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it is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the present invention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding of the present invention , while eliminating , for purposes of clarity , other elements . those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize , however , that these and other elements may be desirable . however , because such elements are well known in the art , and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present invention , a discussion of such elements is not provided herein . as used herein , the terms “ translations ”, “ translations updates ”, or “ translations changes ” means the addition of , for example , a service , feature , or the like to a telecommunications switch by , for example , programming the service , feature , or the like into the switch . fig1 is a diagram illustrating a test call system 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention . the system 10 may be used with any telecommunications network , such as the public switched telephone network ( pstn ) 12 or an advanced intelligent network ( ain ) ( not shown ), in which translations to telecommunications switches must be changed . a terminal 14 is in communication with a translations activity database 16 . the terminal 14 may be , for example , a personal computer or any other type of computing device that is capable of performing computational and communication activities . the terminal 14 may include , for example , a modem ( not shown ) that can be used to communicate ( i . e . place calls ) with a telecommunications switch 18 . the translations activity database 16 stores recent switch translations changes or updates relating to the switch 18 . the database 16 may be any type of storage that is suitable for storing such data and may be configured as a part of the terminal 14 ( e . g . an internal disk drive ) or may be located separately from the terminal 14 . in operation and in general terms according to one embodiment of the present invention , the terminal 14 may place a call ( e . g . a test call ) following a translation change , using , for example , a modem . the translation change may have been made using , for example , the lucent mechanized translations system ( mts ). the terminal may log the results of the call so that a user may determine whether the call was successful . such a procedure may be performed , for example , prior to testing using , for example , a mechanized ama testing and validation ( matv ) service . fig2 is a diagram illustrating a process flow through the test call system 10 of fig1 according to one embodiment of the present invention . at step 30 , a translation change or changes is made using , for example , an mts system . at step 32 , the change or changes is sent to the switch 18 . at step 34 , the terminal 14 logs the translation change or changes into the database 16 . at step 36 , the terminal retrieves a translation change from the database 16 . the retrieval may be at a periodic time such as , for example , at the beginning or end of a day when all translation changes for a prior period ( e . g . the prior day ) are retrieved . at step 38 , the terminal 14 places a test call , via the switch 18 by , for example , dialing a telephone number using , for example , a modem in the terminal 14 . the test call may be used , for example , to determine if the translation change caused a problem . the test call may also be used prior to testing because mechanized testing , such as matv testing , may be relatively expensive . at step 39 , the results of the test call are logged in , for example , the database 16 or other suitable storage device in communication with or located within the terminal 14 . at step 40 , the terminal 14 determines whether the call was successful . the determination at step 40 could be made by , for example , determining whether answer supervision was returned following placement of the call . if the call was successful , at step 42 mechanized testing , such as matv testing , may be performed . the terminal 14 may create a request for matv testing and matv may then make a test call for every class of service in an office to ensure proper billing for the new translation . if the call was unsuccessful , at step 44 the reason for the call being unsuccessful is logged in , for example , the database 16 or other suitable storage device in communication with or located within the terminal 14 and a technician is alerted via , for example , the production of a work order or ticket , an electronic mail message , a wireless paging message , or an automated telephone call . the technician may then remedy the problem by , for example , undoing the translation change . in one embodiment of the present invention , the methods and modules described herein are embodied in , for example , computer software code that is coded in any suitable programming language such as , for example , visual basic , c , c ++, or microcode . such computer software code may be embodied in a computer readable medium or media such as , for example , a magnetic storage medium such as a floppy disk or an optical storage medium such as a cd - rom . while several embodiments of the invention have been described , it should be apparent , however , that various modifications , alterations and adaptations to those embodiments may occur to persons skilled in the art with the attainment of some or all of the advantages of the present invention . it is therefore intended to cover all such modifications , alterations and adaptations without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention as defined by the appended claims .	7
the following embodiments describe the preferred modes presently contemplated for carrying out the invention and are not intended to describe all possible modifications and variations consistent with the spirit and purpose of the invention . these and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description that described both the preferred and alternative embodiments of the present invention . the present invention provides a stabilized nonaqueous electrolytic solution including an aromatic phosphite compound , as well as a battery including such a nonaqueous electrolytic solution . each component of such a battery is detailed hereinbelow . phosphite stabilizers . the general chemical structure of phosphite stabilizers useful herein is represented by formula 1 . p ( oa 1 r 1 m )( oa 2 r 2 n )( oa 3 r 3 p ) formula 1 in the formula , a 1 , a 2 , and a 3 is each independently an aryl or alkyl residue , with the proviso that all three of a 1 , a 2 , and a 3 cannot be alkyl residues simultaneously , wherein each of r 1 , r 2 , and r 3 may be the same or different and is independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen , halogen , c 1 - c 20 alkyl , c 1 - c 20 substituted alkyl , phenyl and substituted phenyl , and wherein each of m , n and p is independently 0 to 5 . in a preferred embodiment , at least one of r 1 , r 2 , and r 3 further comprises a moiety selected from the group consisting of — o —, — s —, — co —, — co 2 —, — so —, — so 2 —, — nr 4 —, — nr 5 r 6 , — pr 7 —, and — si ( r 8 r 9 )—, wherein each of r 4 to r 9 is independently a hydrogen , halogen , c 1 - c 20 saturated or unsaturated alkyl or substituted alkyl , phenyl , or substituted phenyl . in a further preferred embodiment , at least one of r 4 through r 9 further comprises a moiety selected from the group consisting of — o —, — s —, — co —, — co 2 —, — so —, — so 2 —, amine , phosphorous linkage and silica linkage . non - limiting examples of aryl and substituted aryl groups include phenyl , o - tolyl , m - tolyl , p - tolyl , p - chlorophenyl , p - fluorophenyl , p - methoxyphenyl , etc . examples of alkyl groups include methyl , ethyl , n - propyl , isopropyl , n - butyl , sec - butyl , t - butyl , iso - butyl , n - hexyl , 2 - methyl hexyl , isodecyl , octadecyl , oleyl , and the like . examples of the substituted alkyl group include silylated alkyl group such as trimethylsilyl , alkoxyalkyl group such as 2 - methoxyethyl and 2 - ethoxyethyl , and halogenated alkyl group , especially fluorinated alkyl group , such as 2 - chloroethyl ( clch 2 ch 2 ), 2 - fluoroethyl ( fch 2 ch 2 ), 2 , 2 - difluoroethyl ( cf 2 hch 2 ), 2 , 2 , 2 - trifluoroethyl ( cf 3 ch 2 ), 2 , 2 , 3 , 3 , 3 - pentafluoropropyl ( cf 3 cf 2 ch 2 ), 1 , 1 , 1 , 3 , 3 , 3 - hexafluoro - 2 - propyl (( cf 3 ) 2 ch ), 2 , 2 , 3 , 3 , 4 , 4 , 4 - heptafluorobutyl ( cf 3 cf 2 cf 2 ch 2 ), and perfluoro - t - butyl (( cf 3 ) 3 c ). non - limiting examples of aromatic phosphites according to the present invention include triphenyl phosphite , tris ( o - tolyl ) phosphite , tris ( m - tolyl ) phosphite , tris ( p - tolyl ) phosphite , tris ( p - chlorophenyl ) phosphite , tris ( p - fluorophenyl ) phosphite , tris ( p - methoxyphenyl ) phosphite , dimethyl phenyl phosphite , diethyl phenyl phosphite , diphenyl methyl phosphite , tris ( 2 , 4 - di - tert - butylphenyl ) phosphite , tris ( nonylphenyl ) phosphite , bis ( 2 , 4 - di - tert - butylphenyl ) pentaerythritol diphosphite , bis ( 2 , 4 - dicumylphenyl ) pentaerythritol diphosphite . preferably , the phosphite compounds are triphenyl phosphite , tris ( p - tolyl ) phosphite , and tris ( p - fluorophenyl ) phosphite . the inventors have discovered that aromatic phosphite compounds can be used to stabilize electrolytic solutions containing halogenated lithium salts . resulting electrolytic solutions are highly stable at high temperatures and over long storage lives . salts . the salts herein are ionic salts containing at least one metal ion . typically this metal ion is lithium ( li + ). the salts herein function to transfer charge between the anode and the cathode of a battery . the lithium salts are preferably halogenated , for example , lipf 6 , libf 4 , liclo 4 , liasf 6 , litaf 6 , lialcl 4 , licf 3 so 3 , li 2 b 10 c 10 , li 2 b 10 f 10 , li 2 b 12 h x f ( 12 - x ) , libf y ( r f ) 4 - y , lipf z ( r f ) 6 - z , libf 2 [ c 2 o 4 ( ce 2 ) w ], lipf 2 [ c 2 o 4 ( ce 2 ) w ] 2 , lipf 4 [ c 2 o 4 ( ce 2 ) w ], lic ( so 2 c k f 2k + 1 )( so 2 c m f 2m + 1 )( so 2 c n f 2n + 1 ), lin ( so 2 c m f 2m + 1 )( so 2 c n f 2n + 1 ), lin ( so 2 c p f 2p so 2 ), and lic ( so 2 c p f 2p so 2 )( so 2 c q f 2q + 1 ), wherein e is h , f , or cl ; wherein r f is a perfluorinated c 1 - c 20 alkyl group or perfluorinated aromatic group ; wherein 1 ≦ k , m , n , p , q ≦ 10 ; 0 ≦ w ≦ 4 ; 0 ≦ x ≦ 12 ; 0 ≦ y ≦ 3 ; and 0 ≦ z ≦ 5 . further suitable lithium salts include chelated orthoborates and chelated orthophosphates ( collectively , hereinafter , “ ortho - salts ”). exemplary ortho - salts include lithium bis ( oxalato ) borate ( libob ), lithium bis ( malonato ) borate ( libmb ), lithium bis ( difluoromalonato ) borate ( libdfmb ), lithium ( malonato oxalato ) borate ( limob ), lithium ( difluoromalonato oxalato ) borate ( lidfmob ), lithium tris ( oxalato ) phosphate ( litop ), and lithium tris ( difluoromalonato ) phosphate ( litdfmp ). more detail on ortho - salts can be found in commonly owned copending u . s . application ser . no . 11 / 113 , 823 , filed apr . 25 , 2005 , which is incorporated by reference in its entirety . broadly , the concentration of salts in the electrolytic solution is about 0 . 01 - 2 . 5 m ( moles per liter ). preferably the total of all salts in the electrolytic solution is about 1 wt % to about 50 wt %, preferably about 3 wt % to about 35 wt % and more preferably about 5 wt % to about 25 wt %. most preferably the electrolytic solution comprises lipf 6 . solvent . the solvent is a non - aqueous , aprotic , polar organic substance which dissolves the salt at room temperature , i . e ., 25 ° c . blends of more than one solvent may be used . generally , solvents may be carbonates , carboxylates , lactones , phosphates , five or six member heterocyclic ring compounds , and organic compounds having at least one c 1 - c 4 group connected through an oxygen atom to a carbon . lactones may be methylated , ethylated and / or propylated . generally , the electrolytic solution comprises at least one salt dissolved in at least one solvent . useful solvents herein include ethylene carbonate , propylene carbonate , butylene carbonate , dimethyl carbonate , diethyl carbonate , dipropyl carbonate , dibutyl carbonate , ethyl methyl carbonate , methyl propyl carbonate , ethyl propyl carbonate , tetrahydrofuran , 2 - methyl tetrahydrofuran , 1 , 3 - dioxolane , 1 , 4 - dioxane , 1 , 2 - dimethoxyethane , 1 , 2 - diethoxyethane , 1 , 2 - dibutoxyethane , acetonitrile , dimethylformamide , methyl formate , ethyl formate , propyl formate , butyl formate , methyl acetate , ethyl acetate , propyl acetate , butyl acetate , methyl propionate , ethyl propionate , propyl propionate , butyl propionate , methyl butyrate , ethyl butyrate , propyl butyrate , butyl butyrate , γ - butyrolactone , 2 - methyl - γ - butyrolactone , 3 - methyl - γ - butyrolactone , 4 - methyl - γ - butyrolactone , β - propiolactone , δ - valerolactone , trimethyl phosphate , triethyl phosphate , tris ( 2 - chloroethyl ) phosphate , tris ( 2 , 2 , 2 - trifluoroethyl ) phosphate , tripropyl phosphate , triisopropyl phosphate , tributyl phosphate , trihexyl phosphate , triphenyl phosphate , tritolyl phosphate , and combinations thereof . other solvents may be used so long as they are non - aqueous and aprotic , and are capable of dissolving the salts . solvents commercially available under the purolytes ® name from ferro corporation , cleveland , ohio , are suitable . overall , the non - aqueous electrolytic solution comprises about 20 wt % to about 99 wt %, preferably about 50 wt % to about 97 wt % and more preferably about 70 wt % to about 95 wt % of one or more solvents . in a preferred embodiment , the solvent is selected from the group consisting of ethylene carbonate ( ec ), propylene carbonate ( pc ), dimethyl carbonate ( dmc ), ethyl methyl carbonate ( emc ), diethyl carbonate ( dec ) and combinations thereof . in another preferred embodiment , the solvent comprises about 1 - 60 wt % ec , about 1 - 99 wt % dmc , and about 1 - 99 wt % emc . in another preferred embodiment , the non - aqueous solvent comprises ec , dmc and emc in a weight ratio of 1 : 1 : 1 . cathode . the cathode comprises a lithium metal oxide compound . in particular , the cathode comprises at least one lithium mixed metal oxide ( mmo ). lithium mmos contain at least one other metal selected from the group consisting of mn , co , cr , fe , ni , v , and combinations thereof . for example the following lithium mmos may be used in the cathode : limno 2 , limn 2 o 4 , licoo 2 , li 2 cr 2 o 7 , li 2 cro 4 , linio 2 , lifeo 2 , lini z co 1 - z o 2 ( 0 & lt ; z & lt ; 1 ), lifepo 4 , livpo 4 , limn 0 . 5 ni 0 . 5 o 2 , limn x ni y co z o 2 wherein 0 & lt ; x , y , z & lt ; 1 , lini r co s me t o 2 wherein me may be one or more of a 1 , mg , ti , b , ga , or si and 0 & lt ; r , s , t & lt ; 1 , and limc 0 . 5 mn 1 . 5 o 4 wherein mc is a divalent metal , and mixtures thereof . anode . the anode may comprise carbon or compounds of lithium . the carbon may be in the form of graphite . lithium metal anodes may be used . lithium mixed metal oxides ( mmos ) such as limno 2 and li 4 ti 5 o 12 are also envisioned . alloys of lithium with transition or other metals ( including metalloids ) may be used , including lial , lizn , li 3 bi , li 3 cd , li 3 sd , li 4 si , li 4 . 4 pb , li 4 . 4 sn , lic 6 , li 3 fen 2 , li 2 . 6 cu 0 . 4 n , and combinations thereof . the anode may further comprise an additional material such as a metal oxide including sno , sno 2 , geo , geo 2 , in 2 o , in 2 o 3 , pbo , pbo 2 , pb 2 o 3 , pb 3 o 4 , ag 2 o , ago , ag 2 o 3 , sb 2 o 3 , sb 2 o 4 , sb 2 o 5 , sio , zno , coo , nio , feo , and combinations thereof . either the anode or the cathode , or both , may further comprise a polymeric binder . in a preferred embodiment , the binder may be polyvinylidene fluoride , styrene - butadiene rubber , polyamide or melamine resin , or combinations thereof . the electrolytic solution in the present invention may further comprise one or more additives , such as a vinyl compound ( e . g . vinylene carbonate , vinyl ethylene carbonate ) to help generate a stable solid electrolyte interface at the surface of the graphite anode so as to increase the cycle life characteristic of the battery ; or a sultone ( e . g ., 1 , 3 - propane sultone , and 1 , 4 - butane sultone ) to prevent or to reduce gas generation of the electrolytic solution as the battery is charged and discharged at temperatures higher than ambient temperature , and / or an aromatic compound ( e . g ., biphenyl and cyclohexylbenzene ) to prevent overcharge of the battery . it is envisioned that the electrolytic solutions and batteries discussed herein have a wide range of applications , including , without limitation , radios , televisions , calculators , wrist watches , hearing aids , electronics such as computers , cell phones , games , and transportation applications such as battery powered and / or hybrid vehicles . the following compositions represent exemplary embodiments of the invention . they are presented to explain the invention in more detail , and do not limit the invention . example 1 . ethylene carbonate , dimethyl carbonate and ethyl methyl carbonate were mixed in a weight ratio of 1 : 1 : 1 to prepare a nonaqueous organic solvent mixture . 1 . 0m lipf 6 was added into the above solvent mixture . then triphenyl phosphite was added into the electrolytic solution in an amount of 5 . 0 % by weight to give example 1 . the electrolytic solution was stored in an oven of 80 ° c . for one month and the color of the electrolyte was 19 apha ( ptco ), compared with 21 apha of the electrolyte before storage , by hach dr / 2010 portable datalogging spectrophotometer at λ = 455 nm . as is known in the art , apha is a single number yellowness index where each apha unit is based on a dilution of a 500 ppm stock solution of ptco . distilled water has an apha value of zero . the stock solution has an apha value of 500 . a detailed description of solution preparation and measurement procedures may be found in astm designation d1209 , “ standard test method for color of clear liquids ( platinum - cobalt scale ).” example 2 was prepared identically to example 1 , except that 3 . 0 wt % of triphenyl phosphite was used . the electrolytic solution was stored in an 80 ° c . oven for one month and the color of the electrolyte was 5 apha , compared with an initial color of 23 apha before storage . example 3 was prepared identically to example 1 , except that 1 . 0 wt % of triphenyl phosphite was used . the electrolytic solution was stored in a 65 ° c . oven for one month and the color of the electrolyte was 10 apha , compared with an initial color of 22 apha before storage . example 4 was prepared identically to example 1 , except that 0 . 5 wt % of triphenyl phosphite was used . the electrolytic solution was stored in a 50 ° c . oven for two months and the final color of the solution was only 2 apha , compared with an initial color of 10 apha before storage . example 5 was prepared identically to example 1 , except that 0 . 1 wt % of triphenyl phosphite was used . the electrolytic solution was stored in a 50 ° c . oven for two months and the final color of the solution was 14 apha , compared with an initial color of 17 apha before storage . example 6 . into the electrolytic solution of example 4 was added 2 . 0 % wt vinylene carbonate , to give example 6 . the color of the electrolyte after storage at 50 ° c . for two months was 14 apha , same as the color of the electrolyte before storage . comparative example 1 . ethylene carbonate , dimethyl carbonate and ethyl methyl carbonate were mixed in a weight ratio of 1 : 1 : 1 to prepare a nonaqueous organic solvent mixture . 1 . 0m lipf 6 was added to the solvent mixture to give an electrolytic solution . the final color of the electrolytic solution after storage at 50 ° c . for 2 weeks was 69 apha compared with an initial color of 23 apha before storage . comparative example 2 . into the electrolytic solution of comparative example 1 was added 2 . 0 % wt vinylene carbonate to give comparative example 2 . the final color of the electrolyte after storage at 50 ° c . for one week was 214 apha , compared with an initial color of 12 apha before storage . ( 2 ) preparation of a cathode . a positive electrode slurry was prepared by dispersing licoo 2 ( positive electrode active material , 90 wt %), poly ( vinylidenefluoride ) ( pvdf , binder , 5 wt %), and acetylene black ( electro - conductive agent , 5 wt %) into 1 - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidone ( nmp ). the slurry was coated on aluminum foil , dried , and compressed to give a cathode . the cathode was die - cut into discs by a punch with a diameter of 14 . 3 mm . ( 3 ) preparation of an anode . artificial graphite ( as negative electrode active material , 95 wt %) and pvdf ( as binder , 5 wt %) were mixed into nmp to give a negative active material slurry which was coated on copper foil , dried , and pressed to give a negative electrode . the anode electrode was die - cut into discs by a punch with a diameter of 15 . 9 mm . ( 4 ) assembly of a lithium ion secondary battery . in a dry box under an argon atmosphere , a lithium ion secondary battery was assembled using a 2032 type coin cell . that is , a cathode was placed on a cathode can , and a microporous polypropylene film ( 25 μm thickness and 19 . 1 mm diameter ) was placed thereon as a separator . it was pressed with a polypropylene gasket , and then an anode was placed . a stainless steel spacer and spring were placed thereon to adjust thickness and to make a good contact . an electrolytic solution from each of examples 1 - 4 and comparative example 1 was added to separate batteries and allowed to absorb . finally , an anode cover was mounted thereon to seal the batteries by a crimper , thus completing the assembly of the coin type lithium ion secondary batteries . ( 5 ) testing of the batteries . evaluation of the aforementioned assembled batteries was carried out in the order ( a ) initial charging and discharging ( confirmation of capacity ) and ( b ) life cycle test . a . capacity confirmation . initial charging and discharging of the aforementioned assembled batteries were performed according to the constant current / voltage charging and constant current discharging method in a room temperature atmosphere . the battery was first charged up to 4 . 2 volts ( v ) at a constant current rate of 0 . 5 ma / cm 2 ( milliamps per square centimeter ). after reaching 4 . 2 v , the battery was continually charged at a constant voltage of 4 . 2 v until the charging current reached 0 . 1 ma or less . then the battery was discharged at a constant current rate of 0 . 5 ma / cm 2 until the cut - off voltage 3 . 0 v was reached . standard capacity of a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery was 4 . 2 mah ( milliamp hours ). b . life cycle test . life cycle testing was conducted over 50 cycles at room temperature by charging the aforementioned initially charged / discharged batteries at a constant current rate of c / 2 ( 2 . 1 ma ) to 4 . 2 v and then charged at a constant voltage of 4 . 2 v until the current reached 0 . 1 ma or less . after that the battery was discharged at a constant current rate of c / 2 ( 2 . 1 ma ) until the cut - off voltage 3 . 0 v reached . discharge capacity retention rate of cycle life (%)=( n th cycle discharge capacity / 1 st cycle discharge capacity )× 100 %. first cycle efficiency is ( 1 st cycle discharge capacity / 1 st cycle charge capacity )× 100 %. table 1 displays the results of the life cycle testing . it is also seen from table 1 that when the aromatic phosphite such as triphenyl phosphite was added to electrolytic solutions in an amount of 3 wt % or less , the cell performance such as discharge capacity and capacity retention of the electrolytic solutions was improved or similar compared with the control solution . cell performance suffered when 5 wt % of the aromatic phosphite was used . 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 illustrative example shown and described herein . accordingly , various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general invention concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents .	8
fig1 shows a pressure tight vessel 1 of cylindrical shape made of reinforced concrete installed centrally inside a cylindrical safety vessel ( not shown ) likewise made of reinforced concrete . pressure vessel 1 encloses a nuclear reactor 2 together with the primary circuit which is comprised of three thermodynamic circuits coupled to the nuclear reactor 2 . each circuit comprises a tubrine , a compressor , a recuperator and a cooler , as will be described in further detail below . also installed inside the safety vessel 1 are all active gas - carrying auxiliary components , as well as the devices required for completion of primary circuit components . the nuclear reactor 2 , which is installed in cavity 3 , is a graphite modified , helium - cooled high temperature reactor having fuel elements which are either ball - shaped or block - shaped . beneath the floor of the reactor 4 is a hot gas collection chamber 4 which receives the hot gas released by the reactor core . above the reactor core 2 is a cold gas collection chamber 5 which accumulates cold gas returning from the main circuit before it re - enters the core . reactor 2 is connected to the three primary circuits by three radially placed outlet pipes 6 and an equal number of inlet pipes 7 . each of the pipes 6 and 7 are housed in open areas in the reinforced concrete vessel 1 . perpendicularly under the high temperature reactor 2 and at a distance adequate to assure positive shielding three horizontal open areas preferably referred to as pods 8 are built inside the concrete housing 1 . these pods are built in a star - shaped or radial pattern and converge at the vertical central axis of the vessel 1 . other patterns may advantageously permit a more compact arrangement within the pressure vessel . inside each pod a single - phase gas turbine 9 is installed on a common shaft with compressor 10 . each turbine 9 is coupled to a generator ( not shown ), mounted inside the safety vessel . above each turbine extends a vertical gas transport conduit directly connected with the horizontal pod 8 at its lower end and the reactor inlet pipes 7 . additional open areas are utilized in the concrete pressure vessel for housing pipes or conduits connecting the various components of the thermodynamic circuits . gas transport pods 12 house hot gas pipes 13 . each of the hot gas pipes connect one of the reactor &# 39 ; s outlet pipes 6 with one of the gas turbines 9 . in the upper section of the reinforced concrete pressure vessel 1 three horizontal conduits 18 are provided to convey the gas from the recuperator to the cooler in each loop . an additional gas duct 19 connects each turbine 9 with a recuperator 16 of the same circuit . the conduit , as well as the vertical and horizontal cavities and reactor cavity , are lined with gas tight steel liners ( not shown ) which are heat insulated and cooled by water . the presence of the metal liners in the conduits and cavities under less pressure and stressing calls for an arrangement according to the present invention wherein areas of higher stress can be selectively protected . in fig2 a portion of a reinforced concrete pressure vessel 32 is shown equiped with a wall passage 35 . several wall passages and other open areas are present ( but not illustrated ) serving a variety of purposes , for example , the installation of reactor components , the introduction of measuring instruments or as conduits for the passage of cooling media . the liners 34 of the wall passages 35 are joined by welding with the liner 31 at the connections 41 . in order to relieve the stress on these locations during expansion of the liner 31 , materials 33 are provided which prevent direct contact between the concrete structure and the liner and allow the partially independent deformation of the concrete structure and the liner . the other end of the wall passages 35 are be designed advantaeously so that a hollow expansion space 43 is formed between the passage liner 34 and the reinforced concrete pressure vessel 32 . the hollow expansion space is bounded by steel inserts 36 . the cooling tubes 37 are equipped on the same principle with the hollow expansion spaces which may be filled with insert elements 33d . it is the function of the fastening anchors 38 , 38a and 45 to insure the permanent , intimate joining of the liner 31 with the reinforced concrete pressure vessel 32 . conventional anchors 45 , shown for the sake of comparison in fig2 are surrounded continuously by reinforced concrete and permit only very slight relative movements between the liner and the reinforced concrete . these anchors may be exposed to very high stresses that under certain conditions may exceed their permissible magnitude . anchors 38 and 38a according to the invention are protected against these high stresses by the expansion spaces 33a and 33b . according to the invention , locations 40 where the anchors join the concrete and steel liner are surrounded in part by elastic or plastic material 33 . this permits the fastening anchors 38 and 38a to adequately adapt themselves to the stresses without being overloaded or damaged . the fastening anchors 38a which encounter stresses predominantly in a single direction only , may be provided correspondingly in a partial area of the joint location 40 only with an elastic or plastic material 33b . in order to avoid stresses concentrations at the angle locations 39 of the liner 31 , a corresponding expansion space between the liner 31 and the reinforced concrete pressure vessel 32 is also filled with an elastic or plastic material 33c . numerous additional embodiments will become apparent to the artisan and are encompassed by the invention .	8
fig1 is a schematic depicting an interactive voicemail system which generally comprises a voicemail platform 100 which includes a processor 102 and data storage 104 including memory containing machine readable instructions which are executed by the processor 102 . the voicemail platform 100 communicates through a switch 106 with a ptsn , voip or ip cloud 108 of the type well known in the art . voicemails originate from a telemarketer generally characterized by the reference numeral 110 . the telemarketer has access to or otherwise includes an application server 112 which comprises a processor 114 and data storage 116 . the functions of these elements will be explained in more detail below . the application server 112 communicates with cloud 108 through an appropriate interface . the application server 112 initiates calls to the voicemail platform as will also be described in further detail below . for the purpose of description , the application server 112 is referred to as the “ sender ” herein . a targeted caller or “ recipient ” 118 can access the voicemail platform 100 through standard wireline access 120 via an end office 122 , wireless access 124 or internet protocol ( ip ) access 126 , all of which are coupled to cloud 108 in a conventional manner . for ease of description , the following discussion will refer to communications between the recipient 118 and the voicemail platform 100 as standard telephone calls . however , it is to be understood that telephone is meant to be any wireless or wireline device that communicates with cloud 108 through audio and / or video means . referring now to fig2 , there is depicted an exemplary flowchart of a process whereby a telemarketer 110 leaves an interactive voicemail for a recipient 118 . at step 200 , the application server generates an interactive voicemail for a recipient 118 or a group of recipients ( not shown ). for the purpose of illustration , only a single recipient 118 is shown and described . the interactive voicemail may be retrieved from data storage 116 if it were previously created , or generated by the processor 114 through an appropriate computer interface to an operator . by “ interactive ,” it is meant anything that will require a prospective recipient to reply in some way to the voicemail . for example , the interactive voicemail might comprise a questionnaire for the recipient to respond to , a series of options for the recipient to request more information in response to the voicemail , an opportunity to decline additional information , or the like . at step 202 , the application server ( sender ) 112 calls into the voicemail platform 100 , such as , for example , dialing a telephone to place an inbound call into the voicemail platform 100 . the voicemail platform 100 receives the call and the application server 112 will be prompted to enter the telephone number of the recipient at step 204 . the voicemail platform 100 will then allow the sender 112 to record an interactive voicemail in the data storage 104 of the voicemail platform 100 at step 206 . it is assumed that the sender has a subscription agreement with the voicemail platform 100 that enables it to deposit such voicemail messages as described in the foregoing . referring now to fig3 , there is depicted an exemplary flowchart of a first process whereby a recipient receives an interactive voicemail from the voicemail platform 100 . in step 300 , the recipient calls into the voicemail platform 100 to check his or her voice messages . here , it is assumed that the recipient is a subscriber to a voicemail system encompassing the voicemail platform 100 . at step 302 , the voicemail platform 100 performs user authentication and verification to determine if the recipient is a subscriber to the voicemail system . if the recipient is verified at step 304 , control then jumps to step 306 where the voice platform 100 determines whether there are voicemails in the voice mailbox of the recipient . if there are voicemails in the recipient &# 39 ; s mailbox , the voicemail platform checks at step 308 whether there are any interactive voicemails in the voice mailbox of the recipient . if there are no interactive voice messages but there are regular voice messages in the recipient &# 39 ; s voice mailbox , control then goes to step 310 where the regular voicemails are played in a conventional manner . if there are interactive voice messages in the recipient &# 39 ; s mailbox , then control goes to step 312 and an interactive voicemail session is initiated , an example of which is described in more detail below . referring now to fig4 , there is depicted an alternative embodiment of the process depicted in fig3 , where a non - subscriber to the voicemail platform 100 is contacted by the voicemail platform 100 . in step 400 , the voicemail platform 100 initiates an outbound call to the recipient 118 . the recipient &# 39 ; s phone number was previously specified by the application server 112 when it deposited an interactive voicemail message in the voicemail platform 100 . at step 402 , the voicemail platform 100 plays the interactive voicemail to the recipient . if the recipient agrees to participate at step 404 , the voicemail platform starts an interactive session at step 406 . this process continues until the voicemail platform determines that there are no outstanding responses to be elicited from the recipient at step 408 . although this is similar to receiving a direct call from a telemarketer , the presence of an interactive voicemail message in lieu of a live caller may make it more likely that an intended recipient will be receptive to listen to the telemarketer &# 39 ; s pitch . in order to provide the interactive voicemail function , there are two exemplary applications . in the first , the voicemail platform 100 connects to the application server 112 and the application server maintains a session with the voicemail platform to provide the interactive functionality . in this connection , the voicemail platform may send a setup message to the application server in order to set up a media and command stream of the type well known in the art . it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that common voice over ip ( voip ) protocols can be utilized . when the application server 112 releases the call , the voicemail platform 100 would continue the process independently . in another expedient , the interactive voicemail itself consists of messages and prompts encoded in a syntax that is understood by the voicemail platform 100 . an exemplary pseudo - code may take the following form : play_message (“ welcome . would you like to take a survey ?”); collect_speech ( response ); if ( response =“ yes ”) then administer_survey ( ); elseplay_message (“ good bye ”); endifexit ( ) it is anticipated that many different forms could be utilized within the scope of the invention . fig5 is an exemplary flowchart of an interactive session in accordance with an aspect of the present invention where a recipient is presented with an interactive voicemail that provides the opportunity to take a survey . at step 500 , the voicemail platform 100 plays an interactive voicemail message to the recipient , such as , for example , “ welcome . would you like to take a survey ?” at step 502 , the voicemail platform 100 receives a response from the recipient as to whether the recipient wishes to participate or decline . if the answer is in the affirmative at step 504 , the voicemail platform 100 will administer the survey in an interactive session at step 506 . if the recipient declines to take part in the survey , the voicemail platform 100 plays a “ goodbye ” message at step 508 . the voicemail platform maintains an interactive session with the recipient until the recipient has indicated that he or she has completed the survey at step 510 . the exemplary survey application is intended to be merely illustrative of many types of interactive sessions that can be established in accordance with the invention . for example , the interactive session could be a questionnaire of any type , or could include a plurality of advertisements for the recipient . an insurance company could leave a voicemail with a prompt for a recipient to hit “ 1 ” for more information . an information provider could provide advertisements to a recipient on a periodic basis , track the number of messages that the recipient listens to , and then compensate that recipient for the time spent listening to the advertisements . this methodology is an improvement over standard telemarketing as such voicemails can be deposited into a recipient &# 39 ; s voice mailbox without ever ringing the recipient &# 39 ; s telephone . it is further anticipated that a message waiting indicator can be set to either notify the recipient of these special messages , or to provide notification of non - interactive messages only . the present invention has been shown and described in what are considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments . it is anticipated , however , that departures may be made therefrom and that obvious modifications will be implemented by those skilled in the art . it will be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous arrangements and variations which , although not explicitly shown or described herein , embody the principles of the invention and are within their spirit and scope .	7
