamond grinding wheel . the compressed stock is quickly charged into a muffle furnace heated to 650 ° c . the self - propagating reaction of the stock is initiated , and the stock is sintered freely in the air . then the power supply is cut off , and the stock is sintered and densified by its own exothermic reaction without applying any external loads . finally , the stock is cooled along with the furnace to a room temperature to obtain a metal - bonded diamond grinding wheel . the obtained metal bonded diamond grinding wheel has a dimension as follows : φ40 mm × 3 mm ( thickness of the wheel )× 10 mm ( inner pore )× 5 mm ( annular width of the working layer ) the steps for preparing a metal bonded diamond grinding wheel by self - propagating pressure - less sintering include : each metallic powders of bond weighed based on the mass ratio as cu 51 parts , al 15 parts , ni 18 parts , ti 12 parts , and sn 4 parts as well as a liquid paraffin humectant are charged into in a three - dimensional mixer to mix homogeneously for 40 minutes in order to obtain metal bond ; 37 . 41 grams of said bond used as the bond in working layer are mixed with 15 . 54 carats of grinded diamond having a grain size of 450 / 500 to mix sufficiently and homogeneously in the mixer for 30 minutes so as to obtain working layer materials ; while 91 . 22 grams of said bond are used as non - working layer bond so as to obtain non - working layer materials . the working and non - working layer materials obtained by step 1 ) are homogeneously charged into a reserved cavity of a mould , respectively . the materials are shaved smoothly and arranged into a compressing machine to be compression molded , so as to obtain a stock of diamond grinding wheel . the compressed stock is quickly charged into a muffle furnace heated to 580 ° c . the self - propagating reaction of the stock is initiated , and the stock is sintered freely in the air . then the power supply is cut off , and the stock is sintered and densified by its own exothermic reaction without applying any external loads . finally , the stock is cooled along with the furnace to a room temperature to obtain a metal - bonded diamond grinding wheel . the obtained metal bonded diamond grinding wheel has a dimension as follows : φ80 mm × 6 mm ( thickness of the wheel )× 20 mm ( inner pore )× 5 mm ( annular width of the working layer ) the steps for preparing a metal bonded diamond grinding wheel by self - propagating pressure - less sintering include : each metallic powders of bond weighed based on the mass ratio as cu 74 parts , al 10 parts , ni 5 parts , ti 7 parts , and sn 4 parts as well as a liquid paraffin humectant are charged into in a three - dimensional mixer to mix homogeneously for 40 minutes in order to obtain metal bond ; 34 . 58 grams of said bond used as the bond in working layer are mixed with 5 . 96 carats of grinded diamond having a grain size of 270 / 325 to mix sufficiently and homogeneously in the mixer for 30 minutes so as to obtain working layer materials ; while 133 . 18 grams of said bond are used as non - working layer bond so as to obtain non - working layer materials . the working and non - working layer materials obtained by step 1 ) are homogeneously charged into a reserved cavity of a mould , respectively . the materials are shaved smoothly and arranged into a compressing machine to be compression molded , so as to obtain a stock of diamond grinding wheel . the compressed stock is quickly charged into a muffle furnace heated to 620 ° c . the self - propagating reaction of the stock is initiated , and the stock is sintered freely in the air . then the power supply is cut off , and the stock is sintered and densified by its own exothermic reaction without applying any external loads . finally , the stock is cooled along with the furnace to a room temperature to obtain a metal - bonded diamond grinding wheel . the obtained metal bonded diamond grinding wheel has a dimension as follows : φ120 mm × 3 mm ( thickness of the wheel )× 25 . 4 mm ( inner pore )× 5 mm ( annular width of the working layer ) the steps for preparing a metal bonded diamond grinding wheel by self - propagating pressure - less sintering include : each metallic powders of bond weighed based on the mass ratio as cu 58 parts , al 6 parts , ni 10 parts , ti 18 parts , sn 5 parts and co 3 parts as well as a liquid paraffin humectant are charged into in a three - dimensional mixer to mix homogeneously for 40 minutes in order to obtain metal bond ; 26 . 30 grams of said bond used as the bond in working layer are mixed with 9 . 84 carats of grinded diamond having a grain size of 500 / 600 to mix sufficiently and homogeneously in the mixer for 30 minutes so as to obtain working layer materials ; while 94 . 93 grams of said bond are used as non - working layer bond so as to obtain non - working layer materials . the working and non - working layer materials obtained by step 1 ) are homogeneously charged into a reserved cavity of a mould , respectively . the materials are shaved smoothly and arranged into a compressing machine to be compression molded , so as to obtain a stock of diamond grinding wheel . the compressed stock is quickly charged into a muffle furnace heated to 650 ° c . the self - propagating reaction of the stock is initiated , and the stock is sintered freely in the air . then the power supply is cut off , and the stock is sintered and densified by its own exothermic reaction without applying any external loads . finally , the stock is cooled along with the furnace to a room temperature to obtain a metal - bonded diamond grinding wheel . the obtained metal bonded diamond grinding wheel has a dimension as follows : φ100 mm × 3 mm ( thickness of the wheel )× 20 mm ( inner pore )× 5 mm ( annular width of the working layer ) | 1 |
fig1 is a schematic illustration of an atmospheric pressure ionisation ( api ) gas supply system 110 for a mass spectrometer according to the prior art . in this arrangement a mass spectrometer is provided with an atmospheric pressure ionisation gas source 112 . the gas source 112 is arranged so that a gas flow is created from the gas source 112 towards a mass spectrometer &# 39 ; s ion source ( not shown ). the gas flow continues from the source into an atmospheric pressure ionisation gas pressure sensor and transducer 114 . the pressure sensor and transducer 114 pass a signal to the electronics 116 of the instrument to advise if the gas source flow is at the desired rate and pressure . after the gas pressure sensor and transducer 114 , the gas flow will then be passed to an atmospheric pressure ionisation gas solenoid valve 118 , which allows on / off control of the gas flow continuing to the ion source . this is controlled by the instrument electronics 116 . the gas flow is then split into three different streams , a nebuliser gas flow 120 , a sample cone gas flow 122 and a desolvation gas flow 124 . the nebuliser gas flow 120 is provided to the ion source where the nebuliser gas flows around a probe 132 providing sample to the ion source to assist with the spraying of sample from the probe tip into the ion source volume . the sample cone gas flow 122 passes through a restrictor 126 to change the flow rate to a sample cone 134 of the mass spectrometer to the desired rate . the desolvation gas flow 124 passes a restrictor 128 , and a desolvation heater 130 which provides heat to the desolvation gas flow 124 . the heated desolvation gas is then provided to the ion source , as is known in the art . fig2 is a schematic of one embodiment of the invention . in this embodiment a mass spectrometer 210 is provided with an atmospheric pressure ionisation gas source 212 . the gas supply is arranged so that a gas flow is created from the gas source 212 towards the mass spectrometer &# 39 ; s ion source ( not shown ). the gas flow continues from the source ( preferably directly ) into a gas valve 218 . ( preferably , no pressure sensor / transducer is provided .) the gas valve 218 provides on / off control of the gas flow continuing to the ion source . this is controlled by the instrument electronics 216 . the gas flow is then split into three different streams , a nebuliser gas flow 220 , a sample cone gas flow 222 and a desolvation gas flow 224 . the nebuliser gas flow 220 is provided to the ion source where the nebuliser gas flows around a probe 232 providing sample to the ion source to assist with the spraying of sample from the probe tip into the ion source volume . the sample cone gas flow 222 passes through a restrictor 226 to change the flow rate to a sample cone 234 of the mass spectrometer to the desired rate . the desolvation gas flow 224 passes a restrictor 228 , and a desolvation heater 230 which provides heat to the desolvation gas flow 224 . the heated desolvation gas is then provided to the ion source , as is known in the art . a temperature sensor ( not shown ) measures the temperature of the desolvation heater 230 as power is provided to it . the desolvation heater temperature is monitored by the control system 236 , within the electronics 216 . as the gas flow passes the desolvation heater 230 , the temperature of the desolvation heater 230 is reduced by the transfer of heat from the desolvation heater 230 to the gas flow passing the desolvation heater 230 . the rate of flow of gas past the desolvation heater 230 is measurable by monitoring the temperature of the desolvation heater 230 with the knowledge of the power provided to the desolvation heater 230 . using this measurement , the flow of the gas can be monitored . in some embodiments the rate of the flow can be measured . if the temperature of the desolvation heater 230 is increasing more quickly than expected , this will indicate to the control system 236 that the gas flow is not flowing as quickly as is desired , and so , that attention is needed to the gas flow mechanism . similarly , if the temperature of the desolvation heater 230 is decreasing , or increasing more slowly than expected , this may indicate a fault in the heater 230 , a fault in the sensor or that the gas flow is greater than desired . in some embodiments the control system 236 is able to identify the flow rate of the desolvation gas flow 224 , from the ratio of the power supplied to the desolvation heater 230 ( power ) to the temperature of the desolvation heater 230 ( temperature ). in some embodiments the control system 236 will alert the user of the mass spectrometer that a fault has been detected . fig3 is a graph of power to temperature ratios when the instrument is operational . line a illustrates the power to temperature ratio at an upper boundary value . should the line of power versus temperature fall above this line , there is a problem with the gas flow . this may be due to a blockage in the gas flow , the gas cylinder being empty or another problem with the gas flow . line c illustrates a lower boundary value . should the line of power versus temperature fall below this line , there may be a problem with the heater , the sensor , or the gas flow may be above the desired value . line b shows the ideal , expected ratio of power to temperature if the gas flow is working in ideal conditions . in some embodiments the gas flow may be adjusted by the gas solenoid in order to attempt to match the ideal , expected ratio shown in line b . in some embodiments the mass spectrometer may be a time of flight mass spectrometer , a quadrupole mass spectrometer , a 3d ion trap mass spectrometer , a 2d ion trap mass spectrometer , an orbitrap ( rtm ) mass spectrometer ( i . e . comprising an electrostatic mass analyser arranged to generate an electrostatic field having a quadro - logarithmic potential distribution ), a ft - icr mass spectrometer , or a magnetic sector mass spectrometer . in some embodiments the ion source may be an electrospray ion source , an atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation ( apci ) ion source , an atmospheric pressure photo ionisation ( appi ) ion source , an impactor - spray ion source , or any other ion source which uses a heated gas flow to aid the ionisation process . in some embodiments the gas source may be a nitrogen generator or a gas cylinder . in the preferred embodiment the thermal source is a heater . examples of heaters that may be used include , but are not limited to ir heaters , inductive heaters or resistive heaters . in some embodiments the temperature sensor may be a thermocouple , a thermistor , a semi - conductor or a device measuring the resistance of the heated item . in some embodiments the control system may be the operating computer of the mass spectrometer . in one embodiment the control system may be incorporated in the instrument electronics ( i . e . firmware ). in less preferred embodiments the control system may be incorporated in the instrument control software on a control computer or a computer internal to the mass spectrometer ( running software ). in some embodiments the gas valve may be a solonoid , or any other valve . preferably the valve may be an on / off valve . although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the accompanying claims . | 6 |
fig1 shows an inspection apparatus 10 for inspecting a cigarette formation 11 comprising cigarettes 12 arranged in three layers . the inspection apparatus 10 has two light sources 13 and 14 , which each preferably comprise a laser but may also comprise another bright light source , for example an arrangement of bright light - emitting diodes . the emitted light is therefore monochromatic and coherent or monochromatic and non - coherent or non - monochromatic and non - coherent . the light sources 13 , 14 are either turned on permanently , or , alternatively , may be operated in a pulsed fashion , so that they generate short flashes of light . the light beams 15 , 16 issuing from the light sources 13 , 14 each pass to an optical arrangement or to a lens - diaphragm system 17 , 18 or to a hologram , which convert the light beams 15 , 16 in each case in three light bands 19 , 20 , 21 and 22 , 23 , 24 . these light bands 19 to 24 fall onto cigarette heads 25 of the cigarettes 12 , where the light bands 19 to 24 have the configuration of strip - like portions 26 to 31 , as illustrated in fig2 . fig2 shows the end areas of the cigarette heads 25 from fig1 . the cigarette formation 11 comprises three layers , the outer two layers comprising seven cigarettes and the middle layer comprising six cigarettes . for each layer , two strip - like portions 26 and 27 , and 28 and 29 , and 30 and 31 impinge on the end areas . the respective upper strip - like portions 26 , 28 , 30 originate from the light source 13 illustrated at the top of fig1 . the lower strip - like portions 27 , 29 , 31 correspondingly originate from the lower light source 14 . each strip - like portion 26 to 31 covers a wide region of the end area of the respective cigarette heads 25 , to be precise in each case somewhat less than half of the end area of a cigarette head . therefore , essentially total coverage of the cigarette end area is obtained by two strip - like portions . this has the advantage that it is thereby possible to evaluate virtually the entire end area . fig1 shows a detector 32 , which receives light 33 reflected from the end areas . the detector 32 has an optical arrangement 34 , which serves for focusing the reflected light 33 onto a sensor . this sensor contained in the detector 32 as a ccd chip having a multiplicity of two - dimensionally arranged ccd elements . as a result , it is possible to generate the images of the strip - shaped portions 26 to 31 on the end areas of the cigarette heads on the ccd chip . the individual ccd elements each output a signal which flows to an evaluation device . the inspection apparatus 10 that is described is preferably situated on the cigarette turret of a cigarette packaging machine . however , it may also be arranged in a similar form on the cigarette magazine and there perform presorting or ejection of individual cigarettes by means of an ejector arranged on the magazine , as is described in the published german patent application de 36 20 735 a1 . in the case of an inspection apparatus arranged on the cigarette turret , the identification of a defective cigarette leads to the entire cigarette formation 11 being ejected . for this purpose , the inspection apparatus generates an error signal which causes the ejector to perform ejection . fig3 shows a section along the line iii — iii from fig2 that is to say a longitudinal section through a cigarette head 25 . this cigarette head 25 has a filter piece 35 set back relative to the end of the tip sleeve 36 . the incident light bands 20 , 23 irradiate the strip - shaped portions 28 , 30 at the end of the filter piece 35 . in addition , the light bands 20 , 23 also irradiate the end of the tip sleeve 36 at end portions 37 , 38 . these portions 28 , 29 , 37 , 38 illustrate the illuminated portions in the case of a recessed filter cigarette . a similar picture would be produced for a papyrossi cigarette , the filter piece 35 in that case being replaced by tobacco , however . the broken lines illustrated in fig3 show the conditions for an excessively long cigarette 12 . in the case of such a defective cigarette , the end area 39 of the filter piece 35 would end offset to the right , as would the end edge of the tip sleeve 40 . in the case of a properly formed cigarette , the portions 28 and 29 are at a specific distance from one another , as are the portions 37 , 38 or the distances between the portions 28 and 37 or 38 and also 29 and 38 or 37 . defects of the cigarette heads can be inferred from these distances . specifically , as shown in fig3 these portions 28 , 29 , 37 , 38 are displaced away from the formation if a cigarette is too long . thus , the portion 28 is displaced to the broken line 28 ′ shown , and 29 is displaced to the broken line 29 ′ shown , and the end portions 37 and 38 are also displaced to broken lines 37 ′ and 38 ′, respectively . fig4 a shows a longitudinal section through a cigarette head 41 of a tobaccoless cigarette with an end area 42 . fig4 b shows the image produced on the detector 32 when the end area 42 is illuminated by two light bands which impinge as strip - like portions on the end area 42 . two images 43 , 44 of strip - like portions , which illuminate a multiplicity of pixels 45 illustrated as dots , impinge on the end area 42 . the doubly traced circular line 6 is an imaginary representation of the cigarette paper 47 surrounding the cigarette head 41 . the images 43 , 44 have a central portion 48 and 49 , respectively , which corresponds to the tobacco - side end area regions illuminated by the respective strip - like portions . these central portions 48 , 49 are bounded by in each case two point - like end portions 50 to 53 . these point - like end portions 50 to 53 correspond to bright light spots at the locations at which the strips of light impinge on the filter paper . fig4 c shows the image generated or calculated by an evaluation device . this image need not necessarily be displayed . it is sufficient for the data on which this image is based to be calculated in order to implement the invention . a respective centroid line 54 , 55 is determined from the central portions 48 , 49 . the centroid lines 54 , 55 are advantageously calculated in such a way that they lie parallel to one another . in addition , the end portions 50 to 53 are each combined to form a centroid 56 to 59 . fig5 a shows a cigarette which is too short by comparison with the cigarette illustrated in fig4 a . the cigarette illustrated in fig5 a is shorter by the distance a than the cigarette illustrated in fig4 a . as a result of this , the central portions 48 , 49 illustrated in fig5 b are closer together than those illustrated in fig4 b . the same applies to the end portions 50 to 53 . this is a consequence of the light bands which run toward one another with increasing distance and lead to the portions being moved closer together . the same applies correspondingly to the centroid lines 54 , 55 and centroids 56 to 59 illustrated in fig5 c . this displacement results in a shorter distance c in fig5 c than a corresponding larger portion b in fig4 c . fig6 a again shows the cigarette head 41 of a filterless cigarette , in which , however , some of the tobacco filling is missing . this leads to a hole 60 . therefore , in the image 43 of an upper strip of light on the detector , which image encompasses an upper portion of the end of the cigarette head 41 , an irregularity is discernible in the upper central portion 48 in fig6 b . this is because the central section 48 of the image 43 is not oriented essentially horizontally but rather slopes away to the side . fig6 c shows the centroid lines 54 , 55 calculated from this . the centroid line 54 illustrated in fig6 c is displaced toward the center of the cigarette by comparison with the centroid line 54 illustrated in fig4 c . this is a consequence of the hole 60 . since the lower image 44 in fig6 b corresponds to that illustrated in fig4 b , the centroid line 55 in fig6 c is at the same position as in fig4 c . the distance between the centroid lines 54 , 55 now no longer corresponds to the desired distance b in accordance with fig4 c , but rather is smaller than said desired distance . a defective cigarette can be inferred from this . a further special feature of the illustrations in accordance with fig6 b and 6 c emerges from the fact that the intrinsically slanted portion 48 is converted into a straight centroid line 54 . this orientation — compelled computationally — of the centroid lines serves for determining the distance between the centroid lines 54 and 55 more simply . fig7 a shows the cigarette head 61 of a recessed filter cigarette with a filter piece 62 and a hollow tip 63 . the strips of light which impinge as strip - like portions on the cigarette head 61 are represented as images 64 , 65 on the detector 32 in accordance with fig7 b . in the case of such a correctly formed cigarette , central portions 66 , 67 are situated in a manner displaced toward the cigarette axis . the end portions 50 to 53 , by contrast , are located at the same position as in fig5 b for a completely filled cigarette . fig7 c shows calculated centroid lines 68 , 69 , which , in the case of a proper recessed filter cigarette , are at a distance which is less than the distance c illustrated in fig4 c . in addition , the centroids 56 to 59 in fig7 c are situated at a horizontal position that differs from that of the centroid lines 68 , 69 . this is due to the fact that the light bands or strip - shaped portions which impinge on the cigarette head 61 are displaced toward the cigarette axis , since these portions are set back in the axial direction , that is to say are at a greater distance from the inspection apparatus . fig8 a once again shows a cigarette head 61 of a recessed filter cigarette , in which case , however , the filter 62 is formed defectively since it has been obliquely clipped . as a result , the central portions 66 , 67 of the images 64 , 65 are situated at a different position in fig8 b compared with fig7 b . however , the end portions 50 to 53 of the images 64 , 65 are situated at the same position as in fig7 b . fig8 c shows the centroid lines 68 , 69 produced from the images in accordance with fig8 b , and also the centroids 56 to 59 . the centroids 56 to 59 are not displaced relative to fig7 c , whereas the centroid lines 68 and 69 in fig8 b are displaced upward compared with fig7 c . in addition , they are at a smaller distance from one another . the differentiation between centroid lines 54 , 55 to 68 , 69 and centroids 56 to 59 makes it possible to ascertain one or four reference points on the edge of the cigarette casing or tip sleeve . as a result , it is possible to make statements about set - back filters or holes in the tobacco even in a quantitative manner , that is to say that statements can be made about distances between the end edge of a cigarette and possible holes or the depth of a tip sleeve in the case of recessed filter cigarettes or papyrossi cigarettes . by way of example , it is possible to verify by measurement whether a tip sleeve having a setpoint depth of 5 mm lies within tolerance limits of ± 1 mm . the inspection method described and also the inspection apparatus described allow a very high measurement accuracy . furthermore , a snapshot of a cigarette head or of the cigarette heads of a cigarette formation suffices for inspecting the length of a cigarette , the depth of a tip sleeve , the form of a cigarette head and also the filling with tobacco or filter . as a result , a cigarette head can be measured in one motion . as a result — unlike in other known inspection methods in which , by way of example , a plunger is pressed onto a cigarette head — this contactless method enables a cigarette packaging or production machine to be operated at high speed . the invention therefore opens up a host of possibilities for the inspection of cigarette heads . | 0 |
fig1 shows a cross - sectional view of an integrated circuit structure formed in accordance with the present invention . semiconductor wafer 10 ( the complete thickness of which is not visible in fig1 ) is preferably a silicon wafer having an upper surface 11 . region 26 designates a copper interconnect metal region forming a connection pad ; while connection pad 26 is shown as being made of copper , the interconnect metal could also be aluminum . region 26 is surrounded by intermetal dielectric layer 15 which insulates interconnect metal conductors ( like copper connection pad 26 ) from each other . a silicon passivation layer 13 is formed above the upper surface 12 of intermetal dielectric layer 15 ; as shown , a via or window is formed through silicon passivation layer 13 above copper connection pad 26 . referring briefly to fig2 semiconductor wafer 10 includes a number of identical integrated circuit die formed thereupon , including integrated circuit die 14 , 16 , 18 , 20 , 22 , and 24 . each of these integrated circuit die have a series of semiconductor devices , such as mos transistors ( not shown ), formed therein upon the surface 12 of semiconductor wafer 10 to form logic switches or other circuit components of an electronic circuit . each such semiconductor device has two or more electrodes , or terminals ( not shown ), that need to be electrically interconnected with another circuit element , such as a power supply conductor , or perhaps the output terminal of a previous switch . in order to make such interconnections , one or more patterned layers of interconnect metal are applied over the upper surface 11 of semiconductor wafer 10 ; where two or more of such interconnect metal layers are used , an insulating layer , such as an oxide layer , is formed over the lower interconnect layer to insulate the upper interconnect layer therefrom . through hole vias are formed when necessary to allow the upper interconnect layer to connect with the lower interconnect layer below . as mentioned above , the metal interconnect layers have long been formed of aluminum , though copper is now being used to enhance the conductivity , reliability and speed of circuitry , especially for very fine line geometries used in advanced generations of integrated circuit technologies . each integrated circuit includes a series of connection pads for making electrical connection to circuitry external to the integrated circuit . for example , one such connection pad might be coupled to a source of positive voltage , another might be coupled to ground , another might receive an input control signal , and still another might be an output signal . in fig1 one such connection pad is designated by reference numeral 26 . referring to fig2 integrated circuit 14 includes a number of such connection pads , including two pads 28 and 30 that lie adjacent one another . the lowermost portions of such connection pads are initially formed by patterning the interconnect metal layer , which again may be copper , into a series of rectangles , or other shapes , that are not covered by any passivation layer . in practicing the present invention , one or more wafers are fabricated through metal interconnect . passivation layer 13 covers the interconnect metal , except for the connection pads 26 , at which the interconnect metal ( aluminum or copper ) is exposed . a patterned layer of nickel is plated over each such connection pad for mechanically and electrically bonding to the underlying metal forming such connection pad . the plated nickel layer is “ patterned ” in the sense that it conforms to the pattern of the underlying interconnect metal connection pads . in fig1 this nickel layer is identified by reference numeral 32 and is applied to a thickness of approximately 1 . 5 micrometers . nickel layer 32 is preferably applied using an electroless nickel deposition process at the wafer level . the wafers to be processed are placed into a cassette and cleaned using processes well known to those skilled in the art . the cassette of wafers is thereafter placed into a nickel plating tank and agitated . the plating time in the nickel tank is calculated based upon the targeted ni thickness and the plating rate ; the plating rate is a function of the temperature , ph , and nickel concentration . this plating rate can be determined by recording empirical data for known conditions of the temperature , ph , and nickel concentration of the plating bath . after the nickel layer has been plated to a thickness of approximately 0 . 5 micrometers , the cassette is removed from the nickel bath , and rinsed . it should be noted that the nickel layer is plated directly on top of the copper connection pads formed by the copper metal interconnect , without the need for any intervening layer of titanium or other material . preferably , the thickness of the plated nickel layer ranges between 0 . 5 micrometers and 20 micrometers . following the creation of the nickel layer over the copper connection pads , the wafers are ready for plating of the palladium layer . in fig1 this palladium layer is identified by reference numeral 34 and is applied to a thickness of approximately 0 . 1 to 5 micrometers . palladium layer 34 is preferably applied using an electroless deposition process at the wafer level . the wafers resulting from the nickel plating process described above are thereafter plated with palladium by placing the wafer cassette into a tank containing a palladium plating bath . plating time in the palladium tank is dependent upon the plating rate and the targeted palladium thickness ; this plating rate is a function of the temperature , ph and palladium concentration ., and can be determined by recording empirical data for known conditions of the temperature , ph , and palladium concentration of the plating bath . the thickness of the plated layer of palladium preferably ranges between 0 . 1 micrometers and 5 micrometers . upon removal from the palladium tank , the cassette is moved to the rinse tank to rinse away any remaining palladium bath solution . the resulting wafers now have a layer of palladium patterned according to the underlying pattern of nickel above each connection pad . as mentioned above , this palladium layer helps to prevent the nickel from diffusing outwardly into the gold during subsequent heating cycles . the cassette containing the wafers is then placed into a tank containing a gold plating bath , and is manually agitated for 12 minutes . the plated gold layer preferably has a thickness ranging between 0 . 03 micrometers and 2 micrometers . at this point , the wafers have a patterned layer of gold plated over the patterned layer of palladium above each connection pad to facilitate the joinder of such connection pad with a connection element , such as a gold wire bond , solder ball , gold bump , nickel bump , etc . referring to fig1 this gold layer is identified by reference numeral 36 . upon removal from the gold plating bath tank , the cassette is moved to the rinse tank to rinse off any remaining plating bath with cold rinse water . finally , the resulting wafers are inspected for plating quality . because the triple metal stack of nickel , palladium , and gold can be plated over the copper connection pads so precisely in accordance with the method described above , the connection pads can be disposed within 5 micrometers of each other without imposing any process limitations . this allows the connection pads to be placed on a relatively small pitch , thereby facilitating the formation of a large number of connection pads on each integrated circuit die . the process of the present invention includes the steps of forming such a triple metal stack above each connection pad , first by forming a patterned layer of nickel by electroless plating over each connection pad , then forming a patterned layer of palladium by electroless plating over the patterned layer of nickel , and finally forming a patterned layer of gold by electroless plating over the patterned layer of palladium . those skilled in the art will now appreciate that an improved integrated circuit structure has been described which is compatible with both copper and aluminum interconnect metal , and which facilitates the attachment of the integrated circuit connection pads to external circuitry a wide variety of attachment technologies , including gold wire bonds , solder bumps , gold bumps and nickel bumps , and without risk of the nickel layer out - diffusing into the upper gold layer during subsequent heat cycling . for example , within fig1 a gold bump or ball 38 has been affixed to gold layer 36 atop connection pad 26 to facilitate the joinder of such connection pad to a supporting substrate or package . the described electroless plating technique can be practiced at the wafer level , is relatively simple , yet precise , allowing small pitch geometries for tight placement of the connection pads . moreover , connection pads provided with the aforementioned plated triple metal stack have been found to permit the use of temporary test probes for testing purposes prior to final packaging , but without harm to the connection pads . those skilled in the art will also appreciate that an improved process has been described for providing such connection pads . while the present invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof , such description is for illustrative purposes only , and is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention . various modifications and changes may be made to the described embodiments by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . | 7 |
the making and using of example illustrative embodiments are discussed in detail below . it should be appreciated , however , that the embodiments provide many applicable inventive concepts that can be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts . the specific embodiments discussed are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the various embodiments , and the examples described do not limit the scope of the specification , or the scope of the appended claims . for example , when the term “ coupled ” is used herein to describe the relationships between elements , the term as used in the specification and the appended claims is to be interpreted broadly , and is not to be limited to “ connected ” or “ directly connected ” but instead the term “ coupled ” may include connections made with intervening elements , and additional elements and various connections may be used between any elements that are “ coupled .” in the embodiments , novel solutions are provided to achieve laser speckle reduction using a passive diffuser . it is discovered that a colloid exhibiting brownian motion can be used as a passive diffuser in a laser illumination system , and that the random motion that inherently exists in the colloid provides a uniform illumination without the need for any additional power or mechanical movement . further , the novel passive diffuser can be used with any coherent light source to reduce the speckle effect . fig3 depicts in a cross sectional view an example system 30 for illustrating an embodiment . in the system 30 a laser is used as a coherent light source , however , the embodiments and the claims appended hereto are not so limited . in additional embodiments , an alternative coherent light source can be used . in the system 30 , a housing 31 is provided with a laser 33 mounted in the housing . a collimator 35 is placed near the laser to shape the beam , and a diverging element 37 and a converging element 39 further shape the laser beam . the laser is typically a pulsed laser although a continuous wave laser could be used . a novel diffuser for reducing the laser speckles 41 is provided in the laser beam path . by using the novel diffuser of the embodiments , the system advantageously provides a uniform illumination at the output . in the embodiments , diffusers for laser speckle reduction comprise a colloid . the colloid may be , for example , disposed within two transparent plates . however the colloid may be contained in any vessel or body that is transparent to the coherent light . in an alternative embodiment , a beaker containing the colloid can be used . other alternatives include various transparent container shapes containing the colloid such as columns , cubes , balls , spheres , lenses and the like . a colloid is a dispersed phase material disposed in a dispersal medium . in a colloid , the particle sizes of the dispersed phase material are such that the colloid is neither a solution , nor is it a suspension . the dispersed phase material does not dissolve in the dispersion medium to form a solution . further the particles do not settle out of the dispersion medium , as occurs in a suspension . a common example of a natural colloid is cow &# 39 ; s milk . a man - made colloid includes trans - anethol / ethanol / water emulsion , also known as ouzo , pastis , and other anise flavored liqueurs . these anethol / ethanol colloid materials are described in detail in a paper entitled “ spontaneously formed trans - anethol / water / alcohol emulsions : mechanism of formation and stability ,” sitnikova et al ., langmuir 2005 , vol . 21 , pp . 7083 - 7089 , american chemical society , 2005 , which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . another man - made colloid is emulsified paint . colloids are stable uniform mixtures that do not settle out over time . of particular application to the embodiments are colloids that exhibit brownian motion . liquid dispersal medium with solid dispersed phase material , such as milk , sol paint , inks , and the like form colloids that can be incorporated in the embodiments . liquid dispersed phase material that is in liquid dispersion material such as emulsified paint , ouzo , and the like can be used to form additional embodiments . liquid or solid dispersed phase material that is in a gaseous dispersion material such as aerosols , fog , and the like can be used to form embodiments that are contemplated as additional alternative embodiments herein , and which are encompassed by the scope of the appended claims . colloids used in the embodiments advantageously exhibit brownian motion . the brownian motion occurs inherently due to the particle sizes and the gravitational field on the particles in the dispersed phase material . the brownian motion is random , and no mechanical or electrical stimulus is needed . the brownian motion is at a high frequency and random in nature . when the coherent light is passed through a diffuser with the colloids of the embodiments , the laser speckle is greatly reduced or entirely eliminated . surprisingly , the use of the embodiments advantageously provides a passive diffuser for coherent light that is effective in eliminating or greatly reducing laser speckle , without the need for power , and without the need for mechanical vibration or rotation . the particles in the colloid can range in size from 1 nanometer to 1 micron in size . the colloid diffuser of the embodiments is very effective at scattering visible and near infrared light . the brownian motion ensures that the scattering pattern varies randomly over time . the diffuser with the colloid has a frequency of scattering pattern change that is very large . the colloid is disposed in a transparent container . for example , in an embodiment that illustrates the advantageous features , the colloid is disposed between transparent plates that form a diffuser device . the transparent material can vary and the plates need only be of material that is transparent to the frequency of the light or energy being transmitted . examples of the transparent material include glass , acrylic , polycarbonate , perspex , and glass - ceramic . transparent ceramic materials such as transparent alumina and transparent spinel ( mgal 2 o 4 ) can be used to form additional alternative embodiments . the colloid is contained within the transparent plates and the diffuser can be mounted in the housing as shown in fig3 above . alternatively the diffuser could be provided elsewhere in the light beam path . in an example embodiment , a layer of milk that was 1 . 6 nanometers thick was used as the colloid . as the colloid density is increased , the thickness of the colloid layer can be reduced . optimum thicknesses may be obtained through routine experimentation with a particular colloid . the diffuser thickness may increase to several microns , as the selected colloid particle size increases . fig4 depicts in an example application the laser illumination system 30 in a sensor test environment . the elements of fig3 are repeated in fig4 . an image sensor 45 is shown receiving laser illumination from the system 30 . because the novel colloid diffuser is used , a uniform illumination is achieved without laser speckle . fig5 depicts in an illustration an example image 50 obtained by use of uniform illumination of an image sensor by a red laser pointer and incorporating a colloid diffuser of the embodiments . ( note that fig5 is an illustration in black and white of a color image , black and white is used for purposes of this patent application .) as can be seen in fig5 , the image is free from any laser speckle effects . in sharp contrast to the image in fig2 which was obtained using prior known diffuser with a similar laser source and without the use of the embodiments , the image of fig5 illustrates the uniform illumination that is advantageously obtained by use of the embodiments . in the system embodiments described above , a laser is used as the coherent light source . however other sources of coherent light such as incoherent sources that are directed through a pinhole or slit can be used to form additional embodiments . in alternative embodiments , various lasers can be used . solid state lasers can be used . semiconductor lasers can be used , such as for example those used in laser pointers and cd or dvd players . for example , p - i - n diodes can be used , edge emitting semiconductor diode lasers can be used , and double heterojunction diodes can be used . additional embodiments are formed by the use of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (“ vcsels ”) which feature a laser beam emitted perpendicular to a semiconductor wafer surface , in contrast to the edge emitter diodes . the embodiments and the appended claims are not limited to lasers , and other coherent light sources can be used to form additional alternative embodiments . advantages of the embodiments include that the construction is simple and inexpensive , that the novel diffuser can be added to existing laser illumination sources and systems easily , that the embodiments are completely passive and require no power , and that use of the embodiments does not introduce electrical or mechanical noise , while achieving results in uniform illumination that surprisingly exceed those obtained using prior known solutions . applications for the embodiments incorporating the diffuser including the colloid include any application where uniform illumination from a coherent light source is required . examples include laser illumination , laser projectors , dlp projectors , tof illumination sources , 3d imaging systems , machine vision systems , metering systems , autofocusing systems , optical measuring tapes and rulers , laser tv and video projectors , and other applications where coherent light illumination is used . although the example embodiments have been described in detail , it should be understood that various changes , substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the application as defined by the appended claims . moreover , the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process , machine , manufacture , and composition of matter , means , methods and steps described in the specification . as one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure , processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods or steps , presently existing or later to be developed , that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the embodiments and alternative embodiments . accordingly , the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps . | 6 |
some embodiments of the present invention generally concern a reconfigurable chip ( or die ) for decoding an input signal in accordance with two or more wireless communications standards . the wireless communications standards may include , but are not limited to , a long term evolution ( lte ) standard ( 3gpp release 8 ), an institute of electrical and electronics engineering ( ieee ) 802 . 16 standard ( wimax ), a wideband - cdma / high speed packet access ( wcdma / hspa ) standard ( 3gpp release 7 ) and a cdma - 2000 / ultra mobile broadband ( umb ) standard ( 3gpp2 ). other wired and / or wireless communications standards may be implemented to meet the criteria of a particular application . some embodiments of the present invention may relate to decoder universality where many different convolutional codes and turbo codes are supported in the same hardware . instead of adding configuration logic to a state metric calculation ( smc ) circuit , configuration logic may be added to a branch metric calculation ( bmc ) circuit . the bmc circuit generally computes branch metrics and may be used with the smc circuit in decoding . the bmc circuit may be readily pipelined . hence , adding configuration logic to bmc circuit generally does not lead to a bottleneck . moreover , implementations of some embodiments may utilize low silicon area and may be easily configured . any rate ( e . g ., ⅓ rate ) convolutional encoder with a given constraint length ( e . g ., up to 8 ) may be supported . furthermore , a simple universal permutation 4 × 4 - network may be used in the configuration logic to reduce the overall layout area . the universal bmc circuit design generally includes a radix - 4 universal branch metric calculation . the universal branch metric calculation may be used in both ( i ) maximum - logarithmic - map ( maximum a posteriori ) decoding techniques of turbo codes and ( ii ) viterbi decoding techniques of convolutional codes . the universal branch metric calculations may also be used for high - speed and low - area implementations of multi - standard radix - 4 decoders supporting turbo and convolutional decoding for most existing wireless standards , such as w - cdma , cdma2000 , wimax and lte . referring to fig1 , a block diagram of an apparatus 100 is shown . the apparatus ( or device or circuit ) 100 may implement a convolutional rate 1 / s encoder . a signal ( e . g ., in ) may be received by the apparatus 100 . a signal ( e . g ., out ) may be generated by the apparatus 100 in response to the signal in . the apparatus 100 may represent one or more modules and / or blocks that may be implemented as hardware , firmware , software , a combination of hardware , firmware and / or software , or other implementations . the signal in may convey an information word received by the apparatus 100 . the information word “ d ” ( e . g ., data to be transmitted ) may be described by formula 1 as follows : where each diε { 0 , 1 } may be an information bit and parameter “ k ” may be an information word length . the apparatus 100 generally adds redundancy to the information word d and produces a codeword “ c ” in the signal out . codeword c is generally illustrated by formula 2 as follows : where “ n ” is the codeword length and r = k / n may be a code rate . for convolutional rate 1 / s , the apparatus 100 may be defined by a generator matrix g . generator matrix g is generally shown in formula 3 as follows : g =[ g ( 1 ) ( d ), . . . , g ( s ) ( d )] ( 3 ) may be a rational function in variable d over the binary field f 2 ={ 0 , 1 }. the elements a ( i )( d ), b ( i )( d ) εf 2 ( d ) may be polynomials in d with coefficients in f 2 and a ( i )( 0 )= b ( i )( 0 )= 1 . when the apparatus 100 receives the signal in carrying an infinite binary sequence ( e . g ., formula 5 ) the signal in may be interpreted as a formal power series per formula 6 as follows : d ( d )= d 1 + d 2 d + . . . + d i d i − 1 + . . . ( 6 ) the apparatus 100 may generate multiple signals ( e . g ., p 1 to ps ). a combination of the signals p 1 to ps may form the signal out . each signal p 1 to ps may carry a sequence ( e . g ., p ( 1 ) to p ( s )) as shown in formulae 7 set as follows : the sequences may be considered as formal power series and calculated as shown in formulae set 8 as follows : the resulting codeword c may be represented by formula 9 as follows : c =( p 1 ( 1 ) , . . . , p 1 ( s ) , p 2 ( 1 ) , . . . , p 2 ( s ) , . . . , p k ( 1 ) , . . . , p k ( s ) ( 9 ) may be the j - th element created by the convolutional encoding . the word p ( j ) may be referred to as a parity word . in the case of convolutional codes ( cc ) generally used in wireless standards , the channel encoding may not be systematic ( e . g ., the encoding may have a polynomial transfer matrix ). in the case of convolutional turbo codes ( ctc ), the encoding may be systematic ( e . g ., the information word d may be a part of the codeword c ). referring to fig2 , a block diagram of an apparatus 102 is shown . the apparatus ( or device or circuit ) 102 may implement a convolutional turbo rate ⅓ encoder . the apparatus 102 generally comprises a circuit ( or module ) 104 , a circuit ( or module ) 106 and a circuit ( or module ) 108 . the signal . in may be received by the circuits 104 and 108 . a signal ( e . g ., per ) may be generated by the circuit 108 and received by the circuit 106 . the circuit 104 may generate the signal p 1 . the circuit 106 may generate the signal p 2 . a combination of the signals in , p 1 and p 2 may establish the signal out . the circuits 104 to 108 may represent modules and / or blocks that may be implemented as hardware , firmware , software , a combination of hardware , firmware and / or software , or other implementations . the circuit 104 may implement a recursive systematic convolutional ( rsc ) encoder . the circuit 104 is generally operational to encode the information word d to generate the parity word p ( 1 ). the information word d may be received in the signal in . the parity word p ( 1 ) may be presented in the signal p 1 . the encoding may be a recursive systematic convolutional encoding . the circuit 106 may implement another rsc encoder . the circuit 106 is generally operational to encode a permuted word π ( d ) ( e . g ., formula 11 ) to generate the parity word p ( 2 ). the permuted word π ( d ) may be received in the signal per from the circuit 108 . the parity word p ( 2 ) may be presented in the signal p 2 . the encoding may also be a recursive systematic convolutional encoding . the circuit 106 may be a duplicate of the circuit 104 and perform the same encoding technique . the circuit 108 may implement an interleaver circuit . the circuit 108 is generally operational to generated the permuted word π ( d ) by permutating the information word d . the information word d may be received in the signal in . the permuted word π ( d ) may be presented to the circuit 106 in the signal per . each standard lte , w - cdma / hspa and wimax may include rate ⅓ turbo codes . in the wimax standard , the codeword c may be given by formula 12 as follows : c =( d 1 , p 1 ( 1 ) , p 1 ( 2 ) , . . . , d k , p k ( 1 ) , p k ( 2 ) ) ( 12 ) where n = 3k and tail - biting may be utilized . in the lte standard and the w - cdma / hspa standard , the codeword c is generally illustrated by formula 13 as follows : c =( d 1 , p 1 ( 1 ) , p 1 ( 2 ) , . . . , d k , p k ( 1 ) , p k ( 2 ) , t 1 , . . . , t 12 ) ( 13 ) where n = 3k + 12 and the final several bits ( e . g ., 12 bits t 1 , . . . , t 12 ) may be used for trellis termination . the trellis termination generally forces the apparatus 102 to an initial zero state . in the case of trellis termination , the actual code rate k /( 3k + 12 ) may be a little smaller than the rate ⅓ . in the above cases , the parity word p ( 1 ) in the signal p 1 may convey the parity bits word obtained for an unpermuted information word d generated by the circuit 104 . the parity word p ( 2 ) may be obtained for the permuted word π ( d ) generated by the circuit 108 . an operation n may be a permutation on a set { 1 , 2 , . . . , k } specified by an interleaver table of the standard . a decoder is generally a device that receives vector of quantized logarithm of likelihood ratios ( llr &# 39 ; s ) for each bit in the codeword c as received from a modulator . the modulator operation may be denoted by l ( c ). the decoder generally attempts to reconstruct the transmitted information word d . a decision of the decoder may be denoted by a { circumflex over ( d )} per formula 14 as follows : { circumflex over ( d )} =( { circumflex over ( d )} 1 , . . . , { circumflex over ( d )} k ) ε { 0 , 1 } k ( 14 ) each value { circumflex over ( d )} i may be called a hard decision for information bit { circumflex over ( d )} i , where i = 1 to k . sometimes ( e . g ., in turbo equalization ) the decoder may also generate soft decisions for the information and the parity bits . such decoders may be called soft - input soft - output ( siso ) decoders . referring to fig3 , a block diagram of an apparatus 120 is shown . the apparatus ( or device or circuit ) 120 may implement a soft - in - soft - out ( siso ) decoder for convolutional turbo rate ⅓ codes with a hard decision aided ( hda ) early stopping criteria . the apparatus 120 generally comprises a circuit ( or module ) 122 , a circuit ( or module ) 124 , multiple interleaver circuits ( or modules ) 126 a to 126 b , multiple inverse interleaver circuits ( or modules ) 128 a to 128 b , multiple slicer circuits ( or modules ) 130 a to 130 b and a compare circuit ( or module ) 132 . the circuits 122 to 132 may represent modules and / or blocks that may be implemented as hardware , firmware , software , a combination of hardware , firmware and / or software , or other implementations . a signal ( e . g ., lin ( d )) may be received by the circuits 122 , 124 and 126 a . a signal ( e . g ., lin ( p 1 )) may be received by the circuit 122 . a signal ( e . g ., lin ( p 2 )) may be received by the circuit 124 . the circuit 128 a may generate a signal ( e . g ., lout ( d )). a signal ( e . g ., lout ( p 1 )) may be generated by the circuit 122 . the circuit 124 may generate a signal ( e . g ., lout ( p 2 )). a signal ( e . g ., stop / cont ) may be generated by the circuit 132 . turbo decoding may perform a number of computation cycles called full iterations . each full iteration may include two half iterations . the turbo decoding process generally runs until either a maximum full iteration number ( e . g ., typical value is 8 ) is reached or one or more early stopping criterion is satisfied . on each half iteration , the circuits 122 and 124 generally perform a maximum a posteriori ( map ) process explained below for one of the constitutive convolutional encoders rcs 1 and rsc 2 of a turbo encoder ( see fig2 ). for each full iteration on the initial half iteration , the circuits 122 and 124 generally perform map decoding for rsc 1 and on the second half iteration for rsc 2 . extrinsic llr &# 39 ; s obtained in the circuits 122 and 124 may be permuted by the circuits 128 b / 126 b and exchanged between half iterations . after each half iteration , the circuit 132 may compare hard decisions from the circuit 122 with permuted hard decisions from the circuit 124 . if the hard decisions match each other , the circuit 120 may stop decoding and assert the signal stop / cont in a stop condition . otherwise , the signal stop / cont may be asserted in a continue condition . the matching hard decision criterion may be an early stopping criterion called hard - decision aided ( hda ) criterion . referring to fig4 , a block diagram of an apparatus 140 is shown . the apparatus ( or device or circuit ) 140 may implement a convolutional rate ½ encoder . the apparatus 140 generally comprises a circuit ( or module ) 142 . the circuit 140 may represent one or more modules and / or blocks that may be implemented as hardware , firmware , software , a combination of hardware , firmware and / or software , or other implementations . the signal in may be received by the circuit 142 . the circuit 142 may generate a signal ( e . g ., p ). the signal out may be a combination of the signals in and a signal ( e . g ., p ). the circuit 140 may be operational to generate a systematic convolutional rate ½ code . the circuit 142 may implement another rsc circuit , similar to circuits 104 and 106 . the circuit 142 may be operational to generate a parity word p in the signal p in response to the information word d received in the signal in . referring to fig5 , a block diagram of an apparatus 150 is shown . the apparatus ( or device or circuit ) 150 may implement a map decoder for systematic convolutional rate ½ codes . the circuit 150 may represent one or more modules and / or blocks that may be implemented as hardware , firmware , software , a combination of hardware , firmware and / or software , or other implementations . a signal ( e . g ., lin ( d )) may be received by the circuit 150 from a modulator . a signal ( e . g ., lin ( p )) may also be received by the circuit 150 from the modulator . another signal ( e . g ., la ( d )) may be sent from the modulator to the circuit 150 . the circuit 150 may generate a signal ( e . g ., lout ( d )). a signal ( e . g ., lout ( p )) may also be generated by the circuit 150 . a signal ( e . g ., le ( d )) may be generated by the circuit 150 . the circuit 150 may implement a map decoder circuit . a part of the turbo decoding process is the map decoding process . the map decoding process may be applied for any convolutional code . in the case of rate ⅓ turbo code , the map decoding may be applied for systematic convolutional rate ½ codes only . in some embodiments , the circuit 150 may be operational to perform a max - log - map decoding process . other map decoding processes may be implemented to meet the criteria of a particular application . the signal lin ( d ) may carry an llr soft decision from the modulator for the information bits d . the signal lin ( p ) may convey an llr soft decision for the parity bits p . the signal la ( d ) generally carries llr soft decision a priori probability data for the information bits d . llr soft decisions of map decoder ( circuit 150 ) may be carried in the signal lout ( d ) for the information bits d and the signal lout ( p ) for the parity bits p . extrinsic llr data used in turbo decoding between half iterations may be presented in the signal le ( d ). referring to fig6 , a block diagram of an apparatus 160 is shown . the apparatus ( or device or circuit ) 160 may implement a viterbi decoder for convolutional rate ⅓ codes . the circuit 160 may represent one or more modules and / or blocks that may be implemented as hardware , firmware , software , a combination of hardware , firmware and / or software , or other implementations . the signal lin ( d ) may be received by the circuit 160 from a modulator . multiple signals for parity ( e . g ., lin ( p 1 ), lin ( p 2 ) and lin ( p 3 )) may also be received by the circuit 160 from the modulator . the circuit 160 may generate a signal ( e . g ., d ). a signal ( e . g ., p 1 ) may also be generated by the circuit 160 . a signal ( e . g ., p 2 ) may be generated by the circuit 160 . the circuit 160 may also generate a signal ( e . g ., p 3 ). the circuit 160 may implement a viterbi decoder circuit . the circuit 160 is generally operational to decode according to the viterbi decoding process . the viterbi process is generally used for decoding of convolutional codes . the same hardware may be utilized for performing state metric recursions in both the viterbi process and the map decoding process ( e . g ., circuit 150 ). the circuit 160 generally uses llr soft decisions from the modulator for information bits d and parity bits p as received in the signals lin ( d ), lin ( p 1 ), lin ( p 2 ) and lin ( p 3 ). the result of viterbi decoder work may be the hard decisions for the reconstructed information bits { circumflex over ( d )} and the reconstructed parity bits { circumflex over ( p )}. the hard decisions may be carried in the signals d , p 1 , p 2 and p 3 respectively . referring to fig7 , a diagram of an example trellis 170 for a convolutional code is shown . both the max - log - map decoding process and the viterbi decoding process generally use a graphical representation of the code called a code trellis . the code trellis generally describes the convolutional encoder work in a time scale . if a codeword length is “ n ”, the trellis 170 may be a graph with n + 1 groups of vertexes v 0 , v 1 , . . . , v n , called levels . each level vi generally corresponds to a time instance t = 0 , 1 , . . . , n and may include all possible encoder states at time instance t . therefore , vertex v 0 may contain only an initial encoder state q 0 , vertex v 1 may contain all the states of encoder that are reachable in one step from q 0 , and so on . given an edge e from a state qεvi labeled with x / y to a state q ′ εvi , if an encoder at the state q responds to an input x by moving to state q ′ and outputs y . the edge e from the state q to the state q ′ in the trellis 170 may be denoted by referring to fig8 , a diagram of an example of a radix - 2 trellis 172 and a radix - 4 trellis 174 is shown . to support wimax standard a radix - 4 decoding process may be implemented . in some embodiments , the radix - 4 trellis 174 may represent the work of encoder with double speed . a radix - 4 variant of the trellis 174 generally operates two times faster than the ordinary radix - 2 trellis 172 . both the max - log - map decoding process for turbo decoding and the viterbi decoding process for convolutional decoding may be based on the same procedure . the procedure generally computes ( i ) for each edge e in the code trellis a quantity γ ( e ) called a branch metric and ( ii ) for each vertex q in each level vi of the code trellis a number of quantities called state metrics : α t ( q ) and β t ( q ) in max - log - map decoding ; and α t ( q ) in viterbi decoding . all the quantities may be in the domain r ∪{∞}, where r may be the set of real numbers . in hardware implementations of a decoder , integer arithmetic may be used instead of real numbers . in the case of max - log - map decoding , the computation for trellis of length n may be as illustrated in formulae 15 to 18 as follows : where q 0 may be an initial state of the encoder . in the case of viterbi decoding , a recursion for α state metrics may be implemented . furthermore , for each computed α t + 1 ( q ′), the edge e should be remembered such that α t ( q )+ γ ( e ) are maximal . the branch metrics for edge e in a radix - 4 max - log - map decoding for turbo codes is generally computed by formula 19 as follows : γ ( e )=(− 1 ) x 1 ( x 1 + a 1 )+(− 1 ) x 2 ( x 2 + a 2 )+(− 1 ) z 1 z 1 +(− 1 ) z 1 z 1 ( 19 ) where x 1 and x 2 may be information bits , and z 1 and z 2 may be parity bits associated with the edge e . branch metrics calculations may include ( i ) a priori soft llr values a 1 , a 2 for information bits x 1 , x 2 from the signal la ( d ), ( ii ) soft llr values x 1 , x 2 for information bits x 1 , x 2 from the signal lin ( d ) and ( iii ) soft llr values z 1 , z 2 for parity bits z 1 , z 2 from the signal lin ( p ). branch metrics for edge e in radix - 4 viterbi decoding process for rate ⅓ convolutional code may be computed by formula 20 as follows : parity bits z 1 ( i ), z 2 ( i ) may be associated with the edge e and soft llr values z 1 ( i ), z 2 ( i ) from the signal lin ( p ) may be used ( see for the case s = 3 ). when all of the state and branch metrics are computed , the decoders generally produce soft llr decisions in the signals lout ( d ), lout ( p ) for the information bits and the parity bits respectively and extrinsic llr &# 39 ; s in the signal le ( d ) in the max - log - map decoding process ( e . g ., circuit 150 ) and hard decisions in the signals d , p ( 1 ), . . . , p ( s ) in the viterbi decoding process ( e . g ., circuit 160 ). referring to fig9 , a block diagram of an apparatus 180 is shown . the apparatus ( or device or circuit ) 180 may implement a rate 1 convolutional encoder . the apparatus 180 generally represents a scheme for an rsc encoder . the apparatus 180 generally comprises a circuit ( or module ) 182 , multiple circuits ( or modules ) 184 a to 184 m , multiple circuits ( or modules ) 186 a to 186 m , multiple circuits ( or module ) 188 a to 188 m , multiple circuits ( or modules ) 190 a - 190 m and multiple circuits ( or modules ) 192 a to 192 m − 1 . the circuit 182 may receive the signal in . the circuit 188 m may generate and present the signal out . the circuits 182 to 192 m − 1 may represent modules and / or blocks that may be implemented as hardware , firmware , software , a combination of hardware , firmware and / or software , or other implementations . the circuit 182 may present a signal to the circuit 184 a and the circuit 188 a . each circuit 184 a to 184 m − 1 may present a signal to the next respective circuit 184 b to 184 m , a respective circuit 186 a to 186 m − 1 and a respective circuit 190 a to 190 m − 1 . the circuit 184 m may present a signal to the circuits 186 m and 190 m . each circuit 186 a to 186 m may present a signal to a respective circuit 188 a to 188 m . each circuit 188 a to 188 m − 1 may present a signal to a respective next circuit 188 b to 188 m . each circuit 190 a to 190 m − 1 may present a signal to a respective circuit 192 a to 192 m − 1 . the circuit 190 m may also present a signal to the circuit 192 m − 1 . each circuit 192 b to 192 m − 1 may present a signal to a respective previous circuit 192 a to 192 m − 2 . the circuit 192 a may present a signal back to the circuit 182 . each circuit 182 , 188 a to 188 m and 192 a to 192 m − 1 may implement an adder circuit . the circuits 182 , 188 a to 188 m and 192 a to 192 m − 1 are generally operational to generate a sum at an output port of two values received at the respective input ports . each circuit 184 a to 184 m may implement a delay circuit ( e . g ., register ). the circuit 184 a - 184 m may be operational to buffer a received value for a single clock cycle . each circuit 186 a to 186 m may implement a transfer circuit . the circuit 186 a to 186 m may be operational to transfer an input value to an output value per a respective polynomial ( e . g ., a 1 to am ). each circuit 190 a to 190 m may implement another transfer circuit . the circuit 190 a to 190 m may be operational to transfer an input value to an output value per a respective polynomial ( e . g ., b 1 to bm ). a number of additional rates may be easily obtained by applying puncturing . puncturing generally deletes some of the parity symbols according to a puncturing scheme defined in each standard . trellises of different convolutional codes generally have similar structure . the similarities may enable a reduction in the complexity of a universal trellis decoder suitable for working with many trellises . consider a rate 1 convolutional encoder where a state transition of any rate 1 / s encoder is the same . an encoder state q may be defined by formula 21 as follows : q ( t )=[ q 1 ( t ), . . . , q m ( t )] ε f 2 m ( 21 ) where x ( t ) εf 2 , and y ( t ) εf 2 are an input and output at the moment t = 0 , 1 , . . . . choosing an initial state q ( 0 ) of the encoder per formula 22 as follows : q ( 0 ) =[ q 1 ( 0 ) , . . . , q m ( 0 ) ] εf 2 m ( 22 ) the work of the encoder may be described by formula 23 as follows : a transition function may be described by formula 25 as follows : an output function of finite automaton that corresponds to the encoder may be given by formula 26 as follows : referring to fig1 , a diagram of a transition graph 200 for a radix - 4 convolutional encoder is shown . the transition graph 200 generally illustrates possible transitions from a state q ( t ) to a state q ( t + 2 ). returning to formula 23 , if bm = 1 , the automata may be seen as a permutation automata . in a permutation automata , each input xεf 2 may permute the set of states f 2 . if a 0 = 1 , the formula 27 as follows : y ( t )= a 0 x ( t )+ a 1 g 1 ( t )+ . . . + a m g m ( t ) ( 27 ) generally shows that if q ( t ) is fixed then y ( t ) is either x ( t ) or x ( t ). in such a case , the input / output function of the automaton may be a bijection . in a bijection , for any two different input words and fixed initial state the corresponding outputs may be different . from the above , an encoder generally satisfies the following condition : for any two different input words of length no more than m , the different input words may map an initial state into different states . notice that all of the turbo encoders from the wimax , lte and wcdma communications standards may satisfy the following two conditions ( bm = 1 and a 0 = 1 ). convolutional encoders generally do not meet the bm = 1 condition . consider a set of four states as illustrated in formula 28 as follows : q 1 . . . q m − 2 ** :={ q 1 . . . q m − 2 00 , q 1 . . . q m − 2 01 , q 1 . . . q m − 2 10 , q 1 . . . q m − 2 11 } ( 28 ) by applying a set of input words { 00 , 01 , 10 , 11 }, a set described by formula 29 may be obtained as follows : ** q 1 . . . q m − 2 :={ 00 q 1 . . . q m − 2 , 01 q 1 . . . q m − 2 , 10 q 1 . . . q m − 2 , 11 q 1 . . . q m − 2 } ( 29 ) moreover , the corresponding transition graph 200 may be a full bipartite graph k 4 , 4 . referring to fig1 , a block diagram of an apparatus 220 is shown . the apparatus ( or device or circuit ) 220 may implement an add - compare - select ( acs ) circuit for state metrics calculations . the circuit 220 generally comprises multiple adders ( or modules ) 222 a to 222 d and a circuit ( or module ) 224 . the circuits 222 a to 224 may represent one or more modules and / or blocks that may be implemented as hardware , firmware , software , a combination of hardware , firmware and / or software , or other implementations . a signal ( e . g ., sm 0 ) and a signal ( e . g ., bm 0 ) may be received by the circuit 222 a . the circuit 222 b may receive a signal ( e . g ., sm 1 ) and a signal ( e . g ., bm 1 ). a signal ( e . g ., sm 2 ) and a signal ( e . g ., bm 2 ) may be received by the circuit 222 c . the circuit 222 d may receive a signal ( e . g ., sm 3 ) and a signal ( e . g ., bm 3 ). the circuit 224 may receive the sums from the circuits 222 a to 222 d . a signal ( e . g ., ind ) may be generated by the circuit 224 . the circuit 224 may also generate a signal ( e . g ., sm ). as may be seen from the formulae for the state metrics ( α and β ) computations in the max - log - map decoding and the viterbi decoding , a common operation used is a maximum of a number of sums . in the case of a radix - 4 trellis , the maximum number may be 4 . in hardware , the computations may be performed in an add - compare - select circuit ( e . g ., circuit 220 ). the circuits 222 a to 222 d may implement adder circuits . each circuit 222 a to 222 d may be operational to add a branch metric value and a respective state metric value . the sums may be the “ add ” portion of the add - compare - select operations . the circuit 224 may implement a compare and select circuit . the circuit 224 is generally operational to compare the sum values calculated by the circuits 222 a to 222 d . the circuit 224 may also be operational to select a maximum sum value from among the sum values . the selected maximum sum value may be presented in the signal sm as a new state metric value . the new state metric value may be computed per formula 30 as follows : an index value iε { 0 , . . . , 3 } of the selected maximum sum value may be presented in the signal ind . referring to fig1 , a diagram of a universal dependence graph 230 for state metrics calculation is shown . the graph 230 generally comprises a number ( e . g ., 8 ) of states ( e . g ., 000 , 001 , 010 , 011 , 100 , 101 , 110 and 111 ). each state may have two transitions leaving to other states . each state may have either ( i ) 4 transitions entering from other states or ( ii ) 3 transitions entering from other states and a single transition remaining within the state . consider a convolutional code with 256 states . a transition graph ( e . g ., transition graph 200 ) generally has 64 k 4 , 4 components and each component may be processed in parallel in the viterbi decoding . in the case of turbo codes , subgraphs generally cannot be process in parallel because the state metrics are calculated in each clock cycle . therefore , the universal dependence graph 230 may be implemented according to the encoder state transition graph ( e . g ., transition graph 200 ). by way of example , the graph 230 generally illustrates transitions to the state 110 ( e . g ., having a zero last bit ) from the states 000 , 001 , 010 , 011 ( e . g ., each having a zero initial bit ). to construct a state metrics calculation circuit , each vertex of the dependent graph 230 may be associated with the circuit 220 . the circuits 220 may be inter - connected according to the transitions of the dependent graph 230 to obtain a state metric calculator ( smc ) for radix - 4 trellis decoding . each vertex of the dependent graph 230 generally has incoming transitions of degree 4 . consider a high - speed turbo decoder that calculates state metrics for vertexes in a level v t of the trellis in parallel in single clock cycle . the state metrics obtained for the level v t may be used on the next clock cycle for computations of state metrics in next level v t + 1 . therefore , the smc generally cannot be pipelined . for encoders used in different communications standards , different trellises may be used and so multiplexers may be implemented at the input ports of the acs circuits in some designs . however , the dependence graphs for several communications standards , such as w - cdma , lte , cdma2000 and wimax , may be isomorphic to the dependence graph 230 shown in fig1 . therefore , instead of using multiplexers at the input ports of the acs circuit , some embodiments of the present invention may implement a configurable branch metrics calculator . the configurable bmc generally calculates branch metrics (©) and permutes the branch metrics according to the communications standard . referring to fig1 , a block diagram of an apparatus 240 is shown in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the apparatus ( or device or circuit ) 240 may implement a universal ( configurable ) branch metrics calculator circuit . the circuit 240 generally comprises multiple circuits ( or modules ) 242 a to 242 b , multiple circuits ( or modules ) 244 a to 244 b , multiple circuits ( or modules ) 246 a to 246 h and multiple circuits ( or modules ) 248 a to 248 h . the circuits 242 a to 248 h may represent modules and / or blocks that may be implemented as hardware , firmware , software , a combination of hardware , firmware and / or software , or other implementations . the circuit 242 a may receive a signal ( e . g ., x 1 ) and a signal ( e . g ., a 1 ). the circuit 242 b may receive a signal ( e . g ., x 2 ) and a signal ( e . g ., a 2 ). a signal ( e . g ., z 1 ) may be received by the circuit 244 b . a signal ( e . g ., z 2 ) may also be received by the circuit 244 b . a sum of the signals x 1 and a 1 may be presented from the circuit 242 a to the circuit 244 a . a sum of the signals x 2 and a 2 may be presented from the circuit 242 b to the circuit 244 a . the circuit 244 a may generate a sum value that is presented to the circuits 246 a to 246 d . the circuit 244 b may generate a sum value that is presented to the circuits 246 e to 246 h . a signal ( e . g ., conf ) may be received by each circuit 246 a to 246 h . each circuit 248 a to 248 h may receive a permuted value from different pairs of the circuits 246 a to 246 h . a signal ( e . g ., bm ) may be created by a combination of the sum values generated by the circuits 248 a to 248 h . the signals x 1 , x 2 may convey soft llr values for the information bits x 1 , x 2 . the signals a 1 , a 2 may carry a priori soft llr values for the information bits x 1 , x 2 . the signals z 1 , z 2 may carry soft llr values for the parity bits z 1 , z 2 . by way of example , each soft value may have a bit - width of w . the signal conf may carry configuration information that identifies a particular communications standard from among several communications standards that the circuit 240 may process . each circuit 242 a to 242 b may implement an adder circuit . the circuits 242 a to 242 b may be operational to add the soft llr values received in the respective signals x 1 , a 1 and x 2 , a 2 to calculate a sum value . each circuit 244 a to 244 b may implement a universal sum circuit . the circuits 244 a to 244 b are generally operational to calculate several ( e . g ., 4 ) output values ( e . g ., y 00 , y 01 , y 10 , y 11 ) from multiple ( e . g ., 2 ) input values ( e . g ., r 0 , r 1 ). the output values may be calculated according to formula 31 as follows : each circuit 246 a to 246 h may implement a universal switch ( usw ) circuit . the circuits 246 a to 246 h may by operational to permute the output values received from the circuits 244 a to 244 b to generate the permuted values presented to the circuits 248 a to 248 h . control of the permutations may be provided through the signal conf . the signal conf generally comprises multiple control bits ( e . g ., a different set of bits σ , σ 0 , σ 1 for each circuit 246 a to 246 h ). each permutation generally corresponds to the permutation that performs on set { 00 , 01 , 10 , 11 } finite state automaton . referring to fig1 , a diagram of a state transition diagram 260 is shown . the finite state automation may be performed in accordance with the state transition diagram 260 . for each communications standard , a set of permutations ( σ , σ 0 , σ 1 ) may be defined ( e . g ., a respective permutation for each of the circuits 246 a to 246 h ). for eight circuits 246 a to 246 h , a width of the signal conf may be 3 × 8 = 24 bits . returning to fig1 , the permutations of the circuits 246 a to 246 h may generate xswij ( the j - th output of i - th circuit 246 a to 246 h connected to the circuit 244 a ) and zswij ( the j - th output of i - th circuit 246 a to 246 h connected to the circuit 244 b ), for i = 0 , . . . , 7 and j = 0 , . . . , 3 . each circuit 248 a to 248 h may implement an adder circuit . the circuits 248 a to 248 h are generally operational to add the permuted values received from the circuits 246 a to 246 h to generate the branch metrics values . the branch metrics value may be calculated according to formula 32 as follows : bm ij = xsw ij + zsw ij , i = 0 , . . . , 7 ; j = 0 , . . . , 3 ( 32 ) in which bm ij may be a branch metric that corresponds to the j - th clockwise edge from i - th state ( in binary representation a 2 a 1 a 0 ) on the dependence graph 230 a combination of the individual branch metrics values may be presented in the signal bm . the circuit 240 may be pipelined . for example , an initial pipeline stage may be created with the circuits 242 a , 242 b , 244 a and 244 b . a next pipeline stage may be formed with the circuits 246 a to 246 h and 248 a to 248 h . other pipeline arrangements may be implemented to meet the criteria of a particular application . therefore , the circuit 240 generally does not restrict a performance of the decoder . referring to fig1 , a block diagram of an example implementation of the circuit 246 a is shown . the implementation may also be applicable to the other circuits 246 b to 246 h . the circuit 246 generally comprises a circuit ( or module ) 282 , a circuit ( or module ) 284 and a circuit ( or module ) 286 . the circuit 246 a may implement a universal permutations 4 × 4 - network . the circuits 282 to 286 may represent modules and / or blocks that may be implemented as hardware , firmware , software , a combination of hardware , firmware and / or software , or other implementations . the circuit 282 may receive the values y 00 and y 01 from the circuit 244 a and the value σ 0 from the signal conf . the values y 10 and y 11 may be received by the circuit 284 from the circuit 244 a and the value σ 1 from the signal conf . the circuit 286 may receive the permuted values from the circuits 282 and 284 . the circuit 286 may also receive the value σ from the signal conf . permuted signals ( e . g ., y ′ 00 , y ′ 01 , y ′ 10 and y ′ 11 ) may be generated by the circuit 286 and presented to the circuits 248 a to 248 h . each circuit 282 , 284 and 286 may implement a multiplexer circuit . the circuit 282 may be operational to permute the values y 00 and y 01 in response to the value σ 0 . while the value σ 0 is a logical 1 , the values y 00 and y 01 may be passed straight through . while the value σ 0 is a logical 0 , the values y 00 and y 01 may be exchanged . the circuit 284 may be operational to permute the values y 10 and y 11 in response to the value σ 1 . while the value of is a logical 1 , the values y 10 and y 11 may be passed straight through . while the value σ 1 is a logical 0 , the values y 10 and y 11 may be exchanged . the circuit 286 may be operational to permute the values received from the circuits 282 and 284 in response to the value σ . while the value σ is a logical 1 , ( i ) the values received from the circuit 282 may be passed straight through as the values y ′ 00 and y ′ 01 and ( ii ) the values received from the circuit 284 may be passed straight through as the values y ′ 10 and y ′ 11 . while the value σ is a logical 0 , the two values received from the circuit 282 may be exchanged with the two values received from the circuit 284 . the resulting permutation for each value y 00 , y 01 , y 10 and y 11 is generally illustrated by the state transition diagram 260 . some embodiments of the present invention may implement a configurable bmc circuit instead of implementing multiplexers at the input ports of the acs circuit . the configurable bmc circuit generally supports multiple communications standards . an ordinary way to support multiple standards in single decoder is to implement multiplexers in a smc circuit along a main path through the decoder . by using the configurable bmc circuit , the main path through the smc circuit may be free from the multiplexers . furthermore , the universal switch circuits used in the bmc circuit generally occupy a low silicon area , but at the same time may support any permutations of branch metrics arising in various wired and / or wireless communications standards . the functions performed by the diagrams of fig1 - 15 may be implemented using one or more of a conventional general purpose processor , digital computer , microprocessor , microcontroller , risc ( reduced instruction set computer ) processor , cisc ( complex instruction set computer ) processor , simd ( single instruction multiple data ) processor , signal processor , central processing unit ( cpu ), arithmetic logic unit ( alu ), video digital signal processor ( vdsp ) and / or similar computational machines , programmed according to the teachings of the present specification , as will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art ( s ). appropriate software , firmware , coding , routines , instructions , opcodes , microcode , and / or program modules may readily be prepared by skilled programmers based on the teachings of the present disclosure , as will also be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art ( s ). the software is generally executed from a medium or several media by one or more of the processors of the machine implementation . the present invention may also be implemented by the preparation of asics ( application specific integrated circuits ), platform asics , fpgas ( field programmable gate arrays ), plds ( programmable logic devices ), cplds ( complex programmable logic device ), sea - of - gates , rfics ( radio frequency integrated circuits ), assps ( application specific standard products ), one or more monolithic integrated circuits , one or more chips or die arranged as flip - chip modules and / or multi - chip modules or by interconnecting an appropriate network of conventional component circuits , as is described herein , modifications of which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art ( s ). the elements of the invention may form part or all of one or more devices , units , components , systems , machines and / or apparatuses . the devices may include , but are not limited to , servers , workstations , storage array controllers , storage systems , personal computers , laptop computers , notebook computers , palm computers , personal digital assistants , portable electronic devices , battery powered devices , set - top boxes , encoders , decoders , transcoders , compressors , decompressors , pre - processors , post - processors , transmitters , receivers , transceivers , cipher circuits , cellular telephones , digital cameras , positioning and / or navigation systems , medical equipment , heads - up displays , wireless devices , audio recording , storage and / or playback devices , video recording , storage and / or playback devices , game platforms , peripherals and / or multi - chip modules . those skilled in the relevant art ( s ) would understand that the elements of the invention may be implemented in other types of devices to meet the criteria of a particular application . as would be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art ( s ), the signals illustrated in fig1 , 12 and 15 represent logical data flows . the logical data flows are generally representative of physical data transferred between the respective blocks by , for example , address , data , and control signals and / or busses . the system represented by the apparatuses 220 , 240 and 246 a may be implemented in hardware , software or a combination of hardware and software according to the teachings of the present disclosure , as would be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art ( s ). while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the scope of the invention . | 7 |