the following detailed description , the accompanying drawings and the above - set - forth brief description of the drawings are intended to describe some , but not necessarily all , examples or embodiments of the invention . the contents of this detailed description , the accompanying drawings and the above - set - forth brief description of the drawings do not limit the scope of the invention in any way . a number of the drawings in this patent application show anatomical structures of the ear , nose and throat . in general , these anatomical structures are labeled with the following reference letters : nasal cavity nc nasopharynx np frontal sinus fs frontal sinus ostium fso ethmoid sinus es ethmoid air cells eac sphenoid sinus ss sphenoid sinus ostium sso maxillary sinus ms maxillary sinus ostium mso mucocyst mc eustachian tube et cochlea c tympanic cavity tc middle turbinate mt inferior turbinate it uncinate un fig1 shows a schematic diagram of the general working environment of an example of a system for catheter - based minimally invasive sinus surgery being used to perform a sinus surgery on a human patient . the human patient is treated by a working device 10 . working device 10 may be connected to one or more auxiliary devices located on a treatment tray 12 . a c - arm fluoroscope 14 provides fluoroscopic visualization of anatomical regions during the procedure . an instrument console 16 comprising one or more functional modules 18 may also be present . examples of functional modules that can be used with the invention are : 1 . suction pump for delivering a controlled amount of negative pressure or vacuum to a suction device , 2 . irrigation pump to deliver saline , antibiotic solution or other suitable irrigation medium , 3 . power module to supply power to drills or other electrical devices , 4 . storage modules for storing instruments , medications etc ., 5 . energy delivery module to provide radiofrequency , laser , ultrasound or other therapeutic energy to a surgical device , 6 . fluoroscope , mri , ct , video , endoscope or camera or other imaging modules to connect or interact with devices used during various diagnostic or therapeutic procedures , 7 . display module e . g . a lcd , crt or holographic screen to display data from various modules such as an endoscope , fluoroscope or other data or imaging module , 8 . remote control module to enable an operator to control one or more parameters of one or more functional modules 18 , 9 . programmable microprocessor that can store one or more operation settings for one or more functional modules 18 etc ., and 10 . stabilization device for holding various apparatuses during the procedure which may include a stabilization arm , table , clip , intranasal or extranasal inflatable support or robotically controlled apparatus , 11 . rotary drive module for rotating rotatable device such as a drill or auger ( e . g ., a motor having a rotation drive shaft or drive cable attached thereto . one or more functional modules 18 may be connected to the working device 10 . instrument console module 16 can be controlled by console control means 20 , e . g . a foot pedal controller , a remote controller etc . instrument console 16 may be fitted with wheels to enable an operator to change the position of the instrument console 16 in an operating area . in one embodiment , instrument console module 16 and c - arm fluoroscope 14 are integrated in a single unit . fig1 a shows a magnified view of region 1 a of fig1 showing a system for catheter - based minimally invasive sinus surgery of a human patient . in fig1 a , a balloon catheter is used as an example of working device 10 . working device 10 has attachments for a variety of auxiliary devices such as a balloon inflation syringe 22 , a guidewire 24 and a suction or irrigation tube 26 . working device 10 and the auxiliary devices may be detachably attached to treatment tray 12 . treatment tray 12 may comprise one or more treatment tray controllers 28 to control one or more treatment parameters . treatment tray 12 may comprise one or more storage modules to store devices used during a surgery e . g . irrigation bottles , swabs etc . fig1 b shows a perspective view of a treatment tray for catheter - based minimally invasive sinus surgery of a human patient . treatment tray 12 comprises one or more device holders 30 to detachably hold devices during the surgery . in one embodiment , device holders 30 are detachably attached to device holder slots 32 on treatment tray 12 . thus the position of device holders 30 on treatment tray 12 can be changed by removing a device holder 30 from a device holder slot 32 and transferring to a new device holder slot 32 . fig2 a shows a portion of a stabilizing device 100 comprising a stabilizing member 102 . stabilizing member 102 comprises a lumen through which working device 10 can be introduced . in this example , stabilizing member 102 is located in a nostril . alternatively , stabilizing member 102 may be located in other suitable regions of the head e . g . the nasal passages . stabilizing member 102 may be oriented to stabilizing device 100 in a variety of orientations . also , the stabilizing member can be used to stabilize more than one working device . fig2 b - 2d show various alternate embodiments of stabilizing member 102 of fig2 a . fig2 b shows an embodiment of a radially symmetrical stabilizing member 104 , wherein the axis 106 of stabilizing member 104 is substantially parallel to the axis 110 of stabilizing device 100 . fig2 c shows an embodiment of a radially symmetrical stabilizing member 112 . the axis 114 of stabilizing member 112 is substantially non - parallel to the axis 116 of stabilizing device 100 . fig2 d shows an embodiment of a stabilizing member 118 , wherein stabilizing member 118 comprises two lumens enclosing a first stabilizing device 120 and a second stabilizing device 122 . suitable materials that can be used for constructing the stabilizing members are : foam materials such as polyurethane foam , polyvinyl chloride foam , thermal - reactive foam ™ etc ., inflatable members such as compliant or non - compliant balloons , moldable materials such as silicone rubber or wax , metals such as stainless steel or super - elastic or shape memory metals such as nitinol thermoplastic elastomers such as block copolymers e . g . styrene - butadiene - styrene ( sbs ) rubber or ionomers etc . fig2 e - 2g show perspective views of various embodiments of inflatable occluding devices . fig2 e shows a partial view of an occluding device 124 comprising an inflatable occluding member 126 . inflatable occluding member 126 may be made of compliant materials e . g . silicone rubber , or non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate ( pet ). inflatable occluding member 126 can be inflated through an inflation port 127 located on the occluding device 124 . occluding device 124 can have one or more device insertion ports . the device insertion ports can be used to insert a variety of diagnostic or therapeutic devices such as endoscopes , guidewires , catheters etc . in this example , occluding device 124 has a first device insertion port 128 and a second device insertion port 130 . the device insertion ports may comprise one or more flush ports . in this example , occluding device 124 comprises a first flush port 132 located on first device insertion port 128 and a second flush port 134 located on second device insertion port 130 . such an occluding device may be used for occluding one or two nostrils to provide a gas - tight or liquid - tight seal against the nostril or to stabilize devices that are passed through the device insertion ports on the occluding device . the inflatable occluding member may be made of variety of shapes . fig2 f shows an occluding device 136 comprising an inflatable occluding member 138 of an elongated shape wherein the diameter of the inflatable occluding member 138 tapers along the length of occluding device 136 . inflatable occluding member 138 may also be spherical , disk shaped , cylindrical , conical etc . the inflatable occluding member may comprise a variety of surface features . for example , fig2 g shows an occluding device 140 comprising an inflatable occluding member 142 . inflatable occluding member comprises a series or parallel circular ribs on its surface . other surface features such as coatings ( e . g . friction increasing coatings , abrasion resisting coatings , puncture resisting coatings , conductive coatings , radiopaque coatings , echogenic coatings , thrombogenicity reducing coatings and drug releasing coatings etc . ), braids , grooves etc . may also be present on inflatable occluding member 142 . fig3 a - 3 d ′ show embodiments of stabilizing members comprising an adhesive element . fig3 a shows front view of an embodiment of a stabilizing member 200 comprising a pair of upper wings 202 and a pair of lower wings 204 . in this embodiment , upper wings 202 are larger than lower wings 204 . stabilizing member 200 further comprises one or more orifices 206 through which one or more working devices can be introduced . stabilizing member 200 is made of a light weight , flexible material that conforms to the contours of the patient &# 39 ; s body . examples of such materials are woven and non - woven fabrics , plastic films ( e . g . polyvinylchloride films , polypropylene films etc . ), cellulose , paper etc . stabilizing member 200 may have a porous structure for increased transmission of water vapor produced in perspiration from the skin under stabilizing member 200 . one surface of stabilizing member 200 is coated with an adhesive to enable stabilizing member 200 to adhere to a surface on a patient &# 39 ; s body . a non - allergenic adhesive is used to minimize skin irritation . examples of such adhesives are non - allergenic pressure - sensitive adhesives such as silicone pressure sensitive adhesives , rubber pressure sensitive adhesives and acrylic or hydrogel pressure sensitive adhesives . stabilization member 200 may also be lubricated with a silicone or other biocompatible lubricant at the orifice to allow easier introduction and removal of devices . stabilizing member 200 may be used to stabilize one or more working devices . fig3 b shows a front view of stabilizing member 200 of fig3 a with two working devices : a first working device 208 and a second working device 210 . fig3 c shows a front view of the stabilizing member 200 of fig3 a with a single working device 212 . fig3 d shows a side view of stabilizing member 200 of fig3 a attached to a patient &# 39 ; s body . upper wings 202 are attached on the nose of the patient . lower wings 204 are attached above the upper lip of the patient . a working device 10 is introduced through the orifice 206 into the patient &# 39 ; s nose . fig3 d ′ shows a front view of stabilizing member 200 of fig3 a attached to a patient &# 39 ; s body . fig4 a and 4b show perspective views of an occluding device in deflated and inflated states respectively . occluding device 300 comprises a shaft 302 and an inflatable balloon 304 located on distal region of shaft 302 . shaft 302 has a diameter d . sub . 1 and inflatable balloon 304 has a diameter d . sub . 2 in the deflated state , wherein d . sub . 2 is greater then d . sub . 1 . inflatable balloon 304 can be made of compliant materials e . g . polyurethane , silicone etc . or non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate etc . inflatable balloon 304 can be inflated through balloon inflation port 306 located on proximal region of occluding device 300 . the inflated diameter d . sub . 3 of the inflatable balloon is greater than d . sub . 2 and is particularly suitable for occluding the nasopharynx . occluding device 300 further comprises a series of aspiration ports 308 located proximal to inflatable balloon 304 . aspiration ports 308 are connected to an aspiration lumen 310 to aspirate contents proximal to inflatable balloon 304 . any diagnostic or therapeutic device disclosed herein may comprise one or more malleable regions . for example , fig5 shows a perspective view of a guide catheter comprising a plastically deformable ( malleable ) region . guide catheter 400 comprises a shaft 402 comprising a malleable region 404 located on distal region of shaft 402 . shaft 402 may comprise stiffening elements e . g . a braid , hypotube etc . malleable region 404 may comprise malleable metallic tubes , rods ( e . g . rods embedded in shaft 402 etc . ), wires etc . examples of metals that can be used for constructing malleable region 404 are malleable stainless steel , fully annealed stainless steel , copper , aluminum etc . guide catheter 400 further comprises a threaded luer 406 located on proximal end of shaft 402 . in this example , malleable region 404 is located on distal end of guide catheter 400 . malleable region 404 can also be located on proximal region or any other intermediate region on shaft 402 . shaft 402 may also comprise more than one malleable regions . such a design comprising one or more malleable regions can be used for any of the devices mentioned herein such as catheters with working elements , guide catheters , guide catheters with a pre - set shape , steerable guide catheters , steerable catheters , guidewires , guidewires with a pre - set shape , steerable guidewires , ports , introducers , sheaths or other diagnostic or therapeutic devices . fig6 shows a perspective view of a guide catheter comprising a lubricious layer . guide catheter 500 comprises a shaft 502 comprising a threaded luer 504 located on the proximal end of the shaft 502 . fig6 a shows a crossectional view of the guide catheter of fig6 through the plane 6 a - 6 a . shaft 502 comprises a braid 506 embedded in the shaft . shaft 502 further comprises a lubricious layer 508 located on the inner surface of shaft 502 . lubricious layer 508 may be made of suitable materials such as teflon liners , teflon coatings or teflon sheaths . such a design comprising one or more lubricious layers can be used for any of the devices mentioned herein such as catheters with working elements , guide catheters , guide catheters with a pre - set shape , steerable guide catheters , steerable catheters , guidewires , guidewires with a pre - set shape , steerable guidewires , ports , introducers , sheaths or other diagnostic or therapeutic devices . fig7 shows perspective view of an embodiment of a guide catheter comprising a straight hypotube . guide catheter 600 comprises a tubular element 602 and a hypotube 604 attached to the external surface of tubular element 602 . suitable materials for constructing hypotube 604 are stainless steel 304 , nitinol etc . in one embodiment , hypotube 604 is annealed to the external surface of tubular element 602 . tubular element 602 can be made from a variety of materials including pebax , hdpe etc . tubular element 602 may comprise a braid or a jacket . in an embodiment , tubular element 602 comprises a lubricious coating 605 on its inner surface . the lubricious coating 605 can be made of suitable lubricious materials such as teflon . in an embodiment , tubular element 602 comprises a bent or angled region near the distal end of tubular element 602 . the bent or angled region may enclose an angle from 0 degrees to 180 degrees . further this bent or angled region may be further bent out of plane to present a compound three - dimension end shape . hypotube 604 can be malleable or substantially stiff . a malleable hypotube can be used in situations where the guide catheter 600 has to be bent or distorted to optimize its shape to conform to a patient &# 39 ; s anatomy . examples of materials that can be used to make a malleable hypotube are malleable stainless steel , fully annealed stainless steel , copper , aluminum etc . a substantially stiff hypotube can be used in situations where extra support is needed for introduction or removal or devices through guide catheter 600 . examples of materials that can be used to make a substantially stiff hypotube are stainless steel 304 , nitinol etc . hypotube 604 may be bent to a two - dimensional or three - dimensional shape . distal tip of tubular element 602 may comprise a radio - opaque marker 606 e . g . a standard radio - opaque marker band . the proximal region of tubular element 602 comprises a threaded luer . fig7 a shows a crossectional view of guide catheter 600 of fig7 through plane 7 a - 7 a . the crossection of guide catheter 600 shows an outer hypotube 604 enclosing a tubular member 602 which in turn comprises a lubricious coating 605 located on the inner surface of tubular member 602 . fig8 shows a perspective view of a second embodiment of a guide catheter comprising a straight hypotube . guide catheter 700 comprises a hypotube 702 . proximal end of hypotube 702 may comprise a threaded luer 704 . hypotube 702 encloses a tubular liner 706 that protrudes from the distal end of hypotube 702 . suitable materials for constructing tubular liner 706 are ptfe , nylon , peek etc . distal region of tubular liner 706 is covered with a tubular element 708 . tubular element 708 may be constructed of suitable materials such as pebax , hdpe , nylon etc . and may comprise a braid . proximal end of tubular element 708 may be bonded to distal end of hypotube 702 or may overlap distal region of hypotube 702 . in one embodiment , distal region of tubular element 708 comprises a bent or angled region . in another embodiment , stiffness of tubular element 708 varies along the length of tubular element 708 . tubular element 708 may comprise a radio - opaque marker band 710 near distal end of tubular element 708 . fig8 a shows a crossectional view of guide catheter 700 of fig8 through plane 8 a - 8 a showing hypotube 702 and tubular liner 706 . fig8 b shows a crossectional view of guide catheter 700 of fig8 through plane 8 b - 8 b showing tubular element 708 and tubular liner 706 . the hypotubes disclosed above may be malleable or non - malleable . they may also comprise one or more bent or angled regions . for example , fig8 c shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a guide catheter comprising a curved or bent hypotube to facilitate access to the frontal sinuses . guide catheter 712 comprises a hypotube 714 comprising a threaded luer 716 at the proximal end of hypotube 714 . hypotube 714 may comprise one or more bent or angled regions . in this embodiment , the bent or angled region encloses an angle ranging from 60 degrees to 180 degrees . hypotube 714 may be malleable or non - malleable . in this example , hypotube 714 encloses a tubular element 718 . tubular element 718 may be constructed of suitable materials such as pebax , hdpe etc . the distal region of tubular element 718 comprises a bent or angled region . in this embodiment , the bent or angled region encloses an angle ranging from 60 degrees to 170 degrees to facilitate access to the frontal sinuses using guide catheter 712 . distal region of tubular element 718 may comprise a radio - opaque marker 720 . fig8 d shows a perspective view of a second embodiment of a guide catheter comprising a curved or bent hypotube to facilitate access to the sphenoid sinuses . the catheter construction is similar to the catheter in fig8 c except the bent or angled region of hypotube 714 encloses an angle ranging from 90 degrees to 180 degrees and the bent or angled region of tubular element 718 encloses an angle ranging from 120 degrees to 180 degrees . fig8 e shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a guide catheter comprising two bent or angled or curved regions to facilitate access to the maxillary sinuses . guide catheter 740 comprises a tubular element 742 comprising a threaded luer 744 at the proximal end of tubular element 742 . tubular element 742 further comprises a proximal bent , curved or angled region 746 enclosing an angle ranging from 90 degrees to 180 degrees and a distal bent , curved or angled region 748 enclosing an angle ranging from 90 degrees to 180 degrees . tubular element 742 can be constructed from a variety of biocompatible materials such as pebax , hdpe , nylon , peek etc . and may comprise a braid . the inner surface of tubular element 742 may comprise a lubricious layer e . g . a teflon layer . a curved region 750 is attached to the distal end of tubular element 742 . curved region 750 may enclose an angle ranging from 75 degrees to 180 degrees . the stiffness of curved region 750 is more than the stiffness of tubular element 742 so that there is no significant change to the shape of curved region 750 during the operation of guide catheter 740 . the distal end of curved region 750 comprises a soft , atraumatic tip 752 . the distal end of curved region 750 may also comprise a radioopaque marker . guide catheter 740 may be further bent out of plane to present a compound three - dimension end shape . fig8 f shows a perspective view of a second embodiment of a guide catheter comprising two bent or angled or curved regions and a hypotube to facilitate access to the maxillary sinuses . the construction of guide catheter 754 is similar to guide catheter 740 in fig8 e except that guide catheter 754 further comprises a hypotube 756 on the outer surface of the proximal region of guide catheter 754 . fig8 g shows a coronal section of the paranasal anatomy showing a method of accessing a maxillary sinus ostium using guide catheter 754 of fig8 f . guide catheter 754 is introduced through a nostril and advanced in the paranasal anatomy such that atraumatic tip 752 is located inside or adjacent to a maxillary sinus ostium mso . proximal bent , curved or angled region 746 allows guide catheter 754 to be positioned around the inferior turbinate it . similarly , distal bent , curved or angled region 748 allows guide catheter 754 to be positioned around the middle turbinate mt . a guidewire or a suitable diagnostic or therapeutic device may then be introduced through the lumen of guide catheter 754 into the maxillary sinus ms . fig8 h shows a sagittal section of the paranasal anatomy showing the method of fig8 g to access a maxillary sinus ostium using guide catheter 754 of fig8 f . fig8 i shows a perspective view of an example of a guide catheter comprising a common proximal portion and a plurality of detachable distal tips . distal end of common proximal portion 760 attaches to proximal end of a first detachable tip 762 by an attachment mechanism . first detachable tip 762 comprises an angled , curved or bent region enclosing an angle of 80 - 110 degrees suitable for access to the frontal and ethmoid sinuses . similarly , distal end of common proximal portion 760 attaches to proximal end of a second detachable tip 764 by an attachment mechanism . second detachable tip comprises two angled , curved or bent regions enclosing angles of 80 - 110 degrees and 80 - 110 degrees respectively . such a design is suitable for access to the maxillary sinuses . examples of attachment mechanisms are screw mechanisms , snap fitting mechanisms , slide fit mechanisms etc . distal end of first detachable tip 762 and second detachable tip 764 may comprise a radioopaque marker such as a radioopaque band . such a design comprising detachable distal regions can be used in a variety of diagnostic or therapeutic devices discloses herein . it can be used for easy access to one or more anatomical regions in the ear , nose , throat or mouth by using multiple detachable distal tips , wherein each detachable tip is optimized for access to a particular anatomical region . fig9 shows a perspective view of a set of devices to dilate or modify ostia or other openings in the ear , nose , throat or mouth structures . guide catheter 800 comprises a shaft 802 comprising a threaded luer 804 at proximal end of shaft 802 . distal end of shaft 802 comprises a radio - opaque marker band mb to enable the physician to identify the tip of shaft 802 in a fluoroscopic image . the distal end of shaft 802 may be substantially straight or may comprise one or more bent or angled regions . one or more distance markings dm may also be located on the shaft 802 . an optional subselective catheter 806 may also be present in the set of devices . subselective catheter 806 comprises a shaft 808 comprising a threaded luer 810 at the proximal end of shaft 808 . inner diameter of shaft 808 is smaller than inner diameter of shaft 802 . distal end of the shaft 808 comprises a radio - opaque marker band mb to enable the physician to identify the tip of shaft 808 in a fluoroscopic image . distal end of shaft 808 may be substantially straight or may comprise one or more bent or angled regions . one or more distance markings dm may also be located on the shaft 808 . working device 812 comprises a shaft 814 comprising a working element 816 located on distal region of shaft 814 and a threaded luer 818 located on proximal end of shaft 814 . in this example , the working element 816 is a dilating balloon . other examples of working elements include dilating stents , suction or irrigation devices , needles , polypectomy tools , brushes , brushes , energy emitting devices such as ablation devices , laser devices , image - guided devices containing sensors or transmitters , endoscopes , tissue modifying devices such as cutters , biopsy devices , devices for injecting diagnostic or therapeutic agents , drug delivery devices such as substance eluting devices , substance delivery implants etc . the distal end of shaft 814 may be substantially straight or may comprise a bent or angled region . one or more distance markings dm may also be located on shaft 814 . the set of devices further comprises a guidewire 820 . guidewire 820 may be substantially straight or may comprise a bent or angled region . one or more distance markings dm may also be located on guidewire 820 . in one embodiment of a method using the abovementioned set of devices , guide catheter 800 is introduced into a patient &# 39 ; s body so that distal end of guide catheter 800 is in the vicinity of an anatomical opening ( e . g . an ostium ) of an anatomical region ( e . g . a paranasal sinus ). thereafter , guidewire 820 is introduced through guide catheter 800 into the anatomical region e . g . the paranasal sinus . if necessary , guide catheter 800 may be removed and the smaller subselective catheter 806 may be introduced over guide wire 820 into the paranasal sinus . thereafter , working device 812 is introduced over guidewire 820 into the paranasal sinus and a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure is performed by working device 812 . in another embodiment of a method using the abovementioned set of devices , subselective catheter 806 is introduced into a patient &# 39 ; s body so that distal end of subselective catheter 806 is in the vicinity of an anatomical opening ( e . g . an ostium ) of an anatomical region ( e . g . a paranasal sinus ). thereafter , guidewire 820 is introduced through subselective catheter 806 into the anatomical region e . g . the paranasal sinus . thereafter , subselective catheter 806 is removed . larger guide catheter 800 is then introduced over guide wire 820 . working device 812 is then introduced over guidewire 820 into the paranasal sinus and a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure is performed by working device 812 . this method embodiment enables a user to introduce larger working device 812 in the anatomical region . fig1 shows a perspective view of a probing device . the probing device 900 comprises a probing element 902 and a detachable handle 904 . probing element 902 comprises an atraumatic tip 906 located on the distal end of probing element 902 . in one embodiment , atraumatic tip 906 is spherical . probing element 902 can be made from a variety of biocompatible materials such as metals ( e . g . stainless steel , titanium , nitinol etc .) or polymers ( e . g . pebax , polyethylene etc .). probing element 902 may be rigid or flexible or malleable . in the embodiment shown in fig1 , the distal region of the probing element 902 is malleable . this enables a physician to adjust probing device 900 for a patient &# 39 ; s unique anatomy . probing element 902 may comprise one or more curved or angled regions . length of probing element 902 can range from 10 centimeters to 30 centimeters . detachable handle can be attached to the probing element 902 by a variety of attachment mechanisms including screw arrangement , clipping mechanism etc . the tip of the probing element may further be modified to include a marker , sensor or transmitter capable of being tracked using one or more imaging modalities , such as x - ray , electromagnetic , radio - frequency , ultrasound , radiation , optics , and / or similar modalities . fig1 a - 10c show various steps of a method of using the probing device shown in fig1 to access an anatomical region . in fig1 a , probing device 900 is advanced in to a patient &# 39 ; s frontal sinus ostium through the nasal cavity . atraumatic tip 906 prevents the probing device 900 from perforating and damaging healthy tissues . thereafter , in fig1 b , detachable handle 904 is detached from probing element 902 . thereafter , in fig1 c , a working device 908 e . g . a catheter is advanced over the probing element 902 into the patient &# 39 ; s frontal sinus ostium . working device 908 can then be used to perform a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure or introduce other devices . in this example , probing device 900 was used to access the patient &# 39 ; s frontal sinus ostium . other anatomical locations in the patient &# 39 ; s body e . g . ostia of other paranasal sinuses , ostia of lachrymal ducts , regions in the eustachian tube , ducts of salvary glands , etc . may be accessed by similar methods . it is also possible that working device 908 may be preloaded over probing element 902 and maintained in a retracted position relative to the probing element until distal portion of the probing element 902 is introduced into a desired location . further , multiple working devices may be inserted within working device 908 or over working device 908 once it is properly positioned . fig1 a shows a perspective view of a first embodiment of a dual balloon catheter that can be used to perform a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure . catheter 1000 comprises a catheter shaft 1002 and a proximal balloon 1004 and a distal balloon 1006 located on catheter shaft 1002 . a variety of diagnostic or therapeutic modules may be located in the inter - balloon region 1008 located between proximal balloon 1004 and distal balloon 1006 . examples of such diagnostic or therapeutic modules are dilating or occluding balloons , dilating stents , suction or irrigation devices , needles , polypectomy tools , energy emitting devices like ablation devices , laser devices , image - guided devices containing sensors or transmitters , imaging devices , endoscopes , tissue modifying devices like cutters , biopsy devices , devices for injecting diagnostic or therapeutic agents , lavage devices , drug delivery devices such as substance eluting devices , substance delivery implants etc . etc . a catheter hub 1010 is located on the proximal end of catheter shaft 1002 . catheter hub 1010 comprises a balloon inflation port 1012 that can be used to inflate both proximal balloon 1004 and distal balloon 1006 . fig1 b shows a perspective view of a second embodiment of a dual balloon catheter that can be used to perform a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure . the catheter 1014 shown in this embodiment further comprises a second balloon inflation port 1016 . balloon inflation port 1012 is used to inflate proximal balloon 1004 and second balloon inflation port 1016 is used to inflate distal balloon 1006 . in one embodiment of a method using catheter 1014 , distal balloon 1006 is inflated before proximal balloon 1004 . fig1 c - 11e show perspective views of third , fourth and fifth embodiments respectively of dual balloon catheters for dilating an anatomical region . in fig1 c , catheter 1020 comprises a catheter shaft 1022 comprising a catheter hub 1024 at the proximal end of catheter shaft 1022 . the distal region of catheter shaft 1022 comprises a proximal balloon 1026 and a distal balloon 1028 . proximal balloon 1026 and distal balloon 1028 can be made from compliant or non - compliant materials . catheter shaft 1022 further comprises a dilating balloon 1030 located between proximal balloon 1026 and distal balloon 1028 . dilating balloon 1030 is constructed from suitable non - compliant materials such as polyethylene terephthalate etc . the balloons are inflated through three balloon inflation ports located on catheter hub 1024 . a first balloon inflation port 1032 is used to inflate proximal balloon 1026 , a second balloon inflation port 1034 is used to inflate distal balloon 1028 and a third balloon inflation port 1036 is used to inflate dilating balloon 1030 . fig1 d shows a perspective view of catheter 1020 in fig1 c further comprising a stent 1038 disposed on dilating balloon 1030 . several types of stent designs can be used to construct stent 1038 such as metallic tube designs , polymeric tube designs , chain - linked designs , spiral designs , rolled sheet designs , single wire designs etc . these designs may have an open celled or closed celled structure . a variety of fabrication methods can be used for fabricating stent 1038 including but not limited to laser cutting a metal or polymer element , welding metal elements etc . a variety of materials can be used for fabricating stent 1038 including but not limited to metals , polymers , foam type materials , plastically deformable materials , super elastic materials etc . some non - limiting examples of materials that can be used to construct stent 1038 are nitinol , stainless steel , titanium , polyurethane , gelfilm , polyethylene and silicones e . g . silastic . a variety of features can be added to stent 1038 including but not limited to radiopaque coatings , drug elution mechanisms etc . fig1 e shows a perspective view of catheter 1020 in fig1 c wherein proximal balloon 1026 and distal balloon 1028 are conical . dual balloon catheters may also be used to deploy self - expanding stents at a target anatomical region . fig1 f - 11j show the various steps of a method of dilating an anatomical region using the catheter of fig1 d . in fig1 f , catheter 1020 is introduced into an anatomical region to be dilated . in one embodiment , catheter 1020 is introduced over a guidewire 1040 . in fig1 g , distal balloon 1028 is inflated through second balloon inflation port 1034 . thereafter , catheter 1020 is pulled in the proximal direction till distal balloon 1028 gets lodged in the anatomical region to be dilated . thereafter in fig1 h , proximal balloon 1026 is inflated through first balloon inflation port 1032 . this enables catheter 1020 to be securely lodged in the anatomical region to be dilated . thereafter in fig1 i , dilating balloon 1030 is inflated through third balloon inflation port 1036 . inflated dilation balloon 1030 exerts an outward force on the anatomical region and causes it to dilate . this step also deploys stent 1038 . thereafter in fig1 j , proximal balloon 1026 , distal balloon 1028 and dilating balloon 1030 are deflated and catheter 1020 is removed by pulling catheter 1020 in the proximal direction . fig1 a - 12c show the various steps of a method of deploying a stent in the ear , nose , throat or mouth using a working catheter comprising a locating mechanism . in this example , the locating mechanism is a locator balloon . a working device 1100 is provided that comprises a locator balloon 1104 and a stent 1106 located on a stent deploying balloon 1108 located on a catheter shaft 1110 . locator balloon 1104 is located on the distal region of the catheter shaft 1110 and stent 1106 is located proximal to the locator balloon 1104 . in fig1 a , the working device 1100 is inserted into an anatomical region through an anatomical opening 1111 such that the locator balloon 1104 is located distal to anatomical opening 1111 . examples of the anatomical region are paranasal sinuses , eustachian tubes , lachrymal ducts and other structures in the ear , nose , throat or mouth etc . examples of anatomical opening 1111 are ostia of paranasal sinuses , ostia of lachrymal ducts etc . in fig1 b , locator balloon 1104 is inflated . the inflated diameter of the locater balloon is greater than the diameter of the anatomical opening . working device 1100 is then pulled in the proximal direction such that locator balloon 1104 presses against the anatomical opening 1111 . this enables stent 1106 to be positioned accurately in a desired location relative to anatomical opening 1111 . in fig1 c , stent deploying balloon 1108 is inflated to deploy stent 1106 . thereafter , stent deploying balloon 1108 and locator balloon 1104 are deflated and the working device 1100 is removed by pulling it out in the proximal direction . similar working catheters comprising locating mechanisms can also be used to deploy self - expanding stents . in this example , the locating mechanism was a locator balloon . other examples of locating device are deployable elements such as wire meshes , radially projecting wires , deployable devices located on guidewires ( e . g . balloons , wire meshes etc . ), devices deployed on pull - elements ( e . g . radially expandable elements etc .) etc . fig1 d - 12h show the various steps of a method of dilating an anatomical opening in the ear , nose , throat or mouth using a combination of a dilating device and an anchoring device . in this example , the dilating device is a dilating balloon catheter and the anchoring device is an anchoring balloon catheter . in fig1 d , an anchoring balloon catheter 1120 comprising a catheter shaft 1122 and an anchoring balloon 1124 is inserted over a guidewire gw into an anatomical opening . in one embodiment , shaft 1122 of anchoring balloon catheter 1120 is coated with a lubricious coating such as teflon . in this example the anatomical opening is the sphenoid sinus ostium sso of a sphenoid sinus ss . in fig1 e , anchoring balloon 1124 is inflated . the inflated diameter of anchoring balloon 1124 is greater than the diameter of the anatomical opening . thereafter , anchoring balloon catheter 1120 is pulled in the proximal direction so that anchoring balloon 1124 is anchored in the anatomical opening . in fig1 f , a dilating balloon catheter 1126 comprising a shaft 1128 and a dilating balloon 1130 is advanced in the proximal direction over shaft 1122 of anchoring balloon catheter 1120 . dilating balloon catheter 1126 is advanced till the distal portion of dilating balloon catheter 1126 touches anchoring balloon 1124 . this design accurately positions dilating balloon 1130 in a target location in the anatomical opening . thereafter , in fig1 g , dilating balloon 1130 is inflated to dilate the anatomical opening . thereafter , in fig1 h , the dilating balloon 1130 and anchoring balloon 1124 are deflated and dilating balloon catheter 1126 and anchoring balloon catheter 1120 are withdrawn from the anatomical opening by pulling them in the proximal direction . dilating balloon 1130 can be made of suitable non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate etc . anchoring balloon 1124 can be made of suitable compliant materials e . g . polyurethane , silicone etc . or non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate etc . examples of anchoring devices are catheters comprising balloons , deployable elements such as wire meshes , radially projecting wires ; deployable devices located on guidewires ( e . g . balloons , wire meshes etc . ); devices deployed on pull - elements ( e . g . radially expandable elements etc .) etc . such a combination of an anchoring device and a working device inserted along the anchoring device can be used for a variety of other methods and devices disclosed herein for treating anatomical openings such as ostia of paranasal sinuses , ostia of lachrymal ducts , ducts of salvary glands , eustachian tubes and other ear , nose , throat or mouth structures etc . fig1 shows a perspective view of a dilating device comprising an electrode element to reduce restenosis . dilating device 1200 comprises a shaft 1202 and a dilating element 1204 located on the distal region of shaft 1202 . examples of dilating elements are non - compliant dilating balloons , mechanically expandable elements etc . dilating device 1200 further comprises an electrode element 1206 located on dilating element 1204 . electrode element 1206 in combination with one or more surface electrodes attached to a surface of a patient &# 39 ; s body delivers electrical energy to an anatomical region to be dilated . the electrical energy causes a controlled destruction of the adjacent anatomical region thereby reducing the risk to restenosis of the dilated region . electrode element 1206 may have a variety of configurations including meshes , wires wound in a spiral configuration , wires wound in a sinusoidal configuration etc . electrode element 1206 can be constructed from a variety of biocompatible metallic materials such as platinum - iridium alloys ( e . g . 90 % platinum / 10 % iridium ) etc . dilating device 1200 may further comprise an insulating layer between electrode element 1206 and dilating element 1204 . in one embodiment , electrode element 1206 is located on a sheath that can be advanced over dilating device 1200 such that electrode element 1206 is located above dilating element 1204 . fig1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a balloon catheter comprising a sizing balloon and a dilating balloon . a portion of the sizing balloon has been removed to show the dilating balloon underneath the sizing balloon . balloon catheter 1300 comprises a shaft 1302 and a dilating balloon 1304 located on distal region of shaft 1302 . dilating balloon 1304 can be made of suitable non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate , nylon etc . dilating balloon 1304 is inflated through a first balloon inflation opening 1305 . balloon catheter 1300 further comprises a sizing balloon 1306 located around dilating balloon 1304 . sizing balloon 1306 is made from a compliant or semi - compliant material such as crosslinked polyethylene or other polyolefins , polyurethane , flexible polyvinylchloride , nylon etc . sizing balloon 1306 is inflated through a second balloon inflation opening 1307 . dilating balloon 1304 and sizing balloon 1306 enclose an inter - balloon volume 1308 . fig1 a shows a crossection of the balloon catheter in fig1 through plane 14 a - 14 a . shaft 1302 comprises a guidewire lumen 1310 , a first inflation lumen 1312 that terminates distally in first balloon inflation opening 1305 of fig1 , and a second inflation lumen 1314 that terminates distally in second balloon inflation opening 1307 of fig1 . fig1 b - 14d show the various steps of dilating an anatomical opening using the balloon catheter in fig1 . in fig1 b , balloon catheter 1300 is introduced over a guidewire gw into an anatomical opening 1316 to be dilated . examples of the types of anatomical openings 1316 that may be dilated by this invention include ostia of paranasal sinuses , eustachian tubes , ostia of lachrymal ducts , etc . thereafter , in fig1 c , sizing balloon 1306 is inflated using an imageable inflating medium . examples of suitable imageable inflating media are saline with a radioopaque contrast agent , carbon dioxide gas etc . distal region of balloon catheter 1300 is subsequently imaged using a suitable imaging modality such as fluoroscopy or x - rays . this enables an operator to accurately estimate the size of anatomical opening 1316 . such a balloon catheter is also suited for estimating the diameter of the narrowest region in a tubular anatomical region e . g . a eustachian tube prior to performing a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure such as balloon dilation . on the basis of information obtained during step 14 c , balloon catheter 1300 may be repositioned and step 14 c repeated if necessary . thereafter , in step 14 d , sizing balloon 1306 is deflated . also in step 14 d , dilating balloon 1304 is inflated to dilate a target region in anatomical opening 1316 . thereafter , dilating balloon 1304 is deflated and balloon catheter 1300 is withdrawn from anatomical opening 1316 . in one embodiment , sizing balloon 1306 may be reinflated after a balloon dilation procedure to obtain feedback about the performance of the balloon dilation procedure . fig1 shows a perspective view of a balloon catheter 1400 for delivering diagnostic or therapeutic agents . this balloon catheter 1400 comprises a catheter shaft 1402 which may be flexible , malleable or rigid , and a dilating balloon 1404 located on the distal region of shaft 1402 . dilating balloon 1404 can be made of any suitable compliant or non - compliant materials ( e . g . polyethylene terephthalate etc .). an outer balloon or sheath 1406 covers the dilating balloon 1404 , as shown in the cut - away view of fig1 . sheath 1406 can be made of suitable non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate etc . or compliant or semi - compliant materials such as crosslinked polyethylene or other polyolefins , polyurethane , flexible polyvinylchloride , nylon etc . sheath 1406 comprises one or more pores 1408 through which diagnostic or therapeutic agents can be delivered to the surrounding anatomy . pores 1408 may have a pore size ranging from sub - micron to a few microns . dilating balloon 1404 is inflated by a balloon inflation lumen 1410 . the diagnostic or therapeutic agents can be delivered to the region between sheath 1406 and dilating balloon 1404 by an agent delivery lumen 1412 . in this particular embodiment , sheath 1406 is attached to shaft 1402 . fig1 a shows a crossection through the plane 15 a - 15 a of fig1 showing shaft 1402 comprising balloon inflation lumen 1410 , agent delivery lumen 1412 and a guidewire lumen 1414 . fig1 shows a perspective view of a balloon catheter comprising one or more agent delivery reservoirs . balloon catheter 1500 comprises a shaft 1502 and a balloon 1504 located on the distal region of shaft 1502 . balloon 1504 may be made from suitable compliant or semi - compliant material such as crosslinked polyethylene or other polyolefins , polyurethane , flexible polyvinylchloride , nylon , etc ., or from non - compliant materials such as polyurethane , etc . balloon catheter 1500 further comprises one or more agent delivery reservoirs 1506 located on balloon 1504 . agent delivery reservoirs 1506 contain one or more diagnostic or therapeutic agents absorbed in a matrix . examples of diagnostic or therapeutic agents are contrast agents , pharmaceutically acceptable salt or dosage form of an antimicrobial agent ( e . g ., antibiotic , antiviral , anti - parasitic , antifungal , etc . ), a corticosteroid or other anti - inflammatory ( e . g ., an nsaid ), a decongestant ( e . g ., vasoconstrictor ), a mucous thinning agent ( e . g ., an expectorant or mucolytic ), an anesthetic agent with or without vasoconstrictor ( e . g ., xylocaine with or without epinephrine , tetracaine with or without epinephrine ), an analgesic agent , an agent that prevents of modifies an allergic response ( e . g ., an antihistamine , cytokine inhibitor , leucotriene inhibitor , ige inhibitor , immunomodulator ), an allergen or another substance that causes secretion of mucous by tissues , anti - proliferative agents , hemostatic agents to stop bleeding , cytotoxic agents e . g . alcohol , biological agents such as protein molecules , stem cells , genes or gene therapy preparations etc . when balloon 1504 is inflated to dilate an anatomical region , it exerts pressure on agent delivery reservoirs 1506 . this pressure squeezes out the one or more diagnostic or therapeutic agents absorbed in the matrix and causes them to be released into the anatomical region . in one embodiment , agent delivery reservoirs 1506 comprise diagnostic or therapeutic agents absorbed in a porous matrix formed of a porous material such as a flexible or rigid polymer foam , cotton wadding , gauze , etc . examples of biodegradable polymers that may be foamed or otherwise rendered porous include polyglycolide , poly - l - lactide , poly - d - lactide , poly ( amino acids ), polydioxanone , polycaprolactone , polygluconate , polylactic acid - polyethylene oxide copolymers , modified cellulose , collagen , polyorthoesters , polyhydroxybutyrate , polyanhydride , polyphosphoester , poly ( alpha - hydroxy acid ) and combinations thereof . examples of non - biodegradable polymers that may be foamed or otherwise rendered porous include polyurethane , polycarbonate , silicone elastomers etc . fig1 a shows a crossection view through plane 16 a - 16 a of fig1 showing shaft 1502 comprising a balloon inflation lumen 1508 and a guidewire lumen 1510 . fig1 shows a perspective view of a balloon catheter comprising a balloon comprising one or more micropores or openings . balloon catheter 1600 comprises a shaft 1602 comprising a dilating balloon 1604 located on the distal region of shaft 1602 . dilating balloon 1604 can be made of suitable non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate etc . dilating balloon 1604 comprises one or more micropores 1606 of a pore size ranging from submicron ( e . g . 0 . 5 micron ) to a few microns . micropores 1606 can be formed on material of dilating balloon 1604 by various processes including mechanical punching , mechanical drilling , irradiation e . g . directing a laser beam or an ion or electron beam at the balloon material etc . dilating balloon 1604 is inflated using an inflating medium comprising one or more diagnostic or therapeutic agents to be delivered to a target anatomical region such as ostia of paranasal sinuses , ostia of lachrymal ducts , ducts of salvary glands , eustachian tubes etc . examples of diagnostic or therapeutic agents are contrast agents , pharmaceutically acceptable salt or dosage form of an antimicrobial agent ( e . g ., antibiotic , antiviral , anti - parasitic , antifungal , etc . ), an anesthetic agent , an analgesic agent , a corticosteroid or other anti - inflammatory ( e . g ., an nsaid ), a decongestant ( e . g ., vasoconstrictor ), a mucous thinning agent ( e . g ., an expectorant or mucolytic ), an agent that prevents of modifies an allergic response ( e . g ., an antihistamine , cytokine inhibitor , leucotriene inhibitor , ige inhibitor , immunomodulator ), an allergen or another substance that causes secretion of mucous by tissues , anti - proliferative agents , hemostatic agents to stop bleeding , cytotoxic agents e . g . alcohol , biological agents such as protein molecules , stem cells , genes or gene therapy preparations etc . when dilating balloon 1604 is inflated , a portion of the inflating medium seeps out of dilating balloon 1604 through micropores 1606 and thus is delivered to the adjacent anatomical regions . thus dilation and agent delivery can be achieved in a single step . fig1 a shows a crossectional view through the plane 17 a - 17 a of fig1 showing shaft 1602 comprising a guidewire lumen 1608 and a balloon inflation lumen 1610 . fig1 shows a balloon catheter comprising a balloon having an outer coating of diagnostic or therapeutic agents . balloon catheter 1700 comprises a shaft 1702 and a dilating balloon 1704 located on the distal region of shaft 1702 . dilating balloon 1704 can be made of suitable non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate etc . dilating balloon 1704 comprises a coating 1706 of one or more diagnostic or therapeutic agents on the outer surface of dilating balloon 1704 . coating 1706 may comprise diagnostic or therapeutic agents located in a suitable carrier medium . in one embodiment , the carrier medium is a hydrogel . in another embodiment , the carrier medium is a solid having the consistency of wax e . g . sterile bone wax . in another embodiment , the carrier containing the agents can be deposited on the outer surface of dilating balloon 1704 just before balloon catheter 1700 is used for performing a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure . coating 1706 may be present on the surface of dilating balloon 1704 in a variety of configurations . in one embodiment , coating 1706 is in the form of parallel strips of a carrier medium comprising one or more diagnostic or therapeutic agents . the coating may also be in the form of an annular layer , a plurality of discrete spots etc . when dilating balloon 1704 is inflated to dilate an anatomical region , coating 1706 comes into contact with the adjacent anatomical region . a portion of coating 1706 is deposited on the adjacent anatomical region which delivers the diagnostic or therapeutic agents to the adjacent anatomical region . thus dilation and agent delivery can be achieved in a single step . in one embodiment , coating 1706 comprises a hemostatic material with a consistency of bone - wax . fig1 a - 18c show the steps of a method of using the balloon catheter of fig1 to dilate an anatomical region . in fig1 a , balloon catheter 1700 is introduced in an anatomical region 1708 . balloon catheter 1700 is positioned such dilating balloon 1704 is located in the target region to be dilated . thereafter , in fig1 b , dilating balloon 1704 is inflated . this dilates anatomical region 1708 and deposits a portion of coating 1706 on the dilated region . thereafter , in fig1 c , dilating balloon 1704 is deflated and balloon catheter 1700 is withdrawn from anatomical region 1708 leaving behind a deposited layer 1710 of coating 1706 on the dilated anatomical region 1708 . fig1 a shows a perspective view of a lavage catheter . lavage catheter 1800 comprises a shaft 1802 and an occluding balloon 1804 located on the distal region of shaft 1802 . occluding balloon 1804 can be made of suitable compliant materials e . g . polyurethane , silicone etc . or non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate etc . lavage catheter 1800 further comprises a flushing tip 1806 and an aspiration tip 1808 located on the distal end of shaft 1802 . in fig1 a , lavage catheter 1800 is introduced over a guidewire gw into an anatomical region e . g . a sphenoid sinus ss through an anatomical opening e . g . a sphenoid sinus ostium sso . fig1 b shows a crossectional view through the plane 19 b - 19 b of fig1 a . shaft 1802 comprises an aspiration lumen 1810 , a flushing lumen 1812 and a guidewire lumen 1814 . distal end of aspiration lumen 1810 opens at the distal end of aspiration tip 1808 and distal end of flushing lumen 1812 opens at the distal end of flushing tip 1806 . fig1 c shows the method of operation of lavage catheter 1800 of fig1 a to lavage an anatomical region . in fig1 c , occluding balloon 1804 is inflated and lavage catheter 1800 is pulled in the proximal direction till occluding balloon occludes the anatomical opening e . g . sphenoid sinus ostium sso . thereafter , a flushing medium introduced in the anatomical region through flushing tip 1806 . the flushing medium may be introduced in lavage catheter 1800 from a flushing medium container 1816 e . g . a saline bag connected to the proximal region of lavage catheter 1800 . the flushing medium is aspirated from the anatomical region through aspiration tip 1808 . the proximal end of lavage catheter 1800 may be connected to a collection vessel 1818 to collect the aspirated flushing medium . in one embodiment , collection vessel 1818 is further connected to wall suction . fig2 a shows a perspective view of the distal end of a second embodiment of a lavage catheter . lavage catheter 1900 comprises a tubular member 1902 comprising a one or more openings 1904 located on the distal region of tubular member 1902 . tubular member 1902 may be made from a variety of materials such as silicone elastomers , pebax , hdpe etc . distal region of tubular member 1902 may comprise a curved or bent region . tubular member 1902 comprises a first lumen connected to openings 1904 . suitable diagnostic or therapeutic fluids can be introduced or removed through openings 1904 . examples of such fluids are saline , pharmaceutically acceptable salt or dosage form of an antimicrobial agent ( e . g ., antibiotic , antiviral , anti - parasitic , antifungal , etc . ), a corticosteroid or other anti - inflammatory ( e . g ., an nsaid ), a decongestant ( e . g ., vasoconstrictor ), a mucous thinning agent ( e . g ., an expectorant or mucolytic ), an agent that prevents of modifies an allergic response ( e . g ., an antihistamine , cytokine inhibitor , leucotriene inhibitor , ige inhibitor , immunomodulator ), an allergen or another substance that causes secretion of mucous by tissues , a contrast agent , an anesthetic agent with or without vasoconstrictor ( e . g ., xylocalne with or without epinephrine , tetracaine with or without epinephrine ), an analgesic agent , hemostatic agents to stop bleeding , anti - proliferative agents , cytotoxic agents e . g . alcohol , biological agents such as protein molecules , stem cells , genes or gene therapy preparations etc . in one embodiment , tubular member 1902 comprises a second lumen that acts as a guidewire lumen . fig2 b shows a perspective view of the distal end of the lavage catheter of fig2 a introduced in an anatomical region . in this example , the anatomical region is a maxillary sinus ms comprising a maxillary sinus ostium mso . lavage catheter 1900 may be introduced into the anatomical region by an over - the - wire method , through a cannula , or by a variety of methods disclosed in this patent application and in the patents documents incorporated herein by reference . other examples of anatomical regions that can be treated using lavage catheter 1900 are other paranasal sinuses , lachrymal ducts , eustachian tubes , and other hollow organs in the ear , nose , throat or mouth . fig2 c shows an embodiment of the lavage catheter of fig2 a being used to lavage an anatomical region . in this embodiment , lavage catheter 1900 further comprises an outer sheath 1910 comprising an occluding balloon 1912 located on the distal region of outer sheath 1910 . occluding balloon 1912 may be made from suitable compliant or semi - compliant material such as crosslinked polyethylene or other polyolefins , polyurethane , flexible polyvinylchloride , nylon etc . or from non - compliant materials such as polyurethane etc . outer sheath 1910 covers tubular member 1902 such that outer sheath and tubular member 1902 enclose a suction lumen 1914 between them . tubular member 1902 is used to introduce a lavage fluid 1916 into the anatomical region through openings 1904 . suction lumen 1914 is used to remove lavage fluid 1916 from the anatomical region . fig2 d shows a sagittal section of a human head showing the general working environment of the lavage devices of fig2 a - 20c . distal end of lavage catheter 1900 is introduced into an anatomical region such as ethmoid air cell eac . lavage catheter 1900 may be introduced into the eac by an over - the - wire method , through a cannula , or by a variety of methods disclosed in this patent application and in the patents documents incorporated herein by reference . proximal end of lavage catheter 1900 is detachably connected to a irrigation and suction apparatus 1918 . irrigation and suction apparatus 1918 provides lavage fluid 1916 to lavage catheter 1900 and also provides suction to remove lavage fluid 1916 from the eac . lavage catheter 1900 may similarly be used to diagnose or treat other paranasal sinuses , lachrymal ducts , ducts of salvary glands , eustachian tubes , and other hollow organs in the ear , nose , throat or mouth . fig2 shows a perspective view of a cutting device comprising cutting jaws . cutting device 2000 comprises a shaft 2002 comprising an upper jaw 2004 and a lower jaw 2006 located on the distal end of shaft 2002 . proximal region of shaft 2002 comprises a scissor - like device with handles or other suitable control apparatus 2008 that is useable to control the movement of upper jaw 2004 and / or lower jaw 2006 . upper jaw 2004 and lower jaw 2006 are hinged together so that they can be opened or closed by scissor handles 2008 to bite , grip or cut tissue . in one embodiment , the edges of upper jaw 2004 and lower jaw 2006 are provided with a series of cutting teeth . alternately , the edges of upper jaw 2004 and lower jaw 2006 may be provided with sharp edges , blunt gripping teeth etc . shaft 2002 comprises a lumen 2010 . this enables cutting device 2000 to be advanced over an access device such as a guidewire to access a target anatomical region . examples of materials that can be used to construct cutting device 2000 are stainless steel 304 , stainless steel 316 , titanium , titanium alloys etc . fig2 a shows a perspective view of the distal region of the cutting device of fig2 wherein the cutting jaws are closed . fig2 b shows a perspective view of one embodiment of the jaws of the cutting device of fig2 . upper jaw 2004 comprises an upper jaw notch 2012 . in one embodiment , upper jaw notch 2012 is semicircular in shape . similarly , lower jaw 2006 comprises a lower jaw notch 2014 . in one embodiment , lower jaw notch 2014 is semicircular in shape . this design enables a guidewire to pass through a gap in the distal end of the cutting device 2000 even when upper jaw 2004 and lower jaw 2006 are closed . in another embodiment , a guidewire passes through an opening located on either upper jaw 2004 or lower jaw 2006 . upper jaw 2004 and lower jaw 2006 can also be square , ovoid , trapezoidal or circular in shape . fig2 c shows a crossectional view of the cutting device in fig2 through plane 21 c - 21 c . shaft 2002 of cutting device 2000 comprises a lumen 2010 for an access device such as a guidewire . shaft 2002 further comprises one or more pull wires 2016 that connect upper jaw 2004 and lower jaw 2006 to control apparatus 2008 . when the control apparatus 2008 is moved , pull wires 2016 transmit the movement to upper jaw 2004 and lower jaw 2006 causing them to open or close . fig2 a shows a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of a device comprising cutting or gripping jaws . cutting device 2100 comprises a shaft 2102 . distal end of cutting device 2100 comprises an upper jaw 2104 and a lower jaw 2106 that are hinged together at a first hinge 2108 . proximal end of upper jaw 2104 comprises a first elongate member 2110 and proximal end of second jaw 2106 comprises a second elongate member 2112 . the proximal end of first elongate member 2110 is connected to a second hinge 2114 which in turn is connected to a third elongate member 2116 . proximal end of second elongate member 2112 is connected to a third hinge 2118 which in turn is connected to a fourth elongate member 2120 . the proximal ends of third elongate member 2116 and fourth elongate member 2120 are connected by a fourth hinge 2122 to pull wire 2124 that passes through shaft 2102 . fig2 a shows cutting device 2100 wherein the upper jaw 2104 and lower jaw 2106 are in an open configuration . when pull wire 2124 is pulled in the proximal direction , fourth hinge 2122 is pulled inside shaft 2102 . this causes the distal ends of third elongate member 2116 and fourth elongate member 2120 to come closer to each other . this in turn causes the proximal ends of first elongate member 2110 and second elongate member 2112 to come closer to each other . this in turn causes upper jaw 2104 and lower jaw 2106 close . similarly , pushing pull wire 2124 in the distal direction causes upper jaw 2104 and lower jaw 2106 to open . in one embodiment , cutting device 2100 comprises a spring mechanism located between pull wire 2124 and shaft 2102 that biases upper jaw 2104 and lower jaw 2106 in an open or closed configuration . fig2 b shows a perspective view of the device of fig2 a wherein the jaws of the cutting device are in a closed configuration . fig2 a - 23c show the various steps of a method of puncturing an anatomical region using a flexible , rotating drill shaft . in fig2 a , an access catheter 2200 is introduced through a nostril to a location adjacent to an anatomical region 2202 to be punctured . in this example , anatomical region 2202 is a maxillary sinus having a maxillary sinus ostium 2204 . other examples of the types of anatomical regions 2202 are other paranasal sinuses , lachrymal ducts , bony structures in the ear , nose , throat or mouth etc . access catheter 2200 can be made of suitable biocompatible materials having a sufficient stiffness such as malleable stainless steel tubes ; titanium tubes ; fully annealed stainless steel tubes ; copper tubes ; aluminum tubes ; tubular elements made of pebax , hdpe etc . comprising a hypotube ; etc . one or more regions of access catheter 2200 may be shapeable or malleable to allow a user to adjust the shape of access catheter 2200 to a patient &# 39 ; s unique anatomy . a substantially stiff access catheter 2200 can be used in situations where extra support is needed for introduction or removal or devices through access catheter 2200 . in an embodiment , a lubricious coating e . g . a teflon coating is present on the inner surface of access catheter 2200 . the lubricious coating can be made of suitable lubricious materials such as teflon . in fig2 b , a flexible drill shaft 2206 is introduced through access catheter 2200 . access catheter 2200 helps to align flexible drill shaft 2206 in the anatomical region 2202 in a desired orientation . flexible drill shaft 2206 can be designed for efficient transfer of unidirectional or bidirectional torque . flexible drill shaft 2206 can be made from a suitable material having a high torsional stiffness such as heat treated spring steel . proximal end of flexible drill shaft 2206 is connected to a reversible drive motor that is used to rotate flexible drill shaft 2206 at a desired angular velocity . flexible drill shaft 2206 comprises a drill bit 2208 located on the distal end of flexible drill shaft 2206 . drill bit 2208 can range from 0 . 5 mm - 5 mm in diameter . drill bit 2208 may be made from suitable materials such as tungsten carbide , carbon steel , diamond powder coated metal etc . drill bit 2208 can have a drill bit design such as twist drill bit , masonry drill bit , spur point bit , step drill bit etc . flexible drill shaft 2206 is introduced through access catheter 2202 till drill bit 2208 ntouches a target location on anatomical region 2202 to be punctured . in fig2 c , flexible drill shaft 2206 is rotated so that drill bit 2208 punctures anatomical region 2202 . such a method and device can be used for a minimally invasive puncturing of suitable anatomical regions for drainage , aeration , introduction of diagnostic or therapeutic devices etc . such a device and method can also be used for enlarging or clearing natural or artificial openings in anatomical regions . after a desired opening is created or enlarged , access catheter 2200 and flexible drill shaft 2206 are withdrawn from the anatomy . in one embodiment , flexible drill shaft 2206 is a non - rotating shaft having high column strength and comprising a puncturing tip at the distal end of flexible drill shaft 2206 . in another embodiment , flexible drill shaft 2206 acts as an ultrasonic drill by connecting the proximal end of flexible drill shaft to an ultrasonic generator . in another embodiment , access catheter 2200 comprises one or more bearings that reduce friction between access catheter 2200 and flexible drill shaft 2206 . fig2 d shows a sectional view of an embodiment of a drilling device . drilling device 2220 comprises a shaft 2222 comprising a proximal rigid portion 2224 and a distal rigid portion 2226 . shaft 2222 may comprise a deformable ( e . g ., corrugated , plastically deformable , malleable , etc .) portion 2228 between proximal rigid portion 2224 and distal rigid portion 2226 . plastically deformable region 2228 allows the shape of drilling device 2220 to be adjusted to facilitate advancement of the device through tortous anatomy , to access to a target anatomical location and / or to achieve a desired positioning or attitude of the bit 2230 within the subject &# 39 ; s body . proximal rigid portion 2224 , distal rigid portion 2226 and plastically deformable or malleable region 2228 can be made of suitable biocompatible materials such as stainless steel e . g . fully annealed stainless steel , copper , aluminum etc . drilling device 2220 further comprises a rotating drill bit 2230 located at distal end of a rotatable drive member of shaft 2222 . rotating drill bit 2230 can be made from suitable materials such as tungsten carbide , carbon steel , diamond powder coated metal etc . rotating drill bit 2230 can be an abrasive coated spherical ball or a twist ( e . g ., helical ) drill bit , masonry drill bit , spur point bit , step drill bit etc . proximal region of rotating drill bit 2230 is in contact with distal end of shaft 2222 . in order to reduce friction between rotating drill bit 2230 and shaft 2222 , the contact surfaces between rotating drill bit 2230 and shaft 2222 comprise a lubricious coating e . g . a teflon coating . proximal region of rotating drill bit 2230 is also attached to a flexible drive shaft 2232 that supplies torque to the rotating drill bit 2230 . in one embodiment , flexible drive shaft 2232 comprises a coil assembly with high torsional stiffness and column strength . in another embodiment , flexible drive shaft 2232 comprises a heat treated spring steel cable . proximal end of flexible drive shaft 2232 is connected to a reversible drive motor . in one embodiment , rotating drill bit 2230 and flexible drive shaft 2232 comprise a coaxial lumen to enable drilling device 2220 to be introduced over a guidewire into a target anatomy . such a device can be used for a minimally invasive puncturing of suitable anatomical regions for drainage , aeration , introduction of diagnostic or therapeutic devices etc . such a device can also be used for enlarging or clearing natural or artificial openings in anatomical regions . it will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that , although this device 2220 is referred to herein as a “ drilling device ” it may be used for numerous purposes other than “ drilling .” for example , this device 2220 may be used to cut , grind , polish or create grooves or depressions in bone , cartilage or other tissue and / or may be used as a screw driver . thus , in some applications , this drilling device 2220 may alternatively be aptly referred to as a cutter , grinder , rotating rasp , rotating brush , dremmel , polisher , burnisher , boring tool , grooving tool , etc . also , in some embodiments , the bit may comprise a drive bit that is useable to drive a permanent or resorbable bone screw or other type of screw or anchor . also , the bit 2230 may be interchangeable and a variety of different bits 2220 may be provided to accomplish various different applications ( e . g ., grinding , polishing , burnishing , grooving , boring , rasping , debulking , forming indentations or depressions , driving screws , etc .). fig2 a - 24c show a sagittal section of an ethmoid sinus showing various methods of treating ethmoid sinus diseases by a minimally invasive approach . fig2 a shows a sagittal section of an ethmoid sinus comprising an anterior ethmoid air cell 2300 , a posterior ethmoid air cell 2302 and an intermediate ethmoid air cell 2304 located between anterior ethmoid air cell 2300 and posterior ethmoid air cell 2302 . a guide catheter 2306 is introduced to a region inferior to the basal lamella of a middle turbinate . guide catheter 2306 may comprise a design selected from the various guide catheter designs disclosed herein and in the patent documents incorporated herein by reference . thereafter , an introducer needle 2308 is introduced through guide catheter 2306 . introducer needle 2308 comprises a lumen through which devices such as guidewires can be introduced . introducer needle 2308 can be made of suitable biocompatible materials such as stainless steel , nitinol , polymers , polymer - metal composites etc . introducer needle 2308 is advanced through guide catheter 2306 such that the distal tip of introducer needle 2308 punctures a wall of an ethmoid air cell e . g . anterior ethmoid air cell 2300 and enters the ethmoid air cell . thereafter , a guidewire 2310 is introduced through introducer needle 2308 into the ethmoid air cell e . g . anterior ethmoid air cell 2300 . thereafter , introducer needle 2308 is removed from the anatomy . in fig2 b , a working device is introduced over guidewire 2310 into the ethmoid air cell . an example of a working device is a balloon catheter 2312 comprising a dilating balloon 2314 . thereafter , the working device is used to perform a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure e . g . balloon dilation of the introducer needle puncture site to create a drainage channel for sinus secretions . similarly , other working devices such as dilating or occluding balloons , dilating stents , suction or irrigation devices , needles , polypectomy tools , brushes , energy emitting devices such as ablation devices , laser devices , image - guided devices containing sensors or transmitters , imaging devices , endoscopes , tissue modifying devices such as cutters , biopsy devices , devices for injecting diagnostic or therapeutic agents , lavage devices , drug delivery devices such as substance eluting devices , substance delivery implants etc . may be used to perform diagnostic or therapeutic procedures . the method shown in fig2 a - 24b may also be used to create an opening of a suitable diameter to facilitate insertion of other working devices into the ethmoid air cells . for example , fig2 c shows a method of treating ethmoid sinus diseases by a rongeur . in this method , rongeur 2316 having a distal cutting tip 2318 is introduced through guide catheter 2306 into an ethmoid air cell via the introducer needle puncture site . thereafter , rongeur 2316 is used to remove tissue from the ethmoid air cell . fig2 a ′- 24 a ″″ show a method of creating drainage channels for sinus secretions in ethmoid sinus . in fig2 a ′, guide catheter 2306 is introduced to a region inferior to the basal lamella of a middle turbinate . thereafter , introducer needle 2308 is advanced through guide catheter 2306 such that the distal tip of introducer needle 2308 punctures a wall of an ethmoid air cell e . g . an intermediate ethmoid air cell 2304 and enters the ethmoid air cell . in fig2 a ′, introducer needle is used to create internal channels in the ethmoid sinus by puncturing walls of adjacent ethmoid air cells e . g . anterior ethmoid air cell 2300 , posterior ethmoid air cell 2302 etc . in fig2 a ′″, introducer needle 2308 and guide catheter 2306 are removed leaving behind internal channels that allow drainage of sinus secretions through the introducer needle puncture site in the intermediate ethmoid air cell 2304 . sinus secretions from anterior ethmoid air cell 2300 or posterior ethmoid air cell 2302 flow into intermediate ethmoid air cell 2304 from which they flow out of the ethmoid sinus . the internal channels as well as the introducer needle puncture site in the intermediate ethmoid air cell 2304 may be dilated using a balloon catheter as shown in fig2 a - 24b . in fig2 a ′- 24 a ′″, introducer needle 2308 was introduced into the ethmoid sinus through intermediate ethmoid air cell 2304 . similar procedures may be performed by introducing introducer needle 2304 into the ethmoid sinus through anterior ethmoid air cell 2300 or posterior ethmoid air cell 2302 . in one embodiment , anterior ethmoid air cell 2300 , posterior ethmoid air cell 2302 and intermediate ethmoid air cell 2304 are punctured separately through the basal lamella of a middle turbinate to create separate drainage channels for each ethmoid air cell as shown in fig2 a ′″″. fig2 a shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a microshaver or ostium enlarger device 2400 . device 2400 comprises a proximal portion 2402 and a distal portion 2403 . proximal portion 2402 is hollow and comprises a proximal cutting surface 2404 e . g . sharp cutting teeth etc . located on the distal end of proximal portion 2402 . distal portion 2403 comprises a distal cutting surface 2406 e . g . sharp cutting teeth etc . located on the proximal end of distal portion 2403 . distal portion 2403 is further connected to a pull shaft 2408 that encloses a guidewire lumen 2410 . guidewire lumen 2410 allows microshaver 2400 to be introduced over a guidewire gw into a target anatomy . the region between pull shaft 2408 and proximal portion 2402 encloses a suction lumen 2412 . suction lumen 2412 can be used to remove solid debris or liquids from the target anatomy by suction . proximal portion 2402 , distal portion 2403 and pull shaft 2408 can be made of suitable biocompatible materials such as stainless steel . fig2 b shows a crossection of a paranasal sinus showing one way in which the device 2400 of fig2 a may be used to remove tissue or matter . the device 2400 is introduced over a guidewire gw into paranasal sinus 2414 . the device 2400 is then positioned such that the tissue or matter is located between proximal cutting surface 2404 and distal cutting surface 2406 . thereafter , in this embodiment , pull shaft 2408 is pulled in the proximal direction . this causes movement of distal region 2403 in the proximal direction with respect to proximal portion 2402 . this in turn forces cylindrical distal cutter 2406 to be retracted into the interior of thecylindrical proximal cutter 2404 , thereby cutting off or breaking tissue or matter that is captured therebetween . optionally , in this embodiment , the cylindrical distal cutter 2406 cylindrical proximal cutter 2404 may be rotated relative to the other to further cut or shave tissue . also , optionally in this embodiment , suction lumen 2412 can be used to remove any solid debris or liquids generated during the procedure . fig2 c and 25d show an example of another way in which the device 2400 may be used — i . e ., to shave tissue or matter . examples of anatomical structures that may be shaved by this device 2400 include bone , cartilage and soft tissues of eustachian tubes , turbinates , lachrymal ducts , anatomical openings such as ostia of paranasal sinuses , ostia of lachrymal ducts , etc . and other regions in the ear , nose , throat or mouth . as shown in fig2 c , in this embodiment , there need not be a proximally moveable pull shaft 2408 , but rather the distal cutting surface 2406 may remain positioned within the cylindrical proximal cutting surface 2404 . the cutting surfaces are positioned adjacent to the tissue or matter to be shaved and the cylindrical distal cutter 2406 and / or cylindrical proximal cutter 2404 is / are rotated to shave the tissue or matter . suction may be applied through lumen 2412 to draw the tissue or matter into slots 2409 such that it will be shaved by the rotating proximal cutter 2404 . fig2 a - 26c show a device and method for treating a mucocyst of other flowable substance - containing structure ( e . g ., cyst , hematoma , pustule , etc .) located within a paranasal sinus , ear , nose or throat . in general , the device comprises an elongate shaft 2500 , a penetrator such as a needle 2502 that is advanceable from and retractable into the shaft 2500 to form an opening in the mucocyst or other structure , and a compressor such as a balloon 2506 that is useable to compress the mucocyst or other structure to force its contents to flow out of the opening created by the needle 2502 or other penetrator . specifically , as shown in the example of fig2 a , a guide catheter 2500 is introduced into an anatomical region through an anatomical opening . the outer diameter of guide catheter 2500 is less than the inner diameter of the anatomical opening . in fig2 a - 26c , frontal sinus fs is used as an example of an anatomical region . other examples of anatomical regions are other paranasal sinuses , lachrymal passages , eustachian tubes and other structures in the ear , nose , throat or mouth etc . guide catheter 2500 may comprise a design selected from the various guide catheter designs disclosed herein and in the patent documents incorporated herein by reference . a puncturing needle 2502 is then introduced through guide catheter 2500 into the frontal sinus fs . puncturing needle 2502 has a sharp distal tip and can be made from a variety of materials such as hardened tool steel , stainless steel etc . puncturing needle 2502 is navigated through the frontal sinus fs such that the distal tip of puncturing needle 2502 punctures a mucocyst 2503 in the frontal sinus fs . thereafter , puncturing needle 2502 is withdrawn . in fig2 b , a guidewire gw is introduced into the frontal sinus fs . thereafter , a balloon catheter 2504 comprising a balloon 2506 is introduced over guidewire gw into the frontal sinus fs . balloon 2506 can be made of suitable compliant or semi - compliant materials such as crosslinked polyethylene or other polyolefins , polyurethane , flexible polyvinylchloride , nylon , etc . balloon 2506 is then inflated . inflated balloon 2506 compresses the punctured mucocyst 2503 . this causes drainage of mucocyst secretions into the frontal sinus fs . in fig2 c , balloon 2506 is inflated further so that it occupies a volume in the frontal sinus fs and displaces the mucocyst secretions from the frontal sinus fs out through the frontal sinus ostium fso . fig2 a - 27b show various steps of a method of treating a mucocyst by a balloon catheter comprising a deployable puncturing needle . in fig2 a , a guide catheter 2600 is introduced into an anatomical region through an anatomical opening . the outer diameter of guide catheter 2600 is less than the inner diameter of the anatomical opening . in fig2 a - 27b , frontal sinus fs is used as an example of an anatomical region . other examples of anatomical regions are other paranasal sinuses , lachrymal passages , eustachian tubes , other ear , nose , throat and mouth structures etc . guide catheter 2600 may comprise a design selected from the various guide catheter designs disclosed herein and in the patent documents incorporated herein by reference . a balloon catheter 2602 comprising a balloon 2604 and a deployable puncturing needle 2606 is then introduced through guide catheter 2600 into the frontal sinus fs . balloon 2604 can be made of suitable compliant or semi - compliant materials such as crosslinked polyethylene or other polyolefins , polyurethane , flexible polyvinylchloride , nylon , etc . deployable puncturing needle 2606 can be made from a variety of materials such as hardened tool steel , stainless steel etc . balloon catheter 2604 is oriented in a desired orientation and deployable puncturing needle 2606 is advanced such that the distal tip of deployable puncturing needle 2606 punctures the mucocyst mc . thereafter , deployable puncturing needle 2606 is withdrawn into balloon catheter 2602 . in fig2 b , balloon 2604 is inflated . inflated balloon 2604 compresses the punctured mucocyst mc . this causes drainage of mucocyst secretions into the frontal sinus fs . balloon 2604 is then inflated further so that it occupies a volume in the frontal sinus fs and displaces the mucocyst secretions from the frontal sinus fs out through the frontal sinus ostium fso . in one embodiment , deployable puncturing needle 2606 is located in a needle lumen . deployable puncturing needle 2606 may be advanced or withdrawn by advancing or withdrawing deployable puncturing needle 2606 through the needle lumen . fig2 a - 28c show various embodiments of catheters comprising agent delivery needles . in fig2 a , catheter 2700 comprises a shaft 2702 having a guidewire lumen . catheter 2700 further comprises a deployable injecting needle 2704 made from suitable biocompatible materials such as stainless steel . deployable injecting needle 2704 comprises a lumen for injecting one or more diagnostic or therapeutic agents 2706 into the adjacent anatomy . deployable injecting needle 2704 is deployed at any suitable angle to the longitudinal axis of shaft 2702 , for example such angle may range from 0 degrees to 135 degrees . in one embodiment , deployable injecting needle 2704 is located in a needle lumen . deployable injecting needle 2704 is deployed or withdrawn by relative motion of deployable injecting needle 2704 with respect to shaft 2702 . in another embodiment , deployable injecting needle 2704 can be deployed or withdrawn by inflating or deflating a deploying balloon . the deploying balloon can be made from suitable materials such as polyimide , parylene ( e . g . c , d , n ), silicone , polyurethane , polyethylene terephthalate etc . catheter 2700 is introduced into a target anatomy and deployable injecting needle 2704 is deployed . deployable injecting needle 2704 penetrates into the adjacent anatomy . one or more diagnostic or therapeutic agents 2706 are then injected into the adjacent anatomy . in one embodiment , catheter 2700 may be introduced in an anatomical region through a guide catheter 2708 . fig2 b shows a perspective view of catheter 2700 of fig2 a wherein catheter 2700 further comprises a second deployable injecting needle 2710 . second deployable injecting needle 2710 comprises a lumen for injecting one or more diagnostic or therapeutic agents 2712 into the adjacent anatomy . in one embodiment , diagnostic or therapeutic agents 2712 are the same as diagnostic or therapeutic agents 2706 . fig2 c shows a perspective view of catheter 2700 of fig2 a wherein catheter 2700 further comprises a balloon 2714 . in one embodiment , balloon 2714 is a dilating balloon made of suitable non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate etc . this embodiment can be used for both balloon dilation and agent delivery . in another embodiment , balloon 2714 is an anchoring balloon made of suitable non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate etc . or suitable compliant or semi - compliant materials such as crosslinked polyethylene or other polyolefins , polyurethane , flexible polyvinylchloride , nylon etc . the anchoring balloon can be used to stabilize the position and orientation of catheter 2700 before agent delivery . examples of diagnostic or therapeutic agents that can be delivered by the catheters in fig2 a - 28c are pharmaceutically acceptable salt or dosage form of an antimicrobial agent ( e . g ., antibiotic , antiviral , anti - parasitic , antifungal , etc . ), an anesthetic agent with or without a vasoconstriction agents ( e . g . xylocalne with or without epinephrine , tetracaine with or without epinephrine , etc . ), an analgesic agent , a corticosteroid or other anti - inflammatory ( e . g ., an nsaid ), a decongestant ( e . g ., vasoconstrictor ), a mucous thinning agent ( e . g ., an expectorant or mucolytic ), an agent that prevents of modifies an allergic response ( e . g ., an antihistamine , cytokine inhibitor , leucotriene inhibitor , ige inhibitor , immunomodulator ), an allergen or another substance that causes secretion of mucous by tissues , hemostatic agents to stop bleeding , anti - proliferative agents , cytotoxic agents e . g . alcohol , biological agents such as protein molecules , stem cells , genes or gene therapy preparations , viral vectors carrying dna , proteins or mrna coding for important therapeutic functions or substances etc . catheters in fig2 a - 28c can be used to diagnose or treat anatomical regions such as paranasal sinuses , regions in the eustachian tubes , lachrymal ducts , ducts of salvary glands , anatomical openings such as ostia of paranasal sinuses , ostia of lachrymal ducts , other regions in the ear , nose , throat or mouth etc . fig2 a illustrates an embodiment of a displacement catheter to displace and remove secretions in an anatomical region . displacement catheter 2800 comprises an outer sheath 2802 that encloses a balloon catheter 2804 . outer sheath 2802 may be flexible or substantially rigid . outer sheath 2802 may be made of suitable materials such as pebax , hdpe etc . outer sheath 2802 may comprise a hypotube made of suitable biocompatible materials such as stainless steel , nitinol etc . balloon catheter 2804 comprises a catheter shaft 2806 and a balloon 2808 located on the distal region of catheter shaft 2806 . catheter shaft 2806 may be made of suitable materials such as pebax , hdpe etc . balloon 2808 may be made from suitable compliant or semi - compliant material such as crosslinked polyethylene or other polyolefins , polyurethane , flexible polyvinylchloride , nylon etc . fig2 b shows a sectional view of an anatomical region showing a method of displacing secretions by the displacement catheter of fig2 a . displacement catheter 2800 is introduced in an anatomical region . in fig2 b , a maxillary sinus ms is used as an example of an anatomical region . other examples of anatomical regions that can be treated using displacement catheter 2800 are other paranasal sinuses , lachrymal passages , eustachian tubes etc . displacement catheter 2800 can be advanced into an anatomical region through natural openings e . g . ostia of sinuses or artificially created openings . in this example , displacement catheter 2800 is advanced into the maxillary sinus through a natural opening such as a maxillary sinus ostium mso such that the distal end of displacement catheter is near the distal region of maxillary sinus ms . outer diameter of outer sheath 2802 is less than inner diameter of maxillary sinus ostium mso . thereafter , outer sheath 2802 is withdrawn gradually by pulling outer sheath 2802 in the proximal direction over balloon catheter 2804 . simultaneously , balloon 2808 is inflated by a suitable inflating medium such as saline mixed with radiographic contrast . this causes distal region of balloon 2804 to inflate before the proximal region of balloon 2804 . balloon 2804 gradually begins to occupy available volume in the maxillary sinus ms and thus displaces secretions 2810 out of the maxillary sinus ms through the maxillary sinus ostium mso . in one embodiment of balloon 2804 , distal region of balloon 2804 has a higher compliance than proximal regions of balloon 2804 . in another embodiment , balloon 2804 comprises multiple compartments such that each compartment can be inflated independently of other compartments . balloon 2804 may be detachably connected to catheter shaft 2806 to enable permanent occlusion of the anatomical region . balloon 2804 may also comprise a variety of drug delivery mechanisms including drug eluting coatings , drug eluting pores for eluting a drug dissolved in the inflating medium etc . fig3 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of an ultrasonic drilling device . drilling device 2900 comprises a rigid or flexible drilling shaft 2902 . drilling shaft 2902 can be made of suitable materials such as tungsten carbide flexible wire . the proximal end of drilling shaft 2902 is connected to a piezoelectric crystal 2904 such as a quartz ( sio 2 ) or barium titanate ( batio 3 ) crystal . piezoelectric crystal 2904 may have a layer of backing material 2906 on the proximal surface of piezoelectric crystal 2904 . piezoelectric crystal 2904 is connected by electrodes 2908 to an electric power source 2910 . electric power source 2910 delivers a suitable current via electrodes 2908 to piezoelectric crystal 2904 to cause piezoelectric crystal 2904 to vibrate at an ultrasonic frequency . the vibration of piezoelectric crystal 2904 is transmitted to drilling shaft 2902 . in one embodiment , drilling shaft 2902 is connected to piezoelectric crystal 2904 by a coupler 2912 . fig3 a - 30b show a sectional view of an anatomical region showing a method of enlarging a natural or artificially created anatomical opening using the drilling device of fig3 . the drilling device may also be used to create new openings in an anatomical region . distal part of drilling device 2900 comprising drilling shaft 2902 of diameter d . sub . 2 is positioned such that the distal end of drilling shaft 2902 touches an anatomical opening e . g . a sphenoid sinus ostium sso to be dilated . the anatomical opening has an initial diameter d . sub . 1 . thereafter , current from electric power source 2910 is switched on , which in turn causes drilling shaft 2902 to vibrate in the axial direction . the vibration of drilling shaft 2902 causes distal tip of drilling shaft 2902 to impact the anatomical opening . in fig3 b , the impact of drilling shaft 2902 causes dilation of the anatomical opening from an initial diameter d . sub . 1 to a diameter d . sub . 