as shown in fig1 a , a light - emitting device includes a base 11 , a first reflecting layer 12 , a first insulating layer 13 , a conducting layer 14 , a light - emitting unit 16 , a filling material 17 , a wavelength converting material 17 a , a second insulating layer 18 , and a second reflecting layer 19 . in one embodiment , the base 11 is made of silicon , and has an upper terrace 111 , an incline 112 , and a lower terrace 113 . the first reflecting layer 12 , the first insulating layer 13 , and the conducting layer 14 are sequentially formed on the incline 112 , wherein the first reflecting layer 12 and the first insulating layer 13 overlay the upper terrace 111 , incline 112 , and the lower terrace 113 . the conducting layer 14 overlays the upper terrace 111 and the incline 112 . the light - emitting unit 16 , such as a light - emitting diode chip , is mounted on the conducting layer 14 . the second insulating layer 18 and the second reflecting layer 19 are formed on a side of the light channel opposite to the lower terrace 113 . the filling material 17 is formed between the first insulating layer 13 and the second insulating layer 18 . the first reflecting layer 12 and the second reflecting layer 19 are capable of reflecting or / and scattering light , and the material thereof includes but not limited to au , ag , cu , ti , an alloy of aforementioned materials , a stacking layer of aforementioned materials , and a distributed bragg reflector ( dbr ). the material of the first insulating layer 13 and the second insulating layer 18 includes but not limited to sio 2 , epoxy , benzocyclobutene ( bcb ), and si x n y . the insulating layer preferably has a thickness that the light can pass through and reach the reflecting layer . the material of the conducting layer 14 includes but not limited to au , ag , al , cu , w , sn , and ni . the filling material 17 includes but not limited to epoxy , acrylic resin , coc , pmma , pc , polyetherimide , fluorocarbon polymer , and silicone . the filling material 17 may also includes the wavelength converting material 17 a , such as phosphor , which can be excited by the light from the light - emitting unit 16 and generates light with a different wavelength . as shown in fig1 b , the phosphor layer can overlay directly on any light output surface of the light - emitting unit 16 . the phosphor layer thickness may be identical or varied on each of the light output surfaces according to the required light field or color . applicant &# 39 ; s taiwan patent application , sn . 093126439 , which discloses related technology , is incorporated herein by reference . the light - emitting unit 16 can be a horizontal or vertical type light - emitting diode or chip . a horizontal type light - emitting diode has a p - electrode and an n - electrode formed on the same side of a substrate or a carrying layer for carrying the p - and n - electrodes . a vertical type light - emitting diode has a p - electrode and an n - electrode formed on the opposite sides of a substrate or a carrying layer . the details of the conducting layers of the present invention are shown in fig2 a . the conducting layers 14 a and 14 b are formed on the insulating layer 13 , and electrically connected to the p - and n - electrodes respectively . in detail , one of the p - and n - electrodes of the vertical type light - emitting diode is coupled to the conducting layer 14 a , and the other is electrically connected to the conducting layer 14 b via a wire or other connecting means . the p - and n - electrodes of the horizontal type light - emitting diode are respectively coupled to the conducting layers 14 a and 14 b , i . e . mounted to the conducting layer in a flip - chip fashion . when the horizontal type light - emitting diode is carried by an insulating substrate , the insulating substrate can be directly put on one of the conducting layer 14 a and 14 b , or span the two conducting layers , and the p - and n - electrodes are electrically connected to the conducting layer 14 a and 14 b by wiring or other connecting means respectively . the light - emitting diode or chip having an insulating substrate can also be disposed directly on the incline 112 , the first reflecting layer 12 , or the insulating layer 13 . as shown in fig2 b , the reflecting layer 12 is made of conducting material ( s ) and connected to a wiring 16 a , i . e . the light - emitting unit 16 is electrically connected to an outer circuit through the reflecting layer 12 . the covering area of the first reflecting layer 12 and / or the insulating layer 13 can be adjusted in view of the requirement . as shown in fig3 a , according to an embodiment of the present invention , parts of the light from the lateral side of the light - emitting unit 16 strike the first reflecting layer 12 and the second reflecting layer 19 respectively . because the conducting layer 14 on the incline 112 intersects with the first conducting layer 12 and the second reflecting layer 19 at different intersecting angles , the light is reflected to different directions . in one embodiment , the intersecting angle d 1 between the inclines 112 and the lower terrace 113 is 120 degree , and the intersecting angle between the inclined portion of the conducting layer 14 and the first reflecting layer 12 is d 1 . the light r 1 shooting to the second reflecting layer 19 leaves the light - emitting device 10 after two reflections . the light r 2 shooting to the first reflecting layer 12 leaves the light - emitting device 10 after one time reflection or reflection ( s ) between the first reflecting layer 12 and the second reflecting layer 19 . as shown in fig3 b , the portion between incline 112 and the lower terrace 113 is such as a curved surface , which has an intersecting angle d 1 . the curved surface has a constant curvature , or a varying curvature , which is a space function of two or three dimensions . according to the design of the present invention , the light confined in the package structure is released , and the light extraction efficiency is hence improved . as shown in fig4 a , the light output surface 20 of the light emitting device 10 is parallel to the incline 112 , or inclines relative to the lower terrace 113 by d2 degree . the light is refracted after passing through the inclined light output surface 20 , and changes the direction ; therefore , the light can be directed to a predetermined direction under a properly set degree . in another embodiment , assuming degree d 2 = 60 °, the light field or the light r 3 moves downward . as shown in fig4 b and 4c , the light output surface 20 of the light - emitting device 10 is a curved surface ; the curved surface has a constant curvature , or a varying curvature , which is a 2d or 3d space function . the curved surface may result in various light fields . under a properly designed curved surface , even without the second insulating layer 18 and the second reflecting layer 19 , the light also leaves out the light output surface 20 after one or many times of total reflections on the boundary between the curved surface and the environmental medium . as shown in fig4 d , in another embodiment of the present invention , the light - emitting device 10 has several light output surfaces 20 . the neighboring surfaces intersect respectively with a reference plane , such as the lower terrace 113 , at different angles ; therefore , the light incident at the same angle is refracted out of the several light output surfaces at different angles . moreover , when the angle between the light output surface 20 and the lower terrace 113 becomes smaller , the light field tends to move downward , and on the contrary , the light field tends to move upward . the contour of the light output surfaces may be a part of a polyhedron . in other embodiments , at least part of the light output surface 20 , or several light output surfaces 20 is / are constructed in a formation including a curved surface , a rough surface , and a lens , as shown in fig4 e ˜ 4g . the overall light field of the light - emitting device 10 can be controlled by combining different angles and types of light output surfaces . the light output surface 20 of aforementioned embodiments further include two or more micro lenses 201 . as shown in fig5 a , lenses 201 are laterally arranged on the light output surface 20 . the light leaves the light output surface 20 of the light - emitting device via the guidance of the lenses 201 . by using the lenses 201 , the light - emitting device 10 can display a light field with a larger angle or well - mixed colors of lights . provided two or more colors of lights are emitted by the light - emitting unit 16 of the light - emitting device 10 , the color lights can be well mixed by the lenses 201 . in addition , the lenses 201 also facilitate the mixture of a plurality of light rays . however , the lenses may be vertically arranged according to the requirement . the lens 201 can be a convex or a concave . the radius of the lens 201 is between 50 μm ˜ 60 μm . furthermore , fig5 b illustrates a top view of a light - emitting device 10 , as shown in fig4 c , having lenses 201 . the radius of the lens 201 changes along an extending path . in the present case , the radius of the lens 201 increases from top to down . in addition , as shown in fig5 c , in the light - emitting device 10 having an array of lens 201 , the inner surface 117 of the light channel may be a vertical surface and is not limited to an incline . in the present invention , the light - emitting unit 16 of the light - emitting device 10 is not limited to be disposed on a single side of the light channel , but on any side of the light channel . as shown in fig6 , the light channel includes two or more inclines 112 on different sides thereof . arbitrary quantity of the light - emitting unit 16 can be disposed on the incline 112 . provided two inclines 112 is disposed opposite to each other , the reflecting layer formed on the incline 112 can reflect the light from the opposite side upward . provided each side of the light channel includes an incline 112 , and the reflecting layer is formed on the incline 112 and the lower terrace 113 , the light from the light - emitting unit 16 on each of the incline 112 is reflected upward by the reflecting layer on the incline 112 . according to another embodiment of the present invention , the light - emitting device 10 includes two or more light - emitting units 16 which can emit colorful light having a single color , multi - colors , non - visible wavelength , or a combination of the aforementioned lights . the arrangement of the light - emitting unit 16 is determined by the electrode design of an individual light - emitting unit 16 , which is described in detail in the description of fig2 b . white light can be mixed up by using red , blue , and green light - emitting units 16 , or two light - emitting units 16 having complementary colors . the aforementioned design is beneficial to apply the light - emitting unit to a product requiring a particular light field , such as a backlight module of a liquid crystal display . as shown in fig7 a , an edge type liquid crystal display essentially includes a light guide plate 30 , a reflecting film 31 , an optical film 32 , and a liquid crystal layer 33 . the light input surface of the light guide plate 30 has a geometry changing with the light output surface 20 of the light - emitting device 10 , in present case , the contours of the light input surface and the light output surface are identical , but the present invention is not limited to such implementation , other disposition well adapted to the light - emitting device is acceptable . the light from light - emitting unit 16 , which is refracted at the light input surface and then moves to the bottom of light guide plate , is reflected to the optical film 32 and liquid crystal layer 33 by the reflecting film 31 . in the present embodiment , the angle of the light output surface 20 is different from that disclosed in above embodiments in order to fit the design of the display . the light output angle of the light - emitting device 10 can be adjusted by tuning the inclined angle of the light output angle relative to a reference plane . the horizontal incident light can reach a farther position through a light output surface having a larger inclined angle ; on the contrary , the light through the light output surface having a smaller inclined angle can only reach a closer position . as shown in fig7 b , two light output surfaces 20 a and 20 b having different angles are arranged on the same side of the reflector 34 , wherein , the two light output surfaces 20 a and 20 b can be formed on a single or separate light - emitting device 10 . the light ( light field ) r 5 through a larger angle light output surface 20 a is refracted to a position distant from the light output surface ; while the light ( light field ) r 6 through a smaller angle light output surface 20 b is refracted to a position near the light output surface . the light is reflected by the reflector 34 to a direction leaving away the reflector . by the design , a uniform light distribution can be realized on a predetermined region , even without using the light guide plate of fig7 a . the light output surfaces having different light output angles can be designed into several or individual light - emitting device ( s ). moreover , the light - emitting device can be disposed on one or two or more edges of the reflector . in addition , the surface of the reflector 34 can be a rough surface , which has protrusions and depressions . the light striking the roughing surface is scattered in an arbitrary direction . in one embodiment , the distribution density of the protrusions and depressions is higher in the position leaving away the light output surface . however , the protrusions and depressions can also distribute uniformly or randomly on the surface 35 . the protrusion and depression can be formed in a formation including dot , stripe , hole , or the combination thereof . firstly , as shown in fig8 a , a silicon substrate 11 is prepared . as shown in fig8 b ˜ 8e , a trench 114 having an upper terrace 111 , an incline 112 , and lower terrace 113 , is then formed by performing an anisotropic - etching on the silicon substrate 11 assisted by an oxide mask ( not shown ) and koh etchant . a first reflecting layer 12 and a first insulating layer 13 are sequentially overlaid on the upper terrace 111 , the incline 112 , and the lower terrace 113 . conducting layers 14 and 15 are then overlaid on the area of the first insulating layer above the upper terrace 111 and the incline 112 . the light - emitting unit 16 is mounted on the conducting layer 14 and / or 15 , and a wire is bonded thereto according to the requirement . a filling material 17 is filled into the trench 114 , and a second insulating layer 18 and a second reflecting layer 19 are sequentially overlaid thereon , as shown in fig8 f and 8g . finally , after cutting the silicon substrate 11 , a separate light - emitting device 10 is obtained . in addition , a cut 115 ( the adjacent light - emitting device is shown in dotted lines ) is formed before cutting in order to avoid short circuit caused by metallic residuals or the sidewall of the light - emitting unit 16 being polluted by the solder , as shown in fig8 h and 8i . the cut 115 can be also formed before overlaying the first insulating layer 13 , i . e . the first insulating layer 13 is covered on the cut 115 . in the above description , the thickness of each layer can be identical or varying in view of the manufacture conditions of design requirements . an alternative manufacture process can be used in present invention . as shown in fig9 a and 9b , for example , a si 3 n 4 film 116 is firstly formed on a surface of the silicon substrate 11 , and then etched to form a pattern . in the case , to provide an easy manufacture process , the si 3 n 4 film 116 can be formed simultaneously on the other surfaces of the substrate 11 . by adapting the pattern as a mask , the koh solution is used to etch the substrate 11 to form the trench 114 and the cut 115 . the si 3 n 4 film 116 is then removed by dry etching . a reaction gas , such as oxygen , is introduced to cause the surface of the silicon substrate 11 to become a silica layer 13 . the steps after fig8 d are repeated to complete the light - emitting device 10 . the foregoing description has been directed to the specific embodiments of this invention . it will be apparent ; however , that other variations and modifications may be made to the embodiments without escaping the spirit and scope of the invention . | 8 |
an important element of the axial piston pump construction shown in fig1 is a cylinder block or drum 10 which will be readily understood to be rotatable by a drive ( not shown ) coupled to the drum via a shaft 9 . cylinder bores 11 are spaced - apart radially in the outer area of the cylinder block , with a piston 12 being received with each of the bores 11 to be reciprocatingly movable in a linear , axial direction . a ball , 13 , of each of the pistons 12 is supported on one face of cylinder block 10 within the socket 14 of a guide shoe 15 disposed outside of cylinder block 10 . guide shoe 15 bears upon a rotationally stationary swash plate 16 such that the rotation of cylinder block 10 in relation to the swash plate 16 can be converted into a linear motion of the pistons 12 in cylinder bores 11 , which motion is directed axially relative to the axis of rotation of block 10 . a valve plate 20 is arranged fixedly on the face of cylinder block 10 opposite swash plate 16 . high pressure connection ports , commonly referenced at 18 , are formed to extend along an arc over a portion of the circumference of the valve plate 20 , with corresponding low pressure connection ports , referenced at 19 in the views of fig2 - 5 , also being formed in the control plate for the low - pressure range . as may be seen with additional reference to fig2 - 5 , connection ports 18 and 19 are separated a web 26 , of material in valve plate 20 ( fig2 ). a transition of the connection of cylinder bore 11 with low - pressure connection port 19 and high pressure connection port 18 is shown schematically in fig2 such reversal being effected by means of a reversing capacitance . for this purpose , a reversing capacitance 23 is formed in connection plate 17 from which the two channels commonly referenced at 24 extend to the face of cylinder block 11 and empty into a corresponding discharge opening , commonly referenced at 27 in each of the views of fig3 - 5 . a resistance , 25 , each is provided in each of the channels 24 . looking next to fig2 the control sequence of the pump of fig1 is illustrated with reference to three cylinder bores 11 and their associated pistons 12 which are adjacently - arranged in cylinder block 10 . each of the cylinder bores 11 is separated from an adjacent bore by a web , commonly referenced at 21 , of the cylinder block material . in the left - most illustration , the cylinder bore 11 communicates with low - pressure connection port 19 , with piston 12 still moving in the direction of its bottom dead center position such that oil is suctioned from the low - pressure connection port 19 . continuing with the center illustration of fig2 piston 12 is now moved to its bottom dead center position 22 wherein the discharge opening 27 of channel 24 is occluded by web 21 . as the rotation of cylinder block 10 continues , the discharge opening 27 of channels 24 is unblocked , and the pressure in the cylinder bore 11 is increased with the incipient piston stroke via the supply of compression oil from reversing capacitance 23 . concluding with the right - most , the cylinder bore 11 is now in communication with the high - pressure connection port 18 as the compression stroke of piston 12 proceeds in the direction of its top dead center position . however , the pressure in bore 11 previously has been increased to such an extent that during the connection of the bore 11 to the high - pressure connection port 18 , the pressure surge and consequently the pulsation in rotating cylinder block 10 is correspondingly reduced . an arrangement according to the present invention of two or more channels 24 is next revealed in the several views of fig3 - 5 . as may be seen in fig3 two discharge openings 27 of two corresponding channels 24 ( fig2 ) can be arranged in web 26 of valve plate 20 . web 26 separates low - pressure connection port 19 and high - pressure connection port 18 , with channels 24 being arranged on the partial arc defined by connection ports 18 and 19 . with reference now to fig4 discharge openings 27 may be seen to be provided with correspondingly - arranged guide - in notches 28 and guide - out notches 30 , respectively , the first discharge opening 27 being provided with a guide - in notch 28 having a longer extension and a shorter guide - out notch 30 in the direction of rotation of cylinder block 10 from low - pressure connection port 19 to high - pressure connection port 18 . in turn , the second discharge opening 27 located forwardly in the direction of rotation first has a shorter guide - in notch 28 and a longer guide - out notch 30 directed towards high - pressure connection port 18 . these guide - in and guide - out notches 28 and 30 are each variable in number , shape , position and size and can thus be designed appropriately to optimize the reversing process . another exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown in fig5 wherein the discharge openings 27 of two channels 24 are in communication with each other via a surrounding recess 27 to effect a still further graduation of the activation characteristics . preferably , recess 29 may be designed to be kidney or oblong - shaped and to be arranged on the arc defined by connection ports 18 and 19 . additionally , guide - in and guide - out notches may be provided at the beginning and ending portions of recess 29 . although not shown in greater detail , it will be appreciated that discharge openings 27 and channels 24 may be configured as having the same or different diameters . discharge openings 27 and their adjoining channels 24 also may have variable diameters , and further may be arranged in varied angular positions relative to each other . as it is anticipated that certain changes may be made in the present invention without departing from the precepts herein involved , it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense . all references cited herein are expressly incorporated by reference . | 5 |
phospholipids , including lecithin , have a number of desirable health benefits and are used in cosmetic products for a variety of different uses . phospholipid compounds are high in vitamin e and fatty acids , which are beneficial when placed on the skin . traditionally , phospholipids have been placed in cosmetics and other goods as an emulsifier rather than as an active ingredient . to date , high percentage lecithin cosmetic creams , lotions and lip protection products have not been commercially available . in addition to lecithin phospholipids as active ingredients , oils such as for example , jojoba , emu , almond , macadamia nut , borage , black current , evening primrose , high oleic sunflower , and other vegetable oils result in cosmetics that exhibit excellent emollient characteristics . other dermatological nutrients such as the vitamins tocotrienol , tocopherol , and ascorbic acid , also can be incorporated into the lecithin cosmetic compositions and are useful in repairing damaged skin . the addition of phytochemnicals such as for example , polyphenols , sterols , and stanols , act to maintain the integrity of the skin cell membranes and to stabilize the liposomes formed when the lecithin phospholipids of the composition are hydrated . powdered or granular lecithins are commercially available and come in a variety of grades , including food grade , technical , bleached , unbleached , and enriched . regardless of the type of powdered or granular phospholipids selected , it is preferred for convenience that the lecithin have a phospholipid content of at lea 90 %, but not limited to this amount , and be oil free or de - oiled . specific phospholipid components , which are available for use in the invention , include , for example , phosphatidylcholine , phosphatidylethanolamine , and phosphatidylinositol . in addition , synthetic lecithins , such as yn100 cadberry , a synthetic phosphated diglyceride , and other synthetic phospholipids may be used . the starting lecithins can also be enriched or enhanced lecithins that are well known in the art , such as lecithins enhanced with phosphatidylcholine or phosphatides . in one embodiment the lecithin has an acetone insoluble index equal to or greater than 90 %. in another embodiment , the lecithin comprises a phospholipid having the formula c 8 h 17 o 5 nrr ′, wherein r and r ′ are fatty acids having the formula ch 3 ( ch 2 ) n coo , with n equal to between 4 and 22 . in yet another embodiment , the lecithin comprises a phospholipid having a formula comprising at least one of : wherein r and r ′ are fatty acids having the formula ch 3 ( ch 2 ) n cooh , with n equal to between 4 and 22 . one of skill in the art will appreciate that other fatty acids containing other r groups , including those with a cyclic structure and with or without heteroatoms , may also be used according to the present invention . the starting lecithin can also contain an amount of one or more additives , such as an active agent . the compositions of the invention comprise lecithin as an active ingredient . in one embodiment , the lecithin comprises at least about 10 % by weight of the total weight of the composition . the lecithin can comprise as much as 30 % by weight of the total composition . the compositions of the invention , which comprise lecithin as an active ingredient , are advantageous because they take advantage of the monomolecular film - forming properties of phospholipid and impart numerous health benefits to the skin of the user . not only do phospholipids have health benefits , but they can also serve as a carrier for dermatological preparations desirable for skin health . the lecithin cosmetic may contain substances such as waxes , fatty acids , vitamins , ultraviolet light blockers , germicides , phytochemicals , oils , and additional compounds . thus , the invention relates to lecithin cosmetic compositions that may contain additives for use on human or animal skin . the invention also includes compositions and pharmaceutical compositions that have pro - liposomes . several examples of the proliposome - liposome formation are known ( williams , w . p . et al ., “ the pro - liposome method : a practical approach to the problem of the preparation and utilization of liposomes suitable for topical applications ”, in phospholipids : characterization , metabolism , and novel biological applications , chapter 17 , aocs press ; payne , n . et al ., “ characterization of proliposomes ”, j . of pharmaceutical sciences ( 1986 april ) 75 ( 4 ): 330 - 333 ; deo , m . et al ., “ proliposome based transdermal delivery of levonorgestrel ”, j . of biomatter appl . ( 1997 july ) 12 ( l ): 77 - 78 . in this process , the starting lecithin is mixed with one or more components ( e . g ., other active agents ) in the presence of a small amount of water . when the resulting mixture is combined with additional water , vesicles ( liposomes ) are formed effectively encapsulating the active ingredients into the composition . thus , the invention relates to lecithin cosmetic compositions that may contain other active agents , which cosmetics contain pro - liposomes that are converted to liposomes when they are hydrated . a variety of additives can be mixed with the powdered phospholipid to form liquid - solid lecithin compositions , including fragrances , oils , moisturizers , vitamins , uv blockers , humectants , cleaning agents , colloidal meals , nutritional supplements , chelated minerals , herbal extracts , essential fatty acids , drugs , phytochemicals , amino acids , disintegrants , and combinations thereof . which additives will be added to the lecithin cosmetic composition will depend upon the characteristics desired in the finished product . for example , a lecithin cosmetic composition designed specifically to improve psoriasis may contain tocotrienols , emu , borage , evening primrose , or omega 3 oils in addition to the phospholipids in an amount equal to at least about 20 % by weight of the total lecithin cosmetic composition . a lecithin cosmetic composition designed specifically to reduce the effects of uv exposure to the skin may contain tocopherol , tannic acid , and epigallocatechin isolated from green tea . regardless of the ingredients incorporated into the lecithin cosmetic composition , the formulation is initiated by adding an amount of selected lecithin to the water , water - soluble agents , and polyethylene glycol at a temperature of about 65 - 70 ° c . the lipid soluble ingredients are combined together under constant mixing at between 70 - 80 ° c . the lipid soluble combination is slowly added to the aqueous mixture with constant stirring . bactericides are then added and the material is cooled . the composition thus formed is subjected to reheating to about 70 ° c . at which point fragrance and any additional water is added to correct the consistency . the following are working examples demonstrating the production and use of lecithin cosmetic compositions . it will be appreciated by someone skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the following examples . suppliers of the various ingredients that are cited in the said examples are : ascorbyl palmitate roche vitamins β - carotene roche vitamins borage oil — cotton / soy / palm sterine ac humko emu oil lb processors evening primrose oil — germall plus sutton labs jojoba oil purcell jojoba inc . kokam butter carlisle international lecithin 5750 riceland foods lecithin 6440 central soya lecithin 8100 central soya na ascorbate basf na_palmitate — na stearoyl lactylate ( emplex ) american ingredient co . octyl salicylate rita chemical polyethylene glycol paddock labs sterol esters cognis corp steryl esters cargill tocopherol henkel tocotrienol eastman chemical fifty - three grams of deionized water is heated to 80 ° c . with 0 . 5 gr of polyethylene glycol . fifteen grams of lecithin ( riceland - 5750 ) is slowly added with constant stirring ( phase 1 ). in a separate kettle the following is heated to 80 ° c . : 15 gr of high oleic sunflower oil , 1 . 5 gr each of kokam , emu oil , jojoba oil and emplex . add 0 . 60 gr of tocotrienol . cool slightly and add 0 . 53 gr germall plus ( phase ii ). slowly add the oil phase ii to the water , peg and lecithin phase i , stirring until cool . the resultant product is a thick cream that acts as a barrier to outside agents , and is applicable as a diaper cream or as an occlusive covering . the same procedure was used as in example 1 , except that the final composition is reheated to approximately 70 ° c . and 50 gr of di water is added under constant stirring ( phase iii ). the cosmetic is cooled . the resultant product is a lotion that is readily absorbed and leaves a thin layer of emollients on the skin . the same procedure was used as in example 2 except that 15 grams of central soya 8100 lecithin is substituted for the riceland 5750 . upon examination of the final product , a softer and slightly more spreadable lotion was formed . phase i : di water 51 . 8 % lecithin 8100 10 . 4 peg 0 . 5 phase ii : hi oleic sunflower 20 . 7 cotton / soy sterine 5 . 3 kokam butter 4 . 1 jojoba oil 2 . 1 polysorbate 2 . 1 tocopherol 1 . 0 palm sterine 1 . 2 germall plus 0 . 5 fragrance 0 . 3 this cosmetic was used at night as a repair cream for badly chapped hands and elbows phase i : di water 23 . 3 % lecithin 8100 14 . 2 phase ii : hi oleic sunflower 40 . 1 cotton / soy sterine 12 . 2 kokam butter 8 . 1 jojoba oil 0 . 4 germall plus 0 . 9 fragrance 0 . 8 phase i : di water 42 . 4 % lecithin 5750 11 . 9 peg 0 . 4 phase ii : hi oleic sunflower 11 . 9 cotton / soy sterine 3 . 1 kokam butter 1 . 2 jojoba oil 1 . 2 emu oil 1 . 2 polysorbate 1 . 2 tocotrienol 0 . 6 steryl esters 3 . 7 palm sterine 0 . 7 germall plus 0 . 4 fragrance 0 . 2 phase iii di water 19 . 9 this cosmetic was used as a moisturizing lotion for the body . phase i : di water 51 . 8 % lecithin 8100 10 . 4 peg 0 . 5 phase ii : hi oleic sunflower 20 . 7 cotton / soy sterine 5 . 3 evening primrose oil 6 . 2 polysorbate 2 . 1 tocopherol 1 . 0 palm sterine 1 . 2 germall plus 0 . 5 fragrance 0 . 3 this cosmetic was used at night as a repair cream for the itch associated with poison ivy . phase i : di water 50 . 0 % lecithin 8100 5 . 0 peg 0 . 9 phase ii : hi oleic sunflower 25 . 2 cotton / soy sterine 6 . 3 kokam butter 5 . 0 jojoba esters 1 . 3 tocopherol 0 . 6 palm sterine 1 . 3 octyl salicylate 3 . 9 germall plus 0 . 5 this cosmetic lotion was used to protect the skin from uv radiation . an emollient bar was produced by the procedure used in u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 245 , 289 . it consisted of initially mixing together and subsequently compressing 20 . 6 % by weight of lecithin ( riceland 5750 ) together with 23 . 1 % aloe vera , 7 . 4 % emu oil , 0 . 5 % tocotrienol , and 0 . 5 % ascorbic acid . in this manner , a liquid - solid form of lecithin matrix was produced with all ingredients cosolubilized with the active agent , lecithin . ten grams of this liquid - solid form was cryogenically milled and added slowly to 10 gr of di water at 70 ° c . under constant stirring . the resulting lotion was used as a skin moisturizer and a treatment against acne . a liquid - solid form cosmetic bar composition was made from phospholipid , so that the method of the invention converted the powdered or granular phospholipids into a solid phospholipid bar composition having a specific gravity of 1 . 2 g / ml . the cosmetic bar composition was made by adding 40 grams of powdered lecithin obtained from archer daniels midland co ., having an acetone insoluble index of 98 , to a die mounted on a hydraulic press . the die was purchased from vvr scientific products inc located in dallas , tex . under catalog number 53887 - 003 . the die had an internal diameter of 2 . 25 inches and an outside diameter of 3 . 825 inches . the hydraulic press was model number 2086 , made by carver , inc of dallas tex . after the 40 grams of powdered phospholipid were added to the die , the die was closed so that the powdered phospholipid could not escape the die . once the die was closed , the hydraulic press was activated and 5000 psig was applied to the powdered phospholipid for 5 minutes . the pressure caused the phospholipid to form a translucent liquid - solid form phospholipid bar , similar to a bar of soap , having a specific gravity of 1 . 2 g / ml . the cosmetic bar made of phospholipid was then removed from the die . the bar was intact , had a diameter of 2 . 25 inches and was ⅜ inch tick . the cosmetic bar had non - brittle form . the cosmetic bar made from phospholipid had an amber appearance and was a semi - transparent solid having the consistency of a soap bar . the cosmetic bar from the phospholipid was then tested on a human subject who used the cosmetic bar in the shower after washing , but in the same manner as a bar soap . after applying the cosmetic bar , the subject rinsed and dried with a towel . the subject observed a coat over his entire body surface which made the skin smooth and gave it a soft feel . the subject further observed that the coating was present for eight ( 8 ) hours and up to 12 hours later after application of the cosmetic bar to the skin . the subject further observed that , after use , the cosmetic bar did not readily degrade and that it kept its shape after use in the shower , lasting two weeks . the same procedure was used as in example 10 except that 45 grams of powdered phospholipid , equal to 90 % by weight of the total composition , were added to the die chamber along with 5 grams of white petrolatum , equal to 10 % by weight of the total composition . compression was similar to example 10 . upon examination of the finished product , a translucent , liquid - sold form bar was formed which was usable in the shower similar to hand soap , except it was used after rinsing , and then it too was rinsed off . after use , a thin layer of phospholipid and white petrolatum were formed on the subject &# 39 ; s skin . it was observed that the thin film layer was especially desirable because it persisted for up to eight hours and relieved dry skin and discomfort associated with pruritis . the same procedure was used as in example 10 except 45 grams of powdered phospholipid , equal to 90 % by weight of the total composition , were added to the die chamber along with 5 grams of usp aquaphor , equal to 10 % by weight of the total composition . the phospholipid and aquaphor were mixed in a standard food processor prior to placement in the die chamber . the translucent , liquid - solid form bar similar to the cosmetic bar of example 10 was formed , so that the cosmetic bar containing usp aquaphor had the consistency of a bar soap . again the cosmetic bar of the present example was used in a manner similar to the cosmetic bar disclosed in example 11 . the cosmetic bar of the present example resulted in a uniform film on the skin of the user that resulted in a slight , desirable sheen to the skin surface and which provided a protective layer . the same procedure used in example 10 was followed except 40 grams of powdered phospholipid , equal to 80 % by weight of the total composition , were added to the die chamber along with 10 grams of colloidal oatmeal , equal to 20 % by weight of the composition . the resulting phospholipid and oatmeal cosmetic bar was opaque and had the consistency of a bar of soap . the phospholipid and oatmeal bar was used in a similar way as the cosmetic bar disclosed in example 11 . use of the phospholipid and oatmeal bar resulted in the formation of a thin layer on the skin of the user . the phospholipid and oatmeal bar was particularly useful in relieving the discomfort of pruritis . a cosmetic bar similar to the bar discussed in example 10 was prepared , but in place of a portion of phospholipid , 5 grams of lanolin was mixed with 45 grams of powdered phospholipid in a food processor . the 50 gram mixture was compressed as in example 10 . the phospholipid lanolin bar was easily used in the shower , bath or after hand washing , especially when compared to treatment with a product as unctuous as lanolin . the bars last approximately 14 days . a cosmetic bar similar to the bar discussed in example 10 was prepared but in place of a portion of the phospholipid , 32 grams of borage oil ( bioriginal food and science corp ), 0 . 8 grams of green tea extract ( anhui tongling co ), and 1 . 6 grams of tocotrienol complex ( eastman chemical co ), was mixed with 45 . 6 grams of powdered phospholipid in a food processor . the 80 gram mixture was compressed as in example 10 . the resulting phospholipid bar was easily applied in the shower , bath , and after hand washing . this phospholipid bar and the ingredients contained therein was used as a precautionary agent against exposure to ultraviolet b radiation . the skin was soft and moist after use and the bars lasted approximately 14 days . a cosmetic bar similar to that of example 10 was prepared , but in place of a portion of the phospholipid , 9 . 4 grams of evening primrose oil ( now foods ) and 2 . 6 grams of tocotrienol complex was mixed with 111 grams of powdered phospholipid in a food processor . the 123 gram mixture was compressed as in example 10 . the liquid crystal evening primrose oil ( epo ) bar was readily used in the shower or bath after washing and rinsing . the epo bar was used in the treatment of plaque - type psoriasis and was effective in reducing the itching and scratching associated with that ailment . the bars lasted approximately 12 days . a cosmetic bar similar to the bar discussed in example 10 was prepared but in place of a portion of the phospholipid , 3 . 2 grams of green tea extract ( anui tonglai corp ) and 1 . 6 grams of tocotrienol complex ( eastman chemical co ) were mixed with 35 . 2 grams of powdered phospholipid in a food processor . the 40 gram mixture was compressed as in example 10 . the resulting phospholipid bar was easily applied in the shower , bath , and after hand washing . this phospholipid bar and the ingredients contained therein was used to reduce the itching associated with poison ivy . the skin was soft and moist after use and the bars lasted approximately 14 days . a skin bar was made using the following ingredients : 14 . 2 % sodium ascorbate ( basf ), 82 . 8 % lecithin ( riceland 5730 ) and 3 % water . after mixing and compressing at 3500 psi for 4 minutes , the ingredients were cosolubilized . the bar was used to prevent oxidative damage to the skin . | 0 |
according to fig1 an apparatus for replaying a recording medium 10 comprises replaying means 11 , control means 12 and memory means 13 . further , the apparatus includes preferably input means 14 and output means 15 which provide a user interface for controlling replaying or reproducing operation of the apparatus . the output means 15 may be formed by a separate display . however , as indicated in fig1 the output means 15 of the user interface may be integrated into or form a part of output means 15 used for replaying . the recording medium 10 is illustrated as a disc but can be any usual recording medium that allows arbitrary reading and writing access to the memory regions provided thereon . for example memory cards or multimedia cards as well as rewritable cd or dvd can be used . the replaying means 11 includes reading means 16 for pick - up or reading data from the recording medium and for supplying audio and / or video information to the output means 15 for replaying audio and / or video information , i . e . for reproducing or playing a piece of music or a video clip or video film . in the following , pieces of music , pictures and films stored on the recording medium 10 are also called programs . further , the replaying means includes recording means 17 for recording data onto a recording medium . for controlling the operation of the replay apparatus the control means 12 comprises a controller section 18 that is connected to the input means for receiving control information input by a user . further , the controller section 18 is connected with the replaying means 11 to supply control signals for controlling reading and replaying a program and for receiving information retrieved from the recording medium . to prompt the user for additional information the controller section is further connected with the output means 15 . in addition , the control means 12 comprises generating means 19 for generating recording medium identification data rmid . therefore , the generating means 19 is connected with the controller section to receive the necessary data retrieved from the recording medium 10 and to supply recording medium identification data rmid to the controller section so that these data can be stored together with reading position data rpd in the memory means 13 . the operation of the inventive apparatus for performing the method according to the present invention will be described with reference to fig2 . after a recording medium is inserted or accommodated in a corresponding receiving device ( not shown ) of the replay apparatus and the power is switched on information is read from the inserted recording medium in step s 10 and supplied to the generating means 19 so as to generate recording medium identification data rmid . thereafter stored recording medium identification data rmids is read from the memory in case that any such data are stored therein ( step s 11 ). then , recording medium identification data rmid related with the recording medium inserted into the apparatus is compared with that read from the memory 13 in step s 12 . if it is determined in step 12 that no auto - resume information is stored the memory , i . e . the recording medium identification data rmid of the inserted recording medium 10 does not correspond with any of the stored recording medium identification data rmids , the method proceeds to step s 13 for starting replay in the usual way . however , if it is determined in step s 12 that auto - resume information is stored in the memory 13 the user is preferably prompted in step s 14 for selecting a replay starting mode , i . e . for selecting either the usual replay starting mode or the auto - resume replay starting mode . if the user selects in step s 14 the auto - resume replay starting mode the method proceeds with step 16 , i . e . replay start position are retrieved from the memory 13 and used as reading position data rpd during starting replay . thus , replaying of the recording medium will be started at a position corresponding to the retrieved replay start position data . in case that not only auto - resume data of a single recording medium is stored in memory 13 but a list of a plurality of recording media , all stored recording medium identification data rmids are compared with that generated for the actually inserted recording medium until auto - resume information , i . e . a data set consisting of recording medium information data rm bd and replay start position data rspd which are related to the actually inserted recording medium is found . instead of automatically checking whether there are auto - resume data stored in the memory is also possible to enter the described method only if it is requested by the user by inputting a corresponding auto - resume function signal . when the replaying operation is interrupted for switching off the apparatus or for ejecting the inserted recording medium 10 so that it can be replaced by another recording medium the actual reading position data rpd at the time of stopping the replaying operation is stored either automatically or only upon a user command input , together with the recording medium identification data in the memory 13 . thus , it is possible to start the next period of replaying the program from the recording medium 10 at the same position at which the former period of replaying was terminated . instead of storing the replay start position data in the memory 13 of the replay apparatus it is also possible to record this information on a specific portion of the recording medium itself . in this case it is possible to use the auto - resume replay starting mode in any apparatus that supports the inventive method . in this case upon inserting a recording medium and switching on the power supply of the apparatus it is checked after reading information from the inserted recording medium whether there is a replay start position data stored on the disc i . e . recording medium . in this case the user is prompted for selecting a replay starting mode in case that there is replay start position data stored . otherwise replaying is started as usual without prompting the user . here , it is also possible that the existence or none - existence of replay start position data rspd stored on the recording medium 10 is only checked for performing auto - resume replay starting mode upon user request in - put via input means 14 . for generating recording medium identification data a recording medium identifier will not be used since such an identifier does not ensure that the information stored on the recording medium was not changed after storing auto - resume information . therefore , recording medium identification data are preferably generated from program information recorded on the recording medium 10 . for example , contents identification information can be used . further , the occupied memory space of the recording medium can be determined for generating individual recording medium identification data . another possibility of generating recording medium identification data is to simply count the recorded items and to use the number thereof as identification data . similarly , the total duration of the recorded items can be used as recording medium identification data . furthermore , recording medium identification data can be also calculated from both the number of items and the total or individual duration . further , a checksum can be calculated from the recording information and used as the recording medium identification data . the inventive method can be used with any replaying apparatus the hardware of which supports the different method steps . in particular , it is possible to use the inventive method together with a mobile telephone in case that it is adapted to receive e . g . an mp3 memory card or a multimedia card for downloading mp3 music information from the internet and in case that a replaying apparatus is integrated in the mobile phone . in this case the inventive method can be implemented for example over a speed dial function . in this case a “ store ”- key that might be realized as a soft key may be pressed followed by entering “ 1 ” via the usual key pad to store the current track position , i . e . the actual reading position data . if the recording medium is inserted again after it was replaced by another medium it is possible to commence replaying from the stored position simply by pressing a “ resume ”- key followed by pressing “ 1 ” on the key pad . to avoid erroneous operation of the replay apparatus integrated in a mobile phone the resume function should be only available if the inserted recording medium has be clearly identified as that to which the stored position data relate . | 6 |
detailed illustrative embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein . however , specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are merely representative for purposes of describing exemplary embodiments of the present invention . in the drawings , the thickness of layers and regions are exaggerated for clarity , and the like numerals refer to like elements . fig1 is an exploded perspective view of an image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention , fig2 is a block diagram illustrating a part of the image display device of the present invention , and fig3 is an equivalent circuit diagram of a pixel of the image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig1 , the image display device , such as a liquid crystal display ( lcd ) device , of the present invention includes a display module 350 including a display unit 330 , a backlight unit 340 , a pair of front and rear cases 361 and 362 , a chassis 363 , and a mold frame 364 containing and fixing the display module 350 . the display unit 330 includes a display panel assembly 300 , gate tape carrier packages ( tcps ) or chip - on - film ( cof ) type packages 510 mounting gate driving ics and data tcps 410 attached to the display panel assembly 300 , and a gate printed circuit board ( pcb ) 550 and a data pcb 450 attached to the gate and data tcps 510 and 410 , respectively . the backlight unit 340 includes lamps 341 disposed behind the display panel assembly 300 , a spread plate 342 and optical sheets 343 disposed between the panel assembly 300 and the lamps 341 . the spread plate 342 guides and diffuses light from the lamps 341 to the panel assembly 300 . the backlight unit also includes a reflector 344 disposed under the lamps 341 and reflecting the light from the lamps 341 toward the panel assembly 300 . the lamps 341 are , for example , fluorescent lamps such as ccfl ( cold cathode fluorescent lamp ) and eefl ( external electrode fluorescent lamp ) or led lamps . referring to fig2 , the display device of the present invention also includes a gate driver 400 and a data driver 500 which are connected to the display panel assembly 300 , a gray voltage generator 800 connected to the data driver 500 , a lighting unit 900 for illuminating the panel assembly 300 , and a signal controller 600 controlling the above elements . the display panel assembly 300 includes a lower panel 100 , an upper panel 200 and a liquid crystal ( lc ) layer 3 interposed therebetween ( referring to fig3 ). the display panel assembly 300 includes display signal lines g 1 - g n and d 1 - d m and pixels which are connected to the display signal lines g 1 - g n and d 1 - d m and arranged in a matrix form . the display signal lines g 1 - g n and d 1 - d m are disposed on the lower panel 100 and include gate lines g 1 - g n transmitting gate signals ( called scanning signals ) and data lines d 1 - d m transmitting data signals . the gate lines g 1 - g n are arranged in a row direction and substantially parallel to each other , and the data lines d 1 - d m are arranged in a column direction and substantially parallel to each other . each pixel of the display device includes a switching element q connected to the display signal lines g 1 - g n and d 1 - d m , and capacitors c lc and c st that are connected to the switching element q . capacitor c lc is , for example , a liquid crystal ( lc ) capacitor formed between the lower and upper panels 100 and 200 . the storage capacitor c st may be omitted . the switching element q is implemented with , for example , a thin film transistor and disposed on the lower panel 100 . the switching element q has three terminals : a control terminal connected to one of the gate lines g 1 - g n , an input terminal connected to one of the data lines d 1 - d m , and an output terminal connected to the lc capacitor c lc and the storage capacitor c st . the lc capacitor c lc includes a pixel electrode 190 on the lower panel 100 , a common electrode 270 on the upper panel 200 , and the lc layer 3 as a dielectric between the electrodes 190 and 270 . the pixel electrode 190 is connected to the switching element q , and the common electrode 270 covers the entire surface of the upper panel 100 and is supplied with a common voltage vcom . alternatively , both the pixel electrode 190 and the common electrode 270 , which have shapes of bars or stripes , are disposed on the lower panel 100 . the storage capacitor c st is an auxiliary capacitor for the lc capacitor c lc . the storage capacitor c st includes the pixel electrode 190 and a separate signal line ( not shown ) disposed on the lower panel 100 . an insulator ( not shown ) is disposed between the separate signal line and the pixel electrode 190 , and the separate signal line is supplied with a predetermined voltage such as the common voltage vcom . it is noted that the storage capacitor c st may include in another embodiment the pixel electrode 190 and an adjacent gate line ( or a previous gate line ), in which an insulator is disposed between the adjacent gate line and the pixel electrode 190 . for color display , each pixel uniquely represents one of three primary colors ( i . e ., spatial division ) or each pixel represents three primary colors in turn ( i . e ., time division ) such that spatial or temporal sum of the three primary colors are recognized as a desired color . fig3 shows an example of the spatial division that each pixel is provided with a color filter 230 , one of red , green and blue color filters , in an area of the upper panel 200 facing the pixel electrode 190 . alternatively , the color filter 230 is provided on or under the pixel electrode 190 on the lower panel 100 . referring again to fig2 , the lighting unit 900 includes a lamp unit 910 having the lamps 341 shown in fig1 and an inverter 920 connected to the lamp unit 910 . the inverter 920 turns on and off the lamp unit 910 and controls the timing of on - time and off - time of the lamp unit to adjust luminance of a display screen . the inverter 920 may be mounted on a stand - alone inverter pcb ( not shown ) or mounted on the gate pcb 550 or the data pcb 450 . a detailed configuration of the inverter 920 will be described . a pair of polarizers ( not shown ) polarizing the light from the lamps 341 are attached on the outer surfaces of the panels 100 and 200 of the panel assembly 300 . the gray voltage generator 800 is disposed on the data pcb 450 . the gray voltage generator 800 generates two sets of gray voltages related to the transmittance of the pixels . the gray voltages in one set have a positive polarity with respect to the common voltage vcom , and those in the other set have a negative polarity with respect to the common voltage vcom . the gate driver 400 includes integrated circuit ( ic ) chips mounted on the respective gate tcps 510 . the gate driver 400 is connected to the gate lines g 1 - g n of the panel assembly 300 and synthesizes the gate - on voltage von and the gate - off voltage voff from an external device to generate gate signals for application to the gate lines g 1 - g n . the data driver 500 includes ic chips mounted on the respective data tcps 410 . the data driver 500 is connected to the data lines d 1 - d m of the panel assembly 300 and applies data voltages selected from the gray voltages supplied from the gray voltage generator 800 to the data lines d 1 - d m . for example , in another embodiment the ic chips of the gate driver 400 and / or the data driver 500 are mounted on the lower panel 100 . in further another embodiment , one or both of the drivers 400 and 500 are incorporated along with other elements into the lower panel 100 . the gate pcb 550 and / or the gate tcps 510 may be omitted in such embodiments . the signal controller 600 controlling the drivers 400 and 500 , etc . is disposed on the data pcb 450 or the gate pcb 550 . now , the overall operation of the image display device will be described in detail . referring to fig2 , the signal controller 600 is supplied with rgb image signals r , g and b and input control signals controlling the display thereof such as a vertical synchronization signal vsync , a horizontal synchronization signal hsync , a main clock mclk , and a data enable signal de , from an external graphics controller ( not shown ). after generating gate control signals cont 1 and data control signals cont 2 and processing the image signals r , g and b suitable for the operation of the panel assembly 300 on the basis of the input control signals and the input image signals r , g and b , the signal controller 600 provides the gate control signals cont 1 for the gate driver 400 , and the processed image signals r ′, g ′ and b ′ and the data control signals cont 2 for the data driver 500 . the gate control signals cont 1 include a vertical synchronization start signal stv for informing of start of a frame , a gate clock signal cpv for controlling the output time of the gate - on voltage von , and an output enable signal oe for defining the duration of the gate - on voltage von . the data control signals cont 2 include a horizontal synchronization start signal sth for informing of start of a horizontal period , a load signal load or tp for instructing to apply the appropriate data voltages to the data lines d 1 - d m , an inversion control signal rvs for reversing the polarity of the data voltages ( with respect to the common voltage vcom ), and a data clock signal hclk . the data driver 500 receives a packet of the image data r ′, g ′ and b ′ for a pixel row from the signal controller 600 and converts the image data r ′, g ′ and b ′ into the analog data voltages selected from the gray voltages supplied from the gray voltage generator 800 in response to the data control signals cont 2 from the signal controller 600 . responsive to the gate control signals cont 1 from the signals controller 600 , the gate driver 400 applies the gate - on voltage von to selected one ( s ) of the gate lines g 1 - g n , thereby turning on the switching elements q connected thereto . the data driver 500 applies the data voltages to the corresponding data lines d 1 - d m for an on - time of the switching elements q ( which is called “ one horizontal period ” or “ 1h ” and equals to one period of the horizontal synchronization signal hsync , the data enable signal de , and the gate clock signal cpv ). then , the data voltages in turn are supplied to the corresponding pixels via the turned - on switching elements q . the difference between the data voltage and the common voltage vcom applied to a pixel is expressed as a charged voltage of the lc capacitor c lc , i . e ., a pixel voltage . the liquid crystal molecules have orientations depending on the magnitude of the pixel voltage and the orientations determine the polarization of light passing through the lc capacitor c lc . the polarizers convert the light polarization into the light transmittance . by repeating this procedure , all gate lines g 1 - g n are sequentially supplied with the gate - on voltage von during a frame , thereby applying the data voltages to all pixels . when the next frame starts after finishing one frame , the inversion control signal rvs applied to the data driver 500 is controlled such that the polarity of the data voltages is reversed ( which is called “ frame inversion ”). the inversion control signal rvs may be also controlled such that the polarity of the data voltages flowing in a data line in one frame are reversed ( which is called “ line inversion ”), or the polarity of the data voltages in one packet are reversed ( which is called “ dot inversion ”). the inverter 920 drives the lamp unit 910 based on a luminance control signal vdim , the horizontal synchronization signal hsync , and an instruction signal en for turning on and off the lamp unit 910 . referring to fig4 , the inverter 920 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a transformer ( trans ) 921 , a switch circuit ( sw ) 922 , a controller ( ctn ) 930 , an oscillator ( osc ) 940 , and a phase difference detecting circuit 950 , which are connected in series from the lamp unit 910 . the phase difference detecting circuit 950 includes a phase comparator 951 , a low pass filter ( lpf ) 952 , a proportional integrator 953 , a reset unit 954 , and a frequency divider 955 . the phase comparator 951 receives the horizontal synchronization signal hsync and an output from the frequency divider 955 and outputs logic ‘ 0 ’ when the inputs have different logic values and outputs logic ‘ 1 ’ the inputs have a same logic value . in this embodiment , the phase comparator 951 is implemented with an xnor gate . the xnor gate can be substituted with an xor gate . the low pass filter 952 includes two resistors ri and a capacitor c 1 connected in series between the phase comparator 951 and the ground , and passes low frequency components of an input signal by filtering out high frequency components of the input signal . the proportional integrator 953 includes an operational amplifier op having a negative feedback through an integration capacitor c 2 and a resistor r 5 connected in series and receiving an output of the low pass filter 952 at its inverting terminal (−). the operational amplifier op has a non - inverting terminal (+) connected to a voltage divider including a pair of resistors r 3 and r 4 connected in series between a supply voltage vdda and the ground . the operational amplifier op is biased with the supply voltage vdda and the ground . the proportional integrator 953 outputs a voltage having a magnitude proportional to a temporal integration of the output of the low pass filter 952 . the reset unit 954 includes a switching element q 1 connected with the proportional integrator 953 and a differentiation circuit including a resistor r 6 and a capacitor c 3 connected in series between a control terminal of the switching element q 1 and an input terminal receiving the instruction signal en . the reset unit 954 initiates the proportional integrator 953 by discharging the charges stored in the integration capacitor c 2 . although the switching element q 1 is implemented with an npn bipolar transistor in this embodiment , a pnp bipolar transistor or a mos transistor is also used as the switching element q 1 . it is apparent to those skill in the art that some design modifications such as inversion of the value of the instruction signal en are required when using the pnp transistor or a p - channel mos transistor . the frequency divider 955 divides the frequency of the output signal of the controller 930 and outputs the frequency - divided signal to the phase comparator 951 . for example , the frequency divider 955 employs a t - flipflop that makes the frequency of a signal inputted into a clock terminal become half . the frequency divider may be omitted when the frequency is maintained same . now , the operation of the inverter is described in detail with reference to fig4 and 5 . fig5 shows waveforms of output voltages of the parts in fig4 and a lamp current provided to the lamp unit . when the dimming control signal vdim and the instruction signal en are received , the oscillator 940 generates a reference signal osc having a triangular waveform or a saw - toothed waveform for pulse width modulation ( pwm ). the controller 930 pulse - width - modulates the reference signal osc by using a predetermined reference voltage and supplies a pwm signal to the switch circuit 922 . an exemplary frequency of the reference signal osc is twice the frequency of the horizontal synchronization signal hsync . the switch circuit 922 generates a signal sw having on and off levels by switching the dc supply voltage according to the pwm signal as shown in fig5 . the transformer 921 generates a sinusoidal signal based on the on / off signal sw and transforms the sinusoidal signal to have a high voltage . the sinusoidal signal generated from the transformer 921 is provided to the lamp unit 910 as the lamp current lds which turns on the lamps of the lamp unit 910 . as shown in fig5 , the sinusoidal signal output from the transformer 921 has amplitudes ‘ a ’ and ‘ b ’ in positive and negative polarities , respectively , which have a substantially same value . the differentiator c 3 and r 6 of the reset unit 954 flows a temporary current upon the input of the instruction signal en to turn on the switching element q 1 for a few microseconds . then , the charge stored in the integration capacitor c 2 of the proportional integrator 953 is discharged and the proportional integrator 953 is initiated . the pwm signal of the controller 930 is input to the frequency divider 955 , where the frequency of the pwm signal is divided . the frequency - divided signal is then input to the phase comparator 951 . the phase comparator 951 outputs logic ‘ 1 ’ when the value of the horizontal synchronization signal hsync is equal to the output signal of the frequency divider 955 . the phase comparator 951 also outputs logic ‘ 0 ’ when the input signals have different values . therefore , the output of the phase comparator 951 has a longer duration of logic ‘ 1 ’ as the phases of the two input signals coincide , and , on the contrary , it has a longer duration of logic ‘ 0 ’ as the phases of the two signals are in discord . as a result , the output of the phase comparator 951 indicates the identity and / or the difference between the phases of the two input signals as function of time . the output signal of the phase comparator 951 passes through the low pass filter 952 where the high frequency components of the signal are removed , and is converted into an analog voltage , which is charged into the integration capacitor c 2 of the proportional integrator 953 . since the output voltage of the proportional integrator 953 is proportional to a temporal integration of the output of the phase comparator 951 , it indicates the degree of the phase difference between the two input signals of the phase comparator 951 . since appropriate resistance ratio of the voltage divider r 3 and r 4 enables to integrate the difference from a desired value , the output voltage of the proportional integrator 953 indicates the difference between the phase difference of the two input signals and the desired value . the oscillator 940 changes an oscillating frequency of the reference signal osc based on the output voltage of the proportional integrator 953 . that is , the oscillator 940 increases a low frequency of the reference signal osc , while it reduces a high frequency of the reference signal osc . the controller 930 pulse - width - modulates and outputs the pwm signal having the changed frequency , and the output signal of the controller 930 is double frequency - divided and is returned to the phase comparator 951 . the horizontal synchronization signal hsync and the output signal of the frequency divider 955 becomes synchronized by performing the above operation through the feedback loop . in other words , the phases of the horizontal synchronization signal hsync and the output signal of the frequency divider 955 become coincident . as a result , the frequency of the reference signal osc of the oscillator 940 becomes twice the frequency of the horizontal synchronization signal hsync in case of employing the divider 955 . referring to fig5 , the reference signal osc of the oscillator 940 has a frequency twice that of the horizontal synchronization signal hsync , and thus the lamp current lds to be provided to the lamp unit 910 has a symmetrical waveform . accordingly , the lifetime reduction or unstable ignition of the lamp unit 910 due to asymmetrical current therein can be prevented . meanwhile , the luminance of an lcd screen can be controlled by adjusting the ratio of the on - time and the off - time of the lamp unit 910 based on the dimming control signal vdim , which is inputted from a separate input device adjustable by a user or from the signal controller 600 . the controller 930 turns on or off the lamp unit 910 in response to the instruction signal en . the controller 930 receives a voltage having a magnitude in proportion to the current in the lamp unit 910 and performs feedback control for the lamp unit 910 . according to the present invention , the life time of the lamps is elongated and stable ignition of the lamps is obtained since the positive portions and the negative portions of current waves in the lamps are substantially equal . having described the exemplary embodiments of the image display device according to the present invention , modifications and variations can be readily made by those skilled in the art in light of the above teachings . it is therefore to be understood that , within the scope of the appended claims , the present invention can be practiced in a manner other than as specifically described herein . | 6 |
in accordance with the foregoing summary of the invention , the following presents examples of the preferred embodiment of the present invention . the following examples are formulations were tested on stainless steels , high carbon grades , alloy and other grades . the marking inks were applied to steel at ambient , 500 ° f ., 1000 ° f ., 1500 ° f . and 2350 ° f . ______________________________________bright white ( ambient to 2350 ° f .) with laser marking______________________________________capabilities . titanium dioxide 30 % mono aluminum dioxide 30 % magnesium silicate 2 % water 38 % ______________________________________ ______________________________________bright white ( ambient to 2350 ° f .) with laser marking______________________________________capabilities . titanium dioxide 30 % mono ammonium phosphate 30 % magnesium silicate 2 % water 38 % ______________________________________ ______________________________________bright white ( ambient to 2350 ° f .) with laser marking______________________________________capabilities . titanium dioxide 30 % mono magnesium phosphate 30 % magnesium silicate 2 % water 38 % ______________________________________ ______________________________________bright white ( ambient to 2350 ° f .) with laser marking______________________________________capabilities . titanium dioxide 30 % boron phosphate 30 % magnesium silicate 2 % water 38 % ______________________________________ ______________________________________bright white ( ambient to 2350 ° f .) with laser marking______________________________________capabilities . titanium dioxide 30 % mono aluminum phosphate 30 % sodium pentaborate 5 % magnesium silicate 2 % water 33 % ______________________________________ ______________________________________bright white ( ambient to 2350 ° f .) with laser marking______________________________________capabilities . titanium dioxide 30 % phosphoric acid 10 % magnesium silicate 2 % water 58 % ______________________________________ ______________________________________off - white ( ambient to 2350 ° f .) with laser marking______________________________________capabilities . kaolin 30 % mono ammonium phosphate 30 % magnesium silicate 2 % water 38 % ______________________________________ ______________________________________bright white color ( ambient to 2350 ° f .) withlaser marking capabilities . ______________________________________titanium dioxide 10 % sodium metal phosphate 35 % xanathan gum 2 % water 53 % ______________________________________ ______________________________________off white ( ambient to 2350 ° f .) with laser marking______________________________________capabilities . kaolin 30 % mono ammonium phosphate 30 % yellow pigment 5 % magnesium silicate 1 % water 34 % ______________________________________ the formulations can vary over a wide percentage depending on the specific application . the consistency of the inks will vary from 200 cps to over 200 , 000 cps . the specific gravity can vary from 1 . 10 to 1 . 80 depending on the application . the ph of the marking inks may range from 1 to 12 depending on the type of phosphate selected for the bonding characteristics . ______________________________________materials ranges manufacturers______________________________________titanium dioxide 5 to 80 % kronos , inc . magnesium silicate 0 to 80 % vanderbiltmono aluminum phosphate 10 to 80 % albright & amp ; wilson co . mono ammonium phosphate 10 to 80 % albright & amp ; wilson co . boron phosphate 10 to 80 % cometalssodium polyphosphate 10 to 80 % cometalsalkali phosphate 10 to 80 % cometals______________________________________ the ceramic marking inks of the present invention may be prepared by ball milling the ingredients in a porcelain lined ball mill using high density grinding balls . the coating may be milled to a fineness of 1 % on a 325 mesh screen . marking compositions of the present invention may be made simply by mixing the component compounds in a batch mixer . for instance , where the colorant may be placed in a batch mixer , such as a large drum supplied with a mechanical mixer , and stirred with the requisite amount of water . the resulting liquid is stirred for several minutes until uniform . the suspending agent may also be added at this stage . the phosphate component is then added and stirring is continued to reach a uniform mixture . the mixture preferably is then screened such as with a 150 mesh screen prior to dispensing . the composition may then be adjusted to a viscosity using various known thickeners . in light of the foregoing disclosure , it will be within the ability of one skilled in the chemical arts to make modifications to the present invention , such as through the substitution of equivalent materials , and / or the application of equivalent process steps , without departing from the spirit of the invention . | 2 |
the present invention embodies automated techniques for identifying the associations among disease - medication as well as medication - medication and computing their association strength . fig1 is a schematic view of the process flow of creating a knowledge database for storing medical big data . as shown in fig1 , the process flow of creating the knowledge database includes a data processing step and a database creating step . all disease - medication ( dm ), medication - medication ( mm ) association , and their association strength which are derived from medication big data ( i . e . prescriptions ), are stored in knowledge database . the following example illustrates the knowledge database whose medical big data are borrowed from the taiwan national health insurance research database . the taiwan &# 39 ; s national health insurance ( nhi ) claims data from 2002 with a total of 263 . 6 million prescriptions is collected . all data are about out - patient visits from hospitals and clinics in taiwan . each record — prescription consists of the date of visit , patient &# 39 ; s pseudo - id , age , gender , primary diagnosis and secondary diagnosis in nhi codes . each prescription also includes one to three diagnostic codes and 1 to 15 medication codes . we exclude 160 . 1 million prescriptions due to the following reasons : a ) missing or invalid disease codes or medication codes ; b ) the use of traditional chinese medicine prescriptions . thus , the remaining 103 . 5 million prescriptions with 204 . 5 million diagnosis icd9 - cm ( international classification of disease v . 9 - clinical modification ) codes and 347 . 7 million medications with the taiwan nhi codes are used in the analysis . these medication codes are mapped to the atc ( anatomical therapeutic chemical ) classification code system . the dataset consists of 13 , 070 unique icd9 - cm codes and 1 , 548 unique atc codes . according to an embodiment of the present invention , the combination of disease - medication and medication - medication are associated as a result of their co - occurrence in a prescription for each patient &# 39 ; s visit to a physician . although association rules can be filtered by their support and confidence , there are often many more potential rules produced through these techniques than can be manually reviewed . a variety of measures of “ interestingness ” have been proposed which can be used to filter these item sets and association rules . in the present invention , we focus our attention on a robust measures of “ interestingness ” as lift value hereinafter referred to as q value . definition of q : q value is the ratio between the joint probability of disease - medication and medication - medication with respect to their expected probability under the independent assumption . the association strength value of disease - medication and medication - mediation are denoted by qdm and qmm respectively . based on this definition , each dm and mm pair association strength is computed using 2 × 2 table ( see table 1 ). in this table , for a given rule ( x -& gt ; y ), ‘ a ’ presents the number of transactions in the database containing both x and y , ‘ b ’ the number containing x but not y , ‘ c ’ the number containing y but not x and ‘ d ’ the number containing neither x nor y . c 1 and c 2 are the total number of prescriptions prescribed with disease and medication respectively . according to formula 1 , q xy is defined in [ 0 ,+∞]; with q = 1 indicates no association between disease and medication , q & lt ; 1 indicates that disease and medication are negatively associated ( i . e . negative qdm ), and q & gt ; 1 indicates that disease and medication are positively associated ( i . e . positive qdm — the prescriptions with disease x containing medication y occur more often than other medications ). after computing all of observed dm and mm associations , we created a database ( term as nhi database ) that has a total of 1 . 34 million dm and 0 . 65 million mm pairs with their q values . the dm and mm associations with less than 5 co - occurrences , by default are considered as “ uncommon or rare associations ” and are not included in developing the system . moreover , according to the present invention , the cut - off value for q is 1 . for any association ( dm or mm ) having q value less than 1 is regarded as a negative association or uncommon association . the cut - off value can able be adjusted to improve the system . it is an objective is to provide an analysis system by applying a probabilistic model that used wherein the cause and effect relationship is stochastically or randomly between disease and medication ( dm ) or medication and medication ( mm ) via medical big data . it could be used to identify the uncommon or rare medication prescribed in a new prescription . in order to achieve the above objectives , the present invention provides a prescription analysis system for analyzing prescriptions and evaluating their appropriateness . the prescription analysis system identifies a prescription as appropriate if medication ( s ) prescribed the prescription match ( es ) the disease ( s ) diagnosed and stated in prescription . referring to fig3 , the prescription analysis system essentially comprises an access module 20 , a judgment module 30 , and a storage module 10 . the access module 20 firstly receives the prescriptions with their diseases as icd - 9 - cm ( international classification of disease v . 9 - clinical modification ) codes and medication as atc ( anatomical therapeutic chemical ) system codes corresponding for diseases in treatment of patients . subsequently , the access module stores all information in the storage module 10 . furthermore , the access module 20 also receives related information such as patients &# 39 ; pseudo - id , physicians &# 39 ; id and the date of prescribing prescriptions . the judgment module 30 estimates the prediction of prescriptions that are read and stored by the access module 20 . the judgment module 30 checks each dm and mm association strength of the prescription in the access module 20 . afterward , the judgment module 30 identifies the prescription as appropriate based on the number of dm and mm association strength termed as an appropriateness of prescription ( aop ) model . the aop model considers the prescription appropriate if it satisfies the following rules : 1 ) the total number of positive q dm and positive qmm should be greater than or equal to the number of medications ; 2 ) all diagnoses should have at least a positive qdm ; and 3 ) each medication in a new prescription should have at least a positive q dm or positive q mm . in formula 2 , n is the number of diagnoses ; m is the number of medications ; α is cut - off value ; q dimj is a dmq ; q mjmk is a mmq in the same prescription . in the present invention , a is 1 by default . fig4 is a schematic view of an example of a prescription , where dx 1 , dx 2 , and dx 3 are the disease codes in the prescription , and m 1 , m 2 , m 3 , m 4 , m 5 are the medication codes . the association strength of dm and mm is accessed by the judgment module 30 in which q dx1m1 , q dx1m2 , q dx2m2 , q dx3m4 , q m1m4 are considered positive association . the storage module 10 stores all prescriptions prescribed by physicians . icd - 9 - cm diseases codes and atc medication codes of prescriptions are initially stored in the storage module 10 . the prescriptions which are modified by physicians with their disease and medication codes , are stored in order to estimate and compare the change of medications prescribed by an updating unit 102 of the storage module 10 ( see fig3 ). the prescription analysis system further comprises a reminder module 40 which responds automatically by sending a reminder to the access module 20 if the prescriptions are considered inappropriate . the reminder module 40 further comprises a correcting unit 402 . the correcting unit 402 corrects the uncommon or rare medication codes / names prescribed in a new prescription . in the process of developing the analysis system , we also test and evaluate the system by human experts . firstly , the system undergoes an initial testing based on the verifying dataset . subsequently , the system undergoes a second evaluation by human experts including four physicians and three clinical pharmacists to measure the accuracy of the aop model and the system as well . fig5 is a flow chart of validating the aop model according to an embodiment of the present invention . 100 , 000 prescriptions are randomly selected from the 2003 nhi claims database . afterward , the aop model is used to test the selected prescriptions for appropriateness . 400 prescriptions are randomly selected out of 100 , 000 prescriptions which are tested by our aop model . the 400 prescriptions selected to be evaluated by experts include 254 ( 63 . 5 %) appropriate prescriptions and 146 ( 36 . 5 %) inappropriate prescriptions . in order to facilitate the identification and measurement of prescriptions , all experts are explained the purpose of the study and are asked to mark whether they agree , disagree or are unsure regarding the overall prescriptions data provided to them . next , the same prescriptions are re - evaluated with two types of questionnaires — with and without showing q value for each dm association present in the prescription . the appropriate and inappropriate prescriptions are identified and mixed within the same questionnaire . we administer the questionnaires to four physicians at their clinics ( two hundred prescriptions each physician ) and three clinical pharmacists ( eight hundred prescriptions each pharmacist ) at the hospital pharmacies . the questionnaires without q values are filled out first by all experts , followed by the questionnaires with q values . overall , we administer 3 , 200 prescriptions ( 1 , 600 prescriptions without q values and 1 , 600 prescriptions with q values ). the sensitivity , specificity , positive predictive value ( ppv ), and negative predictive value ( npv ) are computed from the results obtained in order to compare the differences and the consensus between the system and experts . from a total of 100 , 000 prescriptions , 99 , 004 prescriptions ( 99 . 004 %) are identified as appropriate and 996 prescriptions ( 0 . 996 %) are identified as inappropriate by the aop model . when the q values are not disclosed , the experts respond to 1590 ( 99 . 3 %) prescriptions of which 1 , 374 ( 85 . 9 %) are appropriate and 216 ( 13 . 5 %) are inappropriate prescriptions , leaving 10 prescriptions as “ unknown ”. however , when the q value are shown in the prescriptions , the experts respond only to 1 , 587 ( 99 . 2 %) prescriptions in which 1 , 313 ( 82 . 1 %) are appropriate , 274 ( 17 . 1 %) are inappropriate prescriptions , and 13 prescriptions are classified as “ unknown ” ( see fig6 ) the accuracy of the system assessed by clinical pharmacists and results obtained are shown in table 2 . when the q are disclosed , the average sensitivity , ppv and npv are 68 . 8 %, 95 . 6 %, and 24 . 6 % of the pharmacists , respectively . the change found in the questionnaires with showing q values is different to the change in the questionnaires without showing q values . however , the average sensitivity , ppv and npv are 74 . 3 %, 98 . 7 %, and 40 . 6 %, respectively . based on the results described above , the present invention provides a prescription analysis system which uses a probabilistic model as an efficient tool in automatically identifying uncommon or rare associations between disease - medication and medication - medication in prescriptions . the prescription analysis system helps to not only reduce medication errors by alerting physicians to the inappropriate prescriptions identified , but also improve the patients &# 39 ; safety and the overall quality of health care . the present invention further provides a prescription analysis method integrated in the prescription analysis system . referring to fig6 , there is shown a flow chart of the prescription analysis method . as shown in the diagram , the process flow of the prescription analysis method comprises the steps of : s 20 creating the knowledge database ; s 30 accessing , by the access module , disease code , medication code , patient info , and physician info included in the new prescription ; s 40 storing the disease code , medication code , patient info , and physician info in the storage module ; and s 50 estimating , by the judgment module , a prediction of the new prescription read by the access module and stored in the access module . the knowledge database creating step s 20 is preceded by a data processing step s 10 which entails mapping the medication codes to the anatomical therapeutic chemical ( atc ) classification code system . in the estimating step s 50 , the prediction of the new prescription entails determining whether the new prescription is inappropriate . if the estimating step s 50 determines that the new prescription is inappropriate , the estimating step s 50 will be followed by a reminding step s 60 executed with the reminder module for alerting the physician to the inappropriate prescription . | 6 |
fig1 a and 1 b show a cross sectional side view , and a front view of the white led according to the first embodiment of the present invention , respectively . as shown in fig1 a and fig1 b , a conventional blue or uv led die 10 is arranged on a circuit board 20 having a positive electrode 21 and a negative electrode 22 . the led die 10 is driven to emit blue lights or uv lights when an external voltage is applied onto the positive electrode 21 and the negative electrode 22 . a conventional led is usually encapsulated in a transparent , cylindrical bell cladding made of epoxy to protect the led die 10 and the circuit board 20 therein . meanwhile , the bell cladding also provides light convergence similar to a convex lens . instead of using a bell cladding , a cylindrical cladding 30 having an inclined plane 31 on the top , as if it is obtained from cutting a right cylinder in half at an inclined angle , is used in this embodiment . the included angle φ between the inclined plane 31 and the circuit board 20 is set between 15 ° and 75 °, preferably between 30 ° and 60 °. it is noted that the bottom edge of the inclined plane 31 is intersecting the upper surface of the circuit board 20 , as shown in fig1 a . however , the bottom edge of the inclined plane 31 could be arranged at an appropriate distance from the upper surface of the circuit board 20 in another embodiment . a metal film made from gold ( au ), aluminum ( al ), nickel ( ni ), titanium ( ti ), or chromium ( cr ) is formed on the inner surface of the inclined plane 31 by electroplating or other processes such as sputtering , chemical vapor deposition , etc ., which functions as a reflective mirror 40 . in another embodiment , the reflective mirror 40 could also be a bragg reflector made from dielectric materials . the metal film reflective mirror or the bragg reflector is well known technique to those skilled in the related art . it is particularly pointed out that the inclined plane 31 of the epoxy cladding 30 provides the place for the configuration of the reflective mirror 40 in the present invention . the advantage of doing so is that the structure is simple . however , in another embodiment of the present invention , the reflective mirror 40 could be configured at different places inside the epoxy cladding 30 , and the shape of the epoxy cladding 30 is not limited to the one used by the present embodiment . the phosphors 50 are coated on the reflective mirror 40 , and the phosphors 50 are selected such that they could be excited to produce complementary lights to those emitted from the led die 10 to form white light . for example , if the led die 10 is a blue led die , the phosphors 50 are yag ( yttrium aluminum garnet )- based yellow phosphors . if the led die 10 is an uv led die , the phosphors 50 are rgb tricolor phosphors made from europium - doped barium aluminum oxide . as to the coating of the phosphors 50 , any suitable conventional process can be used , such as spin coating , sputtering , and printing . after an appropriate voltage is applied onto the electrodes 21 and 22 , the led die 10 emits blue lights or uv lights proceeding toward the reflective mirror 40 . it is noted that the sum of the incident angle for the blue lights or uv lights to the reflective mirror 40 and the included angle φ is 90 °. the reflective mirror 40 is arranged so that the incident angle of the blue lights or uv lights is set between 15 ° and 75 °, preferably between 30 ° and 60 °. the phosphors 50 coated on the surface of the reflective mirror 40 are excited by the blue lights or uv lights and the produced lights are mixed with the blue lights or uv lights to form white lights . subsequently , the generated white lights are reflected by the reflective mirror 40 and proceed toward the emitting plane 32 . in this embodiment , the emitting plane 32 is a convex plane which provides a convergence effect similar to a convex lens because the epoxy cladding 30 has a cylindrical shape . in another embodiment , the epoxy cladding 30 could be a cylinder having semicircle cross section , and the emitting plane 32 would be a planar plane . in other words , the geometry of the emitting plane 32 of the present invention is not limited to a specific shape . in this embodiment , a simple reflective structure in which the phosphors and the led die are separately arranged , thereby preventing the phosphors from heat deterioration and avoiding the problem of reduced lifetime of the led . based on the same concept , in another embodiment , the phosphors are coated on the inner surface of the emitting plane 32 , but not on the reflective mirror 40 , as shown in fig1 c . similarly , the phosphors 55 coated on the inner surface of the emitting plane 32 would produce complimentary lights when excited to the radiation of the led die 10 . in the second embodiment , the blue lights or uv lights emitted by the led die 10 proceeds toward the emitting plane 32 after being reflected by the reflective mirror 40 . the phosphor 55 is then excited by the reflected blue lights or uv lights , and the produced lights are mixed with the blue lights or uv lights to form white lights . the generated white lights then emits through the emitting plane 32 . in the foregoing first and second embodiments , the generated white lights may still include blue lights or uv lights whose energy is not consumed completely . in order to further improve the uniformity of light color , a third embodiment that combines the first embodiment with the second embodiment is provided , as shown in fig1 d . in the third embodiment , the phosphors 50 and 55 are coated on the inner surfaces of the reflective mirror 40 and the emitting plane 32 , respectively . the phosphor 55 coated on the emitting plane 32 can be of the same or different material from the phosphor 50 coated on the reflective mirror 40 . the main point of the third embodiment is that the blue lights or uv lights whose energy is not consumed after reacting with the phosphor 50 could react with the phosphor 55 , which therefore improves the uniformity of the white lights and solves the problem of high color temperature . in addition , regardless of the shape of the emitting plane 32 , it is important that the emitting plane 32 is perpendicular ( or is very close to perpendicular ) to the lights ( white lights , blue lights , or uv lights ) reflected by the reflective mirror 40 so that they can fully react with the phosphor 55 . in summary , a simple reflective structure is adopted in the third embodiment so that the blue light or the uv light emitted by the led die could react with the phosphors twice . as a result , the generated white lights are more uniform , and the problems of the color temperature and the color rendering could be avoided . on the other hand , the present invention can provide two or more reflective mirrors , part of or all of which are coated with phosphors , and the phosphors can be excited twice or more times by the reflections of these reflective mirrors . according to the same concepts in the above embodiments , the fourth embodiment is illustrated in fig2 . a beam splitter 60 is arranged on the light emitting path of the led die 10 at an inclined angle which is similar to that of the reflective mirror 40 in the above embodiments . a beam splitter 60 transmits part of the blue lights or the uv lights emitted by the led die 10 , and reflects the rest . in the fourth embodiment , the epoxy cladding 70 could have a cylindrical shape or a cubic shape . the reflective mirrors 81 and 82 could be arranged on the top surface 71 and the side surface 72 of the epoxy cladding 70 , respectively . the reflective mirrors 81 and 82 work the same way as the reflective mirror 40 . in addition , the phosphors 91 and 92 are respectively coated on the reflective mirrors 81 and 82 , wherein the phosphors 91 or 92 can produce complimentary lights to the radiation of the led die 10 . the materials or the coating method of the phosphors 91 and 92 can be identical or different . the phosphor 91 coated on the top surface 71 of the reflective mirror 81 would be excited by part of the blue lights or the uv lights passing through the beam splitter 60 . subsequently , the generated white lights are reflected by the reflective mirror 81 and the beam splitter 60 , and proceeds toward the emitting plane 73 . in the same manner , the phosphor 92 coated on the side surface 72 of the reflective mirror 82 would be excited by part of the blue lights or the uv lights reflected by the beam splitter 60 . furthermore , the generated white lights are reflected by the reflective mirror 82 , and then pass through the beam splitter 60 , and proceeds toward the emitting plane 73 . in the third embodiment , the phosphors are excited twice by the blue lights or the uv lights . however , in the fourth embodiment , the blue light or the uv light is split into two parts , each of which reacts with the phosphor once . the objectives of these two embodiments are to increase the reaction areas and reaction times between the blue lights or the uv lights and the phosphors in order to enhance the uniformity of the white lights . in the fourth embodiment , the phosphors could be excited twice as well , as illustrated in the third embodiment . in this case , the emitting plane 73 could be coated with phosphors to generate better white lights . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention . thus , it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and the variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents . | 7 |
a first embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings . the “ front - and - rear direction ”, the “ left - and - right direction ”, and the “ up - and - down direction ” herein correspond to the directions indicated by the corresponding arrows in the attached drawings . as shown in fig1 , an inkjet type printer 11 , or a liquid ejection apparatus , includes a body frame 12 having a rectangular form as viewed from above . a platen 13 , which extends in the left - and - right direction coinciding with the main scanning direction , is provided in the body frame 12 . a non - illustrated paper feeder mechanism sends a sheet of recording paper , or a target , along the platen 13 and in the front - and - rear direction coinciding with the sub scanning direction . a bar - like guide shaft 14 , which extends parallel with the longitudinal direction of the platen 13 at a position above the platen 13 , is arranged in the body frame 12 . the guide shaft 14 supports a carriage 15 in such a manner as to allow the carriage 15 to reciprocate in the axial direction of the guide shaft 14 . the carriage 15 is connected to a carriage motor 17 mounted in a rear wall of the body frame 12 through an endless timing belt 16 , which is wound around a pair of pulleys 16 a provided in an inner surface of the rear wall . the carriage 15 is driven by the carriage motor 17 to reciprocate along the axial direction of the guide shaft 14 . with reference to fig1 and 2 , a recording head 18 , or a liquid ejection head , is mounted on the surface of the carriage 15 opposed to the platen 13 . the carriage 15 accommodates valve units 19 a , 19 b , 19 c , 19 d , which temporarily retain ink as liquid and supply the ink to the recording head 18 . in the first embodiment , four valve units , which are first valve unit 19 a , a second valve unit 19 b , a third valve unit 19 c , and a fourth valve unit 19 d , are provided . a plurality of ( in the first embodiment , three ) nozzles 20 a , 20 b , 20 c are defined in the lower surface of the recording head 18 . droplets of the ink are thus ejected from the nozzles 20 a to 20 c onto the recording paper sheet ( not shown ), which has been fed onto the platen 13 , thus subjecting the recording paper sheet to printing . a cartridge holder 21 is arranged at the right end in the body frame 12 . ink cartridges 22 a , 22 b , 22 c , 22 d , which retain different types of ink , are removably mounted in the cartridge holder 21 . in the first embodiment , four ink cartridges , which are a first ink cartridge 22 a , a second ink cartridge 22 b , a third ink cartridge 22 c , and a fourth ink cartridge 22 d , are provided . each of the ink cartridges 22 a to 22 d is connected to the corresponding one of the valve units 19 a to 19 d mounted in the carriage 15 through a corresponding one of ink supply tubes 24 a , 24 b , 24 c , 24 d . when the ink cartridges 22 a to 22 d are installed in the cartridge holder 21 , the ink cartridges 22 a to 22 d are connected to the corresponding valve units 19 a to 19 d through the associated ink supply tubes 24 a to 24 d . the first ink cartridge 22 a receives photo black ink , or first liquid , and the second ink cartridge 22 b receives matte black ink , or second liquid . thus , the first valve unit 19 a temporarily retains the photo black ink and the second valve unit 19 b temporarily retains the matte black ink . the photo black ink is suitable for printing on glossy paper and the matte black ink is suitable for printing on matte paper . as shown in fig2 , a switching device 25 is arranged between the valve units 19 a , 19 b of the carriage 15 and the recording head 18 . the switching device 25 switches the ink supplied from the valve units 19 a , 19 b to the recording head 18 between the photo black ink and the matte black ink . the switching device 25 switches the ink ejected from the nozzle row 20 a of the recording head 18 between the photo black ink and the matte black ink depending on whether glossy paper or matte paper is used . with reference to fig1 , a home position of the carriage 15 is defined at a position close to the right end in the body frame 12 . a maintenance unit 26 , which performs cleaning on the recording head 18 , is provided at the home position . the maintenance unit 26 includes a cap 27 , which air - tightly seals the nozzles 20 a to 20 c of the recording head 18 and receives the ink that has been ejected from the nozzles 20 a to 20 c through flushing . the switching device 25 will hereafter be explained in detail . as shown in fig3 to 5 , the switching device 25 includes a body 30 having a symmetric block - like shape and a pair of connection pipes , or a first connection pipe 31 and a second connection pipe 32 . the first and second connection pipes 31 , 32 are provided on the upper surface of the body 30 and spaced from each other at a predetermined interval . the first connection pipe 31 is connected to the first valve unit 19 a and the second connection pipe 32 is connected to the second valve unit 19 b . the switching device 25 has a first valve body receiving portion 33 having a cylindrical shape and a bottom with an opening faced leftward and a second valve body receiving portion 34 having a cylindrical shape and a bottom with an opening faced rightward . the first valve body receiving portion 33 is arranged forward from the first connection pipe 31 and the second valve body receiving portion 34 is provided forward from the second connection pipe 32 . a joint portion 35 is formed between the first valve body receiving portion 33 and the second valve body receiving portion 34 . a joint passage 36 , which extends linearly along the left - and - right direction , is defined in the joint portion 35 . the first and second valve body receiving portions 33 , 34 communicate with each other at their centers through the joint passage 36 . in other words , the joint passage 36 has openings at the centers of the first and second valve body receiving portions 33 , 34 . a first communication groove 37 , through which the first connection pipe 31 communicates with the interior of the first valve body receiving portion 33 , is defined in the body 30 . the first communication groove 37 has a proximal end connected to the first connection pipe 31 . the first communication groove 37 extends from its proximal end sequentially on the left surface of the body 30 , an inner circumferential surface 33 a of the first valve body receiving portion 33 , and an inner bottom surface 33 b of the first valve body receiving portion 33 , in this order . the first communication groove 37 extends around the opening of the joint passage 36 on the inner bottom surface 33 b from above and reaches a position diagonally downward and forward from the opening of the joint passage 36 . an annular first projection 33 c projects from the inner bottom surface 33 b of the first valve body receiving portion 33 and encompasses the opening of the joint passage 36 . like the first communication groove 37 , a second communication groove 38 , through which the second connection pipe 32 communicates with the interior of the second valve body receiving portion 34 , is defined in the body 30 . the second communication groove 38 has a proximal end connected to the second connection pipe 32 . the second communication groove 38 extends from its proximal end sequentially on the right surface of the body 30 , an inner circumferential surface 34 a of the second valve body receiving portion 34 , and an inner bottom surface 34 b of the second valve body receiving portion 34 , in this order . the second communication groove 38 extends around the opening of the joint passage 36 on the inner bottom surface 34 b from above and reaches a position diagonally downward and forward from the opening of the joint passage 36 . an annular second projection 34 c projects from the inner bottom surface 34 b of the second valve body receiving portion 34 and encompasses the opening of the joint passage 36 . as illustrated in fig6 , a groove 40 extending in the front - and - rear direction is defined in the upper surface of the joint portion 35 . with reference to fig5 and 6 , a first through hole 39 connecting the joint passage 36 to the front end of the groove 40 , is defined at a forward position at the center of the joint passage 36 in the left - and - right direction . a second through hole 41 communicating with the recording head 18 ( see fig2 ) is defined at the rear end of the groove 40 . a non - illustrated seal member , which seals the opening of the groove 40 , is arranged on the upper surface of the joint portion 35 . in the first embodiment , the first through hole 39 , the groove 40 , and the second through hole 41 form a head supply passage . as illustrated in fig5 , a first joint line 44 is defined by the portion of the joint passage 36 extending leftward from the center in the left - and - right direction . a second joint line 45 is defined by the portion of the joint passage 36 extending rightward from the center . the center of the joint passage 36 forms a joining point g between the first joint line 44 and the second joint line 45 . the first joint line 44 , the second joint line 45 , and the first through hole 39 communicate with one another at the joining point g . large diameter portions 36 a , the diameters of which are greater than the diameter of the central portion of the joint passage 36 , are provided at both ends of the joint passage 36 , which are the left end of the first joint line 44 and the right end of the second joint line 45 . a block - like ink guide portion ( a liquid guide portion ) 42 projects from the lower wall of the joint passage 36 and linearly extends along the joint passage 36 continuously from the first joint line 44 to the second joint line 45 . the width of the ink guide portion 42 , or the dimension of the ink guide portion 42 in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the ink guide portion 42 , becomes smaller toward the top of the ink guide portion 42 . both ends of the ink guide portion 42 reach the interiors of the corresponding large diameter portions 36 a of the joint passage 36 . an interference suppressing portion 43 is provided in the ink guide portion 42 at the position corresponding to the first through hole 39 . the interference suppressing portion 43 extends from a front surface of a central portion of the ink guide portion 42 toward the first through hole 39 . the left portion and the right portion of the ink guide portion 42 are symmetrical with respect to the interference suppressing portion 43 . in other words , the portions of the ink guide portion 42 divided by a plane extending perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the ink guide portion 42 and including the interference suppressing portion 43 form mirror images in shape . as shown in fig7 , substantially columnar transmission members 46 are received in the first joint line 44 and the second joint line 45 in such a manner that the transmission members 46 are slidable in the left - and - right direction . with reference to fig8 , each of the transmission members 46 has a columnar small diameter portion 46 a and a large diameter portion 46 b the diameter of which is greater than the diameter of the small diameter portion 46 a . a cutout 46 c is provided in the large diameter portion 46 b in such a manner as to cover the angular range of 90 degrees . the diameter of the cutout 46 c is equal to the diameter of the small diameter portion 46 a . with reference to fig3 and 7 , one of the two transmission members 46 is passed through the first joint line 44 from the side corresponding to the small diameter portion 46 a and the other transmission member 46 is passed through the second joint line 45 from the side corresponding to the small diameter portion 46 a . in this manner , each of the transmission members 46 is accommodated in the corresponding one of the joint lines 44 , 45 . in this case , the cutout 46 c of each transmission member 46 faces downward and the large diameter portion 46 b of the transmission member 46 is received in the corresponding large diameter portion 36 a of the joint passage 36 . the end surfaces of the small diameter portions 46 a of the transmission members 46 contact each other at the center of the joint passage 36 in the left - and - right direction . the sum of the longitudinal dimensions of the two transmission members 46 is slightly greater than the longitudinal dimension of the joint passage 36 in the left - and - right direction . a first disk - like flexible on - off valve 47 is loosely arranged in the first valve body receiving portion 33 and a second on - off valve 48 shaped and configured identically with the first on - off valve 47 are loosely received in the second valve body receiving portion 34 . a first circular recess 47 a is defined in the outer central portion of the first on - off valve 47 and a second circular recess 48 a is provided in the outer central portion of the second on - off valve 48 . a first disk - like rigid link member 49 is loosely received in the first recess 47 a and a second disk - like rigid link member 50 is loosely accommodated in the second recess 48 a . the first recess 47 a and the second recess 48 a are shaped identically with each other and the first link member 49 and the second link member 50 are shaped identically with each other . a flexible film ( not shown ) is secured to the left surface of the body 30 in such a manner as to seal the opening of the first valve body receiving portion 33 and the opening of the first communication groove 37 . another flexible film ( not shown ) is secured to the right surface of the body 30 in such a manner as to seal the opening of the second valve body receiving portion 34 and the opening of the second communication groove 38 . operation of the switching device 25 will hereafter be explained . fig9 and 10 are cross - sectional views each showing the body 30 with the joint portion 35 viewed from below . to switch types of the ink supplied to the recording head 18 from matte black ink to photo black ink , the second on - off valve 48 is first pressed leftward through the second link member 50 . this causes close contact between the second on - off valve 48 and the second projection 34 c , as illustrated in fig9 , and the first on - off valve 47 is pressed leftward through the two transmission members 46 . the first on - off valve 47 is thus separated from the first projection 33 c . in this state , the first communication groove 37 and the first joint line 44 communicate with each other through the first receiving portion 33 and the second communication groove 38 and the second joint line 45 are disconnected from each other . in other words , the first on - off valve 47 is maintained open and the second on - off valve 48 is held closed . subsequently , flushing is performed so that the matte black ink , which is the ink that has been previously used , is drained from the nozzle row 20 a of the recording head 18 into the cap 27 . this causes the photo black ink to flow from the first communication groove 37 into the first joint line 44 through the first receiving portion 33 . in such flushing , the ink is discharged exclusively from the nozzle row 20 a . after having flowed into the first joint line 44 , the photo black ink is divided into a first ink flow a indicated by arrow a in fig9 and a second ink flow b indicated by arrow b in the drawing . the first ink flow a proceeds in the space forward from the ink guide portion 42 in the first joint line 44 and reaches the first through hole 39 . the second ink flow b passes through the space rearward from the ink guide portion 42 in the first and second joint lines 44 , 45 , the vicinity of the second on - off valve 48 , and the space forward from the ink guide portion 42 in the second joint line 45 and reaches the first through hole 39 . these flows of the photo black ink in the second joint line 45 suppress retaining of the photo black ink in the joint passage 36 as a whole . as a result , the matte black ink , the ink that has been previously used , is prevented from being retained in the second joint line 45 after the matte black ink is switched to the photo black ink . the interference suppressing portion 43 suppresses interference between the first ink flow a and the second ink flow b . the first ink flow a and the second ink flow b are thus allowed to smoothly flow into the first through hole 39 without stopping . contrastingly , to switch the types of the ink supplied to the recording head 18 from the photo black ink to the matte black ink , the first on - off valve 47 is pressed rightward through the first link member 49 . this causes close contact between the first on - off valve 47 and the first projection 33 c , as illustrated in fig1 , and the second on - off valve 48 is pressed rightward through the two transmission members 46 . the second on - off valve 48 is thus separated from the second projection 34 c . in this state , the second communication groove 38 and the second joint line 45 communicate with each other through the second receiving portion 34 , and the first communication groove 37 and the first joint line 44 are disconnected from each other . in other words , the first on - off valve 47 is closed and the second on - off valve 48 is held open . subsequently , the photo black ink , the ink that has been previously used , is drained from the nozzle row 20 a of the recording head 18 into the cap 27 through flushing . this causes the matte black ink to flow from the second communication groove 38 into the second joint line 45 through the second receiving portion 34 . in flushing , the ink is discharged exclusively from the nozzle row 20 a . after having flowed into the second joint line 45 , the matte black ink is divided into a third ink flow c indicated by arrow c in fig1 and a fourth ink flow d indicated by arrow d in the drawing . the third ink flow c proceeds in the space forward from the ink guide portion 42 in the second joint line 45 and reaches the first through hole 39 . the fourth ink flow d passes through the space rearward from the ink guide portion 42 in the first and second joint lines 44 , 45 , the vicinity of the first on - off valve 47 , and a front space in the first joint line 44 , and reaches the first through hole 39 . these flows of the matte black ink in the first joint line 44 suppress retaining of the matte black ink in the joint passage 36 as a whole . as a result , the photo black ink , the ink that has been previously used , is prevented from being retained in the first joint line 44 after the photo black ink is switched to the matte black ink . the interference suppressing portion 43 suppresses interference between the third ink flow c and the fourth ink flow d . the third ink flow c and the fourth ink flow d are thus allowed to smoothly flow into the first through hole 39 without stopping . as has been described , in switching between the photo black ink and the matte black ink , the previously used ink is prevented from being retained in the joint passage 36 of the switching device 25 . the photo black ink and the matte black ink are thus prevented from being mixed together . this suppresses lowering of printing quality after switching of ink types . when the first on - off valve 47 is open and the second on - off valve 48 is closed , the ink guide portion 42 causes some of the photo black ink to flow into the first through hole 39 via the second joint line 45 . when the second on - off valve 48 is open and the first on - off valve 47 is closed , the ink guide portion 42 causes some of the matte black ink to flow into the first through hole 39 via the first joint line 44 . this suppresses retaining of the photo black ink or the matte black ink in the joint passage 36 . in other words , in switching between the photo black ink and the matte black ink , the previously used ink is prevented from being retained in the joint passage 36 after the ink is switched to the other type . this suppresses mixing of the currently used ink , which is the photo black ink or the matte black ink , with the other ink . as a result , printing quality is maintained regardless of switching of the ink types . the width of the ink guide portion 42 becomes smaller toward the top . this decreases the volume of the space occupied by the ink guide portion 42 in the joint passage 36 , increasing the volume of the joint passage 36 in the switching device 25 . the ink guide portion 42 has the interference suppressing portion 43 projecting into the first through hole 39 . this suppresses interference between the first ink flow a and the second ink flow b when the photo black ink flows in the joint passage 36 after the matte black ink has been switched to the photo black ink . the first ink flow a and the second ink flow b are thus allowed to smoothly flow into the first through hole 39 . likewise , the interference suppressing portion 43 suppresses interference between the third ink flow c and the fourth ink flow d when the matte black ink flows in the joint passage 36 after the photo black ink has been switched to the matte black ink . the third ink flow c and the fourth ink flow d are thus allowed to smoothly flow into the first through hole 39 . the ink guide portion 42 is configured by the two portions that are laterally symmetrical with respect to the interference suppressing portion 43 , which is located at the longitudinal center of the ink guide portion 42 . thus , interference between the first ink flow a and the second ink flow b and interference between the third ink flow c and the fourth ink flow d are suppressed to the equal extents . switching between the matte black ink and the photo black ink is brought about through flushing in which the ink is discharged solely from the nozzle row 20 a . thus , in switching of the inks , types of ink other than the matte black ink and the photo black ink are prevented from being consumed . if the cap 27 is an integral type that covers the nozzle rows 20 a to 20 c as a whole and switching between the matte black ink and the photo black ink is carried out through cleaning , the types of ink other than the matte and photo black inks are wastefully consumed . the interference suppressing portion 43 does not necessarily have to be arranged at the longitudinal center of the ink guide portion 42 . specifically , the interference suppressing portion 43 may be provided at a position rightward or leftward from the longitudinal center of the ink guide portion 42 . the interference suppressing portion 43 may be formed in a thin plate - like shape . the interference suppressing portion 43 does not necessarily have to extend toward the first through hole 39 . the interference suppressing portion 43 may be formed separately from the ink guide portion 42 . the width of the ink guide portion 42 does not necessarily have to become smaller toward the top . the ink guide portion 42 may be formed either integrally with or independently from the lower wall of the joint passage 36 . in the illustrated embodiment , the switching device 25 switches between the matte black ink and the photo black ink . however , such switching may be carried out between a dark tone and a light tone of the same color of ink such as cyan ink and light cyan ink or magenta ink and light magenta ink . the switching device 25 may be configured in such a manner that the first joint line 44 and the second joint line 45 are connected together to form a v shape or a u shape . in other words , the switching device 25 may be provided in such a manner that the joint passage 36 is v - shaped or u - shaped . in this case , the shape of each transmission member 46 must be changed in correspondence with the shape of the joint passage 36 . the liquid ejection apparatus is not restricted to the inkjet type printer but may be a type that ejects a different type of liquid . that is , the liquid ejection apparatus may be , for example , a liquid ejection apparatus that ejects liquid such as electrode material or color material used in the manufacture of liquid crystal displays , el displays , and surface light emitting displays , or a liquid ejection apparatus that ejects bioorganic matter used in the manufacture of biochips or a sample ejection apparatus such as a precision pipette . | 1 |
fig1 shows a computer network environment in which the method of this invention is used . in fig1 , a local area network 60 links the first file server 10 executing microsoft windows server ( including nt , 2000 , xp , and all descended server os ) operating system , the second file server 20 executing linux operating system and several user end ( client ) computers 30 , 40 , etc . executing microsoft windows operating system . the user end computers 30 , 40 could execute microsoft windows operating system such as microsoft windows 98 operating system , microsoft windows millennium edition windows operating system , or microsoft windows operating system nt workstation version ( or xp , 2000 , and other descended os ). under a network environment based on microsoft windows operating system , user end computers 30 , 40 could share the resources , such as files and directories , with the first file server 10 via local area network 60 . however , if the user end computer 30 is switched from microsoft windows operating system to linux operating system , or in another case , a new linux based user end computer 50 is added to local area network 60 , either user end computer 30 or user end computer 50 could not share resources with the first file server 10 in these two cases . the above problem would be solved if the second file server 20 could apply the method of this invention and transfer the shared resources from the first file server 10 to the second file server 20 . so , in the two cases mentioned above , user end computer 30 and user end computer 50 could share the transferred resources with the second file server 20 via local area network 60 . fig2 shows the flow chart of the invention . in step 100 , the configurations , files and directories in the first file server 10 executing windows server ( including nt , 2000 , xp , and all descended server os ) operating system are transferred to the second file server 20 executing linux operating system . examples of the configurations , files and directories in the first file server 10 are microsoft windows server ( including nt , 2000 , xp , and all descended server os ) operating system shared files , shared directories , users , groups ( groups ), all information related to e - mail server software , all information related to web server software , and all information related to ftp server software , etc . in step 101 , the invention provides a linux based human - computer interface control program , which has the same user interface as that in the windows nt operating system , on the second file server 20 to ensure the integrity of the configurations , files , and directories transferred in step 100 . the major reason that the invention provides the above interface control program is to ensure that administrators who are familiar with windows server ( including nt , 2000 , xp , and all descended server os ) operating system on the first file server 10 could easily use the same windows nt based human - computer interface to administrate the resources on the second file server 20 . the following article will explain in detail the actual steps to transfer windows nt operating system configurations , files and directories from the first file server 10 to the second file server 20 . first , let us explain the actual steps to transfer all information related to file server software from the first file server 10 to the second file server 20 . the first file server 10 executes “ rmtshare . exe ” instruction to get all shared directories under windows server ( including nt , 2000 , xp , and all descended server os ) operating system . examples of the shared directories are : then , execute the instruction of the shared directory name parameter in every shared directory and get the user authority configurations of the shared directories . the following example shows a possible outcome after executing “ rmtshare . exe c :\ i386 ” instruction to get the “ c :\ i386 ” user authority configurations : then , execute a file sharing software such as samba software in the second file server 20 and write user authority configurations to the associated configuration file “ smb . conf ” in samba software . at last , create a default directory on the second file server 20 , for example default directory “/ lsproot ”, and then copy the shared directories and files under those shared directories on the first file server 10 to that default directory . for instance , copy the shared directories and files under those shared directories in the above example to “/ lsproot ” default directories . thus , the second file server 20 will have exactly the same shared directories , the files under those shared directories and user authority as in the first file server 10 . this example explains how user end computer 50 could share transferred resources such as “/ lsproot / i386 ” with the second file server 20 via local area network 60 . second , let us explain the actual steps to transfer all information related to users and groups in the first file server 10 to the second file server 20 . the following example shows a possible user configurations after executing a user administrating command “ userstat . exe ” in the first file server 10 and getting all users : similar method can be used to retrieve passwords windows server . by executing the command “ dump . exe & gt ; smbpasswd ”. then copy this smbpasswd to linux server , and configure linux pam module to use smbpasswd as password file . then , execute “ useradd ” instruction in the second file server 20 to add the users to the linux operating system . for example , execute “ useradd ” instruction and add user “ adam ” in the above user configurations to the linux operating system . at the same time , execute “ showgrps . exe ” instruction in the first file server 10 and get all groups . the following example shows a possible group configuration : then , execute the instruction of the group name parameter in every group and get the user authority configurations of the groups . for example , execute “ showgrps . exe engineers ” instruction and get the users in the “ engineers ” groups . the following example shows a possible user configuration of the “ engineers ” groups : then , write the user configurations of the groups to the files “/ etc / group ” of the linux operating system on the second file server 20 . “/ etc / group ” is designed to store group data . for example , write the user configurations in “ engineers ” group to “/ etc / group ” files . third , let us explain the actual steps to transfer all information related to e - mail severs in the first file server 10 to the second file server 20 . we will repeat the technique above to transfer the user configurations in the first file server 10 to the second file server 20 . then , get the user e - mail account configurations in the first file server 10 . for example , get user e - mail account “ adam @ x . com . tw ”. then , execute a linux based e - mail management software in the second file server 20 . for example , execute the instructions in linux &# 39 ; s “ sendmail ” e - mail software to add new e - mail account and thus , add the entire user e - mail account configuration in the first file server 10 to the second file server 20 . for example , execute sendmail e - mail software and add user e - mail account “ adam @ x . com . tw ” to the second file server 20 . fourth , let us explain the actual steps to transfer all information related to web server software in the first file server 10 to the second file server 20 . we will get all virtual directory configurations and their corresponding actual directory configurations of windows nt operating system in the first file server 10 . the following example shows a possible virtual directories after executing cscript of windows nt operating system to access adsi objects : the first three virtual directories in the above virtual directory example are reserved for iis ( internet information service ) software . the later two are virtual directories created by administrators of the first file server 10 . then , we will get individual information of every virtual directory in the first file server 10 . for example , the individual information of ebusiness is : from the individual information of virtual directory “ ebusiness ” in the above example , we could know information such as the corresponding actual directory is “ c :\ www \ ebusiness ” and the default file of virtual directory “ ebusiness ” is “ index . htm ” file . then , execute a linux based hypertext transfer protocol ( http ) web server software , such as “ apache ” software , in the second file server 20 and write the above virtual directory configurations and their corresponding actual directory configurations to the associated configuration files “ http . conf ” and “ access . conf ” of the “ apache ” software respectively . then , set a default directory , for example “/ lsproot / wwwroot ”, in the second file server 20 . in this case , virtual directory ebusiness will be written into “ http . conf ” file as “/ lsproot / wwwroot / ebusiness ”, and virtual directory ecredit will be written into “ http . conf ” file as “/ lsproot / wwwroot / ecredit ”. at last , copy the actual directories and the files under those actual directories in the first file server 10 to the default directory . for example , copy the actual directories and the files under those actual directories of “ c :\ www \ ebusiness ” in the first file server 10 to the default directory “/ lsproot / wwwroot ” in , the second file server 20 . now , “ c :\ www \ ebusiness ” is mapped to “/ lsproot / wwwroot / ebusiness ”. fifth , let us explain the actual steps to transfer all information related to ftp ( file transfer protocol ) server software in the first file server 10 to the second file server 20 . since iis controls web server software and ftp server software in microsoft windows server ( including nt , 2000 , xp , and all descended server os ) operating system , we could reuse the above techniques to get the virtual directory configurations and their corresponding actual directory configurations of ftp server software used in the first file server 10 . then , execute a linux based ftp software , such as “ wuftp ”, “ proftp ”, or “ vsftp ” software , in the second file server 20 and write the virtual directory configurations and their corresponding actual directory configurations to “/ etc / ftpaccess ” directory and “/ etc / ftphost ” directory of the linux operating system respectively . then , set a default directory , for example “/ lsproot / ftproot ”, in the second file server 20 and copy the actual directories and the files under those actual directories in the first file server 10 to the default directory . based on the method of this invention , the graphic interface control program in steps 101 has a first program . the first program has a human - machine interface with the same interface as in windows nt operating system to give instructions to directories and files . the second file server 20 can execute the first program and give instructions to directories and files transferred to the second file server 20 in step ( 100 ). fig3 a is a screen snapshot showing that the second file server 20 is executing the first program ; and the administrator of the second file server 20 is giving instruction to the “/ lsproot / lsp ” directory . fig3 b shows an example to give authority instruction in setting a user account “ adamwu ”. based on the method of this invention , the graphic interface control program in steps 101 has a second program . the second program has a human - machine interface with the same interface as in windows nt operating system to give instructions to users and groups . the second file server 20 can execute the second program and give instructions to users and groups transferred to the second file server 20 in step ( a ). fig4 a is a screen snapshot showing that the second file server 20 is executing the second program to administrate users . fig4 b is a screen snapshot showing that the second file server 20 is executing the second program to administrate groups . based on the method of this invention , the graphic interface control program in steps 101 has a third program . the third program has a human - machine interface with the same interface as in windows nt operating system to give instructions to users and groups . the second file server 20 can execute the third program and give instructions to e - mails administrated by a linux based sendmail software . fig5 a is a screen snapshot showing that the second file server 20 is executing the third program and how sendmail software administrates e - mails . in fig5 a , the third program gives instructions to delete the e - mails of “ adamwu @ das . com . tw ”. fig5 b is a screen snapshot showing that the third program sets parameters in sendmail software . based on the method of this invention , the graphic interface control program in steps 101 has a fourth program . the forth program creates a screen with the same look as executing iis ( internet information server ) software in windows server ( including nt , 2000 , xp , and all descended server os ) operating system . the second file server 20 can execute the fourth program and display the virtual directories and their corresponding actual directories in the second file server 20 . fig6 a is a screen snapshot showing that the second file server 20 is executing the fourth program and displays the virtual directories needed in executing ftp server software ( such as “ wuftp ”, “ proftp ”, or “ vsftp ” software ) in the second file server 20 . fig6 b is another screen snapshot showing that the second file server 20 is executing the fourth program . the screen shows setting status “ read ” to virtual directory “ home / httpd ”. based on the method of this invention , the graphic interface control program in steps 101 has a fifth program . the second file server 20 can execute the fifth program , give instructions to virtual directory configurations and actual directory configurations of a ftp software , such as “ wuftp ”, “ proftp ”, or “ vsftp ” software , and give instructions to revoke authority to users use the ftp ( file transfer protocol ) software . fig7 a is a screen snapshot showing that the second file server 20 is executing the fifth program . fig7 b is another screen snapshot showing that the second file server 20 is executing the fifth program . further more , the method of this invention also provides a sixth program that gives run / stop instructions on multiple server software executed in the second file server . the second file server 20 can execute the sixth program , and give run / stop instructions on server software such as e - mail server software , ftp server software , telnet server software , web server software , samba server software , postgresql server software , and mysql server software , etc . fig8 is a screen snapshot showing that the second file server 20 is executing the sixth program . further more , the method of this invention also includes a seventh program that sets multiple parameters of dhcp ( dynamic host configurations protocol ). the second file server 20 can execute the seventh program , write those preset multiple parameters into the associated configuration file “/ etc / dhcpd . conf ” of the linux operating system in the second file server 20 , and execute dhcp software developed for linux operating system in the second file server 20 . the parameters used to set dhcp are : one subnet parameter , one network mask parameter , one starting ip address parameter , one ending ip address parameter and one user name parameter . fig9 is a screen snapshot showing that the second file server 20 is executing the seventh program . after all , the preferred example shown above already demonstrates , but not limits the benefit of the invention . any one who is familiar with this technique can change or modify the invention without leaving the spirit and scope of the invention . thus , the protection scope of the invention should be based on the subject matter as defined in the appended claims . | 6 |
in the following detailed description , reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof , and in which is shown , by way of illustration , specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced . in the drawings , like numerals describe substantially similar components throughout the several views . in the following description , the term cable is defined to include metal cables , wire rope , or other lengths of flexible line of suitable strength to pull devices as described below through a section of pipe . these embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention . other embodiments may be utilized and mechanical , structural , or logical changes , etc . may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention . fig1 shows a splitter system 100 in operation performing a split and replacement . an entry pit 102 and an exit pit 104 are shown , with a pipe 120 that is to be replaced by the splitting operation . a pulling system is shown with a puller 110 illustrated in block diagram form . a pulling member 116 is shown coupled to the puller 110 and to a splitter 112 . in operation , the puller 110 engages and advances the pulling member 116 to move the splitter 112 from the entry pit 102 to the exit pit 104 . an expander 114 is also shown coupled to the splitter 112 . the expander expands the pipe 120 after the splitter 112 weakens the pipe 120 as will be described in more detail below . a new pipe 122 is also shown coupled to the expander . in one embodiment , the new pipe 122 is pulled into the cavity formed by the expander as the splitter 112 and expander 114 combination is pulled . a number of puller 110 and pulling member 116 options are possible . in one example , the pulling member included a number of pulling rods that are joined together in sections , and the puller includes a rod puller . one example of a rod puller engages the rods in a number of notches or openings in the rods ( not shown ). in one embodiment , the rods are first pushed through the pipe to be replaced , then the splitter system is coupled to the rods and the splitter system is drawn back through the pipe , as described above . in one embodiment , a leading portion with a swivel joint such as a ball joint is attached to a front end of the rods prior to pushing the rods through the pipe to be replaced . a short leading portion , such as an approximately six inch long portion with an rounded nose , provides improved tracking of the rods within the pipe to be replaced . improved tracking helps prevent the rods from accidentally pushing through a wall of the pipe to be replaced . other examples of a puller 110 and pulling member 116 includes a cable , wire rope , etc . pulling member 116 that is pulled by a winch , cyclic cable puller , or other cable puling device . other pullers 110 and pulling members 116 are also possible , such as directional drill stem sections , etc . in addition to pulling options , in one embodiment , a number of rods are used to push an embodiment of a splitter system . in one example , after the splitter system is pushed through the pipe to be replaced , at least portions of the splitter system are removed , and the new pipe is attached to an expander and pulled back by the same rod puller / pusher . fig2 a shows a splitter system 200 that is used in one example of the splitting operation shown in fig1 . a shaping mandrel 210 is shown coupled to a splitter body 212 . a pulling member 220 such as rods , cables , etc . as described above is also shown . the shaping mandrel 210 is shown partially within a pipe 250 . the pipe is shown with a wall thickness 252 . in one example of pipe splitting , a polymeric pipe such as hdpe pipe is split . one example includes 2 inch outer diameter hdpe gas line splitting . one of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure will recognize that other pipe materials such as other polymers , copper , other metals capable of being split , etc . are within the scope of the invention . using hdpe gas line splitting as an example , it has been found , that old pipes are sometimes distorted in an out of round shape , however , the wall thickness is quite consistent . in one example , pulling the shaping mandrel 210 through the pipe 250 before splitting forms the pipe 250 into a predictable configuration prior to a splitting operation . although a round cross section pipe 250 is used as an example , other shapes and corresponding shaping mandrels 210 are within the scope of the invention . fig2 a also illustrates a leading feature 211 such as a taper or similar configuration to aid in pulling the shaping mandrel 210 into the pipe 250 . one problem to be overcome in splitting pipes is that frequently there are adjacent utilities buried in close proximity to the pipe to be split . some adjacent utilities are fragile , such as fiber optic cables . other adjacent utilities are dangerous such as electrical lines . it is desirable to perform a splitting operation on pipes 250 with minimal impact and minimal danger to a splitting operator . a device and method are needed to reduce damage to adjacent utilities . fig2 a shows a plurality of blades 216 attached to an external surface of the splitter body 212 . the end view of fig2 b shows the plurality of blades 216 located at a number of different angular locations around the surface of the splitter body 210 . the blades 216 are shown with a cutting depth 217 that is less than the wall thickness 252 of the pipe 250 . when the blades 216 are pulled through the pipe 250 , they will therefore not penetrate a surface of the pipe 250 . this configuration ensures that the blades 216 will not contact any adjacent utility lines . this configuration is most effective when there is a consistent wall thickness 252 of the pipe 250 . one application with very consistent wall thickness 252 includes hdpe gas line replacement . in one example , a primary blade 214 is included with the plurality of blades 214 . the primary blade 214 is shown with a primary cutting depth 215 . in one example the primary cutting depth 215 is deeper than the cutting depth 217 of the other blades 216 . using a primary blade 214 provides a more consistent fracture line for the pipe 250 during a splitting operation . in one example the cutting depth 217 of the blades is set at approximately 75 percent of the wall thickness 252 . in one example the primary cutting depth 215 is set at approximately 90 percent of the wall thickness . although eight blades 216 , including one primary blade 214 are shown , the invention is not so limited . other numbers of blades and primary blades are possible without departing from the scope of the invention . although regular angular blade spacing of 45 degrees apart is shown , other embodiments include different blade spacings . fig3 shows an end view of the splitter body 212 and the blades 216 engaging the pipe 250 . as can be seen from the figure , the primary blade 214 is cutting a deeper score in the pipe 250 , but is still not penetrating a surface of the pipe 250 , thus ensuring no damage to an adjacent utility . fig4 illustrates the pipe 250 further after a splitting operation . the pipe 250 shows a number of sections 254 defined by a number of scores 256 such as a 75 percent wall thickness score , or other suitable depth . the pipe 250 in fig4 also shows a break 258 that corresponds to the location of the primary blade 214 . a new pipe 260 is shown pulled into the cavity formed after the splitting operation . an adjacent utility line 270 is shown to illustrate the safety in splitting with blades having a cutting depth less than a wall thickness of the pipe 250 . one problem with splitting pipe such as hdpe gas lines is that the split pipes can have a detrimental shape memory . after splitting with a single blade , the pipe 250 can curl up and tighten about the new pipe 260 . this causes increased friction when pulling the new pipe 260 into the split pipe 250 . by cutting the pipe 250 into a number of sections 254 , any shape memory of the pipe 250 is relaxed , and the new pipe 260 can be pulled into the cavity formed more easily . additionally , by keeping the sections 254 loosely attached at the scores 256 , the pipe 250 is weakened , but still retains some axial integrity . this can help prevent the pipe 250 from bunching up into a number of fractured strands during a splitting operation . an advantage of using a primary blade 214 includes formation of a predictable break line 258 . fig5 illustrates further aspects of one embodiment of a splitter system 500 in operation performing a split and replacement . when polymer pipe such as hdpe gas pipe is installed , it is often fused in sections using some form of heat source . each fusion joint tends to form a bead 552 , which often protrudes into an interior of the pipe 250 as shown in the figure . in one embodiment , the bead 552 rides up over a shaping mandrel 510 similar to other embodiments described above . the bead 552 is shown in fig5 being forced outward over the shaping mandrel 510 along arrows 524 . as shown in fig5 , a splitter body 512 and a number of blades 514 are coupled behind the shaping mandrel 510 . in one embodiment an interior portion of the bead 552 is removed from the pipe 550 prior to splitting on the blades 514 . a cutting blade 522 is shown adjacent to a cavity 520 as one example of a device to remove a portion of the bead 552 . in fig6 , the bead 552 is shown after it passes over the shaping mandrel 510 and an interior portion 554 is sheared off the bead 552 by the cutting blade 522 . in one example a cavity 520 is included as illustrated . in one example , the cavity 520 is sized and shaped to accommodate multiple sheared portions 554 of beads 552 . removal of interior portions of beads 552 contributes to a consistent cutting depth of the blades 514 in the wall thickness of the pipe 550 as described in embodiments above . fig7 illustrates further aspects of one embodiment of a splitter system 700 in operation performing a split and replacement . similar to embodiments described above , a shaping mandrel 710 is shown attached to a splitter body 712 , having a number of blades 714 . as in other embodiments , the blades are formed with a cutting depth that is less than a wall thickness of a pipe to be cut ( not shown in fig7 ). a pulling member 742 such as a pulling rod , cable , directional drill stem , etc . is shown coupled to a front end of the splitter system 700 . in one embodiment , a non - conductive insert 740 is coupled between the shaping mandrel 710 and the pulling member 742 . when splitting an insulating material such as hdpe , if an adjacent electrical line were breached and came into contact with metal cutting blades , electricity could travel down the pulling member 742 towards a pulling device such as a winch , rod puller , etc . by inserting a non - conductive insert 740 between the splitter body 712 and the pulling member 742 , a potential for electrical shock is reduced . in one example , a non - conductive insert 740 includes a fiberglass insert . other non - conductive inserts 740 of sufficient strength and toughness are also possible . fig7 further illustrates an expander 720 coupled behind the splitter body 712 . a new pipe 730 is shown being pulled in behind the splitter system 700 . in one embodiment , a fluid is pumped into the new pipe 730 as shown along lines 732 and the fluid is expelled in front of the expander 720 . one or more ports 722 are shown on the expander in fig7 to expel fluid as shown by arrows 734 . examples of fluids include water , slurries of clay and water , or other suitable fluids . in other embodiments , the fluid is pumped through a supply hose ( not shown ) that is pulled within the new pipe 730 . using a supply hose eliminates contamination of the inside of the new pipe 730 with residue from the fluid . in one method of pipe installation , the new pipe 730 is used as a liner , and a replacement line such as a gas line is further introduced within the new pipe 730 for service . using such a pipe within a pipe configuration , there are no contamination issues from pumping a fluid directly by flooding an interior of the new pipe 730 . fig8 illustrates further aspects of one embodiment of a splitter system 800 in operation performing a split and replacement . similar to embodiments described above , a shaping mandrel 810 is shown attached to a splitter body 812 , having a number of blades 814 . as in other embodiments , the blades are formed with a cutting depth that is less than a wall thickness of a pipe to be cut ( not shown in fig8 ). in one embodiment , the splitter system 800 includes a non - conductive insert 840 between the shaping mandrel 810 and a pulling member 842 . in addition , the embodiment of fig8 illustrates a lubricant dispenser 850 located in front of the shaping mandrel 810 . in a further effort to reduce friction in the system , the lubricant dispenser helps the shaping mandrel 810 and other following components to slide within the pipe to be replaced . one example of a simple and effective lubricant dispenser includes a sponge soaked in lubricant , located in advance of the shaping mandrel 810 and other components . a number of advanced lubricants are available that could be soaked into a sponge or similar lubricant retaining material and refilled or otherwise recharged before a new splitting operation . other lubricant dispensers such as a fluid reservoir and ports , or a supply through a line from an external source are also possible . fig9 shows an example flow diagram of a method of splitting a pipe using one or more device configurations as described above . in operation 910 , a splitter body is pulled through a pipe . in operation 912 , a portion of a wall thickness in the pipe is cut in a plurality of angular locations around an inside diameter of the pipe using a plurality of blades , each with a cutting depth that is less than the wall thickness of the pipe . operations 914 and 916 illustrate expanding the pipe , and pulling in a new pipe behind the expander . as described above , in one embodiment , a shape memory of the split pipe is relieved by multiple interior scores using such as configuration , and friction on any new pipe being pulled in is reduced . by cutting only a portion of the wall thickness , adjacent utilities such as fragile fiber optics , or electrical lines are protected . while a number of advantages of embodiments of the invention are described , any lists of above mentioned advantages are not intended to be exhaustive . although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein , it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that any arrangement which is calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiment shown . this application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the present invention . it is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative , and not restrictive . combinations of the above embodiments , and other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description . the scope of the invention includes any other applications in which the above structures and methods are used . the scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the appended claims , along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled . | 5 |
the principle of the invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to an anti - noise system in which the filter coefficients of the digital filter present in the control unit are adapted with the aid of a modified least mean squares algorithm , which is also termed &# 34 ; modified lms algorithm &# 34 ; below . however , the principles of the invention are not restricted to a modified lms algorithm , but can also be applied to other known algorithms for adaptation of the filter coefficients , for example rls . the given principles are also applicable in , for example , anti - vibration systems , in which a signal is generated to cancel out a specific primary vibration in a construction . the invention described can be implemented in systems which have multiple inputs for reference signals and residual signals and multiple outputs for cancellation control signals . as an example , a system is devised here which has one reference signal , one residual signal and one cancellation control signal . the example also relates to a system in which the reference signal is not contaminated by a response from the cancellation control signal . this contamination frequently occurs in stochastic anti - noise systems ( see , for example , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 677 , 676 ). the simplifications in this example do not detract from the general validity of the invention . generalisation to a multi - channel system , and making allowance for the contamination are within the scope of a person skilled in the art . fig1 shows a known system for cancelling out a primary noise signal d ( t ). the system makes use of a feedforward control strategy in which information relating to the primary signal d ( t ) to be extinguished is as far as possible known to the system beforehand via the reference signal x ( t ). this can be realised with the aid of a sensor ( for example a microphone or an optical rev counter in the case of an engine ) close to the source of the primary signal . the signal originating from the sensor is then submitted to the system as reference signal x ( t ) via a transmission path which is faster than the transmission path of the primary signal itself . a control unit 1 receives the reference signal x ( t ) and , on the basis of the signal , calculates a cancellation control signal u ( t ) which is supplied to a secondary source 2 . in the case of an anti - noise system , the secondary source 2 comprises one or more loudspeakers which generate the desired &# 34 ; anti - noise &# 34 ; on the basis of the cancellation control signal . after the anti - noise signal has travelled over a certain acoustic path having a transfer function b / a , which may or may not be time - dependent , it arrives as secondary signal sec ( t ) at the location where the primary signal d ( t ) has to be cancelled out as far as possible . at this location the primary signal d ( t ) and the secondary signal sec ( t ) are added together , which is indicated diagrammatically by an addition point 3 . the addition point 3 does not have to be a physical addition means ; it can also be the space in which the primary signal d ( t ) and the secondary signal sec ( t ) meet one another . a residual signal ε ( t ) then remains at this location , which residual signal is detected by a sensor 4 . the sensor 4 can comprise one or more microphones . the signal y ( t ) emitted by the sensor is fed to an update unit 5 , which , on the basis of the signal and on the basis of the reference signal x ( t ) which is also supplied to the unit , calculates an update signal up ( t ) and feeds the latter to the control unit 1 . with the aid of the update signal up ( c ), the filter coefficients of the digital filter present in the control unit are adapted in accordance with a predetermined algorithm . the filter can be an adaptive transversal filter . the adaptation of the filter is needed because the characteristics of the primary signal d ( t ) can change with time . in low - frequency systems a function criterion which can be suitably minimized is the square of the acoustic pressure as detected by the sensor 4 . a known algorithm which makes use of this is the least mean squares algorithm with filtered reference signal , hereinafter referred to by the abbreviated term &# 34 ; filtered - x - lms algorithm &# 34 ;. the filtered - x - lms algorithm is based on a normal lms algorithm for an adaptive filter , which is adapted in order to take account of the effect of a transfer function between the output of the filter and an error signal . the filtered - x - lms algorithm can be used both for periodic and for stochastic primary signals and can easily be implemented in software and hardware . fig2 shows a block diagram which forms the basis for the filtered - x - lms algorithm . if the block diagram according to fig1 were to be used as the basis , the characteristics of the transfer function b / a of the secondary path would be incorporated in the gradient of the residual signal ε ( t ). therefore , these characteristics would also have to be incorporated in the update function , as implemented by the update unit 5 . moreover , the residual signal ε ( t ) is coupled to the status of the digital filter in the control unit 1 at various earlier sampling times because the secondary path inter alia introduces time delays . assuming that the variation in the filter coefficients with time is slight compared with the reaction time of the secondary process , the block diagram shown in fig2 is equivalent to that in fig1 . in the diagram in fig2 the secondary path has been taken out of the control circuit and positioned between the reference signal x ( t ) and the input of the control unit 1 . therefore , the reference signal x ( t ) is , as it were , subjected to the transfer function b / a of the secondary path before being fed to the control unit 1 ( and the update unit 5 ). elements in fig2 which are the same as those in fig1 are designated by the same reference numerals . fig2 differs from fig1 in a few respects : the secondary signal sec &# 39 ;( t ) is an electrical signal , the primary signal d ( t ) is converted , via a converter 6 , into an electrical signal before it is added by an addition unit 7 to the secondary signal sec &# 39 ;( t ) and the residual signal y &# 39 ;( t ) is already an electrical signal , which can be fed directly to the update unit 5 . application of the lms algorithm in the system according to fig2 leads to the abovementioned filtered - x - lms algorithm , which is simple to implement , both in respect of software and in respect of hardware . further details on this algorithm can be found in : b . widrow and s . d . stearns , &# 34 ; adaptive signal processing &# 34 ;, englewood cliffs , prentice hall , 1985 ; s . j . elliott , i . m . stothers and p . a . nelson , &# 34 ; a multiple error lms algorithm and its application to the active control of sound and vibration &# 34 ;, ieee trans . acoust ., speech , signal processing ., vol . assp 35 , pp . 1423 - 1434 , oct . 1987 ; and l . j . eriksson , m . c . allie and r . a . greiner , &# 34 ; the selection and application of an iir adaptive filter for use in active sound attenuation &# 34 ;, ieee trans . acoust ., speech , signal processing , vol . assp 35 , pp . 433 - 437 , april 1987 . it can be demonstrated that the assumption of slowly changing filter coefficients has an adverse effect on the convergence speed of the filtered - x - lms algorithm . fig3 shows a system with which , according to the invention , the convergence speed can be increased , with retention of the properties of the conventional lms algorithm , and is therefore also easier to implement in software and hardware than is , for example , the rls algorithm . the system according to fig3 follows on from the system according to fig1 in which the secondary path is located between the output of the control unit 1 and the addition point 3 , which corresponds better to reality . the secondary signal sec ( t ) arriving at the addition point 3 is , like the secondary signal sec ( t ) in fig1 acoustic in nature . the same applies with respect to the residual signal y ( t ). in addition , elements which are the same as those in fig1 are designated by the same reference numerals . the problem of the presence of the secondary path with transfer function b / a between the output of the control unit 1 and the addition point 3 is that the cancellation control signal supplied at a specific point in time by the control unit i is at that point in time not yet present at the addition point 3 . if the cycle time for the calculation of a specific control signal is equal to t , the delay introduced by the secondary path can , for example , be equal to x . t , where x & gt ;& gt ; 1 . a situation could therefore arise in which the control unit generates an ideal cancellation control signal whilst the control unit at the same time receives an update signal up ( t ) ( fig1 ) which is still based on a residual signal y ( t ) which is determined by one or more &# 34 ; old &# 34 ; cancellation control signals . incorrect adaptation of the filter coefficients will then take place . this problem would be solved if the new residual signal , which is associated with the cancellation control signal generated by the control unit at that point in time , were to be known directly . this is now the basic concept behind the system according to fig3 . the update unit 5 according to fig3 comprises a prediction filter 8 to predict the residual signal ε ( t ) which is associated with a specific cancellation control signal u ( t ) and would be produced after conversion of the cancellation control signal u ( t ) into an anti - noise signal by the loudspeaker 2 and after propagation of the anti - noise through the secondary path . the predicted residual signal is converted by the update unit 5 into the update signal up ( t ) for the control unit 1 . the known lms algorithm is thus adapted in such a way that the effect of the secondary path is taken directly into account by means of an estimate of the consequences thereof . fig3 again shows the general situation where the control unit i comprises both a filter for forward coupling 10 and a filter for feedback 11 . in general at least a forward coupling is used for anti - noise or anti - vibration applications . however , the addition of a feedback filter 11 , for which the measured residual signal y ( t ) is needed as a third input signal , makes the circuitry more robust . the addition of a feedback filter is particularly important in the case of the cancellation of vibrations , because the propagation speed of vibration is much higher than that of noise , so that a forward control always comes , as it were , too late . sometimes the forward coupling can even be omitted as a result . the output signals from the forward filter 10 and the feedback filter 11 are added by a summation unit 12 in order to generate the cancellation control signal u ( t ). the summation unit 12 can be accommodated inside the control unit 1 , as shown in fig3 but this does not have to be the case . a brief derivation will be given below of a preferred algorithm for updating the filter coefficients of the forward filter 10 and the feedback filter 11 , the update unit 5 comprising a prediction filter . in the derivation it will be assumed that there is one sensor 4 with one output signal y ( t ). the error criterion which must be minimised is : ## equ5 ## where : θ = a vector which comprises the coefficients of the filters used ; y pred ( t , θ )= the predicted value of the measured residual signal . the predicted value y pred ( t , θ ) of the measured residual signal must be generated by the prediction filter 8 , which is accommodated in the update unit 5 . the output signal y ( t ) of the sensor 4 can be written as follows : a , b , c , d = system polynomes in the &# 34 ; backward shift &# 34 ; operator q - 1 , the formulation of equation ( 2 ) takes account of the presence of white noise or other interference signals in the residual signal which do not occur in the reference signal . the following relationship between the input and output signals of the control unit 1 in the configuration given in fig3 can be formulated : where r comprises the coefficients [ 1 r 1 . . . r nr ], w the coefficients [ w 0 w 1 . . . w nw ] and s the coefficients [ s 0 s 1 . . . s ns ]. the coefficients of r , w , s form the parameters which are to be sought for the forward filter 10 and the feedback filter 11 . in other words : a transfer function -- w / r can be defined for the forward filter 10 and a transfer function -- s / r can be defined for the feedback filter 11 . the essence of the control according to fig3 is , now , that the criterion function defined in equation ( 1 ) is minimised recursively by estimating θ thereof . θ is a vector which comprises all coefficients of r , w , s : θ =[ 1 r . sub . 1 . . . r . sub . nr / w . sub . 0 w . sub . 1 . . . w . sub . nw / s . sub . 0 s . sub . 1 . . . s . sub . ns ]. sup . t θ is now adapted by iteration in the direction of the negative gradient : if an lms algorithm is applied , f is then the so - called identity matrix ; if , on the other hand , the normalised lms algorithm known per se is applied , f is then a scalar which is equal to the average of the square of the energy of all input signals x f , u f and y f ( see equation ( 7 ) below for a definition of these signals ); if the rls algorithm ( rls = recursive least squares ) is applied , f is then the estimated hessian of the error criterion . based on a time - invariant control unit , the following relationship can be drawn up : ## equ6 ## it follows from equation ( 5 ): ## equ7 ## if the following filtered signals are defined : ## equ8 ## y pred ( t ) can then be written as follows : an implementation of a circuit for the generation of the signal vector y pred ( t ) based on equation ( 8 ) is shown in the form of a block diagram in fig4 a . the diagram shown in fig4 a comprises a multiplication unit 13 which receives the reference signal x ( t ), the cancellation signal u ( t ) and the output signal y ( t ) from the sensor ( s ) 4 as input signals . the input signals are then multiplied by b / a in order to provide the respective signals x ff ( t ), u ff ( t ) and y ff ( t ). the last - mentioned signals are fed to three parallel multiplication units 14 , 15 and 16 respectively for multiplication by w , r and s respectively . the output signals from the three multiplication units 14 , 15 , 16 are fed to an addition unit 17 , which has an output connected to an inverting input of a subtraction unit 20 . the subtraction unit 20 has a non - inverting input connected to the signal y ( t ). the subtraction unit 20 supplies the signal y pred ( t ). the following recursive relationships can be drawn up for updating the coefficients w i , r i , s i i = 0 , 1 , . . . ): w . sub . i ( t )= w . sub . i ( t - 1 )+ μ ( t )· f . sup .- 1 ( t )· y . sub . pred ( t )· x . sup . f ( t - i ), i = 0 , 1 , . . . r . sub . j ( t )= r . sub . j ( t - 1 )+ μ ( t )· f . sup .- 1 ( t )· y . sub . pred ( t )· u . sup . f ( t - j ), j = 1 , . . . s . sub . k ( t )= s . sub . k ( t - 1 )+ μ ( t )· f . sup .- 1 ( t )· y . sub . pred ( t )· y . sup . f ( t - k ), k = 0 , 1 , . . . ( 9 ) to express it in a different way : three update vectors up w , up r and up s respectively can be defined for updating the coefficients of w , r and s respectively : ## equ10 ## fig4 b shows a block diagram for a circuit with which the three the update vectors up w , up r and up s ; respectively can be generated . in the circuit according to fig4 b , the signal y pred ( t ) is fed to a circuit comprising a multiplication unit 21 for multiplying by the step size parameter μ ( t ) and a multiplication unit 22 for multiplying by the direction optimisation matrix f - 1 ( t ), connected in series . the output signal from the multiplication unit 22 is fed to three multiplication units 23 , 24 and 25 , which are connected in parallel , for multiplying by , respectively , φ x ( t ), φ u ( t ) and φ y ( t ) and to provide the respective signals up w ( t ) , up r ( t ) and up s ( t ) . the step size parameter μ ( t ) can assume any desired value . a value which has been found to be suitable in practice when the normalised lms algorithm is applied is μ = 0 . 6 . simulations have shown that the convergence speed for an algorithm based on equation ( 9 ) is significantly faster than that for a filtered - x - lms algorithm . the convergence behaviour is comparable with that of a conventional lms algorithm in a control circuit without a secondary path with transfer function b / a . it will be evident that if a feedback filter 11 is not used then : s = 0 and that if a forward filter 10 is not used then : w = 0 . the widely used transversal filter is achieved with s = 0 and r = 1 . as will be obvious to a person skilled in the art , the various filters mentioned -- the prediction filter 8 , the forward filter 10 and the feedback filter 11 -- do not have to be filter units which are distinguishable in terms of hardware . they can each be implemented in software in a manner known to a person skilled in the art . the control unit 1 can , for example , be incorporated in a computer , in which the update unit 5 with the prediction filter 8 is also located . in the above it has been assumed that the secondary transfer path having transfer function b / a is time - invariant . in reality this is seldom the case because , for example , changes in temperature and physical changes in the secondary path cause the coefficients of the transfer function b / a to change with time . ideally , the coefficients must continuously be adapted to reality . with the system according to fig3 the changing coefficients of the transfer function b / a over time can be estimated and taken into account in the calculations . to this end , the output of the sensor ( s ) 4 is also coupled to a path identification unit 9 , which generates an estimate of the coefficients of the transfer function b / a . the path identification unit 9 also receives the reference signal x ( t ) and has an output coupled to the update unit 5 . via the connection with the update unit 5 , the path identification unit 9 transmits a signal corr ( t ), which represents the estimated values of the coefficients of the transfer vector . the signal corr ( t ) is used by the update unit 5 to adapt the values of the coefficients of the transfer function b / a if necessary . various algorithms are known which can be used for correct path identification . see , for example : g . c . goodwin and k . s . sin , &# 34 ; adaptive filtering , prediction and control &# 34 ;, englewood cliffs , prentice hall , 1984 ; and t soderstrom and p . stoica , &# 34 ; system identification &# 34 ;, englewood cliffs , prentice hall , 1989 . the invention is not restricted to one of the specific algorithms described in the publications . | 6 |