2 . similarly , other embodiments of drilling devices may be used to puncture , remodel or change the shape , size or configuration of anatomical structures such as paranasal sinuses , eustachian tubes , middle ear , nasopharynx , lachrymal ducts or other anatomical regions in the ear , nose , throat or mouth . such drilling devices may comprise for example elements for ablation or delivery of energy such as laser , rf , thermal shock waves etc . fig3 shows a sectional view of an embodiment of a catheter for providing an internal cast for fractured bony cavities . catheter 3000 comprises a shaft 3002 comprising a plurality of inflating elements e . g . inflating balloon in the distal region of shaft 3002 . in the example shown in fig3 , catheter 3000 comprises a proximal interior balloon 3004 , a distal interior balloon 3006 and an intermediate interior balloon 3008 located between proximal interior balloon 3004 and distal interior balloon 3006 . catheter 3000 further comprises an intermediate balloon 3010 covering proximal interior balloon 3004 and intermediate interior balloon 3008 as shown in fig3 . catheter 3000 further comprises an outer balloon 3012 that covers intermediate balloon 3010 and a portion of distal interior balloon 3006 as shown in fig3 . the balloons on catheter 3000 can be inflated independently of each other . for example proximal interior balloon 3004 can be inflated by a proximal interior balloon lumen 3014 , distal interior balloon 3006 can be inflated by a distal interior balloon inflation lumen 3016 and intermediate interior balloon 3008 can be inflated by an intermediate balloon inflation lumen 3018 . the balloons on catheter 3000 may be made from suitable compliant or semi - compliant material such as crosslinked polyethylene or other polyolefins , polyurethane , flexible polyvinylchloride , nylon etc . or from suitable non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate etc . the balloons on catheter 3000 may be coated with a variety of coatings including lubricious coatings , drug eluting coatings etc . fig3 a shows a crossection through the outer balloon 3012 in the catheter 3000 of fig3 through plane 31 a - 31 a . outer balloon 3012 comprises a balloon material 3020 made from suitable compliant or semi - compliant material such as crosslinked polyethylene or other polyolefins , polyurethane , flexible polyvinylchloride , nylon etc . or from suitable non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate etc . a coating 3022 is located on the outer surface of balloon material 3020 . examples of materials that can be used in coating 3022 are contrast agents , pharmaceutically acceptable salt or dosage form of an antimicrobial agent ( e . g ., antibiotic , antiviral , anti - parasitic , antifungal , etc . ), an anesthetic agent with or without a vasoconstriction agents ( e . g . xylocalne with or without epinephrine , tetracaine with or without epinephrine , etc . ), an analgesic agent , a corticosteroid or other anti - inflammatory ( e . g ., an nsaid ), a decongestant ( e . g ., vasoconstrictor ), a mucous thinning agent ( e . g ., an expectorant or mucolytic ), an agent that prevents of modifies an allergic response ( e . g ., an antihistamine , cytokine inhibitor , leucotriene inhibitor , ige inhibitor , immunomodulator ), an allergen or another substance that causes secretion of mucous by tissues , hemostatic agents to stop bleeding , anti - proliferative agents , cytotoxic agents e . g . alcohol , biological agents such as protein molecules , stem cells , genes or gene therapy preparations etc . fig3 b - 31d shows various steps of a method of providing an internal cast for a fractured bony cavity using the catheter shown in fig3 . in fig3 b - 31d , maxillary sinus ms is used as an example of bony cavity that can be treated using catheter 3000 . fig3 b shows a patient with a fractured bony cavity e . g . a fractured maxillary sinus ms having one or more fractured bones 3024 . in fig3 c , catheter 3000 is introduced into the maxillary sinus ms through a natural opening e . g . an ostium or an artificially created opening . in fig3 d , one or more balloons on catheter 3000 are sequentially inflated to push fractured bones 3024 into their original un - fractured configuration . catheter 3000 may then be left in place for a desired period ranging from a few minutes to several days during which fractured bones 3024 begin to heal in their original un - fractured configuration . after catheter 3000 has been left in place for the desired period , catheter 3000 is removed by deflating the balloons and withdrawing catheter 3000 from the anatomy . thus , catheter 3000 provides an internal cast for a fractured bony cavity . various embodiments of catheter 3000 may be used for crating internal casts for fractured paranasal sinuses , lachrymal passages , eustachian tubes , other structures in the ear , nose , throat , mouth etc . the various devices and methods disclosed herein may be used in conjunction with various surgical navigations systems . fig3 and 32 a show an embodiment of a surgical navigation system comprising electromagnetic sensors . examples of electromagnetic sensors that can be used with the present invention are electromagnetic sensors of an electromagnetic surgical navigation system such as ge instatrak ™ 3500 plus system etc . fig3 shows a perspective view of a patient &# 39 ; s head showing the location of external ear canal electromagnetic sensors 3100 and teeth electromagnetic sensors 3102 . external ear canal electromagnetic sensors 3100 are introduced through an ear canal into a region adjacent to a tympanum . teeth electromagnetic sensors 3102 are attached to one or more teeth of the patient . in one embodiment , teeth electromagnetic sensors 3102 are attached to teeth using an adhesive . in an alternate embodiment , teeth electromagnetic sensors 3102 are attached to braces or caps which in turn are attached to teeth . the braces or caps can be made of suitable materials that cause minimal artifacts on ct or mri images . an example of such a material is aluminum alloy 2017 - t4 which causes minimal artifacts on a ct scan image . other locations of electromagnetic sensors include skin ( e . g . a skin patch comprising an electromagnetic sensor ), a head frame etc . the patient &# 39 ; s head is imaged using an imaging modality such as ct or mri . external ear canal electromagnetic sensors 3100 and teeth electromagnetic sensors 3102 are passively imaged by the imaging modality and thus act as fiducial markers . fig3 and 32 a illustrate a surgical navigation system comprising fiducial markers that have electromagnetic sensors . various other embodiments of fiducial markers such as passively imaged fiducial markers or active sensors or transmitters may be used in conjunction with the various methods and devices disclosed herein . the fiducial markers may be located on relevant anatomical regions such as teeth , ear canals , skull bones , frames fixed to rigid bones etc . the fiducial markers may be used with a variety of modalities including but not limited to electromagnetic , infrared , ultrasonic , radio - frequency , mri , ct , fluoroscopic or other 2d or 3d image guided systems for the head , neck or other anatomical regions manufactured by companies such as biosense , stryker , brainlab , xomed , ge / vti etc . fig3 a shows an enlarged view of region 32 a in fig3 . teeth electromagnetic sensors 3102 are connected to the electromagnetic surgical navigation system by removable leads 3104 . in another embodiment , external ear canal electromagnetic sensors 3100 or teeth electromagnetic sensors 3102 are connected to the electromagnetic surgical navigation system by telemetry . during a procedure , external ear canal electromagnetic sensors 3100 and / or teeth electromagnetic sensors 3102 are actively imaged by suitable electromagnetic surgical navigation systems such as ge instatrak ™ 3500 plus system etc . thereafter , data from imaging modality such as ct or mri and the electromagnetic surgical navigation system is merged to obtain a three dimensional map of the anatomy showing the electromagnetic sensors . the three dimensional map can then be used for image guided procedures such as diagnostic or therapeutic procedures of paranasal sinuses , eustachian tubes , lachrymal ducts , other ear , nose , throat or mouth structures etc . other image guided surgery systems such as infrared sensor based systems e . g . stryker leibinger ® navigation system can also be used in conjunction with one or more methods or devices disclosed herein . fig3 shows a section of the anatomical region around a eustachian tube ( et ) showing a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure being performed by devices inserted through the pharyngeal ostium of the eustachian tube . fig3 shows a guidewire gw inserted into a desired region in the et through the nasopharynx and a diagnostic or therapeutic being performed by a device introduced into the eustachian tube over guidewire gw . fig3 a shows an enlarged view of region 33 a in fig3 showing the anatomical region around a eustachian tube ( et ) showing a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure being performed by devices inserted through the pharyngeal ostium of the eustachian tube . in one embodiment , guidewire gw comprises an anchoring balloon 3200 located on the distal region of guidewire gw . anchoring balloon 3200 is inflated after positioning guidewire gw at a target location . anchoring balloon 3200 anchors guidewire gw to the adjacent anatomy and prevents accidental repositioning of guidewire gw during a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure . anchoring balloon 3200 may be made from suitable compliant or semi - compliant material such as crosslinked polyethylene or other polyolefins , polyurethane , flexible polyvinylchloride , nylon etc . guidewire gw may comprise anchoring elements other than anchoring balloon 3200 such as a notch on guidewire gw , a bent region on guidewire gw , a self expanding element , a hook , a coiled element etc . in another embodiment , guidewire gw comprises a sensor 3202 located on the distal region of guidewire gw . sensor 3202 enables guidewire gw to be used in conjunction with a suitable surgical navigation system . in one embodiment , sensor 3202 is an electromagnetic sensor used in conjunction with an electromagnetic surgical navigation system such as ge instatrak ™ 3500 plus system etc . one or more sensor 3202 or other types of surgical navigation sensors or transmitters may also be located on other diagnostic or therapeutic devices disclosed herein . sensor 3202 may be used in conjunction with a stationary sensor 3204 located in the external ear . the combination of sensor 3202 and stationary sensor 3204 enables guidewire gw to be accurately positioned in a target region . in an embodiment , a radioopaque plug 3206 is inserted from the external ear to a region adjacent to an eardrum . radioopaque plug 3206 serves as a fiducial marker during preoperative scanning of the patient and thus enables a physician to accurately position a diagnostic or therapeutic device close to the eardrum . other image guidance methods and devices can also be used in conjunction with diagnostic or therapeutic procedures disclosed herein . fig3 a also shows a diagnostic or therapeutic device 3208 comprising a shaft 3210 and a working element 3212 e . g . a dilating balloon being introduced over guidewire gw . diagnostic or therapeutic device 3208 may comprise a radiopaque marker 3214 . fig3 b shows a front view of a human head with a portion of the face removed to show an embodiment of a method of introducing a guidewire into a eustachian tube . in fig3 b , a guide catheter 3250 is introduced through a nostril into the nasopharynx . distal portion of guide catheter 3250 may comprise a bent or angled region . for example , such bent or angled region may form e an internal angle ranging from 45 degrees to 150 degrees . guide catheter 3250 can be constructed using one of the various designs disclosed herein and in the patent documents incorporated herein by reference . guide catheter 3250 is positioned in the nasopharynx such that the distal tip of guide catheter 3250 is located near a nasopharyngeal opening of a eustachian tube . thereafter , a guidewire gw is introduced through guide catheter 3250 into the eustachian tube . guidewire gw can then be used to advance one or more diagnostic or therapeutic devices into the eustachian tube to perform one or more diagnostic or therapeutic procedures . fig3 a - 34d illustrate various examples of working elements that can be located on the diagnostic or therapeutic device in fig3 . fig3 a shows an example of a working element comprising a dilating balloon . dilating balloon 3312 can be made from a suitable non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate , nylon etc . similarly , devices shown in fig1 , 15 , 16 , 17 and 18 may also be used to treat a eustachian tube as shown in fig3 . fig3 b shows an example of a working element comprising a dilating balloon loaded with a balloon - expandable stent . dilating balloon 3314 can be made from a suitable non - compliant materials e . g . polyethylene terephthalate , nylon etc . several types of stent designs can be used to construct stent 3316 such as metallic tube designs , polymeric tube designs , chain - linked designs , spiral designs , rolled sheet designs , single wire designs etc . these designs may have an open celled or closed celled structure . a variety of fabrication methods can be used for fabricating stent 3316 including but not limited to laser cutting a metal or polymer element , welding metal elements etc . a variety of materials can be used for fabricating stent 3316 including but not limited to metals , polymers , foam type materials , plastically deformable materials , super elastic materials etc . a variety of features can be added to stent 3316 including but not limited to radiopaque coatings , drug elution mechanisms to elute anti - inflammatory agents , antibiotics etc . in one embodiment , stent 3316 is bioabsorbable . working elements may also comprise a self - expanding stent instead of a pressure - expandable stent . fig3 c shows an example of a working element comprising a lavage element . lavage element 3318 comprises a plurality of lavage openings 3320 . lavage openings are connected to a lavage lumen in shaft 3210 through which suitable lavage media such as solutions containing contrast agents , pharmaceutically acceptable salt or dosage form of an antimicrobial agent ( e . g ., antibiotic , antiviral , anti - parasitic , antifungal , etc . ), an anesthetic agent with or without a vasoconstriction agents ( e . g . xylocalne with or without epinephrine , tetracaine with or without epinephrine , etc . ), an analgesic agent , a corticosteroid or other anti - inflammatory ( e . g ., an nsaid ), a decongestant ( e . g ., vasoconstrictor ), a mucous thinning agent ( e . g ., an expectorant or mucolytic ), an agent that prevents of modifies an allergic response ( e . g ., an antihistamine , cytokine inhibitor , leucotriene inhibitor , ige inhibitor , immunomodulator ), an allergen or another substance that causes secretion of mucous by tissues , hemostatic agents to stop bleeding , anti - proliferative agents , cytotoxic agents e . g . alcohol , biological agents such as protein molecules , stem cells , genes or gene therapy preparations etc . can be delivered . in one embodiment , a fraction of lavage openings 3320 are connected to an aspiration lumen to aspirate the lavage media out of the eustachian tube . fig3 d shows an example of a working element comprising a substance delivery reservoir . substance delivery reservoir 3322 may be fully or partially biodegradable or non - biodegradable . in one embodiment , substance delivery reservoir 3322 is made of a suitable biocompatible material such as hydrogel ( e . g . collage hydrogel ). in another embodiment , substance delivery reservoir 3322 comprises a porous matrix formed of a porous material such as a flexible or rigid polymer foam , cotton wadding , gauze , etc . examples of biodegradable polymers that may be foamed or otherwise rendered porous include polyglycolide , poly - l - lactide , poly - d - lactide , poly ( amino acids ), polydioxanone , polycaprolactone , polygluconate , polylactic acid - polyethylene oxide copolymers , modified cellulose , collagen , polyorthoesters , polyhydroxybutyrate , polyanhydride , polyphosphoester , poly ( alpha - hydroxy acid ) and combinations thereof . examples of non - biodegradable polymers that may be foamed or otherwise rendered porous include polyurethane , polycarbonate , silicone elastomers etc . substance delivery reservoir 3322 may also include one or more embodiments disclosed in u . s . patent application ser . no . 10 / 912 , 578 entitled “ implantable device and methods for delivering drugs and other substances to treat sinusitis and other disorders ” filed on aug . 4 , 2004 , the entire disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference . the substance delivery reservoir 3322 or any substance delivery devices described in this application may be used to deliver various types of therapeutic or diagnostic agents . the term “ diagnostic or therapeutic substance ” as used herein is to be broadly construed to include any feasible drugs , prodrugs , proteins , gene therapy preparations , cells , diagnostic agents , contrast or imaging agents , biologicals , etc . such substances may be in bound or free form , liquid or solid , colloid or other suspension , solution or may be in the form of a gas or other fluid or nan - fluid . for example , in some applications where it is desired to treat or prevent a microbial infection , the substance delivered may comprise pharmaceutically acceptable salt or dosage form of an antimicrobial agent ( e . g ., antibiotic , antiviral , antiparacytic , antifungal , etc . ), a corticosteroid or other anti - inflammatory ( e . g ., an nsaid ), a decongestant ( e . g ., vasoconstrictor ), a mucous thinning agent ( e . g ., an expectorant or mucolytic ), an agent that prevents of modifies an allergic response ( e . g ., an antihistamine , cytokine inhibitor , leucotriene inhibitor , ige inhibitor , immunomodulator ), etc . some nonlimiting examples of antimicrobial agents that may be used in this invention include acyclovir , amantadine , aminoglycosides ( e . g ., amikacin , gentamicin and tobramycin ), amoxicillin , amoxicillin / clavulanate , amphotericin b , ampicillin , ampicillin / sulbactam , atovaquone , azithromycin , cefazolin , cefepime , cefotaxime , cefotetan , cefpodoxime , ceftazidime , ceftizoxime , ceftriaxone , cefuroxime , cefuroxime axetil , cephalexin , chloramphenicol , clotrimazole , ciprofloxacin , clarithromycin , clindamycin , dapsone , dicloxacillin , doxycycline , erythromycin , fluconazole , foscarnet , ganciclovir , atifloxacin , imipenem / cilastatin , isoniazid , itraconazole , ketoconazole , metronidazole , nafcillin , nafcillin , nystatin , penicillin , penicillin g , pentamidine , piperacillin / tazobactam , rifampin , quinupristin - dalfopristin , ticarcillin / clavulanate , trimethoprim / sulfamethoxazole , valacyclovir , vancomycin , mafenide , silver sulfadiazine , mupirocin ( e . g ., bactroban nasal ®, glaxo smithkline , research triangle park , n . c . ), nystatin , triamcinolone / nystatin , clotrimazole / betamethasone , clotrimazole , ketoconazole , butoconazole , miconazole , tioconazole , detergent - like chemicals that disrupt or disable microbes ( e . g ., nonoxynol - 9 , octoxynol - 9 , benzalkonium chloride , menfegol , and n - docasanol ); chemicals that block microbial attachment to target cells and / or inhibits entry of infectious pathogens ( e . g ., sulphated and sulponated polymers such as pc - 515 ( carrageenan ), pro - 2000 , and dextrin 2 sulphate ); antiretroviral agents ( e . g ., pmpa gel ) that prevent retroviruses from replicating in the cells ; genetically engineered or naturally occurring antibodies that combat pathogens such as anti - viral antibodies genetically engineered from plants known as “ plantibodies ;” agents which change the condition of the tissue to make it hostile to the pathogen ( such as substances which alter mucosal ph ( e . g ., buffer gel and acidform ); non - pathogenic or “ friendly ” microbes that cause the production of hydrogen peroxide or other substances that kill or inhibit the growth of pathogenic microbes ( e . g ., lactobacillus ); antimicrobial proteins or peptides such as those described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 716 , 813 ( lin et al .,) which is expressly incorporated herein by reference or antimicrobial metals ( e . g ., colloidal silver ). additionally or alternatively , in some applications where it is desired to treat or prevent inflammation the substances delivered in this invention may include various steroids or other anti - inflammatory agents ( e . g ., nonsteroidal anti - inflammatory agents or nsaids ), analgesic agents or antipyretic agents . for example , corticosteroids that have previously administered by intranasal administration may be used , such as beclomethasone ( vancenasee or beconase ®), flunisolide ( nasalide ®), fluticasone proprionate ( flonase ®), triamcinolone acetonide ( nasacort ®), budesonide ( rhinocort aqua ®), loterednol etabonate ( locort ) and mometasone ( nasonex ®). other salt forms of the aforementioned corticosteroids may also be used . also , other non - limiting examples of steroids that may be useable in the present invention include but are not limited to aclometasone , desonide , hydrocortisone , betamethasone , clocortolone , desoximetasone , fluocinolone , flurandrenolide , mometasone , prednicarbate ; amcinonide , desoximetasone , diflorasone , fluocinolone , fluocinonide , halcinonide , clobetasol , augmented betamethasone , diflorasone , halobetasol , prednisone , dexamethasone and methylprednisolone . other anti - inflammatory , analgesic or antipyretic agents that may be used include the nonselective cox inhibitors ( e . g ., salicylic acid derivatives , aspirin , sodium salicylate , choline magnesium trisalicylate , salsalate , diflunisal , sulfasalazine and olsalazine ; para - aminophenol derivatives such as acetaminophen ; indole and indene acetic acids such as indomethacin and sulindac ; heteroaryl acetic acids such as tolmetin , dicofenac and ketorolac ; arylpropionic acids such as ibuprofen , naproxen , flurbiprofen , ketoprofen , fenoprofen and oxaprozin ; anthranilic acids ( fenamates ) such as mefenamic acid and meloxicam ; enolic acids such as the oxicams ( piroxicam , meloxicam ) and alkanones such as nabumetone ) and selective cox - 2 inhibitors ( e . g ., diaryl - substituted furanones such as rofecoxib ; diaryl - substituted pyrazoles such as celecoxib ; indole acetic acids such as etodolac and sulfonanilides such as nimesulide ) additionally or alternatively , in some applications , such as those where it is desired to treat or prevent an allergic or immune response and / or cellular proliferation , the substances delivered in this invention may include a ) various cytokine inhibitors such as humanized anti - cytokine antibodies , anti - cytokine receptor antibodies , recombinant ( new cell resulting from genetic recombination ) antagonists , or soluble receptors ; b ) various leucotriene modifiers such as zafirlukast , montelukast and zileuton ; c ) immunoglobulin e ( ige ) inhibitors such as omalizumab ( an anti - ige monoclonal antibody formerly called rhu mab - e25 ) and secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor ) and d ) syk kinase inhibitoers such as an agent designated as “ r - 112 ” manufactured by rigel pharmaceuticals , inc , or south san francisco , calif . additionally or alternatively , in some applications , such as those where it is desired to shrink mucosal tissue , cause decongestion or effect hemostasis , the substances delivered in this invention may include various vasoconstrictors for decongestant and or hemostatic purposes including but not limited to pseudoephedrine , xylometazoline , oxymetazoline , phenylephrine , epinephrine , etc . additionally or alternatively , in some applications , such as those where it is desired to facilitate the flow of mucous , the substances delivered in this invention may include various mucolytics or other agents that modify the viscosity or consistency of mucous or mucoid secretions , including but not limited to acetylcysteine ( mucomyst ™, mucosil ™) and guaifenesin . in one particular embodiment , the substance delivered by this invention comprises a combination of an anti - inflammatory agent ( e . g . a steroid or an nsaid ) and a mucolytic agent . additionally or alternatively , in some applications such as those where it is desired to prevent or deter histamine release , the substances delivered in this invention may include various mast cell stabilizers or drugs which prevent the release of histamine such as cromolyn ( e . g ., nasal chrom ®) and nedocromil . additionally or alternatively , in some applications such as those where it is desired to prevent or inhibit the effect of histamine , the substances delivered in this invention may include various antihistamines such as azelastine ( e . g ., astylin ®), diphenhydramine , loratidine , etc . additionally or alternatively , in some embodiments such as those where it is desired to dissolve , degrade , cut , break or remodel bone or cartilage , the substances delivered in this invention may include substances that weaken or modify bone and / or cartilage to facilitate other procedures of this invention wherein bone or cartilage is remodeled , reshaped , broken or removed . one example of such an agent would be a calcium chelator such as edta that could be injected or delivered in a substance delivery implant next to a region of bone that is to be remodeled or modified . another example would be a preparation consisting of or containing bone degrading cells such as osteociasts . other examples would include various enzymes of material that may soften or break down components of bone or cartilage such as collagenase ( cgn ), trypsin , trypsin / edta , hyaluronidase , and tosyllysylchloromethane ( tlcm ). additionally or alternatively , in some applications , the substances delivered in this invention may include other classes of substances that are used to treat rhinitis , nasal polyps , nasal inflammation , and other disorders of the ear , nose and throat including but not limited to anti - cholinergic agents that tend to dry up nasal secretions such as ipratropium ( atrovent nasal ®), as well as other agents not listed here . additionally or alternatively , in some applications such as those where it is desired to draw fluid from polyps or edematous tissue , the substances delivered in this invention may include locally or topically acting diuretics such as furosemide and / or hyperosmolar agents such as sodium chloride gel or other salt preparations that draw water from tissue or substances that directly or indirectly change the osmolar content of the mucous to cause more water to exit the tissue to shrink the polyps directly at their site . additionally or alternatively , in some applications such as those wherein it is desired to treat a tumor or cancerous lesion , the substances delivered in this invention may include antitumor agents ( e . g ., cancer chemotherapeutic agents , biological response modifiers , vascularization inhibitors , hormone receptor blockers , cryotherapeutic agents or other agents that destroy or inhibit neoplasia or tumorigenesis ) such as ; alkylating agents or other agents which directly kill cancer cells by attacking their dna ( e . g ., cyclophosphamide , isophosphamide ), nitrosoureas or other agents which kill cancer cells by inhibiting changes necessary for cellular dna repair ( e . g ., carmustine ( bcnu ) and lomustine ( ccnu )), antimetabolites and other agents that block cancer cell growth by interfering with certain cell functions , usually dna synthesis ( e . g ., 6 mercaptopurine and 5 - fluorouracil ( 5fu ), antitumor antibiotics and other compounds that act by binding or intercalating dna and preventing rna synthesis ( e . g ., doxorubicin , daunorubicin , epirubicin , idarubicin , mitomycin - c and bleomycin ) plant ( vinca ) alkaloids and other anti - tumor agents derived from plants ( e . g ., vincristine and vinblastine ), steroid hormones , hormone inhibitors , hormone receptor antagonists and other agents which affect the growth of hormone - responsive cancers ( e . g ., tamoxifen , herceptin , aromatase ingibitors such as aminoglutethamide and formestane , trriazole inhibitors such as letrozole and anastrazole , steroidal inhibitors such as exemestane ), antiangiogenic proteins , small molecules , gene therapies and / or other agents that inhibit angiogenesis or vascularization of tumors ( e . g ., meth - 1 , meth - 2 , thalidomide ), bevacizumab ( avastin ), squalamine , endostatin , angiostatin , angiozyme , ae - 941 ( neovastat ), cc - 5013 ( revimid ), medi - 522 ( vitaxin ), 2 - methoxyestradiol ( 2me2 , panzem ), carboxyamidotriazole ( cai ), combretastatin a4 prodrug ( ca4p ), su6668 , su11248 , bms - 275291 , col - 3 , emd 121974 , imc - 1c11 , 1m862 , tnp - 470 , celecoxib ( celebrex ), rofecoxib ( vioxx ), interferon alpha , interleukin - 12 ( il - 12 ) or any of the compounds identified in science vol . 289 , pages 1197 - 1201 ( aug . 17 , 2000 ) which is expressly incorporated herein by reference , biological response modifiers ( e . g ., interferon , bacillus calmette - guerin ( bcg ), monoclonal antibodies , interluken 2 , granulocyte colony stimulating factor ( gcsf ), etc . ), pgdf receptor antagonists , herceptin , asparaginase , busulphan , carboplatin , cisplatin , carmustine , cchlorambucil , cytarabine , dacarbazine , etoposide , flucarbazine , fluorouracil , gemcitabine , hydroxyurea , ifosphamide , irinotecan , lomustine , melphalan , mercaptopurine , methotrexate , thioguanine , thiotepa , tomudex , topotecan , treosulfan , vinblastine , vincristine , mitoazitrone , oxaliplatin , procarbazine , streptocin , taxol , taxotere , analogs / congeners and derivatives of such compounds as well as other antitumor agents not listed here . additionally or alternatively , in some applications such as those where it is desired to grow new cells or to modify existing cells , the substances delivered in this invention may include cells ( mucosal cells , fibroblasts , stem cells or genetically engineered cells ) as well as genes and gene delivery vehicles like plasmids , adenoviral vectors or naked dna , mrna , etc . injected with genes that code for anti - inflammatory substances , etc ., and , as mentioned above , osteoclasts that modify or soften bone when so desired , cells that participate in or effect mucogenesis or ciliagenesis , etc . additionally or alternatively to being combined with a device and / or a substance releasing modality , it may be ideal to position the device in a specific location upstream in the mucous flow path ( i . e . frontal sinus or ethmoid cells ). this could allow the deposition of fewer drug releasing devices , and permit the “ bathing ” of all the downstream tissues with the desired drug . this utilization of mucous as a carrier for the drug may be ideal , especially since the concentrations for the drug may be highest in regions where the mucous is retained ; whereas non - diseased regions with good mucous flow will be less affected by the drug . this could be particularly useful in chronic sinusitis , or tumors where bringing the concentration of drug higher at those specific sites may have greater therapeutic benefit . in all such cases , local delivery will permit these drugs to have much less systemic impact . further , it may be ideal to configure the composition of the drug or delivery system such that it maintains a loose affinity to the mucous permitting it to distribute evenly in the flow . also , in some applications , rather than a drug , a solute such as a salt or other mucous soluble material may be positioned at a location whereby mucous will contact the substance and a quantity of the substance will become dissolved in the mucous thereby changing some property ( e . g ., ph , osmolarity , etc ) of the mucous . in some cases , this technique may be used to render the mucous hyperosmolar so that the flowing mucous will draw water and / or other fluid from polyps , edematous mucosal tissue , etc ., thereby providing a drying or desiccating therapeutic effect . additionally or alternatively to substances directed towards local delivery to affect changes within the sinus cavity , the nasal cavities provide unique access to the olfactory system and thus the brain . any of the devices and methods described herein may also be used to deliver substances to the brain or alter the functioning of the olfactory system . such examples include , the delivery of energy or the deposition of devices and / or substances and / or substance delivering implant ( s ) to occlude or alter olfactory perception , to suppress appetite or otherwise treat obesity , epilepsy ( e . g ., barbiturates such as phenobarbital or mephoobarbital ; iminostilbenes such as carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine ; succinimides such as ethylsuximide ; valproic acid ; benzodiazepines such as clonazepam , clorazepate , diazepam and lorazepam , gabapentin , lamotrigine , acetazolamide , felbamate , levetiraceam , tiagabine , topiramate , zonisamide , etc . ), personality or mental disorders ( e . g ., antidepressants , antianxiety agents , antipsychotics , etc . ), chronic pain , parkinson &# 39 ; s disease ( e . g ., dopamine receptor agonists such as bromocriptine , pergolide , ropinitrol and pramipexole ; dopamine precursors such as levodopa ; comt inhibitors such as tolcapone and entacapone ; selegiline ; muscarinic receptor antagonists such as trihexyphenidyl , benztropine and diphenhydramine ) and alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease , huntington &# 39 ; s disease or other dementias , disorders of cognition or chronic degenerative diseases ( e . g . tacrine , donepezil , rivastigmine , galantamine , fluoxetine , carbamazepine , clozapine , clonazepam and proteins or genetic therapies that inhibit the formation of beta - amyloid plaques ), etc . the working element need not necessarily be a substance delivery reservoir 3322 . for example , another type of working element useable in this invention is a laser device . in one embodiment , the laser device may comprise an optical fiber that delivers laser energy through the distal region of the optical fiber . typical examples of lasers that can be used in the present invention are nd : yag lasers , ho : nag lasers , short pulsed laser systems such as excimer lasers ( wavelength : 308 nm , pulse length full width at half maximum height : 60 ns ), dye lasers ( wavelength : 504 nm , pulse length full width at half maximum height : 1200 ns ), tunable die lasers , ktp lasers , argon lasers , alexandrite lasers ( wavelength : 755 nm , pulse length full width at half maximum height : 300 - 500 ns ) etc . such a laser device may also be used in conjunction with or as a part of any method , system or device disclosed in this patent application for laser - assisted ablation or cutting , laser - assisted cauterization or other laser - assisted methods of treating sinusitis , mucocysts , tumors , polyps , occlusions , obstructions , edema or other conditions of the paranasal sinuses , eustachian tubes , lachrymal ducts , salivary glands and other hard or soft ear , nose , throat or mouth structures . such devices , systems and methods may also be used for performing other diagnostic or therapeutic procedures of eustachian tubes , tympanums and middle ear structures . examples of such procedures are biopsies , microendoscopy of the eustachian tube and the middle ear structures , diagnosis and / or treatment of roundwindow ruptures , auditory - ossicle dislocations after tympanoplasty , prothesis dislocation after stapeclotomy , neuroradiologically undetectable liquorrhea caused by otobasal fractures , progressive disorders of the sound - conducting apparatus , dysplasia of the ear , chronic otitis media mesotympanalis , cholesteatoma , presurgical evaluation of pathologic findings of both the mucosal lining and the ossicular chain , epitympanic retraction pockets of the ear drum , all chronic and recurrent ventilation or drainage disorders of eustachian tubes etc . fig3 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a guidewire comprising a sensor used for surgical navigation . guidewire 3400 comprises a sensor 3402 located on the distal region of guidewire 3400 . sensor 3402 enables guidewire 3400 to be used in conjunction with a suitable surgical navigation system . in one embodiment , sensor 3402 is an electromagnetic sensor used in conjunction with an electromagnetic surgical navigation system such as ge instatrak ™ 3500 plus system . in one embodiment , guidewire 3400 comprises an anchoring balloon 3404 located on the distal region of guidewire 3400 . anchoring balloon 3404 is inflated after positioning guidewire 3400 at a target location . anchoring balloon 3404 anchors guidewire 3400 to adjacent anatomy and prevents accidental repositioning of guidewire 3400 during a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure . anchoring balloon 3404 may be made from suitable compliant or semi - compliant material such as crosslinked polyethylene or other polyolefins , polyurethane , flexible polyvinylchloride , nylon etc . in one embodiment , guidewire 3400 comprises a soft distal tip . in another embodiment , guidewire 3400 comprises a curved distal end e . g . a “ j ” shaped distal end . sensors similar to sensor 3402 may be present on other diagnostic or therapeutic devices disclosed herein such as balloon catheters etc . similarly , the devices disclosed herein may comprise other types of sensors or transmitters such as electromagnetic , rf , piezoelectric , magnetic etc . the sensors or transmitters may be in the form of a variety of configurations including but not limited to single coils , multiple coils , antennae etc . the sensors or transmitters may be oriented in a variety of configurations including but not limited to nested , paired , orthogonal to each other , etc . fig3 a shows an enlarged view of an embodiment of a low profile proximal region of the guidewire in fig3 . the proximal region of guidewire 3400 comprises a distal electrical contact 3406 and a proximal electrical contact 3408 . distal electrical contact 3406 and proximal electrical contact 3408 are connected to sensor 3402 by conducting wires that run along guidewire 3400 to provide electrical energy to sensor 3402 . distal electrical contact 3406 and proximal electrical contact 3408 are connected to an external electrical supply by detachable electrodes . distal electrical contact 3406 and proximal electrical contact 3408 can be made of suitable conducting materials such as stainless steel , silver - palladium alloys , silver - platinum alloys etc . distal electrical contact 3406 and proximal electrical contact 3408 are separated from each other by a first insulating element 3410 . in one embodiment , guidewire 3400 further comprises a second insulating element 3412 located on the proximal end of guidewire 3400 . a low profile proximal region allows for the introduction of diagnostic or therapeutic devices over guidewire 3400 . fig3 b shows a perspective view of a method of advancing a diagnostic or therapeutic device over the guidewire in fig3 . in this example , the diagnostic or therapeutic device is a balloon catheter 3414 comprising a shaft 3416 having a balloon 3418 at the distal region of shaft 3416 and a hub 3420 at the proximal end of shaft 3416 . balloon catheter is advanced into a target anatomical region over the guidewire 3400 . in this example , guidewire 3400 comprises a low profile proximal end so that devices can be introduced in an over - the - wire manner into a target anatomy . fig3 c shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a combination of a guidewire comprising a sensor having a diagnostic or therapeutic device preloaded on the guidewire . in this example , the diagnostic or therapeutic device is balloon catheter 3414 . the proximal end of guidewire 3400 is connected to an external electrical supply 3422 by conducting wires 3424 . in this example , guidewire 3400 does not have a low profile proximal end so that devices cannot be introduced in an over - the - wire manner into a target anatomy . thus , balloon catheter 3414 is preloaded on guidewire 3400 by inserting proximal end of balloon catheter 3414 over distal end of guidewire 3400 . fig3 d shows a perspective view of a second embodiment of a combination of a guidewire comprising a sensor having a diagnostic or therapeutic device preloaded on the guidewire . in this example , the diagnostic or therapeutic device is balloon catheter 3414 . the proximal end of guidewire 3400 is connected by conducting wires 3426 to plug 3428 . plug 3428 detachably fits into an external power supply 3430 . in this example , guidewire 3400 does not have a low profile proximal end so that devices cannot be introduced in an over - the - wire manner into a target anatomy . thus , balloon catheter 3414 is preloaded on guidewire 3400 by inserting proximal end of balloon catheter 3414 over distal end of guidewire 3400 . one or more flexible regions especially flexible distal regions on the diagnostic or therapeutic devices disclosed herein may comprise bending or deflecting elements . examples of such bending or deflecting elements are one or more pull wires etc . made of suitable materials such as stainless steel flat wire etc . the abovementioned devices and methods may also be used for diagnosing or treating other conditions caused by narrowing or blockage of structures in the ear , nose , throat or mouth such as choanal atresia . various devices described herein such as catheters may comprise one or more lumens such as end - to - end lumens , zipper lumens , rapid exchange lumens , parallel lumen surrounded by a jacket etc . it is to be appreciated that the invention has been described hereabove with reference to certain examples or embodiments of the invention but that various additions , deletions , alterations and modifications may be made to those examples and embodiments without departing from the intended spirit and scope of the invention . for example , any element or attribute of one embodiment or example may be incorporated into or used with another embodiment or example , unless to do so would render the embodiment or example unsuitable for its intended use . all reasonable additions , deletions , modifications and alterations are to be considered equivalents of the described examples and embodiments and are to be included within the scope of the following claims .	0