fig1 shows a sun visor 100 with a picture frame 150 attached . the sun visor 100 is a component of a motorized vehicle , such as a car , truck , motor home , bus , airplane , train , boat , etc . the sun visor 100 can include a mirror 110 , and the picture frame 150 can be of a size configured to fit on the visor 100 without blocking the mirror 110 ( e . g ., three inches high by five inches wide , five inches high by three inches wide , or other dimensions ). the frame 150 is attached to the visor 100 using a connector 160 . the connector 160 can be a hook - based fastener , such as the strip tape shown in fig1 ( e . g ., hook - and - loop - based fastening tape or hook - and - hook - based fastening tape , such as velcro tape , which can be attached to the frame by an adhesive or by inserting the fastening tape through slits or openings in the back of the frame that allow the tape to be rotationally oriented with respect to the frame before being secured to the visor ). various other types of connectors can also be used , such as mounting clips , magnets or elastic bands . the frame 150 receives and holds a picture and can include various design elements that enhance the presentation of the picture . for example , the frame 150 can include a border 155 and / or other decoration that obscures at least a portion of the picture . the border 155 provides additional visual framing of the picture and can be made of different materials and can have different colors . the border 155 can be made of material with different tactile properties from the rest of the frame 150 ( e . g ., cloth , leather , fur , metal , plastic with a rough surface ), the border 155 can be made of a colored , transparent material ( i . e ., a partially opaque material that obscures the picture by coloring its visual appearance ), and the border 155 can be made of a combination of such materials and can include other design elements ( e . g ., words or phrases , as described further below ). the design elements of the frame 150 can be split between a frame body and a frame cover , allowing an individual to readily customize the frame &# 39 ; s appearance as desired . for example , the frame body can be a clear plastic , rounded - corners rectangle ( it is to be understood that the shape of the frame 150 can also be a design element of the frame , and the present invention is not limited to specifically rectangular frames , either with or without rounded - corners ), and the frame cover can include the border 155 . the frame cover can be mounted over the frame body in a quick - release fashion , such as described below . fig2 shows an example picture frame . the example picture frame includes a frame body 200 and a frame cover 250 . the frame body 200 can be two transparent plastic panels 210 coupled together at three of four sides , thereby forming a slot 220 into which a picture can be inserted . the frame body 200 can be constructed of a durable , lightweight , plastic material , such as a polyvinyl chloride ( pvc ) material . the frame body 200 should have a total thickness suitable to the expected display location , such as a total thickness of less than half an inch in the case of visor attachment , and the slot 220 should be large enough to receive typical photographic paper . for example , the slot 220 can be designed to receive and hold up to three photos . the frame body 200 can be flexible or rigid . the frame body 200 can securely hold one or more pictures ( e . g ., the opening to the slot 220 can be on the side of the frame body 200 in the case of visor attachment ), and the frame body 200 can serve as a frame itself , even without a frame cover 250 attached . the frame cover 250 mounts over the frame body 200 in a quick - release fashion and obscures at least a portion of the picture in the frame body 200 . in this example , the frame cover 250 includes a material having a physical property that causes the frame cover 250 to releasably adhere to the frame body 200 . for example , the frame cover 250 can be made of a thin , flexible , plastic material having a smooth surface that links the frame cover 250 with the frame body 200 when the frame cover 250 is placed on the frame body 200 ( e . g ., through electrostatic attraction , shear air pressure , or other forces caused by the physical shape of the frame cover &# 39 ; s surface in relation to the frame body ). alternatively , a material can be applied to one side of the frame cover 250 to generate an adhesive force , such as a thin layer of oil or glue . in general , the physical property of the material used to attach the frame cover 250 to the frame body 200 in this example relates to surface adhesion forces created between the two surfaces . other approaches to forming a quick - release coupling for attaching the frame cover to the frame body are also possible , including some that allow the frame cover to have significant weight and still attach securely . fig3 shows another example picture frame . in this example , a frame cover 350 includes one or more magnets 360 that have their magnetic poles arranged with respect to one or more magnets 370 on the frame body 300 so as to cause the frame body 300 to attract and support the frame cover 350 . the number , size , shape and locations of the magnets 360 , 370 can also be a design element of the frame . fig4 shows another example picture frame . in this example , a frame cover 450 includes a top portion 460 , which resides over the picture when the cover 450 is mounted on the frame body 200 , and also includes side portions 470 ( shown here as being opaque , although they may be transparent as well ) having dimensions that fit snuggly around the frame body 200 . thus , the frame cover 450 is mounted over the frame body 200 in a fashion similar to placing a lid on a box . in this example , the frame cover 450 can also serve to assist in securing the picture within the frame body 200 by covering the opening 220 when the frame cover 450 is mounted on the frame body 200 . the frame cover 450 can also include a latching mechanism , either to secure the frame cover 450 to the frame body 200 , to secure the photo in the frame body 200 , or both . for example , the frame cover 450 can include protrusions , extending toward the frame body , on the inside of the side portions 470 . such protrusions can be placed at the four corners of the frame cover 450 , on the interior of the longer two sides of the side portions 470 , and match up with depressions or holes in the frame body 200 ( e . g ., a detent mechanism ). these protrusions can be used to snap the frame cover 450 onto the frame body 200 and still be releasable using a single hand to squeeze the centers of the longer two sides of the side portions 470 , thereby pulling the protrusions out from the holes or depressions with a single squeezing action . note that the side portions 470 need not connect with each other , or extend completely around the frame cover , as shown in fig4 . the frame covers described above are examples of the types of frame covers contemplated . other types of quick - release couplings are also possible for securing a frame cover to a frame body as described . in general , the frame cover should be removable using a single hand and without tools , thus allowing an individual to readily change the frame cover , and thereby the appearance of the picture display , as desired . moreover , the frame cover should be generally transparent to allow the picture to be viewed through the frame cover , but can also include visually opaque decorations , which can range from only slightly opaque to fully opaque ( i . e ., the frame cover need not be fully transparent at any particular location ). fig5 shows example frame covers 510 , 520 , 530 including different decorations . as shown , the frame covers can include decoration that provides visual framing of the picture in the frame body through transparent windows 515 , 525 , 535 . such decoration on the frame cover can include messages ( including sayings or trademarks ), images ( including photographic images or logos ), or both . the decoration on the frame cover need not be confined to the lateral dimensions of the frame body , as shown by the frame cover 530 . moreover , the decoration can be partially transparent , fully opaque , or some combination of these . the invention has been described in terms of particular embodiments . other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims . for example , the frame can be designed to display multiple pictures simultaneously . the frame can be attached to other interior components of a motorized vehicle , such as a head rest or back pocket of a front seat for viewing from the back seat . many different types of display options ( both images and sayings ) are possible for the frame cover , and an individual can be allowed to create their own personalized frame cover , either at the point of sale or by ordering the frame cover for delivery , such as by using software to enable individual frame cover personalization . moreover , the picture frame device can be used in environments other than a motorized vehicle . | 6 |
this description is directed to those skilled in the orthodontics art . in this description , contributing parts and procedures that are well known to those skilled in the art or otherwise not essential to an understanding of the invention are described without any unnecessary detail to avoid any confusion . for example , before working on any dental impression , the orthodontist should disinfect it with a disinfection solution as is known in the art . since this disinfecting treatment is known in the art , this and similar treatments and products have not been mentioned here . the method of the present invention will now be described with reference to the attached figures . upper and lower impressions of a patient with malocclusion are taken by the doctor , e . g ., dentist or orthodontist , in impression trays as shown in fig1 , which shows an impression 10 of the upper teeth 11 and gum 12 being taken in an impression tray 13 . impressions are poured with a casting material e . g . : epoxy resin , to make upper and lower dental arch casts , an upper cast 14 with upper cast teeth 11 ′ being shown in fig2 . epoxy is a tough synthetic resin , containing epoxy groups , that sets with specific time and further hardens when heat or pressure is applied . the casting material , e . g ., epoxy resin is poured in the impression approximately 2 mm above the gum margin as shown in the circled area in fig1 . after the setting time as specified by the manufacturer , casts are removed from the impressions one by one . excessive epoxy material is removed from the epoxy casts and any voids created during the casting process are filled out . this produces the exact replica of patient &# 39 ; s teeth in the form of epoxy casts , an upper cast being shown in fig2 . both the epoxy casts are placed into occlusion on any flat surface . if required , their bases are trimmed in such a way that when both arches are placed in occlusion their bases are parallel to each other . excessive epoxy material is removed from the epoxy casts , the upper cast 14 of which is shown in fig2 , and any voids are filled out . each epoxy cast , e . g ., cast 14 , is placed in a thermoforming machine ( e . g ., a biostar thermoforming machine ) to make the polymer shell 15 on it as shown in fig3 . in the method described herein , the polymer shell 15 is referred to as a “ zero aligner ” (“ za ”). the polymeric shells 15 fit snugly over the casts 14 , thus creating a plural of the dental casts or zero aligners ( zas ). zero aligners 15 ( zas ) are trimmed following the curves of scalloped gum line to remove all the excess plastic material around the cast , leaving about 1 mm below the gum line on buccal side , while excess material is left within the configuration of arch form . this is to give more strength to the polymeric shells to ensure the accuracy in the later process as shown in fig3 . zero aligners ( zas ) are then removed from the epoxy casts and stored to be used in the later procedures . the drawings show the manner in which the upper cast and its zero aligner ( za ) are made ; the lower cast and its zero aligner ( za ) are made in a corresponding manner . each cast tooth 11 ′ is then carefully separated out of epoxy casts using different cutting tools and given a tooth id so that they are not misplaced later . a modified cutting technique , referred to herein as the butterfly technique , can be applicable in some cases . in this technique as shown in fig4 and 5 , only those teeth 11 ′ are segmented which are desired to be moved or are mal - aligned , while the rest of teeth 11 ″ are united together , with a metal bar 16 . as shown in fig4 and 5 , the butterfly technique is used and a joining bar 16 connects the posterior teeth 11 ″ with each other which are not desired to be cut . as shown in fig5 , all the separated teeth 11 ′ are trimmed and finished in such a way that at the end , a tooth crown 17 with a short stump 18 representing the root is created with a cervical margin 18 ′ there between . the quality of the segmented teeth is verified to check if any tooth structure is lost during this process and is rebuilt if required according to the original dentition . holes are drilled at the base of each tooth stump 18 , and in each uncut segment if the butterfly technique is used , and custom made pins 19 are inserted and fixed inside each hole by using bonding material . the pins 19 have a head 20 , a threaded or corrugated body 21 , first and second band parts 22 and 22 ′, and a neck 22 ″ there between . it can be advantageous to use a pin that has a 5 mm head 20 , an 10 mm threaded or corrugated body 21 , first and second band parts 22 and 22 ′ of 2 mm and 1 mm , respectively , a neck 22 ″ of 1 mm , and a 4 mm tail ( the portion not shown within the cast tooth 11 ′). each cut tooth / uncut segment is then manually inserted in already made zero aligners ( zas ) into their own respective position as shown in fig7 a and 7b for upper arch . a custom made frame , shown in fig8 a and 8b , referred to herein as an “ arch reconstruction frame ” (“ arf ”) is placed in a custom made articulator , shown herein in fig9 a and 9b , referred to herein as a “ vertical articulator ” (“ va ”) as shown in fig1 a . arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 23 are custom made frames made up of varying materials and thickness according to their use as shown in fig8 a and 8b . each arch reconstruction frame 23 has a frame body 24 and alignment holes 25 . each arch reconstruction frame 23 may have metallic balls 26 and screw holes 27 . the vertical articulator 28 , as shown in fig9 a and 9b , has a base 29 and two vertical bars 30 attached to a base 29 . the vertical bars 30 help to secure the arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 23 during the arch reconstruction procedure and reloading the upper and lower arches in relation as it exists in patient &# 39 ; s mouth ( bite setting procedure ). arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 23 are provided on the vertical articulator 28 as shown in fig1 a and provide a casting boundary which holds and shapes the thermoplastic material , this thermoplastic material shaped in a horseshoe shape provides a medium for holding teeth with the help of their associated fixtures in their original as well as modified positions . a non - sticky doughy material 31 is poured inside the arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 23 secured at the base 29 of the vertical articulator ( va ) 28 as shown in fig1 b . one non - sticky doughy material that may be used is alginate . alginate is a type of impression material that is used in dental practice to take the dental impressions . it is available in powder form and when mixed with water it becomes semisolid and then takes a rubbery consistency when finally set within a few minutes . as shown in fig1 c , one set of cast teeth 11 ′, 11 ″, upper teeth in this example , along with pins 19 are placed inside the zero aligner ( za ) 15 into a freshly poured alginate impression layer 31 in such a way that heads 20 of the pins 19 dip inside the freshly poured semisolid layer alginate layer 31 . after a few minutes , the alginate material layer 31 gets solidified . then another arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 23 ′ is placed on the top of already placed arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 23 in the vertical articulator 28 as shown in fig1 d . any potential gaps between two arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 23 , 23 ′ are sealed and blocked , e . g ., with any block out material . alginate / silicone material 32 is used to fulfill this purpose as shown in fig1 e . a thermoplastic material 33 , such as wax , is melted and poured inside the arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 23 ′ over the alginate layer 31 in such a way that all the threaded / corrugated portions 21 of pins 19 are provided within and surrounded by molten wax 33 . the wax 33 is poured up to the band part 22 of the pins 19 as shown in fig1 f . the wax 33 cools down after a few minutes ; this cooling process can be accelerated by application of some cooling agent . once the wax 33 cools down and gets hard , the block out material 32 which was used to seal and block the gap between two arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) is removed . the second arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 23 ′ is taken out of the vertical articulator 28 , as shown in fig1 g and 11 . the second arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 23 ′ has pins 19 embedded in the wax 33 up to the band part 22 of the pins 19 , while heads 20 of the pins will be exposed as the alginate 31 will not let the wax 33 come in contact with the pin heads 22 and , at the same time , the alginate 31 will not stick to the pin heads 20 . this technique is termed “ pin &# 39 ; s head exposing technique .” after the second arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 23 ′ is taken out of the vertical articulator 28 , the entire upper arch has been reconstructed . fig1 a and 12b show , respectively , the whole upper arch reconstructed and position of teeth inside the patient &# 39 ; s mouth . as can be seen comparing fig1 a with fig1 b , the position of teeth in the reconstructed arch achieved after going through this process will essentially be same as the position of teeth inside the patient &# 39 ; s mouth or the position of teeth in an impression taken by the doctor ( see fig1 ). this technique is referred to herein as “ zeroing ”. the za is then cut and separated from the upper reconstructed arch . in the following discussion , bite registration means the inter - arch relationship of upper and lower teeth of the patient . an accurate bite registration is necessary to establish the proper occlusal relationship during mounting of the two arches . it is also necessary while correcting malocclusions so that teeth can be reconstructed and adjusted without creating inter - arch interferences . a negative replica of this relationship may be provided by the treating dentist or orthodontist along with the patient &# 39 ; s impressions . in dentistry , occlusion refers to the manner in which the teeth of upper and lower arches come together when the mouth is closed . two new arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 34 , 35 are mounted one by one at the base 29 of a vertical articulator 28 . any potential gaps between two arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 34 , 35 are sealed and blocked out , e . g ., with a block out material 32 ′. the arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 23 ′ having upper cast teeth 11 ′, 11 ″ are then placed in the vertical articulator 28 in such a way that heads of the pins 20 face upwards as shown in fig1 a . then a zero aligner ( za ) 15 having lower teeth with attached pins 19 is brought in close approximation with the upper reconstructed arch held in the arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 23 ′. once the desired position representing the occlusion of patient is achieved , sticky material 36 ( see fig1 d ) is used to glue the two arches in that position as shown in fig1 b . to maximize the accuracy of this inter - arch relationship , the patient &# 39 ; s bite registration and photographs can be used . a freshly mixed alginate layer is placed inside the arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 35 already placed at the base of the vertical articulator ( va ) 28 . then , the whole assembly of upper reconstructed arch held in arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 23 ′ along with the glued lower zero aligner ( za ) 15 having lower cast teeth in it is brought to the base of a vertical articulator 28 in such a way that heads of the pins 19 of the lower teeth dip inside the freshly mixed alginate material . once the alginate is solidified , melted wax 33 ′ is poured inside the arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 34 over the alginate layer in such a way that all of the threaded / corrugated portion 21 of pins 19 of the lower cast teeth are dipped inside the wax 33 ′ and threaded / corrugated portion 21 of the pins 19 is surrounded by molten wax . the wax 33 ′ is poured up to the band part 22 of pins 19 of lower teeth as shown in fig1 c and 13d . the wax 33 ′ cools down after a few minutes ; this cooling process can be accelerated by application of some cooling agent . once the wax 33 ′ cools down and gets hard , the glue 36 used to unite the upper reconstructed arch held in the arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 23 ′ and the lower zero aligner ( za ) 15 and the block out material 32 ′ that was used to seal and block the gap between two arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 34 , 35 are removed . upper arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) is taken out of the vertical articulator leaving behind the lower reconstructed arch enclosed in lower zero aligner ( za ) 15 as shown in fig1 . the lower zero aligner 15 is then cut and removed from the lower reconstructed arch . in order to attain the same vertical position every time whenever desired , two screws 38 can be provided at the boundary of arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) in screw holes 27 ( see fig2 ). the above - described process provides upper and lower reconstructed arches , with each tooth 11 ′ and uncut segment 11 ″ having a pin 19 , the corrugated portion 21 of pins 19 being surrounded by wax 33 , 33 ′ and heads 20 of the pins 19 exposed . moreover , when the two arches are placed inside the vertical articulator ( va ) 28 , they represent the occlusion present inside the patient &# 39 ; s mouth . the occlusion of reconstructed arches is established with the help of specially designed arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 23 ′, 34 and vertical articulator ( va ) 28 as shown in fig1 a - 15d . fig1 a and 15b show front views , respectively , of the upper and lower processed arches ( held in arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 23 ′, 34 ) together and the occlusion in the patient &# 39 ; s mouth while fig1 c and 15d show side views , respectively , of the upper and lower processed arches ( held in arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 23 ′, 34 ) together and the occlusion in the patient &# 39 ; s mouth . the separated teeth 11 ′ present in wax 33 , 33 ′ can now be moved progressively to obtain their desired position ( aligned position ) depending on the malocclusion and as required by the treating doctor . as shown in fig1 and 17 , thin layer of a good insulating material 37 , i . e ., a thermo - resistant material ( e . g ., alginate or silicone material ), which melts at a higher temperature than wax 33 , is placed on the top and bottom exposed surfaces of wax 33 present in arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 23 ′. this will prevent the heat from reaching the wax 33 directly that can melt the whole wax layer especially wax present around the neighboring teeth . if the insulating layer is placed on one surface then it is named as “ double layer technique ” and if on both the surfaces then it is named as “ triple layer technique ” as shown in fig1 . in order to keep a digital picture record of the progressive movements of tooth / teeth , a digital picture recorder ( dpr ) is used . as shown in fig1 a , 18 b and 19 , the digital picture recorder ( dpr ) 39 has a platform 40 , which supports arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 23 ′, 34 and one or more cameras 41 a , 41 b , 41 c and 41 d . the arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 23 ′, 34 and one of the cameras 41 a are supported on a vertical bars platform 42 . as better shown in fig1 , vertical bars platform 42 includes a plurality of magnets 43 that correspond in location to the balls 26 on the arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 23 ′, 34 . this magnet / ball system 43 , 26 will allow the arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 23 ′, 34 to be placed at the same position every time . bars 30 ′, 30 ′ also provide for alignment of the arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 23 ′, 34 using holes 25 in the arch reconstruction frames ( arfs ) 23 ′, 34 , as shown in fig1 and 20 . digital cameras 41 a , 41 b , 41 c and 41 d are placed all around the platform 40 to take the pictures from different perspective angles / views as shown in fig1 a . before giving any movement to any tooth , an arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) having a reconstructed arch is placed on the platform 42 of digital picture recorder ( dpr ) 39 as shown in fig1 b . photographs are then taken with digital cameras 41 a , 41 b , 41 c and 41 d placed around the platform 40 to take the pictures from different perspective angles / views as shown in fig1 a and the photographs appropriately named , e . g ., as “ picture # 1 .” the arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) is then removed and desired tooth / teeth are moved using following process . to move any tooth in a reconstructed arch , the insulating layer 37 is removed around that specific tooth . the arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) containing that reconstructed arch is placed in a movement platform with heads 20 of the pins 19 exposed , e . g ., facing downward . depending upon the desired movement which can be in any one axis , a mechanical movement device is placed under that tooth in such a way that the pin &# 39 ; s head 20 fits into the tooth fixture clamp / slot present in the mechanical movement device . then it is locked to stabilize the whole assembly . an example of a movement platform is shown in fig2 a and 21b , which show , respectively , a side perspective view and a top perspective view of the movement platform 44 . the movement platform 44 shown in this example is a custom made device having a base 45 supported on legs 46 . vertical bars 47 , spaced a distance corresponding to the bars 30 of the vertical articulator 28 , are provided to be inserted through holes 25 of an arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) to hold the arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) containing a reconstructed arch in place . the base 45 has a u - shaped track 48 to guide an adjustment arm 49 on which a mechanical movement device can move . the adjustment arm 49 can be locked in a desired position in the u - shaped track 48 using a locking screw 50 . mechanical movement devices , generally designated by the reference numeral 51 ( see fig2 a and 22b ) are customized mechanical tools designed to move an individual tooth with its associated pin fixture in either direction along or around a single axis . there are at least four types of movement tools , including a : i . rotational tool ( for movement of tooth around long axis of its pin ); ii . tipping tool ( for movement of crown in one direction and of its pin in opposite direction ); iii . translational tool ( for bodily movement of tooth as a whole in linear plan ); and iv . vertical correction tool ( for downward / upward , i . e ., intrusion / extrusion movement of tooth ). each movement tool assembly has some basic parts which are common in all tools , although the principle design which determines the type of movement that a tool will produce varies in the different tools . in almost every tool there is a tooth fixture clamp / slot , generally designated by the reference numeral 52 , which will receive and snugly engage / receive the head 20 of the pin fixture 19 coming out of the tooth 11 ′. every tool has a ball bearing joint with a rotational base that provides a freedom of adjustment to the tooth fixture clamp / slot 52 . as shown in fig2 a , an arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 23 ′ is then slid along twin vertical bars 47 of the movement platform 44 . a mechanical movement device 51 is provided on the adjustment arm 49 and the adjustment arm 49 moved along u - shaped track 48 so that head 20 of the tooth desired to be moved is aligned with the tooth fixture clamp 52 of the movement tool 51 along the long axis of pin 19 fixed to tooth 11 ′. the adjustment arm 49 is locked in a desired position in the u - shaped track 48 using the locking screw 50 . after this visual adjustment of movement tool &# 39 ; s passive components , the arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) 23 ′ is slid down along the twin vertical bars 47 so that pin &# 39 ; s head 20 ( of tooth desired to be moved ) fits in the tooth clamp / slot fixture 52 and it is tightened . in this state , as shown in fig2 b , the pin 19 of the tooth 11 ′ desired to be moved has its corrugated portion 21 surrounded by wax 33 and its head 20 fitted / locked into the tooth clamp / slot fixture 52 of the mechanical movement device 51 . heat is applied from heater 53 to the tooth fixture clamp / slot 52 of the mechanical movement device 51 , which softens the wax 33 around the corrugated portion 21 of the pin 19 ( as heat is transferred to the pin 19 ). the thin layer of insulating material 37 surrounding other pins &# 39 ; heads 20 will prevent heat from melting unnecessary wax . with the help of the mechanical movement device 51 , measured movement is applied to move the individual tooth into the desired direction in along or about one axis . the wax 33 is again left for some time to cool down and then the mechanical device 51 is unlocked and removed . upper and lower arches are replaced in the vertical articulator and brought in close approximation with each other to check any inter - arch interferences etc . the arch reconstruction frame ( arf ) having the moved tooth / teeth is placed again on the platform 40 of a digital picture recorder ( dpr ) 39 and additional picture ( s ) taken again , e . g ., named as “ picture # 2 .” the pictures can be loaded in software that has the ability to give following benefits : to show the transition from one step to next step to see any unnecessary / unintentional movement of tooth / teeth to keep a digital picture record of the all the previous steps . pictures taken by the above method can also be loaded in certain commercially available software for review . the arch reconstruction frame ( arf ), having moved tooth / teeth in a new position , is now placed inside the thermoforming machine to fabricate a tooth positioner on it . the top insulting layer will prevent the heat of thermoforming machine from melting unnecessary wax and will resist the air pressure as well . tooth positioner is trimmed , finished and is worn by the patient for given time . the same steps are repeated and next tooth positioner is made and worn by the patient till the time that desired position of tooth / teeth is achieved . a diagnostic setup may be accomplished using the described tools and method , which is similar to the process described above and involves : 1 . 1 . zeroing 1 . 2 . arch reconstruction 1 . 3 . establishing bite registration / occlusion 1 . 4 . taking picture # 1 1 . 5 . mounting on the movement platform 1 . 6 . moving one or more tooth / teeth using different movement tools 1 . 7 . taking picture # 2 the only differences from the process for making the tooth positioner described above is that optionally the type of casting material used can differ ( less expensive casting materials such as plaster can be used in this diagnostic setup process ), the amount of movement which is given through the movement devices ( the cast tooth / teeth is / are moved to the desired positions ) and , as this is a diagnostic setup for review only , no tooth positioner is made . rather , the pictures can be uploaded in a flash based software program which morphs the two pictures so that they can be reviewed to see if the goals set by the treating doctor / orthodontist are achieved , keeping in mind all the basic principles of orthodontics . examples of mechanical movement devices are shown in fig2 a - 23f . fig2 a shows an example of the rotational mechanical movement device 51 a . the rotational mechanical movement device 51 a includes a sliding base 54 a into which the adjustment arm 49 of the movement platform 44 is inserted . a ball bearing joint 55 a helps the tooth fixture clamp 52 a to align in the same axis as that of the head 20 of the pin 19 and its associated tooth 11 ′. the ball bearing joint 55 a is locked with the help of locking key 56 a . the clamp adjustment wheel 57 a is used to tighten the tooth fixture clamp 52 a around a head 20 of a pin 19 . the rotational base 58 is rotatable about a longitudinal axis of the tooth fixture clamp 52 a and the rotational base 58 in the direction of the arrows 59 a or 59 a ′. a gauge wheel 60 is provided to help to determine the amount of movement given . a connecting rod 61 connects the gauge wheel 60 to the ball bearing joint 55 a and a connecting bar 62 connects the tooth fixture clamp 52 a to the rotational base 58 . a screw 67 is provided for easy handling of the device . rotating the rotational base 58 and the tooth fixture clamp 52 a about their longitudinal axis in the direction of the arrows 59 a or 59 a ′ gives rotational movement to a cast tooth 11 ′. fig2 b and 23c show an example of a tipping mechanical movement device 51 b . the tipping mechanical movement device 51 b includes a sliding base 54 b into which the adjustment arm 49 of the movement platform 44 is inserted . thus , sliding base 54 b is fixed in position with respect to the base 45 by being fixed to adjustment arm 49 in u - shaped track 48 with the help of locking screw 50 . a tooth fixture slot element 52 b is shaped to receive , in slots provided on two opposite sides thereof , the head 20 of the pin 19 of the associated tooth 11 ′ that is to be moved . the slots of the tooth fixture slot element 52 b do not enclose pin &# 39 ; s head 20 ; rather each slot just pushes the pin &# 39 ; s head 20 in any given direction to generate a rotational movement in which crown 17 and pin &# 39 ; s head 20 move in opposite directions . the tooth fixture slot element 52 b is attached to a sliding platform 64 b by a primary engaging bar 65 b . when gauged handle 63 b is rotated it will move the sliding platform 64 b in linear direction along and with respect to the sliding base 54 b through action of mechanism 66 b . movement given to the sliding platform 64 b will be transferred in the primary engaging bar 65 b and tooth fixture slot element 52 b as they are attached with the sliding platform 64 b . this will push the head 20 of the pin 19 in one direction with out any counter acting force at the opposing end , causing the crown 17 and pin &# 39 ; s head 20 to move in opposite directions as shown by arrows 59 b , 59 b ′. measurement present on the gauged handle 63 b will enable to determine the extent of movement . of course , as shown in fig2 c , by using the slot on the opposite side from that shown being used in fig2 b , the crown 17 and head 20 can be made to move in opposite directions ( shown by arrows 59 b , 59 b ′) opposite to those in fig2 b . fig2 d shows an example of a translational mechanical movement device 51 d . the translational mechanical movement device 51 d includes a sliding base 54 d into which the adjustment arm 49 of the movement platform 44 is inserted . a tooth fixture clamp 52 d receives and clamps the head 20 of the pin 19 of the associated tooth 11 ′ that is to be moved . the clamp adjustment wheel 57 d is used to tighten the tooth fixture clamp 52 d around a head 20 of a pin 19 . the tooth fixture clamp 52 d is attached to a sliding platform 64 d by primary engaging bar 65 d and a ball bearing joint 55 d . when gauged handle 63 d is rotated it will move the sliding platform 64 d in linear direction along the sliding base 54 d through action of mechanism 66 d . movement given to the sliding platform 64 d will be transferred in the primary engaging bar 65 d and tooth fixture clamp 52 d as they are attached with the sliding platform 64 d . since the tooth fixture clamp 52 d is locked with the help of clamp adjustment wheel 57 d , the whole pin 19 is translated along with the tooth 11 ′ in the direction of arrows 59 d and 59 d ′. a pillar 68 is fixed on top surface of the sliding platform 64 d . a connector 69 with u - shaped hook 70 can be placed into a slot in a vertical adjustable holder 71 with locking screw 72 present on the pillar 68 , which is adjustable vertically . the length of connector 69 can also be changed horizontally to reach to the neck part 22 ″ of the post 19 . once the whole assembly is locked , connector 68 with a u - shaped hook 70 at its end is placed in the neck part 22 ′ of the pin 19 . this will help to achieve the movement of pin 19 and tooth 11 ′ as a whole in the same direction . the translational mechanical movement device 51 d can be used without this connector 69 , but without connector 69 there may be a possibility that the cast tooth 11 ′ will lag behind the head 20 of pin 19 which is firmly gripped in the pin fixture clamp 52 d . measurement present on the gauged handle 63 d will enable to determine the extent of movement . fig2 e shows two different connectors 69 ′, 69 ″ for the translational mechanical movement device 51 d shown in fig2 d . each connector 69 ′, 69 ″ includes a u - shaped hook 70 ′, 70 ″, the connector 69 ′, 69 ″ being chosen according to the direction of movement desired as shown by the arrows . fig2 f shows an example of a vertical correction mechanical movement device 51 f . the vertical correction mechanical movement device 51 f includes a sliding base 54 f into which the adjustment arm 49 of the movement platform 44 is inserted . a tooth fixture clamp 52 f receives and clamps the head 20 of the pin 19 of the associated tooth 11 ′ that is to be moved . ball bearing joint 55 f will help the tooth fixture clamp 52 f to align in the same axis as that of the pin fixture 19 and its associated tooth 11 ′. ball bearing joint 55 f is locked with the help of its locking key 56 f . the head 20 is tightened and locked in the tooth fixture clamp 52 f with the clamp adjustment wheel 57 f . when gauged handle 63 f is rotated ( clockwise / anti - clockwise ) it will move the sliding cylinder 65 f in downward / upward direction by a mechanism ( not shown ). since the tooth fixture clamp 52 f is locked with on the head 20 , the whole pin 19 is translated along with the tooth 11 ′ downwards or upwards as shown by the arrow 59 f . measurement present on the gauged handle 63 f will enable to determine the extent of movement . the present invention provides an improved way to replicate the initial position of the patient &# 39 ; s dentition without any chances of adding any error . it also provides an accurate and precise movement to a tooth in an intended direction using mechanical devices capable of moving tooth in a measured manner in at least one direction in or about only one axis . such movements combined over a number of tooth positioners manufactured following movements given through mechanical devices will correct malocclusion as planned . another improvement in the present invention is addition of two insulating layers around the thermoplastic layer ( which holds the teeth ) which provides insulation and stability to the setup at initial and during the course of treatment . the present invention also provides a provision of digital visualization of the patient &# 39 ; s dentition using initial images of the patient &# 39 ; s dentition from different perspectives and images during and at the proposed end of treatment from different perspectives , morphing these to show the transition of treatment and proposed final correction of malocclusion . this gives the treating practitioner and patient an opportunity to view , change or accept the proposed treatment outcome before it is incorporated in the active appliance . while the accompanying figure shows and this description describe some embodiments of the invention , the invention is not limited thereto . one skilled in the art will understand that numerous variations and modifications are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention defined by the following claim ( s ). | 0 |
referring to the drawings , wherein like reference numerals represent like parts throughout the various drawing figures , reference numeral 10 is directed to an instrument ( fig1 - 4 ) for use in neurosensory evaluation . the instrument 10 has a filament 60 which buckles ( fig1 ) when a threshold force is applied axially thereto . this threshold force is substantially constant so that a consistent force is applied to an individual , such as to a finger f ( fig1 ) so that useful evaluation of tactile sensory perception of an individual can be provided . the filament 60 is retractable from a stored position inside an interior chamber 25 of a housing 20 to a deployed position both translating linearly out of the housing 20 and pivoting relative to the housing 20 . when the filament 60 is in the retracted position within the interior chamber 25 , the filament 60 is protected from damage . in essence , and with particular reference to fig5 - 9 , basic details of the instrument 10 are described according to a preferred embodiment . the instrument 10 generally includes two parts including a housing 20 ( see also fig1 - 4 ) and a shuttle 40 . the shuttle 40 moves relative to the housing 20 ( arrows a and b of fig9 ) to move the filament 60 from its stored position within the interior chamber 25 to its deployed position outside of the interior chamber 25 . the housing 20 includes tracks 30 within the interior chamber 25 which extend longitudinally along a long axis of the housing 20 . the shuttle 40 includes a slide 45 which translates within the tracks 30 . the shuttle 40 includes a body 50 coupled to the slide 45 . the body 50 has at least a portion thereof which extends out of the interior chamber 25 so that a finger of the user or other structure can act on the body 50 to move the shuttle 40 and associated slide 45 along the tracks 30 within the interior chamber 25 of the housing 20 . the filament 60 is coupled to the body 50 . the slide 45 is configured to allow rotation within the tracks 30 . thus , the shuttle 40 can both translate linearly along the tracks 30 and can also pivot about the slide 45 to rotate the filament 60 ( about arrow b of fig1 ) from a first position aligned with the long axis of the housing 20 to a second position preferably substantially perpendicular to the long axis of the housing 20 . an alternative embodiment instrument 110 is shown in fig1 - 22 . the instrument 110 is similar to the preferred embodiment of fig1 - 11 except that tracks 130 rotate about a curve at one end thereof . a slide 145 is configured to rotate about this curve following the tracks 130 , rather than pivoting about a single point . more specifically , and with particular reference to fig1 - 4 and 8 - 11 , particular details of the housing 20 are described according to the first embodiment instrument 10 . the housing 20 is preferably an elongate rigid construct . the housing 20 can be formed from two separate halves that are then bonded together . such forming can be by injection molding of a plastic ( e . g . polyethylene ) or other material . as an alternative , the housing 20 could be formed as a unitary mass of material . the housing 20 is preferably lightweight and substantially rigid in form . the housing 20 preferably has an elongate form similar to that of a pencil to allow it to be firmly grasped by fingers of a user . such a size also allows for convenient storage and transport within a pocket , such as a shirt pocket of the user , when not in use . to this end , an exterior of the housing 20 preferably is substantially cylindrical in form and with optional continuous and surface details to allow for a solid finger grip of the housing 20 . the housing 20 includes a proximal end 22 and a distal end 24 . the filament 60 is configured so that it is preferably retracted and deployed at the distal end 24 with the proximal end 22 being that end closest to the area on the housing 20 typically grasped by the user . the interior chamber 25 resides within the housing 20 between the proximal end 22 and the distal end 24 . most preferably , at least portions of the interior chamber 25 extend to the distal end 24 . the interior chamber 25 is accessed through both a front slot 26 and a rear slot 28 . the front slot 26 allows the filament 60 to pivot out of the interior chamber 25 when being transitioned by rotation ( along arrow b of fig9 and 10 ) from a stored position within the interior chamber 25 to a deployed position ready for use . the rear slot 28 provides a space through which portions of the body 50 supporting the filament 60 can pass such as to allow a finger of the user to act on the filament 60 to move the filament 60 from its retracted position within the interior chamber 25 to its deployed position . the interior chamber 25 is shown in this embodiment as a generally of constant width and this width is similar to a width of the slots 26 , 28 . alternatively , the interior chamber 25 can have a greater width than that of the slots 26 , 28 . particular contours of the interior chamber 25 and slots 26 , 28 are shown in fig8 - 11 . while such a contour for the interior chamber 25 is shown , this contour of the interior chamber 25 could be altered to accommodate design choices of one practicing this invention . with particular reference to fig8 - 11 , details of the tracks 30 within the interior chamber 25 of the housing 20 are described , according to this embodiment . the tracks 30 provide a preferred form of guide for guiding the slide 45 from the stored configuration within the interior chamber 25 to a deployed configuration for the instrument 10 . a pair of these tracks 30 are preferably in the form of recesses formed in side walls of the interior chamber 25 . these recesses are preferably of substantially constant depth extending from a first end 32 closest to the proximal end 22 to a second end 34 closest to the distal end 24 . in this embodiment the tracks 30 extend linearly from the first end 32 to the second end 34 . preferably , the first end 32 is square and the second end 34 is rounded . as can be seen in fig8 - 11 , the tracks 30 support the slide 45 of the shuttle 40 moving there along . in particular , the slide 45 moves from a stored position closer to the first end 32 than to the second end 34 , but spaced somewhat from the first end 32 . when the shuttle 40 is transitioned to the deployed position , the slide 45 moves to the second end 34 . by configuring the second end 34 to have a circular cross - section , and configuring the slide 45 to have a cylindrical surface 47 , the shuttle 40 can pivot about the slide 45 ( arrow b of fig9 and 10 ) when the slide 45 is abutting the second end 34 of the tracks 30 . most preferably , the rear slot 28 on the housing 20 includes notches 29 therein at a midpoint thereof . these notches 29 define a portion of the rear slot 28 which is slightly wider than other portions of the rear slot 28 . these notches 29 can serve various different purposes such as providing a place through which the slide 45 can be passed through the rear slot 28 to install the shuttle 40 within the interior chamber 25 of the instrument 10 during initial assembly . also , the notches 29 provide a space through which humps 56 , 58 on the body 50 of the shuttle 40 can pass when the shuttle 40 is rotating ( about arrow b of fig9 and 10 ). most preferably , a first dimple 36 pair are located near the first end 32 of the tracks 30 . a second dimple pair 38 is preferably located just past the second end 34 of the tracks 30 . these dimples 36 , 38 are preferably in the form of concave spherical recesses extending partially into the side walls of the interior chamber 25 of the housing 20 . these dimples 36 , 38 receive the humps 56 , 58 to hold the shuttle 40 either in the stored position with the filament 60 safely within the interior chamber 25 of the housing 20 or in the deployed position preventing accidental retraction of the shuttle 40 when the filament 60 is being applied to skin of an individual . the humps 56 , 58 and dimples 36 , 38 could be swapped for each other as an alternative , but most preferably have the arrangement depicted . humps 58 are positioned such that they slide along an inside wall of the chamber 25 adjacent the rear slot 28 to prevent premature pivoting of the shuttle 40 , in a manner that might otherwise cause damage to the filament 60 . with particular reference to fig5 - 7 , details of the shuttle 40 and associated structures are described , according to this preferred embodiment . the shuttle 40 defines a preferred form of second portion of the instrument 10 which moves relative to the housing 20 to move the filament 60 from this stored position within the interior chamber 25 to the deployed position ready for use outside of the housing 20 ( fig1 ). the shuttle 40 thus includes the slide 45 , body 50 and filament 60 . the slide 45 is preferably in the form of a cylindrical structure with the cylindrical surface 47 and flat ends 49 . the cylindrical surface 47 preferably has a diameter similar to a width of the tracks 30 . the flat ends 49 reside within the tracks 30 . the slide 45 thus allows the shuttle 40 to both translate and rotate relative to the tracks 30 . the slide 45 is preferably rigidly formed along with the body 50 from a monolithic mass of material , such as injection moldable plastic ( e . g . polyethylene ). the body 50 includes a lever 52 which is positioned to reside outside of the rear slot 28 of the housing 20 . an edge 54 defines a periphery of the body 50 to which both the lever 52 and slide 45 are attached . sides 55 define lateral sides of the body 50 and preferably are generally parallel with each other to define a constant width for the body 50 . the edge 54 of the body 50 has a contour which generally keeps the shuttle 40 from being able to rotate except when the slide 45 has been positioned adjacent the second end 34 of the tracks 30 . the lever 52 is preferably positioned most distant from the slide 45 to keep the lever 52 from interfering with the housing 20 and abutting the rear slot 28 when the shuttle 40 rotates ( about arrow b of fig9 and 10 ) to move the shuttle 40 to the deployed position . the body 50 also preferably includes a pair of the forward humps 56 and a pair of the rearward humps 58 extending laterally from the sides 55 . these humps 56 , 58 are preferably convex spherical raised portions of the body 50 which have a diameter and size similar to that of the dimples 36 , 38 within the interior chamber 25 of the housing 20 . the pair of rearward humps 58 reside within the pair of first dimples 36 when the shuttle 40 is in the stored position . when the shuttle 40 is slid linearly ( along arrow a of fig9 ) the rearward humps 58 come out of the first dimples 36 . the pair of forward humps 56 reside outside of the housing 20 and so do not resist any motion of the shuttle 40 . when the slide 45 of the shuttle 40 has abutted the second end 34 of the tracks 30 , the shuttle 40 can be rotated ( about arrow b of fig9 and 10 ). once this rotation is approaching 90 ° of rotation , the forward humps 56 pass through the rear slot 28 of the housing 20 and snap into the second dimples 38 , holding the shuttle 40 in the deployed position . the strength with which the forward humps 56 reside within the second dimples 38 is preferably greater than the threshold force at which the filament 60 buckles . in this way , the shuttle 40 remains solidly in the deployed position during use of the instrument 10 . with particular reference to fig5 and 8 - 11 , details of the filament 60 are described , according to this preferred embodiment . the filament 60 is an elongate flexible and resilient structure typically formed of a homogeneous material having well understood mechanical properties , and particularly a desirable modulus of elasticity , elastic limit , ultimate strength and other material strength and flexibility characteristics . the filament 60 has a width significantly less than a length of the filament 60 , so that the filament 60 will function as a column when considered as a structural element . columns are those structural elements which generally will fail under compression loads by buckling before failing by having compressing forces which exceed strength characteristics of the material . the filament 60 is preferably at least ten times longer than its width , and most typically approximately fifty to one hundred times longer than its width . the filament 60 is preferably cylindrical in form with a circular cross - section that extends from a root 64 to a tip 66 . the root 64 is coupled to the body 50 through a collar 62 which preferably extends from a portion of the slide 45 . this collar 62 acts as a coupling device to secure the root 64 of the filament 60 rigidly to the shuttle 40 without rotation or translation of the filament 60 relative to the shuttle 40 . the collar 62 is also formed such that it extends from the slide 45 enough to prevent damage to the filament 60 . the form of the collar 62 and front slot 26 are also made such that the buckling of the filament 60 during operation does not interfere , in any way , with the housing 20 . the filament 60 can be formed of a fiberglass type composite material or from a metal such as nickel titanium , or from a plastic material having suitable performance characteristics . of primary importance for the filament 60 is that it is sufficiently resilient that it can undergo buckling failure when axial loads are applied to the filament 60 greater than a threshold force , and with the filament 60 resiliently returning to an original position when these forces are removed . in particular , the filament 60 is provided from a material which has an elastic limit which is higher than the force at which the filament 60 is caused to undergo buckling failure . furthermore , the filament 60 is preferably sufficiently flexible and elastic that the filament 60 exerts a maximum force right before buckling , and then exerts a lesser axial force after buckling . in this way , the filament 60 can be pressed against the skin ( e . g . the finger f of fig1 ) and exert a maximum force immediately before buckling of the filament 60 . after such buckling of the filament 60 , forces applied to the finger f again decrease . thus , a maximum force which can be applied by the filament 60 to the finger f is the buckling force ( also called threshold force ) for the filament 60 . this buckling force is the force at which the filament 60 will undergo buckling failure when an axial load of that magnitude is applied to the filament 60 . the individual thus receives a force ( or pressure ) matching this threshold force , each time it is used and consistent repeatable evaluation of nerve sensitivity can occur . buckling of the filament 60 can also be referred to as bending of the filament 60 . as depicted in fig1 , such buckling typically involves the filament 60 transitioning from a linear form to a curving bent form by movement of a midportion of the filament 60 laterally ( along arrow c of fig1 ). as an alternative , the filament 60 would not necessarily have to have an initial entirely linear form and could still undergo buckling failure . in use and operation , and with particular reference to fig1 - 4 and 6 - 11 , details of the operation of the instrument 10 are described , according to this preferred embodiment . initially , the shuttle 40 is positioned so that the filament 60 is retracted within the interior chamber 25 of the instrument 10 ( fig1 and 8 ). when the instrument 10 is to be used , a user engages the lever 52 of the body 50 to cause the shuttle 40 to translate linearly with the slide 45 moving along the track 30 within the interior chamber 25 of the housing 20 ( along arrow a of fig2 and 9 ). such linear translation of the shuttle 40 continues until the slide 45 abuts the second end 34 of the tracks 30 . the shuttle 40 is then rotated ( along arrow b of fig3 , 4 , 9 and 10 ). such rotation continues until the filament 60 extends substantially perpendicular to the tracks 30 and the long axis of the housing 20 , has rotated typically approximately 90 °. the shuttle 40 and associated filament 60 are now in a deployed position . the instrument 10 is then brought close to skin of an individual to be tested and the tip 66 of the filament 60 is caused to touch the skin of the individual and then a force is applied axially from the housing 20 to the tip 66 axially along the filament 60 until the filament 60 buckles . typically , the user will then ask the individual “ did you feel that ?” or some other query to determine whether or not the individual has sufficient sensory perception of a tactile nature to feel the force applied by the instrument 10 . the instrument 10 is then typically moved to a new site and another test is performed . when the instrument 10 is no longer needed , the shuttle 40 and associated filament 60 are retracted by reversing the step described above . the instrument 10 can then be stored without concern for damaging the filament 60 until the instrument 10 again needs to be used . with particular reference to fig1 - 22 , details of an alternative second embodiment instrument 110 are described . this alternative instrument 110 defines an alternative embodiment of the instrument 10 of the preferred embodiment . this alternative instrument 110 is similar in many respects to the instrument 10 with corresponding parts generally having similar part reference numbers except with the addition of “ 100 ” to each part number . thus , the alternative instrument 110 includes an elongate housing 120 extending from a proximal end 122 to a distal end 124 . an interior chamber 125 is located within the housing 120 which is accessed through a front slot 126 and a rear slot 128 . notches 129 are formed in the rear slot 128 . a track 130 is formed within the interior chamber 125 of the housing 120 . this track 130 is in the form of recesses formed in side walls of the interior chamber 125 . the track 130 extends from a first end 132 to a second end 134 . uniquely , the track 130 of the alternative instrument 110 includes a curve 135 between the first end 132 and the second end 134 , and very close to the second end 134 . this curve 135 preferably is a 90 ° curve . the second end 134 is also uniquely preferably squared off rather than rounded in the case of the tracks 30 of the instrument 10 of the first embodiment . the interior chamber 125 preferably also includes a first dimple pair 136 and a second dimple pair 138 similar to the dimples 36 , 38 of the preferred embodiment . a shuttle 140 is provided with the alternative instrument 110 which includes a slide 145 , a body 150 and a filament 160 . the shuttle 140 defines a second portion of the alternative instrument 110 separate from the housing 120 . the slide 145 uniquely includes a flat face 146 on one side thereof and a cylindrical surface 147 on another side thereof . the slide 145 includes flat ends 149 on opposite lateral sides of the slide 145 . the flat face 146 is provided so that it can abut the flat second end 134 of the track 130 and help to hold the shuttle 140 and associated filament 160 without rotation , when the shuttle 140 and filament 160 are in a fully deployed position . the body 150 includes a lever 152 which preferably includes a ramp 153 on an end thereof and which is angled relative to the otherwise generally flat lever 152 . the ramp 153 helps to cause the shuttle 140 to rotate with the slide 145 passing through the curve 135 in the track 130 by the user pushing lightly on the ramp 153 when the shuttle 140 has been moved close to the deployed position for the shuttle 140 and associated filament 160 . such pushing of the ramp 153 helps to route the slide 145 in a curving fashion along the curve 135 of the track 130 to push the shuttle 140 fully to the deployed position . the body 150 further includes a peripheral edge 154 with lateral sides 155 generally parallel and spaced from each other defining a generally constant width for the body 150 . the body 150 includes a forward hump pair 156 and rearward hump pair 158 . the humps 156 , 158 are generally similar to the humps 56 , 58 of the preferred embodiment and provide a similar function of holding the shuttle 140 either in the stored position or the deployed position . positioning of the humps 156 , 158 and dimples 136 , 138 can be slightly adjusted as needed to accommodate differences between the instruments 10 , 110 . the filament 160 is attached to the slide 145 through the collar 162 . the filament 160 extends from a root 164 adjacent the collar 162 to a tip 166 opposite the root 164 . the filament 160 is preferably similar to the filament 60 of the first embodiment . in use and operation , the alternative instrument 110 is generally used similar to the instrument 10 described above . initially , the shuttle 140 and associated filament 160 are in a stored position ( fig1 and 19 ). a user then places a finger on the lever 152 of the body 150 of the shuttle 140 and applies a force linearly and longitudinally along a long axis of the housing 120 . this urges the shuttle 140 and associated slide 145 toward the distal end 124 of the housing 120 by movement of the slide 145 within the track 130 ( along arrow a ′ of fig1 and 20 ). when the slide 145 reaches the curve 135 , resistance to further linear motion is encountered . the user then applies a force against the ramp 153 of the lever 152 to help cause the slide 145 to rotate around the curve 135 ( arrow b ′ of fig2 and 21 ), along with rotation of the shuttle 140 and included body 150 and filament 160 . such rotation of the shuttle 140 as the slide 145 passes about the curve 135 continues until this slide 145 abuts the second end 134 of the track 130 ( fig1 and 22 ). the shuttle 140 and associated filament 160 have thus been fully deployed . the instrument 110 is then utilized by bringing the filament 160 into contact with the individual , such as at a finger f . if the filament 160 buckles ( motion along arrow c ′ of fig2 ) a threshold force of standard amount has been applied . the individual is then queried to determine whether the individual could feel the force being applied . data is then gathered as to the degree of sensory perception exhibited by the individual . when the instrument 110 is no longer to be utilized , the shuttle 140 and associated filament 160 are retracted by reversing of the steps described above until the filament 160 is again protected within the interior chamber 125 of the housing 120 . this disclosure is provided to reveal a preferred embodiment of the invention and a best mode for practicing the invention . having thus described the invention in this way , it should be apparent that various different modifications can be made to the preferred embodiment without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention disclosure . when structures are identified as a means to perform a function , the identification is intended to include all structures which can perform the function specified . when structures of this invention are identified as being coupled together , such language should be interpreted broadly to include the structures being coupled directly together or coupled together through intervening structures . such coupling could be permanent or temporary and either in a rigid fashion or in a fashion which allows pivoting , sliding or other relative motion while still providing some form of attachment , unless specifically restricted . | 0 |
fig1 shows diagram 400 which is one embodiment of a context diagram of the disclosed system and method . a user 4 is listening to and watching content presented on display device 2 . display device 2 in some embodiments may be a television , a radio , video content being streamed on an internet - coupled device , and the like . display device 2 might be located at the user &# 39 ; s home , at a friend &# 39 ; s home , in a hotel room , hotel lobby , an airport lounge , a shopping mall , a tv lounge in a dorm room , or other location . while the user 4 is listening to the presented content , the user may be interested in recording it for later viewing , or receiving more information related to the content . the user 4 would use smartphone 6 to record audio data of the content , which may be in the form of an audio clip . in some embodiments smartphone 6 may be a tablet , a music player , or any other device that can capture audio data and send it to another device . in some embodiments , an application running on smartphone 6 will capture audio data , process it and send it to server application 12 to be processed . in some embodiments , server application 12 may run on a central control system device 10 , which in some embodiments may be a headend of a program broadcast facility or other central location . in other embodiments server application 12 may run on a set top box 8 , or may be distributed into various modules and run among multiple devices . server application 12 receives audio data from the user and examines the content database 14 for matches between audio data received from user 4 and the audio components of the content stored in the content database 14 . in some embodiments , content database 14 may be implemented across multiple databases running on multiple machines . server application 12 will receive the matched content and then will query the content options database 16 to determine those options the identified user is allowed to perform with the matched content . for example , if the matched content is a movie and central control system 10 determines that the user &# 39 ; s service subscription allows the user access to the movie , the server application 12 will provide the user the option to record the movie on the user &# 39 ; s dvr which may be a part of the user &# 39 ; s set top box 8 . in some embodiments , the content options database 16 may be a part of and reside on a central control system 10 , or it may be implemented across multiple databases running on multiple machines . in one or more embodiments , content options database 16 is updated by a content options server 18 . content options server 18 , in some embodiments , may be updated by the central control system 10 with user - specific permissions for each piece of content , for example whether the user &# 39 ; s video subscription service agreement allows pre - viewing or downloading of the content . other embodiments of a content options server 18 include a paid subscription agreement for content owners such as hbo , showtime , abc , nbc , cbs , amc , concert promoters , or advertisers that enter into a paid arrangements to allow a user to perform additional options with the owner &# 39 ; s content . if the content is an advertisement for a movie or series , the user may request that movie or series episode to be recorded on a set top box , to be purchased off - line in a dvd box set , or to have information about the content sent to the user &# 39 ; s smartphone 6 . if the content is an advertisement for a product or service , the user might request that a coupon for the product or service be sent to the user &# 39 ; s smartphone 6 . if the content is an advertisement for a restaurant , the user might request that a menu be downloaded to the user &# 39 ; s smartphone 6 or request reservations for the restaurant . if the content is an advertisement for a theater performance , the user might request to purchase tickets for the performance . fig2 shows diagram 410 depicting several embodiments of the sources of audio files and type of content from which audio data could be recorded by user 4 using smartphone device 6 . a presentation device may be a standard tv that is displaying a broadcast tv show or series episode 22 that is a standard public broadcast picked up on an antenna 23 . the user may be offered to record the tv show or series in its entirety , record specific episodes , episodes not yet viewed , or shows related to the tv show or series within the user &# 39 ; s subscription plan that the user may be interested in recording . the presentation device may be coupled to a set top box 8 and be showing a concert or an advertisement for a concert 24 . the user may be offered to record the concert , record a future concert by the same artist , or may have the option to purchase tickets for a future concert by the same artist or similar genre that is held within the user &# 39 ; s geographic area . the presentation device may be showing an advertisement for a consumer product 26 on an internet - coupled computer 17 . the user may be offered a coupon to purchase the product at a store within the user &# 39 ; s local area , or may be offered to record future concerts or events sponsored by the advertiser . the presentation device may be a large screen movie theater showing a movie in progress 28 . the user may have taken their smartphone to the movie theater and while watching the movie held up the phone to record a particular song or scene . the user may be offered the option to begin recording the movie immediately or to schedule a recording of the movie the next time it is played . the user may also be offered the opportunity to purchase the movie in a download form or dvd box set . the presentation device may be showing an advertisement for a non - commodity item , for example clothing 30 . or the user may be listening to audio content over a radio 25 . here the user may be offered a discount or coupon for the clothing item , or information on store locations and pricing within the user &# 39 ; s geographic area . fig3 shows diagram 420 showing one embodiment of method steps for a mobile device application 40 and a server application 41 . the mobile device application 40 runs on a smartphone device 6 of user 4 . in one embodiment the application will first record audio data from a display device 42 by the user holding the smart phone device next to the speaker of the video display device . the next step is to send the audio data to the server application 44 that processes audio data and identifies relevant content . the next step on the server application 41 is to receive the audio data from the user 52 . once the audio data has been received , the next step to compare the audio data to the content database to find a content match 54 is performed . at this step the server interacts with content database 14 to identify matched content by analyzing the audio portions of content . at the next step , the server will retrieve the available options for the user to perform with the matched content 56 . at this step , the server interacts with the content options database 16 , which has been updated with the content options process 18 , to determine what the user may do with the content based on user subscriptions , content owner subscriptions , and other information . in the next step , the server application will send the options to the user 58 to the user &# 39 ; s smartphone 6 . the next step , on the mobile device application 40 , is to receive the matched content information and available content options 46 on the user &# 39 ; s smartphone device 6 . the mobile device application will then prompt the user for options to perform 48 regarding the matched content . once the user has selected the options the application will send the options to the server 50 . the server application 41 will then receive the selected options from the user 60 and then execute the selected options 62 , for example by setting a dvr timer to record the content , or to send associated coupons to the user &# 39 ; s smartphone device 6 . fig4 shows diagram 430 showing one embodiment of the sample options a user may perform with matched content 66 . these examples include setting up video recording timer to record the matched content at a set top box ; to purchase the matched content either via download or off - line , for example as a dvd boxed set ; receive a coupon or other discount for the advertised content ; purchase tickets if the content is advertising an event ; make reservations if the content is advertising a restaurant ; receive background information available for the content , such as artist information , movie location information , venue information , and the like ; or share the content information on the user &# 39 ; s facebook or twitter account . the various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments . aspects of the embodiments can be modified , if necessary to employ concepts of the various patents , applications and publications to provide yet further embodiments . these and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of the above - detailed description . in general , in the following claims , the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims , but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled . accordingly , the claims are not limited by the disclosure . | 7 |
the autoclave shown in fig1 has a treatment chamber 10 shrouded by a housing 11 which communicates with the chamber by means of a conduit 13 having a valve 12 . the connecting conduit 13 extends generally from the upper part of the housing 11 and opens into the chamber 10 by means of tubes 14 provided with distributing nozzles 15 located at the bottom 16 of the chamber 10 . a conduit 17 with a shut - off valve ( not shown ) is adapted to conduct steam through a valve 18 into a mixing chamber 19 that communicates directly with the housing 11 . a compressed air conduit 20 provided with a shut - off valve ( not shown ) is connected to the mixing chamber 19 by means of a throttle 21 and a valve 22 . the arrangement also has a bypass conduit 23 around the valve 22 which is provided with a throttle 24 and a valve 25 . fig1 also shows a water pipe 26 with a shut - off valve ( not shown ) and a valve 27 , the pipe 26 opening into the upper part of the chamber 10 by means of tubes 28 with distributing nozzles 29 . the present autoclave also has a system by which the working media are let or drawn out . this system comprises a discharge conduit 31 at the bottom 30 of the housing 11 having a branch 32 with a steam trap 33 and a condensate water drain and another parallel branch 34 includes a valve 36 . a further branch 36 is shown having a relief valve 36 &# 39 ;. as further seen in fig1 a discharge conduit 37 is connected to the bottom 16 of the chamber 10 . the conduit 37 has a branch 38 having a vacuum pump 38 &# 39 ; and a branch 39 with a throttle valve 40 , as well as a branch 41 having a drain valve 42 . all these branches pass through a condenser 43 to an outlet drain . the valve 42 is preferably a piston valve controlled by a thermostat 72 positioned in an impulse conduit 73 communicating with a temperature sensing body 74 in the conduit 37 . the upper part of the chamber 10 has an outlet through which the tubes 28 pass . part of the pipe 26 and a conduit 44 connected thereto are provided with branches passing through a condenser 45 . the outlet conduit 44 from the chamber has a branch 46 with a throttle 47 and a non - return valve 48 , a branch 49 with a valve 50 , and a branch 51 with a valve 52 . in addition , a branch 46 &# 39 ; is provided with a relief valve 46 &# 34 ;. it should be mentioned that the autoclave has also various known details which are not shown in fig1 for example , safety valves , filters , means for operating the door and sealing means for the door , several measuring devices and , if desired , water tanks for specially treated water for special conditions . up to this point the autoclave has been specified in principle without describing the control devices , i . e . for operating the valves . referring now to fig2 the control system of the autoclave comprises a supply of compressed air by several electromagnetically controlled valves in conduits to operating devices of the above valves in the conduits for the working media in the autoclave . the electromagnetic valves are operated by a control panel ( not shown ) together with programmed devices , time control devices , etc . as seen in fig1 the operating devices 53 of the valve 18 in the steam conduit 17 receives compressed air by a temperature - controlled regulator 54 , which receives impulses by a conduit 55 from a sensing body 56 positioned in the conduit 17 in the downstream side after the valve 18 . the valve 22 in the air conduit 20 has an operating device 57 which receives impulses from a temperature - controlled regulator 58 connected to an impulse conduit 59 having a sensing body 60 situated in the connecting conduit 13 between the housing 11 and the chamber 10 immediately ahead of the inlet to the chamber through the tubes 14 . the valve 25 in the second air conduit 23 has an operating device 61 controlled by a pressostat 62 with an impulse conduit 63 connected to a point 64 in the chamber 10 . preferably , the valve 25 is a magnet valve controlled directly by the pressostat . a valve 50 in the discharge part in the conduit 49 is controlled by a pressure controlled regulator 66 receiving pressure impulses through a conduit 67 from a sensing body 68 in the chamber 10 . the valve 52 in the conduit 51 is controlled by a pressure controlled regulator 69 , which by means of a conduit 70 sensing the pressure at a point 71 in the chamber 10 . in order to activate the above described regulators 54 , 58 66 and 69 , the pressostat 62 , and the valves 12 , 27 , 35 and 42 , the apparatus uses a control system which is diagrammatically shown in fig2 . it includes a compressed air supply conduit 75 with a multiplicity of branches 76 to valves 78 controlled by electromagnets 77 . for the sake of simplicity , only one valve 78 is shown in detail , the others being identical . the electromagnets 77 are connected by conduits 79 to a programmed device 80 which comprises known components , such as time - controlled devices and devices controlled by the condition existing in the autoclave chamber 10 . the programmed device can have means to perform different programs , for example , sterilization at 110 ° c . or at 120 ° c . when the programmed device 80 , by means of a conduit 79 , sends an impulse to a valve 78 , compressed air is admitted by one or several of the conduits 82 - 89 to the respective operating device in the conduits for working media to the autoclave . the pressostat 62 is activated directly from the programmed device 80 by electric impulses sent through a conduit 81 and is furthermore controlled by the pressure in the chamber . as previously stated hereinabove , the drain valve 42 is controlled by the thermostat 72 , whose impulse conduit 73 connects to an electromagnet 77 of an air valve in the conduit 87 to the operating device of the valve 42 . in a practical embodiment , regulators of minneapolis - honeywell regulator company type pp 97 a for pressure control and type lp 97 a for temperature conrol have been used in the present apparatus . when the objects to be treated have been placed in the chamber 10 , and the autoclave door shut , the valve 18 in the steam conduit 17 is opened so that steam is supplied to the chamber 10 by means of the mixing chamber 19 , the housing 11 and the connection conduit 13 . in addition to the objects present there is also air in the chamber and this air is expelled through the discharge conduit 37 . the valve 52 in outlet 44 does not open until the pressure in the chamber has reached a preset value . air and condenstate are passed through the valve 42 until the temperature of the mixture has reached a given value and the valve 42 closes while the condensate is expelled through the valve 40 . the temperature at which the valve 42 closes is adjustable by means of the thermostat 72 . in the first instance , the air is expelled and then steam condenses on the chamber wall and on the objects in the chamber , during which process heat is given off . the temperature in the chamber increases rapidly , and during this heating cycle only steam is supplied . the temperature in the chamber is regulated by pressure - controlled devices , for example , the regulator 69 . however , the pressure and the temperature in the chamber 10 will rise and when the pressure in the ampoules , which pressure depends on the temperature therein , has reached a given level an impulse is delivered to the programmed device 80 , which operates the system , so that the pressostat 62 is activated and the bypass conduit 23 for compressed air becomes active . simultaneously , the supply of steam ceases , and after a certain time for venting , the regulators 54 and 58 for supplying steam and air respectively are connected and at the same time the regulator 69 of the discharge valve 52 is disconnected and the regulator 66 in the other discharge valve 50 is connected in its place . during the sterilization period , the condition in the chamber 10 is controlled by the regulators 54 and 58 for the supply of working media and the regulator 66 for the outlet . the above - mentioned three regulators require special adjustment to form a stable dynamic system . the optimum of this adjustment is in a relatively narrow zone surrounding the given point of operation , i . e . the control accuracy of the system depends on the error variations relative to a given point . the invention proposes a separate auxiliary system in order to manage building up in the said system of the new total pressure , a partial steam pressure plus support pressure by air , upholding an accurate control about a balance position , from the saturation pressure of the steam , which pressure has controlled the regulation during the heating period . in the described embodiment such a system is provided by supply of air through the bypass conduit 23 with the valve 25 and the pressostat 62 , which is dependent uponn the pressure in the chamber 10 at the point 64 . to obtain stability of the system the regulator 54 is adjusted with a very great constant of proportionality , whereas small constants are set for the regulators 58 and 66 . when the valve 25 is open and supplies the chamber with a suitable support pressure , the pressostat 62 operates intermittently at this pressure . steam supplied through the valve 18 works against the entire support pressure and thus the medium entering the chamber has a higher temperature than the intended sterilization temperature . however , this affects the regulator 58 so that it starts the supply of air through the valve 22 . the magnitude of the support pressure controlled by the pressostat is such that the pressure is exactly sufficient to open the valve 50 , which by the regulator 66 is operated by the pressure in the chamber at the sensing body 68 . thereafter , the supply of air will not take part in controlling the process until the objects in the chamber are to be cooled during the after treatment , when the sterilization process is achieved . as stated hereinabove , the steam supplied works against the entire support pressure . if the steam is permitted to do so without control , this will cause an unstable temperature control in the chamber at low temperatures . to avoid this drawback the system is designed so that the steam supply valve 18 is operated by the regulator 54 , which is controlled by the temperature at the sensing body 56 located downstream of the valve 18 . this regulator is adjusted to close the valve at a temperature which is 10 ° to 15 ° higher than the temperature at the sensing body 60 , which controls the air supply regulator 58 . in a practical application of the present invention , it has proved to be possible and without risk , to keep a treatment temperature in the chamber which differs by only one degree centrigrade from the temperature that would be intolerable in the packaging material or the products . fig3 shows a modified embodiment of the supply of working media to the autoclave of the present invention . it differs from the embodiment of fig1 in that the bypass conduit 23 for compressed air does not enter the mixing chamber 19 , as shown in fig1 but passes directly into the autoclave chamber 10 by means of a conduit 90 . as stated hereinbefore , compressed air through the conduits 23 , 90 is supplied by means of the valve 25 , the operating device of which is controlled by the pressostat 62 , which by means the conduit 63 is controlled by the temperature at the point 64 in the chamber 10 . in addition to the above modification , there is included a bypass conduit 91 for steam with a valve 92 having operating means controlled by a regulator 94 which by a conduit 95 is controlled by the pressure at a point 96 in the chamber 10 . the remainder of the autoclave shown in fig3 corresponds to the autoclave of fig1 except for the fact that in addition to the parts shown in fig2 the system , of course , also has means controlling the regulator 94 in the programmed device 80 . when the sterilization period has been completed , the treatment can be continued in a known manner by pressure reduction , cooling and drying of the items , as well as introduction of sterile air into the chamber . thereafter , the chamber door can be opened and the objects removed therefrom . the invention is not limited to the apparatus shown and described and to the method applied in connection therewith but can be modified in many respects within the scope of the following claims . it should be pointed out that the description deals with a particularly favorable embodiment of the autoclave with a chamber for the objects to be treated which is surrounded by a housing . according to the invention , however , in such an autoclave the working media can be conducted past the housing and directly into the chamber . it is also possible to apply the invention to an autoclave without a housing . | 0 |
for clarity , as is generally the case in representation of microsystems , the various figures are not drawn to scale . fig1 presents a typical rectangular mems moving micro - mirror 101 , anchored to a fix body 102 by two beams 103 , and deflected along its central axis . an example of known type packaged mems mirror is presented in fig2 a and fig2 b , where the mems mirror 101 is protected by a package comprising in this example transparent or semi - transparent surfaces 201 and 202 as the incoming light can either come from one side or from two sides of the mirror surfaces . the package of the encapsulated mems micro - mirror comprises a cap part with an optical window 202 that allows the light to penetrate and reflects on the micro - mirror surface . the cap optical window is typically made of glass such as borosilicate glass ( for instance borofloat ) or other type of glass , and has usually a flat surface . micro - mirror surface can also be coated with reflective material such as gold , aluminum or silver , deposited in thin film , to obtain strong light reflection in the visible and infra - red wavelength . optionally , the mems micro - mirror chip can also be packaged by a transparent or opaque substrate 201 from the other side of the mems micro - mirror chip . ideally , each of the protection substrates made of transparent material should be coated on both sides with anti - reflective coating to avoid any parasitic light reflection . fig3 presents a micro - projection system 404 where the light beam , coming from the light source 400 , is reflected into the optical projection system chip 403 , resulting in a projection image 402 . an aspect of the invention consists in reducing or suppressing speckle and therefore improves image quality and stability . fig4 illustrates a mems scanning micro - mirror provided with a piezo - actuator 500 , attached to the transparent window 202 of the package for the scanning mirror . the piezo - actuator is preferably arranged with a substantially circular configuration in order to form a cavity in which a layer of deformable transparent material 501 is placed . the latter two elements are in close cooperation so that piezo actuation creates a random or irregular deformation 502 of the transparent material 501 , as shown in fig5 . it is to be noted that the deformation shown in fig5 is voluntarily oversized , for illustrative purpose only . actuation of the piezo - actuator causes alternate contractions and extensions of the transparent material 501 , thereby deforming it , as illustrated . the deformation reduces the laser coherence of light crossing the transparent material , which reduces the perceived speckle effect . in other words , when light beams providing one pixel or multiple adjacent pixels cross the transparent material in portions having different deformations , speckle may be reduced or suppressed . to provide such effect , in an embodiment , a high spatial frequency is used to generate waves 502 , as shown in fig5 and 6 . it is even possible in one embodiment to vibrate the piezoelectric element fast enough to change the deformation of the deformable material during the projection time of one single pixel , thus reducing the speckle of each projected pixel . in a second embodiment , the various successive deformations are rapidly generated , so that deformations successively supported by the same pixels in different frames are different . this requires a substantially high temporal frequency , for instance at least equal to , and preferably greater than the frame frequency . in a variant , both previous techniques are combined to enhance the results . fig6 illustrates exaggerated examples of input light and reflection when the piezo - actuator 500 is actuated . input light 300 is reflected by the scanning mirror 101 and guided to the projection target in order to form a projected image . the reflected light 301 from the scanning mirror passes through the transparent window 202 and the deformed transparent material 501 . the deformation of the latter slightly modifies the direction of the reflected light , as shown with arrows 302 , illustrating the deviated light . the deviation is minimal and temporary , in order not to affect image quality , but sufficient to reduce the speckle effect . also this pixel deviation can be compensated by software during the image projection , so as to change the phase of the laser pulse and send it slightly in advance or slightly delayed , thus changing its position . in other words , the different light beams cross the deformable material at different positions involving different orientations of the material , due to the vibrations of the material . the beams are slightly deviated , as shown in fig6 . this reduces the constructive and destructive interferences when the beams reach the screen . fig6 also presents examples of input light 300 , either from the top of the scanning mirror or from the bottom direction . in the latter case , an angled reflector 310 is required in order to deviate the light to the scanning mirror 101 . such reflector may be provided with silicon or glass coated with a metallic reflective layer , in this example directly under window 202 . the circular shape of the piezo - actuator 500 may be continuous along the periphery of the centrally placed deformable material 501 , or discontinuous , with regular or irregular interruptions along the circular profile . the transparent material may be a polymer , silicones such as polydimethylsiloxane ( pdms ) or a sufficiently viscous plastic , or other material that is capable of a light deformation when actuated by a piezo - actuator . the piezo element 500 and the deformable material 501 are preferably manufactured at wafer level with the transparent window 202 on which they are attached , as explained hereafter . fig7 a to 7 f , 8 a to 8 f and 9 a to 9 c are schematic illustrations of an improved manufacturing process for the anti - speckle mems scanning mirror of the invention . these figures are completed with fig1 showing a process flow chart with certain process steps carried out in a fabrication process for fabricating the mems components . first , the core mems processing is shown ( steps 2 to 14 of fig1 ). a known type soi wafer 600 ( fig7 a ) comprising two silicon layers 601 and 603 placed on each side of a silicon oxide layer 602 is used as a base material for manufacturing the scanning mirror ( step 2 ). fig7 b depicts the soi wafer provided with metal deposition 604 such as aluminum or copper ( step 4 ). fig7 c shows the metal layer 605 after etching ( step 6 ). fig7 d presents the silicon 603 etching , for instance dry or wet etching , followed by oxide 602 etch ( dry or wet ) ( steps 8 and 10 ). fig7 e shows the silicon 601 dry etch to form the micro - mirror 101 portion ( step 12 ). in fig7 f , a transparent glass window 201 made for instance with borosilicate glass ( such as borofloat ) or other type of glass , is bonded to the wafer ( step 14 ). the glass window may be attached to the micro - mirror chip using any techniques , including but not limited to gluing , glass frit bonding , anodic bonding , eutectic bonding , molecular bonding , fusion bonding , low temperature direct bonding , soft soldering , metal thermo compression bonding , bonding with reactive multilayer , laser bonding , polymer attach , etc . fig8 a to 8 f show the different steps of the cap processing . fig8 a shows the unprocessed substrate , in this case a transparent glass window ( step 16 ). a metal deposition step is performed as shown in fig8 b , to add a thin layer 700 of metal alloy such as aluminum , to form an electrode 701 ( step 18 ). excess of metal is removed by etching ( wet or dry ) as shown in fig8 c ( step 20 ). fig8 d shows the deposition of the piezo material ( step 22 ). a material such as lead zirconate titanate ( commonly designated “ pzt ”) or other natural or man - made piezo material such as aluminum nitride ( aln ) may be used . etching enables the removal of not - required piezo material , as shown in fig8 e , leaving the piezo - actuator 500 ( step 24 ). the piezo - actuator section is preferably larger than the underlying electrode 701 . the second electrode 702 is provided on top of the piezo - actuator 500 by metal deposition , as shown in fig8 f ( step 26 ). a spacer wafer 203 such as si or glass material is afterwards attached to the glass window , as shown in fig9 a ( step 28 ). the spacer may be attached to the micro - mirror chip using any techniques , including but not limited to gluing , glass frit bonding , anodic bonding , eutectic bonding , molecular bonding , fusion bonding , low temperature direct bonding , soft soldering , metal thermo compression bonding , bonding with reactive multilayer , laser bonding , polymer attach , etc . a similar type of attachment is used to connect the cap wafer stack to the mems mirror stack assembly , as illustrated in fig9 b ( step 30 ). fig9 c show the addition of the deformable transparent material 501 within the cavity defined by the piezo - actuator 500 ( step 32 ). the layer is preferably substantially flat for proper operation . the addition of the deformable material 501 can be done using different techniques , including plastic injection , pdms or pmma molding . | 6 |
with reference to fig2 - 7 , a gui 20 is employed to enter data in connection with a transaction carried out over a data communications network , such as the internet . the transaction may be , for example , a credit or debit card transaction in which a secret pin or other confidential data is to be entered and transmitted from a client to a server via the network . by the use of a mouse or other pointing device , the secret pin or other confidential data is entered using a virtual alphanumeric keypad 22 represented on the gui 20 . the keypad 22 optionally includes twelve ( 12 ) icons or virtual buttons 24 ( e . g ., numbers 0 - 9 , ‘*’ and ‘#’ as shown in fig2 and 7 ). however , the keypad 22 may contain more buttons 24 or less buttons 24 ( e . g ., as shown in fig3 and 6 ), and each button 24 may having one or more alphanumeric characters or other symbols assigned thereto . suitably , the buttons 24 on keypad 22 have alphanumeric key assignments similar to those usually found on an atm or telephone keypad . alternately , different alphanumeric characters or other symbols may be assigned to the buttons 24 . the client at which the user entering the pin is stationed includes a monitor or display on which the gui 20 is presented . suitably , the client is a computer running an appropriate browser or another similar web - enabled device , and it receives a web page over the network from the server to which the pin is being transmitted . the web page defines the appearance and / or representation of the gui 20 . that is to say , the server provides the web page over the communications network to the client running the browser when the transaction reaches the point where the cardholder operating the client is to enter their pin . the entered pin is then collect via the web page acting as the gui 20 . as shown , the steps for entering the pin or other instructions , options , queries and / or other relevant information , etc . are displayed in window 26 during the transaction . in this manner , the gui 20 appears similar to an atm terminal . this familiar appearance reduces any potential user confusion and / or eases possible anxiety . to complete a transaction , the user enters the requested data via the keypad 22 using an appropriate pointer . for example , in the case of a debit card transaction , the user may enter the card &# 39 ; s associated pan , expiration date and pin on the keypad 22 . the entered data is transmitted over the network to the requesting server where it is cross - referenced to a database to verify the user &# 39 ; s identity and / or authenticate the transaction . suitably , the database is maintained by the institution operating the server , e . g ., the issuer of the card being used in the transaction or some contracted authenticating party . the database contains the relevant pans along with their associated pins . the obtained pin is checked to see if it matches the pin on file in the database for the given pan . in this manner , if there is a match ( i . e ., the pin entered / obtained is correct ), then the transaction is authenticated , otherwise the transaction is not authenticated . periodically , the appearance of the gui 20 or web page provided for collecting the pin is changed so that repetitive patterns in the relative locations of mouse clicks or the like cannot be readily discerned and / or related to a particular layout . that is to say , from time - to - time the layout of elements displayed on the gui 20 change . for example , as the different fig2 - 7 show , the changes preferably include varying any one or more of the following : the relative locations of buttons 24 with respect to one another ; the spacing between neighboring buttons 24 ; the sizes of buttons 24 ; the relative locations of the window 26 and the keypad 22 with respect to one another ; the arrangement of the buttons 24 within the keypad 22 ( e . g ., in rows and columns , circular , scattered , etc . ); and , the number of rows and / or columns in the keypad 22 . additionally , the selected assignment of alphanumeric characters and / or symbols to the buttons 24 may also optionally be changed . suitably , for a given user or cardholder , the appearance changes between each transaction or network session , or optionally , at some other desired interval . suitably , the overall appearance and / or any one or more of the aforementioned characteristics effecting the same may be randomly generated , e . g ., by the server providing the web page , or alternately , by external systems ( e . g ., computer systems or other random number generating devices ). each of the aforementioned characteristics of the appearance may optionally be based upon a randomly selected number or other randomly generated factor . that is to say , e . g ., the spacing between neighboring buttons 24 may be determined by generating a first random number which then becomes the spacing , while the arrangement of the buttons 24 is determined by generating a second random number which identifies a particular arrangement , etc . optionally , the overall appearance and / or any one or more of the characteristics may cycle or otherwise advance through predetermined settings in a selected or random order . for example , the gui &# 39 ; s appearance may cycle through the layouts shown in fig2 - 7 , changing layouts between each transaction in some selected , predetermine , random or quasi - random fashion . it is to be appreciated , that the pin may be obtained or otherwise received in a number ways once entered . in one suitable embodiment , the values of selected buttons 24 are returned over the communications network . alternately , the locations of mouse clicks or the like on the gui 20 or web page may be captured and returned over the communications network , e . g ., as x - y coordinates or other positional data . in the latter case , the appearance of the gui 20 or web page is retained or otherwise known by its provider so that the positional data can be associated with the button values corresponding thereto . optionally , the gui &# 39 ; s appearance or the web page itself and / or information associated with its generation ( e . g ., sufficient enough to reproduce the appearance ) is retained or otherwise known by the provider thereof . in this manner , a method is provided for securely conducting a pin - based transaction over the internet or other open network . the transaction may include , for example , any form of money transfer or payment related to business - to - business ( b2b ), business - to - consumer ( b2c ), peer - to - peer ( p2p ) or government related transactions . while transacting , the cardholder is prompted by the service provider ( e . g ., the card issuer or some other third party authenticator ) to enter their pan , pin and optionally the expiration of the card for the purpose of validating and authenticating the user . however , when entered using the dynamically changing gui 20 , patterns of mouse clicks and the like are not always the same even though the pin or other data being entered remains unchanged . accordingly , a repetitive pattern for pin entry does not develop which could otherwise be linked to a traditional keypad layout to uncover the pin . in a suitable embodiment , an activex or java plug - in is employed for implementation . however , it is to be appreciated that implementation may also take the form of any appropriate software , hardware , firmware or some combination thereof . security is further enhanced by encrypting the data before transmitting it over the network to the receiving server using a secure socket layer ( ssl ). for example , the pin ( and if desired the pan ) can be encrypted using public / private key pairs as are known in the art . the distribution of a public key to clients is optionally embedded in and / or transmitted with the web page defining the gui 20 , and the private key is stored at a suitable location . the public / private key pair is used to generate a session key employed to carry out the desired encryption . to further strengthen security the public / private key pair is also changed periodically . the pan and / or expiration date are not usually strictly secret in the same manner as the pin . accordingly , the cardholder may be presented with a first web page that is provided by the server , which prompts them to enter their pan and select the appropriate expiration date . the pan and expiration data are transmitted to the server and validated . upon successful validation ( i . e ., it is a legitimate pan having the enter expiration data ), the cardholder is then provided with the aforementioned gui 20 ( e . g ., via a second separate web page ) for entering their pin . the user inputs their pin using the button icons 24 of the keypad 22 and the pin is transmitted over the network to the server for authentication . by separating the pan entry and transmission from pin entry and transmission , the likelihood of an unauthorized third party intercepting and correlating both pieces of information is reduced . optionally , in order to conduct an e - commerce transaction using a debit or credit card , the consumer initially proceeds through the same process as per a standard e - commerce credit card transaction . namely , the consumer may choose selected goods or services from a merchant &# 39 ; s web page and place them into a virtual shopping cart or the like . when he is done shopping , the consumer continues to a check - out process where pertinent information as to the consumer &# 39 ; s billing and shipping information can be entered . the consumer may also enter information concerning the card or account . such information may include the type of card ( visa ®, mastercard ®, discover ®, american express ®, or the like ), the consumer &# 39 ; s name as listed on the card , the card number , any security codes listed on the card and / or the expiration date of the card . for a debit card transaction , in addition to the above information , the consumer would also enter a pin using the dynamically changing gui 20 in order to complete the transaction . in one suitable embodiment , the buttons 24 are assigned a standard set of alphanumeric values ( e . g ., like an atm or telephone keypad ) for each transaction such that the values assigned to the buttons 24 remain in sequential order for their relative positions in the keypad 22 , e . g ., as shown in fig3 - 6 . accordingly , a user can readily locate the button 24 having the value that is desired to be entered . however , the arrangement of the keypad 22 , the locations of the keypad 22 and the window 26 relative to one another and / or the number of rows and / or columns in the keypad 22 change periodically . in this manner , the repeated observation of a series of mouse clicks in the same pattern of relative locations is thwarted . similarly , the buttons 24 may continue to be sequentially valued and the spacing between neighboring buttons 24 may changed from transaction to transaction . again , both the aforementioned advantages are thus realized . of course at times , the buttons 24 and their values can be in a standard keypad configuration so long as the layout changes periodically , e . g ., from transaction to transaction . in alternate embodiments , the individual button location and size is varied or changed from session to session . additionally , the assignment of values to the buttons 24 may be random or otherwise non - sequential ( e . g ., see fig2 and 7 ). in particular , with reference to fig2 , the numbering of the buttons 24 within the keypad 22 is scrambled and the size and spacing between the buttons is varied . the various layouts shown in fig2 - 7 are merely exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting . again , in accordance with a preferred embodiment , pin secrecy is guarded by changing , from session to session , any number of layout characteristics that ultimately effect the appearance of the gui 20 , thereby changing the locations of mouse clicks or the like which are used to enter a pin or other data on the keypad 22 . this may include changing : the vertical and / or horizontal size of , the authentication window 26 , keypad 22 and / or buttons 24 , individually or in any combination . alternatively , or in conjunction therewith , the vertical and / or horizontal location of : the window 26 , keypad 22 and / or buttons 24 , individually or in any combination , can be changed from session to session in order to alter the appearance . as a result , the absolute position of a given button 24 and the relative distance between neighboring buttons 24 and the relative locations of the buttons 24 change with each transaction . this , coupled with the somewhat random nature of clicking on a button 24 ( i . e ., the precise location of a click on a button 24 changes from click to click ), significantly obstructs conventional mouse tracking . dynamically changing the pin entry keypad or gui 20 in this manner exponentially increases security . mouse movement capture programs typically track the x - y coordinate of the clicks , and by dynamically changing the gui 20 or pin collection web page each time it is presented ( i . e ., for each session ), a conventional mouse capture program will not be able to ascertain which number or value was clicked or entered . with particular reference to fig6 , an exemplary gui layout is shown . as shown , the keypad 22 is arranged in a non - traditional manner in order to avoid tracking of mouse movement . it is contemplated that not only are the buttons 24 within the keypad 22 arranged in a circular configuration , but the numbers may be arranged in a random order and / or the buttons 24 may be of different / varying sizes and / or different / varying spacing . another exemplary gui layout is shown in fig7 . in this embodiment , the keypad 22 is not arranged in any particular order , but rather is sporadic scattered in the same general area . the buttons 24 are also numbered in a random fashion . it is also contemplated that the buttons 24 could be of varying size and / or the location of the window 26 can be dynamically repositioned . thus , the gui layout changes from session to session such that a wide array of variations are presented in a random or quasi - random or otherwise substantially undeterminable order . again , optionally , one or more of the following are changed from session to session : button numbering ; button pattern and / or spacing ; button location and / or size ; keypad location and / or size and / or the authentication window location . an advantage of having varying locations of the keypad buttons 24 is that the numbering or assignment of selected values thereto can still be maintained in an organized fashion if desired . for example , in fig3 , the numbering of the buttons 24 has a left - to - right sequential two - row organization , while in fig4 the numbering of the buttons 24 has a top - to - bottom sequential two - column organization . the logically organized arrangement of both avoids errors in manual entry in a keypad that the consumer may otherwise not be familiar with . however , changing between the layouts of fig3 and 4 still provides security against spy software by providing a varying location of the buttons 24 . while the spy software may be able to track mouse movements , by invoking a dynamically changing layout as described herein , those mouse movements will be impractical if not impossible to correlate with particular numbers . of course , additional security measures can be taken in conjunction with the measures described herein for securely conducting e - commerce transactions using a debit or credit card . for example , consumer education via messaging to consumers through the window 26 or otherwise can direct the consumer to view the provider &# 39 ; s server certificate . if the name on the certificate does not match that of the service provider , the consumer is instructed to terminate the transaction and report the incident . additionally , providers can recognize certain merchants , initially merchant acceptance can be limited to a few select merchants , which hinder attempts by unauthorized third parties and hackers to create bogus merchants . further security measures include a merchant portal listing of all approved merchants with links to their web sites to avoid the risk presented by bogus merchants . another optional security measure to be used is to implement global internet scanning . to detect hackers who are presenting bogus merchants and guis , global internet scanning services offered by internet security firms can be utilized . the global internet scanning services will search for specific parameters provided for the search , monitor traffic patterns to detect abnormal access activities , scan for familiar domain names , and so on . this approach provides a security measure to prevent or track any website presenting a similar looking gui application that is unauthorized . further , the service provider can also register a combination of domain names similar to the one used for presenting the gui 20 . this counter measure also acts as a potential deterrent against hack attempts that use similar domain names to confuse consumers into engaging in an e - commerce transaction . yet another optional security measure is the use of access devices that can recognize authenticated parties . the consumer access device , which can be a personal computer , personal digital assistant , mobile phone , etc ., preferably has the ability to recognize participating business , government agencies , financial institutions , merchants , etc ., based on a unique secret identifier known only between the consumer access device and the participating entity . the unique secret identifier can take the form , for example , of an embed tag within the participating entity &# 39 ; s web page . if a non - participating entity attempts to impersonate a valid participant , software on the consumer access device is able to recognize the impersonation and display a message to the user to terminate the transaction . for purposes of the present application , the terms “ consumer ”, “ cardholder ” and “ user ” will at times be used interchangeably . similarly , the term “ pin ” specifically denotes a personal identification number for a debit card , however , more generally , it may be used to refer to any like code or alphanumeric string , the identity of which is desired to be kept secret or confidential . additionally , the arrangement or configuration of the keypad is defined by the relative positions of the buttons themselves irrespective of their assigned values . that is to say , the arrangement or configuration of the keypad refers to its collective geometry , including its overall size and / or shape . the invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments . obviously , modifications and alterations will occur to others upon a reading and understanding of this specification . it is intended that the invention be construed as including all such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof . | 6 |
the schematic diagram according to fig1 shows a tool 1 that may be connected via a shaft 3 , which is only indicated here , to a spindle of a tool machine or with interfaces , adapters or the like . on the side 5 opposite the shaft 3 , a geometrically defined cutting edge 7 is indicated . this may be part of the tool or a cutting tip plate that is fastened to tool 1 in a suitable manner . it is possible to also envision a suitable tool holder , such as a magazine or the like . the main body 9 of tool 1 comprises , for example , a drive 11 designed as an electric motor , which can be controlled via a suitable control system 13 , whereby drive 11 can be switched on and off as and the speed and the rotating direction of the driven shaft 15 of drive 11 can be predetermined . an initial spur gear 17 is attached torque proof to the free end of the driven shaft 15 . the rotation of the initial spur gear 17 is transmitted in a suitable manner to a second spur gear 19 . a transmitting device 21 lies outside the image plane according to fig1 , which will be explained in greater detail below . the second spur gear is attached torque proof to the end of a drive shaft 23 , which transmits a rotation and a torque of the second spur gear 19 to a gearbox 25 . this is characterized preferably by a high speed reduction . here planetary gears or , in particular , also a harmonic drive gearbox can be used . with gearbox 25 illustrated here , it is envisioned that a rotary motion introduced via the drive shaft 23 in gearbox 25 is transmitted to housing cap 27 of gearbox 25 . it appears in the process that this rotates with a much smaller rotational speed than drive shaft 23 . if the second spur gear 19 of drive 11 rotates at a given rotating angle , housing cap 27 rotates only at a very much smaller rotating angle corresponding to the gear reduction of gearbox 25 . drive 11 and gearbox 25 are components of an adjusting device 29 , which furthermore still comprises an adjusting slide 31 . it can be seen from the schematic diagram that gearbox 25 acts directly on the adjusting slide 31 . here it is envisioned that the adjusting slide is directly connected to the drive , which is designated here as housing cap 27 . a rotation of housing cap 27 thus directly produces a rotation of the adjusting slide 31 designed as a rotating round slide , whereby a rotation of housing cap 27 1 : 1 is transmitted to adjusting slide 31 . it is clear that a rotation produced by drive 11 is transmitted to gearbox 25 of spur gear 17 via transmitting device 21 and via the second spur gear 19 . the latter is connected torque proof to drive shaft 23 , which introduces a rotary motion of the second spur gear 19 in gearbox 25 . tolerances have an effect on the path between drive 11 and drive shaft 23 during the manufacturing on both the drive itself and spur gears 17 and 19 as well as transmitting device 21 . these defects are strongly reduced by gearbox 25 . a given rotating angle at the entry of gearbox 25 , thus on drive shaft 23 , produces a much smaller rotating angle corresponding to the gear reduction of the gearbox at its exit , i . e ., housing cap 27 . rotating angle defects that occurred in the area between drive 11 and drive shaft 23 are likewise reduced corresponding to the gear reduction of gearbox 25 and thus produce a very much smaller rotating angle defect at the exit side of the gearbox , i . e ., housing cap 27 . it is critical that that no more spur gears be interconnected between housing cap 27 and adjusting slide 31 , whose manufacturing tolerances could distort the rotating angle of housing cap 27 . in fact , a given rotating angle of housing cap 27 leads directly to a rotation of the adjusting slide 31 designed as a round slide . the resulting gear reduction in gearbox 25 of a rotating angle defect in the area of the drive shaft 23 is thus maintained unaltered during the rotating displacement of adjusting slide 31 . the distance of cutting edge 7 to central axis 33 of tool 1 is adjusted by means of the adjusting device 29 . in order to produce a change of this distance by a rotation of adjusting slide 31 , its rotating axis 35 is shifted parallel to central axis 33 ; adjusting slide 31 is thus arranged eccentrically in the main body 9 of tool 1 . at the same time , the second spur gear 19 is also arranged coaxially to rotating axis 35 and thus eccentrically to the central axis of tool 1 . with the embodiment selected here , gearbox 25 thus also lies eccentrically to central axis 33 and coaxially to rotating axis 35 . fig2 shows a schematic diagram of the components of the tool 1 illustrated in fig1 , i . e ., drive 11 , its driven shaft 15 as well as the first spur gear 17 . transmitting device 21 is clearly visible here , because the components of tool 1 are clearly rotated 90 ° with respect to the illustration in fig1 . transmitting device 21 has an initial first pinion gear 37 that meshes with the first spur gear 17 , which acts on a second pinion gear 41 via a transfer shaft 39 . this meshes with the second spur gear 19 . depending upon the arrangement of transmitting device 21 , thus after the selection of the diameter of the first spur gear 17 , of the first pinion gear 37 , of the second pinion gear 41 and of the second spur gear 19 , a desired gearbox ratio may be predetermined . it is clear here that a rotation of driven shaft 15 of drive 11 by means of the transmitting device 21 leads to a rotation of drive shaft 23 , which is introduced in gearbox 25 . here , this is also configured as high - reduction gearing . a rotation of the drive shaft 23 also leads to a rotation of the housing cap 27 , whereby the rotating direction of housing cap 27 is opposite to that of drive shaft 23 , if the gearbox 25 is configured as a harmonic drive gearbox or planetary gears . after reading the explanations , it is evident that a rotation of driven shaft 15 leads to a rotation of housing cap 27 . at the same time , a rotation of the first spur gear 17 by means of the transmitting device 21 is transmitted to the second spur gear 19 . the rotating angle of the first spur gear 17 is very greatly reduced by gearbox 25 , so that a very much smaller rotating angle is produced for housing cap 27 . the speed reduction of the gearbox also leads to the defect in the gear tooth system between the first spur gear 17 and the second pinion gear 37 as well as between the second pinion gear 41 and the second spur gear 19 are correspondingly “ reduced ”, or diminished . in other words : defects in the gear teeth between spur gear 17 and 19 and in transmitting device 21 are substantially reduced by gearbox 25 and , for all intents and purposes , no longer affect the adjustment of cutting tip plate 7 connected via an adjusting slide 31 to housing cap 27 . transmitting device 21 illustrated in fig2 may also be modified : fig2 illustrates that the first and second spur gears 17 and 19 mesh with the first and second pinion gears 37 and 41 . it is also conceivable that , instead of the spur gears and pinion gears , pulleys are used and a rotation of the first spur gear 17 is transmitted to the first pinion gear 37 by means of a belt . at the same time , for the second spur gear 19 on the other hand , a spur gear may again be used or , likewise , a belt pulley . this also applies to the second pinion gear 41 . also , it must still be indicated , that spur gears 17 and 19 are here only approximately commensurately designed as an example . spur gears with different diameters may also be used here . in addition , it is possible to design the first and / or second spur gear 17 , 19 as a hollow gear with internal teeth and correspondingly , the first and / or second pinion gear , 37 , 41 can be meshed within this hollow gear . another modification of the transmitting device 21 may designed , in which the first spur gear 17 is designed substantially smaller and meshes with a second spur gear 19 designed as an hollow gear whose diameter is greater than that of the first spur gear 17 . the eccentric misalignment may thus also be realized by means of a single - stage gearbox with internal teeth . finally , it should still be indicated that transmitting device 21 may also be realized by a multi - stage gearbox . fig3 shows a schematic diagram of tool 1 from the front , thus on side 5 , lying opposite the shaft 3 . the illustration shows a cutting edge 7 , which is a component of a cutting tip plate 43 , in various positions . according to the rotating position of the adjusting slide 31 , cutting edge 7 is arranged at a more or less great distance to the central axis 33 of tool 1 . below to the right , beneath a horizontal diameter line d 1 , cutting edge 7 is arranged here at a distance to rotating axis 33 . with a corresponding layout of tool 1 , this may , for example , be selected in such a way that a borehole machined with a cutting edge 7 has a diameter of approx . 38 . 0 . if adjusting slide 31 is designed as a rotating slide valve rotates in the direction of arrow 45 , thus counterclockwise , so that , with a corresponding layout of working spindle 1 , cutting edge 7 is at a distance from central axis of tool 1 , with the machining of a borehole by means of tool 1 , a diameter of approx . 41 . 5 mm is produced . if adjusting slide 31 further rotates counterclockwise in the direction of arrow 45 , so that it lies just in front of the perpendicular diameter line d 2 , a diameter of approx . 48 . 0 mm is produced when the borehole is machined by means of tool 1 . if , finally , adjusting slide 31 is rotated in such a way that cutting edge 7 is lined up with the graduation of d 2 , then a diameter of 48 . 23 mm is produced when the borehole is machined by means of tool 1 . it is clear here , that the adjustment of the diameter of tool 1 depends upon a rotation of adjusting slide 31 . rotating angle defects thus lead to a deviation of the set diameter of tool 1 from the target diameter . as explained above , rotating angle defects between drive 11 and the entrance of gearbox 25 , thus at its drive shaft 23 , are strongly reduced by gearbox 25 . in other words , the reduction of gearbox 25 reduces an existing rotating angle defect at the entrance of the gearbox in such a way that it practically no longer has any effect at the exit of the gearbox and thus on housing cap 27 . thus , the rotating angle appears to correspond exactly to the rotating angle of rotating slide valve 31 of housing cap 27 . as a result , the advantage of using this tool 1 described herein is obtainable , because gearbox 25 has a high reduction and directly acts on adjusting slide 31 , thus without any interconnections of further spur gears or the like . the difference between the smallest and the largest indicated borehole diameter depends upon how great the distance between central axis 33 of tool 1 and rotating angle 35 of adjusting slide 31 is . the greater the distance “ e ” is , so much greater the difference of both indicated diameters is . the change of the diameter of a borehole by means of tool 1 is exclusively produced by a rotary motion of the adjusting slide 31 . the result is that a sealing of the tool in an easy manner is possible . it requires only the use of rotating seals . losses can be reduced to a minimum by means of antifriction bearings , so that no slide bearings are used . with the rotation of adjusting slide 31 , a once balanced tool 1 remains balanced : with diameter adjustment , no centers of mass / gravity actually move , so very high machining speeds are possible . moreover , the balancing of the tool is likewise relatively easy . from the explanations , it appears that all of the backlashes occurring up to gearbox 25 are reduced with the reduction factor of gearbox 25 . the disengaging of drive 11 , thus the angle adjustment of the first spur gear 17 , is increased by the reduction . in addition , it appears that with a higher reduction of gearbox 25 , also with small motors , that are used as drive 11 , high torque can be produced during the displacement of adjusting slide 31 . to increase the precision of the tool , so - called pre - stressed and thus spur gears free of play can be used . by means of a suitable control of drive 11 by means of the control system 13 , the distance of cutting edge 7 from the central axis 33 of the tool can be changed during the machining of a borehole surface . it is thus possible to produce boreholes with a contour , such as chamfering , annular grooves , undercuts , conical boreholes and the like . | 8 |
the present invention is directed to a sustained release pharmaceutical composition for the purpose of administering of medicinal compounds in a controlled form , said sustained release formulation comprising the active agent ; a sustained release polymer , a water insoluble or partially soluble cellulose , e . g ., microcrystalline cellulose ; and maltodextrin , wherein the cellulose and the maltodextrin are maintained in an effective ratio to obtain a controlled sustained release pattern and enhance tableting . the term “ pharmaceutical ”, as employed herein , refers to a medicinally administered composition or compositions as a whole . as used herein the term “ medicinal compound ”, “ drug ”, “ active ingredient ” and like terms are used interchangeably and as employed herein refers to the active medicament which has a therapeutic effect intended to cure , alleviate , treat or prevent a disease or a symptom or condition suffered by the patient , e . g ., hypertension , headaches , pain , high cholesterol levels , and the like . the preferred patient is a mammal , e . g ., horse , cow , pig , cat , dog , monkey , mice , rat , human , and the like . the most preferred patient is a human . the phrase “ unit dosage form ”, as employed herein , refers to physically discrete units suitable as unitary dosages to human subjects and other mammals , each unit containing a predetermined quantity of active material calculated to produce the desired effect , in association with the other ingredients of the formulation disclosed herein . the phrase “ direct tableting ” and like terms , as used herein , signify that the composition can be formed into a tablet using well known tableting apparatus and processes without the need for addition of any additional material to the composition . as used herein , the term “ kp ” means kilopounds , a well known unit of force for expressing hardness or crushing strength of pharmaceutical tablets when such hardness is determined . the percentage of ingredients ( a pharmaceutical , polymer , excipients and other ingredients ) required in the formulation of the present invention are calculated on a dry weight basis without reference to any water or other components present . the sustained release formulation of the present invention has an excellent drug profile and is stable with a long shelf life . moreover , in the sustained release formulation of the present invention , the rate of release of the active agent from the tablet is consistent and uniform among tablets prepared at different times and in different manufacturing batches . the bio - availability characteristics of the tablet prepared in accordance with the procedure herein are substantially uniform among different batches . the sustained release formulation of the present invention contains an active ingredient . the present formulation is applicable to a wide variety of drugs or active medicaments suitable for use in sustained release formulations . representative active ingredients which comprise the pharmaceutical formulation of the present invention include antacids , anti - inflammatory substances , coronary dilators , cerebral dilators , vasodilators , anti - infectives , psychotropics , anti - maniics , stimulants , anti - histamines , laxatives , decongestants , vitamins , gastro - intestinal sedatives , anti - diarrheal preparations , anti - anginal drugs , anti - arrhythmics , anti - hypertensive drugs , vasoconstrictors and drugs for treatment of headaches , including migraines , anti - coagulants and anti - thrombotic drugs , analgesics , anti - pyretics , hypnotics , sedatives , anti - emetics , anti - nauseants , anti - convulsants , neuromuscular drugs , hyper - and hypoglycemic agents , thyroid and anti - thyroid preparations , diuretics , anti - spasmodics , uterine relaxants , mineral and nutritional additives , anti - obesity drugs , anabolic drugs , erythropoietic drugs , anti - asthmatics , bronchodilators , expectorants , cough suppressants , mucolytics and anti - uricemic drugs . typical active ingredients include gastro - intestinal sedatives such as metoclopramide and propantheline bromide ; antacids such as aluminum trisilcate , aluminum hydroxide and cimetidine ; anti - inflammatory drugs such as phenylbutazone , indomethacin , naproxen , ibuprofen , fluriprofen , diclofenac , dexamethasone , prednisone and prednisolone ; coronary vasodilator drugs such as glyceryl trinitrate , isosorbide dinitrate and pentaerythritol tetranitrate ; peripheral and cerebral vasodilators such as solocidilum , vincamine , naftidrofuryl oxalate , co - dergocrine mesylate , cyclandelate , papaverine and nicotinic acid ; anti - infective substances such as erythromycin stearate , cephalexin , nalidixic acid , tetracycline hydrochloride , ampicillin , metronidazole , flucloxacillin sodium , hexamine mandelate and hexamine hippurate ; neuroleptic drugs such as flurazepam , diazepam , temazepam , amitryptyline , doxepin , lithium carbonate , lithium sulfate , chlorpromazine , thioridazine , trifluoperazine , fluphenazine , piperothiazine , haloperidol , maprotiline hydrochloride , imipramine and desmethylimipramine ; central nervous stimulants such as methylphenidate , ephedrine , epinephrine , isoproterenol , amphetamine sulfate and amphetamine hydrochloride ; anti - histamic drugs such as diphenhydramine , diphenylpyraline , chlorpheniramine and brompheniramine ; laxative drugs such as bisacodyl and magnesium hydroxide ; dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate ; nutritional supplements such as ascorbic acid , alpha tocopherol , thiamine and pyridoxine ; anti - convulsants such as carbamazepine and 4 - methylpyrazole ; drugs to treat extrapyramidal movement disorders ( such as those associated with parkinsonianism ) such as carbidopa and levodopa ; anti - spasmodic drugs such as dicyclomine and diphenoxylate ; drugs affecting the rhythm of the heart such as verapamil , nifedipine , diltiazem , procainamide , disopyramide , bretylium tosylate , quinidine sulfate and quinidine gluconate ; drugs used in the treatment of hypertension such as propranolol hydrochloride , guanethidine monosulphate , methyldopa , oxprenolol hydrochloride , captopril and hydralazine ; drugs used in the treatment of migraine such as ergotamine ; drugs affecting coagulability of blood such as epsilon aminocaproic acid and protamine sulfate ; analgesic drugs such as acetylsalicylic acid , acetaminophen , codeine phosphate , codeine sulfate , carbamazepine , oxycodone , dihydrocodeine tartrate , oxycodeinone , morphine , heroin , nalbuphine , butorphanol tartrate , pentazocine hydrochloride , cyclazacine , pethidine , buprenorphine , and mefenamic acid ; anti - epileptic drugs such as phenytoin sodium and sodium valproate ; neuromuscular drugs such as dantrolene sodium ; substances used in the treatment of diabetes such as tolbutamide , metformin such as metformin salts , e . g ., metformin . hcl , disbenase glucagon and insulin ; drugs used in the treatment of thyroid gland dysfunction such as triiodothyronine , thyroxine and propylthiouracil ; diuretic drugs such as furosemide , chlorthalidone , hydrochlorothiazide , spironolactone and triamterene ; the uterine relaxant drug ritodrine ; appetite suppressants such as fenfluramine hydrochloride , phentermine and diethylproprion hydrochloride ; anti - asthmatic and bronchodilator drugs such as aminophylline , theophylline , salbutamol , orciprenaline sulphate and terbutaline sulphate ; expectorant drugs such as guaiphenesin ; cough suppressants such as dextromethorphan and noscapine ; mucolytic drugs such as carbocisteine ; anti - septics such as cetylpyridinium chloride , tyrothricin and chlorhexidine ; decongestant drugs such as phenylpropanolamine and pseudoephedrine ; hypnotic drugs such as dichloralphenazone and nitrazepam ; anti - nauseant drugs such as promethazine theoclate ; hemopoietic drugs such as ferrous sulphate , folic acid and calcium gluconate ; uricosuric drugs such as sulphinpyrazone , allopurinol and probenecid ; hormonal and oral contraceptive drugs such as progesterone and estrogen , and the like . the preferred active ingredients are metformin , carbamazepine , and the like . the drug formulation of the present invention may contain one drug or a combination of two or more drugs . the active ingredient is present in the pharmaceutical composition in therapeutically effective amounts . it is preferred that the medicament is present in amounts ranging from about 0 . 5 % to about 95 % by weight the pharmaceutical composition . the sustained release carrier useful in the present invention are those sustained release polymers which are used to control the release of medicaments in the pharmaceutical arts . they include sustained release polymers , non - polymer sustained release agents , waxes , and the like . the sustained release polymers include hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymers and waxes , such as a long chain hydrocarbons , long chain alkanoic acid , long chain alkanols and the like . examples of the sustained release carriers include gums ; cellulose ethers ; acrylic resins ; protein derived materials ; digestible long chain c 8 - c 50 hydrocarbons ( containing just hydrogen and carbon ), or acids thereof or alcohols thereof or glycerol esters thereof , especially c 12 - c 40 hydrocarbons , such as fatty acids , c 12 - c 40 alcohols , glycerol esters of the fatty acids ; mineral and vegetable oils ; waxes , especially hydrocarbons having a melting point between 25 ° c . and 90 ° c ., and polyethylene glycol , and the like . the preferred sustained release carriers are hydrophilic polymers . preferred hydrophilic polymers include the hydrophilic gums and / or hydrophilic cellulose ethers , polyalkylene oxides , and the like . the hydrophilic gums and cellulose ethers include natural , or partially or totally synthetic , anionic or non - ionic hydrophilic gums , such as , for example , acacia , gum tragacanth , locust bean gum , guar gum , karaya gum , agar , pectin , carrageen , xanthan gum , soluble alginates methyl cellulose , hydroxy propylmethyl cellulose , hydroxypropyl cellulose , hydroxyethyl cellulose , sodium carboxy methyl cellulose , carboxy polymethylene , a combination of two or more hydrophilic gums or cellulose ethers and the like . the preferred hydrophilic polymers are xanthan gum , hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose , or a mixture thereof , as described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 459 , 300 entitled “ sustained release tablet containing hydrocolloid and cellulose ether ”, commonly assigned , the contents of which are incorporated by reference and the like . preferred hydrophobic carriers include water insoluble waxes and polymers , such as polyacrylates and polymethacrylates , e . g ., eudragit ®, water insoluble cellulose , particularly alkyl celluloses , such as ethyl cellulose , digestible long chain c 8 - c 50 hydrocarbons , especially c 12 - c 40 alkyl , or fatty acids thereto , fatty alcohols , thereof or glycerol esters thereof , mineral and vegetable oils , and waxes , especially hydrocarbons having a melting point between 25 ° c . and 90 ° c . the control release carrier is present in effective amounts . it is preferred that the sustained release polymer is present in amounts ranging from about 0 . 1 % to about 50 % ( w / w ) and more preferably from about 1 % to about 30 % by weight and most preferably from about 2 % to about 20 % by weight of the composition . if the controlled release polymer is hydrophilic , it is preferred that it is present in an amounts ranging from about 1 % to about 50 % ( w / w ) and more preferably from about 2 % to about 25 % by weight and most preferably from about 3 % to about 15 % by weight . if the controlled release polymer is hydrophobic , it is preferred that it is present in an amount ranging from about 0 . 1 % to about 50 % ( w / w ) and more preferably from about 1 % to about 30 % by weight and most preferably from about 2 % to about 20 % by weight . the third component of the present formulation is a water insoluble or partially water soluble cellulose , ( hereinafter unless indicated to the contrary , designated as “ cellulose ”). these materials , which are commonly used as excipients , enhance the ability to form tablets . examples of such materials include microcrystalline cellulose , starch , and the like . the most preferred water insoluble or partially water soluble cellulose is microcrystalline cellulose , especially silicified microcrystalline cellulose . the third component is added in amounts to form a solid oral dosage form , e . g ., tablet , capsule , pellets and the like . by forming a solid dosage form , it is meant that it does not disintegrate or fall apart or develop holes or tears under tablet conditions to form a solid dosage form , such as a tablet , capsule , pellet and the like . moreover , in the case of a tablet , when the various ingredients of the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention are compressed into a tablet , the hardness of the tablet is 5 - 25 kp . the amount of the cellulose added depends upon the difficulty in forming a solid dosage form comprised of the drug , the control release polymer and any other ingredients . preferably , the amount of the third component ranges from about 1 % to about 95 % by weight of the oral dosage form and more preferably from about 5 % to about 65 % by weight and most preferably from about 10 % to about 50 % by weight . however , in the past , the presence of these excipients has made it difficult to formulate controlled release tablets because they cause disintegration of the tablet when in contact with water . the use of such materials in pharmaceutical compositions can cause the release of the medicament to be more rapid than desired . in some cases , they may even cause failure of the controlled release mechanism and cause dose dumping . formulations containing such materials may lose hardness on storage at high humidity and create stability problems . thus , a search was undertaken to find an additional component to add to the formulation to minimize these effects . for example , the inventor added various components to the formulation , but unfortunately , they tended to make the release profile too slow , and / or did not release the medicament completely in the desired time period so that an effective amount of drug could not be maintained in the bloodstream , thereby adversely effecting the efficacy of the sustained release formulation . for example , the addition of calcium diphosphate , which is not capable of swelling and which has been used in formulations of controlled release matrices , caused the release of the drug to slow down significantly and prevented the complete release of the medication of certain drugs , especially less water soluble drugs . however , the present inventor has found that the addition of maltodextrin in effective amounts provides the desired release profile . maltodextrin is a highly hydrophilic polysaccharide which does not swell in the presence of water . hereforeto , nobody knew maltodextrin also tends to slow down the release of a medicament in a controlled release formulation . the effective amount of maltodextrin added depends upon several factors , including the identity and amount of the drug in the formulation , the identity and the amount of the sustained release carrier and the like . these amounts can be determined by one of ordinary skill in the art without much difficulty . however , the inventor has found that the most important criteria in determining the effective amounts of maltodextrin added depends primarily on the amount of water insoluble cellulose or partially water insoluble cellulose utilized . thus , the effective amount thereof is added to counteract the accelerated rate of release from the water insoluble or partially water insoluble cellulose , e . g ., silicified cellulose . the amount added preferably ranges from a weight ratio of water insoluble or partially water soluble cellulose , e . g ., silicified microcrystalline cellulose , to maltodextrin ranging from about 1 : 50 to about 50 : 1 and more preferably from about 1 : 20 to about 20 : 1 and most preferably from about 1 : 9 to about 9 : 1 . in another embodiment , the ratios in the previous paragraphs are preferably the ranges of the total amount of water insoluble or partially water soluble cellulose to the total amount of maltodextrin present in the controlled release formulation of the present invention . although the oral dosage form may contain water soluble cellulose , such as hpmc , as a sustained release carrier , it is preferred that the total amount of partially water soluble cellulose or insoluble cellulose that is present in the pharmaceutical composition is that amount that enhances the tableting . moreover , it is preferred that the total amount of maltodextrin present in the pharmaceutical composition is that amount added to counteract the accelerated rate of release attributable to the presence of the partially water soluble or water insoluble cellulose that was added to enhance tableting . it is preferred that the sum of the water insoluble or partially water insoluble cellulose added and maltodextrin , taken together , ranges from about 5 % to about 95 % by weight of the oral dosage form and more preferably from about 10 % to about 60 % by weight with the most preferred range from about 20 % to about 50 % by weight . maltodextrin is an excipient and may be present as a filler in pharmaceutical tablets . however , the maltodextrin used in the present invention is to counteract the accelerated rate of release of the drug attributable to the addition of the water insoluble or partially water insoluble cellulose . the present inventor has also found another advantage of the present invention . more specifically , the present inventor has found that the water insoluble cellulose or partially water insoluble cellulose in combination with the maltodextrin can be used to fine tune the release profile of the active ingredient from the pharmaceutical composition . this is especially important when the objective is to prepare a sustained release pharmaceutical composition having a desired rate of release . for example , the present invention has found that a small amount of addition of sustained release carrier , e . g ., wax , hydrophilic or hydrophobic polymer , has a large effect on the release profile . however , to adjust the release profile of the medicament by just a small amount , the inventor has found that the addition of the water insoluble or partially water insoluble cellulose in combination with maltodextrin slightly modifies the release profile . in other words , the present inventor has found that when the maltodextrin is added in effective amounts to the pharmaceutical composition , the water insoluble or partially water insoluble cellulose in combination with maltodextrin fine tune the release profile . further , the present inventor has found that maltodextrin and the cellulose derivative can be added to the pharmaceutical composition even if tabelting is not a problem to fine tune the release profile of the medicament from the pharmaceutical composition . a lubricant may additionally be and is preferably present in the pharmaceutical formulation of the present invention , especially when in the form of a tablet . “ lubricant ”, as used herein , refers to a material which can reduce the friction between the die walls and the punch faces which occurs during the compression and ejection of a tablet . the lubricant prevents sticking of the tablet material to the punch faces and the die walls . as used herein , the term “ lubricant ” includes anti - adherents . tablet sticking during its formation and / or ejection may pose serious production problems such as reduced efficiency , irregularly formed tablets and non - uniform distribution of the medicament in the formulation . to avoid this problem , the present invention contemplates utilizing a lubricating effective amount of the lubricant . preferably , the lubricant is present in amounts ranging from about 0 . 1 % to about 5 % by weight and more preferably from about 0 . 5 % to about 2 % by weight of the pharmaceutical composition , e . g ., tablet . examples of lubricants include stearate salts , e . g ., alkaline earth and transition metal salts , such as calcium , magnesium and zinc stearates ; stearic acid , polyethylene oxide ; talc ; hydrogenated vegetable oil ; and vegetable oil derivatives , and the like . in addition , the pharmaceutical composition , e . g ., tablet , may contain a combination of more than one type of lubricant . other lubricants that also can be used include silica , silicones , high molecular weight polyalkylene glycol , monoesters of propylene glycol , and saturated fatty acids containing about 8 - 22 carbon atoms and preferably 16 - 20 carbon atoms . the preferred lubricants are the stearate salts , especially magnesium and calcium stearate and stearic acid . other excipients , such as plasticizers , for example , diethylphthalate ( dep ), dibutyl sebacate , triethyl citrate , triacetin , vegetable and mineral oils , polyethylene glycol , and the like , may optionally be present . preferably , the plasticizer , when present , is present in the pharmaceutical formations of the present invention in amounts ranging from about 0 . 1 % to about 25 %, and more preferably from about 0 . 1 % to about 10 % and most preferably form about 1 % to about 5 % by weight of the carrier . other optional ingredients that are also typically used in pharmaceuticals may also be present , such as coloring agents , preservatives ( e . g ., methyl parabens ), artificial sweeteners , flavorants , anti - oxidants , and the like . artificial sweeteners include , but are not limited to , saccharin sodium , aspartame , dipotassium glycyrrhizinate , stevia , thaumatin and the like . flavorants include , but are not limited to , lemon , lime , orange and menthol . the colorants include , but are not limited to , various food colors , e . g ., fd & amp ; c colors , such as fd & amp ; c yellow no . 6 , fd & amp ; c red no . 2 , fd & amp ; c blue no . 2 , food lakes and the like . examples of anti - oxidants include ascorbic acid , sodium metabisulphite and the like . these optional ingredients , if present , preferably are present in amounts ranging from about 0 . 1 % to about 5 % by weight of the tablet and most preferably less than about 3 % ( w / w ) of the tablet . the formulations of the present invention are preferably uncoated , but may be coated if desired with one of the many readily available coating systems . nevertheless , it is to be understood that the components described hereinabove , i . e ., the drug , drug release polymer , the insoluble or partially insoluble cellulose , maltodextrin and the optional ingredients described hereinabove are present in the core . the coating may be non - functional or functional . the coating may mask the taste of the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention . alternatively , coatings may be used to make the unit dosage form of the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention , e . g ., tablet , easier to swallow and , in some cases , improve the appearance of the dosage form . the pharmaceutical compositions , e . g ., tablet , can be sugar coated ; they are sugar coated according to the procedures well known in the art . alternatively , the unit dosage forms of the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention , e . g ., tablets , can be coated with any one of numerous polymeric film coating agents frequently employed by formulation chemists . representative examples of such film coating agents include hydroxypropyl methylcellulose , carboxymethylcellulose , hydroxypropylcellulose , methyl cellulose , ethyl cellulose , acrylic resins , polyvinyl povidone ( pvp ), polyvinyl diethylaminoacetate , cellulose acetate phthalate , polyvinyl acetate phthalate , acrylic latex emulsions , ethyl cellulose latex emulsions , and the like . a procedure for preparing the formulation of the present invention is by the wet granulation process in which all of the components , i . e ., medicament , sustained release , carrier , maltodextrin and water insoluble or partially soluble cellulose , e . g ., silicified microcrystalline cellulose , any additional excipient and other optional ingredient ( s ), are mixed with a sufficient amount of a granulating solvent to form a substantially uniform blend in a suitable blender , such as a planetary mixer , hobart mixer , v blender and the like . the granulating vehicle is one that is inert to the components and has a low boiling point , i . e ., preferably less than about 120 ° c . it is preferably a solvent such as an alcohol containing 1 - 4 carbon atoms , e . g ., isopropyl alcohol or ethanol or water or acetone and the like . an aqueous dispersion can also be utilized , especially if the polymeric sustained release material is a methyl methacrylate copolymer , as described above . in a preferred embodiment , the type of granulating vehicle used is dependent upon the identity of the sustained release polymer . the selection and use of granulating solvent is known to one of ordinary skill in the art . it is preferred that when the sustained release material is a copolymer of methyl methacrylate or ethyl acrylate , the granulating vehicle is an alcohol such as isopropyl alcohol or an aqueous latex dispersion of said copolymer . the ingredients are blended together at effective temperatures . it is preferred that the mixing occurs at room temperature , although slight modifications of temperature therefrom could be utilized . for example , the blending may be effected at temperature ranging from about 10 ° c . to about 45 ° c . the ingredients is the formulation are mixed together using techniques will known in the pharmaceutical arts and are intimately intermixed until the mixture is homogenous with respect to the drug . the substantially uniformly blended mixture may next optionally be milled , e . g ., passed through a screen , sieve , etc . to reduce the size of the particles thereof . the screen or sieve , and the like is preferably less than about 140 mesh , and more preferably less than about 100 mesh , and even more preferably , less than about 40 mesh , and most preferably less than about 25 mesh . next , the blend is dried . in this step , the solvent is removed from the blend by physical means known to the skilled artisan , e . g ., by evaporation or filtration . the resulting granules are again milled , e . g ., passed through a screen or sieve to further reduce the size of the particles to the desired size . the lubricant is added , and the granules are mixed to provide a uniform and homogenous blend , and then the resulting mixture is compressed to form a tablet . in a preferred variation , the blend can be simultaneously granulated in the granulation vehicle and dried , such as by using a fluid bed granulation process . alternatively , the present formulation of the present invention can be prepared by dry formulation by blending the medicament with the lubricant , maltodextrin , water insoluble or partially soluble cellulose and sustained release carrier , and the other optional ingredients . the ingredients are mixed in a typical blender that is normally utilized in the pharmaceutical arts , such as a hobart mixer , v - blender , a planetary mixer , twin shell blender and the like . it is preferred that the ingredients are blended together typically at about ambient temperature ; no additional heating is necessary , although slight modifications of temperature therefrom could be utilized . for example , the blending be conducted at temperatures ranging from about 10 ° c . to about 45 ° c . the ingredients in the formulation are preferably mixed together such as , e . g ., in a large batch , using techniques well known in the pharmaceutical arts and are intimately intermixed until the mixture is homogenous with respect to the drug . the term “ homogenous ” with respect to the drug is used to denote that the various components are substantially uniform throughout the invention , i . e ., a substantially homogeneous blend is formed . when the mixture is homogeneous , a unit dosage amount of the mixture is made into a solid dosage form . the formation of the solid dosage form as a tablet is exemplified hereinbelow . however , this is only exemplary for the formation of the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention being made into oral solid dosage forms , which can be effected using techniques known in the art from the homogenous mixture . in making a tablet , the homogenous mixture is compressed into a tablet form using a tablet machine typically utilized in the pharmaceutical arts . more specifically , the mixture is fed to the die of a tablet press and sufficient pressure is applied to form a solid tablet . such pressure can vary , and typically ranges from about 1 , 000 psi to about 6 , 000 psi and preferably about 2 , 000 psi force . the solid formulation according to the present invention is compressed to a sufficient hardness to prevent the premature ingress of the aqueous medium into the tablet . preferably , the formulation is into a tablet form which is of the order of 5 - 20 kp and more preferably 8 - 20 kp as determined by a schleuniger hardness test . in a variation of preparing the drug formulation , all of the above steps are repeated , except that the mixing is initially performed in the absence of a lubricant . when the mixture is homogeneous with respect to the drug , then the lubricant is added and the mixing is continued until the lubricant is substantially evenly dispersed or homogenous in the mixture . then the mixing is terminated , and the mixture is immediately thereafter compressed into a tablet , as described hereinabove . when the mixture from either procedure is homogeneous with respect to the drug , a unit dosage form of the mixture is prepared and then compacted , as described hereinabove . this methodology for preparing a tablet containing the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention is exemplary and it is to be understood that the present invention should not be so limited . after the tablet is formed , the tablet is coated with materials normally used in pharmaceuticals , if desired . if coated , the coating is prepared by techniques known in the art . as a result of the process described herein , a tablet product is obtained which has the desired hardness and friability typically found for pharmaceutical tablets . the hardness is preferably 5 - 25 kp and more preferably 8 - 20 kp . in addition , the tablet has an excellent drug release profile . more specifically , it has a predetermined controlled and sustained action release pattern so that the drug is available over a period of up to 36 hours or longer , depending upon the precise tablet size , the identity of the active ingredient , hardness and the particular carrier composition and the needs of the patient . furthermore , the release profile of each formulation is substantially uniform . finally , the tablets prepared in accordance with the present invention are hard and dense , have low friability and provide controlled and sustained release over an extended period . besides a tablet , the uniformly blended mixture of active ingredient , sustained release carrier , maltodextrin , water insoluble or partially soluble cellulose , e . g ., silicified microcrystalline cellulose , can be made into a pellet , capsule , granule , pill or a dragee using conventional techniques known in the art . unless indicated to the contrary , all percentages are weight percentages relative to the pharmaceutical composition in solid oral dosage form . moreover , the terms “ drug ” and “ medicament ” are used interchangeably . furthermore , the terms “ sustained release ” and “ controlled release ” are being used interchangeably . as used herein , the singular shall refer to the plural and vice versa . a controlled - release / sustained - release carbidopa / levodopa tablet containing 53 . 98 milligrams of carbidopa and 200 milligrams of levodopa is prepared containing the components set forth in table 1 . tablets were prepared in accordance with the formulations set forth in table 1 by passing carbidopa , levodopa , euragit ® rspo , prosolv ® and maltodextrin ® m180 through a # 40 mesh screen wherein these ingredients were mixed in a double cone blender . a suitable mixing time for the ingredients was about 45 minutes . the mixture of carbidopa / levodopa and controlled - release / sustained - release polymer was then mixed with isopropyl alcohol and the wet mass was passed through a # 12 mesh screen . the granules were then dried at 60 ° c . for 2 hours . afterward , talc and sodium stearyl fumarate were passed through a # 40 mesh screen and mixed with the above dried ingredients in a double cone blender , for a suitable mixing time , about 10 minutes . the above mixture is compressed into white , uncoated , oval , biconvex caplets having a weight of approximately 325 milligrams , a length of about 12 . 77 millimeters plus or minus 0 . 02 millimeters , a breadth of about 7 . 13 - 7 . 14 millimeters , a thickness of about 4 . 61 millimeters plus or minus 0 . 02 millimeters , and a hardness of about 10 - 11 kp . a controlled - release tablet containing 750 milligrams of metronidazole was prepared . it contained the components , as set forth in table 2 . it was prepared in accordance with the procedure of example 1 . in this formulation the ratio of prosolv ® to maltodextrin is 3 : 1 . a controlled - release tablet containing 750 milligrams of metronidazole was prepared . it contained the components as set forth in table 3 . it was prepared in accordance with the procedure of example 1 . in this formulation the ratio of prosolv ® to maltodextrin is 9 : 1 . a controlled - release tablet containing 750 milligrams of metronidazole was prepared . the ingredients used in preparing the tablet is set forth in table 4 . the tablet was prepared in accordance with the procedure of example 1 . the ratio of prosolv ® to maltodextrin is 18 : 1 . a controlled release tablet of metronidazole was prepared from the ingredients , set forth below . the tablet is prepared in accordance with the procedure of example 1 . ingredients qty per tablet ( mg ) metronidazole 750 eudragit ® rspo ( 5 %) 50 prosolv ® 50 190 talc ( 0 . 5 %) 5 aerosil ( 0 . 5 %) 5 isopropyl alcohol q . s tablet weight : 1000 the effects of maltodextrin and prosolv ® on the release rate of various metronidazole formulations were tested . differing ratios of prosolv ® to maltodextrin were tested wherein the percentages of prosolv tested were 100 %, 95 %, 90 % and 75 %. the metronidazole formulations were made in accordance with examples 2 - 4 as recited above . the time required to release the metronidazole in water was tested and the results are shown in table 5 . it is apparent that the ratio of prosolv ® to maltodextrin is critical in affecting the release of an active agent such as metronidazole . maltodextrin successfully slowed the rate of release of a tablet containing prosolv ® when utilized in an effective amount by as much as 35 % thus enabling the pharmaceutical to continue acting over time . a controlled - release tablet containing metformin hcl was prepared from the components set forth in table 6 . the tablet was prepared by mixing the components in a v - blender for about 1 . 5 to 2 hours and then compressing the mixture using a tablet press . the ratio of prosolv ® to maltodextrin is 1 : 1 . a controlled - release tablet containing metformin hcl has been prepared from the ingredients set forth in table 7 . the tablet was prepared in accordance with the procedure of example 6 . the ratio of prosolv ® to maltodextrin is 9 : 1 . a controlled - release tablet containing metformin hcl has been prepared from the ingredients set forth in table 8 below . the tablet was prepared in accordance with the procedure of example 6 . a comparative study was performed of the various metformin hcl tablets prepared in examples 6 and 7 and comparative example 2 . differing ratios of prosolv ® to maltodextrin were tested . the time required to release the drug in water was tested and the results are shown hereinbelow in table 9 and depicted in fig2 . the beads were prepared by mixing mesalamine , silicified microcrystalline cellulose , maltodextrin in a blender and the mixture of surelease ® and water were added thereto while mixing . the resulting wet mass product was passed through an extruder with 1 . 25 mm screen to obtain elongated cylinders . the extrudate was then spheronized by a spherionizer to form the solid product . after spheronization , the pellets are dried and placed into hard gelatin capsules . a controlled release formulation was prepared in pellet form using the following components in the amounts indicated in the following table 11 . a comparative study was preformed of the mesalamine formulations prepared in example 9 and comparative example 3 . the release profile in water is tabulated hereinbelow . % release in h 2 o time ( hours ) comp . ex . 4 comp . ex . 13 1 100 76 2 90 3 93 the controlled release pellet was formed in accordance with the procedure in example 9 . the beads obtained after spheronization were dried and were further coated using aqueous dispersion of ethylcellulose and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose . three control release tablets containing 500 mg of clarithromycin were prepared . the compositions of each of the formulations are set forth in table 12 . a tablet was prepared for each of the formulations . each tablet was prepared by mixing the components listed hereinabove for each example in a suitable blender such as a v blender for about 1 . 5 to 2 hours and then compressing the mixture using a tablet press . the dissolution profile of each tablet was carried out in a ph 5 acetate buffer using usp ii apparatus at 50 rpm . the release profiles are depicted in table 13 . as used herein , the term “ highly water soluble ” means that the solubility of the material is at least about 1 gm / 10 ml of h 2 o at 25 ° c . as used herein , the term “ water soluble ” means that the solubility of the material is at least about 1 gm / 10 ml of h 2 o at 25 ° c . the term “ water insoluble ” is used in its normal sense . it is meant to imply that the solubility of the material in water at 25 ° c . is low , e . g ., less than about 1 gm / ml of h 2 o at 25 ° c . the term “ partially soluble ” is meant that the solubility of the material at 25 ° c . lies between that of “ water soluble ” and that of “ water insoluble ”. the above preferred embodiments and examples were given to illustrate the scope and spirit of the present invention . these embodiments and examples will make apparent to those skilled in the art other embodiments and examples . the other embodiments and examples are within the contemplation of the present invention . therefore , the present invention should be limited only by the amended claims . | 0 |