fig1 through 3 show features of preferred embodiments of the present invention . a preferred embodiment is related to lip augmentation and wrinkle filling by laser filling with hyaluronic acid . as shown in fig1 the embodiment includes laser handpiece 12 , a replaceable disposable tip 16 which is a standoff for optimal focusing of the laser beam 17 and simultaneously is an applicator of different fluid , cream , or gel type substances on the surface of the skin 8 . in the preferred embodiment the laser is a handheld battery operated laser . fig2 shows the block diagram of the laser handpiece . it consists of light emitting module 21 with beam shaping lenses 24 , control circuit 26 , re - chargeable battery 28 , sensors 20 and a control panel with a display 22 . in the preferred embodiment the light source is a laser diode . the wavelength of the laser diode is 1930 nm . the laser output is laser pulses , the energy of pulses and its repetition rate is set at the control panel and displayed at the screen . the laser beam is focused by the beam shaping lenses in a small spot at a distance of the length of the tip standoff 23 . the detailed design of the disposable tip is shown at fig3 . the tip is made of a translucent medical grade plastics and is kept in a sterilized individual bag . the internal volume 44 of the tip 38 is filled with a fluid , cream or gel substance . before use the cap 32 on the top of the tip is removed and the tip is snapped to the laser . during the treatment the tip is sliding on the skin , the substance from the tip is applied onto the surface of the skin though a small opening made after removing the cap due to capillary effect . fig3 shows that the substance can be applied also via mini ball applicator 38 . in this preferred embodiment the fluid is hyaluronic acid . the fluid in the tip could be slightly heated up with electrical heater 36 or by energy split from laser light . application of the fluid takes place after the laser damages the skin . in the preferred embodiment with specific wavelength 1930 nm the laser pulses make a small opening in the stratum corneum , hyaluronic acid penetrates into the opening as a filler ( http :// en . wikipedia . org / wiki / hyaluronan # cosmetic_applications ). thus the described device is a compact - handheld non - expensive , easy to use system that combines all in one laser delivery device and a delivering substance . the tip can consist of more than one standoff as shown at fig4 a , 4 b , and 4 c . each one can contain different substances which can be applied right before , after and during laser action . for example for a dual standoff tip the first substance can be an anesthetic which is applied before laser action ( at opening 41 ) and the second substance can be a therapeutic or skin care substance for skin treatment which is applied after laser damage . fig4 b shows the tip with three substances which are applied before ( at opening 41 ), during ( at opening 43 ), and after ( at opening 42 ) laser action . fig4 c shows the delivery tip with multiple applicators . the disposable tip can be used with other handheld lasers . fig5 shows a handheld laser 53 with a scanner 50 . the laser produces a line of laser damages on skin , has a more powerful laser module and can be used for treatment of large areas of skin . to provide a source of energy to that more powerful laser a re - chargeable battery 51 is attached to the laser by cable 52 . the battery 51 can be clipped to the waist belt or be carried in a pocket . this system is also designed to deliver skin surface cooling . in preferred embodiments the surface cooling is provided with a flow of cold air . the cold air in preferred embodiments is at a temperature of about 0 to 3 ° c . and may be provided with a commercial off - the - shelf cooling air unit or with a simpler unit consisting of a blower unit , an accumulator and a tube coiled in an ice water bath . the disposable tip can be adopted to be attached to the handpieces of other stationary medical and cosmetic lasers which are commercially available or already being used in practice . the disposable tip can be used with a skin electroporation system . in this case damage to skin is produced by electrical energy and not light as in the case of lasers . fig6 . shows the system in operation with a handpiece being used to treat the face of a patient , the system comprising remote handpiece 18 , flexible supply tube 19 , cooling air tube 14 , fibers 7 , and fiber bundle 10 . in this embodiment a focused laser beam damages tiny volumes of skin tissue about 0 . 05 × 0 . 1 mm at the surface of the skin . due to the compact size of the device the procedure can be performed by a medical practitioner ( doctor , nurse , etc ) or by the patient himself . the laser handpiece can have an internal scanner to provide multiple laser damage at one position of the handpiece , also the beam shaping lenses can be designed in such a way to provide application of plurality of laser beams . the above embodiments describe techniques for skin treatments based on the concept of a combination of a laser delivery system and topical substance applicator both in one handpiece . the laser beam produces damage and the applicator delivers the substance from the tip to the damage zone . that combination provides a convenient way to deliver a filler or other medical , cosmetic or skin care substance under the surface of the skin thus improving the skin appearance . this concept can be extended to other types of treatments . some of these other types of treatments are discussed below : a handheld laser with scanning system is used for large area skin treatment . for skin rejuvenation purposes tips with vitamins and antioxidants in fluid form , stem cell factors , could be used . this combination is for large area skin rejuvenation including neo - collagen formation , sebaceous gland and bulge area stem cell mobilization . the laser beam is made by 1930 nm laser diode pulses , these laser pulses are used to perforate the stratum corneum . then an active topical agent ( cream , gel , suspension , solution , etc ) with vitamins , antioxidants , stem cell factors is applied . the active ingredients of the topical agents penetrate into the skin via micro openings and get into the tissue . this treatment can be combined with a second wavelength at 1550 nm which penetrates deeper into the skin and provides additional heating to increase the speed and efficacy of action of the topical substance . due to elevated temperature of the tissue the absorption and activity of the active ingredient increases and enhances the overall efficiency of the skin anti - aging procedure . the short laser pulses of 1930 μm rupture the upper surfaces of a scar making the scar tissue safer , and helps such surface rejuvenation . this combination can also be used for skin rejuvenation . another efficient combination of the tip is its combination with a short q - switched pulses of 1064 nm nd : yag laser . the hair removal process with that type of lasers is greatly enhanced if a special black ointment is applied prior to laser procedure . usually the ointment application procedure is cumbersome because it is soiled when applied by hands . the use of a tip filled with the black ointment and its application before lasing would make this procedure much easier and cleaner . the wavelength of 1930 nm from preferred the embodiment or around 2900 nm ( 2790 nm , 2940 nm ) or around 10600 nm can be used to produce small openings in the skin on the skull . the tip filled with stem cells , stem cell growth factors and / or medications applied through the tip applicator right after laser pulses will produce treatment to stimulate hair re - growth . applicants recommend a combination of 980 nm and 1440 nm and 1930 nm for treatment of rhytides , scars and wrinkles . the 980 nm beam is used to produce deep penetration of laser energy into the tissue , the 1440 nm is used to access subcutaneous collagen and 1930 nm beams is used to produce rupture of the stratum corneum and create an opening in the skin . these laser wavelengths can be combined with a disposable tip filled with hyaluronic acid , botox , fibroblasts , and other fillers , as well as with stem cell factors and other therapeutics . applicants recommend 980 nm and 532 nm or 540 nm for telangiatesia and pigmented lesions treatments . the 980 nm is for deeper penetration into the tissue and 532 nm or 540 nm are for shallow penetration . wavelengths in the range of 980 nm provide uniform preheating of and around the vessels and blood plasma . the small blood vessels are then destroyed by the energy of extremely short pulses of 532 nm or 540 nm laser beams which are strongly absorbed as shown in fig7 and 8 . this treatment will be efficient with anti - angiogenic treatment delivering a drug ( like avastin or lucentis ) or an anti - angiogenic antibody provided with the use of the tip with those substances . this will inhibit re - appearance of destroyed blood vessels . for treatment of pigmented lesions and wrinkles applicants recommend a combination of 980 nm , 532 nm and 1440 . the 980 nm beam is to form an energy cavity with deep penetration ( several mm ) and 532 nm and / or 1440 nm are used to form energy drops to treat pigmented lesions and wrinkles at the same time as described above . some skin treatment procedures like for example subcutaneous injection of live fibroblasts specifically target collagen fiber modifications . combination of the delivery of that and similar substances with the help of a delivery tip and a laser have double folded benefits . first the laser produces an opening in the skin and provides a delivery pathway for the active substance that modifies collagen fibers and structure , also laser damage of the skin and collagen fibers induces an endogenous process of collagen modification . those two processes acting together significantly increase the efficacy of collagen modification and lead to skin rejuvenation . the tip can be filled with a dye . after the rupture of the stratum corneum by the laser the dye from the tip applicator penetrates into micro - holes in the upper layer of skin and can stay there for some time producing a tattoo . since the depth of the skin opening is very superficial compared to traditional tattoo needles , the tattoo does not stay long , thus this process can be used as a temporal tattoo for aesthetic and therapeutic purposes . the handheld lasers systems with single or dual wavelength with or without a scanner can be obtained from dolleris technology with offices in vancouver , canada and intezity innovation ( hvidovre , denmark ). all of the above combinations of wavelengths can be obtained by using powerful laser diodes . the laser diodes can be obtained from a number of manufacturers like nlight , with offices in vancouver , canada ; coherent , with offices in santa clara , calif . and ipg photonics , with offices in oxford , mass . other laser suppliers include palomar ( burlington , mass . ), cynosure ( westford , mass . ), candela ( wayland , mass . ), sciton ( palo alto , calif . ), lumenis ( santa clara , calif . ), cutera ( brisbane , calif . ), lutronic ( fremont , calif .). the reader should understand that the above specific embodiments of the present invention are merely examples and that many changes and modifications could be made without departing from the important concepts of the present invention . for example , many sources of radiation at different wavelengths that are scattered and absorbed in tissue and skin with specific configuration and time relationship may be substituted for the lasers described in detail . in fact the above - described source of radiation could be any source of electromagnetic energy that meets the above - described criteria , such as microwave , radio frequency , light ( laser diodes , light emitting diodes ( led ), non - coherent light source ), etc . those sources of radiation are to be combined with a disposable tip that delivers a topical substance onto the surface of skin before after or during the action of the radiation .	0
fig7 illustrates an automotive vehicle 1 which is provided with an electrically controlled air bag system . the air bag system includes a plurality of front collision sensors 11 which are located near the front bumper 2 of the vehicle , and a dash panel collision sensor 12 which is attached to the dash panel 3 at the front of the passenger compartment . the front collision sensors 11 and dash panel collision sensor 12 are electrically connected to a control unit 13 located in an instrument panel 4 . the collision sensors are gravity sensors which are well known in the art . the front collision sensors 11 are set with a relatively low sensitivity so that they turn on when the vehicle 1 is in a collision . the dash panel collision sensor 12 is set with a relatively high sensitivity so that it turns on when it detects a collision force larger than a predetermined value . referring to fig6 a steering wheel 5 has a central portion with an air bag module 20 . the air bag module 20 comprises as a unit the main components of the air bag system including the air bag , the inflator , and the ignition device . the air bag module 20 is electrically connected to the control unit 13 , and the ignition device thereof is ignited in response to a command signal from the control unit 13 . in accordance with the above , when the automotive vehicle 1 is in a collision , at least one of the plurality of front collision sensors 11 is turned on . if , in addition , the collision has sufficient impact to turn on a dash panel collision sensor 12 , the control unit 13 sends out the signal to ignite the ignition device . the ignition device ignites the inflator , which produces a sufficient amount of gas in a short time to expand an air bag 21 toward a passenger m as shown in fig7 . the following is a detailed description of the air bag module 20 . referring to fig4 and 5 , the air bag module 20 has an inflator 22 which produces gases in a short period of time due to the reaction of gas generation material and reaction promoting material . the air bag module 20 is also provided with ignition device 23 for igniting the inflator , and which for example generates heat by conducting electricity to cause the reaction between the gas generation material and the reaction promoting material . the air bag module 20 is further provided with an air bag 21 which expands in a very short time due to the gas generated by the inflator 22 . the air bag 21 , inflator 22 and ignition device 23 are integrally assembled as a unit in the air bag module 20 . particularly , these elements are fixed on a base plate 24 and covered by a case or bag cover 25 . the case 25 faces the passenger when the air bag module is installed on the steering wheel 5 . the base plate 24 is provided with four bolts 31 disposed in a rectangular configuration and extending from a bottom surface thereof . the air bag module may be fixed to the steering wheel 5 by inserting the bolts 31 into corresponding holes in a central hub of the wheel . the inflator 22 is fastened on the base plate 24 with a plurality ( e . g . four sets ) of bolts 32a and nuts 32b . the ignition device 23 is mounted in the center of the inflator 22 . the inflator 22 has a circular side portion which forms a plurality of gas holes 22a through which generated gases are emitted into the air bag 21 . the air bag 21 is folded so as to be packed into the bag cover 25 and is held about its periphery by a retainer ring 33 . the retainer ring 33 is fixed to the base plate 24 by a plurality of rivets 34 . the ignition device 23 is provided with an electrical harness 26 having a connector 27 disposed at a distal end thereof . the harness 26 is connected with the harness of the control unit 13 by the connector 27 . the bag cover 25 has a box - like form with a u - shaped cross section . once the bag cover 25 has been placed on the base plate 24 so as to accommodate the inflator 22 , the ignition device 23 and the air bag 21 , the bag cover 25 is mounted to the base plate 24 by means of an upper reinforcement plate 35 u , a lower reinforcement plate 35 l , a right reinforcement plate 36 r , and a left reinforcement plate 36 l at the upper , lower , right and left peripheral edges thereof respectively . the reinforcement plates are fixed to the base plate by a plurality of rivets 37 . referring to fig3 on the outside surface of the bag cover 25 are formed a transverse groove 41a , and a pair of longitudinal grooves 42a and 43a disposed at opposite ends of the transverse groove 41a . on the inside surface of the bag cover 25 , a transverse groove 41b is formed under the transverse groove 41a . a pair of longitudinal grooves 42b and 43b are also formed on the inside surface of the bag cover 25 corresponding to the longitudinal grooves 42a and 43a . the grooves 41a - b , 42a - b and 43a - b together form an h - shaped groove 40 . the inside of the bag cover 25 is provided with a reinforcement material 25r such as mesh sheet made of synthetic resin ( see fig5 ). the reinforcement material 25r is disposed so as not to interfere with the groove 40 . the reinforcement material 25r functions not only to hold the shape of the bag cover 25 but also to prevent the bag cover 25 from being broken into small pieces and being scattered . when the automotive vehicle 1 is in a collision , the air bag system is actuated to expand the air bag 21 . by the expansion force of the air bag 21 , a thin portion 41c formed between the transverse groove 41a and 41b is broken so that the bag cover 25 is separated into upper and lower parts . the thin portion 41c is designed to be the weakest portion of the bag cover so that the explosion of the bag cover 25 initiates along the transverse groove 41 ( see fig5 ). subsequently thin portions formed between the longitudinal groove 42a and the longitudinal groove 42b and between the longitudinal groove 43a and the longitudinal groove 43b are broken . because of the configuration of the h - shaped groove 40 , the bag cover 25 can be unfolded not only in the up - and - down direction but also in the right - to - left direction . therefore , the air bag 21 can expand smoothly . the present invention further comprises a temporary holding element which connects the air bag module 20 and the steering wheel 5 so that the air bag module 20 can be held by the temporary holding element during installation of the air bag module 20 on the steering wheel 5 . hereinafter , an installation of the air bag module 20 to the steering wheel 5 is explained in detail . referring to fig1 the steering wheel 5 has a center plate 51 which forms a central hub portion and four steering spokes 53 which connect the plate 51 to wheel ring 52 . these steering spokes 53 have arm portions 53a integrally formed with the center plate 51 . by connecting the arm portions 53a with a steel core ( not shown ) of the wheel ring 52 , the center plate 51 is securely fixed to the wheel ring 52 . the center plate 51 is provided with a circular shaft hole 51a through which the head of the steering shaft ( not shown ) extends and a rectangular harness hole 51b through which the harness from the control unit 13 extends toward the air bag module 20 . the steering shaft extends through a rear cover 54 which covers rear side of the plate 51 . the arms 53a are provided with holes 53b corresponding to the bolts of the air bag module 20 . in addition , the center plate 51 is provided with a hook 55 disposed at a side portion thereof . the base plate 24 of the air bag module 20 is provided with a connecting band 60 connected at one end thereto . the distal end of the connector band 60 is formed in a loop shape 60a which is designed to be hung on the hook 55 . the wire harness 56 from the control unit 13 is fixed to the rear side of the center plate 51 and has a connector 57 at its end . when the air bag module 20 is to be installed on the steering wheel 5 , looped end 60a of the connector band 60 is first hooked on the hook 55 . subsequently , the connector 57 of the harness 56 is coupled with the connector 27 of the harness 26 . then , the bolts 31 of the air bag module 20 are inserted into the holes 53b on the arms 53a , and the installation is completed by fastening the nuts 59 on the bolts 31 . the connecting band 60 functions to keep a predetermined distance between the air bag module 20 and the steering wheel 5 during installation which is shorter than the length of the connected wire harness . therefore , as shown in fig2 when the worker releases the air bag module 20 from his hand during installation , the air bag module 20 is held by the connecting band 60 without damaging the harnesses 26 and 56 . accordingly , installation of the air bag module 20 becomes much easier . in addition , since the connecting band 60 remains between the air bag module 20 and the steering wheel 5 after the installation is completed , the connecting band 60 can be used again for service work at service stations or dealerships . though the above embodiment is described on the basis of steering wheel wherein the central hub 51 consists of a center plate which rotates integrally with the wheel ring 52 , this invention may be applied to another steering wheel wherein the center hub does not rotate and wherein the air bag module remains stationary . in such a system , the harness from the control unit can be directly connected to the harness of the air bag module without inserting a steering shaft portion . in this case , the looped end of the connecting band would be fixed to a hook somewhere on the vehicle body . fig8 shows an instrument panel portion 101 of a vehicle employing the second or third embodiment of the air bag system of this invention . the instrument panel 1001 includes an upper instrument panel 101a forming an top surface and an upper front surface and a lower instrument panel 101b forming a lower front surface . the upper instrument panel 101a includes an opening 102 which is formed so as to face a passenger seated next to the driver of the vehicle . inside of the opening 102 is an inner space 103 , which accommodates an air bag module 120 , as shown in fig9 and 10 . opening 102 is closed by an air bag lid 104 consisting of a pair of lids 105 and 106 . hereinafter , referring to fig9 and 10 , a specific structure for installing the air bag module 120 is explained in more detail . the air bag module 120 is disposed in a casing 121 , the front end 121a of which is widely opened , in which an inflator 122 for generating gas , an air bag which is inflated by the gas of the inflator 122 , and an ignition device for actuating the inflator 122 are accommodated together . the air bag module 120 is located so that the front end 121a faces toward the passenger seated next the driver through the opening 102 . in this embodiment , a steering shaft supporting member 107 extending transversely across the instrument panel 101 and under the casing 121 is utilized to fix the air bag module 120 . since the steering shaft supporting member 107 is secured to the vehicle body at both ends , the air bag module 120 can be fixed firmly . the steering shaft member 107 has a pair of member brackets 118 , 118 on it . the casing 121 has a pair of front end brackets 115 , 115 which mate with the front ends of the member brackets 118 , 118 , respectively . casing 121 also has a pair of lower end brackets 116 , 116 which mate with the rear end of the member brackets 118 , 118 , respectively . these brackets 115 , 115 and 118 , 118 or brackets 116 , 116 and 118 , 118 are fastened together by bolts 117 , 117 . on the steering shaft supporting member 107 , an adjusting bracket 110 for adjusting position of the air bag module 120 to the instrument panel 101 is provided . the adjusting bracket 110 has a pin portion 114 protruding horizontally . the casing 121 has a locating bracket 119 provided on the lower end thereof so as to mate with pin portion 114 . the casing 121 is installed automatically at its desirable position by inserting the pin portion 114 into a hole formed on the locating bracket 119 . the lid 105 and 106 constitute an upper half and a lower half of the air bag lid 104 . under normal conditions , these lids 105 and 106 are connected integrally by a connecting bar 141 so as to close the air bag lid 104 , as shown in fig3 . however , when the air bag inflates , these lids 105 and 106 open in an up - and - down direction . the lids 105 and 106 are fixed to the casing 121 of the air bag module 120 by means of a pair of upper and lower brackets 142 and 143 , respectively . a cowl box 111 is disposed in the inner end of the inner space 103 . in front of the cowl box 111 , a defroster nozzle unit 108 is provided so that the below opening of the defroster nozzle unit 108 points to a glass front windshield 112 . the instrument panel 101 has at its inner side an unit holding bracket 125 , which holds the defroster nozzle unit 108 by means of a plurality of bolts 126 , 126 . thus defroster nozzle unit 108 also has a protrusion 127 , which forms integrally with hook portion 130 the temporary holding means in accordance with this invention . a tidal end 132b of a connecting band 132 , a base end 132a of which is tied to the side of the casing 121 for the air bag module 120 , is hung upon the hook portion 130 . therefore , the hook portion 130 and the air bag module 120 can be combined with each other by the connecting band 132 . the connecting band 132 is made of a flexible material , so it can be left in the inner space 103 without interfering with other components after the installation of the air bag module 120 is completed . thus , the connecting band 132 is used again for service work . on the other hand , a blower unit 109 is fixed to the bottom of the cowl box 111 through a pair of front and rear holding brackets 145 and 146 . on the front holding bracket 145 , a body side connector 133 is fixed . this body side connector 133 is attached at the tidal end of the body side harness 131a extending to a control unit 150 provided in the body side . a module side harness 131b is connected at its base end to the inflator 122 of the air bag module 120 . at a tidal end , the module side harness 131b is connected to a module side connector 134 , which is detachably coupled with the body side connector 133 . the body side harness 131a and the module side harness 131b constitute a harness 131 . in accordance with this invention , the length of the connecting band 132 is designed to be short enough that the harness 131 is still loose even when the connecting band 132 is put under strain . in this embodiment , the length of the connecting band 132 is shorter than that of the module side harness 131b . by arranging the length of the connecting band 132 as described above , for example , when the air bag module 120 is removed from its installed position for repairs , the connecting band 132 can bear excessive stress caused by the weight of module 120 when accidentally dropped and completely prevent the harness 131 from being damaged by receiving such excessive stress because the harness 131 is held in a loose condition at all times by virtue of the shorter connecting band 132 . thus , the invention results in work efficiency such that repair work is greatly improved . furthermore , the hook portion 130 is disposed on the instrument panel 101 through the defroster nozzle unit 108 . this makes it easier to get the connecting band 132 as short as possible , because the instrument panel 101 is closely located near the air bag module 120 . as a result , the free fall distance of the air bag module 120 is restricted within a relatively short length by virtue of the short connecting band 132 , which contributes to safety in repair work on the air bag structure . fig1 and 12 show the third embodiment of the air bag system in accordance with this invention . this embodiment is the same as the second embodiment except for the position of the hook portion 130 . that is , the hook portion 130 is formed on the side wall of the blower unit 109 . explanation of other components is omitted here since the remaining structure is the same as in the second embodiment . as in the second embodiment , the length of the connecting band 132 is designed to be short enough so that the harness 131 is still loose even when the connecting band 132 is put under strain in this embodiment . the length of the connecting band 132 is also shorter than that of the module side harness 131b . by arranging the length of the connecting band 132 as described above , as well as in the second embodiment , when the air bag module 120 is accidentally dropped , the connecting band 132 can bear excessive stress caused by the weight of module 120 when accidentally dropped and completely prevent the harness 131 from being damaged by receiving such excessive stress because the harness 131 is held in a loose condition at all times by virtue of the shorter connecting band 132 . thus , the efficiency of such repair work can be greatly improved . in addition , the hook portion 130 in this embodiment can be connected rigidly to the body since the blower 109 is fixed even more firmly to the cowl panel 111 , i . e ., the body member , than the instrument panel 101 . therefore , the hook 130 can support the module 120 securely when it is dropped . while there is shown and described present embodiments of the invention , it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto , but may be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims .	1
referring to fig1 the prior art f t doubler amplifier includes a pair of differential amplifiers comprising transistors 14 , 18 , 20 and 24 , and emitter resistors 16 and 22 . the pair of differential amplifiers provide all the signal gain for the amplifier as well as an error current . the error current is due to a mismatch in the emitter base voltages . the bases of transistors 14 and 24 form the differential input for the amplifier , and the bases of transistors 18 and 20 are coupled to a reference voltage . disregarding the effects of transistor beta , the voltages and currents of the differential amplifiers are balanced and may be described by : the collectors of the two differential amplifiers are cross coupled to provide twice the current gain for the same voltage input . these currents are summed and flow through the common base stage comprised of transistors 10 and 12 . referring o fig2 the amplifier according to the present invention produces an error current in a pair of error amplifiers which is necessary to correct the nonlinearities produced by the differential amplifiers . the amplifiers comprise transistors 38 , 42 , 44 and 48 , emitter resistors 40 and 46 , and current sources 26 , 28 , 30 and 32 . the bias current sources 26 , 28 , 30 and 32 provide the bias current for transistors 38 , 42 , 44 and 48 . this bias current also is used to bias transistors 14 , 18 , 20 and 24 . the series connection of the error amplifiers permits the linearization of the amplifier with minimum additional power dissipation . the error amplifiers produce the same current output since the base of transistor 38 and the base of transistor 44 , and the base of transistor 42 and the base of transistor 48 are coupled together . the controlling voltage for the error amplifiers is provided by transistors 34 and 36 , which comprise a differential buffer amplifier . the transistors are matched and biased by matched current sources 50 and 52 . the base of transistor 34 is coupled to the emitter of transistor 18 , and the base of transistor 36 is coupled to the emitter of transistor 20 . the control voltage is the voltage between the emitters of transistors 34 and 36 and is given by : rearranging the terms and cancelling equal emitter voltages we have the following : the control voltage is then applied to the coupled bases of the two error amplifiers . the corresponding output currents produced by the collectors of the error amplifiers , assuming that emitter resistors 16 , 22 , 40 and 46 have substantially the same value , will have the same magnitude , but opposite polarity . it may now be shown that the collector current of the differential amplifiers are free of any error current . ## equ1 ## the total differential output of the amplifier is given by : ## equ2 ## note that the transconductance expression also has no error term but retains the advantage of the f t doubler circuit , namely a doubling of the current output for a given voltage input . as in any integrated circuit , it is desirable to match certain devices in order that maximum performance may be obtained . therefore it is desirable to match transistors 10 and 12 ; transistors 14 , 18 , 20 and 24 ; transistors 34 and 36 , transistors 38 , 42 , 44 , and 48 ; emitter resistors 16 , 22 , 40 and 46 ; current sources 26 , 28 , 30 and 32 ; and current sources 50 and 52 . while i have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many changes and modifications may be made without departing from my invention in its broader aspects .	7
[ 0034 ] fig4 shows a sprocket 50 engaging a silent chain 10 according to the present invention . the chain 10 has a front side 11 and a back side 13 . the sprocket 50 has teeth 52 spaced around the circumference of the sprocket 50 in two separated and parallel rows 54 and 56 . the teeth 52 extend radially outwardly from the sprocket 50 . the teeth 52 of the row 54 are each adjacent to a tooth 52 of the row 56 . the teeth 52 of the sprocket 50 engage the chain 10 at its back side 13 . the chain 10 is comprised of rows of flat tooth links 12 and guide links 14 . as best shown by fig5 the flat tooth links 12 of the chain 10 are generally flat plates that define apertures 18 that are separated is along a chain direction of the link 12 . as is conventional for links of a silent chain , the apertures 18 are near the ends of the tooth link 12 along the chain direction . as is also conventional for links of silent chains , the tooth links 12 define two teeth 16 that are adjacent to each along the chain direction and that extend in a front direction that is generally perpendicular to the chain direction . the guide links 14 are flat plates that define two apertures 22 that are separated from each other along the chain direction of the guide link 14 . the chain 10 is formed by flat tooth links 12 arranged in alternating outer rows 32 and inner rows 34 . the inner rows 34 are formed by two tooth links 12 that are positioned adjacent to each other so that flat plate surfaces of the links 12 are adjacent to each other . the two links 12 forming the inner row 34 are positioned so that the apertures 18 of the adjacent tooth links 12 are aligned to define openings though the inner row 34 . the outer rows 32 are formed by two pairs of side by side tooth links 12 . as for the inner rows 34 , each of the pairs of links 12 that define an outer row 32 are positioned side by side so that the apertures 18 are aligned to define openings though the outer row 34 . the two pairs of links 12 are separated by the thickness of the inner rows 34 to accept a portion of an adjacent inner row 34 between the pairs of flat links 12 that form the outer row 32 . adjacent inner and outer rows are interleaved so that a portion of each inner row 34 adjacent to the ends of an outer row 32 is positioned between a portion of the pairs of flat links 12 that form the outer row 32 that is adjacent to the inner row 34 . the apertures 18 of the inner row 34 are aligned with the apertures 18 of the two pairs of teeth 12 that form the outer row 32 to define an opening through the overlapping portions of the inner row 34 and the outer row 32 . two guide plates 14 are positioned laterally adjacent the inner rows 34 , one at each side of the inner row and separated from the inner row 34 by the width of the pair of links 12 of the adjacent outer rows 32 that overlap each end of the inner row 34 . the apertures 22 of the guide plates 14 are aligned with the apertures 18 of the inner row 34 and the overlapping portions of the outer rows 32 . a pin 24 extends through aligned apertures 22 of the guide plates 14 on either lateral side of the inner row 34 and apertures 18 of the tooth links 12 of the inner row 34 and the apertures 18 of the two pairs of tooth links 12 of the overlapping outer row 32 . the pin 24 may be secured near its ends to the guide plates 14 . the apertures 18 of the tooth links 12 of the inner and outer rows 34 and 32 may be sized so that the tooth links 12 articulate about the pin 24 . the chain 10 forms an endless loop of outer rows 32 and inner rows 34 joined by pins 24 that extend through guide plates 14 . the chain 10 is an endless loop that is formed so that the teeth 16 of the links 12 extend toward the region within the loop . the surface of the chain 10 along which the teeth 16 extend is the front side 11 of the chain 10 . the surface of the chain 10 that is opposite the front side of the chain and faces outwardly from the region within the endless loop is the back side 13 of the chain 10 . as shown by fig6 the teeth 16 along the front side 11 of the chain 10 will mesh with a sprocket 40 within the regions bounded by the endless loop formed by chain 10 in a manner that is conventional for front drive silent chain and sprocket engagement . as the chain 10 wraps about the sprocket 40 , the front - driven sprocket 40 positions a tooth 41 between the teeth 16 of every link 12 in the inner rows 34 and the outer rows 32 . thus , every link 12 engages a tooth of the sprocket 40 at each end along its chain direction and between teeth 16 . the engagement of the sprocket 40 and front side 11 of the chain 10 is referred to as single tooth spacing . [ 0039 ] fig7 shows the back side 13 of the silent chain 10 engaging the teeth 52 of the sprocket 50 . the teeth 52 of rows 54 and 56 are separated from adjacent teeth in the row the length of the tooth links 12 along a chain direction of the chain 10 . as shown by fig4 and 7 , the sprocket - 50 does not engage the back side 13 of the chain 10 at single tooth spacing . as shown by fig5 the tooth links 12 define a back side that faces opposite from the teeth 16 along the back side 13 of the chain 10 . the back side of the links 12 includes a guide surface 42 that is generally flat and extends along the chain direction of the link , and two back side flanks 44 that extend from opposite ends of the guide surface 42 toward the front side of the tooth 12 and face partially along the chain direction of the link 12 . the two rows 54 and 56 of sprocket teeth 52 of the sprocket 50 are separated from each other to accept the inner rows 34 between those rows , and to engage the separated pairs of links 12 of the outer rows 32 . as best shown by fig7 the sprocket teeth 52 are configured and separated from adjacent teeth around the periphery of the sprocket 50 to accept a tooth link 12 between adjacent teeth . faces 62 on either side of the sprocket tooth 52 are adjacent to the side flanks 44 of the links 12 of the links 12 of the outer row 32 adjacent to the sprocket tooth 52 . as the chain 10 engages the sprocket 50 , the sprocket 50 positions two teeth 52 , one from each of the rows 54 and 56 , between adjacent outer rows 32 , one tooth 52 adjacent to each pair of teeth 12 that comprise an outer row 32 . thus , the chain 10 engages the teeth 52 of the sprocket 50 at a distance around the periphery of the sprocket 52 that is twice the distance that it engages teeth of a front drive sprocket 40 . the engagement of the sprocket 50 and the back side 13 of the chain 10 is referred to as double tooth spacing . a sprocket engaging a chain by double tooth spacing conventionally does not limit motion due to chordal fall as does a sprocket engaging a chain with single tooth spacing . in accordance with the present invention , the sprocket 50 and chain 10 are configured so that the sprocket 50 engages the chain 10 to limit the motion of the chain 10 along the sprocket teeth 52 . as shown by fig4 , and 8 , the sprocket 50 includes a raised shoulder 58 positioned between the rows 54 and 56 of sprocket teeth 52 . as shown by fig . s 4 and 7 , the shoulder 58 contacts the guide surface 42 of the links 12 of the inner rows 34 positioned between the sprocket teeth 52 . the shoulder 58 supports the inner rows 34 at the appropriate location along the radial , inward to outward , direction along the sprocket teeth 52 . because the inner rows 34 are supported at the appropriate location , the outer rows 32 are supported by the inner rows 34 at each end along the chain direction , and are maintained in the appropriate position between the adjacent sprocket teeth 52 of the rows 54 and 56 . as best shown by fig7 the sprocket teeth 52 each define two faces 62 on opposed sides of tooth 52 facing along the periphery of the sprocket 50 that is wrapped by the chain 10 . the faces 62 are adjacent to the back side flanks 44 of the links 12 of the outer rows 32 . the faces 62 of adjacent teeth 52 are joined by a crotch 64 . the crotch 64 extends into the sprocket 50 to provide a clearance between the guide surface 42 of the link 12 adjacent to the crotch 64 . the links 12 of the outer rows 32 contact the sprocket only at the faces 62 of the teeth 52 . the links 12 of the outer rows 32 are maintained at desired location radially outwardly from the sprocket 52 and in a desired position with respect to the teeth 52 by the pins 24 that join the outer rows 32 to the adjacent inner rows 34 which are supported by the shoulder 58 . [ 0043 ] fig9 shows a sprocket 70 that supports the inner rows 34 of the chain 10 by an alternative structure to the shoulder 58 . the sprocket 70 has teeth 72 that engage the chain 10 from the back side 13 as do the teeth 52 of the sprocket 50 . the sprocket 70 does not have a shoulder between rows of teeth . rather , the teeth 72 forms a ledge 74 at the laterally outside surface of the tooth 72 . the guide plates 14 at the lateral extents of the inner rows 34 extend adjacent to the lateral sides of the teeth 72 , and abut the ledge 74 that extends outwardly from the lateral surface of the teeth 72 . the ledge 74 supports the guide links 14 at a desired location adjacent to the teeth 72 to support the guide link 14 and the inner row 34 of which it forms a part at a desired location along the radial direction of the tooth 72 . while most of the previous discussion has taken place in the context of back - driven arrangements , the above principles apply to any double tooth spaced sprockets . further , while the invention has been described in connection with preferred embodiments , it will be understood that those embodiments are not the limit of the invention . rather , the invention covers all alternatives , modifications , and equivalents within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .	5
preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following with reference to the drawings . fig1 is a cross - sectional view of an air bag gas generator of the present invention . this embodiment is effective as a gas generator primarily with a housing having an outer diameter of about 70 mm . this gas generator includes : a housing 3 , which is composed of a diffuser shell 1 and a closure shell 2 ; an electrical ignition type igniting unit provided in a storage space in the housing 3 , i . e ., an igniter 4 and a transfer charge 5 ; gas generating agents , which are ignited by the igniter 4 and the transfer charge 5 and generate combustion gas , i . e ., solid gas generating agents 6 ; and a filter unit which defines a combustion chamber 28 so that the gas generating agents 6 may be contained , i . e ., a coolant / filter 7 . the diffuser shell 1 is formed by pressing a stainless steel sheet . it has a circular portion 12 and a circumferential wall portion 10 formed on the outer circumferential portion of the circular portion 12 . it also has a flange portion 19 , which is located at the tip of this circumferential wall portion 10 and extends outward in the radial direction . in the present embodiment , the circumferential wall portion 10 is provided with eighteen 3 mm diameter gas discharge ports 11 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction . a protruding circular portion 13 , which protrudes outward due to a reinforced step 49 , is formed at the center of the circular portion 12 of the diffuser shell 1 . the reinforced step 49 functions to provide stability to the housing , especially to the diffuser shell circular portion 12 that forms its ceiling portion . the step 49 also increases the capacity of the storage space . a transfer charge container 53 , which contains a transfer charge 5 , is held between the protruding circular portion 13 and the igniter 4 . the flange portion 19 of the diffuser shell , shown in fig2 has an attachment portion 98 for attaching metal fittings of a pad module . this attachment portion 98 is provided at a 90 - degree interval in the circumferential direction of the flange portion 19 , and it has attachment holes 99 for receiving screws . an outer edge of the flange portion 20 on a closure shell side is indicated by the dotted line in fig2 . the closure shell 2 is formed by pressing a stainless steel sheet . it has a circular portion 30 , a central opening 15 formed at its center , a circumferential wall portion 47 formed on . the outer circumferential portion of above - mentioned circular portion 30 , and a flange portion 20 , which is located at the tip of this circumferential wall portion 47 and which extends outward in the radial direction . a bent portion 14 , bent in the axial direction , is provided at an edge of the central opening 15 . the bent portion 14 provides rigidity to the edge of central opening 15 and provides a relatively large joint face with the inner cylindrical member 16 . the inner cylindrical member 16 is provided so as to fit into the central opening 15 , and an end surface 17 of one end of the inner cylindrical member 16 is designed to become level with the end surface 18 of the bent area 14 . the diffuser shell 1 and the closure shell 2 form the housing 3 by overlaying the flange portion 19 of the diffuser shell with the flange portion 20 of the closure shell at the central cross - section in the horizontal direction with respect to the axial direction of the housing 3 . these shells are connected by laser welding 21 . the flange portions 19 and 20 provide rigidity to the housing , especially to its outer circumferential wall 8 , to prevent deformation of the housing due to gas pressure . the inner cylindrical member 16 is made of a stainless steel tube , one end of which is joined to the protruding circular portion 13 of the diffuser shell 1 , at a broad width portion 100 extending outside thereof , and the other end of which is open . the broad width portion 100 is secured to the protruding circular portion 13 of the diffuser shell by electron - beam welding 22 from outside of the diffuser shell . the igniting unit storage chamber 23 is formed inside the inner cylindrical member 16 . the interior of the igniting unit storage chamber 23 is provided with an igniter 4 , which is activated by a signal from a sensor ( not shown in the figure ), and the transfer charge container 53 , which contains the transfer charge 5 to be ignited by this igniter 4 . in this embodiment , the inner cylindrical member 16 has an igniter holding member 24 , and the holding member 24 comprises : a flange area 25 , which faces inward to restrict the axial movement of the igniter 4 , a circumferential wall portion 26 , where the igniter is fitted and secured on the inner circumferential surface of inner cylindrical member 16 ; and a crimping portion 27 , which secures the igniter axially by crimping the above - mentioned inward facing flange portion 25 . the inner cylindrical member 16 also has through - holes 54 on one side thereof ( i . e ., the diffuser shell side ). in this embodiment , six 2 . 5 - mm diameter through - holes are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction , and the through - holes 54 are sealed by a seal tape 52 ′. the inner cylindrical member 16 is formed by rolling and welding a 1 . 2 - 3 . 0 mm thick stainless steel sheet into a tube body , and a broad width portion 100 is formed at one end thereof . the cylindrical member may have an outer diameter of 17 - 22 mm , and the broad width portion 100 has an outer diameter greater than 22 mm and less than 47 mm , preferably an outer diameter greater than 30 mm and less than 47 mm . this kind of welded tube can also be obtained by forming a cylindrical shape using , for instance : the uo press method ( molding the sheet into a u shape , then shaping it into an q shape , and welding the seam ); the electrical seam tube method ( molding the sheet into a disc shape , and welding the seam with resistance heat by running a large electrical current while adding pressure to the seam ); etc , and forming the above - mentioned broad width portion 100 . incidentally , aside from the above , the inner cylindrical member 16 can be formed by either casting , forging , or press or cutting work , etc ., or a combination of the above . a coolant / filter 7 is provided , surrounding the gas generating agents 6 , and defines a ring - shaped chamber , i . e ., the combustion chamber 28 around the inner cylindrical member 16 . the coolant / filter 7 is formed by overlaying a plain stitched stainless steel wire mesh in the radial direction and compressing it in the radial and axial directions . the coolant / filter 7 has a shape , in each layer , in which loop - like stitches have been mashed down . each layer is overlayed in the radial direction . therefore , the spacing structure of the coolant / filter is complex so that the coolant / filter has an excellent residue collection effect . in order to prevent the plenum 9 from being blocked due to the expansion of the coolant / filter 7 by the gas pressure when the gas generator is in operation , an outer layer 29 , which functions as the inhibiting unit to restrict the expansion of the coolant / filter , is formed on the outer side of the coolant / filter 7 . the outer layer 29 can be formed , for instance , using a multi - layered wire mesh body , using a multi - hole cylindrical member having through - holes on the circumferential wall surface , or using a belt - shaped inhibiting layer in which a belt member with a desired width is made into a round shape . when the outer layer 29 is formed using the multi - layer wire mesh body , the outer layer 29 can also have a cooling function . the combustion chamber 28 is defined by the coolant / filter 7 . the combustion gas generated in the combustion chamber is cooled , and the combustion residue is collected . a tilted area 31 is formed in the circumferential direction , enclosing circular portion 30 of the closure shell . the tilted portion 31 prohibits the movement of the coolant / filter 7 . it also creates a plenum between the outer circumferential wall 8 of the housing and the coolant / filter 7 . a plurality of solid gas generating agents 6 are provided in the combustion chamber 28 . the gas generating agent 6 is a hollow cylinder in shape , and because of this shape , combustion occurs at the outer and inner surfaces . this is advantageous in that , as the combustion progresses , the surface area of the entire gas generating agent changes very little . a plate member 32 is provided at the upper end of the coolant / filter 7 , and a plate member 33 is provided at the lower end thereof . the plate member 32 comprises a circular portion 36 , which closes off an opening 40 at the upper end of the coolant / filter 7 , and the circumferential wall portion 34 , which is integrated with the circular portion 36 , directly contacting the inner circumferential surface 41 of the coolant / filter . the circular portion 36 has a central opening 35 that engages with the outer circumference of the above - mentioned inner cylindrical member 16 . the circumferential wall portion 34 opposes through - holes 54 for ejecting flames from the igniting unit flame , and it covers the inner surface 41 of the coolant / filter close to the through - holes 54 . the circumferential wall area 34 functions to protect the coolant / filter from the flame bursting toward the coolant / filter 7 , and also to change the direction of the flame and such that the flame spreads sufficiently toward the gas generating agents 6 . the plate member 32 is secured to inner cylindrical member 16 with respect to its radial movement . it positions the coolant / filter 7 when the gas generator is assembled . it also functions as a short - pass prevention unit that prevents the so - called short - passing of the combustion gas . that is , the combustion gas does not pass through the coolant / filter but passes through a gap created between the inner surface 37 of the housing and the end surface 38 of the coolant / filter due to the pressure of the combustion gas when the gas generator is in operated . in the embodiment shown in fig1 the plate member 32 is secured by having the central opening 35 , which is formed in its circular area 36 , fitted in the outer circumference of the broad width area 100 of the inner cylindrical member 16 . the plate member 33 comprises a circular area 50 , which closes the opening 42 at the bottom end of the coolant / filter 7 , and a circumferential wall portion 51 , which is integrated with the circular area 50 and directly contacts the inner circumferential surface 41 of the coolant / filter . the circular area 50 has a central opening 39 , which fits in the outer circumference of the inner cylindrical member 16 , and directly contacts the gas generating agents to prohibit the movement of the gas generating agents . the plate member 33 is held between the inner cylindrical member 16 and the coolant / filter 7 by an elastic force , and prevents the combustion gas from short - passing at the above - mentioned end surface 38 and the opposite end surface 43 of the coolant / filter . it also functions as a welding protection plate at the time of welding . the plenum 9 is formed between the outer circumferential wall 8 of the housing and the outer layer 29 of the coolant / filter . the plenum 9 forms , around the coolant / filter 7 , a gas channel whose cross - section in the radial direction is ring - shaped . it is desirable for the area st at the radial direction cross - section of the gas channel to be made greater than the total sum of the opening area of each gas discharge port 11 in the diffuser shell . in this embodiment , the area of the radial direction cross - section of the gas channel is constant , but it is possible to increase the area of the radial direction cross - section of the gas channel as it gets closer to gas discharge ports 11 , for instance , by forming the coolant / filter into a conical shape . in this case , a mean value may be used as the area of the radial direction cross - section of the gas channel . due to the existence of the gas channel around the coolant / filter , the combustion gas passes through the entire region of the coolant / filter and moves toward the gas channel . because of this , effective use of the coolant / filter and effective cooling and purifying of the combustion gas are achieved . the combustion gas , which has been cooled and purified , passes through the above - mentioned gas channel and reaches the gas discharge ports 11 in the diffuser shell . in the present embodiment , a plenum between the outer circumferential wall of the housing and the coolant / filter was provided . however , the plenum may not be necessary . in order to prevent outside moisture from entering the housing 3 , the gas discharge ports 11 in the diffuser shell are sealed with an aluminum tape 52 . when assembling the gas generator , the diffuser shell 1 , to which the inner cylindrical member 16 has been joined by welding the broad width area 100 , is placed with its protruding circular area 13 at the bottom . the plate member 32 is placed onto the inner cylindrical member 16 . the coolant / filter 7 is fitted outside of the circumferential wall portion of the plate member 32 , and with this , the coolant / filter 7 is positioned . on the inner side of the coolant / filter 7 , solid gas generating agents 6 are provided . then , the plate member 33 is further provided on top of this . next , the central opening 15 of the closure shell is placed onto the inner cylindrical member 16 such that the inner cylindrical member 16 is inserted into the central opening 15 of the closure shell . the flange area 20 of the closure shell is laid over the flange area 19 of the diffuser shell . laser welding 21 and 44 are provided to join the diffuser shell 1 with the closure shell 2 , and the closure shell 2 with the inner cylindrical member 16 , respectively . finally , the transfer charge container 53 and the igniter 4 are inserted into the inner cylindrical member 16 , and then these are secured by crimping the crimping area 27 of the igniter holding member . in the gas generator having this structure , when the sensor ( not shown in the figure ) senses an impact , its signal is sent to the igniter 4 to activate the igniter 4 . because of this , the transfer charge 5 inside the transfer charge container 53 is ignited and produces a high temperature flame . this flame bursts from the through - holes 54 and ignites the gas generating agents 6 near the through - holes 54 . it also ignites the gas generating agents at the lower area of the combustion chamber , with its course being changed by the circumferential wall portion 34 . due to this , the gas generating agents burn and produce a high - temperature / high pressure gas ; this combustion gas passes through the entire region of the coolant / filter 7 , during which period it is effectively cooled or its combustion residue collected . the combustion gas , which has been cooled and purified , passes through the gas channel ( plenum 9 ), ruptures the wall of the aluminum tape 52 , ejects from the gas discharge ports 11 , and flows into the air bag ( not shown in the figure ). because of this , the air bag inflates and forms a cushion between a passenger and hard structures , protecting the passenger from an impact . the above - mentioned step 49 of the diffuser shell circular portion and the above - mentioned bent portion 14 of the closure shell circular area provide rigidity to the ceiling and bottom areas of the housing in order to prevent deformation of the housing due to the gas pressure . also , the flange portions 19 and 20 , which overlap and join at the central cross - section in the axial direction of the housing , provide rigidity to the outer circumferential wall 8 of the housing in order to prevent deformation of the housing due to the gas pressure . moreover , when a gap is created at the end surface of the coolant / filter , short - passing of the combustion gas is prevented by the above - mentioned plate members 32 and 33 . the gas generator , as shown in fig3 is similar to the one shown in fig1 and fig3 shows an embodiment in which a diffuser shell 1 ′ and a closure shell 2 ′ are formed by casting , using aluminum alloy . the diffuser shell 1 ′ has : a circular portion 12 ′; a circumferential wall portion 10 ′ formed on the outer circumferential portion of the circular area 12 ′; and a flange portion 19 ′, which is located at its tip and extending outward radially . the closure shell 2 ′ has : a circular portion 30 ′; a central opening 15 ′ formed at its center ; a circumferential wall portion 47 ′ formed on the outer circumferential portion of the above - mentioned circular portion 30 ′; and a flange portion 20 ′, which is located at the tip of this circumferential wall portion 47 ′ and extends outward in the radial direction . also in this embodiment , the central cylindrical member 16 ′ has a broad width portion 100 ′, which extends outward in the radial direction , formed at one end that joins the inner surface of the circular portion of the diffuser shell . the broad width portion 100 ′ is welded onto the inner surface of the circular portion of the above - mentioned diffuser shell . the central cylindrical member 16 ′ can be formed by press work as with the central cylindrical member for the gas generator shown in fig1 . it can also be formed by casting or forging . the central opening 15 ′ engages with the outer circumference of the above - mentioned central cylindrical member 16 ′. the flange area 19 ′ of the diffuser shell and the flange area 20 ′ of the closure shell overlap . laser welding 21 ′ is provided , and the diffuser shell and the closure shell are joined to form the housing 3 ′. incidentally , for members identical to those in shown in fig1 the same legend is provided and the explanation is omitted . fig4 shows an embodiment of an air bag gas generator having an inner cylindrical member formed by casting . for the gas generator shown in this figure , a housing is formed by joining a diffuser shell 501 , which has a plurality of gas discharge ports 511 in the circumferential direction , with a closure shell 502 , which has a central opening 513 . the two shells can be joined by various welding methods , for example , plasma welding , friction welding , projection welding , electron - beam welding , laser welding , tig welding , etc . the inner cylindrical member 514 is formed by casting , and provided concentrically with the central opening 513 to partition inside the housing into two chambers ( the inside of the inner cylindrical member 514 is for an igniter storage chamber 504 , and the outside is for a combustion chamber 505 ). the inner cylindrical member 514 has , at one end joining the inner surface of the ceiling of the diffuser shell 501 , a broad width portion 503 , which extends inward and shaped to close the opening of this one end . by welding the broad width area 503 with the inner surface of the ceiling of the diffuser shell 501 , the two become integrated , and the inner cylindrical member 514 provided in the housing partitions the inside of the housing into an igniting unit storage chamber 504 and a combustion chamber 505 . the igniting unit , including a transfer charge 508 and a mechanical sensor 550 , is contained in an igniting unit storage chamber 504 , which was partitioned by the inner cylindrical member 514 . the combustion chamber 505 contains gas generating agents 506 , a coolant / filter 507 , a coolant support member 509 , a ring body 510 , a plate member 512 , and other suitable members for operating a gas generator . incidentally , for this gas generator , it is also possible to use a suitable structure , such as a plenum 515 , etc ., which is obtained on the outer side of the coolant / filter 507 , as needed . as the igniting unit for igniting the gas generating agents 506 in the gas generator shown in fig4 an igniting unit which fires a firing pin ( not shown in the figure ) upon sensing an impact via an exclusively mechanical method , i . e ., the mechanical ignition type , is used ; but an electrical ignition type can also be used as the igniting unit . fig5 ( a )-( c ) show examples of the inner cylindrical members used in the air bag gas generator of the present invention . as with the inner cylindrical member used in the gas generator shown in fig1 the one shown in fig5 ( a ) has , at one end thereof , a broad width area 100 extending outwardly , that joins with the inner surface of the ceiling , while the one shown in fig5 ( b ) has , at one end thereof , a broad width area 110 extending inwardly , that joins with the inner surface of the ceiling . the inner cylindrical member shown in fig5 ( c ) has , at one end thereof , a broad width area 120 , which extends inwardly in such a way as to close the opening at the end portion thereof , that joins the inner surface of the ceiling . the inner cylindrical members shown in these fig5 ( a )-( c ) can be formed by either casting , forging , or press or cutting work , etc ., or a combination of the above . moreover , these inner cylindrical members are provided , on the circumferential walls thereof , with through - holes for ejecting the flame from the transfer charge , which is ignited and burns in the igniting unit storage chamber inside the inner cylindrical member . the through - holes can be closed off with a tape ( not shown in the figure ) in order to prevent moisture , etc . incidentally , it is possible to provide a depression at the area where the sealing tape is to be attached and then attach the tape inside the depression . fig6 shows an embodiment of an air bag system of the present invention constituted to include a gas generator using the electrical ignition type igniting unit . this air bag system consists of a gas generator 200 , an impact sensor 201 , a control unit 202 , module case 203 , and an air bag 204 . the gas generator explained according to fig1 is used as the gas generator 200 . the impact sensor 201 comprises , for instance , a semiconductor - type acceleration sensor . this semiconductor - type acceleration sensor has four semiconductor strain gauges formed on a silicon substrate beam , which is designed to deflect when acceleration occurs . these semiconductor strain gauges are bridge connected . when acceleration occurs , the beam is deflected , and the surface is strained . because of this strain , the resistance of the semiconductor strain gauges changes , and this resistance change is detected as a voltage signal that is proportional to the acceleration . the control unit 202 has an ignition evaluation circuit , and the signal from the above - mentioned semiconductor - type acceleration sensor is inputted to the ignition evaluation circuit . the control unit 202 begins its calculation at the point at which this impact signal exceeds a certain value . it outputs an activation signal to the igniter 4 of the gas generator 200 when the calculation result exceeds a certain value . the module case 203 , made of a polyurethane , for example , includes a module cover 205 . the air bag 204 and gas generator 200 are installed inside the module case 203 to constitute a pad module . the pad module is attached to a steering wheel 207 of an automobile . the air bag 204 is formed of nylon ( nylon 66 , for example ) or polyester , etc . and secured to the flange area of the gas generator . the air bag opening 206 encloses the gas discharge ports of the gas generator while being folded . when the semiconductor acceleration sensor 201 senses an impact at the time of an automobile collision , its signal is transmitted to the control unit 202 , and the control unit 202 begins its calculation at the point at which the impact signal from the sensor exceeds a certain value . it outputs the activation signal to the igniter 4 of the gas generator 200 when the calculation result exceeds a certain value . because of this , the igniter 4 is activated to ignite the gas generating agents , which then burn and generate a gas . this gas is ejected into the air bag 204 , whereby the air bag breaks the module cover 205 and inflates , forming a cushion which absorbs an impact between the steering wheel 207 and a passenger . the invention being thus described , it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways . such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention , and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims .	8
the scoring system will further be described as a baseball golf scramble or “ baseball ” for short . since a specific hitting order for the golfers participating is employed , this can be thought of as a batting order . in addition , each team has a manager who keeps the official score . there are hits and outs , and team outs . each player has an individual batting average , which is calculated by dividing an individuals total shots used by their total shots taken and the team can have combined batting average by adding up each of the individual batting averages . there is a leadoff hitter on each hole and the holes may be thought of as innings . compared to a traditional golf scramble , baseball golf presents the opportunity to have more individual hole winners ; and with stats for batting averages , awards can be given for front , back , total , individual , and team batting titles , by way of non - limiting example . the general rules of the game are set forth as follows : 1 . each team shall designate one of its members to be the manager with the manager establishing a batting order to be followed throughout the game . 2 . each player shall hit in order with the order carrying over from the green to the next tee . 3 . points are awarded from the scoring tables for the least number of shots taken and used on each hole . 4 . a team out is the failure to score par or better on any given hole . no points are awarded for holes where the team has made an out . 5 . if a team includes a total of four players and all four players fail to put their shot in play , the team must take a penalty shot in order to continue play . 6 . any score off the scale of the scoring table , such as for a double eagle e . g ., a score of two on a par five , or a hole in one on a par four , will be given the top score available on the scoring table . 7 . you can use any previous shot but you must count all shots taken thereafter and include them when determining the points to be awarded for the hole . 8 . the team with the highest point total for the entire game is the overall winner . in view of the foregoing description and rules of the game , various examples of point scoring are set forth below by comparing the shots taken to the team score for the hole and comparing this factor to the scoring table which sets out the point possibilities per hole . team 1 , player 1 hits a great shot to the middle of the fairway . the team uses this shot , the count is 1 / 1 . team 1 , player 2 hits a poor shot from the middle of the fairway . the team decides to hit again . the count is 2 / 1 . team 1 , player 3 hits a bad shot also . the team decides to bat again . the count is 3 / 1 . team 1 , player 4 hits on the green . the team uses this shot . the count is 4 / 2 . now it is player 1 who must hit again . player 1 makes the putt . the count is 5 / 3 . a 5 / 3 is worth 23 points . ( see par four scoring table .) team 1 , player 2 would hit first on the next hole and the rotation would continue in order until the team is “ out ” with no possibility of scoring points on the hole or until a score for the hole is achieved and compared to the scoring table to determine the appropriate number of points to award for the hole . keeping the appropriate hitting order ( i . e ., players &# 39 ; rotation ) an example for a par 5 hole is also provided . team 1 , player 2 hits out of bounds . the team decides to bat again . the count is 1 / 0 . team 1 , player 3 hits short . the team bats again . the count is 2 / 0 . team 1 , player 4 hits a good tee shot . the team uses this shot . the count is 3 / 1 . team 1 , player 1 , who is the next player in the rotation after player 4 , hits poorly . the team wants to bat again . the count is 4 / 1 . team 1 , player 2 hits in the water . the team bats again . the count is 5 / 1 . team 1 , player 3 hits short of the green . the team decides to use this shot . the count is 6 / 2 . team 1 , player 4 hits into the trees . the team chooses to bat again . the count is 7 / 2 . team 1 , player 1 , who is the next player in the rotation after player 4 , shanks one . the team bats again . the count is 8 / 2 . team 1 , player 2 chips onto the green . the team uses this shot . the count is 9 / 3 . team 1 , player 3 putts from position 3 on the green and misses . the count is 10 / 3 . the team decides not to use this shot . team 1 , player 4 putts and misses . the count is 11 / 3 . team 1 , player 1 , who is the next player in the rotation after player 4 , putts up very close to the hole . the team uses this shot . the count is 12 / 4 . team 1 , player 2 putts from position 4 and misses the putt . the count is 13 / 4 . the team decides not to use this shot . team 1 , player 3 makes the putt . the count is 14 / 5 . a 14 / 5 is worth 8 points . ( see par five scoring table .) team 1 , player 4 bats first the next inning ( i . e ., on the next hole ). assuming for purposes of discussion that the next hole is a par 3 , yet another example of awarding points for the hole is presented . team 1 , player 4 is the lead - off man . he hits one in the water . the count is 1 / 0 . team 1 , player 1 , who is the next player in the rotation after player 4 , hits a good shot on the green . the team decides to use this shot . the count is 2 / 1 . team 1 , player 2 misses the putt . the count is 3 / 1 . team 1 , player 3 misses the putt . the count is 4 / 1 . team 1 , player 4 missed the putt . the count is 5 / 1 . team 1 , player 1 , who is the next player in the rotation after player 4 , batting clean - up from this position , misses the putt . at this point , team 1 takes the position of the best putt making the count 6 / 2 with scorer noting which player &# 39 ; s putt was selected for purposes of calculating each player &# 39 ; s batter average . team 1 , player 2 bats next and makes the putt . the count is 7 / 3 . a 7 / 3 is worth 6 points . ( see par three scoring table .) in view of the above described rules and examples presented , a mock score card is presented in fig2 , which shows points accumulated by teams 1 - 8 on a hole - by - hole basis for an eighteen hole round . the card also indicates which teams had the highest point total on the front nine , back nine and eighteen hole total which is normally indicative of the overall champion . with reference to the sample score card , team 3 is the winner of the front nine , team 5 is the winner of the back nine and team 7 is the overall winner having accumulated the highest point total for the event . while the above described method of scoring the subject golf game has been demonstrated with regard to teams comprising four players per team , it should be understood that the game can be easily modified to account for teams having any number of multiple players , e . g ., two , three or four person teams , etc ., with specific scoring tables provided for each combination of players per team . this game could also be played by individuals in a head - to - head competition or tournament play . further , while a scoring table such as that shown in fig1 having particular points designated on a shots per hole basis is presented for purposes of explanation , the points awarded per hole as set forth in the sample scoring table can be varied depending on who is participating in the competition . for example , there could be separate and distinct scoring tables ( points awarded per hole ) for different team divisions such as all women , all men , all junior , or all senior players whereby the points available per hole may be higher for one division as compared to another division . this would allow for a predetermined handicapping of the field so that all teams would have a comparable opportunity to win any given category such as front nine champion , back nine champion and overall champion by way of non - limiting example . to facilitate one or more of the objectives of the golf game described herein , it is possible to employ electronic tablets ( computer ) having a specifically designed software program whereby the manager enters the scoring data for the holes into the computer and the computer in turn calculates the number of points to be awarded by comparing the data to a scoring table embedded in the software . as can be appreciated , the use of computers would allow for real - time scoring by remote transmission of the data to a central computer so that the results of the event could be available almost simultaneously with the entry of the last groups &# 39 ; data from the last hole played . as can be further appreciated , use of computerized scoring means will speed up the time needed to complete the golf event which is a common problem with golf outings generally . other examples of useful electronic scoring systems that may be employed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention are presented in the following list of patents : u . s . pat . nos . 6 , 571 , 143 ; 5 , 949 , 679 ; 5 , 779 , 566 ; 5 , 779 , 549 ; 5 , 504 , 312 ; 5 , 283 , 733 ; and 4 , 910 , 677 , each of which is freely incorporated by reference . in order to allow for longest drive and closest to the pin contests which are traditional golf outing awards , a flex rule can be used . under the flex rule , teams would count shots “ taken ” and “ used ” as normal by designating a shot to be “ used ” by the team prior to other teammates hitting from the tee box . this way , all team members are still eligible to qualify for the longest drive and closest to the pin awards even though they are ineligible for purposes of their shot being used by the team once the team has declared that a preceding shot is to be used as the team shot . once the team shot is declared , the rotation for the next shot follows the original order even though all team members may participate in the closest to the pin and / or longest drive competitions . the description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and , thus , variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention . such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention .	0
referring now to the drawings , wherein like reference numerals indicate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views , and more particularly to fig1 and 2 thereof , there is illustrated in a top and side view , respectively , a preferred embodiment of the medicator of the present invention which is indicated generally by the reference numeral 10 . the medicator 10 includes a tubular conduit 12 which is preferably configured in a helical coil configuration and is adapted to contain the desired liquid medication therein , as will become more clear hereinafter . coiled tube 12 is preferably comprised of a clear plastic so as to enable easy observation of the colored medicine therein contained , and may be typically sized on the order of a 3 / 4 - inch inner diameter . coiled tube 12 is supported by a wire basket holder indicated generally by the reference numeral 14 , which includes a plurality of horizontally disposed and vertically spaced support wires 16 , and a plurality of vertically disposed support wires 18 which are spaced about the circumference of the coiled tube 12 as clearly illustrated in fig1 . clearly , other support means and configurations would be equally useful , wire basket 14 being shown as the preferred mode for enabling observation of the contents of coiled tube 12 . the medicator 10 is supplied by a water inlet pipe 20 which is connected to a suitable pressured source of water ( not shown ). the inlet pipe 20 feeds to a t - section indicated generally by the reference numeral 22 , which comprises a water inlet leg 24 , a water outlet leg 26 , and a second controlled water outlet leg 28 . legs or conduits 24 , 26 and 28 extend from and are in full communication with a substantially cylindrical t - valve 40 . the other end of inlet leg 24 is coupled to inlet pipe 20 via a threaded connector 30 which cooperates with a flange 32 formed on inlet leg 24 to seal the joint . the coiled plastic tube 12 includes an inlet end 34 which is coupled to the distal end of water outlet leg 26 . inlet end 34 of tube 12 is preferably flared over the distal end of leg 26 and clamped by a fastening means 36 which may comprise a conventional hose clamp , for example . flange 38 on leg 26 aids in sealing the joint . referring now to fig3 the cylindrical t - valve 40 includes a valve access plug 42 disposed on the top portion thereof which is threaded as at 46 to cooperate with a tapped bore 48 of valve 40 . the lower portion of valve 40 includes a central chamber 44 which defines co - extensive inlet and outlet ports with which the inlet and outlet ports 24 and 26 are in open fluid communication , reference numeral 50 indicating the inner aperture of outlet leg 26 . the inlet and outlet ports of valve 40 disposed on either side of central chamber 44 are spaced by the diameter of valve 40 . the central chamber 44 is defined by a gradually upwardly tapering wall 52 which defines a substantially circular opening at the top portion thereof . positioned over the top portion of wall 52 and defining the boundary of central chamber 44 is a gasket , plug , or washer 58 having a centrally formed generally circular restricting orifice 60 the size of which control the amount of water flowing upwardly therethrough . washer 58 is secured in place over the upper opening of wall 52 by a plurality of prongs 54 preferably integrally formed and extending downwardly from the lower wall of closure plug 42 . at the bottom of each of the prongs 54 is formed an l - shaped notch 56 for engaging the peripheral edges of washer 58 to secure same . water outlet leg 28 extending from valve 40 has an inner channel 62 for receiving the portion of the main water supply delivered through restricting orifice 60 . the main water pressure is fed through central chamber 44 of valve 40 to the inlet end 34 of tube 12 which is coiled in a skewed or inclined configuration as clearly illustrated in fig3 . coil 12 includes a plurality of upper coiled rows 64 and a plurality of lower coiled rows 66 which generally contain the liquid medicine to be mixed . a drain valve 68 is preferably provided and is suitably tapped into the lowermost coil 70 of coiled tube 12 . drain valve 68 includes a housing 78 containing a conventional valve , a manually operable handle 72 coupled to the valve within housing 78 by a shaft 76 , and an outlet 74 . coiled tube 12 is further defined by an outlet end 80 which extends to the central axis thereof to a vertically disposed outlet portion 82 . outlet portion 82 of tube 12 is coupled to a medication mixing valve 84 which includes a lower reduced diameter portion 88 . outlet end 82 of tube 12 is connected to portion 88 of valve 84 by fastening means 90 which may comprise a conventional hose clamp , for example . valve 84 preferably includes a removable fill plug 86 which is threaded as at 92 to mate with the tapped bore 94 of cylindrical valve 84 . valve 84 is comprised of a centrally formed main mixing chamber 120 having a water inlet 116 and an outlet 118 . disposed at the lower portion of mixing chamber 120 at the interface with the reduced diameter portion 88 is a gasket , plug or washer 100 having a centrally formed generally circular mixing orifice 102 therein . washer 100 is held in place by a plurality of prongs or struts 96 preferably integrally formed and extending downwardly from the lower portion of fill plug 86 . the prongs or struts 96 preferably include l - shaped notches 98 formed at the lower inner portions thereof which serve as retaining means for cooperation with the outer periphery of washer 100 . outlet 118 from valve 84 delivers the contents of mixing chamber 120 to the outlet channel 114 formed by outlet leg 104 . outlet leg 104 may be coupled to a medicine outlet pipe 106 ( fig1 and 2 ) by a connector 108 which may be threadingly received on threaded end 112 of leg 104 , flange 110 being provided as a sealing and stop means . in operation , plugs 86 and 42 of valves 84 and 40 are first removed ( plug 42 may , if desired , simply be loosened ) along with their respective washers 100 and 58 . the desired liquid medication is then poured into the opening defined by valve 84 so as to descend within portions 82 and 80 of coiled tube 12 . the open orifice defined by the removal of plug 42 serves as an air outlet as the medicine is filled in the lowermost coils 66 of tube 12 . the medicine will fill the bottom portion of the coiled tube 12 and will force air up through the upper coils 64 , and portion 34 to exit via valve 40 , until the desired amount of medication has been filled within tube 12 . it is generally preferable to maintain the coiled tube 12 in a horizontal orientation as illustrated in fig3 during filling to avoid entrapment of air bubbles therewithin . after filling , the coil may be oriented in substantially any direction with equal effectiveness . after the tube 12 has been filled as desired , washers 58 and 100 are reinserted and caps 42 and 86 are secured . the water supply is then actuated to deliver pressurized water to valve 40 . water pressure in direct fluid communication with inlet end 34 of tube 12 will force the medicine therein contained through the coil to exit through outlet portions 80 and 82 , and subsequently through restricted orifice 102 to mixing valve 84 . a portion of the water entering valve 40 from inlet pipe 20 will be admitted to mixing valve 84 via restricted orifice 60 , conduit 62 , and inlet port 116 . this portion will be admixed with the medicine entering mixing chamber 120 from orifice 102 , the mixed medicine and water being delivered to outlet conduit 114 . the amount of medicine admixed with the water supply in mixing chamber 120 may be easily controlled by the size of orifices 60 and 102 . with the design indicated , i have achieved an effective and continuously controllable mixture of one ounce of fluid medicine per gallon of water delivered through outlet conduit 114 . an advantage of the present invention is the ability to visually observe the emptying of the colored medicine from the coiled tube 12 , thereby providing a clear indication when refilling of the tube is necessary . the inner diameter of the tube 12 is chosen to minimize any mixing of the water and medicine therein to minimize dilution of the medicine prior to its admixture with the main water supply within mixing chamber 120 . after the tube 12 has been nearly emptied of its medicinal contents , and prior to re - filling , the clear water contained within tube 12 may be drained by means of drainage valve 68 . it is seen that i have provided an extremely simple yet reliable medicator which utilizes no moving parts , and thereby minimizes maintenance and replacement requirements . leakage is minimized , and reliability is insured by utilizing the main water supply as the direct motive force of the emptying of the medication into the mixing chamber . there are no moving parts to wear out or require replacement , and wasted medicine is minimized . for example , any settlement of the medicine in the bottom coils 66 of tube 12 may be easily utilized without waste by simply inverting the coil near the finish of an emptying phase . obviously , numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings . it is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein .	1