turning first to fig1 the plow system or attachment includes generally a hitch 10 for connecting to the rear of a tractor 11 and including a vertical pivotal connection 12 about which a main frame 13 of the illustrated plow attachment may rotate . the main frame 13 includes a beam 14 extending generally in the direction of travel of the tractor 11 , and inclined main beam 15 welded to the rear end of the longitudinal beam 14 , and a brace bar 16 . pivotally mounted to the inclined main beam 15 are five plow units generally designated by reference numeral 17 . all of the plow units 17 may be similar so that only one need be discussed in further detail in order to fully understand the invention . the forward end of each of the plow units 17 is provided with a connecting flange 18 which is pivotally connected to a guide beam 19 which extends parallel with the inclined main beam 15 . a hydraulic cylinder and piston rod unit generally designated by reference numeral 20 ( sometimes referred to as a hydraulic ram ) is pivotally connected at one end to the longitudinal beam 14 as at 21 and pivotally connected at its rod end as at 22 to an extension 18a of the connecting flange 18 of the leading plow unit 17 . the ram 20 is a double - acting hydraulic ram , and the lines may be run along the longitudinal beam 14 to a conventional power take - off on the tractor 11 , with the controls mounted for easy access for the operator of the tractor 11 . when the ram 20 is expanded , the extension 18a of the connecting flange 18 of the leading plow unit is rotated in a clockwise direction , thereby rotating the entire leading plow unit clockwise . this action translates the guide beam 19 axially in the direction of the arrow 24 , thereby rotating all of the remaining connecting flanges 18 and there associated plow units clockwise . this action &# 34 ; closes &# 34 ; adjacent units -- that is , the spacing between vertical planes passing through the pivotal connections of the plow units and extending in the cutting or plowing direction of each unit comes closer together . by contracting the ram 20 , the guide beam 19 is moved rearward relative to the inclined main beam 15 , but remains parallel to it . this action &# 34 ; opens &# 34 ; adjacent plow units to increase the spacing between adjacent plow units . the adjustment action is diagrammatically illustrated in fig6 wherein the individual plow units are not illustrated for clarity , but their directions of cutting are indicated by the chain lines 17a for the main frame shown in solid line . it will be observed that the cutting lines of the plow units are always in the forward direction of travel of the tractor -- that is , because of the structure of the plow units , which may be conventional , they have a tendency to straighten themselves out when they are pulled through ground . the resistance forces of the ground act on the plow share and coulter and moldboard much like a rudder action . when it is desired to increase the lateral spacing of the plow units , the hydraulic cylinder 20 is contracted , thereby rotating the cutting line of the leading plow unit from the chain line 17a to that indicated by the dashed line 17b . due to the pivotal connection of the individual plow units to the inclined main beam 15 , and the ganging of all of the plow units via the guide beam 19 , all of the plow units are rotated counterclockwise . the schematic illustration of fig6 is exaggerated to depict the principle involved ; however , the inclination of the cutting line 17a is rotated through the angle θ to the orientation 17b . it will be observed that this rotation increases the lateral spacing of adjacent plow units from the distance between chain lines , indicated by s , to the distance between dashed lines , indicated by the distance s &# 39 ;. when the attachment is then used to work ground , the tendency of the individual plow units to straighten themselves ( indicated diagrammatically by the vertical dashed lines 17c in fig6 ), the frame of the attachment will be rotated about the pivotal connection 12 to the position shown in dashed line . it will be noted that the present invention advantageously achieves the following advantages while effecting this adjustment : ( 1 ) the lateral spacing of each adjacent pair of plow units remains constant for a given setting of the hydraulic ram 20 to insure constant spacing of adjacent furrows for all settings of the plow units ; ( 2 ) the movement of the individual plow sections to the right is progressive -- that is , if the leading plow unit moves two inches to the right , then the second plow unit will move four and the third six , and so on to maintain constant furrow spacing ; and ( 3 ) the leading plow unit is shifted laterally along with the rest , although by a smaller distance , relative to the right rear wheel of the tractor 11 ( designated w in fig . 1 ). the latter of the above - enumerated advantages permits an operator to keep the wheel w in a previously - formed furrow and still be assured that the spacing between the previously - formed furrow and the furrow being cut by the leading plow unit is the same as the lateral spacing of all adjacent pairs of plow units . it will be observed from fig6 that the longitudinal center line of the longitudinal frame beam 14 moves through the same angle θ as does the cutting line of each plow unit . each of the pivotal connections of the individual plow units moves through the same angle θ . these pivotal connections are located at multiples of a predetermined distance from the pivotal connection 12 , so that if , for example , the distance between the pivotal connection of the first plow unit and the pivotal connection 12 is r , then the distance between the pivotal connection of the second plow unit and the pivotal connection 12 to the tractor hitch is 2r , and so on . it will thus be appreciated that the lateral displacement of the plow units becomes a function of the turning of a plow unit through the angle θ , and that the displacement of the plow units is progressive because they are preferably located at multiples of the distance between the pivotal connection 12 and the pivotal connection of the first plow unit . returning now to fig1 the trailing end of the inclined main beam 15 is supported by a trailer section generally designated by reference numeral 27 which is pivotally connected at 28 to the inclined main beam 15 . the rearmost plow unit is carried by the trailing section 27 , in a manner to be disclosed presently , and the entire trailing section 27 is turned when the guide beam 19 is translated . attached to the rear of the trailer section 27 is a support wheel 28 , and it is located in a manner to always follow in the furrow formed by the rearmost plow unit during plowing . this is accomplished because the entire trailer section 27 is rotated as a unit with the rearmost plow unit . the trailer section 27 is also provided with a hydraulic ram 30 for raising the junction between the main frame 13 and the trailer section 27 relative to the support wheel 28 to lift the plow units off the ground when the plow system is being transported over roads and the like . a steering mechanism generally designated by reference numeral 31 is responsive to the turning of the tractor 11 , as will be described presently , to turn the rear support wheel 28 in an opposite direction and thereby move the trailing end of the attachment outwardly during a turn to keep it behind the tractor , in a manner in which very long hook - and - ladder fire trucks are steered . turning now to fig2 the hitch 10 includes a transverse rectangular bar 35 at the ends of which are mounted conventional hitching mechanisms generally designated 36 for securing to the rear end of a traction vehicle while permitting rotation about a horizontal axis . a base including upper and lower plates 37 and 38 are secured to the transverse bar 35 by means of four corner bolts 39 . if the bolts 39 are loosened , the base may be adjusted laterally of the transverse bar 35 so as to accommodate the attachment to tractors of different wheel base . this fixes the distance between the right rear wheel w of fig1 which rides in a previously - formed furrow , and the pivotal axis 12 , also illustrated in fig1 . the pivotal axis 12 is diagrammatically illustrated in fig2 by the vertical line 12a , and this is also the center line of a vertical shaft rotatably mounted within a sleeve 40 . the top of the shaft is provided with a collar as at 41 , and the bottom of the shaft is welded to the horizontal plate 37 . thus , the shaft received within the sleeve 40 rotates with the crossbar 35 -- that is , when the tractor is turned . at the top of the collar 41 , there is provided a laterally - extending arm 42 to the distal end of which a tie - rod 43 is pivotally connected . first and second channel members 44 and 45 are provided with suitable cutouts and welded at vertically spaced positions to the sleeve 40 . a vertical plate 46 is welded to the back sides of the channel members 44 , 45 . the end frame member 16 and the longitudinal box frame member 14 are welded to the back of the plate 46 . turning now to fig5 one of the individual plow units can be seen in greater detail . a c - shaped yoke 48 straddles the inclined main beam 15 from the side and extends rearwardly thereof . the forward ends of the yoke 48 are connected to a vertical shaft 49 which is rotatably mounted in the inclined main beam 15 . thus , the yoke 48 is permitted to rotate about a vertical axis . to the forward end of the bottom end of the yoke 48 , there is mounted a rolling coulter 52 in conventional fashion . to the back of the yoke 48 there is pivotally mounted a plow shank 53 at the lower end of which is connected a plow share 54 and a moldboard 55 . the plow shank 53 may be connected by means of a spring trip generally designated 56 so that if an immovable obstruction is reached , the plow share will be rotated upwardly out of engagement with the ground to prevent damage . as already mentioned , the plow unit illustrated may be of conventional design , but the one shown represents a preferred embodiment . turning now to fig3 and 4 which illustrate the tail section 27 , a box frame 57 is pivotally connected by means of a collar 58 to the distal end of the inclined main beam 15 for rotation about a vertical axis . the distal end of the guide beam 19 is pivotally connected at 59 to a lower extending flange 60 of the box frame 57 . the rearmost plow unit 17 is welded to a vertical plate 61 extending from the bottom of the flange plate 60 . thus , as the guide beam 19 is translated forward and aft , the entire tail section including the rearmost plow unit rotates as a unit . the box frame 57 is welded to the top of a rear tail beam 63 to the distal end of which is mounted a vertical link 64 . the vertical link 64 forms a forward link in a parallelogram linkage generally designated 65 which includes upper and lower horizontal links 66 and 67 pivotally connected at their forward ends to the vertical links 64 and a rear link comprising a vertical sleeve 69 pivotally connected to the rear ends of the horizontal links 66 , 67 . the ends of the vertical shaft 69 extend above and below the associated horizontal links 66 , 67 , and journaled within it is a vertical shaft 70 , to the bottom of which is connected a laterally - extending arm 71 ( seen best in fig1 ). the arm 71 forms an axle for the trailing wheel 28 . welded to the upper portion of the top horizontal link 66 is a brace plate 72 at the top of which is mounted a base 73 for a pivotal connection of the hydraulic ram 30 . the forward end of the hydraulic ram 30 is pivotally connected as at 75 to a vertical flange 76 formed about the periphery of the box frame 57 , as best seen in fig3 . when the ram 30 is expanded , it will cause the parallelogram linkage 65 to assume the position shown in dotted line -- that is , it will vertically lift the trail beam 63 . this may be used to set the depth of plowing as well as to lift all of the plow units above the ground . however , in order to lift all of the plow units off the ground , the hitch lift mechanism of the tractor is used to lift the forward end of the attachment . such lift mechanisms are normally provided on tractors and need not be described any further here . referring now to fig4 a link 79 is welded to the collar 58 to extend laterally thereof which is provided with two apertured flanges 79a and 79b . referring now particularly to fig1 the distal end of the tie rod 43 is pivotally connected as at 81 to the flange 79a of the horizontal link 79 which pivots about the axis 28 . a second tie rod 83 is pivotally connected between the flange 79b of the horizontal link 79 , and the outboard end of a second horizontal link member 85 which is rigidly secured to the top of the shaft 70 for turning the trailing wheel 28 . as viewed in fig1 if the tractor were turning to the right , the vertical shaft 41 ( best seen in fig2 ) rotates counterclockwise because it is rigidly connected to the cross - bar 35 by means of the plates 37 , 38 and the bolts 39 . this action causes the tie rod 43 to move rearwardly thereby rotating the t - bar linkage 79 counterclockwise and pushing the tie rod 83 rearwardly . this , in turn , rotates the rear horizontal link 85 clockwise with the shaft 70 , turning the trailing wheel 28 to the left . thus , as the tractor enters a turn , the trailing wheel 28 turns in an outward direction to move the trailing end of the attachment into a wider turning radius and to keep the attachment behind the tractor . the tie rods are not shown in fig4 for clarity , nor is the bottom of the rearmost plow unit . it will be observed that because the trailing or rearmost plow unit is connected to the tail section 27 , as is the trailing wheel 28 , the trailing wheel 28 will always be lodged in the furrow formed by the rearmost plow unit , although this is not necessary to practice the invention . that is , the trailing wheel could be displaced laterally to travel on flat ground and not in a furrow , for example . in other words , as the plow units are rotated , the tail section will also be rotated about the vertical pivotal axis 28 , and since the tail wheel 28 is located directly behind the rearmost plow unit 17 , it will always follow in the furrow formed by that unit . in order to best accomplish this , a parallelogram is formed by the following four pivotal points : ( 1 ) the pivotal connection 12 at the hitch ; ( 2 ) the pivotal connection between the tie rod 43 and the arm 42 ; ( 3 ) the connection between the flange 79a of arm 79 and tie rod 43 ; and the connection between the base of arm 79 ( i . e . the tail section connection ) and the tail end of the inclined main beam . a second support wheel , designated 90 in fig1 and 3 is adjustably mounted by means of a vertical beam 91 for engaging the ground during plowing to limit the depth of plowing . having thus described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention , persons skilled in the art will be able to substitute equivalent elements for those which have been disclosed and to modify certain of the structure illustrated while continuing to practice the principle of the invention ; and it is , therefore , intended that all such modifications and substitutions be covered as they are embraced within the spirit and scope of the appended claims . | 0 |
the invention has numerous advantages over prior practices in the continuous inkjet art . the invention allows continuous variation of ink composition in a continuous inkjet printer . the ability to vary ink composition allows the effective printing on different substrates without a lengthy changeover to an ink compatible with a different substrate . the system in the invention also provides a low - cost way of shifting inks as opposed to having multiple large tanks of ink that the printer would switch between . the ink flow of the invention is generally uniform even as the compositions vary , thereby minimizing printhead blockage . in view of the ease of switching inks there is no need to use an ink that is not ideally matched for each substrate in order to avoid expensive ink changeovers . the invention allows the ink needs of different substrates to be easily satisfied . another advantage is that some of the ink enhancers while improving performance of the ink significantly shorten the ink shelf life . in the invention the ink enhancing material is combined with the base ink immediately before printing and shelf life is not an issue . an advantage of the printing system of the invention is that it is possible to respond to workflow by adjusting not only the ink chemistry but also the print head set points to optimize jetting performance of the enhanced ink . efficiency of the printing system will be enhanced as it is possible to make a fast and automatic response of the printing system to substrate changes . these and other advantages of the invention will be apparent from the specification and drawing . the invention provides a base ink formulation source 12 . the base ink formulation 16 is withdrawn from the source 12 by passing the ink stream 14 through tube 13 . the base ink formulation 16 , if not matched to the substrate 22 , will have an enhancer added prior to its reaching the inkjet head 24 . four different enhancers 18 , 26 , 28 , and 32 are shown . the entry of these enhancers into stream 14 is by controlling of valves 34 , 36 , 38 , and 40 . fig1 shows the valve 36 open for the polypropylene substrate compatibility ink enhancer 26 to enter the base ink formulation stream 14 in tube 13 . these valves are electronically controlled by controller 42 through control means 44 . it is possible for the inkjet head 24 to receive ink comprising the base ink formulation and from one to four different enhancer materials for different substrates . in operation , the inkjet method and apparatus of the invention would in one instance be operated as follows . substrate 22 would be selected as a substrate having a polypropylene surface , such as used for banners and food wrapping . the base ink formulation 16 would enter tube 13 . polypropylene substrate compatibility enhancer 26 would be added through the valve 36 shown in fig1 in the open position . the blend of the base ink formulation 16 and the polypropylene substrate compatibility enhancer 26 are brought to the inkjet printhead 24 . the controller 42 would adjust the printhead set points such that they provide excellent drop formation of the ink that is formed by the combination of the base ink formulation 16 and the polypropylene substrate compatibility enhancer 26 . this change in set point would involve the control of the heaters adjacent the ink orifice of the printhead so as to form ink drops at the desired rate and size for printing . the ink with the polypropylene substrate compatibility enhancer 26 would have a different viscosity or weight requiring adjustment of the printhead . the ink would then be applied to the substrate 22 having a polypropylene surface and would adhere to that substrate , whereas the base ink formulation would have poor adhesion . similarly , if substrate 22 was a glossy lithographic receiver then the glossy lithographic receiver compatibility enhancer 18 would be metered into stream 14 through valve 34 to combine with the base ink formulation to create an ink satisfactory for a glossy lithographic receiver . the other valves 36 , 40 and 38 would be shut off by the controller 44 . the same procedure would be followed if a plain paper density enhancer 28 was desired or an image durability enhancer 32 was desired . in each of those instances the stream 14 of the base ink formulation 16 would be enhanced by addition of one of those materials to create an ink particularly desirable for a plain paper density enhancement or to improve durability . it is also possible that both the enhancers 32 and 28 could be added simultaneously to both improve the density and the durability of the base ink formulation 16 . in each instance the printhead set points would be adjusted to control the heaters in inkjet head 24 to effectively dispense droplets of the enhanced ink onto the compatible substrate . further , while the invention has been illustrated with the combined ink stream containing enhancer prepared outside the inkjet head and brought to the head in one stream , it is possible that the base ink and enhancers could be mixed in the inkjet head . the base ink 16 of the invention in a preferred example would be an aqueous ink formed of a pigment dispersion , a dispersant , a humectant , and a biocide . in humectant would be a glycol based material to aid in drying of the ink . the dispersant could suitably be n - methyl - oleoyl taurate ( omt ) or a commercial material surfactant such as noveon , solsperse , or surfactants available from lubizol . the enhancer for glossy lithographic receiver compatibility could suitably be a acrylic latex polymer . the enhancer to improve the adherence to a polypropylene &# 39 ; s substrate could suitably be a block copolymer of acrylic acid and ethylene . the enhancer to improve density when printed on plain paper suitably could be a calcium salt of oxalic acid . enhancer to improve image durability by addition to the base ink formulation suitably could be a polyurethane polymer . the controllers for ink jet operation are well - known in the art . the control mechanism is shown in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 883 , 904 to jeanmarie , hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and particularly with reference to columns 5 - 8 where the use of the controller to determine drop size and spacing is set forth . the use of a controller to control valves in a liquid configuration from several sources and mixing is well known in the art and its use with the valves of the ink enhancers is typical of such mixing and flow control . while the invention has been described with four ink enhancer &# 39 ; s , the invention could be utilized with a greater number or fewer enhancers . further , these valves could be provided a valve inlet for flushing fluid to clean the system . further , other types of enhancers could be utilized . for instance , different colors could be added to a base ink to provide new colors by blending different colors into a base formulation . further other enhancers , such as ultraviolet inhibitors , could be added for substrates that are intended for exterior use . enhancers containing fungicides could also be added to form inks for use in the packaging and medical field . these and other variations will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art and are intended to be included by the invention as defined in the claims . | 1 |
in the scrap iron ( penniman - zoph ) method of making iron oxide , the typical process is as follows : a seed slurry of finely - divided ferric hydroxide is prepared , mixed with a dilute ferrous salt solution , and pumped to a reaction tank provided with a rack containing a quantity of iron metal scrap . the temperature of the slurry is then raised to about 160 ° f ., and a current of air is passed through the reaction mixture . the result of the reaction is that iron is converted to iron oxide , typically with a small amount of soluble iron in the liquid mixture when the overall process is halted . the first step of our invention takes place when the overall batch process is stopped and comprises separating the unreacted scrap iron from the iron oxide product slurry . this can be done by removing the scrap iron from the reaction tank or by pumping the product slurry to another tank , preparatory to further processing . the product slurry comprises finished iron oxide particles as the solid phase , with the liquid phase being an aqueous solution of soluble iron , typically as dissolved ferrous sulphate , and small amounts of other materials typically found in the scrap iron process . the liquid phase of the product slurry is mainly a dilute solution of soluble iron . other soluble materials , obtain from the scrap iron process , can be present but they are typically even more dilute in concentration . the ratio of solid to liquid of the product slurry is dependent upon the particular manner in which the scrap iron process is carried out . this ratio can vary from about 60 to about 150 , based on grams of iron oxide per liter of product slurry , with a preferred ratio range of about 80 to about 120 . the concentration of soluble iron , expressed as grams of fe ++ per liter of liquid , varies from about 0 . 1 to about 20 , with a more preferred range of from about 5 to about 15 . the concentration of soluble iron depends upon several factors and is not critical , since the aim of the invention is to convert as much of the soluble iron into iron oxide of marketable quality product as is possible , in order to improve the efficiency of the overall process and to avoid environmental problems . neutralization of the product slurry is the next step in our invention . broadly , this neutralization can be carried out by a number of compounds , but , to avoid undesirable products and excessive costs , the preferred neutralizing agents are chosen from the group consisting of ammonium hydroxide and the oxides , hydroxides , and carbonates of sodium and potassium . as preferred agents , ammonium hydroxide , sodium hydroxide , and sodium carbonate are efficient and commercially available . typically , the ph of the product slurry from the reaction tank is in the range of from about 1 . 5 to about 3 . 0 . during the bulk of the neutralization , the ph of the mixture is maintained between 3 . 0 and 4 . 0 , preferably between 3 . 3 and 3 . 7 . then , as the fe ++ concentration is depleted , the ph is allowed to increase to about 3 . 4 - 5 . 5 , preferably from about 4 . 0 to about 5 . 0 , to insure maximum iron removal . neutralization is carried out by controlled addition of the alkaline reagent to the product slurry , with agitation . this controlled neutralization is in contradistinction to prior art methods of adding uncontrolled amounts , such as &# 34 ; slugs &# 34 ;, of alkaline reagents , resulting in localized regions of high ph , which tend to result in the production of undesirable iron oxides . the concept of &# 34 ; controlled neutralization &# 34 ; may be expanded by assuming that a solution contains a certain amount of soluble iron , at a certain ph , generally in the range of 1 . 5 - 3 . 0 . in order to neutralize this material without product deterioration , the neutralization has to be in a controlled manner . this means the alkali required for the neutralization is added by a control valve , for example , which is controlled by a ph probe . if the set point of the controller is set at a ph of 3 . 5 for example , then , during the course of the neutralization of the soluble iron , the amount of iron will be depleted slowly , and the control valve during this period will allow less and less alkali into the tank . thus , to maintain a controlled addition of alkali for the neutralization of the soluble iron , the rate of addition of the alkali is reduced automatically , as the amount of available soluble iron is reduced , or , in other words , during this neutralization the control valve will allow less and less alkali addition in order to maintain the ph set at the control as the soluble iron is deplenished . in practice , if the set points were to be raised all the way initially , the control valve would allow too much alkali to enter the tank during the initial phase , when the concentration of soluble iron is still relatively high . this would result in a too rapid precipitation of undesirable by - products . the main point of &# 34 ; controlled neutralization &# 34 ; is that the rate of addition of the alkali is related to the amount of soluble iron left , to maintain the desired ph range set at the controller . depending on various operating conditions , the rate of addition of the neutralizing agent can vary from about 0 . 0025 to 0 . 02 lbs . of hydroxyl equivalent / hr ./ gal , preferably from about 0 . 006 to about 0 . 012 , and most preferably from about 0 . 01 to about 0 . 011 . the aeration step is carried out concurrently with the neutralization step . aeration can be the major source of agitation , or it can be supplemented by mechanical agitators . the rate of aeration , defined as pounds of oxygen per hour per gallon of total reaction mixture varies from about 0 . 01 to about 0 . 15 , preferably from about 0 . 07 to about 0 . 1 . aeration is the preferred method of oxidizing the ferrous hydroxide to the ferric hydroxide form . the most convenient source of aeration is by bubbling air through the reaction mixture . if desired , oxygen or oxygen - enriched air may be used in place of air . the rate of oxidation is highly dependent upon the amount of available oxygen , and thus the aeration rate is important . broadly , the temperature for the reaction to oxidize the residual soluble iron ranges from about 120 ° f . to about 180 ° f . preferably , the reaction temperature is controlled in the range of from about 140 ° to about 165 ° f ., and most preferably the temperature range is about 153 °- 157 ° f . it is recognized that if the reaction temperature is too low , the rate of reaction is slowed , with the counteracting factor that more dissolved oxygen is available at the lower temperature . on the other hand , at the higher temperature , the reaction raises faster , but there is less dissolved oxygen available . the preferred range has been found to give the best results . the reaction time for this finishing portion of the process , stated with zero time being when the slurry is contacted with air and neutralizing agent , can vary from about 2 to about 10 hours , depending upon the amount of soluble iron present . the reaction time can be shortened by increasing the temperature and aeration rate , but such a practice usually results in a poorer grade of pigment . on the other hand , a longer reaction time may give a slightly higher grade of pigment , but the efficiency of use of the reactor volume is lower . when the oxidation of the residual soluble iron in the product slurry is substantially complete , as determined by typical laboratory methods , the reaction mixture can be further processed by filtration , washing of the oxide , drying and grinding . the aqueous effluent from the oxide process now has a reduced concentration of soluble iron , compared with the liquid portion of the original product slurry . from the scrap process for the manufacture of yellow iron oxide pigment was obtained 70 gallons of a slurry comprising 0 . 6 lb ./ gal . of suspended iron oxide and a concentration of soluble iron equivalent to 0 . 34 lb ./ gal . of cooperas ( as feso 4 . 7h 2 o ). this mixture was treated with air at 0 . 09 lb ./ hr ./ gal . at 155 ° f ., and the ph was maintained at about 3 . 5 by the addition of nh 3 vapor , until the fe ++ concentration was reduced to about 5 ppm . the reaction time was 6 hours . this procedure yielded 49 . 8 lbs . of a high quality pigment grade iron oxide matching commercial standards . this means that 7 . 8 lbs . of desirable iron oxide were produced from the residual soluble iron , which would have been discarded or dumped under prior art methods . using a volume of 70 gals . of slurry containing 0 . 8 lb ./ gal . of iron oxide and a concentration of soluble iron equivalent to 0 . 34 lb ./ gal . of cooperas , air was introduced at a rate of 0 . 1 lbs . o 2 / hr ./ gal . at 160 ° f ., with the ph maintained at about 4 . 0 by the addition of 50 wt .% naoh solution , until the fe ++ concentration was reduced to about 5 ppm . the reaction time was 6 hours . in this procedure , 63 . 8 lbs . of high quality pigment grade iron oxide were obtained , meaning that 7 . 8 lbs . of iron oxide were salvaged from the soluble portion of the effluent . | 2 |
referring now to fig1 , a retailing system 10 of the present invention may work in a retail environment 12 , for example , a bar , for the sale of merchandise 14 . in this case alcoholic or other beverages desired by a customer 16 . the invention provides for a station 18 at the retail environment 12 , the station 18 providing a tablet computer 20 or the like configured for access by a retailing individual 22 , for example , a bartender . the station 18 may include a placard 24 indicating that it is a location for a point of exchange for the retailing system 10 , distinct from a point of exchange for conventional retailing , where the customer 16 may receive the merchandise 14 using the present invention . as will be discussed in further detail below , this invention works in conjunction with a smart phone 26 or similar device in the possession of the customer 16 through which the customer 16 may place orders to be picked up at the station 18 . each of the tablet computer 20 and smart phone 26 may provide for a computing platform 30 having a processor 32 communicating with a memory 34 . the memory 34 may hold an operating system 36 and one or more application programs 38 including an application implementing a portion of the retailing system 10 of the present invention . in the case of the smart phone 26 , the computing platform 30 may include a geolocation device such as a gps receiver 40 or wireless triangulation system . both of the tablet computer 20 and smart phone 26 may provide for wireless communication through a wireless port 42 providing one or more of cellular phone connectivity or local area wireless connectivity , for example , a wi - fi connection . in a typical installation , the tablet computer 20 will communicate with a wireless router 44 communicating over the internet 46 with a server computer 48 . the server computer 48 also provides at least one processor and an associated memory holding one or more computer programs to implement features to be described below . the server computer 48 may further provide a connection with a database 50 managing transaction data as will also be discussed . generally the server computer 48 may also communicate with a credit card processing server 52 or the like over the internet 46 for the processing of credit cards or other electronically implemented payment systems . generally , the smart phone 26 may also communicate via the internet 46 with the server computer 48 typically by way of a cell phone tower 54 or the like but also potentially through the wireless router 44 . referring now to fig2 , the database 50 may provide for a retail environment table 56 having logical rows each associated with a different retail environment 12 ( such as a bar ) and having logical columns indicating within each row , for example , the name of the retail environment 12 , its geographic location , a billing code , and a key id . the key id may be linked , for example , to a menu table 58 providing a menu for a given retail environment 12 . the menu table may include logical rows representing merchandise that can be purchased ( e . g . drink types ) and logical columns within each row providing details with respect to the merchandise , in this example , drink name , drink price , and discounts or specials for the particular retail environment 12 using the present invention . the server computer 48 may also hold a registered user table 60 providing information about each registered customer 16 . the registered user table 60 may provide for logical rows for each customer 16 and logical columns providing information about the customer , for example billing information ( including , for example , a credit card number , expiration date and the like ), demographic information ( including age and gender ), home address , preferred social network links for posting information about purchases , customer preferences and purchase history for frequent purchaser awards and the like . this registration process may be part of obtaining the application program 38 by the customer 16 . referring now to fig3 , in an example use of the retailing system 10 of the present , the customer 16 may open the application program 38 which may employ the location hardware of the smart phone 26 to identify a location 62 of the customer 16 with respect to one or more retail environments 12 a - 12 c near the customer 16 . for example , the customer 16 may be walking down a street and the retail environments 12 a - 12 c may be buildings near the customer 16 or on a projected trajectory of the customer 16 to a time in the future that may optionally be correlated with preparation time for particular merchandise . the application server computer 48 may receive this information from the application program 38 using the hardware of the smart phone and the infrastructure described above . the server computer 48 upon receiving this information may consult with the database 50 to identify retail environments 12 a - 12 c in the vicinity of the location 62 using the appropriate field in the retail environment table 56 . it should be noted that there need be no legal relationship between the retail environments 12 other than resulting from their association with the retailing system 10 . referring now to fig4 and 5 , the identity and other information about these retail environments 12 a - 12 c then may be sent to the smart phone 26 which will provide a display listing different retail environments 12 by their names 66 , for example , in order by distance . the customer 16 may then select one of the names 66 , for example , by tapping a touchscreen over the name 66 to bring up a menu screen 68 ( shown in fig5 ) populated from the menu table 58 of the selective retail environment 12 . this menu screen 68 may include sub screens ( not shown ) of a type known in the art allowing particular items to be ordered , designating an ordered quantity , and allowing authorization of a charge to a preregistered credit card or credit card entered through the smart phone or other payment system accessible through the smart phone 26 . one subscreen may permit the customer 16 to add a free text note to the order either , for example , to indicate order details or preferences not otherwise provided by the menu screen 68 . referring to fig6 , once an order has been placed , for example , by tapping an authorization button ( not shown ) on the smart phone 26 , an order confirmation screen 70 may appear indicating that the order has been placed and providing an option for payment of a tip also using credit card or other payment information previously provided . the tip may be entered via a graphical widget 72 , for example , calculating a default tip from the bill and allowing incrementing up and downward of that amount as desired by the user . this order confirmation screen 70 will update itself indicating the status of the order as will be described below and may appear at this time and again after completion of the order when the merchandise 14 has been received by the customer 16 . this latter occurrence allows continued adjustment of the tip for predetermined time window after completion of the order . the act of ordering may trigger an update to social network sites , when this option is enabled by the user , for example , indicating the user &# 39 ; s location and their purchase . referring now to fig7 , the tablet computer 20 upon receipt of an order from a customer 16 using the retailing system 10 of the present invention , may provide a display comprised of multiple lines 73 , one for each order from each customer 16 . each line 73 will provide identifying information about the order 74 , for example , a drink type , and may include free - text notes as provided through the subscreens of the menu screen 68 discussed above . each line 73 may further provide for a dollar amount 76 indicating an amount of payment that is required and its status as authorized . each line 73 may further include an order status button 79 . the status button 79 when tapped presents a status menu 80 allowing the bartender or retailing individual 22 to indicate a status of the order as “ pending ”, “ done ” or completed , “ picked up ”, or “ forfeited ”. this latter forfeited status allows the payment by the customer 16 to be forfeited , for example , in the case that the customer 16 is below illegal purchasing age . this option provides for a deterrent for misuse of the retailing system 10 in certain instances including the sale of alcoholic beverages that may offset any temptation for its use to avoid age restrictions . importantly , once payment is confirmed per dollar amount 76 , the line 73 displays a unique graphical reference 78 that will be used to facilitate the exchange of the merchandise 14 with the customer 16 in a rapid and efficient way . ideally the graphical reference 78 will be composed of simple combinations of colors and shapes that can be recognized from a distance of several feet to several yards when displayed on a typical smart phone display . for example , the graphical references 78 may be made up of a combination of a stock set of background symbols ( for example geometric shapes ), background colors , foreground symbols ( different and smaller geometric shapes ) and foreground colors . it will be recognized that as few as five of each of these categories of symbol characteristics can provide 625 different combinations that may be randomly selected to exclude those combinations currently associated with pending orders . additional categories and symbols may be provided as necessary . alternatively , other graphical representations , for example , including pictures that may be easily recognized may be chosen . in one embodiment , simple phrases that can also be spoken or displayed may be provided instead or as a backup matter . referring now to fig1 , 7 and 8 , when the retailing individual 22 changes the status of line 73 to “ done ” on the tablet computer 20 , the cell phone 26 will display the graphical reference 78 associated with the particular line 73 and the order as pushed from the server computer 48 . the customer 16 may then approach the station 18 and quickly obtain the purchased merchandise 14 simply by displaying the phone 26 to be viewable by the retailing individual 22 . in noisy environments , no speaking is necessary for this transaction , and a skilled individual may be able to match orders to graphical references 78 and to dispense the merchandise 14 faster than a queue can form . the station 18 maybe removed , for example , from a cash register 94 used by other patrons to provide for two distinct exchange areas 96 and 98 eliminating a sense of unfairness that some individuals using the retailing system 10 of the present invention are able to receive their orders more quickly than those queuing for conventional transactions . the two exchange areas 96 and 98 may further provide improved point of exchange experience for all customers by separating them from a single queuing area . referring now to fig9 , the present invention allows an individual to make the purchase described above but to designate ( in a sub screen of the menu screen 68 ) another individual to receive the order . a list of friends for whom drinks may he purchased may be for example imported from a social networking site such as facebook using the facebook api . in this case , the server computer 48 pushes a message 90 to a cell phone 26 ° of the third - party indicating the fact of the purchase , its status , and the location of the retail environment 12 . alternatively this message may be pushed via a social network service . accepting this purchase per accept button 91 , will provide a screen display similar to that shown in fig8 . such third - party purchases may , for example , be associated with discounts in the menu database 50 ( displayed on the menu screen 68 ) in order to promote possibly new customers into trying a particular retail environment 12 frequented by their friends . knowledge about the demographics of the customer 16 making the purchase may also be used to selectively provide particular records of the menu table 58 including discounts or sales . referring now to fig1 , the database 50 may keep a running chronological tab , for example , in a tab table 92 logically linked to an individual in the customer table 60 , that may postpone invoking of a credit card processing server 52 until the end of a day so as to aggregate multiple small purchases into a larger purchase subject to lower credit card transaction completion fees . generally it will be appreciated that the database 50 may also hold an ongoing transaction log that can be used to obtain marketing information relative to particular retail environments 12 and customer 16 including , for example , providing the ability to identify the most popular retail environments 12 , the amount of money received by each retail environment 12 , what drinks or merchandise 14 are most popular , the gender ratios of those using the retailing system 10 , trends in sales of products from given retail environments 12 , clusters of sales in times and breakouts according to any of the demographic elements held in the table 60 . this information may be used to target particular sales or specials to individuals and to provide for useful feedback to the retail environment 12 and manufacturers of merchandise 14 . this information may also be used to reward customer loyalty or affinity points , for example , in the form of graphic icons (“ badges ) or the like provided to the user cell phone 26 indicating their purchase of particular products in particular time windows which may also be used to generate promotions coupons and discounts for the individual . the status updates may include more information about the time necessary to prepare the product , for example , when used with food items that need to be cooked or prepared so that an individual may preorder efficiently before they arrive at the retail environment 12 . clearly the system may be used to provide for standard table reservations , questionnaires and the like in adjunct to its principal purpose of providing a retail conduit . certain terminology is used herein for purposes of reference only , and thus is not intended to be limiting . for example , terms such as “ upper ”, “ lower ”, “ above ”, and “ below ” refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made . terms such as “ front ”, “ back ”, “ rear ”, “ bottom ” and “ side ”, describe the orientation of portions of the component within a consistent but arbitrary frame of reference which is made clear by reference to the text and the associated drawings describing the component under discussion . such terminology may include the words specifically mentioned above , derivatives thereof , and words of similar import . similarly , the terms “ first ”, “ second ” and other such numerical terms referring to structures do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context . when introducing elements or features of the present disclosure and the exemplary embodiments , the articles “ a ”, “ an ”, “ the ” and “ said ” are intended to mean that there are one or more of such elements or features . the terms “ comprising ”, “ including ” and “ having ” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements or features other than those specifically noted . it is further to be understood that the method steps , processes , and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated , unless specifically identified as an order of performance . it is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed . references to “ a microprocessor ” and “ a processor ” or “ the microprocessor ” and “ the processor ,” can be understood to include one or more microprocessors that can communicate in a stand - alone and / or a distributed environment ( s ), and can thus be configured to communicate via wired or wireless communications with other processors , where such one or more processor can be configured to operate on one or more processor - controlled devices that can be similar or different devices . furthermore , references to memory , unless otherwise specified , can include one or more processor - readable and accessible memory elements and / or components that can be internal to the processor - controlled device , external to the processor - controlled device , and can be accessed via a wired or wireless network . it is specifically intended that the present invention not be limited to the embodiments and illustrations contained herein and the claims should be understood to include modified forms of those embodiments including portions of the embodiments and combinations of elements of different embodiments as come within the scope of the following claims . all of the publications described herein , including patents and non - patent publications , are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties . | 6 |
the following embodiments relate to the method , the fishing vessel and the apparatus of the invention . in an embodiment of the present invention a scale is positioned before or after the conveyor belt . the scale can be a flow scale / dynamic scale is positioned under the belt of the conveyor . in an embodiment of the present invention an electronic nose is positioned by the conveyor where the items pass by . in an embodiment of the present invention the apparatus further comprises an in - feed means and an in - feed station , where the conveyor belt is a cleated conveyor belt and where a portion of the cleated conveyor belt is raised relative to an in - feed and an out feed end of the cleated conveyor belt . in this embodiment the distance between two adjacent cleats of the conveyor belt allows conveying one item only in a space between two adjacent cleats . in an embodiment of the present invention the in - feed means is an in - feed conveyor . in an embodiment of the present invention an axis raises the cleated conveyor belt between the in - feed and the out - feed end forming a top position and wherein an in - feed portion of the belt is at least partially inclining and an out feed - portion is at least partially declining . in this embodiment the first image means is positioned above the top position of the cleated conveyor belt . in an embodiment of the present invention a second image means directed to the in - feed station to detect the volume of items in the in - feed station . in an embodiment of the present invention , where the apparatus is on - board a fishing vessel , the computing means sends information on the characteristics of the fish to a controller . in the present context the controller is one or more of a controller of the ship , a decision maker on shore , buyer at a fish market , controller at a fish factory or surveillance officer at an authority on shore . there is a great advantage in being able to send real - time image data and other data on the characteristics of the fish being caught . in an embodiment of the present invention the characteristic data is stored directly after being obtained in a database or a cloud , where controllers can access the date in real - time or at a later time point . in an embodiment of the present invention the characteristic data is sent directly to the controller of the ship will give the controller information on size and weight distribution as well as condition of the fish and allow the controller to adjust time and speed of towing . the data may also be sent directly to the owner of the ship to give real - time information on the catching . in an embodiment of the present invention the characteristic data is sent directly to a controller at shore , where the controller is a factory manager and can make preparations based on the fish being caught . the characteristic data can also be sent directly to a fish market , where the buyer can view images before purchasing . the characteristic data can also be sent to a research facility to determine the size and shape of a straddling stock or any species , such as herring , mackerel or salmon . the characteristic data can also be sent to a surveillance authority to monitor and regulate the fishing of a certain species or how much of a quota for a species has been obtained . in an embodiment of the present invention the computing means regulates the speed of the in - feeding means and the image means for determining at least one characteristic property of each single items during rolling of the items from side to side as they pass from the inclining to the declining portion of the belt . in an embodiment of the present invention the two or more views of the items are obtained by the at least one image means or two or more image means positioned at different positions before and / or above the cleated conveyor belt . in an embodiment of the present invention the at least first image means is positioned above the portion of the conveyor belt which is raised by an axle between an in - feed and an out feed end of the cleated conveyor belt . in an embodiment of the present invention the items to be traced are pelagic fish , such as herring or mackerel . the invention will now be described in relation to the drawings with reference numerals to indicate the different components of the invention . fig1 shows the different components of the apparatus of the present invention in an embodiment where an in - feed conveyor is used to feed the apparatus and where the apparatus is a cleated conveyor belt . the drawing is a side view of the device where the outer side has been removed . in this embodiment the apparatus is designed to batch pelagic fish , such as herring or mackerel and provide tracing options by storing data of each fish in a database . an endless in - feeding conveyor belt 1 transports the items to an in - feeding station 2 . the end of the in - feed belt shown in fig1 has an inclining portion and a short declining portion in order to allow the items to drop into the in - feed station . the in - feed station is a receptacle with a conveyor belt 3 at the bottom to transfer the items towards the in - feeding end of the cleated conveyor 4 . the portion of the cleated conveyor which transports items runs over a roller or axis 5 , which raises the transporting portion defining an inclining in - feed portion 6 and a declining out - feed portion 7 . the cleats 8 of the cleated conveyor belt 4 are at an interval which creates pocket size holding one herring or mackerel ( see enlarged portion of the top part of the cleated conveyor ). a first camera 9 is positioned above the in - feed station in obtains images of the in - feed station ( see beam a ). data from the first camera is used to determine the current / real time volume / amount of fish in the in - feed station . the computer regulates the speed of the in - feed conveyor 1 based on the volume in the in - feed station , such that if the volume is decreasing the speed of the in - feed conveyor is increased , but if the volume is increasing then the speed of the in - feed conveyor is decreased . this feature is important in order to fill each pocket on the cleated conveyor belt , which is important to provide a faster tracing method . when each pocket 10 is transported over the roller 5 , the position of the fish in the pocket may shift as it is carried up by the aft cleat 11 forming the pocket until it is directly above the roller when the aft cleat pushes the fish onto the front cleat 12 which carries the fish the remaining distance . a second camera 13 is positioned above the belt where it passes the roller 5 obtaining images of the fish during the transport over the roller and determining at least one characteristic property of the fish . because of the shift of the fish in the pocket 10 , the camera is able to obtain images of more than one side of the fish . the items fall off the out - feed end of the cleated conveyor belt and a diverting means 14 directs the item either into the collection bin 15 or onto a take - away conveyor 16 , for sending the items back to the in - feed conveyor or the in - feed station . the computer collects image data from the second camera and determines which items are selected for the collection bin and which items are re - routed to the in - feed stream or rejected . items of wrong species or damaged items are rejected or re - routed to another line , while desired items are collected in the collection bin . fig2 shows the same type of apparatus for the same embodiment where the computer obtains ( c ) the image data from camera 13 . the computer also collects ( d ) an id number 17 for each batch which leaves in a package 18 from the packing station 15 . the computer then associates image data for all the items in the batch with the id number of the batch for traceability and stores e the data as retrievable data in a database 19 . the present invention covers further embodiments with any combination of features from different embodiments described above . reference signs in the claims are provided merely as a clarifying example and shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims in any way . the present invention also covers the exact terms , features , values and ranges etc . in case these terms , features , values and ranges etc . are used in conjunction with terms such as about , around , generally , substantially , essentially , at least etc . ( i . e ., “ about 3 ” shall also cover exactly 3 or “ substantial constant ” shall also cover exactly constant ). the terms “ a ”, “ an ”, “ first ”, “ second ” etc do not preclude a plurality . | 1 |
a spinning rotor 1 supported in bearings 2 is received in a casing 3 and is driven by an electric , e . g . high - speed motor 4 . the cavity 5 of the spinning rotor 1 which has a collecting channel 6 therein , communicates with a yarn take - off tube 7 for taking off yarn 8 . the presence of yarn 8 is sensed by a feeler 9 which forms part of a control unit 10 . yarn 8 passes through a cutting mechanism 11 controlled by a drive element 12 , and is wound by means of a traverse roller 13 onto a bobbin 14 . the traverse roller 13 is driven from a drive element 15 . the front opening of the spinning rotor 1 is covered or shielded , during the spinning process , by a cover 16 in a contactless manner . in the cover 16 there is provided a labyrinth recess 17 embodied as a diffusor . in the middle of said recess 17 there is provided a projection 18 shown as having a cylindrical shape and partially entering the spinning rotor 1 , since the latter is received in said recess 17 . the recess merges into a duct 34 ( fig6 ) for withdrawing technological air , remainders of fibrous ribbons , fibers and impurities . the cover 16 can form part of a known fiber separating device 19 for combing fibers out of a fibrous sliver supplied by a feed roller 20 which is driven from a drive element 21 . in the cover 16 , a fiber supply duct 22 is provided so as to point toward a sliding wall 23 of the spinning rotor 1 . in the illustrative embodiment , the fiber supply duct opens into the front wall of a slot 24 provided in the projection 18 . however , it is possible to use other structures having baffles or the like instead of the particular details described above . in the cover 16 there is further provided a fibrous ribbon removing nozzle 25 which opens into the lateral wall of the recess 17 in the cover 16 . there is also provided in the cover 16 an auxiliary nozzle 26 which opens into the front wall of said slot 24 in the projection 18 and is directed , in the operative position of the machine , obliquely upwards to the collecting channel 6 in such a direction that ( fig4 ) the axis of said auxiliary nozzle 26 forms an angle a with a tangent drawn through the intersection of said axis with the collecting channel 6 ; angle varies within the range of from 60 ° to 75 °. the relative disengagement position of the spinning rotor 1 and the cover 16 ( fig2 and 3 ) is achieved by mechanical or pneumomechanical means 27 and drive elements 28 thereof in response to a signal given by the control unit 10 . the control unit 10 further controls the drive element 15 of the traverse roller 13 , the high - speed motor 4 of the spinning rotor 1 , the cutting mechanism 11 and the drive element 21 of the fiber supply . apart from this , the control unit 10 controls the operation of the fibrous ribbon removing nozzle 25 and the auxiliary nozzle 26 by means of a two - way valve 29 . the operation of the control unit 10 is monitored by variable time program means . the cutting mechanism 11 comprises e . g . a stationary plate 30 into which the yarn take - off tube 7 as well as a sucking duct 31 open ; the latter is connected to a central subatmospheric pressure source 32 . the mating part of the cutting mechanism 11 is constituted e . g . by a reciprocable plate 33 supported on a track ( not shown ) and operable by the drive element 12 . the reciprocable plate 33 receives the upper section 7 &# 39 ; of the yarn take - off tube 7 . in operation , separated fibers are conveyed onto the sliding wall 23 of the spinning rotor 1 rotating at high speed , and are deposited , due to centrifugal force , into the collecting channel 6 to form a fibrous ribbon which is then stripped off and twisted to yarn 8 in a well - known and therefore not described manner ; yarn 8 is sensed by the feeler 9 and is finally wound onto the bobbin 14 . a first possible alternative ( 1 ) of removing the fibrous ribbon and the severed yarn end after a thread breakage caused by impurities accumulated in the spinning rotor cavity 5 , is as follows : in case of a breakage of yarn 8 the feeler 9 emits a signal to the control unit 10 which switches off the drive element 15 of the traverse roller 13 and consequently stops the bobbin 14 so that the end of yarn 8 may remain upstream of the cutting mechanism 11 . the control unit 10 also monitors all the subsequent steps of the process according to the predetermined time program . simultaneously with the stopping of the drive element 15 , the fiber supply to the spinning rotor 1 is cut off by stopping the drive element 21 and consequently the feed roller 20 . the control unit 10 sets the cutting mechanism 11 in motion by means of the drive element 12 . the cutting mechanism 11 cuts off the yarn end to be sucked into the spinning rotor 1 . thus the cutting mechanism 11 assumes the position shown in fig5 whereupon , owing to a slight reverse rotation of the traverse roller 13 and the bobbin 14 , the yarn end depending from the bobbin 14 enters the sucking duct 31 exposed to the subatmospheric pressure . as the spinning rotor 1 comes to a standstill , it will assume the disengagement position relative to the cover 16 ( fig2 and 3 ) by the action of the pneumomechanical means 27 and the drive elements 28 . in this position , the nozzle 25 for removing the fibrous ribbon and the yarn end sucked into the spinning rotor 1 starts its operation . an either continuous or intermittent pressure air flow , oriented towards the air withdrawing duct 34 or the outlet from the recess 17 , is forced through the nozzle 25 . this air ejected out of said nozzle 25 flows substantially in alignment with the front edge of the spinning rotor 1 whereby a sucking effect is generated by which the fibrous ribbon and / or the severed sucked - in yarn end is removed or sucked out of the spinning rotor 1 . the front opening of the spinning rotor 1 is then reclosed by the cover 16 and any fiber remainder is removed from the spinning rotor 1 by a continuous or intermittent superatmospheric pressure air flow blown out of the auxiliary nozzle 26 which is set in operation after the spinning rotor has been closed . the last remaining fibers and impurities are ejected from the spinning rotor 1 through a gap left between its front edge and the cover 16 , into the air withdrawing duct 34 and further on to an impurity collecting receptacle . during the operation of the auxiliary nozzle 26 , the spinning rotor 1 is slowly rotated by the action of said nozzle . after the above - described steps , the spinning rotor 1 is set in rotation by switching on the high - speed motor 4 , the cutting mechanism 11 is returned into its original position while the yarn end contained in the sucking duct 31 is cut off and sucked into the subatmospheric pressure source 32 . the bobbin 14 is turned in the reverse or unwinding direction , whereby the yarn end depending therefrom can be introduced back into the yarn take - off tube 7 and further on up to the spinning rotor 1 into which it is sucked , due to the subatmospheric pressure produced by the rotor by known means . alternatively , the subatmospheric pressure may be produced by a source located outside the spinning unit . at the same time , there are supplied into the spinning rotor 1 separated fibers which form a new fibrous ribbon in the collecting channel 6 to join the end of yarn 8 ; the bobbin 14 then begins to rotate in the winding direction whereby the withdrawal of yarn 8 from the spinning rotor 1 is restarted and the feeler 9 is set in operation . thus the spinning process is re - established . a second possible alternative ( 2 ) fiber ribbon removing step is one in which the yarn end is retained in the sucking duct 31 by subatmospheric air pressure during this step and the step of cleaning the spinning rotor . this alternative does not provide for cutting off the yarn end by the cutting mechanism 11 ; the cutting mechanism assumes in this case the function of a displacing member . in case of a thread breakage , or of any other interruption of the spinning process , as by impurity accumulation , the feeler 9 emits a signal to the control unit 10 which stops the drive element 15 of the traverse roller 13 and thereby also stops the bobbin 14 so that the yarn end may stop in the yarn take - off tube section 7 &# 39 ; passing through the reciprocable plate 33 . the latter is displaced to assume the position shown in fig5 whereby the yarn end becomes exposed to the subatmospheric pressure prevailing in the sucking duct 31 which now communicates with the tube section 7 &# 39 ;. thereafter the steps necessary for removing the fibrous ribbon and impurities will be effected as according to the first - described alternative ( 1 ). the spinning rotor 1 is then set in rotation and the reciprocable plate 33 is returned into the starting position , whereupon the yarn end is introduced into the spinning rotor 1 by reversing the rotation of the bobbin 14 and by the sucking effect of the spinning rotor 1 . simultaneously , separated fibers are supplied to the spinning rotor 1 and the spinning process continues as referred to in the description of the first alternative ( 1 ). although the invention is illustrated and described with reference to a plurality of preferred embodiments thereof , it is to be expressly understood that it is in no way limited to the disclosure of such a plurality of preferred embodiments , but is capable of numerous modifications within the scope of the appended claims . | 3 |
referring to fig5 to 11 , the schematic sectional views of the method for making a package structure having a recession portion on the surface according to the first embodiment of the present invention are illustrated . first , referring to fig5 , a lead frame 30 is provided . the lead frame 30 includes a plurality of package units 31 , but only one package unit 31 is illustrated hereinafter . the package unit 31 has a plurality of leads 32 and a die paddle 33 , with the leads 32 surrounding the die paddle 33 . the die paddle 33 has an upper surface 331 and a lower surface 332 . in the embodiment , the upper surface 331 of the die paddle 33 has a plurality of ribs ( not shown ), for increasing the force for holding the chip . each lead 32 has a first portion 321 and a second portion 322 . the first portion 321 has an upper surface 3211 and a lower surface 3212 , and the second portion 322 has an upper surface 3221 and a lower surface 3222 . the upper surfaces 3211 , 3221 constitute the upper surface of the lead 32 , and the lower surfaces 3212 , 3222 constitute the lower surface of the lead 32 . the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 is used for wire bonding . the first portion 321 is thinner than the second portion 322 , so as to form a step - like appearance . afterward , referring to fig6 , an upper mold 41 and a lower mold 42 are provided for clamping the lead frame 30 . the upper mold 41 presses against the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 and the upper surface 331 of the die paddle 33 . the upper mold 41 has a cavity 411 . in the embodiment , the upper mold 41 further includes at least one pin 412 extending into the cavity 411 . the lower mold 42 presses against the lower surface 3222 of the second portion 322 of the lead 32 and the lower surface 332 of the die paddle 33 . moreover , the lower mold 42 further includes at least one protruding block 421 pressing against the lower surface 3212 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . by using the protruding block 421 and the upper mold 41 to clamp the first portion 321 of the lead 32 , the molding compound can be prevented from bleeding to the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 during continuous mold filling operation . then , a molding compound is injected between the upper mold 41 and the lower mold 42 , for forming a surrounding wall portion 43 and a lower cover portion 44 . then , referring to fig7 , the upper mold 41 and the lower mold 42 are removed . the surrounding wall portion 43 is disposed on the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 , and exposes the upper surface 331 of the die paddle 33 and part of the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . the die paddle 33 and the surrounding wall portion 43 form an accommodation space 34 . the surrounding wall portion 43 has at least one hole 431 formed by the pin 412 . the lower cover portion 44 is disposed on the lower surface 3212 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 , and has at least one recession portion 441 . the recession portion 441 is formed by the protruding block 421 , and exposes a part of the lower surface 3212 of the first portion 321 . the top and the bottom schematic stereograms of the package unit 31 are shown respectively in fig8 and fig9 . after that , a chip 35 is provided . the chip 35 has an active surface 351 and a back surface 352 . the back surface 352 of the chip 35 is attached to the upper surface 331 of the die paddle 33 in the accommodation space 34 via an adhesive layer 36 . then , a plurality of wires 37 are used to electrically connect the active surface 351 of the chip 35 to the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . then , referring to fig1 , a gel 45 is injected into the accommodation space 34 . it should be noted that the step of injecting the gel 45 is not necessary in the invention , i . e ., the gel 45 may not be injected according to the invention . then , a top cover 38 is provided for covering the surrounding wall portion 43 so as to seal the accommodation space 34 . in the embodiment , the top cover 38 has at least one through hole 381 , for exhausting the compressed air inside the accommodation space 34 when the top cover 38 is put on . if the chip 35 is an optical element , the material of the top cover 38 usually can be a transparent glass material . if the chip 35 is not an optical element , the material of the top cover 38 can be ceramic , plastic , metal , or the like . in the embodiment , the gel 45 is injected at first and then the top cover 38 is put on . however , the gel 45 can also be injected via the through hole 381 after the top cover 38 is put on . referring to fig1 , the partial enlarged schematic view of the surrounding wall portion of the molding compound according to the invention is illustrated . in the invention , a plurality of cutouts 432 is disposed in the surrounding wall portion 43 for preventing the gel 45 from suddenly bleeding out of the accommodation space 34 . the cutouts 432 are of a step - like appearance , for increasing the accommodation space of the gel 45 . when the liquid level of the gel 45 rises gradually , the gel 45 will enter the cutouts 432 at first , instead of bleeding out of the accommodation space 34 at once . finally , the lead frame 30 is partitioned to segregate the package units 31 thereon , i . e ., to obtain a plurality of package structures 40 according to the first embodiment . referring to fig1 again , the schematic cross - sectional view of the package structure according to the first embodiment of the present invention is shown . the package structure 40 includes a lead frame 30 , a molding compound , a chip 35 , a gel 45 , and a top cover 38 . the lead frame 30 has a plurality of leads 32 and a die paddle 33 . the leads 32 surround the die paddle 33 , and the die paddle 33 has an upper surface 331 and a lower surface 332 . in the embodiment , the upper surface 331 of the die paddle 33 has a plurality of ribs ( not shown ), for increasing the force for holding the chip 35 . each lead 32 has a first portion 321 and a second portion 322 . the first portion 321 has an upper surface 3211 and a lower surface 3212 , while the second portion 322 has an upper surface 3221 and a lower surface 3222 . the upper surfaces 3211 , 3221 constitute the upper surface of the lead 32 , and the lower surfaces 3212 , 3222 constitute the lower surface of the lead 32 . the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 is used for wire bonding . the first portion 321 is thinner than the second portion 322 , so as to form a step - like appearance . the thickness of the die paddle 33 is identical to that of the second portion 322 . the height of the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 of the lead is identical to that of the upper surface 331 of the die paddle 33 . the height of the lower surface 3222 of the second portion 322 of the lead is identical to that of the lower surface 332 of the die paddle 33 . the molding compound includes a surrounding wall portion 43 and a lower cover portion 44 . the surrounding wall portion 43 is disposed on the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 , and exposes the upper surface 331 of the die paddle 33 and the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 . the die paddle 33 and the surrounding wall portion 43 form an accommodation space 34 . preferably , the surrounding wall portion 43 has at least one hole 431 for positioning . the lower cover portion 44 is disposed on the lower surface 3212 of the first portion 321 , and has at least one recession portion 441 exposing a part of the lower surface 3212 of the first portion 321 . the chip 35 has an active surface 351 and a back surface 352 . the back surface 352 of the chip 35 is attached to the upper surface 331 of the die paddle 33 in the accommodation space 34 via an adhesive layer 36 , and a plurality of wires 37 is used for electrically connecting the active surface 351 of the chip 35 to the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 . the gel 45 is disposed in the accommodation space 34 , for preventing the wires 37 from contacting each other and being oxidized . the gel 45 can just be coated on the active surface 351 of the chip 35 or injected in the accommodation space 34 . preferably , the surrounding wall portion 43 is provided with a plurality of cutouts 432 ( as shown in fig1 ) for preventing the gel 45 from suddenly bleeding out of the accommodation space 34 . the top cover 38 is disposed above the chip 35 , for sealing the accommodation space 34 . if the chip 35 is an optical element , the material of the top cover 38 usually can be a transparent glass material . if the chip 35 is not an optical element , the material of the top cover 38 can be ceramic , plastic , metal , or the like . in the embodiment , the top cover 38 has at least one through hole 381 , for exhausting the compressed air inside the accommodation space 34 when the top cover 38 is put on , or for injecting the gel 45 . referring to fig1 , a schematic cross - sectional view of the package structure according to the second embodiment of the present invention is shown . the package structure 40 a includes a lead frame 30 , a molding compound ( having a surrounding wall portion 43 and a lower cover portion 44 ), a chip 35 , a gel 45 , and a top cover 38 . the package structure 40 a is substantially the same as the package structure 40 of the first embodiment , but the pattern of the lead frame 30 is different . in the embodiment , the thickness of the die paddle 33 is the same as that of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . the height of the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 is identical to that of the upper surface 331 of the die paddle 33 . the height of the lower surface 332 of the die paddle 33 is identical to that of the lower surface 3212 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . furthermore , in the embodiment , the lower cover portion 44 covers the lower surface 332 of the die paddle 33 , and the lower cover portion 44 further includes at least one hole 442 exposing a part of the lower surface 332 of the die paddle 33 . the hole 442 is formed by adding a pin ( not shown ) to the lower mold 42 . when the upper and lower molds 41 , 42 clamp the lead frame 30 , the pin presses against the lower surface 332 of the die paddle 33 , and forms the hole 442 after the mold filling operation , as shown in fig1 . referring to fig1 , a schematic sectional view of the package structure according to the third embodiment of the present invention is shown . the package structure 40 b includes a lead frame 30 , a molding compound ( having a surrounding wall portion 43 and a lower cover portion 44 ), a chip 35 , a gel 45 , and a top cover 38 . the package structure 40 b is substantially the same as the package structure 40 of the first embodiment , but the pattern of the lead frame 30 is different . in the embodiment , the lead frame 30 does not have the die paddle , and the leads 32 are arranged circularly . each of the leads 32 has a first portion 321 and a second portion 322 . the molding compound includes the surrounding wall portion 43 and the lower cover portion 44 . the surrounding wall portion 43 is disposed on the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 , and exposes the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . preferably , the surrounding wall portion 43 also has a hole 431 . the lower cover portion 44 is disposed on the lower surface 3212 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 , and has an upper surface 443 and a recession portion 441 . the lower cover portion 44 and the surrounding wall portion 43 form an accommodation space 34 . the recession portion 441 exposes the lower surface 3212 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . preferably , the lower cover portion 44 also has a hole 442 . the chip 35 is provided with an active surface 351 and a back surface 352 . the back surface 352 of the chip 35 is attached to the upper surface 443 of the lower cover portion 44 in the accommodation space 34 via an adhesive layer 36 , and the active surface 351 of the chip 35 is eclectically connected to the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 via a plurality of wires 37 . the top cover 38 is disposed above the chip 35 , for sealing the accommodation space 34 . referring to fig1 to 18 , a method for fabricating the package structure according to the third embodiment of the present invention is illustrated . the fabricating method of the package structure 40 b is described as follows . first , referring to fig1 , a lead frame 30 is provided . the lead frame 30 has a plurality of package units 31 , and each package unit 31 has a plurality of leads 32 arranged circularly . each of the leads 32 has a first portion 321 and a second portion 322 . the first portion 321 has an upper surface 3211 and a lower surface 3212 , and the second portion 322 has an upper surface 3221 and a lower surface 3222 . the upper surfaces 3211 , 3221 form the upper surface of the lead 32 , and the lower surfaces 3212 , 3222 form the lower surface of the lead 32 , wherein the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 is used for wire bonding . after that , referring to fig1 , an upper mold 41 and a lower mold 42 are provided for clamping the lead frame 30 . the upper mold 41 presses against the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . the lower mold 42 has at least one protruding block 421 and a pin 422 . the protruding block 421 presses against the lower surface 3212 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 , and the pin 422 presses against the upper mold 41 to form the hole 442 . then , a molding compound is injected between the upper mold 41 and the lower mold 42 , for forming the surrounding wall portions 43 and the lower cover portions 44 . after the upper mold 41 and the lower mold 42 are removed , the surrounding wall portions 43 are disposed on the upper surfaces 3211 of the first portions 321 of the leads 32 , and expose part of the upper surfaces 3211 of the first portions 321 of the leads 32 . the lower cover portions 44 are disposed on the lower surfaces 3212 of the first portions 321 of the leads 32 , and each of them has an upper surface 443 . the lower cover portion 44 and each surrounding wall portion 43 form an accommodation space 34 . next referring to fig1 , the chip 35 is attached to the upper surface 443 of the lower cover portions 44 in the accommodation space 34 . then , a plurality of wires 37 is formed to electrically connect the chip 35 to the upper surface 3212 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . then , referring to fig1 , the top cover 38 is used to seal the accommodation space 34 . finally , the lead frame 30 is partitioned to segregate the package units 31 thereon , i . e ., to obtain a plurality of package structures 40 b . referring to fig1 , a schematic cross - sectional view of the package structure according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention . the package structure 50 includes a lead frame 30 , a molding compound ( having a surrounding wall portion 43 and a lower cover portion 44 ), a chip 35 , a gel 45 , and a top cover 38 . the package structure 50 is substantially the same as the package structure 40 of the first embodiment , but the pattern of the lead frame 30 is different . in the embodiment , the leads 32 are of a uniform thickness , while the lower surface 3212 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 is higher than the lower surface 3222 of the second portion 322 , thus forming a bent appearance . the thickness of the die paddle 33 is identical to that of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . the upper surface 331 of the die paddle 33 is of the same height as the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . referring to fig2 , a schematic sectional view of the package structure according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention is shown . the package structure 50 a of the present embodiment is substantially the same as the package structure 40 a of the second embodiment , but the pattern of the lead frame 30 is different . in the embodiment , the leads 32 are of a uniform thickness , and the lower surface 3212 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 is higher than the lower surface 3222 of the second portion 322 , so as to form a bent appearance . the die paddle 33 is thinner than the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . the upper surface 331 of the die paddle 33 is of the same height as the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . referring to fig2 , a schematic cross - sectional view of the package structure according to the sixth embodiment is shown . the package structure 50 b of the present embodiment is substantially the same as the package structure 40 b of the third embodiment , but the pattern of the lead frame 30 is different . in the embodiment , the leads 32 are of a uniform thickness , and the lower surface 3212 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 is higher than the lower surface 3222 of the second portion 322 , so as to form a bent appearance . referring to fig2 , a schematic cross - sectional view of the package structure according to the seventh embodiment of the present invention is shown . the package structure 60 of the embodiment is substantially the same as the package structure 50 of the fourth embodiment , but the pattern of the lead frame 30 is different . in the embodiment , the lower surface 332 of the die paddle 33 is of the same height as the lower surface 3222 of the second portion 322 of the lead 32 . referring to fig2 , a schematic cross - sectional view of the package structure according to the eighth embodiment of the present invention . the package structure 60 a of the embodiment is substantially the same as the package structure 50 a of the fifth embodiment , but the pattern of the lead frame 30 is different . in the embodiment , the die paddle 33 is thinner than the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . the upper surface 331 of the die paddle 33 is lower than the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . and the lower surface 332 of the die paddle 33 is higher than the lower surface 3222 of the second portion 322 of the lead 32 . referring to fig2 , a schematic cross - sectional view of the package structure according to the ninth embodiment of the present invention . the package structure 60 b of the embodiment is substantially the same as the package structure 5 ob of the sixth embodiment , but the pattern of the lead frame 30 is different . in the embodiment , the upper surface 443 of the lower cover portion 44 is lower than the upper surface 3211 of the first portion 321 of the lead 32 . while several embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described , various modifications and improvements can be made by those skilled in the art . the embodiments of the present invention are therefore described in an illustrative but not restrictive sense . it is intended that the present invention may not be limited to the particular forms as illustrated , and that all modifications which maintain the spirit and scope of the present invention are within the scope as defined in the appended claims . | 7 |