this disclosure relates generally to analysis of cyber data , and a data collected through cyber means and physical means , and in particular to sharing and managing a set of information and digital content obtained through legal means . in the following description , for the purposes of explanation , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various embodiments . it will be evident , however , to one skilled in the art that the various embodiments may be practiced without these specific details . the application discloses a method to organize and share a set of lawfully intercepted data . the application would be especially helpful to a set of analysts who may need to conduct detailed analysis about the relationship of people involved in a particular event or transaction . for example , in one embodiment , the analyst may be a law enforcement agent who may use the system to find leads , and better understand the raw data collected by various law enforcement agencies . the system may also be a powerful tool that helps connect various law enforcement agencies and officials with one another and may increase the efficiency of the criminal justice system . as shown in fig1 , the system comprises of a user 140 who may be an analyst ( e . g . a law enforcement agent , a management agent , a member of the fbi , the cia , a social criminal organization , a financial analyst , a management analyst etc .) who may be assigned to a particular criminal and / or civil investigation . the analyst may want to organize a set of data related to a particular record . for example , the particular record may be a criminal investigation associated with a murder . the set of data related to the particular record may be a set of details related to the murder such as the time of the murder , the identity and description of the victim , a location of the murder , a set of interviews of witnesses of the murder , a set of police investigative clues , and a set of suspects . the analyst may also want to generate leads through the system that may lead to other potential targets . a potential target may be a suspect in a case above , or a person whose information the analyst is seeking to collect . as shown in fig1 , the user 140 may input this data into the network , and may then create a profile for this particular record 108 . the user 140 may be able to collect the data and input the data into the system based on an electronic communication or cyber activity between two pois . the user 140 may also be able to collect the data from a service provider network . the user 140 may also be able to collect the data through public and internet outlets . for example , the user 140 may have a warrant for a particular poi , and a set of cyber activity the particular poi may engage in . based on limits set by the warrant , the user 140 may be able to monitor a set of cyber records and other cyber activity that the particular poi engages in . the user 140 may then collect this data found from the cyber activity and input it into a profile and / or other profiles with all lawfully intercepted data . in another example , the user 140 may be interested in a particular poi related to the murder mentioned above , and may want to gather a set of information related to the poi 106 a . the user 140 views the system through the user interface 180 that connects to a local area network ( lan ) 120 that in turn connects to a server 110 . the database 102 may also connect to a wide area network ( wan ) 160 to obtain information from the internet and other online sources . in one or more embodiments , the database 102 may be useful in data collection via legal means . for example , the user 140 may monitor the poi &# 39 ; s cyber activity on the wan 160 and collect information from the source . in another embodiment , the user 140 may search public records on the wan 160 to look for information about an event or a poi . the server connects to a database 102 that stores the set of data related to the particular record and all other records in the system . these records may be accessible to a set of all users in the system , and the database may house many records and profiles . the metadata may be data about a data , and may describe a set of details regarding a delivery or an exterior of a data or a portion of a data . the server may be any brand of server and any type of server computer , blade server or any other processing device capable to performing the data management and communication functions with any quantity of cores . for example , a six ( 6 ) core x86 intel quad xeon mp , which may be programmed for any type of operating system (“ os ”), e . g ., solaria , unix , linux , or other server computing os . in one or more embodiments , the system may be run on an intel86 based processor using linux rhel with 64 bit os . the system may be run on a direct or nas storage device or appliance . the system is not limited to intel x86 , linux rhel , direct / nas storages and can be implemented on any computer hardware , os and storage devices . any commercially available or proprietary design dpu may be used for this function given the adaptation and implementation of drivers specific to the actual device . fig2 is a system view illustrating a creation of a profile for poi 106 a . in particular , fig2 illustrates a database 102 , an existing data 220 , a profile 208 , a user 140 , a poi 106 a , a user data 202 , and a data processing unit 206 . in one embodiment , the user 140 may want to create a profile for poi 106 a . the user 140 then uses a data processing unit 206 to input the data 202 into the database 102 . the data may consist of a metadata ( e . g . ip address , email address , cyber address recipient address , sender address , time of the email , time of the mail , information on a post card , etc .). the metadata may be an information about the data . the metadata may encompass a time and place that the data was received . the metadata also encompass a set of information related to the senders and receivers of the information , a time of a communication event , or where an information was collected from . for example , if an email is sent to the poi , the metadata may consist of the sender and recipient addresses of the email , an ip address and a time of the email among others . the data may also consist of a content . the content may be the substantive part of the data collected . the data may consist of the actual text of the email , attachments in the email and what the information actually says . in the previous example , the content may be the actual text of the email which may be a solicitation for a crime . the system may make a distinction between content and metadata . for example , in one embodiment , the user 140 of the system , upon searching for a particular record , may only be able to view the metadata associated with a particular profile . the metadata may also be a cyber name , a cyber address , contact list , a user login information , a chat ip address , a chat alias , a voip address , a web forum login , a website login , a social network login , a sender and / or receiver of a chat , a time of a chat conversation , a file name sent in a chat or an email or any other cyber communication , a number of files transferred in the cyber communication , a type of chat text , a name of an audio and / or video attachment sent in the cyber communication , a number of parties involved in a communication , a budget list , an avatar description associated with the cyber communication . the metadata may also be associated with voice and / or voice over ip communications . the metadata may also be associated with social networking sites , and may include a username , a time of a social networking communication or publication , a size of a social networking communication , a number of followers and others . similarly , the content may include the substantive portion of a record . in addition to the text of the communication , or a transcript of a recorded conversation , it may also include a text of an email attachment , a transferred file , a content of an uploaded or downloaded document / video or any other file , a pooled information between many users , a substance of social network communication , a tweet , a message exchanged between two parties , a substance of a text message , and any other communication . the content may also be a background of a poi , a crime profile of the poi , a racial profile of the poi , a family and friend circle of the poi , a history of criminal records of the poi , a criminal propensity of the poi , a modus operandi of the poi , and a police record data of the poi , a set of cyber communications associated with the poi , a set of internet chats associated with the poi , a set of social networking data associated with the poi , a content of telephony calls associated with the poi , a set of networking data associated with the poi , a chronological data associated with an event , a geographical data associated with the event , an identity of individuals associated with the event , a police tracking data associated with the event , a newspaper coverage of the event , a set of general information known about the event , a contact information associated with a group of individuals , an association between the group of individuals , a set of known information about the group of individuals , a known information about a gang , a latest update about the gang , the identity of individuals belonging to the gang , a set of data associated with a phone number , a set of data associated with a cyber communication , a set of data associated with a physical address , a set of data associated with the geographical location , a set of data associated with a web host , a set of data associated with a phone record or a set of data associated with a warrant . the content may be the substance of a cyber communication , an actual conversation , a physical communication and any other evidence gathered by the analyst . the user may only be able to view the content associated with the email , and the rest of the data in the email only after being explicitly authorized by a creator of the profile . the creator of the profile may be the lea or any other authorized user who has made the first profile for a particular record or poi . the workstation may access the database 102 through the lan 120 . the user 140 may then create a profile 208 for the poi 106 a with the inputted data 202 and an existing data 220 . the data processing unit may be a desktop computer , a laptop , a personal computer , a smart phone , a hand held device or a workstation unit . for example , the user 140 may be interested in creating a profile for a poi 106 a and may have some physically collected research data on poi 106 a . the user 140 who may create the profile may be known as a creator of the profile . he may then use his workstation that is connected to a local area network ( lan ) to create the profile for poi 106 a . to create the profile , the user 140 may input data that he has physically collected ( 202 ), and may also use an existing data already present in the server 110 and the database 102 to create the profile . for example , in the above mentioned criminal investigation associated with a murder case , a profile for the murder case may already be present in the database . the profile associated with the murder case may already contain information about a set of suspects , including poia . the user 140 who is making the profile for poi 106 a may then use the existing data contained in the profile for the murder case in addition to any physically contained data associated with poi 106 a . using the complete set of information , the user 140 may create the profile for poi 106 a . when the user 140 makes the first profile for a poi or any other record , the user 140 may also be considered a creator of the profile . in another embodiment , the existing data may be a set of email conversations between poi 106 a and an other poi . the set of email conversations may be part of another profile , or may exist in the server 110 as part of lawfully intercepted data . this existing data 220 may also be used to supplant an existing information to update and create the profile for poi 106 a . the profile 208 may then be stored in the database 102 along with other case profiles 208 , all other information stored in the database , including case files 280 , and other lawfully intercepted data , and existing data 220 . fig3 is a representation of the relationship between the user - generated data , the analysis module and the existing data to form connections between profiles . fig3 illustrates a user 140 , a workstation 206 , the user data 202 , a predetermined association factor 312 , an analysis module 310 , the existing data 220 , the profile 208 a and another profile 208 b . in one or more embodiments , a user 140 may use the workstation 206 , and user - generated data 308 to create the profile 208 for poi 106 a . the user generated data may be inputted into the database 102 . when the user - generated data is inputted into the server 110 , the analysis module 310 may make use of a set of predicates described in the predetermined association factors 312 and a set of existing data 306 to makes connections between the profile 208 a and the other profile 208 b already present in the system 100 . in one embodiment , the system 100 may make a connection between the profile 208 a currently being made for poi 106 a and an existing profile in the database 102 . the analysis module 310 may make a connection between the profile 208 a and the existing profile based on a number and a weight attached to a set of predetermined association factors . for example , a predetermined association factor relating to the same case may be allotted a high weight , such that when two profiles relate to a same event or investigation , the analysis module 310 may automatically form a connection between the two profiles . in one or more embodiments , the user 140 may allot a weight to a set of different predetermined association factors that the analysis module 310 may use to make connections between two profiles . for example as discussed above , the user may be given a scale of 1 - 10 to allot weights to various predetermined association factors . in one embodiment , the user may give a high weight of 9 to a predetermined association factor that links two profiles together when both profiles are related to the same case or investigation . in one embodiment , the profile 208 a may be associated with poi 106 a who may be a suspect in the above mentioned murder case investigation . poi 106 b , may also be a suspect in the same murder case investigation . given that the predetermined association factor has a weight of 9 , the analysis module 310 may make a connection between the profile 208 associated with poi 106 a , and the other profile 208 b associated with poi 106 b . in another embodiment , a user may give a weight of 3 when a predetermined association factor links two profiles together when both profiles are associated with a particular geographical location . since the weight given to this predetermined association factor is not that high , the analysis module 310 may not automatically link the profile 208 a with the profile 208 b having the same geographical location automatically , but if there are many other predetermined association factors that match between the profile 208 a and the other profile 208 b , the analysis module 310 may still make a connection between the profile and the other profile . in one or more embodiments , the analysis module 310 may use a sliding scale model such that two profiles may be linked when they have at least one predetermined association factor having a high weight , or if there are many predetermined association factors between two profiles , but all have low weights , the analysis module 310 may still make a connection between both profiles . fig3 b illustrates a sliding scale model used by the analysis module to make a connection between two profiles . fig3 b illustrates a weight of the predetermined association factor 352 , a number of predetermined association factors 354 and a line above which a connection is made 356 . in one or more embodiments , the user 140 may set weights 352 to a set of predetermined association factors . for example as discussed above , a predetermined association factor that links two profiles together when both profiles are associated with the same case or investigation may receive a high weight of 9 from the user 140 , whereas an other predetermined association factor that links two profiles together when both profiles are associated with the same geographical location may only receive a low weight of 3 . in another embodiment , yet another predetermined association factor that links two profiles together when both profiles have at least one common known associate may receive a weight of 4 , while another predetermined association factor that links two profiles together when both profiles have at least five common known associates may receive a weight of 8 . in one or more embodiments , predetermined association factors related to common interests , geographical location , crime type , criminal background may receive low weights of 4 or less than 4 . as per the sliding scale model illustrated in fig3 b , when a profile does not have many predetermined association factors , but has at least one predetermined association factor having a weight of 9 , the analysis module 310 may automatically link the two profiles together even though there is only one predetermined association factor . however , the analysis module 310 may also link two profiles together when there a larger number of common predetermined association factors 354 between two profiles , even if none of them has a high weight . for example two profiles may have a common geographical location , having a predetermined association factor weight of 3 , one common known associate , having a predetermined association factor weight of 4 , a common background , having a predetermined association factor weight of 2 , and a common gang association , having a predetermined association factor weight of 5 . as illustrated by the sliding scale model shown in fig3 b , even though none of the above mentioned predetermined association factors have high weights , the analysis module may still link the two profiles together because the two profiles have a large number of predetermined association factors in common . the line above which a connection is made 356 may determine when a connection is made between a profile 208 and any other profile in the database 110 . fig4 is a graphical representation of the degrees of separation between poi a 106 a and various other profiles in the server 110 . fig4 illustrates the user 140 , the profile 208 associated with poi 106 a and a set of known connection between profile poia 106 a and a set of profiles associated with other pois : b , c , d . . . x . in one or more embodiments , poi a 106 a may be connected to profiles b , c and d . profile d may be connected to profile f and profile e . profile e may be connected to profile h and profile i . in one embodiment , as per fig4 , profile i may be three degrees of separation ( d / s ) from profile a . similarly , as per fig4 , profile r may be four d / s from profile a . the degrees of separation between two profiles may be a predetermined association factor such that two profiles having a d / s of 1 may be given a medium to high weight of 6 , while two profiles having a d / s of 4 may be given a low weight of 1 . profile u may be unrelated to profile a , and has a d / s of 0 . in another embodiment , a graphical representation between a set of all connections between poi 106 a and another profile may show a connection and an interaction between a set of profiles . the graphical representation , such as one shown in fig4 , may be part of profile 208 or another profile to show a larger interaction and relationship between profiles . such a graphical representation , make help the user 140 to make further connections between profiles . for example , the user 140 may not have realized that profile 106 a and a profile f are only three d / s apart . such a graphical representation may help the user generate more leads and may aid his criminal investigation better . fig5 illustrates a graphical timeline representation of a set of phone records associated with poi a . a user of the system can scroll back and forth in the timeline and select a particular date for which he wants to view a list of all incoming and outgoing phone calls . in one embodiment , the server 110 may graphically cluster a set of data associated with the profile 208 related to poi 106 a and generate a graphical timeline of various categories of information . for example , as illustrated in fig5 , the server 110 may generate a timeline of a set of phone records associated with poi 106 a . a user 140 may be able to use a sliding timeline tab to zoom into a particular timeline of interest and may view a set of detailed phone records . for example , in one embodiment , the user 140 may be interested in a set of phone records for the month between august and september of a particular year . the user 140 may be further interested in the day august 8 between the times of 8 am to 8 pm . by using the sliding timeline bar , the user 140 may select a particular timeline of interest to view an entire set of phone records and the user may then view the outgoing and incoming calls made by the poi 106 a . such a graphical representation may make it easier for the user 140 to make new connections and leads to evidence or other suspects . for example , the outgoing call made by the poi 106 a may lead the user to poi , and may eventually help the criminal investigation . fig6 illustrates the tracking function that allows a set of users to track a particular profile and receive alerts as soon as the profile is updated . a user that tracks a profile may also be referred to as a tracker of a profile . fig6 illustrates a user 140 a , another user 140 b and yet another user 140 c , a workstation 206 a , another workstation 206 b and yet another workstation 206 c and a profile 208 . in one or more embodiments , the user 140 a , another user 140 b and yet another user 140 c may all track the profile 208 . when the profile 208 is updated with new information , all users tracking the profile 208 may receive an alert indicating that the profile 208 has been updated and the updated information . in one embodiment , the user 140 a may update the profile 208 with a most recent spotted location of poi 106 a . users 140 b and 140 c may also be interested in poi 106 a . for example , user 140 b may be working on another criminal investigation in which poi 106 a is also a suspect for , or user 140 b may be working on another aspect of the same criminal investigation as user 140 a . user 140 b may choose to track the profile 208 associated with poi 106 a . as soon as the profile 208 is updated with poi 106 a &# 39 ; s most recent spotted location , the update may be communicated to user 140 b through an alert . a set of users tracking the profile 208 may all receive the alert . in one or more embodiments , the user 140 may track the profile and receive alerts through a workstation . in one or more embodiments , the user 140 may access the database and the profile and the existing data through a hand held device , a pda device , a laptop , a desktop computer , a cell phone and / or a smartphone device . in one or more embodiments , the user 140 may receive alerts on his pda 610 or any other smartphone device . in another embodiment , the creator of the profile , in this case , user 140 a may manually select what users may receive certain alerts . for example , user 140 a may want to limit the set of alerts sent to trackers of the profile 208 based on a security level of the user tracking the profile 208 . for example , user 140 a may allow a known user 140 b , who may be working on the same case to receive certain updates , but may not allow user 140 c , who may be an unknown user to receive all updates . in one or more embodiments , the user 140 b may receive all updates made to the profile 208 , but user 140 c may only receive more generic updates made to the profile 208 . conversely , in another embodiment , a user tracking the profile 208 may also choose to only receive alerts on significant updates to the profile 208 . for example , user 140 b may only want to receive updates related to poi 106 a &# 39 ; s location , but may not want to receive updates on poi 106 a &# 39 ; s set of phone records . user 140 b may then be able to change a set of preferences and only receive relevant updates in the categories of information desirable . in one embodiment , the user may choose to receive updates when “ geographical location ” section of the profile 208 is updated , but may choose to not receive an update when a “ biographical information ” section of profile 208 in updated . the alert may be an email , a text message , a consolidated report in an email or a consolidated weekly report by mail . in one or more embodiments , the system may also include a means to track a set of updates made by a set of users . for example , if multiple users performed updates on a particular profile , the system may designate updates made by various users through a color coding . the system may also measure the accuracy of the particular user performing the update to track an accuracy of a particular user . for example , user a may be a creator of a profile . user b may be have access to the profile and may have privileges to update the profile based on a role based access control . in one or more embodiments , role based access control may allow all member of a particular organization complete access to a particular profile . user b may then input new data into the profile . the update may be color coded by the system to represent the new data inputted by user b in red color , for example . the system may then determine an accuracy of the update based on the set of accuracy factors associated with user b &# 39 ; s previous updates on other profiles in the system . the system may determine the accuracy based on a set of accuracy factors such as consistency of data , a set of conflicting information and prior matching patterns of data . for example , user b may have added particular useful information to prior profiles . based on past success , user b &# 39 ; s accuracy may reflect higher on the present update , in one or more embodiments . in one or more embodiments , the system may perform a metaheuristic analysis on a new information against existing data in the database . metaheuristics may refer to any computational strategies used by the system to improve accuracy and legitimacy of the information presented . for example , the system may use a computational strategy or algorithm to independently determine an accuracy or legitimacy of the new information . the system may also use complex algorithms to determine a consistency of data and other variables to match and compare data . fig7 illustrates a formation of a group that links to multiple profiles , and may be tracked by multiple users who receive any updates done to the group or its constituents . fig7 illustrates a profile for an investigation group 702 , a profile 208 a for poi 106 a , a profile 208 b for poi 106 b and a profile 208 c for poi 106 c , a user 140 d , a user 140 e , a workstation 206 d and another workstation 206 e and en existing data 220 . in one or more embodiments , a profile for an investigation 702 may be created . the profile for the investigation group 702 may link to a set of other profiles . for example , the profile for the investigation group 702 may link to a profile 208 a created for poi 106 a , a suspect in the investigation , another profile 208 b created for poi 106 b and yet another profile 208 c created for poi 106 c . user 140 d and user 140 e may be tracking the profile for the investigation group 702 . in one embodiment , the user may 140 d may receive an alert when the profile for the investigation group is updated . in another embodiment , the user 140 d may automatically also receive an update when a constituent profile , for example profile 208 c is also updated because profile 208 c is linked and referenced to in the profile for the investigation group 702 . fig8 illustrates a function of the analysis module whereby two profiles may be compared , and a list of common links and similarities may be generated . fig8 illustrates the profile 208 a , the other profile 208 b , the analysis module 310 , the existing data 220 , the predetermined association factors 312 and a comparison chart 812 . in another embodiment , a user 140 may be interested in visually comparing profile 208 a and the other profile 208 b . for example , the user 140 may want to graphically see the similarities and differences between the two profiles . the two profiles of interest may be profiles of suspects in a particular criminal investigation . the user 140 may want to create a timeline of phone records of both suspects , to see if the suspects possibly communicated with each other . in one embodiment , the user 140 may want to compare the two profiles to see the list of common contacts between profile 208 a and profile 208 b . in one or more embodiments , the user may be interested in seeing a set of analytics comparing the profile 208 a with the profile 208 b . the analysis module may draw from the set of existing data 220 and the predetermined association factors 312 to make connections between the two profiles . in one embodiment , the analysis module 310 may use the predetermined association factors to generate a degree of similarity value 810 . for example , profile 208 a and profile 208 b may be both associated with the same murder trial , both suspects may be members of the same gang , and may have been from the same geographical location . in keeping with these predetermined association factors , the analysis module may generate a value for degree of similarity based on a number and a weight allotted to each predetermined association factor . the degree of similarity value may be helpful to the user 140 to determine how similar or dissimilar two profiles may be . similarly , in another embodiment , the user may want to graphically map the similarities and dissimilarities between profile 208 a and profile 208 b . in this case , the server 110 may allow the user to view both profiles simultaneously and may help the user 140 to graphically compare and observe the similarities and differences in the two profiles . fig9 is a graphical representation of a geographical location associated with poi 106 a , also coupled with a timeline bar . fig9 illustrates a graphical illustration of a query entered by the user 140 , a set of results 904 and a timeline of poi a 106 a &# 39 ; s geographical location . in one or more embodiments , the user 140 may want to search for a set of profiles in the database , and limit the search by geographical location . the query may limit the search by geographical location , name , time , specific profiles , background , crime area , investigating officer , creator of profile , another criteria . in one or more embodiments , the workstation 206 may display the set of results graphically . for example , when the user 140 searches for the set of profiles by geographical location , in this case los altos , calif ., the server 110 may return results 904 with a map of los altos , calif ., and may list a set of profiles of pois associated with los altos , calif . to the user 140 for display . in one or more embodiments , the user 140 may be an investigating officer in the murder criminal investigation mentioned above , and may want to search a list of all suspects who have profiles in the database 102 who may be located close to the crime scene . in another embodiment , the user 140 may want to limit the query 902 by weapon type and geographical location in the same murder criminal investigation mentioned above , and the server 110 may return a smaller more filtered set of results 904 . in another embodiment , the user 140 may be able to use the timeline feature to limit the query further by time and geographical location . for example , the user 140 may not only want to know the current locations of possible suspects in los altos , calif ., but may also want to specifically search the set of profiles in the server 110 in june 2008 who may have been associated to los altos , calif . the user 140 may thus be able to visually analyze and organize the set of data , and may use this information to better investigate the case . fig1 is a graphical representation between a set of profiles in the server 110 . fig1 illustrates poi 106 a and poi 106 b , and forming a connection based on the set of predetermined association factors . in one or more embodiments , the user 140 may want to see a set of connections around poi 106 a . the user may want to map a set of contacts associated with poi 106 a , and may want to analyze and organize the set of data visually . the user may be able to see a set of poi 106 a &# 39 ; s contacts graphically and may be able to see a set of contacts of a contact of poi 106 a . in viewing the graphical representation , the user 140 may be able to make connections between poi 106 a and poi 106 b . in another embodiment , the server 110 may also use the predetermined association factors to visually highlight certain connections when the degree of similarity between two profiles is higher than a threshold value . as mentioned above , the user 140 may want the server 110 to highlight certain connections visually when the value for degree of similarity is greater than 8 . the value for the degree of similarity may be calculated using a number of applicable predetermined association factors and a weight accorded to a particular predetermined association factor . in fig1 , the server 110 may automatically highlight a connection between poi 106 a and poi 106 b because the server 110 may have determined that the degree of similarity between both profiles is greater than 8 . in another embodiment , even if the server 110 has not highlighted the particular connection , the user 140 , based on his own knowledge and preference may highlight the particular connection . in another embodiment , the server 110 may have a means of auditing a set of all activities performed by the user 140 . for example , in the previous example , if user 140 highlighted a particular connection , a continuous audit record would keep track of this particular highlighting action , and a set of all other actions done by the user . for example , if the user updated the profile 208 with additional information , the audit record may keep track of what was added to the profile along with the login date and time of the entry . in another embodiment , the system 100 may also record in the audit record a set of changes made by the user 140 . the set of changes may be an edit , an entry , a deletion , an uploaded material , a change to privacy options or a change to security options . fig1 illustrates how the system 100 forms a connection between two profiles using the predetermined association factors . fig1 illustrates a profile 208 a , an other profile 208 b , the existing data 220 and the analysis module 310 . in one or more embodiments , the analysis module 310 may make connections based on determining a degree of similarity between a particular profile and another profile . for example , the profile 208 a and the other profile 208 b may have four applicable predetermined associations based on geography , background , common case and 1 common contact . the user 140 or the analysis module 310 may have accorded a weight of 3 to geographical location , 2 to background , 9 for common case and 5 for 1 common contact . in one embodiment , the analysis module may calculate the degree of similarity factor by simply averaging out the 4 numbers , in this case , 4 . 75 . in another embodiment , the analysis module may use a more complicated algorithm to find the degree of similarity . the analysis module may use a median , or a statistical analysis to arrive at the value for the degree of similarity . the user 140 may have set the value for the predetermined threshold value to be 7 . in this case , in comparing profile 208 a and profile 208 b , the connection may not be highlighted since the degree of similarity is smaller than 7 . in another embodiment , as discussed above , in the sliding scale model shown in fig3 b , even if the degree of similarity is small , the connection may still be highlighted because one predetermined association factor has a high weight of 9 . the user 140 may be able to select , or program the server 110 based on his own preferences . the analysis module 310 may make connection based on these preferences . fig1 ( 12 a and 12 b ) is a critical path flow illustrating the creation of a profile . fig1 illustrates user 140 a , user 140 b , the database 102 , the server 110 and the analysis module 310 . in one embodiment 1202 , the user 140 a may input a data associated with a particular poi to the server 110 . in 1204 , the server 110 may receive the data . in 1206 , the server 110 may create a profile for the particular poi based on the data received . in 1208 , the user 140 a may input user preferences such as security controls , visibility controls for the profile , relevant predetermined association factors , weight of predetermined association factors , preferences for alerts , groups to track , other profiles to track , creating manual connections between the profile associated with the poi and another profile , and other user preferences . in 1210 , the server 110 may set default values for all user preferences when the user 140 has not manually set user preferences . in 1212 , the server 110 may graphically cluster the data in the profile 208 . in 1214 , the server 110 may create graphs , timelines and social contacts based on the data of the profile 208 . in 1216 , the analysis module 310 may analyze the data against the data contained in the database and data of other profiles in the server 110 . in 1218 , the analysis module 310 may compare the data with that of other data contained in other profiles and may synthesize the data using predetermined association factors . in 1220 , the analysis module 310 may determine a connection between the profile and another profile based on the set of predetermined association factors . in 1222 , the analysis module 310 may calculate the value for degree of similarity between the profile 208 and other profiles in the server 110 . in 1224 , the analysis module 310 may determine if the value for degree of similarity is greater than the predetermined threshold value . in 1226 , the analysis module 310 may create a connection between the particular profile 208 and any other profile if the value for degree of similarity is greater than the predetermined threshold value . if the value for the degree of similarity is lower than the predetermined threshold value , then the analysis module 310 may not create a connection . in 1228 , the server 110 may create a connection between the profile and any other profile in the server 110 based on the analysis module 310 . in 1228 , the database 102 also stores the results of the analysis . in 1230 , the server 110 may generate an alert to the user 140 and all other users who may be tracking the particular profile 208 . in 1232 , an other user 140 b may receive an alert of the connection . in 1234 , the user 140 a also may receive an alert of the connection made . in 1226 , the user may see the connection made by the analysis module 310 , and may further investigate all the other profiles to which the connections are made to . the user may choose to delete some connections , and follow other connections based on a discretion of the user 140 a . fig1 ( 13 a and 13 b ) is another critical path flow that illustrates how a set of users are able to access and update to a particular profile based on a role based access control model . role based access control may be a system set access privilege determining what access and update privileges a member of a particular group may have . fig1 illustrates a relationship between user 140 a , user 140 b , the server 110 and the analysis module 310 . in one embodiment , 1302 , the user 140 a may input the data associated with the poi and may create a profile for a particular poi . in 1302 , the user 140 a may also set access privileges that may allow a particular user , or a set of other users to access and / or update the page . the user 140 a may allow any user affiliated with a certain group to access and update a profile . in contrast , the user 140 may not allow any user of another group to access or update . in yet others , the user 140 may allow users of a particular group to access but not update the profile . in 1304 , the user 140 b , may search the database 102 for the poi 1301 . in 1306 , the server 110 may generate a search result to show that a profile for the poi 1301 already exists . in 1308 , the user 140 b may request to access the profile associated with poi 1301 . in 1310 , the server 110 may display only a portion of the profile associated with poi based on a set of security controls associated with the profile . in 1312 , the server 110 may check the access privilege and may allow or restrict the user 140 b &# 39 ; s access to the profile . in 1314 , the user , if allowed to update to the profile , may update the profile associated with poi with new information . in 1316 , the server 110 may store the new updates made by the user 140 b . in 1318 , the server 110 may update or ignore the update made by the user 140 b based on a response of the user 140 a . in 1320 , the server 110 may send an alert to user 140 a , user 140 b and all other users tracking the profile associated with poi . also in 1320 , the users 140 a and user 140 b may receive an alert informing them of the update . although the present embodiments have been described with reference to specific example embodiments , it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the various embodiments .	6
more specifically , the first aspect of the present invention utilizes a technique where initially one purposefully aims to place the optical spot of the measurement beam a few microns away from the center of the target pad . then a series of measurements are made with each measurement separated by a small stage jog as the optical spot is scanned over the measurement pad . the data from these measurements are stored for analysis at the end of the scan . once the scan is complete , these data are analyzed to find the center of the pad . provided the surrounding material is the same on both sides of the pad ( nearly always the case ), one finds that some aspect of the data invariably has either a cup or inverted “ u ” shape or an inverted cup or “ u ” shape when viewed as a function of position . this cup or u - shape simply reflects the fact that the surrounding material is altering the measurement and that the perturbation of the data is a minimum at the center of the pad . the point of minimum perturbation should correspond to a minimum in the slope of the curve . once this minimum is identified , the position along the wafer corresponding to that data point is selected as representing the center of the pad . note that if the pad is wide enough then there may actually be several consecutive points which show no perturbation from the surrounding material . for pads that are roughly comparable in size to the optical spot , however , there may be one best location . although in most cases the most efficient scanning method is to scan the measurement pad across the focus , other scanning patterns may be employed to practice the present invention so long as the resulting data includes data points that correspond to measurements made at or near the center of the measurement pad . scanning can also be made along two axes or directions rather than one . fig2 and 3 illustrate examples of graphs formed by purposefully making a linescan of measurements over the true center of the measurement pad . one preferred approach to making such measurements includes the use of the optiprobe detector manufactured and sold by therma - wave , inc . of fremont , calif ., assignee herein , and described in part in one or more of the following u . s . pat . nos . : 4 , 999 , 014 ; 5 , 042 , 951 ; 5 , 181 , 080 ; 5 , 412 , 473 ; and pct publication wo 99 / 02970 , each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . the optiprobe detector is capable of making both reflectometric and ellipsometric measurements . in fig2 and 3 , the range or y - axis of the graphs shows the apparent layer thickness in angstroms for each measurement point if calculated without taking into account the perturbation of the material surrounding the measurement pad , while the abscissa or x - axis shows the position along the wafer in mm . in practice the layer thickness calculations for each measurement point can be made from the reflectometry or ellipsometry data using an appropriate iterative nonlinear least squares optimization technique such as the well - known marquardt - levenberg algorithm . the reason for resorting to a calculational least squares algorithm is that the fresnel equations that describe the reflectometric and ellipsometric phenomena being measured are not easily inverted . a suitable iterative optimization technique for this purpose is described in “ multiparameter measurements of thin films using beam - profile reflectivity ,” fanton et al ., journal of applied physics , vol . 73 , no . 11 . p . 7035 ( 1993 ) and “ simultaneous measurement of six layers in a silicon on insulator film stack using spectrophotometry and beam profile reflectometry ,” leng et al ., journal of applied physics , vol . 81 , no . 8 , p . 3570 ( 1997 ). these two articles are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties . when such appropriate calculational techniques were used to find a film thickness value for the series of measurements shown in fig2 the result for the thin film being measured was a cup or u - shape , indicating that the material surrounding the measurement pad perturbed the apparent film thickness upward in value . this upward perturbation reflects the fact that in the fig2 example , the surrounding material was higher than the thin film being measured . in this case , the 100 micron by 100 micron measurement pad was in the form of a well or depression . in the fig2 graph , the point of minimum perturbation appears to occur generally between the position of 2 . 25 mm and the position of 2 . 254 mm . for the fig3 graph , the result is an inverted u - shape for the graph , indicating that the material surrounding the measurement pad perturbed the data so as to lower the apparent value of the film thickness . this downward perturbation reflects the fact that in the fig2 example , the surrounding material was lower than the thin film being measured . in this case , the 100 micron by 100 micron measurement pad was in the form of a plateau or raised surface . in the fig3 graph , the point of minimum perturbation appears to fall generally between the position of 2 . 142 mm and 2 . 15 mm . the advantages of the present method can be seen from the data compiled in tables 1 and 2 below . the data in tables 1 and 2 were generated by measuring the thickness of a thin film on a test wafer . the wafer was measured at five points ( sites ) during each run . the five sites are identified in the table as “ t ”( top ), “ c ” ( center ), “ b ” ( bottom ), “ l ” ( left ), “ r ” ( right ). the measurements in table 1 were made by moving the wafer to each site using a conventional high precision stage and a site correcting pattern recognition system . the measurements in table 2 were taken using the site correcting pattern recognition system in conjunction with the linescan approach described herein . in particular , the wafer was brought to a spot which was thought to be slightly removed from the desired measurement site . measurements were then taken across a 40 micron scan . data were selected by identifying the minimum perturbation point of each scan . the measurement data of each run of table 2 were taken immediately after the correspondingly numbered run of table 1 . the 15 different runs were spread out over five days to check repeatability . the actual measurements were made using an absolute ellipsometer ( tm ), part of the measurement system of an opti - probe 5240 , manufactured and sold by therma - wave . details of an absolute ellipsometer using a helium neon laser are described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 798 , 837 , incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . the helium neon laser generates a probe beam spot size of about 15 by 30 microns . the beam was scanned in the direction of the wider beam diameter , although scanning can be performed along either of two axes . the standard deviation ( sigma ) for the measurements of each site is shown at the bottom of each table . ideally , the thickness measurements at each site would be the same for all the measurements . as can be seen , the average deviation for the measurements using only the site correcting pattern recognition system ( table 1 ) was 0 . 37 . in contrast , the average deviation for the measurements in table 2 , using the subject line scan system , was only 0 . 02 , an improvement of almost a factor of 20 . the only difference between the measurements in tables 1 and 2 was the use of the scanning algorithm of the present invention in order to determine the data points that would most accurately reflect the true position of the wafer . as can be seen from table 1 , even though a site correcting pattern recognition system was used , a few microns of stage backlash and inaccuracy were enough to substantially degrade performance . fig5 illustrates a basic form of ellipsometer for evaluating the parameters of a sample 100 in accordance with the present invention . as shown therein , a means , such as laser 60 , generates a beam of radiation 70 . this beam is passed through a polarizing section 80 for creating a known polarization state of the beam . the beam is then reflected off the sample at an oblique angle of incidence θ with respect to the normal n as shown . the reflected beam is then passed through an analyzing section 110 for isolating the polarization state of the reflected beam . the intensity of the beam is then measured by a photodetector 120 . the mechanical stage 130 is used to scan the center of the desired measurement area across the focus of the beam spot in the manner discusses above in order to make a series of measurements . a processor 90 can ultimately be used to determine parameters of the sample 100 by comparing the polarization state of the input beam with the polarization state of the reflected beam . the scanning technique of the present invention increases both accuracy and repeatability for measurements made on small pads . for still smaller pad sizes the effects of the surrounding material can sometimes not be ignored . in other words , for such pads , even though the scanning method described above may still yield a good repeatability , the accuracy of the measurement even at the center of the pad would be unacceptable . in another aspect of the present invention , we use a novel method of data analysis that allows us to correct for the effects of the surrounding material in analyzing the data . in essence , the data collected at the center of the pad is treated as being created by a superposition of light coming from the pad material itself and light coming from the surrounding material . the influence of the two materials is weighted by the proportion of the light that reflects off the pad as compared with the light that reflects off the surrounding material . in order to estimate these proportions , it is necessary to have knowledge of the optical spot intensity profile , but the profile is something that can be readily determined for the instrument using standard measurement techniques . for example , and as shown in fig4 the beam spot strikes both the pad 50 and surrounding material 60 . given knowledge of both the dimensions of the pad 50 and the size and profile of the beam spot 40 , one can mathematically model the resulting signal to account for both the contribution of the light reflected from the pad 50 ( region 1 ) and the light reflected from the surrounding material 60 ( region 2 ). one approach to this problem is to treat the total reflected signal simply as the superposition of the light signal reflected by the pad region ( region 1 ) and the light signal reflected by the surrounding material ( region 2 ). determining each separate contribution from the two regions is a matter of describing the reflection of light by a thin film or stack of thin films . this problem has been treated in detail in optical properties of thin film solids , o . s . heavens , dover edition ( 1991 ), pp . 49 - 92 and principles of optics , m . born and e . wolf , 6 th ( corrected ) edition , pp . 51 - 70 , each of which is hereby incorporated by reference . once the reflected field at the lens is known , the intensity of the light at the detector can be determined accordingly based on the optics of the ellipsometric or reflectometric system . the incoming light may typically be in the form of a laser beam with a gaussian profile . since the electric field must satisfy the maxwell equation , a well focused gaussian beam may be expressed as follows : e  ( x → ) = e 0  ∫ k & lt ;  = k 0   k    - a 2  k 2 / 4 +    k → · r → + i  k 0 2 - k 2  z = e 0  ∫  k    - ( a 2 +  2z / k 0 )  k 2 / 4 + i   k → · r → + ik 0  z provided that a & gt ;& gt ; 1 / k 0 . the wave vector k has two dimensional , k x and k y , where r =( x , y ). carrying out the integration we have the well - known expression describing the propagation of a gaussian beam , e  ( x → ) = e 0  1 a 2 + i2z / k 0   r 2 a 2 + i2z / k 0 +    k 0  z = e 0  1 a 2  ( z )   - r 2 / a 2  ( z ) + ik 0  z here a 2 ( z ) is defined by a 2 + i2z / k 0 and gives a position - dependent radius of the beam . we assume that sample is divided into two regions , x & lt ; a where the optical reflectivity is r 1 and x ≧ a where the optical reflectivity is r 2 . for simplicity , we select our coordinates so that that the incident plane lies in the x - z coordinate system . the system is then uniform in the y direction . we can therefore make a fourier transformation in the y direction 1 a  ( z )   - x 2 / a 2  ( z ) - k y 2  a 2  ( z ) / 4 - i  ( k x  x - k x 2 + k y 2 2  k 0  z ) = 1 a  ( z )   - x 2 / a 2  ( z ) - k y 2  a 2 / 4 - i  ( k x  x - k x 2 2  k 0  z ) . the far field of the optical electric field can - be used to predict the intensity of the light at the detector and is expressed as ∫ - ∞ a   x  -    kx  e  ( x )  r 1 + ∫ a ∞   x    -    kx  e  ( x )  r 2 = r 1  ∫  x    -    k   x  e  ( x ) + ( r 2 + r 1 )  ∫ a ∞   x    -    kx  e  ( x ) the first integral is the field equation for a uniform sample , while the integration in the second term can be written as i  ( k x , k y  ) = e 0   - k y 2  a 2 / 4  ∫ a ∞   x  1 a  ( z ′ )   - x ′ 2 / a 2  ( z ′ ) -    ( k x  x ′ - k x 2 2  k 0  z ′ ) when z = 0 , we have ( excluding the factor containing k y and e 0 ) i  ( k x ) = e 0  1 cos   θ  ∫ a   cos   θ ∞   x  1 a  ( tan   θ   x )   - x 2 / a 2  ( tan   θ   x ) -    ( 1 - k x 2  k 0  tan   θ )  k x  x at normal incidence , the above integration becomes simply i = ∫ a ∞   x    - x 2 +    kx =  - a 2 +    ka  wofz  ( k / 2 + ia ) the scope of the present invention is meant to be that set forth in the claims that follow and equivalents thereof , and is not limited to any of the specific embodiments described above .	7