employers first need a pool of applicants from which to select possible job candidates . the employment center , in accordance with the features of the present invention , allows employers to develop a pool of applicants utilizing many different sources . employers may utilize any one of a plurality of sources to drive applicants to the employment center system to apply for a job , such as : ( i ) traditional advertising — such as print ads - newspaper ads ask applicants to apply via a website cable tv ads — ask applicants to apply via a website radio ads — ask applicants to apply via a website job board ads — ask applicants to apply via a website ( ii ) workforce commission listings — workforce commission offices to post job openings for employers with information on how the applicant can apply via a website ( iii ) veteran associations listings — vetjobs . com and vfw . org post job openings with information on how individuals leaving the military may apply for openings via a website ( iv ) outplacement firms — major outplacement firms post job openings with information on how individuals may apply for openings via a website ( v ) trade schools — trade schools post job openings with information on how individuals may apply for openings via a website ( vi ) college / university posting — colleges / universities post job openings in their career centers with information on how individuals may apply for openings via a website ( vii ) subsidized housing — federal and state subsidized housing agencies post job openings with information on how individuals may apply for openings via a website ( viii ) employer on - site posting — employers may post the website information for applying on site the employment center concept in accordance with the features of the present invention , operates in two modes : one mode is for individual &# 39 ; s seeking employment with an employer ( hereinafter referred to as “ job seekers ”), and one mode is for employees of the organization whose responsibilities include sourcing and screening job candidates ( hereinafter referred to as “ administrators ” or “ recruiters ”). the first mode of operation , of the employment center , basically begins by providing information about the employer for job seekers ( see fig1 ). in this mode , the employment center provides access wherein job seekers : ( i ) can learn about the employer which has the job opportunities , the benefits of working for the employer and the specific job ( s ) available within the employer &# 39 ; s organization . ( ii ) can select location ( s ) for which to apply for a job . ( iii ) can select job openings for which to apply . ( iv ) can answer the employer &# 39 ; s initial pre - screening questions online , which determine the job seeker &# 39 ; s basic qualifications for the job and help determine if the job seeker has the minimum qualifications for the job and can assist in determining if the job seeker is a qualified applicant . ( v ) can complete the employer &# 39 ; s employment application online and attach a resume . ( vi ) can complete pre - employment testing of various kinds online . ( vii ) can complete data for affirmative action planning and eeo filings online . ( viii ) can complete data for background and credit checking online . since the job seeker will be a qualified applicant only if the job seeker meets the definition of a qualified applicant as in the uniform federal employment guidelines , eeo , and affirmative action filings will be easier to file . after hiring the new employee , the new employee creates a file of information which is required by the employer for the new employee such as tax and insurance related information , etc . thereafter , an employee retention file is created ( see fig1 a ). regarding record keeping , the employment center in accordance with the features of the present invention keeps an employer compliant in accordance with the office of federal contract compliance ( ofcc ) standards . the federal government , and particularly the equal employment opportunity commission ( eeoc ), the department of justice , the department of labor and the office of personnel management issued guidelines on employee selection procedures as they relate to the internet and related technologies . in these guidelines , the eeoc stated that in order for an individual to be an applicant in the context of the internet and related electronic data processing technologies ( i ) an employer must have acted to fill a particular position ; ( ii ) the individual job seeker followed the employer &# 39 ; s standard procedures for submitting applications , and ( iii ) the individual job seeker has indicated an interest in the particular position . the eeoc and other government agencies currently have under consideration two further criteria , i . e . ( iv ) the individual oob seeker ) becomes an applicant if the job seeker meets the minimum requirements for the job , and ( v ) the individual ( job seeker ) must follow the employer &# 39 ; s procedures for applying for a job . by completing an employer &# 39 ; s prescreening questions online and scoring the job seeker &# 39 ; s answers ( also online ) a fast determination can be made as to whether the job seeker meets the minimum qualification for the job . illustrated in fig2 is an embodiment of some of the specifics of the attraction , screening and qualifying process as performed by a job seeker in accordance with the features of the present invention . as illustrated , after the job seeker logs on to the web site for the employment center , the job seeker : ( i ) can learn about the employer , the various benefits that exist by working for the employer and the various jobs that are currently available at the employer . ( ii ) can choose the one or more locations for which to apply for a job . ( iii ) can choose the one or more job openings for which to apply . ( iv ) can complete the employer &# 39 ; s basic pre - screening questions online . it is the answers to these questions ( i . e . the score ) that will determine if the job seeker meets the minimum requirements for the job and this will help determine who is a qualified applicant . it is the answers that differentiate job seekers who qualify from those that do not . although in many cases the job seeker will not go any further if not determined to be a qualified applicant , this is not always the case . for example , there are times when the employer may want to select the best available candidate , for a particular job , and the best available candidate may not be a qualified applicant . ( v ) can complete additional significant data such as affirmative action and eeo related data . ( vi ) can complete the employer &# 39 ; s employment application online and also attach the job seeker &# 39 ; s resume to the application electronically . ( vii ) can complete pre - employment testing online and be compared to successful people in that job , e . g . compared to high performers in that particular job category . ( viii ) can enter various types of information online relating to background and credit checks , information that could lead to a tax credit for the company , confirmation of licensing and certifications , etc . ( i ) enter the site with special codes allowing the recruiter access for his / her area of geographical recruiting responsibility . ( ii ) always have an available pool of job seekers . ( iii ) access job seekers that are available by location ( s ) and / or jobs . ( iv ) review job seekers &# 39 ; ratings as derived by answers to the employer &# 39 ; s basic prescreening questions and the answers themselves . ( v ) view completed employer job applications online along with any attached resume . ( vi ) access the test results of job seekers . ( vii ) retain job seeker data in a centralized differentiating file place for ease of , for example , required eeo and other reporting data . ( viii ) maintain electronic files which can be sorted by groups or exported into the company hr system . ( ix ) collect affirmative action data and retain it for reporting purposes . ( x ) have all the features of a resume tracking system , such as : automatic emails to job seekers who have not completed the entire application process ; automatic emails to job seekers thanking them for applying and / or allowing them to proceed on with the application process or stopping those who are not qualified applicants ; the ability to create an email to a specific job seeker advising them to come in for an interview or whatever the hiring manager or recruiter would like to convey ; the ability for the hiring manager or recruiter to email information to any of the job seekers ; job seeker tracking log to keep track of the status of the job seeker . a combination of further specific examples of the attraction , screening and qualifying process is illustrated in fig2 a . the second mode of operation of the employment center provides the employer administrator or recruiter , with access to the information relating to each job seeker that is gathered in the first mode of operation ( see fig3 ). in the second mode , the employment center provides access where employer administrators : ( i ) can enter the secure employment center data storage site with secure codes . ( ii ) can access job seeker data by one of two criteria : ( iii ) can review the job qualification rating given to each job seeker based on answers to the pre - screening questions , as well as the specific answers to the questions . ( iv ) can view each job seeker &# 39 ; s completed application online and attached resumes . ( v ) can access each job seeker &# 39 ; s pre - employment test results . ( vi ) can retrieve and move job seeker data to e - files at another location . specific input functions of the employment center , in accordance with the features of the present invention , are as follows : ( i ) provides information about the employer to the job seeker . ( ii ) allows the job seeker to choose an employer location ( s ) to apply for a job . ( iii ) allows the job seeker to choose an employer job ( s ) to apply for . ( iv ) allows the job seeker to read about job requirements , pay standards , benefits , etc . ( v ) allows the job seeker to complete pre - screening questions . ( vi ) allows the job seeker to complete employer application . ( vii ) allows the job seeker to attach resume . ( viii ) allows the job seeker to be tested . ( ix ) allows the job seeker to complete such other miscellaneous tests , forms or input data as the employer may require . specific data collection functions of the employment center , in accordance with the features of the present invention , are as follows . ( i ) complete applicant data file obtained online , with file data maintained electronically . ( ii ) complete data file is comprised of : answers to employer &# 39 ; s pre - screening questions . employer &# 39 ; s application completed online . job seeker resume . job seeker test results . ( iii ) eeo ; affirmative action and other data . ( iv ) collect data related to background and credit checks . specific output functions of employment center , in accordance with the features of the present invention , are as follows : ( i ) allows review of all of the job seeker &# 39 ; s data in a comprehensive applicant data file . ( ii ) allows transfer of data to other systems . ( iii ) allows transfer of job seeker data to sub - files in the employment center . ( iv ) allows printing of data . regarding record keeping in general , the employment center keeps an employer complaint with the office of federal contract compliance ( ofcc ) standards . this is a unique feature of the employment center in accordance with the features of the present invention . generally speaking , the employment center site in accordance with the features and embodiments as described herein must be a stand alone site written in html , vb script , java script and / or such languages as appropriate , and with a separate database ( such as access or sql , but not limited to said databases ). the program must run on microsoft windows nt , unix , windows 2000 or such other operating systems as may be derived in the future . regarding the specifications for the job seeker functions , in accordance with the features of the present invention , they include : first , designing a site opening page to provide general employer information with a link to a job or career center page . thereafter , designing a job or career center page to provide general information about opportunities related to working for the employer with link to location ( s ) page . the location page opens and lists locations for a job applicant to choose from to apply for a job , then linking to a jobs page . jobs page opens to display the job openings within the employer , and allows job seekers to choose the job ( s ) for which they wish to apply . upon choosing job ( s ) to apply for , a link to the next page opens which may list any or all of the following , but not limited to , job description , pay , benefits , job requirements , required education , skills , expertise , etc . a link is provided to a page in which the job seeker is asked a series of prescreening questions ( such as first name , last name , home and other phone numbers , email address , social security number , and present address . thereafter , the job seeker can be requested to enter a password of choice that is at least , for example , four characters , with a maximum of , for example , eight characters . this password can be used in conjunction with the job seeker id as supplied later to enable the job seeker to access his / her application at a later time .) for a sales job in the telecommunications industry , examples of the kind of prescreening questions that can be asked of a job seeker to determine if the job seeker meets the minimum qualifications for the job , and therefore may be a qualified applicant are as follows : 1 . what period of time have you sold to top level executives ? 2 . what period of time have you made b2b telephone calls to business mangers or executives ? 3 . what period of time have you conducted personal one - on - one fact - finding ( as the prelude to selling a product or service ) interviews with business managers or executives ? 4 . what period of time have you sold on a one - on - one basis , high ticket product or service to business managers or executives ? 5 . what period of time have you sold a product or service where the major part of your plan consisted of commissions ? 1 year or less 1 to 2 years 2 years of more never 6 . what period of time have you earned $ 60 , 000 or more per year from sales you made on a base + commission or straight commission basis ? 7 . what period of time have your earned $ 100 , 000 or more per year from sales you made on a base + commission or straight commission basis ? 8 . what period of time have you conducted at least 3 to 4 one - on - one sales interviews on a daily basis , 5 days per week for at least 6 month ? 9 . what period of time have you been assigned and achieved a sales quota for products or services you were responsible to sell that was at least $ 2 , 000 , 000 per year ? company xyz has a phone bill that states they have 10 local phone lines which cost $ 25 per month per line including all taxes and surcharges . they have $ 50 this month in local toll charges , $ 75 of intrastate calling , $ 25 of interlate calling , $ 200 for 800 service charges and a separate internet bill of $ 300 . 10 . how much does this company owe for outbound toll calls ? 11 . how much does this company have to pay each month just to have their local lines ? inbound outbound paid for by the caller paid for by the receiver none of the above 13 . how many years of direct sales experience do you have selling voice products ? ( include only years where you sold ld , t1 , etc . . . . not hardware .) never less than 1 year 1 - 2 years 2 - 3 years 3 or more 14 . when was the most recent job you held that dealt with selling voice products ? currently selling voice more than 1 year ago 2 - 4 years ago 5 + years ago never sold voice , mostly hardware would take me a few days might take a week would take a couple of weeks i am not good at memorizing products do not need to memorize since presentations are usually done via power point 16 . company xyz currently spends $ 1000 a month for a particular item . vendor abc comes in and sells the company the exact same item , but for only $ 700 / month , replacing the $ 1000 / mo item . vendor abc does this with no upfront costs including installation to company xyz . what is company xyz &# 39 ; s roi ? 3 months $ 300 year 1 year there is no roi because the savings are immediate depends on how long company xyz keeps the new item 17 . how many employers have you had in the past 6 years ? ( keep in mind changing jobs within a company is one employer .) 19 . whom have you spent your career selling to ? ( mark all that apply .) small to medium sized businesses medium to large accounts only fortune 500 carriers my experience is mostly in project management not selling thereafter , at this juncture , the job seeker can be requested to attach electronically a resume which can be accepted in formats such as adobe acrobat (. pdf ), microsoft word (. doc ), microsoft rich text (. rtf ), html or standard ascii text format (. txt ). thereafter a program is provided to grade answers to prescreening questions to provide a numerical score based upon the correct prescreening answers . it is this numerical score that will determine if the job seeker meets the minimum requirements for the job and therefore may be a qualified applicant . once prescreening questions and answers are submitted to the server , information is written to the database and the employer employment application is then presented to the job seeker . specific fields can be set to be required entry through client side scripting . these fields are required to be answered before the application can be submitted to the server . once the server receives this information from the application , it is appended to the job seeker &# 39 ; s unique record id . after this process is completed , the job seeker can be presented with an appropriate assessment test to be completed online that has been set for that specific job . once submitted , this information is added to the database with the job seeker &# 39 ; s unique id . this activity generally concludes the job seeker &# 39 ; s interaction in regards to this specific job with the employer . the program would then have the job seeker complete such other forms , tests and personal data as the company may require . ( job seeker data can be completed in any sequence , either as listed above or otherwise .) regarding the specification for the human resource administrator &# 39 ; s or recruiter &# 39 ; s functions in accordance with the features of the present invention ; the program would provide access of the job seeker data as follows : employers may have multiple regions , each of which contain multiple cities . employers may also have only one region with all cities listed under it . cities may also require breakdown by zip code , map or telephone prefix . each employer region , city or part thereof has a unique log on code and password combination . when the administrator logs in , a drop down box appears which displays all of the region &# 39 ; s cities and sub - segments thereof . if a city has any unviewed prescreens , the city will be highlighted in green and the number of unviewed ( new ) prescreens will be shown in ( x ) where x is the actual number . prescreening questions by job seeker are scored and rated , displaying applicant name and date completed . once the administrator chooses a city or city segment , the next screen will display in a table ( excel - like visual format ). data consists of name , date and time process started and completion status of each phase of the application process and optionally , may include job seeker names on the prescreening question answers and as one application process or any part thereof . completion status shows as “ completed ” if the process is completed , but not viewed by the administrator . “ viewed ,” indicates the administrator has reviewed the particular process . a blank gray area indicates the applicant has not completed the process . “ available ” indicates the process is available to be viewed . another table call allows an applicant record to be deleted . the record is not actually deleted , but just flagged as deleted . this “ delete ” call will display “& lt ; 24 hrs ” if the job seeker has not finished the complete application process and job seeker started it less than 24 hours prior to current time . once the applicant completes the entire application process or 24 hours have expired , the delete function will be active . prescreen scores can be reviewed prior to viewing the questions and answers . the administrator will see the # of correct responses the applicant had on the prescreen questions and any rating thereto . the administrator can then choose to view the actual prescreen questions and answers . the program for each application process ( i . e . personal data , prescreen questions and answers , completed application with resume or testing ) to be viewed in order . also program to optionally change this sequence should a company choose . a program is provided to operate in the following sequence : once the prescreen is viewed , then the application can be viewed . once application is viewed , then assessment can be viewed . program provided to optionally alter sequence . a program is provided to capture the data and time the administrator first views one of the processes ; that date and time will be shared in the applicant &# 39 ; s unique record id . a program is provided to allow export of data by the employer company to any other system of the employer &# 39 ; s choice . a program is provided to allow employer to print out any or all data entered by the job seeker . a program is provided to allow employer to enter other job seeker data to comply with state , federal and other reporting requirements . a program is provided to allow employer personnel to create sub - set files for ( but not limited to ): an alternate embodiment of the employment center is available to an employer ( company ) to house information the employer wants either a new employee or a current employee to know , such as policies , employer procedures , etc ., as well as information the employer needs to know about the employee , i . e . payroll deduction information , etc . this part of the employment center also obtains and retains information from new and current employees regarding insurance , benefits , and any other data necessary to maintain employee personnel files . see fig4 . for the employer , this embodiment tremendously reduces the massive amount of paper files which must be kept by the employer . since all of this information is accessible only by special code , it also increases security of all of such information , thus helping to prevent the theft of an employee &# 39 ; s identity , prevent tampering with employee records , etc . for the employee , there are also tremendous advantages . with great ease , the employee , at home or at work , can access their records via an assigned code , can make changes in insurance information , beneficiary information , etc . furthermore , if the employee wishes to look up an employer policy or read about a particular aspect of insurance , the employee only has to access those records via their employee code and review the information they need . as stated , this embodiment is available to either a new or current employee of the employer . for new employees the opportunity is given to complete new hire related information that an employer requires to set that employee up for payroll related maters , insurance , benefits and all other data to go into the employee &# 39 ; s personnel file . the employer has as an option to keep the employee &# 39 ; s file electronically in the employment center or printed out and kept in the employee &# 39 ; s paper personnel file or exported into the employer &# 39 ; s major or hr computer system . the new employee is therefore given the option to : ( i ) complete withholding related information ; ( ii ) complete insurance forms , beneficiary forms and payroll deduction authorizations ; ( iii ) complete any other pay and benefit data needed from employee ; ( iv ) obtain employee orientation manual related information ; ( v ) obtain employer policies and procedures ; and ( vi ) complete information such as a check - off form for reference checking , request for college transcripts or other educational confirmation , etc . by an employer assigning a special code to each and every employee , the employer has a record that the employee has completed data required , has read , reviewed and also if desired , been tested on data presented to the new employee . current employees of the employer can obtain information regarding current employee &# 39 ; s knowledge and understanding of various aspects of the employer and / or the employee &# 39 ; s specific job , as well as records of training and development that was provided to the employee . an employee &# 39 ; s exit interview related information upon departure from the employer can also be obtained . some specific examples of information that can be obtained by current employees are : ( i ) policy for handling customers and potential new customers ( ii ) employer policies and procedures ( iii ) policy regarding sexual harassment , i . e ., what constitutes sexual harassment , information relating to the employer &# 39 ; s stand on such misconduct , etc . ( iv ) policy regarding safety issues ( v ) performance reviews ( vi ) individualized development plans ( vii ) employee opinion surveys and other surveys testing on the subject material is also an option with record retention by employee name and / or employee record number . this segment , in essence , is to maintain employee records in a paperless mode . it can also serve as a reference for employees , both new and old . if the new employee option is selected , the web site opens into information and includes the functions available for new employees , including but not limited to , for example , entering w - 2 form related information , completing payroll deduction authorization forms and other data , reading or reviewing employer policies and procedures , etc . the new employee selects functions that he / she desires to access . if the new employee chooses a function which requires new employee input data , the new employee submits such data . once the information is submitted to the server , information is written to the database and the data is sorted into an individual employee file which is only accessible by special code . in discussing with the employer , specific fields are set to be required entry through employee side scripting , these fields are required to be answered before the employee &# 39 ; s information can be submitted to the server . once the server receives this information from the employee , it is appended to the employee &# 39 ; s unique record id . if the current employee option is selected , the site opens into information and presents the functions available for current employees , including but not limited to reading and reviewing employer policies and procedures , reading and reviewing employer policy re : sexual harassment , reading and reviewing safety rules and regulations , reviewing how the employer wants their employees to deal with customers and potential customers , reviewing performance reviews , obtaining individual development plans , completing employee surveys , completing the exit interview , etc . the employee selects the function that he / she desires to access . if the employee chooses a function which requires the employee to input data , the employee does so and submits the data . once information is submitted to the server , information is written to the database and the data is sorted into an individual employee file which is only accessible by special code . specific fields are set to be required entry through employee side scripting , these fields are required to be answered before the employee &# 39 ; s information can be submitted to the server . once the server receives this information from the employee , it is appended to the employee &# 39 ; s unique record id . some additional embodiments of the new and current employee information is illustrated in fig4 a . another alternate embodiment of the employment center in accordance with the features of the present invention is what can best be described as the site administration segment of the employment center as illustrated in fig5 . only authorized individuals from the employer organization who are provided secure codes can access any parts of or all data available in the system as determined by the employer and the codes assigned . in the administrative site of the employment center in accordance with the invention , the employer may , for example : ( i ) select the city in which job seekers are needed by the employer . ( ii ) access candidate data , i . e ., who applied , date , time , answers and rating score on pre - screening questions , completed job application , job seeker attached resume , completed affirmative action data , any and all test data and any and all information desired by the employer for background checking , credit checking , drug testing and / or any and all other data that the employer may seek regarding any job seeker . ( iii ) compile and run other hiring data reports as job seeker data analysis . ( iv ) review a site guide as to how to use the site . ( v ) add or delete jobs . ( vi ) choose from a directory of pre - screening questions and answers , or employer can create their own custom prescreen questions and expected answers . ( vii ) employ a reference library as a resource . again , the program specifications to provide the administrator access to job seeker data includes the following features : employer may have multiple regions , each of which contain multiple cities . employers may also have only one region with all cities listed under it . the cities may also require breakdown by zip code , or telephone prefix . each employer region , city or part thereof has a unique log on code and password combination . when the administrator logs in , a drop down box appears which displays all of the region &# 39 ; s cities and sub - segments thereof . if a city has any unviewed prescreens , the city will be highlighted in green and the number of unviewed ( new ) prescreens will be shown as ( x ) where x is the actual number . prescreening questions completed by job seekers are scored and rated , applicant name and date completed is displayed . once the administrator chooses a city or city segment , the next screen will be displayed in a table format ( i . e . excel — like visual format ). data consists of name , date and time , process started and completion status of each phase of the application process and optionally may include job seeker rates on the prescreening questions / answers and as one application process or any part thereof . completion status shows as “ completed ” if the process is completed , but not viewed by the administrators . “ viewed ,” indicates that the administrator has reviewed the particular process . a blank gray area indicates that the applicant has not completed that process . ‘ available ’ indicates that the process is available to be viewed . another table cell allows an applicant record to be deleted . the record is not actually deleted , but just flagged as deleted . this “ delete ” cell will display “& lt ; 24 hrs ” and this means that the job seeker has not finished the complete job seeker process , and that the job seeker started it less than 24 hours prior to current time . once they complete the entire application process or 24 hours has passed , the delete function will be active . the prescreen questions and answers to the questions can be reviewed prior to a general viewing . the administrator will see the number of correct responses the job seeker had on the prescreen questions and any rating assigned thereto . the administrator can then choose to view the actual prescreen questions and answers . the program for each application process ( i . e . personal data , prescreen questions and answers , completed job application with resume and / or testing ) to be viewed in order . also , a program to optionally change this sequence can be used should an employer make such a choice . a program is employed which operates in the sequence that once the prescreen questions and answers are viewed , then the job application can be viewed . once the job application is viewed , then the assessment can be viewed . a program can be created to optionally alter this sequence . a program can be used to capture the date and time the administrator first views one of the processes . that date and time will be stored in the job seeker &# 39 ; s unique record id . various other programs can be used such as , for example , a program to allow the export of data by the employer to any other system of the company &# 39 ; s choice , a program to allow the employer to print out any or all data entered by the job seeker , a program to allow the employer to enter other job seeker data to comply with state , federal and other reporting requirements , and a program to allow the employer personnel to create sub - set files for such items as , for example , “ qualified ”—“ not qualified ”—“ hired ”—“ not hired ”—“ pending interviews ” and “ interviewed — pending file . an additional embodiment of the flow chart for the site administration portion of the employment center in accordance with the features of the present invention is illustrated in fig5 a wherein site administration information is illustrated in detail . while this invention has been described in conjunction with the exemplary embodiments outlined above , it is evident that many alternatives , modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art . accordingly , the exemplary embodiments of the invention , as set forth above , are intended to be illustrative , and not limiting . various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . | 6 |
if one desires a remote “ sensor ” to track , it really does not matter whether the source or sensor is tracked because the p & amp ; o calculation is the relative position and orientation between source and sensor . if adequate sensitivity and low noise performance can be achieved with the sensor and a means can be found to determine the source frequency / frequency set and become synchronized with this external source of orthogonal fields , then the source can be remotely disposed as a “ pseudo - sensor .” furthermore , once this is accomplished and there is no constraint placed on the source signals except that they create signals from a frequency population consistent with the system , there can be sources both wireless and wired being tracked as pseudo - sensors . applicable wireless configurations are disclosed in co - pending u . s . provisional patent application ser . no . 60 / 578 , 128 , the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference . the reciprocity of the tracking relationship is shown in fig4 , where two “ sensors ” ( 1 ) are being detected by a single true sensor ( 2 ) and processed by tracker electronics ( 3 ) for output to a host computer . furthermore , we could have a wireless source ( s ) ( fig5 ) as the “ sensor ” ( 1 ), whose signals are detected by a true sensor ( 2 ) connected to the electronics unit ( 3 ). the first issue to be resolved when a field source enters the region where tracking is to occur is to determine the operating frequency of the source signal ( s ). if that source is hardwired into the system and also driven by the electronics unit , the frequency is known . if it is wireless or being driven by other electronics its frequency must be determined . this can be accomplished by using the sensor coils as a probe for detecting energy in the environment . the software resident in the tracker dsp can be made to perform a fourier analysis of the signals read in to identify if frequency / frequencies in the design set for the system are detected . only a small portion of the spectrum needs to be analyzed since the candidate operating frequency range always will be known . the frequency range typically is from a few thousand hertz to no more than 40 khz , which does not require a great deal of time to analyze . digital filtering with the dsp can then be set at the frequencies detected in order to extract the various geometric components of signal coupling from each source coil to each sensor coil . further , since the set of frequencies existing in the overall system design would always be known , the spectrum scanning can be made very rapid with little concern for aliasing the frequency since only an approximate value is required . the known design frequency nearest the indicated frequency always can be concluded from the indication extracted . it is important that the signal detection circuitry and algorithm remain efficient because it must run essentially continuously in the background so that the tracker is always able to acquire a source entering the area of a sensor and release a source exiting such an area in real - time . of course there is the possibility of interfering signals or noise that could lead to a false conclusion so that adequate signal - to - noise margin must be set into the spectrum analysis algorithm as well . the next problem is to effect synchronism with the source signal ( s ) in order to optimize data collection . one way of doing this is explained as follows . a typical tracking device generates and samples magnetic fields using data converters whose sampling rate is derived from a single clock source . this is commonly referred to as coherent sampling . one significant advantage of this is that the frequency being detected is exactly the same as the one being generated , and the phase relationship between the current flowing through the magnetic field source and the voltage across the magnetic field sensor is constant and can be easily measured . this is important because the phase relationship is used when computing the transfer function between the sensor voltage and source current , one of the steps in computing position and orientation . it is also the only obstacle to overcome in a non - coherent system once the transfer function is properly computed the subsequent steps are identical to a coherent system . to understand how a non - coherent system makes up for not knowing the phase relationship , it is helpful to review in detail how a coherent system operates . as previously stated , the requirement is to compute the transfer function between the sensor and source . the tracker dsp measures signals from the source and sensor using a fourier transform which produces a complex result for each time - series input . depending on the signal conditioning circuitry , it also may be necessary to adjust the magnitude and phase of either or both results . the result from the source measurement is then multiplied by the matrix to produce the time derivative of the sinusoidal waveforms ( j indicating imaginary part or imaginary number √− 1 ; ω = 2πf ). at this point the phase differences between the same columns of both matrices are 0 or π . to compute the transfer function between source and sensor , the sensor matrix is multiplied by the inverse of the source matrix , all operations using complex numbers . the resulting matrix will contain zero ( or as close as the system accuracy yields ) imaginary components . the signal magnitudes will be in the real component , along with the proper sign . the real components are then used in the subsequent calculations . in a system where the tracker dsp can only measure the sensor signal ( one example of a non - coherent system ) the transfer function must be computed where the source current is somehow indirectly determined . the magnitude can be a certain value either guaranteed by design or determined during the calibration procedure of the source . with the exception of the 0 or π ambiguity , the phase of the source is equal to the phase of the sensor divided by j . the ambiguity can be resolved explicitly by imposing a condition at system startup where the sign of the real component of the transfer function is known . for example , if the user locates the sensor in a known position and orientation , the transfer function can be computed reversely and used to resolve the 0 or π ambiguity . the tracker dsp can assemble the following source current matrix where α and φ are the magnitude and phase of each source signal . in the case of a wireless pseudo - sensor source the amplitude is assumed as staying at a constant amplitude . in the case where there is no known initial condition yielding phase , the phase relationship must be assumed to be at either the 0 or π ambiguity until an anomaly in the p & amp ; o solution rules out one of the values . this means that the tracker electronics and software be capable of adjusting phase relationships dynamically in real - time , which our electronics has been designed to accomplish . implicit in this design is also the ability to separate real and imaginary components of the received signal . meantime the true phase relationships are not known but can be determined by adjusting towards or away from the expected value such that in a few cycles optimal performance is detected . this type of operation turns out to be necessary in any event because the phase relationship will not remain constant over time . therefore , the tracker dsp must constantly update the source phase figures by the difference in phase between consecutive measurements of sensor voltage . if the adjustment exceeds ± π / 2 , then π gets subtracted or added to the adjustment , since this could only be caused by repositioning the sensor where the sign flips . describing this in another way follows . the voltage on the sensor coils is represented as a 3 × 3 matrix of complex numbers v = [ v x ( ω x ) v x ( ω y ) v x ( ω z ) v y ( ω x ) v y ( ω y ) v y ( ω z ) v z ( ω x ) v z ( ω y ) v z ( ω z ) ] , where v is the voltage on the x , y , and z coils of the sensor and the ω is the frequency of the current flowing through the x , y , and z coils of the source . matrix k is created by restricting the phases of all elements of v as follows : if re ( v ij ) & gt ; 0 then k ij = k ij else k ij = − k ij the phase of each frequency on all three sensor coils is weighted by the signal strength and averaged as follows . ϕ j = ∑ i = 0 2 k ij / ∑ i = 0 2 re ( k ij ) + im ( k ij ) m = [ m x ϕ 0 0 0 0 m y ϕ 1 0 0 0 m z ϕ 2 ] , where m is the current times the effective area of each source winding . matrix s ref is generated by the known p & amp ; o at system initialization . matrix s is computed from actual data collected by the tracker dsp as follows . the columns of matrix s are then compared to the columns of matrix s ref . if φ j is off by π , then s 0j , s 1j , and s 2j will all have the opposite sign when compared to the same elements of s ref and the complex number φ j needs to be multiplied by − 1 . this removes the π ambiguity . in order to track another pseudo - sensor source that may enter the environment of a sensor , the same fourier analysis to determine frequency is done and same process for determining the phase relationship . when one of these “ sensors ” moves onward to where another true sensor detects it , the frequency may unavoidably be detected again , but the phase relationship just discovered can be passed along internally from the first sensor . operation continues in this way as movement passes through the sensors and as the detectable number of pseudo - sensor sources comes into range . the p & amp ; o of the pseudo - sensors is computed based on the sensor geometry and the reference point established . the true sensors must be positioned at known p & amp ; o from the single reference point in order to do this . computation of pseudo - sensor p & amp ; o can be performed either in the tracker electronics unit or in the host computer . one additional event occurs when the number of true sensors on a tracking unit is exhausted but additional movement range is desired . then an additional tracker system with known p & amp ; o of its sensors can be added and tied back to the same host computer . the second tracker system simply goes through the same frequency detection process and synchronization as the first system to perform tracking of the pseudo - sensor ( s ). a final point for wireless pseudo - sensor sources concerns their characterization matrix . this set of data normally is retrieved at power up from a prom incorporated in a tracker source or sensor . it is impossible in this case for a wireless source to provide such a characterization prom , so such data sets must be pre - loaded into the tracker electronics unit ( teu ) memory and be retrieved and used whenever the frequency of a particular wireless source is detected . for this reason the best performance will be obtained if a set of wireless pseudo - sensor sources is always associated with the teu , or teus , servicing a given 3d volume . in summary , we have disclosed a system for detecting non - coherent magnetic signal sources and achieving and maintaining phase synchronization with them without placing any special start - up or harmonic relationships on the source . further , we have devised a means for extending a string of sensors over a large area to be used successively as the source moves through the sequence of sensors to track low power three - axis field sources without causing distortion via induced eddy currents because of the low level signals involved . the tracker electronics scans for a family of three frequencies per source out of a pre - arranged set intended for the system , computes synchronization , applies characterization data to the signals and computes position and orientation results for output to a host computer . because of the independent manner in which the tracker determines frequency and then achieves and maintains synchronization , pseudo - sensor sources can achieve operation over even larger spaces than a single tracker can accommodate by concatenating additional tracker systems with their pre - spaced sensors and connecting to the same host computer . note that a source also can be tracked if it is powered by another system as opposed to being driven by a battery due to the ability to synchronize and achieve coherency . also , due to the reciprocity between ‘ sources ’ and ‘ sensors ’ as discussed above , inverse operation is also possible ; that is , where it is desirable to synchronize one or more sensors with a source having a known phase . | 6 |
reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments of the invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for traversing a queue of commands to effectively identify upcoming write commands in the queue and prepare the data pipeline to more quickly process a write command ( or instruction ). the core maintains a circular ( or linear ) buffer ( or queue ) of commands to process . the queue of commands may include entries for completed commands , interrupted commands , null commands , yet - to - be - completed commands , and the like . the non - completed commands are assigned a tag ( i . e ., a validity flag ) indicating that these commands are valid for reissue . in an embodiment , new commands are always added in order to the logical end of the buffer . each command entry contains information indicating whether it is a read or write command and whether the entry is valid . completed commands , no op commands ( i . e ., instructions that are not intended to cause an action but act as placeholders for future commands ), null commands , commands that have been discarded by the controller , and the like are assigned a tag indicating these commands are invalid for reissue . the method employs a next valid write address pointer to facilitate the processing of write commands for the memory . in a preferred embodiment , all next valid write address pointers may be updated in parallel by independent logic without the need of a processor to handle next valid write address pointer management . if valid commands need to be reissued , the queue ( or portions of it ) must be re - traversed . no direct interaction may be required between queue processing logic and next valid write address logic . that is , when queue processing logic clears an entry &# 39 ; s valid flag , all queue entries are updated . other embodiments may fill gaps in the queue with newly received commands or may begin the queue at a maximum queue address . fig1 illustrates a diagram of the use of the method of the present invention . a circular queue 10 ( or linear queue ) contains queue entries . each queue entry may store a command , data , or another type of instruction . as shown in fig1 the entries all have a next valid write address pointer that points to a successor entry having a valid write command . for example , queue entry 30 contains a valid read command and has a next valid write address pointer that points to queue entry 60 containing a valid write command . even queue entries that hold invalid commands , such as queue entry 80 , have an updateable field for the next valid write address pointer . the read and write commands may be processed in sequence such that a lower numbered queue entry instruction is processed before a higher numbered queue entry is processed . during command operations , as long as the outbound pipeline is filled to less than capacity and has already loaded all data required for any current write instruction , processing to fill the pipeline occurs for the next write instruction as indicated by the next valid write address pointer in the queue entry for the command . as illustrated by fig1 , queue entries 20 , 60 , 70 have valid write commands and have next valid write address pointers that point to the next queue entry in a given direction along the circular queue . fig2 illustrates a flowchart of method steps in the preferred embodiment of the present invention . the validity flag initially is cleared or reset , signifying that there is no command to be processed in the queue . the queue of commands is filled partly or entirely . each queue entry that has a valid command also has a validity flag set . the first command m is retrieved 115 if it is determined that there is a next valid write command 120 , processing commences for the next write command 130 as indicated by a next valid write address pointer contained within the queue entry of command m . data is accumulated through the data pipeline during this time . write look ahead ( wla ) occurs even during a write command . that is , if write b immediately follows write a , the pipeline will fill data for write b as soon as it has 1 ) fetched the final data for write a and 2 ) there is available space . preferably , the write look ahead processing occurs in parallel to normal command processing and may be considered a part of pipeline logic . the outbound pipeline logic begins filling for a first write command a , and only stops when it reaches the end of that command . filling will pause when the pipeline becomes full and will resume after the data has been written on the bus . only when the command processing logic reaches write command a will the next valid write address pointer reflect any possible write command b — at which point the pipeline logic will again begin filling — this time for write b . ( note that while each entry in the command queue has its own next valid write address pointer , the command processing logic uses the next valid write address pointer associated with the current command .) in another embodiment , when command m is retrieved , any concurrent write operations are terminated . the operation is performed and the validity flag for that queue entry is cleared 140 . if command m is a read command , the read operation is performed according to the op code and parameters stored in the queue entry for command m 135 . if command m is not completed because of a time out , the detection of data corruption , or another fault condition 140 , an optional redo flag may be set 145 . in an optional redo process , the commands that are determined to have failed may be processed again in another pass through the queue . the present invention even allows multiple passes through the queue to allow processing of all stored commands . a limit may be placed on the number of redo stages for a queue to avoid system hang - ups . for example , a counter may be employed to count the number of stages per queue . if a threshold is reached , the processor issues an alert to an operator , enacts a bypass procedure , or performs other operations . a counter threshold may be hardwired or presettable by the processor , either automatically or through operator entry . if the last command in the queue has been traversed 150 , other processing 160 may be performed . the other processing includes the optional redo process . otherwise , the next queue entry is retrieved 155 . exemplary code for assigning a next valid write address , according to the method of fig2 , is shown below in an example for the first two entries of a sixteen entry capacity queue . a sixteen - bit status word “ valid ” contains a valid flag bit for each of the entries . a second sixteen - bit status word “ writes ” contains a flag bit for each entry , set to 1 if that entry contains a write command , and 0 otherwise . the queue may have a different number of entries , such as eight or thirty two , in which case the status words may contain the same number of bits as there are entries . in a preferred embodiment , an intermediate status word “ validwrites ” is created from the bitwise boolean “ and ” of these two words . thus , validwrites contains a bit pattern in which 1 &# 39 ; s indicate slots containing a command which is both valid and a write . the next valid write address is calculated independently and in parallel based only on this intermediate status word . synthesis constraints ensure the nextvalidwriteaddr values are valid before the next clock edge after any valid flag changes . hardware and / or software process logic ensures that the current queue pointer is not updated until that time . each entry &# 39 ; s next valid write address may be generated combinatorially from the flags of all entries via a priority scheme , as illustrated below for the first two entries of the queue . fig3 shows a diagram of a queue according to an embodiment of the present invention . the core maintains a circular buffer of commands to process . new commands are always added in order to the logical end of the buffer . each command entry contains information including whether the command is a read or a write command and whether the entry is valid . separate interfaces are provided for inbound ( i . e ., bus read ) and outbound ( i . e ., bus write ) transactions . if the inbound state machine is processing read a from entry 0 , the outbound backend state machine reads entry 0 &# 39 ; s nextvalidwriteaddr to begin processing entry 6 for write g . this arrangement provides the backend state machine with the entire execution time for read commands a – f to fill its pipeline for write g , greatly increasing the probability that write g can begin execution immediately after the completion of read f . furthermore , the outbound pipeline can be filled beyond its minimum required depth — which potentially allows other use of the backend bus 855 ( as shown in fig8 ). the signal anyvalidwrites may be used to inform the state machines of the condition in which there are no valid writes in the queue and the nextvalidwriteaddr field must be ignored . alternatively , the next valid write addr fields of all queue entries may be set to the null character . in one embodiment , the command queue maintains a vector valid composed of the valid flags from all 16 queue entries and a vector writes composed of the write flags from all 16 queue entries . the vectors may be implemented as separate arrays in hardware and / or software . the vectors are and &# 39 ; ed together to produce the vector validwrites which is used to combinatorially create each queue entry &# 39 ; s nextvalidwriteaddr entry via a priority scheme , as shown in fig3 . by the nature of the automatic updating , every entry contains a correct next valid write address value , regardless of the entry &# 39 ; s validity . the method may be varied in an alternative embodiment such that each queue entry contains both a next valid write address pointer and a next valid read address pointer . although the valid ( or validity ) flag has been described as being part of the queue entry , the valid flag may be stored in another kind of data structure , such as a separate array . the value of the valid flag may be numeric ( e . g ., binary ) or logical ( e . g ., true or false ). similarly , the next valid write address pointer values and the commands may each be stored in separate arrays . fig4 – 7 illustrate various queue traversal schemes . fig4 and 5 show circular queues 410 traversed in a forward direction and a backward direction , respectively . similarly , fig6 and 7 show linear queues 610 traversed in a forward direction and a backward direction . the method of the present invention may be adapted to permit traversal of a queue in either direction or in alternating directions . if the queue were traversed in alternating directions , the number of entries traversed per cycle may be independently settable for the forward direction and the backward direction . partial queue traversals and traversals over only a portion of a queue are contemplated by the method of the present invention . two pointers , nextvalidwriteaddr and previousvalidwriteaddr , may need to be maintained per queue entry to accommodate bi - directional traversal . fig8 illustrates a functional block diagram of an embodiment of a system of the present invention that uses a processor . the device 830 performs operations in accordance with the queue commands . the processor 820 controls the issuance of the commands and executes instructions to implement the traversal method of the present invention . the processor 820 and the device 830 are coupled to each other and to a memory 860 through a bus 810 . furthermore , separate interfaces are provided for inbound ( bus read ) and outbound ( bus write ) transactions . the outbound bus interface state machine is partitioned into a front end ( i . e ., host / pci bus ) and back end ( i . e ., core interface ) state machine . in this manner , the back end machine may begin filling its pipeline independently of the current command executing . the inbound bus interface 870 and outbound core interface 850 may access the memory 860 simultaneously , through arbitration , or sequentially as determined by the queue order . the inbound bus interface 850 may have a front end bus 855 that is independent of the backend bus 865 of the inbound bus interface 870 . the bus may be a peripheral component interface extended ( pci - x ) bus or other suitable bus . the processor 820 may be a pci - x core . the device may be a redundant array of disks subsystem , another form of storage device , and the like . it is believed that the present invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood by the forgoing description . it is also believed that it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form , construction and arrangement of the components thereof without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention or without sacrificing all of its material advantages . features of any of the variously described embodiments may be used in other embodiments . the form herein before described being merely an explanatory embodiment thereof . it is the intention of the following claims to encompass and include such changes . | 6 |
fig1 depicts the architecture of an sdram 20 as it exists in the prior art . the sdram 20 is fabricated on a die 22 and includes sixteen memory banks b 0 through b 15 . the shape of each bank is determined by the number and arrangement of component sub - arrays . in this prior art example , each bank comprises a row of sixteen sub - arrays . bank b 0 , for example , comprises sub - arrays 000 through 015 . similarly , bank b 1 comprises sub - arrays 100 through 115 . for purposes of explaining the current invention , it is understood that each bank is analogously numbered , ending with sub - arrays 1500 through 1515 comprising memory bank b 15 . each sub - array contains a number of memory bit components and accompanying n / p channel sense amplifier circuitry 26 as well as row decoder circuitry 28 . the banks b 0 - b 15 are also serviced by a first 64 × dc sense amp 30 and a second 64 × dc sense amp 32 . it should be noted that the size and number of dc sense amps can vary based on the compression rate desired . column decoder circuitry 34 is located next to the dc sense amps 30 and 32 ; and a column select line 36 extends from the column decoder circuitry 34 through all of the memory banks b 0 - b 15 . logic circuitry is located in a region 38 on the other side of the dc sense amps 30 and 32 relative to the memory banks b 0 - b 15 . bond pads 40 are placed on the perimeter of the die 22 to allow easy access . for purposes of this application , the term “ bond pad ” includes any conductive surface configured to permit temporary or permanent electrical communication with a circuit or node . further , it should be noted that there exists a series of bond pads — defined here as access pads , wherein each access pad of the series is coupled to one sub - array of each bank , thereby allowing electrical signals to access those sub - arrays . for example , access pad 40 a is defined to be coupled to sub - arrays 000 , 100 , 200 , 300 , 400 , through 1500 . access pad 40 g is coupled to sub - arrays 006 through 1506 . access pad 40 p , in turn , is defined to be coupled to sub - arrays 015 through 1515 . accordingly , there are thirteen other access pads , each associated with a corresponding column comprising one sub - array from every bank . in order to keep connective circuitry to a minimum , these sixteen access pads are located near their respective sub - arrays . it should be noted that , in fig1 the group of sub - arrays 000 through 1500 is highlighted in bold for purposes of indicating the common association those sub - arrays have with a particular access pad ( such as 40 a , for these sub - arrays ). groups 006 - 1506 and 015 - 1515 are similarly highlighted . other bond pads 40 , representing additional input and output terminals for communicating with the die 22 , are placed in the remaining available spaces on the die 22 , which may include more than one side of the die 22 . packaging of the die 22 may be influenced by the fact that the internal circuitry of the die 22 will be interacting with a data bus . specifically , as seen in fig2 the die 22 can be placed within a lead frame wherein the conductive leads 48 , 50 extend from the die 22 and eventually orient in one direction in anticipation of connecting to the data bus . in fig2 bond pads 40 that are on the die &# 39 ; s near side 42 — the side that will be closest to the external device — require only relatively short conductive leads 48 . however , bond pads 40 along the sides 44 , 46 contiguous to the near side 42 require longer conductive leads 50 . assuming that the signal propagation rate through the conductive leads 48 , 50 is generally the same , the longer conductive leads 50 will take a longer time to transmit any signals . moreover , inductance of the longer conductive leads 50 will be greater than inductance of the shorter conductive leads 48 . fig3 a and 3 b illustrate one embodiment of the current invention that solves these problems . in this embodiment , the memory banks are separated into discontiguous portions . despite placing portions of the banks in separate locations , the columnar arrangement of sub - arrays , one from each bank , is retained , and the columns are rotated ninety degrees relative to the configuration addressed above . thus , rather than being parallel to the contiguous sides 44 and 46 , the columns are now parallel to the near side 42 . for example , the sixteen sub - arrays associated with access pad 40 a ( 000 through 1500 ) extended along contiguous side 44 in the prior art die depicted in fig1 . again , this group of sub - arrays commonly coupled to access pad 40 a is highlighted to show the new orientation of the sub - arrays and of the group in general . in fig3 a , this group of sub - arrays now extends along the near side 42 . while this group of sub - arrays 000 through 1500 is still relatively near contiguous side 44 , this is not necessary for purposes of the current invention ; this group could occupy any of the columnar positions depicted in fig2 . regardless of the particular position of the columns , it is preferred that their respective access pad remain relatively close by . moreover , given this new configuration , each sub - array is now oriented perpendicular to the near side 42 of the die 22 . further , it should be noted that , while the arrangements of sub - arrays in fig2 might be described as “ rows ” given the ninety degree rotation , the arrangements are referred to as “ columns ” or “ columnar positions ” for purposes of demonstrating the continuity with portions of the die architecture in fig1 . as an example of this continuity , the row decoder circuitry 28 and column decoder circuitry are also rotated ninety degrees and , therefore , retain their orientation relative to each sub - array . column decoder devices in this embodiment include a first modified column decoder circuit 60 interposed between a 700 series of sub - arrays ( 700 to 703 ) and an 800 series of sub - arrays ( 800 - 803 ). in addition , a first modified column select line 62 extends from the first modified column decoder circuit 60 through sub - arrays 700 to 000 . similarly , a second modified column select line 64 extends from the first modified column decoder circuit 60 through sub - arrays 800 to 1500 . this embodiment also includes three other similarly configured modified column decoder circuits 66 , 61 , and 67 , each with their own modified column select lines 68 and 70 , 63 and 65 , and 69 and 71 , respectively . moreover , instead of two 64 × dc sense amps 30 and 32 , this embodiment of the present invention uses four 32 × dc sense amps 52 , 54 , 56 , and 58 . however , as in the prior art , the size and number of dc sense amps merely affect data compression and no one dc sense amp configuration is required for any embodiment of the current invention . in this exemplary embodiment , the columns are further arranged in groups of four . in doing so , this embodiment partially retains some of the bank continuity found in the prior art . for example , the sub - array sequence 000 , 001 , 002 , and 003 of bank 0 remain contiguous . the bank 0 sequence continues in the next four rotated columns with sub - arrays 004 , 005 , 006 , and 007 remaining next to each other . these intervals of bank continuity apply to the other memory banks as well and aid in minimizing the complexity of row decoder and column decoder circuitry . arranging the columns in groups of four also means that certain columns will be further away from the near side 42 than other columns . as a result , there may be unassociated sub - arrays between a column and its access pad . for example , connective circuitry ( not shown ) coupling column 003 - 1503 to access pad 40 d will probably pass by sub - arrays within columns 002 - 1502 , 001 - 1501 , and 000 - 1500 . additionally , this arrangement of rotated columns allows for altering the dimensions of the die 22 . not only can the near side 42 be extended to a length commensurate with the data bus , but the contiguous sides 44 and 46 may also be shortened . moreover , extending the near side 42 provides chip space for the bond pads 40 that had been along the contiguous sides 44 , 46 in the prior architecture . fig4 demonstrates the result of this architecture : when the die 22 is attached to a lead frame 76 having conductive leads on only one side , the die &# 39 ; s formation accommodates short conductive leads 78 of uniform length . packaging the die 22 with this lead frame 76 , in turn , allows for fast operation of the die 22 in conjunction with a device having a relatively large number of data terminals , such as a wide data bus . other embodiments of the present invention can lead to the same packaging advantages . the exemplary embodiment in fig5 a and 5 b , for instance , demonstrates that , although the sub - arrays are rotated ninety degrees as in fig3 a and 3 b , it is not necessary to retain the columnar arrangement of the previous embodiment . instead of the 16 × 1 columns , the sub - arrays in fig5 a and 5 b have been grouped into 4 × 4 associations . as demonstrated in the previous embodiment , there is a repetition of the sub - array pattern at continuous intervals . in the embodiment shown in fig5 a and 5 b , sequential sub - arrays of a particular bank are separated by sub - arrays of other banks . sub - arrays 000 and 001 of bank 0 , for example , are separated by sub - arrays 400 , 800 , and 1200 . as further demonstrated in the previous embodiment , it is still preferred to configure the access pads near their respective grouping . nevertheless , because the associated sub - arrays in fig3 a and 3 b extend along one dimension and include one sub - array from every bank , there is more sharing of row decoder circuitry 28 as well as column select circuitry 62 , 64 , 68 , 70 , 63 , 65 , 69 , and 71 in that embodiment than in the more fragmented sub - array groupings depicted in fig5 a and 5 b . accordingly , the embodiment in fig3 a and 3 b is the more preferred embodiment of the two . fig5 c and 5 d represent an alternate configuration of 4 × 4 associations . there are also alternative embodiments that do not involve rotating the orientation of the sub - arrays , as demonstrated in fig6 a and 6 b . whereas there are sixteen rows of sub - arrays extending back from the near side 42 of the die 22 in fig1 the die 22 in fig6 a and 6 b has a memory configuration only eight sub - arrays “ deep .” further , the sub - arrays are gathered into 8 × 2 groupings , again with one sub - array from every bank in each group and with each group associated with a particular access pad . moreover , each group is oriented perpendicular to the near side 42 of die 22 . group 90 has been defined to contain sub - arrays 000 through 1500 , group 92 contains sub - arrays 001 through 1501 , and group 94 contains sub - arrays 002 through 1502 . while no particular order of groups is required , it is noteworthy in this embodiment that the sub - arrays 800 through 1500 in group 90 are next to sub - arrays 801 through 1501 in group 92 . in effect , groups 90 and 92 could be considered “ mirror images ” of each other . this mirror image configuration is useful in compressing data for test modes and in maximizing the opportunity to share row decoder circuitry 28 . it can further be seen in fig6 a and 6 b that group 94 is a mirror image of group 92 , wherein sub - arrays 002 through 702 are respectively contiguous to sub - arrays 001 through 701 . while these mirror image configurations are preferable in a die architecture having 8 × 2 sub - array groupings , they are not necessary to realize the current invention . as in other embodiments , this one has a die shape capable of including bond pads in a configuration accommodatable to communication with an external device , with a memory arrangement generally conforming to the die shape . the embodiment in fig6 a and 6 b also benefits from four 32 × dc sense amps 80 , 81 , 82 , and 83 . further , there are two column decoder circuits 84 and 85 , each associated with respective column select lines 86 and 87 . unlike the previous embodiments , however , each sub - array is oriented parallel to the near side 42 of the die 22 . fig6 c and 6 d represent an alternate configuration of 8 × 2 associations or groupings of sub - arrays . one of ordinary skill can appreciate that , although specific embodiments of this invention have been described for purposes of illustration , various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , embodiments of die architecture covered by this invention need not be restricted to placing bond pads on only one side of a die . it may be desirable in certain applications to use a lead frame having conductive leads facing two or more sides of a die . die architectures included within the scope of this invention could locate the die &# 39 ; s bond pads to allow for conductive leads of a uniform length and , more specifically , a uniformly short length on all relevant sides . in addition , the dimensions of the memory banks could be adapted to conform to a particular die &# 39 ; s requirements . if , for example , the number of bond pads and the conductive lead pitch limitations require a die side even longer than the near side 42 in fig5 a and 5 b , the 4 × 4 banks of rotated sub - arrays can be replaced with an embodiment having a series of rotated sub - arrays grouped into 2 × 8 banks . accordingly , the invention is not limited except as stated in the claims . | 6 |
the making and using of the presently preferred embodiment is discussed in detail below . it should be appreciated , however , that the present invention provides many applicable inventive concepts that can be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts . the specific embodiments discussed are merely illustrative and do not limit the scope of the invention . fig2 is a simple block diagram of an inductorless dc / dc converter 20 implementing a frequency control circuit of the present invention . the converter 20 includes a frequency control circuit 22 coupled to a variable frequency oscillator ( vfo ) 24 to control the frequency of a charge pump output stage 26 . the frequency control circuit 22 measures an input voltage v in and output voltage v out from the charge pump output stage 26 and controls the frequency of the oscillator 24 utilizing the ratio of the input voltage v in to the output voltage v out . fig3 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment frequency control circuit 22 of the present invention . the frequency control circuit 22 comprises a first voltage - to - current converter 32 and a second voltage - to - current converter 34 . an input voltage v in and output voltage v out of the charge pump output stage 26 are input into the first and second voltage - to - current converters 32 and 34 . the voltage - to - current converters 32 and 34 are matched , i . e . they are identical in structure and function in order to provide accurate measurement of the ratio between the input voltage v in and the output voltage v out . the input voltage v in is input into the first voltage - to - current converter 32 and the output voltage v out is input into the second voltage - to - current converter 34 . the input and output voltages , v in and v out , are converted to first and second currents i (+) and i (−) , respectively , which are proportional in magnitude to their corresponding voltages . the first voltage - to - current converter 32 , however , is connected to an inverter 36 that converts the first current i (+) to an inverted current i inv . the first current i (+) is inverted because the converters 32 and 34 each produce sink currents that cannot be compared . the inverter 36 , then , facilitates the production of the inverted current i inv ( i . e . a source current ) that can be compared to the second current i (−) ( i . e . a sink current ). the inverter 36 and second voltage - to - current converter 34 are coupled to a regulation circuit 38 that is in turn coupled to the vfo 24 ( shown in fig2 ). the regulation circuit 38 measures the ratio between the input and output voltages v in and v out , respectively , and varies the frequency of the vfo 24 to facilitate a small internal resistance , low output voltage ripple at full load , and low quiescent current while allowing the use of small and inexpensive external capacitors . at light loads , the magnitude of the output voltage is at or close to the magnitude of the input voltage . since the load current is small there is no problem to run with a low frequency even with small external capacitors . as shown by equation ( 3 ), the quiescent current i q would be minimal because of the low frequency . also the voltage ripple is minimized , in view of equation ( 2 ), because the small load current offsets the low clock frequency and small output capacitance ( produced by the small external capacitors ). the resistance is not an issue because only a small percentage of voltage is lost since the load current is small and the product of load current and internal resistance is small as well . however , when the load current increases , the output voltage tends to drop ; thus the difference between the output voltage and input voltage increases as well . to compensate for this reduction in output voltage , the regulation circuit 38 signals the vfo 24 to run faster and thus run the output stage ( i . e . converter ) at an efficient level . at full load current the quiescent current is not an issue because it is just a small percentage of the load current and therefore generates only a small degradation of the efficiency . thus the system runs with maximum frequency to guarantee a small internal resistance and a low output voltage ripple . the vfo 24 is coupled to an output stage that will provide the desired output as dictated by the application in which the device is used . fig4 is a schematic of a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the first voltage - to - current converter 32 comprises a first transistor mn 1 and a second transistor mn 2 . the first and second transistors mn 1 , mn 2 have gate nodes 40 that are coupled together and source nodes 42 that are tied to a ground node gnd . the second transistor mn 2 is coupled to the inverter 36 , represented in this preferred embodiment as a current mirror comprising two pmos transistors mp 1 and mp 2 . a first resistor r 1 is coupled between the first transistor mn 1 and an input node 44 that receives the input voltage v in . the matched second voltage - to - current converter 34 comprises a third transistor mn 11 and a fourth transistor mn 12 having gate nodes 46 that are coupled together and source nodes 48 that are tied to the ground node gnd . a second resistor r 11 is coupled between the third transistor and the output node 50 that receives the output voltage v out . the second resistor r 11 is preferably matched in value to the first resistor r 1 . if , for example , first resistor r 1 is smaller than second resistor r 11 , then second resistor r 11 will produce an additional offset current which should not be generated when the input voltage is equal to the output voltage ( i . e . there is no load current ). the additional offset current will operate as a load current and cause the frequency control circuit 22 to operate improperly . the inverter 36 produces the inverted current i inv . the inverted current i inv and second current i (−) are summed to produce a net current i net . because the inverted current i inv and second current i (−) are of a magnitude that is proportional to their respective voltages , the net current i net is of a magnitude that represents the difference of the input and output voltages v in and v out . the net current is input into a preferred embodiment regulation circuit 38 that comprises multiple transistors , mn 3 - mn 7 and mp 3 . the net current i net is formed on the drain of transistor mn 3 . the regulation circuit 38 further comprises current sources that represent a maximum current i max and a minimum current i min that will be provided to the vfo 24 . the minimum and maximum currents i min and i max provide the frequency sweep range of the vfo 24 that allows the converter to run efficiently with decreased loss of energy . the frequency of the vfo 24 is limited to a minimum frequency where the input and output voltages v in and v out are equal , that is the net current i net is zero . if there was no designed minimum frequency , the vfo 24 would stop oscillating when the net current i net was zero . current source 52 prevents this by supplying the minimum current i min . the vfo 24 is also limited to a maximum frequency to prevent the vfo 24 from running at frequencies at which no benefits are gained in efficiency and energy is loss . transistor mn 5 is coupled to transistor mn 3 to form a current mirror . transistor mn 5 operates to add the net current i net to the minimum current i min . the resulting current is the control current i cont that is provided to run the vfo 24 at a rate that is proportional in magnitude to the ratio of the input and output voltages v in and v out . transistor mn 3 also forms a current mirror with transistor mn 4 . if transistors mn 3 and mn 4 are the same size , then the current on the drain of transistor mn 4 is the same as that on transistor mn 3 . thus , the net current i net is mirrored onto the drain of transistor mn 4 . the drain of transistor mn 4 is coupled to the gate of transistor mp 3 allowing the net current i net to be compared with the maximum current i max . if the net current i net is bigger than the maximum current i max , then the gate of transistor mp 3 becomes negative with respect to its source , mp 3 switches on and turns on transistor mn 6 ( i . e . forces current via transistor mn 6 ). transistor mn 6 turns on transistor mn 7 that in turn sinks a portion of the net current i net from transistor mn 3 such that the addition of the net current i net and the minimum current i min never exceeds the maximum current i max . in a preferred embodiment , the vfo 24 minimum frequency is 50 khz and maximum frequency is 500 khz . furthermore , the size of transistors mn 3 and mn 5 can be chosen to provide the necessary control loop sensitivity for the regulation circuit 38 . if the vfo 24 sensitivity is not compatible with the sensitivity of the regulation circuit 38 ( i . e . the vfo 24 can not detect the changes in control current produced by the regulation circuit 38 ), the net current can be amplified by a factor necessary to provide correct operation . for example , by choosing the size of transistor mn 5 to be 5 times the size of mn 3 , then the sensitivity of the regulation circuit is increased by a factor of 5 . thus , the bigger the size of mn 5 , the smaller the output voltage drop you need for the same frequency modulation . however , caution must be taken in matching the voltage - to - current converters 32 and 34 to ensure that the sensitivity of the regulation circuit 38 is not bigger than a matching error , otherwise the frequency control circuit 22 will not operate correctly . although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail , it should be understood that various changes , substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . moreover , the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process , manufacture , means , methods and steps described in the specification . as one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention , processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps , presently existing or later to be developed , that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention . accordingly , the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps . | 7 |
reference numeral 10 in fig1 schematically depicts a diamond having a crown 12 , a girdle 14 , and a pavilion 16 . the girdle 14 is a peripheral band between the crown and the pavilion and , in the preferred embodiment , an identifying indicium or mark 18 is formed on the girdle . the mark 18 can be a machine - readable indicium , such as a one - or a two - dimensional bar code symbol , or can be a human - readable indicium , such as an alphabetical and / or numerical indicium , or can be a logo or image , for example , a certification mark of quality or of source of origin . the mark is permanently inscribed and is substantially imperceptible to the naked eye , although clearly visible under magnification such as by a ten power loupe . in accordance with one embodiment of this invention , the mark 18 is formed as follows : first , as depicted in fig2 a generally planar mask 20 is mounted on a table 22 that is independently movable by two dc servomotors along mutually orthogonal directions ( x , y ) by microprocessor control . the mask 20 is preferably constituted of a polymer material , or a metal , having a thickness on the order of 1 - 5 mils , but may be thicker . a bottom side of the mask may bear an adhesive layer . next , a laser 24 , also under control of the microprocessor , is actuated to direct its laser beam at the mask to form one or more cutouts 30 , such as the depicted numerals 1 , 2 , 3 . the laser beam is focused by a lens 26 to form a spot on the mask . the spot burns entirely through the mask . movement of the mask and the table under microprocessor control relative to the spot causes the spot to form a cutout in the desired shape such as the numerals 1 , 2 , 3 . numeral 1 is shown in solid lines already formed . numeral 2 is in the process of being formed . numeral 3 is shown in dashed lines and is waiting to be formed . rather than moving the mask , the laser beam may be moved by moving beam - steering mirrors along the mutually orthogonal directions relative to a stationary table . instead of forming the indicia in the mask with a laser beam , the cutouts can be formed using other techniques such as photolithographically applying a photoresist layer and exposing selected portions to light , such as ultraviolet light . the manufacture of the resulting apertured mask is preferably performed not by the jeweler or ultimate user , but instead , by an authorized mask supplier who has the facilities and equipment to make the mask . thus , a jeweler may pre - order a supply of apertured masks , for example , with sequential numbers in a series , or with a logo , from the mask supplier . with the supply of apertured masks on hand at the jeweler &# 39 ; s premises , the jeweler selects a mask 20 and applies it , as shown in fig4 along the girdle 14 of a gemstone 10 to be marked . preferably , the mask has an adhesive surface that adheres to the girdle . the mask need not be adhered to the girdle , but can be applied anywhere on the gemstone , especially on the table or top of the crown 12 . as shown in fig3 the diamond 10 is fixedly mounted in a fixture 32 which is , in turn , mounted on a frame 34 that is movable in a horizontal plane along two mutually orthogonal axes by an x - y stage controller 36 , typically a microprocessor that controls two dc servomotors , relative to a stationary support 38 . a reservoir 40 contains a slurry or mixture 28 of a liquid , preferably water , and a multitude of abrasive particles , such as aluminum oxide , silicon carbide , diamond grit , or mixtures thereof , dispersed therein . each particle is preferably about 1 - 50 microns in diameter . other abrasive particles of different shapes , hardnesses and sizes may be employed . the mixture 28 is continuously or batch - wise fed , with the aid of a valve , along delivery hose 42 , either by gravity assist or by a pump , toward the area on the girdle 14 to be marked . as shown in fig4 the mixture 28 is shown as a droplet which fills , and is elevated relative to , the cutouts 30 in the mask 20 which is adhered to and along the girdle . reference numeral 44 identifies a tip of a horn 46 of a piezoelectric transducer 48 . the tip 44 is lowered and immersed into the droplet 28 by a z - axis controller 50 , which is a dc servomotor under microprocessor control . alternately , the tip 44 can be manually lowered . the tip 44 may contact the mask or , as shown , may be raised above the mask at a distance up to about 500 microns . a transducer controller 52 applies an electric potential of opposite sign on opposing faces of the transducer 48 to induce a mechanical strain between the opposing faces . the transducer can be a natural crystal , such as quartz , or a synthetic crystal , such as barium titanate . in the preferred embodiment , lead zirconate titanate ( pzt ) is used . the controller 52 converts a dc voltage from a power supply to an alternating voltage at an ultrasonic frequency , preferably in the range of 20 khz - 130 khz , which causes the transducer 48 to mechanically vibrate . the vibrations of the transducer are intensified by the horn 46 . the tip 44 creates pressure waves in the droplet 28 . specifically , millions of microscopic bubbles ( cavities ) expand during a negative pressure excursion , and implode violently during a positive pressure excursion . the tip 44 sets up this cavitation in the liquid - borne abrasive particle mixture , causes the molecules in the mixture to become intensely agitated , and propels the abrasive particles through the cutouts 30 against the surface of the diamond . this invention is not intended to be limited to piezoelectric transducers since other vibrators could equally well be used . for example , magnetorestrictive and electrorestrictive transducers may be employed . the diamond surface is penetrated as a result of this hammering and battering action . if the surface is hard , as it is in the case of a diamond , the diamond surface resists , thereby forming a machined bore or a mark 54 . if the surface is soft , then a bore or mark is not readily formed because the soft surface absorbs and dampens the vibrations and yields under the battering action . it is preferred to make the mask of a material softer than a diamond . a soft material mask is preferably only used once and then discarded . however , hard material masks , including masks made of diamond material , could be used for longer wear . an acceptable mark 54 has been made in a time period of 30 seconds to 2 minutes . the amplitude of vibrations is a function of the amplitude and frequency of the alternating voltage applied to the transducer , as well as the shape of the horn itself . the controller 52 is preferably provided with controls for adjusting the frequency and amplitude of the alternating voltage . a booster is typically positioned between the horn and the transducer . the tip 44 wears with prolonged use and , hence , in the preferred embodiment , the tip 44 is designed to be replaceable , typically by threading a rear post on the tip into the horn . the last step is to remove the mask and clean the gemstone , preferably in an acetone or acid wash . the resulting marked gemstone conforms to that shown in fig1 . the masks can be supplied in various ways . for example , a plurality of masks can be provided in rows and columns on a sheet material , and each mask can be removably peeled therefrom prior to application on the object . in another embodiment , the masks can be successively arranged in a row along a supply reel . in still another technique , the masks can be provided in rows and columns on a master sheet which is then indexed with the object to be marked . the marking or machining can be performed on any object , and not necessarily on the outer surface of the gemstone , and not necessarily on the girdle . the gemstone need not necessarily be a diamond . thus , marking is achieved at a jeweler &# 39 ; s premises . the skill involved in applying a mask , then applying the liquid mixture of abrasive particles , then operating the vibrator , and then cleaning the marked gemstone , is well within the expertise of the jeweler . costly and large - sized machines for directly marking the gemstone with a laser beam are not used . [ 0044 ] fig5 depicts a system analogous to that shown in fig3 . a pump 60 is used instead of the reservoir 40 to deliver the mixture 28 . a keypad 62 for enabling manual entry of data into a transducer controller 64 is shown , together with a display 66 . another keypad 68 for enabling manual entry of data into a z - stage controller 70 is depicted . a piezoelectric transducer 72 and its horn 76 are positioned above a workstation at which six objects , for example , diamonds 10 , are mounted in two rows . each diamond 10 is mounted , as best seen in fig6 with its upper flat surface , or table , of the crown 12 facing upwardly toward a tip 74 of the horn 76 . in this embodiment , each upper surface is to be marked or machined , rather than the girdle and , in addition , multiple diamonds are to be simultaneously marked or machined , rather than one diamond at a time , with a single tip 74 . hence , a master mask 80 is placed on all the objects to be marked . the mask 80 is depicted in fig6 but not in fig5 so as not to unduly encumber fig5 . a pattern of cutouts 30 is aligned with each object 10 , each pattern being either the same ( in the case of a logo ) or different ( in the case of sequential indicia ). with the tip 74 lowered into the mixture 28 , and upon actuation of the transducer 72 , each pattern is transferred ( by machining or marking ) as the abrasive particles are propelled through the cutouts as described above . it will be noted that the shape and size of the tip 74 does not dictate the size and shape of each mark or bore formed in the object inasmuch as it is the pattern of the cutouts that determines the configuration of the pattern to be transferred to the object . it will be understood that each of the elements described above , or two or more together , also may find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above . while the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a vibratory system and method , it is not intended to be limited to the details shown , since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention . without further analysis , the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can , by applying current knowledge , readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that , from the standpoint of prior art , fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and , therefore , such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims . what is claimed as new and desired to be protected by letters patent is set forth in the appended claims . | 1 |
the safety device 10 of the present invention may be designed to be used with a hearing aid assembly 14 of the type consisting of a behind the ear component 15 a connecting cable 16 and an ear bud 17 . ( see fig4 ) the safety device 10 may have three essential integral parts , the attaching strip 11 , the filament 12 and the securing plate 13 which can be seen in fig1 . all parts may be made of transparent materials which may make the device 10 virtually invisible so as not to call attention to the hearing aid . the attaching strip 11 may be made of a two part cooperating system such that one part , a first portion 34 , may be permanently attached to the behind the ear component 15 of the hearing aid 14 . the second portion 35 may be detachable from the first portion 34 so the device 10 may be easily attached to or removed from the hearing aid at the convenience of the wearer . the second portion 35 , may be integral with one end of the filament 12 , the other end of which may be integral with the securing plate 13 . see fig4 . the two part cooperating system may be of any construction , but two practical examples are hook and loop type fastener 18 ( fig2 ) and interlock fastener 21 ( fig3 ). both of these systems are available in flexible sheets or strips with an adhesive 29 on one or both outer surfaces and a peel - off cover strip 28 over the adhesive 29 . the sheets may be cut or manufactured in any desirable size and shape . for this device 10 an adhesive layer 29 may be needed on only the first portion of the two part system as seen in fig4 . the device 10 of the present invention may be utilized with any hearing aid of the general type described above . the hearing aid does not have to have any attaching bar , loop or other means manufactured integral with its outer surface . when the device 10 is purchased , the wearer need only peel off the cover strip 28 and press the adhesive layer 29 on the first portion 34 of the two part attaching strip 11 against the surface of the curved behind the ear component 15 of the hearing aid 14 ( fig4 ). the first portion 34 may be positioned so that it does not make contact with the skin when the behind the ear component 15 is properly seated . once the first portion 34 is affixed to the behind the ear component 15 , the cooperating second portion 35 can easily be connected to the hearing aid by pressing the inner surfaces of the two portions 34 , 35 together . thereafter , it may just as easily be removed from the behind the ear component 15 by pulling the two portions 34 , 35 apart . the first portion 34 may be permanently attached to and may remain on the behind the ear component 15 of the hearing aid 14 as noted above . the interlock fastener system 21 ( fig3 ), such as that manufactured by 3m corporation under the designation low profile dual lock fastener , may have advantages over the more common hook and loop type fastener 18 . first , the inner surfaces of the two cooperating portions 22 are identical and when disengaged the surfaces are smooth and will not attach to or cause pilling of fabrics they may come into contact with , and second , the connection is somewhat tighter then with hook and loop fastener 18 and requires a bit more pressure for the two portions to be pulled apart . this may make for a stronger connection with less chance of the two portions being unintentionally separated . hook and loop fastener 21 may be somewhat easier for use by a wearer with less manual dexterity and maneuverability . the shape of the attaching strip 11 may also be important . though the attaching strip 11 may be cut into any desirable shape or size , the larger the area of contact with the surface of the behind the ear component 14 of the hearing aid , the more secure may be the attachment . since the behind the ear component 14 may be quite small and may rest closely between the side of the head and the back of the ear , the surface area that is not in contact with skin may be limited . the shape for the attaching strip 11 with the potential for the largest area of contact with the surface of the behind the ear component 14 may therefore be long and narrow . thus , the strip 11 may preferably be oblong with the length far exceeding the width . ( see fig1 and 4 ) it may be advantageous for the corners of an oblong strip to be rounded for better retention against the surface of the behind the ear component . the attaching strip 11 may also be oval . as previously noted , one end of the filament 12 may be integral with one end of the second portion 35 of the attaching strip 11 . the filament 12 may itself be very fine and transparent , much like the nylon filaments used for fishing line . such a filament may be affixed to or fused to the second portion 35 of the attaching strip 11 by any method known in the art that produces a permanent and secure attachment . the length of the filament 12 may be short enough so that there is no slack but long enough so there may be no pulling or strain on the line when in use . exact length may be determined according to the dimensions of the attaching strip 11 , the securing plate 13 , and the location of the retention article used by the wearer . since the opposing end of the filament 12 may be integral with the securing plate 13 , the attachment of the filament 12 to the securing plate may also be accomplished by any permanent attachment means known in the art . the securing plate 13 may be substantially planar with a flat inner surface and a raised rim 24 around its entire circumference on both the obverse and reverse surfaces as may be seen in fig5 and 6 . there may be a longitudinal slit 26 in the center of the flat inner surface 25 of the securing plate 13 . the device 10 may be designed to be reversibly affixed to a retaining article worn on the person of the wearer . the device 10 may function optimally when affixed to the temple 31 of a pair of glasses 30 . the slit 26 may be just long enough for the earpiece 32 of the temple 31 to be passed through it . to insure that the securing plate 13 cannot easily slip from the earpiece 32 , the material of which the securing plate 13 is constructed may be of great importance . the securing plate 13 may be composed of a semi - rigid polymeric or plastic material that may enable the inner surface 25 of the securing plate 13 to be somewhat thinner and more pliable than the circumferential raised rim 24 . the circumferential raised rim 24 may be quite strong and may only distort under pressure such as may be applied from opposing sides of the rim and directed towards the center . this may be accomplished by grasping opposing edges between the thumb and index or middle finger and applying pressure . see fig7 . under this pressure the securing plate 13 may distort just enough to cause the slit 26 to open so the earpiece 32 may be inserted therethrough . when the pressure is released the slit 26 may close and the earpiece 32 may be securely retained within the securing plate 13 . thus , the securing plate 13 may not slip from the earpiece 32 without having pressure applied again for its release . the shape of the securing plate 13 may also be important in meeting the goals of the device 10 . visibility and comfort may also be considered . the plate 13 must be long enough so that the slit 26 may be opened sufficiently under side pressure to admit the earpiece 32 . however , the width of the plate 13 need only provide a small surface 25 on each side of the slit 26 . the best shape for the plate 13 may be oval as seen in fig5 or oblong . if oblong , it may be preferable for the corners to be rounded for the comfort of the wearer . the securing plate 13 may also be round . in use , the adhesive backed first portion 34 may be affixed to the behind the ear component 15 of the hearing aid 14 as the first step . the device 10 may thereafter be attached to the hearing aid 14 by uniting the two portions 34 , 35 of the connecting strip 11 . this may be accomplished either before or after the glasses 30 are put on . it may also be possible for the device 10 to remain on the temple 31 of the glasses 30 and the hearing aid 14 detached therefrom when the glasses 30 are removed . the securing plate 13 may be worn in back of the ear or in front of the ear according to the comfort of the wearer . the securing plate 13 may , of course , be less visible when worn behind the ear as seen in fig8 . the securing plate 13 may be made of a transparent material so that it may be virtually invisible when in place either in front or in back of the ear . typically , the wearer of a hearing aid may use an individual hearing aid assembly 14 in each ear . therefore , one device 10 of the present invention may be used for each hearing aid assembly 14 . the securing plates 13 for the devices 10 used with the hearing aid assemblies 14 worn on each ear may be placed on the temples 31 of the glasses 30 before the glasses are put on . once the glasses 30 are in place , the hearing aids 14 may be placed behind the ears , the two portions 34 , 35 of the attaching strips 11 may be joined and the devices 10 may maintain the security of the hearing aids 14 . the securing plate 13 of the device 10 of the present invention may also be affixed to a retaining article other than glasses 30 such as an article of jewelry . post earrings or a neck chain can be used by inserting the post or one end of the chain through the slit 26 in the securing plate 13 in the manner described above . for either of these usages the length of the filament may be somewhat greater then needed when the device 10 is affixed to the temples 31 of glasses 30 . the device 10 of the present invention may also be utilized to retain and protect an unattached ear bud that may not be a part of a more complex hearing aid assembly . if an ear bud is to be protected , the attaching strip 11 may be quite small , with just enough surface area to adhere to a smooth portion of the ear bud . the flexibility of the filament 12 and the size and shape of the securing plate 13 may insure that the device 10 causes no discomfort to the wearer . the transparency of the components of the device 10 may also insure that while worn , the device may remain inconspicuous and may not call any attention to the presence of the hearing aid . the device 10 of the present invention may be sold singly , but sets of two may be more practical since most wearers use a hearing aid in each ear . there may also be packages containing more than one set , each set having a filament of a different length so the wearer may have a choice as to the selection of a retaining article . while one embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described in detail , it is to be understood that this invention is not limited thereto and may be otherwise practiced within the scope of the following claims . | 7 |
the present invention is a variable inlet guide vane for a turbine in which a rotational axis of the airfoil is located aft of the aerodynamic center of pressure on the airfoil in order to eliminate leakage gaps at the two endwalls . this is done to articulate the turbine vane at the entrance of a low pressure turbine on an axis well aft of the aerodynamic center of pressure . the use of this aft places rotation axis in combination with large diameter end wall buttons , minimized the clearance gaps of the od and id interface of the airfoil to end walls . by placing rotation center aft of the aerodynamic center of pressure leakage gap over aft portion of airfoil is minimized . for a given leakage gap , leakage flow amount and performance loss per unit flow is larger at aft portion of turbine airfoil due to high airfoil velocities than in front portion . the rotation axis centered aft of airfoil &# 39 ; s aerodynamic center of pressure creates forces on the vane that makes the system inherently want to close , that is seen as a negative system function . the benefit of minimizing the airfoil to end wall gaps creates a performance improvement over todays state of the art ( axis forward of the center of pressure ). additional safeties on the sync ring system that is driven to articulate the vane stems would ensure that the actuator force will have full command to position the vanes at the desired angle . fig1 shows an isometric view of a variable vane with the rotation axis behind the airfoil center of pressure . fig2 show a mid - span section of the airfoils in fig1 with circle radius indicating the throat area change as the vane angle is articulated about the selected vane rotation axis . fig3 shows the outer diameter ( od ) and inner diameter ( id ) gaps between the od and id end walls that are minimized for diverging turbine flow paths with variable guide vanes articulated with axis of rotation aft of the airfoil center of pressure . fig1 shows one of the airfoils in the variable inlet guide vane 10 for a turbine where the airfoil 11 extends between an outer button 12 and an inner button 13 with an adjustment shaft 14 extending out from the outer button 12 . the two buttons 12 and 13 are relatively large diameter buttons when compared to prior art buttons . fig1 shows the airfoil in one of three positions with the open airfoil position 11 a at one extreme , the closed airfoil position 11 c at the other extreme , and the airfoil nominal position 11 b in - between . the airfoil center of rotation cr is shown as the dashed line . fig2 shows a top view of two adjacent airfoils in the turbine variable inlet guide vane assemblies with the airfoil shown in the three positions 11 a , 11 b and 11 c . the aerodynamic center of pressure cp is shown for each of the two airfoils 11 and the center or rotation cr in fig2 . as seen in fig2 , the center of rotation of the airfoil 11 is located aft of the aerodynamic center of pressure cp . as the adjacent airfoils rotate about the cr , the spacing between adjacent airfoils changes from da to dc where da is the spacing between adjacent airfoils at the 11 a position and dc is the spacing between adjacent airfoil at the 11 c position . the spacing db is the spacing between adjacent airfoils at the nominal position 11 b . the three circles in fig2 represent a circle from the trailing edge with a radius equal to the spacing between adjacent airfoils at the various three positions 11 a to 11 c . fig3 shows one of the airfoils 11 of the turbine variable inlet guide vane assemblies of the present invention with the upper button 12 and the lower button 13 at the two ends of the airfoil 11 . the center of rotation cr is located aft of the aerodynamic center of pressure cp . because the airfoil 11 ends at the two buttons 12 and 13 , as the airfoil pivots from the open airfoil position 11 a to the closed airfoil position 11 c , no gap is formed between the airfoil trailing edge region and the button . as seen in fig2 , the airfoil trailing edge ( te ) is located inward in a chordwise direction of the airfoil from the outer radius of each of the two buttons 12 and 13 . this is the structure that provides for elimination of any gaps . gaps 21 and 22 do exist in the leading edge regions of the airfoil 11 ( and the gaps change from the airfoil positions 11 a to 11 c ) because the leading edge ( le ) of the airfoil 11 is located outward in the chordwise direction of the airfoil from the outer radius of the two buttons 12 and 13 . thus , because no gap is formed then no leakage can flow across any gap . since the airfoil trailing edge height is greater than the leading edge height , and gap would be increased when the airfoil was pivoted between positions . gap leakage flow would be more critical in a turbine than in a compressor because of the hot gas temperature in the turbine . hot gas leakage causes performance loss as well as short life for the parts due to erosion and thermal stress issues . fig4 shows the airfoil 11 at the upper button 12 with the airfoil extending from the button in which no gap is formed . fig5 shows a similar structural arrangement between the airfoil and the lower button 13 . no gap formed in the lower span either . thus , as the airfoil pivots from the open to the closed position , no gaps are formed at the trailing edge regions in which leakage could flow . | 5 |
in accordance with this invention , a new class of antibodies is provided which substantially selectively reacts with clozapine and does not substantially react or cross react with n - desmethylclozapine or clozapine - n - oxide as mentioned hereinabove . it has been discovered that through the use of these derivatives of clozapine of formula iv or salts thereof as immunogens , this new class of antibodies of this invention is provided . it is through the use of these antibodies that an immunoassay , including reagents and kits for such immunoassay for detecting and / or quantifying clozapine in blood , plasma or other body fluid samples has been developed . by use of this immunoassay , the presence and amount of clozapine in body fluid samples of patients being treated this therapeutic agent can be detected and / or quantified . in this manner , a patient being treated with clozapine can be monitored during therapy and his treatment adjusted in accordance with said monitoring . by means of this invention one achieves the therapeutic drug management of clozapine in schizophrenic patients being treated with clozapine as a therapeutic agent . the therapeutic agent to be detected is clozapine of formula i . the reagents utilized in the assay of this invention are conjugates of a polymeric carrier with the compounds of formula iv . these conjugates are competitive binding partners with the clozapine present in the sample for the binding with the antibodies of this invention . therefore , the amount of conjugate reagent which binds to the antibody will be inversely proportional to the amount of clozapine in the sample . in accordance with this invention , the assay utilizes any conventional measuring means for detecting and measuring the amount of said conjugate which is bound or unbound to the antibody . through the use of said means , the amount of the bound or unbound conjugate can be determined . generally , the amount of clozapine in a sample is determined by correlating the measured amount of the bound or unbound conjugate produced by the clozapine in the sample with values of the bound or unbound conjugate determined from standard or calibration curve obtained with samples containing known amounts of clozapine , where known amounts are in the range expected for the sample to be tested . these studies for producing calibration curves are determined using the same immunoassay procedure as used for the sample . the term “ ph ” as used throughout this application designates a phenyl radical . the term “ alkylene ” designates a divalent saturated straight or branch chain hydrocarbon substituent containing from one to ten carbon atoms . the terms “ immunogen ” and “ immunogenic ” refer to substances capable of eliciting , producing , or generating an immune response in an organism . the term “ conjugate ” refers to any substance formed from the joining together of separate parts . representative conjugates in accordance with the present invention include those formed by the joining together of a small molecule , such as the compound of formula iv , and a large molecule , such as a carrier or a polyamine polymer , particularly a protein . in the conjugate the small molecule maybe joined at one or more active sites on the large molecule . the term conjugate includes the term immunogen . “ haptens ” are partial or incomplete antigens . they are protein - free substances , mostly low molecular weight substances , which are not capable of stimulating antibody formation , but which do react with antibodies . the latter are formed by coupling a hapten to a high molecular weight immunogenic carrier and then injecting this coupled product , i . e ., immunogen , into a human or animal subject . the hapten of this invention is clozapine . as used herein , a “ spacing group ” or “ spacer ” refers to a portion of a chemical structure which connects two or more substructures such as haptens , carriers , immunogens , labels , or tracers through a functional linking group . these spacer groups will be enumerated hereinafter in this application . the atoms of a spacing group and the atoms of a chain within the spacing group are themselves connected by chemical bonds . among the preferred spacers are straight or branched , saturated or unsaturated , carbon chains . theses carbon chains may also include one or more heteroatoms within the chain or at termini of the chains . by “ heteroatoms ” is meant atoms other than carbon which are chosen from the group consisting of oxygen , nitrogen and sulfur . spacing groups may also include cyclic or aromatic groups as part of the chain or as a substitution on one of the atoms in the chain . the number of atoms in the spacing group is determined by counting the atoms other than hydrogen . the number of atoms in a chain within a spacing group is determined by counting the number of atoms other than hydrogen along the shortest route between the substructures being connected . a functional linking group may be used to activate , e . g ., provide an available functional site on , a hapten or spacing group for synthesizing a conjugate of a hapten with a label or carrier or polyamine polymer . an “ immunogenic carrier ,” as the terms are used herein , is an immunogenic substance , commonly a protein , that can join at one or more positions with a hapten , in this case clozapine , thereby enabling these hapten derivatives to induce an immune response and elicit the production of antibodies that can bind specifically with these haptens . the immunogenic carriers and the linking groups will be enumerated hereinafter in this application . among the immunogenic carrier substances are included proteins , glycoproteins , complex polyamino - polysaccharides , particles , and nucleic acids that are recognized as foreign and thereby elicit an immunologic response from the host . the polyamino - polysaccharides may be prepared from polysaccharides using any of the conventional means known for this preparation . also , various protein types may be employed as a poly ( amino acid ) immunogenic carrier . these types include albumins , serum proteins , lipoproteins , etc . illustrative proteins include bovine serum albumin ( bsa ), keyhole limpet hemocyanin ( klh ), ovalbumin , bovine thyroglobulin ( btg ) etc . alternatively , synthetic poly ( amino acids ) may be utilized . immunogenic carriers can also include poly amino - polysaccharides , which are a high molecular weight polymer built up by repeated condensations of monosaccharides . examples of polysaccharides are starches , glycogen , cellulose , carbohydrate gums such as gum arabic , agar , and so forth . the polysaccharide also contains poly ( amino acid ) residues and / or lipid residues . the immunogenic carrier can also be a poly ( nucleic acid ) either alone or conjugated to one of the above mentioned poly ( amino acids ) or polysaccharides . the immunogenic carrier can also include solid particles . the particles are generally at least about 0 . 02 microns ( μm ) and not more than about 100 μm , and usually about 0 . 05 μm to 10 μm in diameter . the particle can be organic or inorganic , swellable or non - swellable , porous or non - porous , optimally of a density approximating water , generally from about 0 . 7 to 1 . 5 g / ml , and composed of material that can be transparent , partially transparent , or opaque . the particles can be biological materials such as cells and microorganisms , including non - limiting examples such as erythrocytes , leukocytes , lymphocytes , hybridomas , streptococcus , staphylococcus aureus , e . coli , and viruses . the particles can also be comprised of organic and inorganic polymers , liposomes , latex , phospholipid vesicles , or lipoproteins . “ poly ( amino acid )” or “ polypeptide ” is a polyamide formed from amino acids . poly ( amino acids ) will generally range from about 2 , 000 molecular weight , having no upper molecular weight limit , normally being less than 10 , 000 , 000 and usually not more than about 600 , 000 daltons . there will usually be different ranges , depending on whether an immunogenic carrier or an enzyme is involved . a “ peptide ” is any compound formed by the linkage of two or more amino acids by amide ( peptide ) bonds , usually a polymer of α - amino acids in which the α - amino group of each amino acid residue ( except the nh 2 terminus ) is linked to the α - carboxyl group of the next residue in a linear chain . the terms peptide , polypeptide and poly ( amino acid ) are used synonymously herein to refer to this class of compounds without restriction as to size . the largest members of this class are referred to as proteins . a “ label ,” “ detector molecule ,” or “ tracer ” is any molecule which produces , or can be induced to produce , a detectable signal . the label can be conjugated to an analyte , immunogen , antibody , or to another molecule such as a receptor or a molecule that can bind to a receptor such as a ligand , particularly a hapten . non - limiting examples of labels include radioactive isotopes , enzymes , enzyme fragments , enzyme substrates , enzyme inhibitors , coenzymes , catalysts , fluorophores , dyes , chemiluminescers , luminescers , or sensitizers ; a non - magnetic or magnetic particle , a solid support , a liposome , a ligand , or a receptor . the term “ antibody ” refers to a specific protein binding partner for an antigen and is any substance , or group of substances , which has a specific binding affinity for an antigen to the exclusion of other substances . the generic term antibody subsumes polyclonal antibodies , monoclonal antibodies and antibody fragments . the term “ derivative ” refers to a chemical compound or molecule made from a parent compound by one or more chemical reactions . the term “ carrier ” refers to solid particles and / or polymeric polymers such as immunogenic polymers such as those mentioned above . where the carrier is a solid particle , the solid particle may be bound , coated with , or otherwise attached to a polyamine polymer to provide one or more reactive sites for bonding to the terminal functional group x in the compounds of the formula iv . the term “ reagent kit ,” or “ test kit ,” refers to an assembly of materials that are used in performing an assay . the reagents can be provided in packaged combination in the same or in separate containers , depending on their cross - reactivities and stabilities , and in liquid or in lyophilized form . the amounts and proportions of reagents provided in the kit can be selected so as to provide optimum results for a particular application . a reagent kit embodying features of the present invention comprises antibodies specific for clozapine . the kit may further comprise ligands of the analyte and calibration and control materials . the reagents may remain in liquid form or may be lyophilized . the phrase “ calibration and control materials ” refers to any standard or reference material containing a known amount of a drug to be measured . the concentration of drug is calculated by comparing the results obtained for the unknown specimen with the results obtained for the standard . this is commonly done by constructing a calibration curve . the term “ biological sample ” includes , but is not limited to , any quantity of a substance from a living thing or formerly living thing . such living things include , but are not limited to , humans , mice , monkeys , rats , rabbits , horses , and other animals . such substances include , but are not limited to , blood , serum , plasma , urine , cerebral spinal fluid , cells , organs , tissues , bone , bone marrow , lymph , lymph nodes , synovial tissue , chondrocytes , synovial macrophages , endothelial cells , and skin . in an immunoassay based upon an antibody , a conjugate of clozapine is constructed to compete with the clozapine in the sample for binding sites on the antibody . in the immunoassay of this invention , the reagents of formula iv are the nitrogen substituted clozapine derivatives formed on the 1 - nitro group of clozapine of formula i . in the compounds of formula iv , the linker spacer constitutes the “ y — x ” portion of this molecule . this linker x and the spacer —“ y ” are conventional in preparing conjugates for immunoassays and immunogens for producing antibodies . any of the conventional spacer - linking groups utilized to prepare conjugates for immunoassays and immunogens for producing antibodies can be utilized in the compounds of formula iv . such conventional linkers and spacers are disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 501 , 987 and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 101 , 015 . the conjugates as well as the immunogens are prepared from the compound of the formula i . in the conjugates or immunogens of the carrier with the hapten , the carriers are linked in one or positions to one or more reactive thio amino groups contained by the polymer portion of the carrier to form the hapten which has the formula : wherein x ′ is a functional linking group and p and y are as above ; among the preferred spacer groups are included the spacer groups hereinbefore mentioned . particularly preferred spacing groups are groups such as alkylene containing from 1 to 10 carbon atoms , wherein n and o are integers from 0 to 6 , and m is an integer from 1 to 6 with alkylene being the especially preferred spacing group . in the compounds of formula v , where x ′ is a functional group linking the spacer , preferably through a reactive amine group on the polymeric carrier . the group x ′ is the result of the terminal functional group x in the compounds of formula iv binding to the reactive amino group in the polyamine polymer of the carrier or the immunogen . any terminal functional group capable of reacting with an amino group can be utilized as the functional group x in the compounds of formula iv . these terminal functional groups preferably included within x are : wherein r 3 is hydrogen or taken together with its attached oxygen atom forms a reactive ester and r 4 is oxygen or sulfur . the — n ═ c ═ r 4 , radical can be an isocyanate or as isothiocyanate . the active esters formed by — or 3 include imidoester , such as n - hydroxysuccinamide , 1 - hydroxy benzotriazole and p - nitrophenyl ester . however , any active ester which can react with an amine or thiol group can be used . the carboxylic group and the active esters are coupled to the carrier or immunogenic polymer by conventional means . the amine group on the polyamine polymer , such as a protein , produces an amide group which connects the spacer to the polymeric immunogens or carrier to form the conjugates of this invention . these compounds preferably react with the free amino group of the polymeric or immunogenic carrier . on the other hand , x in the compound of formula iv can be the maleimide radical of the formula these compounds of formula iv are reacted to attach to a polymeric protein which has been modified to convert an amino group to a thiol group . this can be done by the reacting a free amino group of a polymeric protein carrier with a compound of the formula this reaction is carried out in an aqueous medium by mixing the protein containing carrier with the compound of formula vi in an aqueous medium . in this reaction temperature and pressure are not critical and the reaction can be carried out at room temperature and atmospheric pressure . temperatures of from 10 ° c . to 25 ° c . are generally preferred . in the protein containing carrier which is reacted with the compound of formula vi , any conventional thiol protecting agent can be utilized . the thiol protecting groups are well known in the art with 2 - pyridyldthio being the preferred protecting group . by this reaction , the thiol group , sh — becomes the functional group of the carrier which bonds the compound of formula iv to the remainder of the carrier before reacting with the compound of formula iv with the thiol modified carrier , the thiol protecting group of the thiol modified carrier is removed by conventional means . any conventional means for removing a thiol protecting group can be utilized in carrying out this reaction . however , in utilizing a means to remove the thiol protecting group , care must be taken that the reactants be soluble in the aqueous medium and do not in any way destroy or harm the polyamine polymer contained in the carrier . a preferred means for removing this protecting group is by the use of dithiothreitol as an agent to reduce the resultant condensation product . this reduction can be carried out by simply adding the reducing agent to the reaction medium without utilizing higher pressures or temperatures . this reduction can be carried out at room temperature and atmospheric pressure . while the above method represents one means for converting a reactive terminal amino group on the polyamine polymeric containing carrier to a thiol group , any conventional means for carrying out this conversion can be utilized . methods for converting terminal amino groups on polyamine polymeric containing carriers to thiol groups are well known in the art and can be employed in accordance with this invention . the reaction of the polymeric polyamine containing carrier having a terminal reactive thiol group with the compound of formula iv where x is a functional group capable of binding to the terminal thiol group carried by the carrier can be carried out by conventional means . in this embodiment , the compound of formula iv where x is maleimide is reacted with the thiol group carried by the polyamine polymeric carrier . any well known means for addition of a thiol across a maleimide double bond can be utilized in producing the conjugates of formula iv which are conjugated to the carrier through a thiol bridge . in accordance with a preferred embodiment , the conjugates , which include the immunogens of the present invention , that are bonded through amide bonds , the chemical bond between the carboxyl group containing clozapine hapten and the amino groups on the carrier or immunogen can be obtained using a variety of methods known to one skilled in the art . it is frequently preferable to form amide bonds by first activating the carboxylic acid moiety x of the clozapine hapten in the compound of formula iv or their pharmaceutically acceptable salts by reacting the carboxy group with a leaving group reagent ( e . g ., n - hydroxysuccinimide , 1 - hydroxybenzotriazole , p - nitrophenol and the like ). an activating reagent such as dicyclohexylcarbodiimide , diisopropylcarbodiimide and the like can be used . the activated form of the carboxyl group in the clozapine hapten of the compound of formula iv or its pharmaceutically acceptable salts is then reacted in a buffered solution containing the protein carrier . in preparing the amino bonded conjugates where the clozapine derivative of formula iv contains a primary or secondary amino group as well as the carboxyl group , it is necessary to use an amine protecting group during the activation and coupling reactions to prevent the conjugates from reacting with themselves . typically , the amines on the clozapine derivative of formula iv are protected by forming the corresponding n - trifluoroacetamide , n - tertbutyloxycarbonyl urethane ( n - t - boc urethane ), n - carbobenzyloxy urethane or similar structure . once the coupling reaction to the immunogenic polymer or carrier has been accomplished , as described above , the amine protecting group can be removed using reagents that do not otherwise alter the structure of the immunogen or conjugate . such reagents and methods are known to one skilled in the art and include weak or strong aqueous or anhydrous acids , weak or strong aqueous or anhydrous bases , hydride - containing reagents such as sodium borohydride or sodium cyanoborohydride and catalytic hydrogenation . various methods of conjugating haptens and carriers are also disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 996 , 344 and u . s . pat . no . 4 , 016 , 146 , which are herein incorporated by reference . the carboxylic group and the active esters are coupled to the carrier or immunogenic polymer by conventional means . the amine group on the polyamine polymer , such as a protein , produces an amide group which connects the spacer to the polymer , immunogens or carrier and / or conjugates of this invention . in the immunogens and conjugates of the present invention , the chemical bonds between the carboxyl group - containing clozapine hapten and the reactive amino groups on the polyamine polymer contained by the carrier or immunogen can be established using a variety of methods known to one skilled in the art . it is frequently preferable to form amide bonds . amide bonds are formed by first activating the carboxylic acid moiety in the compounds of formula iv by reacting the carboxy group with a leaving group reagent ( e . g ., n - hydroxysuccinimide , 1 - hydroxybenzotriazole , p - nitrophenol and the like ). an activating reagent such as dicyclohexylcarbodiimide , diisopropylcarbodiimide and the like can be used . the activated form of the carboxyl group in the clozapine hapten of formula v is then reacted with a buffered solution containing the carrier with the reactive amino group . on the other hand where x is a terminal isocyanate or thioisocyanate radical in the compound of formula iv , these radicals when reacted with the free amine of a polyamine polymer produce the conjugate or immunogen of formula v where x ′ is where x , in the compounds of formula iv contains an aldehyde radical , these compounds may be connected to the free amino group of the polyamine polypeptide on the carrier through an amine linkage by reductive amination . any conventional method of condensing an aldehyde with an amine such as through reductive amination can be used to form this linkage . in this case , x ′ in the ligand portions of formula iv is — ch 2 —. the compounds of formula iv are formed by reacting clozapine of formula i with a halide of the formula : any conventional means of reacting a halide with an amine nitrogen can be utilized in condensing the compound of formula iv to the secondary amine nitrogen position on the clozapine of formula i . the use of a halide in the compound of formula iv provides an efficient means for forming such a substituted tertiary amine by condensing the halide with the secondary amine group on the compound of formula i . where the compound of formula i is in the form of its salt it is desired to convert this salt to its free base before reacting with the compound of formula iv to form the compound of formula iv . this can be carried out by conventional means such as neutralization of the salt . where the salt is a basic salt , neutralization can be accomplished in an aqueous media by addition of an acid . where the salt is an acid addition salt neutralization is accomplished in an aqueous media by addition of a base . the compound of formula iv can be converted into the immunogens and / or the conjugate reagents of this invention by reacting these compounds with a carrier containing a polyamine or a polypeptide . the same polypeptide can be utilized as the carrier and as the immunogenic polymer in the immunogen of this invention provided that polyamine or polypeptide is immunologically active . however , to form the conjugates , these polymers need not produce an immunological response as needed for the immunogens . in accordance with this invention , the various functional group represented by x ′ in the compounds of formula v can be conjugated to the carrier containing polymer with a reactive amino group by conventional means of attaching a functional group to an amino group contained within the polymer . in accordance with a preferred embodiment , in the compound of formula iv , x is a carboxylic acid group or an active ester thereof . the compounds of formula iv as either the reagent , conjugate including the immunogen prepared there from can be present or used in the immunoassay of this invention in its salt form or as a free base . the free amino group in the compound of formula iv and in the conjugate including immunogen prepared there from readily forms salts with acids preferably pharmaceutically acceptable acids any acid salt of the compound of formula iv and the conjugates including immunogen prepared there from can be used in this invention . these salts including both inorganic and organic acids such as , for example , acetic , benzenesulfonic , benzoic , camphorsulfonic , citric , ethenesulfonic , dichloroacetic , formic , fumaric , gluconic , glutamic , hippuric , hydrobromic , hydrochloric , isethionic , lactic , maleic , malic , mandelic , methanesulfonic , mucic , nitric , oxalic , pamoic , pantothenic , phosphoric , succinic , sulfuric , tartaric , oxalic , p - toluenesulfonic and the like . particularly preferred are fumaric , hydrochloric , hydrobromic , phosphoric , succinic , sulfuric and methanesulfonic acids . the present invention also relates to novel antibodies including monoclonal antibodies to clozapine produced by utilizing the aforementioned immunogens . in accordance with this invention it has been found that these antibodies produced in accordance with this invention are selectively reactive with clozapine and do not react or cross - react with clozapine - n - oxide or n - desmethyl - clozapine which interfere with immunoassays for clozapine . the ability of the antibodies of this invention not to react with n - desmethylclozapine or clozapine - n - oxide makes these antibodies provide an immunoassay for detecting the presence and / or quantifying the amount of clozapine in patient fluid samples . the present invention relates to novel antibodies and monoclonal antibodies to clozapine . the antisera of the invention can be conveniently produced by immunizing host animals with the immunogens of this invention . suitable host animals include rodents , such as , for example , mice , rats , rabbits , guinea pigs and the like , or higher mammals such as goats , sheep , horses and the like . initial doses , bleedings and booster shots can be given according to accepted protocols for eliciting immune responses in animals , e . g ., in a preferred embodiment mice received an initial dose of 100 ug immunogen / mouse , i . p . and one or more subsequent booster shots of between 50 and 100 ug immunogen / mouse over a six month period . through periodic bleeding , the blood samples of the immunized mice were observed to develop an immune response against clozapine binding utilizing conventional immunoassays . these methods provide a convenient way to screen for hosts which are producing antisera having the desired activity . the antibodies were also screened against the major metabolite of n - desmethylclozapine and clozapine - n - oxide , and showed no substantial binding to these compounds . monoclonal antibodies are produced conveniently by immunizing balb / c mice according to the above schedule followed by injecting the mice with either 100 ug immunogen i . p . or i . v . on three successive days or 400 ug immunogen i . p . or i . v . followed by 200 ug daily for the following two days starting four days prior to the cell fusion . other protocols well known in the antibody art may of course be utilized as well . the complete immunization protocol detailed herein provided an optimum protocol for serum antibody response for the antibody to clozapine or its pharmacologically active salts . b lymphocytes obtained from the spleen , peripheral blood , lymph nodes or other tissue of the host may be used as the monoclonal antibody producing cell . most preferred are b lymphocytes obtained from the spleen . hybridomas capable of generating the desired monoclonal antibodies of the invention are obtained by fusing such b lymphocytes with an immortal cell line , which is a cell line that which imparts long term tissue culture stability on the hybrid cell . in the preferred embodiment of the invention the immortal cell may be a lymphoblastoid cell or a plasmacytoma cell such as a myeloma cell , itself an antibody producing cell but also malignant . murine hybridomas which produce clozapine or its pharmacologically active salts monoclonal antibodies are formed by the fusion of mouse myeloma cells and spleen cells from mice immunized against clozapine or its pharmacologically active salts - protein conjugates . chimeric and humanized monoclonal antibodies can be produced by cloning the antibody expressing genes from the hybridoma cells and employing recombinant dna methods now well known in the art to either join the subsequence of the mouse variable region to human constant regions or to combine human framework regions with complementary determining regions ( cdr &# 39 ; s ) from a donor mouse or rat immunoglobulin . an improved method for carrying out humanization of murine monoclonal antibodies which provides antibodies of enhanced affinities is set forth in international patent application wo 92 / 11018 . polypeptide fragments comprising only a portion of the primary antibody structure may be produced , which fragments possess one or more immunoglobulin activities . these polypeptide fragments may be produced by proteolytic cleavage of intact antibodies by methods well known in the art , or by inserting stop codons at the desired locations in expression vectors containing the antibody genes using site - directed mutagenesis to produce fab fragments or ( fab ′) 2 fragments . single chain antibodies may be produced by joining vl and vh regions with a dna linker ( see huston et al ., proc . natl . acad . sci . u . s . a ., 85 : 5879 - 5883 ( 1988 ) and bird et al ., science , 242 : 423 - 426 ( 1988 )) the antibodies of this invention are selective for clozapine without having any substantial cross - reactivity with the only clozapine metabolites : n - desmethylclozapine and clozapine - n - oxide . by having no substantial cross - reactivity , it is meant that the antibodies of this invention have no reactivity or cross - reactivity relative to their reactivity with clozapine with these metabolites , particularly n - desmethylclozapine and clozapine - n - oxide of less than 5 %, preferably less than 2 %, and most preferably less than 1 %. these percentages are based upon the reactivity of these antibodies with clozapine . in accordance with this invention , the conjugates and the antibodies generated from the immunogens of these compounds of formula iv can be utilized as reagents for the determination of clozapine in patient samples . this determination is performed by means of an immunoassay . any immunoassay in which the reagent conjugates formed from the compounds of formula iv compete with the clozapine in the sample for binding sites on the antibodies generated in accordance with this invention can be utilized to determine the presence of clozapine in a patient sample . the manner for conducting such an assay for clozapine in a sample suspected of containing clozapine , comprises combining an ( a ) aqueous medium sample , ( b ) an antibody to clozapine generated in accordance with this invention and ( c ) the conjugates formed from the compounds of formula iv or mixtures thereof . the amount of clozapine in the sample can be determined by measuring the inhibition of the binding to the specific antibody of a known amount of the conjugate added to the mixture of the sample and antibody . the result of the inhibition of such binding of the known amount of conjugates by the unknown sample is compared to the results obtained in the same assay by utilizing known standard solutions of clozapine . in determining the amount of clozapine in an unknown sample , the sample , the conjugates formed from the compounds of formula iv and the antibody may be added in any order . various means can be utilized to measure the amount of conjugate formed from the compounds of formula iv bound to the antibody . one method is where binding of the conjugates to the antibody causes a decrease in the rate of rotation of a fluorophore conjugate . the amount of decrease in the rate of rotation of a fluorophore conjugate in the liquid mixture can be detected by the fluorescent polarization technique such as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 269 , 511 and u . s . pat . no . 4 , 420 , 568 . on the other hand , the antibody can be coated or absorbed on nanoparticles so that when these particles react with the clozapine conjugates formed from the compounds of formula v , these nanoparticles form an aggregate . however , when the antibody coated or absorbed nanoparticles react with the clozapine in the sample , the clozapine from the sample bound to these nanoparticles does not cause aggregation of the antibody nanoparticles . the amount of aggregation or agglutination can be measured in the assay mixture by absorbance . on the other hand , these assays can be carried out by having either the antibody or the clozapine conjugates attached to a solid support such as a microtiter plate or any other conventional solid support including solid particles . attaching antibodies and proteins to such solid particles is well known in the art . any conventional method can be utilized for carrying out such attachments . in many cases , in order to aid measurement , labels may be placed upon the antibodies , conjugates or solid particles , such as radioactive labels or enzyme labels , as aids in detecting the amount of the conjugates formed from the compounds of formula iv which is bound or unbound with the antibody . other suitable labels include chromophores , fluorophores , etc . as a matter of convenience , assay components of the present invention can be provided in a kit , a packaged combination with predetermined amounts of new reagents employed in assaying for clozapine . these reagents include the antibody of this invention , as well as , the conjugates formed from the compounds of formula v . in addition to these necessary reagents , additives such as ancillary reagents may be included , for example , stabilizers , buffers and the like . the relative amounts of the various reagents may vary widely to provide for concentrations in solution of the reagents which substantially optimize the sensitivity of the assay . reagents can be provided in solution or as a dry powder , usually lyophilized , including excipients which on dissolution will provide for a reagent solution having the appropriate concentrations for performing the assay . mscl methanesulfonyl chloride dipea n — n ′- diisopropylethylamine ch 2 cl 2 chloroform meoh methanol na 2 so 4 sodium sulfate lioh lithium hydroxide etoac ethyl acetate et 3 n triethylamine thf tetrahydrofuran tfa trifluoroacetic acid ptsa p - toluenesulfonic acid hatu o -( 7 - azabenzotriazol - 1 - yl )- n , n , n ′, n ′- tetramethyluronium hexafluorophosphate dmf dimethylformamide dmso dimethylsulfoxide s - nhs sulfo - n - hydroxy succinimide edc 1 -( 3 - dimethylaminopropyl )- 3 - ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride klh keyhole limpet hemocyaninbsa bovine serum albumin pbs phosphate buffered saline nacl sodium chloride hrp horse radish - peroxidase ans 8 - anilino - 1 - naphthalenesulfonic acid tmb 3 , 3 ′, 5 , 5 ′- tetramethylbenzidine tris tris ( hydroxymethyl ) aminomethane hydrochloride di h2o deionized water 15 . 4 mm sodium phosphate dibasic ( na 2 hpo 4 ) 4 . 6 mm sodium phosphate monobasic ( nah 2 po 4 ) ph = 7 . 2 ± 0 . 10 in the following examples , schemes 1 - 2 below set forth the specific compounds prepared and referred to by numbers in the examples . the schemes are as follows : to a solution of compound [ 1 ] ( 2 g , 6 . 12 mmol ) in toluene ( 60 ml ), pyridine ( 0 . 49 ml , 6 . 12 mmol ) was added followed by methyl adipoyl chloride ( 1 . 3 ml , 7 . 95 mmol ). the reaction mixture was heated at reflux for 3 . 5 h , cooled to ambient temperature and stirred with 10 % aq . na 2 co 3 ( 12 ml ) for 20 min . the reaction mixture was diluted with ether and washed with water . the organic phase was dried ( na 2 so 4 ), filtered and evaporated . purification by flash chromatography using ch 2 cl 2 / meoh98 : 2 to 97 : 3 containing 0 . 1 % et 3 n afforded compound [ 2 ] ( 3 . 07 g , quantitative ). to a mixture of compound [ 2 ] ( 3 . 06 g , 6 . 12 mmol ), thf ( 50 ml ), meoh ( 50 ml ) and h 2 o ( 19 ml ), lioh . h 2 o ( 1 . 8 g , 42 . 84 mmol ) was added and the reaction mixture was stirred at ambient temperature under nitrogen for 3 h , after which the tlc showed the absence of starting material . the reaction mixture was diluted with etoac and washed with 0 . 1 n hcl . the aqueous layer was re - extracted with ch 2 cl 2 ( 3 ×). the etoac and ch 2 cl 2 layers were separately washed with sat . brine , dried using anhyd . na 2 so 4 , filtered and evaporated . the combined product was triturated with ch 2 cl 2 / hexane to afford compound [ 3 ], which is 6 -[ 8 - chloro - 11 -( 4 - methyl - piperazin - 1 - yl )- dibenzo [ b , e ]-[ 1 , 4 ] diazepin - 5 - yl ]- 6 - oxo - hexanoic acid ( 2 . 50 g , 90 %). at 0 ° c ., to a mixture of compound [ 3 ], 6 -[ 8 - chloro - 11 -( 4 - methyl - piperazin - 1 - yl )- dibenzo [ b , e ]-[ 1 , 4 ] diazepin - 5 - yl ]- 6 - oxo - hexanoic acid ( 600 mg , 1 . 32 mmol ), compound [ 6 ] ( 430 mg , 1 . 45 mmol ), dipea ( 0 . 78 ml , 4 . 48 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 13 ml ), hatu ( 601 mg , 1 . 58 mmol ) was added and the reaction mixture was stirred overnight . an additional amount of hatu ( 601 mg , 1 . 58 mmol ) was added and the reaction mixture was stirred at ambient temperature for 1 day . the reaction mixture was partitioned between water and etoac , the organic layer was successively washed with 1 n hcl , sat . nahco 3 , water and sat . brine , and dried using anhyd . na 2 so 4 , filtered and evaporated . purification by chromatography using ch 2 cl 2 / meoh / et 3 n ( 93 : 7 : 0 . 1 ) afforded compound [ 7 ] ( 638 mg , 75 %). at ambient temperature , to a solution of compound [ 7 ] ( 635 mg , 0 . 986 mmol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 4 ml ), tfa ( 4 ml ) was added and the reaction mixture was stirred at ambient temperature under nitrogen for 4 h . the solvent was evaporated and co - evaporated with ch 2 cl 2 ( 2 ×) and dried under vacuum . the residue on trituration with ether afforded compound [ 8 ], which is 4 -({ 6 -[ 8 - chloro - 11 -( 4 - methyl - piperazin - 1 - yl )- dibenzo [ b , e ]-[ 1 , 4 ] diazepin - 5 - yl ] 6 - oxo - hexanoylamino }- methyl )- benzoic acid tert - butyl ester ( 563 mg , 97 %). general method for preparing s - nhs activated drug derivatives from the corresponding acids [ 3 ] & amp ; [ 8 ] in examples 3a and 3b , clozapine acid derivatives [ 3 ] & amp ; [ 8 ] were activated with edc and s - nhs to produce the s - nhs activated esters of clozapine [ 4 ] & amp ; [ 9 ] for eventual conjugation to proteins ( examples 4 and 5 ). clozapine derivative [ 3 ], example 1 , scheme 1 , ( 56 . 8 mg ) was dissolved in 5 . 68 ml of dmso to which was added s - nhs ( 66 . 56 mg ) and edc ( 58 . 58 mg ). the reaction mixture was stirred for 20 hours at ambient temperature under a nitrogen atmosphere to produce the s - nhs activated ester of clozapine [ 4 ]. the reaction mixture was used directly in examples 4 and 5a . clozapine derivative [ 8 ], example 2 , scheme 2 ( 25 . 0 mg ) was dissolved in 2 . 5 ml of dmso to which was added s - nhs ( 19 . 9 mg ) and edc ( 17 . 6 mg ). the reaction mixture was stirred for 20 hours at ambient temperature under a nitrogen atmosphere to produce the s - nhs activated ester of clozapine [ 9 ]. the reaction mixture was used directly in example 5b . a protein solution of klh was prepared by dissolving 300 mg of klh in 20 ml of phosphate buffer ( 50 mm , ph 7 . 5 ), followed by addition of 40 . 85 ml of s - nhs activated clozapine derivative [ 4 ] prepared in example 3a . the reaction mixture of klh and activated clozapine derivative [ 4 ] was allowed to stir for 20 hours at room temperature to produce the clozapine - klh conjugate [ 5 ]. the clozapine - klh conjugate [ 5 ] was then purified by dialysis against 30 % dmso in phosphate buffer ( 50 mm , ph 7 . 5 ) at room temperature . thereafter the dmso proportion was reduced stepwise : 20 %, 10 % and 0 %. the last dialysis was performed against phosphate buffer at 4 ° c . the clozapine - klh conjugate [ 5 ] was characterized by ultraviolet - visible ( uv - vis ) spectroscopy . the conjugate was diluted to a final concentration of 2 mg / ml in phosphate buffer ( 50 mm , ph 7 . 5 ). a protein solution of bsa was prepared by dissolving 1 g bsa in phosphate buffer ( 50 mm , ph 7 . 5 ) for a final concentration of 50 mg / ml . to this protein solution was added 0 . 83 ml of s - nhs activated clozapine derivative [ 4 ] prepared in example 3a . the amount of s - nhs activated clozapine derivative [ 4 ] added to the protein solution of bsa was calculated for a 1 : 1 molar ratio between the derivative of clozapine [ 4 ] and bsa . the mixture of bsa and activated clozapine derivative [ 4 ] was allowed to stir for 18 hours at room temperature to produce the conjugate of the activated clozapine ester and bsa . this conjugate was then purified by dialysis against 20 % dmso in phosphate buffer ( 50 mm , ph 7 . 5 ) at room temperature . thereafter the dmso proportion was reduced stepwise : 10 % and 0 %. the last dialysis was performed against phosphate buffer at 4 ° c . the purified clozapine - bsa [ 5 ] conjugate was characterized by uv / vis spectroscopy . a protein solution of bsa was prepared by dissolving 1 g bsa in phosphate buffer ( 50 mm , ph 7 . 5 ) for a final concentration of 50 mg / ml . to 10 . 0 ml of the protein solution of bsa while stirring on ice , was added 0 . 620 ml of s - nhs activated clozapine derivative [ 9 ] prepared in example 3b . the amount of s - nhs activated clozapine derivative [ 9 ] added to the protein solution of bsa was calculated for a 1 : 1 molar ratio between the derivative of clozapine [ 9 ] and bsa . the mixture of bsa and activated clozapine derivative [ 9 ] was allowed to stir for 18 hours at room temperature to produce the conjugate of the activated clozapine ester and bsa [ 10 ]. this conjugate was then purified by dialysis against 15 % dmso in phosphate buffer ( 50 mm , ph 7 . 5 ) at room temperature . thereafter the dmso proportion was reduced stepwise : 10 %, 5 %, and 0 %. the last dialysis was performed against phosphate buffer at 4 ° c . the purified clozapine -[ 9 ]- bsa conjugate was characterized by uv / vis spectroscopy . ten female balb / c mice were immunized i . p . with 100 μg / mouse of clozapine - klh immunogen [ 5 ], as prepared in example 4 , emulsified in complete freund &# 39 ; s adjuvant . the mice were boosted once , four weeks after the initial injection with 100 μg / mouse of the same immunogen emulsified in incomplete freund &# 39 ; s adjuvant . twenty days after the boost , test bleeds containing polyclonal antibodies from each mouse were obtained by orbital bleed . the anti - serum from these test - bleeds containing clozapine antibodies are evaluated in examples 8 and 9 . mice from example 6a that were immunized with clozapine -[ 5 ]- klh prepared in example 4 were used to produce monoclonal antibodies . for monoclonal antibodies starting three days before the fusion , the mice were injected i . p . with either 400 μg ( 3 days before fusion ), 200 μg ( 2 days before fusion ), and 200 μg ( 1 day before fusion ) or 100 μg ( 3 days before fusion ), 100 μg ( 2 days before fusion ), and 100 μg ( 1 day before fusion ) of clozapine - klh conjugate [ 5 ] in pbs / dmso prepared in example 4 . spleen cells were isolated from the selected mice and fused with 2 × 10 7 sp2 / 0 cells with 50 % polyethylene glycol 1500 according to the method of coligan , j . e . et al ., eds ., current protocols in immunology , 2 . 5 . 1 - 2 . 5 . 8 , ( 1992 ), wiley & amp ; sons , ny . the fused cells were plated on ten 96 - well plates in dmem / f12 supplemented with 20 % fetalclone i , 2 % l - glutamine ( 100 mm ) and 2 % 50 × hat . two to three weeks later , the hybridoma supernatant was assayed for the presence of anti - clozapine antibodies by elisa ( as in example 8 ). cells from the wells that gave positive elisa results ( example 8 ) were expanded to 24 well plates . clones positive by elisa were subcloned twice by limiting dilution according to the method disclosed in coligan , j . e . et al ., eds ., current protocols in immunology , 2 . 5 . 8 - 2 . 5 . 17 , 1992 , wiley & amp ; sons , ny . hybridoma culture supernatants containing monoclonal antibody from selected subclones were confirmed for clozapine binding by a competitive elisa ( example 9 ). these monoclonal antibodies were tested for clozapine binding and cross - reactivity to the major clozapine metabolites , n - desmethylclozapine and clozapine - n - oxide , by indirect competitive microtiter plate assay as described in example 9 . the elisa method for measuring clozapine concentrations was performed in polystyrene microtiter plates ( nunc maxisorp f8 immunomodules ) optimized for protein binding and containing 96 wells per plate . each well was coated with clozapine - bsa conjugate [ 5 ] ( prepared as in example 5a ) by adding 300 μl of clozapine - bsa conjugate [ 5 ] at 10 μg / ml in 0 . 05m sodium carbonate , ph 9 . 6 , and incubating for three hours at room temperature . the wells were washed with 0 . 05m sodium carbonate , ph 9 . 6 and then were blocked with 375 μl of 5 % sucrose , 0 . 2 % sodium caseinate solution for 30 minutes at room temperature . after removal of the post - coat solution the plates were dried at 37 ° c . overnight . the elisa method for measuring clozapine concentrations was performed in polystyrene microtiter plates ( nunc maxisorp f8 immunomodules ) optimized for protein binding and containing 96 wells per plate . each well was coated with clozapine - bsa conjugate [ 10 ] ( prepared as in example 5b ) by adding 300 μl of clozapine - bsa conjugate [ 10 ] at 10 μg / ml in 0 . 05m sodium carbonate , ph 9 . 6 , and incubating for three hours at room temperature . the wells were washed with 0 . 05m sodium carbonate , ph 9 . 6 and then were blocked with 375 μl of 5 % sucrose , 0 . 2 % sodium caseinate solution for 30 minutes at room temperature . after removal of the post - coat solution the plates were dried at 37 ° c . overnight . this procedure is to find the dilution of antibody to be tested for displacement as in example 9 . the elisa method for screening clozapine antibodies was performed with the microtiter plates that were sensitized with clozapine - bsa conjugate prepared in examples 7a and 7b . the antibody screening assay was performed by diluting the murine serum from test bleeds containing polyclonal clozapine antibodies to 1 : 10 , 1 : 10 , 00 and 1 : 10 , 000 ( volume / volume ) in phosphate buffered saline containing 0 . 1 % bsa and 0 . 01 % thimerosal . to each well of clozapine - bsa sensitized wells ( prepared in examples 7a and 7b ) 50 μl phosphate buffered saline containing 0 . 1 % bsa and 0 . 01 % thimerosal and 50 μl of diluted antibody were added and incubated for 10 minutes at room temperature with shaking . during this incubation antibody binds to the clozapine - bsa conjugate passively absorbed in the wells ( examples 7a and 7b ). the wells of the plates were washed three times with 0 . 02 m tris , 0 . 9 % nacl , 0 . 5 % tween - 80 and 0 . 001 % thimerosal , ph 7 . 8 to remove any unbound antibody . to detect the amount of clozapine antibody bound to the clozapine - bsa conjugate in the wells , 100 μl of a goat anti - mouse antibody — hrp enzyme conjugate ( jackson immunoresearch ) diluted to a specific activity ( approximately 1 / 3000 ) in pbs with 0 . 1 % bsa , 0 . 05 % ans , 0 . 01 % thimerosal , capable of binding specifically with murine immunoglobulins and producing a colored product when incubated with a substrate , in this example tmb , were added to each well . after an incubation of 10 minutes at room temperature with shaking , during which the goat anti - mouse antibody — hrp enzyme conjugate binds to clozapine antibodies in the wells , the plates were again washed three times to remove unbound goat anti - mouse antibody — hrp enzyme conjugate . to develop a measurable color in the wells washing was followed by the addition of 100 μl , of tmb ( tmb substrate , biofx ), the substrate for hrp , to develop color during a 10 minute incubation with shaking at room temperature . following the incubation for color development , 50 μl of stop solution ( 1 . 5 % sodium fluoride in di h 2 o ) was added to each well to stop the color development and after 20 seconds of shaking the absorbance was determined at 650 nm ( molecular devices plate reader ). the amount of antibody in a well was proportional to the absorbance measured and was expressed as the dilution ( titer ) resulting in an absorbance of 1 . 5 . titers were determined by graphing antibody dilution of the antibody measured ( x - axis ) ivs . absorbance 650 nm ( y - axis ) and interpolating the titer at an absorbance of 1 . 5 . the titer which produced absorbance of 1 . 5 determined the concentration ( dilution ) of antibody used in the indirect competitive microtiter plate assay described in example 9 . indirect competitive microtiter plate immunoassay procedure determining ic 50 and cross - reactivity for antibodies to clozapine the elisa method for determining ic 50 values and cross - reactivity was performed with the microtiter plates that were sensitized with clozapine - bsa conjugates as described in examples 7a and 7b . the analytes were diluted as follows : clozapine was serially diluted in dmso and further diluted to 1 % dmso over a concentration range of 0 . 01 to 50 ng / ml for clozapine -[ 5 ]- bsa and clozapine -[ 10 ]- bsa microtiter plates , n - desmethylclozapine was serially diluted in dmso and further diluted to 1 % dmso over a concentration range of 0 . 24 to 1 , 000 ng / ml for clozapine - bsa conjugate [ 5 ] and clozapine - bsa conjugate [ 10 ] microtiter plates , and clozapine - n - oxide was serially diluted in dmso and further diluted to 1 % dmso over a concentration range of 0 . 24 to 1 , 000 ng / ml for clozapine - bsa conjugate [ 5 ] and clozapine - bsa conjugate [ 10 ] microtiter plates . each of the assays were performed by incubating 50 μl of the analyte solution with 50 μl of one of the antibodies selected from the polyclonal antibodies produced in example 6 with the immunogen of example 4 . the assays were all performed by diluting the concentration of the antibodies in each of the wells to the titer determined in example 8 . during the 10 minute incubation ( at room temperature with shaking ) there is a competition of antibody binding for the clozapine - bsa conjugate in the well ( produced in examples 7a and 7b ) and the analyte in solution . following this incubation the wells of the plate were washed three times with 0 . 02 m tris , 0 . 9 % nacl , 0 . 5 % tween - 80 and 0 . 001 % thimerosal , ph 7 . 8 to remove any material that was not bound . to detect the amount of clozapine antibody bound to the clozapine - bsa conjugate in the wells ( produced in examples 7a and 7b ), 100 μl of a goat anti - mouse antibody — hrp enzyme conjugate ( jackson immunoresearch ) diluted to a predetermined specific activity ( approximately 1 / 3000 ) in pbs with 0 . 1 % bsa , 0 . 05 % ans , 0 . 01 % thimerosal , capable of binding specifically with murine immunoglobulins and producing a colored product when incubated with a substrate , in this example tmb , were added to each well . after an incubation of 10 minutes at room temperature with shaking , during which the goat anti - mouse antibody — hrp enzyme conjugate binds to clozapine antibodies in the wells , the plates were again washed three times to remove unbound secondary conjugate . to develop a measurable color in the wells washing was followed by the addition of 100 μl of tmb ( tmb substrate , biofx ), the substrate for hrp , to develop color in a 10 minute incubation with shaking at room temperature . following the incubation for color development , the absorbance was determined at 650 nm ( molecular devices plate reader ). the amount of antibody in a well was proportional to the absorbance measured and inversely proportional to the amount of clozapine in the sample . the ic 50 values of clozapine were determined by constructing dose - response curves with the absorbance in the wells plotted versus analyte concentration in the wells . the absorbance of the color in the wells containing analyte was compared to that with no analyte and a standard curve was generated . the ic 50 value for a given analyte was defined as the concentration of analyte that was required to have 50 % of the absorbance of the wells containing no analyte . the cross - reactivity was calculated as the ratio of the ic 50 for clozapine to the ic 50 value for either n - desmethylclozapine or clozapine - n - oxide and expressed as a percent . after screening the library of monoclonal antibodies using this method , the monoclonal antibodies were chosen . these chosen antibodies were classified according to their plate and well number as follows : 5b1 - 24 - 30 , 5h2 - 6 - 14 , 5h2 - 6 - 30 , 5g10 - 19 - 19 , 1g9 - 22 - 5 , and 20a5 - 25 - 24 . when measured , the percent cross - reactivities of these antibodies to their reactivity with clozapine for n - desmethylclozapine ( ndmc ) and clozapine - n - oxide were ≦ 2 %. the results for monoclonal antibodies to clozapine are given in tables i & amp ; ii below . as seen from these tables , the antibodies of this invention are substantially selectively reactive with the active form of clozapine and are not substantially cross - reactive with the active metabolites n - desmethylclozapine and clozapine - n - oxide . | 2 |
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