in one embodiment , the disclosure relates to a method for localizing the random backoff mechanisms to a particular group of mmio bus masters when the multiple mmio bus masters over utilize a particular io resource . the preferred embodiment does not penalize the remainder of the bus masters by putting the entire system bus into a global random backoff mode . instead , only the aggressive bus masters are directed to a backoff mechanism . in one implementation , the io controller detects that it is getting too many mmios within a window of time and starts driving a unique snoop response on the system bus to cause all mmio bus masters targeting that io controller to dynamically go into a mode where their mmio command bus issue rate is throttled down to be no greater then a maximum programmable issue rate . the maximum programmable rate will not impact normal device driver threads , but will slow down and stagger the aggressive threads issuing the mmios concurrently to the same io controller . once the io controller detects the mmio rate is no longer a problem , it will stop driving the unique snoop response . under this implementation , the mmio bus masters will be able to identify the root cause for their lack of forward progress and will be able to backoff as a group . some mmio bus masters may be unaware that other mmio masters are having forward progress issues , but if they work as a group to backoff their requests to a particular io controller , the system will be more balanced . in one embodiment , the random backoff value can be a function of the number of potential bus masters in the system sharing an io controller as well as the maximum mmio bandwidth sustainable by the io subsystem . each io controller can have a programmable counter that will indicate a window of time , which is referred to as an “ mmio burst detection ” window . in one embodiment , the programmable window can be a multiple of the clock period of the processor and will need to be set to a value less then the smp bus hang detection window , since the goal is to prevent the smp bus from going into hang recovery . the window can be the time that spans between 2 one cycle pulses of a programmable counter . fig1 is a schematic representation of smp system implementing an embodiment of the disclosure . in fig1 , each of nodes 110 , 120 and 130 includes processor 112 , 122 and 132 , respectively . within each node , the processor communicates with the peripheral devices through a dedicated bus master talking to an io controller across a system bus . thus , nodes 110 , 120 and 130 communicate with smp system bus 150 through bus masters 114 , 124 and 134 , respectively . while not shown , each node may include cache memory and / or other local memory module accessible to the processor . smp system bus 150 also communicates with multiple io controllers . for simplicity of representation , fig1 only shows io controllers 140 and 180 although the system may have a number of io controllers . io controller 140 communicates with peripheral devices 145 , 146 and 147 , while io controller 180 communicates with peripheral devices 185 , 186 and 187 . the peripheral devices can comprise : printers , storage and auxiliary devices . in one embodiment , io controller 140 includes 2 state machines 142 ( inbound queue ), 144 ( outbound queue ) for determining if there is a potential bottleneck problem in the mmio queues . similarly , io controller 180 includes 2 state machines 182 ( inbound queue ) and 184 ( outbound queue ). each state machine 142 , 144 ( or 182 , 184 ) may have two states : idle and active . the mmio queues will contain snoop commands / responses which are sent from or directed to nodes 110 , 120 and 130 . by keeping track of both the mmio outbound store queue ( mmio out state machine 144 ) and the mmio load data reply inbound ( mmio in state machine 142 ) queue , the io controller can identify the build - up of possible bottlenecks . state machines 142 and 144 can keep track and determine whether either of the inbound or outbound mmio queues were busy , for example , for the entire time between 2 pulses of the mmio burst detection counter . in one embodiment , the burst detection counter can be measured with the smp bus clock . the mmio in / out state machines 142 , 144 can start in the idle state and transition to the active state upon seeing the first mmio burst detection pulse when the respective mmio queue is busy . if the queue ever becomes idle between the first and second mmio burst detection pulse , the state machine will go to the idle state . if the next mmio burst detection window pulse arrives when the state machine is in the active state , then it can go to the mmio burst prevention state . if io controller 140 detects that either of mmio state machines 142 , 144 have entered into the mmio burst prevention state , it will start to drive a unique snoop response , “ mmio burst prevention ” on smp system bus 150 for all mmio commands that target the io devices behind that particular io controller ( e . g ., device 145 , 146 , 147 ). io controller 140 will continue to do this until both of the mmio state machines exit the mmio burst prevention state . upon observing the “ mmio burst prevention ” snoop response on smp system bus 150 , the mmio bus master state machines will transition into an mmio backoff mode for that particular hardware thread and will stay in that backoff mode until they no longer observe the mmio burst prevention snoop response . for example , if bus masters 114 and 124 receive the mmio burst prevention snoop response , they will transition into the mmio backoff mode as described below . in the mean time , the remaining bus masters ( i . e ., 134 ) will continue operating as before and without interruption . while the mmio bus masters ( e . g ., 114 , 124 ) are in mmio backoff mode , each bus master inserts randomly sized gaps between sequential mmio commands that are issued onto smp system bus 150 for the particular thread as long as that thread keeps observing the unique “ mmio burst prevention ” snoop response from io controller 140 . the gaps can be computed using an lfsr algorithm such that the mmio commands issued in the smp bus will be staggered randomly with respect to other bus masters issuing mmio commands to io controller 180 in question . if a thread is experiencing a “ mmio burst prevention ” snoop response to sequential mmio bus transactions , the thread will not have to insert the gap between bus requests if there already exists a gap larger then the desired gap . what this means is that non - aggressive threads ( e . g ., threads issued by bus master 134 ) will continue to issue mmio requests at the normal rate , assuming there is reasonable spacing between the bus request , but aggressive threads ( e . g ., threads issued by bus masters 114 , 124 ) will be slowed down . the base gaps will be programmed to be a multiple of the address to snoop response time of the smp bus and will be a function of smp bus frequency and io bus frequency using a programmable lfsr based counter . the time gaps between issuing mmio commands on smp bus 150 will cause the overall mmio throughput to go down slightly for a particular thread ( not enough to cause significant performance loss ), but more importantly it will stagger the mmio bursts between the various threads going to the same io controller if the mmio bursts happen to all line up at the same time . such implementation allows other threads in the system to not experience system bus degradation due to io controller 180 getting backed - up from multiple threads issuing mmio bursts at the same time . the io controller &# 39 ; s mmio in / out state machines 142 , 144 will exit the mmio burst prevention state upon observing that the mmio inbound / outbound queues are no longer busy for 2 pulses of the mmio burst detection window . it should be noted that the duration of 2 pulses of the mmio burst detection window is arbitrary and can be adjusted according the system &# 39 ; s particularities . when both mmio state machines 142 , 144 are back in the idle state , io controller 180 may no longer drive the “ mmio burst prevention ” snoop response . the mmio bus master state machines 114 , 124 will still be in the backoff mode until they issue an mmio command that does not observe the “ mmio burst prevention ” snoop response , at which time the bus master will exit the backoff mode for that particular thread . fig2 is a flow diagram illustrating implementation of an embodiment of the disclosure in the smp system of fig1 . flow diagram 200 of fig2 starts with 210 in which io controller receives snoop commands from multiple threads in the system . the io controller directs the received commands to an associated mmio state machine ( inbound ) queue before processing . similarly , io controller &# 39 ; s responses to the snoop commands are directed to an associated mmio state machine ( outbound ) queue before transmitting to smp bus . in step 220 , the io controller identifies one or more aggressive threads ( or processors ) from among a group of threads . in one embodiment , the aggressive activity of the threads is compared against a threshold . in one exemplary embodiment , the aggressive threads are identified by determining whether one or both of the mmio state machines have entered into the mmio burst prevention states . in step 230 , the io controller issues a burst prevention response to the aggressive threads identified in step 220 . the aggressive threads can include one or more threads from the plurality of threads in the system . in one embodiment , the io controller can treat all threads that are attempting to communicate with the io controller the same during the mmio burst prevention window by issuing a burst prevention response to all threads targeting the io controller &# 39 ; s address space . in another embodiment , io controller can identify the aggressive threads in an order of priority . for example , a group of primary aggressive threads and a group of secondary aggressive threads may be identified by the bus id field and the io controller can issue a mmio burst prevention commands for the primary aggressive threads while issuing a warning to the secondary aggressive threads . in step 240 and upon observing the mmio burst prevention snoop response on the smp bus , the bus master associated with each thread will transition into an mmio backoff mode . the backoff mode can be limited to the particular hardware thread that caused the mmio burst prevention state . once entered into the backoff mode , each aggressive thread &# 39 ; s bus master inserts a randomly sized gap between sequential mmio commands . the gap can be computed using conventional algorithms such as an lfsr algorithm . thus , the mmio commands issued from the aggressive thread &# 39 ; s mmio bus master will be staggered randomly with respect to other aggressive threads issuing mmio commands to the io controller . the aggressive thread &# 39 ; s mmio bus master will remain in the backoff mode until it no longer observes the mmio burst prevention snoop response . once the mmio bus master determines that the burst prevention mode has ended , it will resume normal operation as shown in step 260 . while the principles of the disclosure have been illustrated in relation to the exemplary embodiments shown herein , the principles of the disclosure are not limited thereto and include any modification , variation or permutation thereof .	6
a device 01 for linking two webs of material in accordance with the present invention and with a web connecting device 02 , that is embodied in the manner of a gluing roller , in particular a web guide device , and a web cutting device 03 , which web cutting device 03 is embodied in the manner of a severing cutter , are represented in fig1 . both the web connecting device 02 and the web cutting device 03 are fastened on a frame 04 , with frame 04 being formed by two lateral elements that are arranged parallel with each other . two pivot arms 07 , which are each seated for pivoting around an axis of rotation 06 , are provided for use in displacing the web connecting device 02 in relation to the frame 04 . the web connecting device 02 can be rotatingly pivoted around the axis of rotation 06 by triggering a drive mechanism , which is not specifically represented . the web connecting device 02 is embodied in the manner of a gluing roller and is rotatably seated at the lower ends of the pivot arms 07 . the cutting device 03 is connected with the frame 04 and is fixed in place on it . the frame 04 itself is pivotably seated and can be pivoted around a frame axis of rotation 08 , which is the same as , and is aligned with an axis of rotation of a guide roller 09 . the frame 04 is pivotable about its axis of rotation 08 by use of a drive device , which is not specifically represented . fig1 represents the device for linking webs , 01 in its initial position . in the initial position , the device 01 has been pivoted to the right in such a way that neither the cutting device 03 nor the web connecting device 02 come into engagement with one of the webs of material . a running - out or exhausting web of material 11 , in particular a paper web , is wound off a depleted roll of material 15 , which depleted roll of material 15 is seated in a roll changer , not represented . web of material 11 is conveyed into a downstream arranged device , for example a rotary printing press , over the web guide rollers 12 , 09 . the conveying direction of the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 can be determined by the movement arrow 13 . if the old or depleted roll of material 15 is used up to a large extent , and if therefore a flying roll change is to be performed , a fresh or full roll of material 14 , on which a fresh web of material 16 , in particular a paper web , is wound , is clamped into the roll changer , which is not specifically represented , and is rotationally accelerated in accordance with the movement arrow 17 until the circumferential speed of a web start 18 of the fresh web of material 16 matches the conveying speed of the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 . adhesive labels 19 have been attached to the web start 18 of the fresh web of material 16 , so that the fresh web of material 16 can be connected with the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 . the passage of the adhesive labels 19 can be detected by utilization of a sensor 21 , which is only represented schematically , and can be passed on to the control of the roll changer . as soon as the fresh web of material 14 has reached the required circumferential speed , the frame 04 can be pivoted to the left in accordance with the movement arrow 22 so that the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 initially approaches the fresh roll of material 14 . the device for linking webs , 01 , is represented in fig2 after the pivoting of the frame 04 , for letting the running - out web of material 11 approach the fresh roll of material 14 , has been accomplished . in the course of the pivot movement of the frame 04 , the web connecting device pivot arms 07 are also pivoted without their moving relative to the frame 04 . the result is that the web connecting device 02 now comes into contact with one side of the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 and , with an increasing pivot angle of the frame 04 , the web connecting device 02 pushes the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 farther and farther in the direction of the fresh roll of material 14 . since the pivot arms 07 have not yet been displaced , damage to the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 by the cutting device 03 , which is fixedly mounted on the frame , is prevented because of the relative arrangement between the web cutting device 03 and the web connecting device 02 . once the web connecting device 02 has sufficiently approached the fresh roll of material 14 by effecting the pivoting of the frame 04 , it is possible to start the actual connection of the running - out web of material 11 with the fresh web of material 16 . to this end , a signal is passed on from the sensor 21 to the control device when the adhesive labels 19 pass , so that after receipt of this signal , the control device triggers the drive mechanism for displacing the pivot arms 07 . the pivot arms 07 , which support the web connecting device 02 , are pivoted to the left , in accordance with the movement arrow 23 , and , in the process , move the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 along until the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 comes to rest against the fresh roll of material 14 at the exact moment of the passage of the adhesive labels 19 . the web start 18 of the fresh web of material 16 is now connected with one side of the old running - out or exhausting web of material 11 . the configuration of the device for linking webs , 01 , at the exact moment of the connection between the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 and the fresh web of material 16 is schematically depicted in fig3 . it can be seen , by referring to fig4 that , because of the connection of the fresh web of material 16 with one side of the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 , a y - shaped structure results , two of whose branches are formed by the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 , and one of whose branches is formed by the fresh web of material 16 , and in whose juncture the adhesive labels 19 are located . an unintentional cutting of the running - out web of material 11 at this time is not possible since , because of the arrangement of the cutting device 03 on the frame 04 , the cutting device 03 extends essentially parallel with the course of travel of the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 in the area of the frame 04 . furthermore , a circular spacing element 24 is provided on the web cutting device 03 , because of which , a defined minimum distance between the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 and the cutting edge of the cutting device 03 is maintained . to finish the flying roll change , it is necessary to cut the old web of material 11 , which up to this time has constituted the running - out or exhausting web of material 11 . in order to cut the old web of material 11 , without any danger of damage to the fresh web of material 16 , the pivot arms 07 are controlled in such a way that they are now pivoted back toward the right in accordance with the movement arrow 26 , which arrow 26 is shown in fig3 . the course of the old web of material 11 is changed in the area downstream of the gluing point by this pivot movement , so that , as a function of the setting angle of the pivot arms 07 , the fresh web of material 16 and the old web of material 11 together form a defined angle a , as seen in fig4 in the area of the gluing point . the device for linking webs , 01 , is depicted in fig4 at the exact moment of the passage of the adhesive labels 19 past the cutting device 03 . at this time , the web connecting device pivot arms 07 have been pivoted back far enough so that the web connecting device 02 just rests against the old web of material 11 . the fresh web of material 16 extends under tension between the adhesive labels 19 and the fresh roll of material 14 . as soon as the adhesive labels 19 pass the cutting device 03 , the old web of material 11 is cut by the cutting device 03 because of the course of travel of this old web . the slip or trail of the now cut old web 11 , which is being created in the course of this cutting is only as long as the distance between the cutting edge of the cutting device 03 and the splice point for the fresh web of material 16 . thereafter , the fresh web of material 16 is conveyed into the downstream located device 01 and the old roll of material 15 , together with the cut off web end , is removed from the roll changer . the frame 04 is then pivoted back , in accordance with the movement arrow 27 , into its initial position , as represented in fig1 . while a preferred embodiment of a device for linking two webs of material in accordance with the present invention has been set forth fully and completely hereinabove , it will be apparent to one of skill in the art that various changes in , for example , the type of printing press being used , the overall width of the web being cut and the like could be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention which is to be limited only by the following claims .	1
the current invention is related to a structural system that could withstand severe loading conditions , especially , high impactive and impulsive loads which may result from blast pressure , tornado - generated missiles , aircraft strike , and other sources . this system provides protection to the main structure 1 , by having a movable outer shield 3 a spaced apart from the main structure and a crushable filling layer 2 is filling the space in between . the high energy absorption capacity of this system is due in part to the ability of the outer shield to slide against a sliding - plane 4 - 4 crushing the filling layer . the outer shield has a fixed part 3 b , which should be separated by a structural joint 5 from the main structure . this fixed part carries a fixed plate 6 , which defines the sliding - plane . the movable part of the outer shield has a plate 7 , which is provided with sliding means in order to allow the movable part of the outer shield to slide against the fixed plate . both of the two plates are anchored to the outer shield by anchors 8 . a sealant 9 is used to seal the outside gap between the two plates . the anchorage system could be designed in many different ways ; one of them for example is to have rigid anchor rods 10 embedded at one end into holes 13 drilled through the outer shield , where the space between each bar and the walls of the hole in which it is embedded is filled with an adhesive material 14 . the other end of each anchor rod is connected to a base plate 11 and the plate is mounted to the main structure by anchors 12 . the holes are drilled through the outer shield at some selected locations and sealed from outside by a sealant 15 in order to protect the connections from humidity and other weather effects . moreover , in order to resist the twisting movement which should result from an eccentric load , keys 16 and keyways 17 are created between the movable and the fixed parts of the outer shield with a relatively large clearance between the key and the sides of the keyway filled with a crushable material 18 . a second way to make the connections of the anchorage system is to fix the movable part of the outer shield 3 a to the fixed part 3 b using vertical dowels , which should be sheared off at the impact . assuming that the main structure is cylindrical in shape , and is located in a cartesian space so that the z axis coincides with the vertical axis of the structure as shown in fig1 , then a general impactive or impulsive load can be considered as the equivalent of the following six components : x , y , z , m x , m y and m z , where x , y and z are the force components in the directions of the x , y , and z axes , respectively and m x , m y and m z are the moments about the x , y , and z axes , respectively . the most damaging component to the structure is the force component that is in the radial direction normal to the vertical wall . this force is the resultant force of the x and y components . in the current invention , this force is resisted as follows depending on its magnitude and area of application : 1 . at a relatively small load , the outer shield should undergo a limited displacement crushing the filling layer locally at the area of the impact . some of the connections of the anchorage system may fail as well . 2 . at a higher level of loading , all the connections of the anchorage system should fail and the outer shield should undergo a free body motion sliding against the sliding - plane and crushing the filling material until the total energy of the load is absorbed or until the outer shield reaches the maximum possible displacement . 3 . at the highest loading condition , the displaced outer shield , the compressed filling layer and the main structure should act as a structural system subjected to the effect of the remaining unabsorbed energy . the vertical force component z is resisted by the own weight of the shield if it is an uplifting force or by the reaction of the fixed plate if it is acting downward . the twisting moment m z is created mainly by the tangential friction and is resisted by the key - keyway interaction . other moment components : m x and m y should have an overturning action , however , they are counteracted by the stabilizing moment which is due to the own weight of the shield . moreover , the possibilities of overturning the shield by an impactive or an impulsive load are very remote since that requires the disintegration of the shield or the main structure itself . there are two types of missiles : soft missiles and hard missiles . the type of missile is determined according to its relative rigidity comparing to the impacted structure . the effect of any of the two types of missiles upon a structure can be studied by analyzing the effect of the associated load - time function on the global stability of the structure . however , in case of a rigid missile , it is necessary to assess the possibilities of perforating the structure by the missile as well . as a hard missile hits a rigid structure , a very high impact force is generated for a very short period of time causing local damage to the structure at the location of the impact . this local damage , while does not undermine the integrity of the structure , however , it could result in serious consequences , in case — for example — a reservoir that contains flammable material or a nuclear reactor containment that is required to be airtight . this structural system — with its hardened rigid outer shield — offers protection against both types of missiles . the protection against the effect of the load on the global stability of the structure was discussed earlier in this description , while the protection against the perforation risk was discussed in the invention summary . it should be noticed that the relative strength of the different elements of this structural system should be observed in order to have the required performance under severe loading conditions . for instance , the anchorage system should be designed so that it collapses first before the outer shield is perforated by a representative missile . however , since there is a wide variety of loading conditions , then the design of this structural system should be optimized depending on the circumstances of each application . one of the materials which could be utilized in making the filling crushable layer is the stabilized aluminum foam ( saf ), which has the following properties : the following is an explanatory example of designing a system that is capable of withstanding very high impactive load utilizing the stabilized aluminum foam : an elevated 18 m high cylindrical reservoir has an outside diameter of 40 m and contains highly flammable material . due to the construction of a nearby airport , it was found that the reservoir is vulnerable to aircraft strikes . it is required to protect the reservoir so that it becomes capable of withstanding a normal impact of an aircraft landing at a speed of 300 km / h . the weight of the aircraft is assumed to be 250 tons and the estimated impact force is 244 mn . 1 . an outer shield made of reinforced concrete where both of its top cover and side walls are 2 ′ thick and its total weight is 56 mn , 2 . a crushable filling layer made of 18 ″ thick stabilized aluminum foam , 3 . an anchorage system that consists of 48 dowels , each fail in shear if subjected to a shear force of 0 . 41 mn . then : 1 . the kinetic energy of the aircraft = 868 mj 2 . volume of saf covering the impacted side = 29 . 1 × 18 = 523 . 8 m 3 3 . volume of the uncrushed saf following a crash = 10 . 4 × 18 = 187 . 2 m 3 4 . volume of crushed saf = 523 . 8 - 187 . 2 = 336 . 6 m 3 5 . energy absorbed in crushing the saf = 0 . 8 mj / m 3 × 336 . 6 m 3 = 269 mj 6 . energy absorbed in moving the outer shield = 56 mn × 0 . 8 × 0 . 46 m = 20 . 5 mj 7 . estimated energy absorbed in collapsing the anchorage system , keys , plastic deformations of the outer shield and friction = 38 . 5 mj 8 . estimated energy absorbed in crushing the aircraft = 540 mj 9 . total energy absorbed = 868 mj it should be noticed that the force generated by the impact is enough to crush the saf and to slide the outer shield : in this example , the first level of load resistance is defined by the capacity of the anchorage system which is 19 . 6 mn ; the second level of load resistance is the range of loads between 19 . 6 and 244 mn , where the latter is the required load to displace the outer shield to the position of maximum displacement . the third level of load resistance is defined by loads higher than 244 mn . in the previous example , the landing weight , the landing speed and the impact force of the aircraft are representative values for a jumbo jet . it was shown that the total kinetic energy of the aircraft could be absorbed in displacing the outer shield alone , which indicates that this structural system is capable of protecting the main structure against even higher impactive or impulsive loads . moreover , it should be noticed that following the impact , the displaced outer shield should exert additional moments on the main structure due to the eccentricity of the structure &# 39 ; s own - weight in this case . this moment should increase the stresses at some locations ; however , these additional stresses should not be significant due to the small ratio between the maximum displacement and the radius of the structure , which is in this example = 0 . 36 / 20 . 0 = 0 . 018 . furthermore , if the force required to displace the outer shield is very high due to the large surface area of the main structure , and consequently , the large surface area of the crushable layer , then it is possible to decrease this force by creating recesses in the crushable layer . the thickness of the foam at the recessed areas should be equal to the thickness of the main layer at the densification strain . for instance , the thickness of the crushable layer in the previous example is 0 . 46 m and the thickness of this layer at the densification strain is 0 . 09 m , then it is possible to decrease the thickness of the crushable layer to 0 . 09 m at several areas . this should result in decreasing the force required to displace the shield without undermining the function of the crushable layer . an alternative mode for carrying out this invention that would be obvious to someone who is skilled in the art is the elimination of the crushable layer by having the gap between the main structure and the outer shield , substantially , as a void space . the feature of having a crushable layer filling the gap is a non - essential feature that is not indispensible for the function of the invention but it represents an addition to the function . moreover , the removal of the crushable layer requires no real modification of other features to compensate for the change . while particular embodiments of the invention have been disclosed , it is evident that many alternatives and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the forgoing description . accordingly , it is intended to cover all such alternatives and modifications as fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims .	4
referring to fig1 , the manual inflator 10 of the invention comprises a generally rectangular body 12 having a generally circular - cylindrical boss 14 with internal threads . a generally circular - cylindrical threaded collar 16 is permanently threadably connected onto the threaded neck 18 of a conventional gas cylinder 20 . the collar 16 serves as a connector to threadably connect the gas cylinder 20 to the inflator 10 ( and to prevent replacement use of other gas cylinders without such collars 16 ). as described below , a lanyard 22 with a jerk handle 24 is operatively connected to a pierce pin assembly 26 reciprocably contained within the rectangular body 12 to pierce the frangible seal 20 s of the gas cylinder 20 whereupon the escaping gas from the gas cylinder 20 flows out a conventional manifold 28 sealingly connected to the inflatable device to which the inflator 10 is installed , thereby inflating the device . referring to fig2 and 2a , the generally circular - cylindrical collar 16 having internal threads 16 it is threaded onto the threaded neck 20 t of the gas cylinder 20 . it is contemplated that the collar 16 will be permanently installed onto the neck 20 t at the factory with a suitable thread adhesive such as tm “ loctite ” and then the gas cylinder / collar assembly sold at retail . the collar 16 includes an integrally - formed , generally circular - cylindrical break - ring 16 r formed within a cavity 16 c via fracturable webs 16 w extending from the annular edge of the break - ring 16 r and the lumen of the wall of the cavity 16 c . as explained below in more detail , the break - ring 16 r breaks - off the collar 16 upon firing of the pierce pin assembly 26 and thereby functions as a sensor to sense when the gas cylinder 20 has been spent ( or is missing ). the cavity 16 c includes an annular lip 16 l to retain the break - ring 16 r in the cavity 16 c once broken off , thereby making sure it is discarded with the spent gas cylinder / collar 20 / 16 . the pierce pin assembly 26 comprises a pierce pin 26 p rigidly mounted within the center of a reduced - diameter portion 32 r portion of a generally circular - cylindrical actuator 32 . the actuator 32 is reciprocatably mounted within a generally circular - cylindrical longitudinal bore 34 in the body 12 with its increased - diameter portion 32 i being complementarily dimensioned for slidable engagement therewith . an o - ring seal 36 mounted onto the increased - diameter portion 32 i provides a seal between the increased - diameter portion 32 i of the actuator 32 and the bore 34 . the forward travel ( toward the gas cylinder 20 ) of the actuator 32 is limited by a stop 38 formed in the bore 34 . the pierce pin assembly 26 further includes a dome - shaped generally circular cylindrical indicator cap 39 mounted in a recess 40 formed in the rearward end of the increased - diameter portion 32 i of the actuator 32 . a spring 42 is entrained between the interior of the cap 39 and the interior of the recess 40 of the actuator 32 to constantly urge the two components apart . finally , the piece pin assembly 26 further comprises a generally l - shaped firing lever 44 with its short leg 44 s pivotably mounted within a slot 46 formed in the upper end of the body 12 by a pivot pin 44 p and with its longer leg 44 l extending along the side of the body 12 . the proximal end of the lanyard 22 is permanently affixed to the longer leg 44 l such that upon jerking of the lanyard 22 via its jerk handle 24 , the firing lever 44 pivots on the pivot pin 44 p whereupon a cam surface 44 c of the shorter leg 44 s cams against the upper surface of the indicator cap 39 forcing it forward into the longitudinal bore 34 . for indicating the condition of the inflator 10 , actuator 32 is preferably colored to indicate a “ ready ” condition ( e . g ., the color green ) whereas cap 39 is preferably colored to indicate a “ not - ready ” condition ( e . g ., the color red ) as may be viewed through an indicator window 48 formed through the wall of the body 12 . more specifically , fig1 shows the inflator 10 in an armed , fully - ready condition with a gas cylinder 20 installed . in this condition , the tip of the reduced - diameter portion 32 r of the actuator 32 is seated onto the break - ring 16 r of the collar 16 . as such , the pierce pin 26 p is in close proximity to and aligned with the frangible seal 20 s of the gas cylinder 20 and the spring 42 is compressed between the cap 39 and the actuator 32 . it is noted that the spring force of the spring 42 is exerted against the cam surface 44 c of the shorter leg 44 s of the firing lever 44 to urge the longer leg 44 l to a generally longitudinal position to be tucked along the body 12 . in this condition , the green color of the actuator 32 is visible through the window 48 thereby indicating a fully - armed and ready condition of the inflator 10 . fig3 shows a not - ready condition after pulling of the lanyard 22 . more specifically , as the lanyard 22 is pulled ( see fig3 a ), the firing lever 44 pivots on pivot pin 44 p causing the cam surface 44 c of its shorter leg 44 s to cam against the upper surface of the cap 39 forcing it forwardly in the bore 34 . since the cap 34 is fully seated within the recess 40 of the actuator 32 , the actuator 32 is likewise forced forwardly in the bore 34 whereupon the break - ring 16 r is broken - off allowing the pierce pin 26 p to be forced through the frangible seal 20 s of the gas cylinder 20 . the gas from the gas cylinder 20 then flows into the device via manifold 28 . o - ring 36 prevents any escape of the gas out the bore 34 . in this condition with an installed but spent gas cylinder 20 , the cap 39 is at the level of the indicator window 48 ( i . e ., protruding substantially out of the recess 40 with the actuator 32 more fully forward ). therefore , the red color of the cap 39 is visible through the window 48 thereby indicating a not - ready condition indicative of an installed but spent gas cylinder 20 . as shown in fig4 and 5 as compared with fig1 , as the firing lever 44 is returned to its non - fired position ( fig2 and 3 ), the spring 42 moves the cap 34 rearwardly out of the recess 40 while continuing to urge the actuator 32 forwardly , thereby assuring that the red color of the cap 34 remains exposed in the window 48 . upon removal of the spent gas cylinder 20 as shown in fig5 , the now broken - off break - ring 32 r remains entrained within the cavity 16 c of the collar 16 since its diameter ( inclusive of webs 32 w ) is larger than the diameter the lip 16 l formed about the opened end of the cavity 16 c . the spent gas cylinder 20 with its collar 16 ( and entrained break - ring 16 r ) may then be discarded and a new one installed . it is noted that in order to integrally form the break - ring 16 r during injection molding , the injection mold includes retractable pins that are inserted sideways into the cavity 32 c thereby ultimately forming slots 16 s through the side wall of the cavity 16 c after injection molding ( see fig6 and 7 ). comparing fig2 with fig1 , as a new gas cylinder 20 having a collar 16 according to the present invention , is threadably installed into the threaded boss 14 , the break - ring 16 r engages against tip of the reduced - diameter portion 32 r of the actuator 32 forcing it rearwardly . as the actuator 32 is forced rearwardly , the wall of its recess 40 slides over the indicator cap 39 thereby concealing the red color of the indicator cap 39 . with the actuator 32 now at the level of the indicator window 48 , the color green of the actuator 32 is now visible through the indicator window 48 , indicating a fully - armed and at - ready condition of the inflator 10 . it is evident from fig5 that in the event a spent gas cylinder 20 is installed , the previously broken - off break - ring 16 r of its collar 16 , fails to move the actuator 32 rearwardly . the wall of its recess 40 therefore fails to slide rearwardly over and thereby telescope over or otherwise encompass the indicator cap 39 . as shown in fig4 , the “ red ” color of the indicator cap 39 therefore remains visible through the indicator window 48 . conversely , when a gas cylinder 20 with a good break - ring 16 r is threaded into the boss 14 of the body 12 ( see fig2 ), the break - ring 16 r forces the actuator 32 rearwardly whereupon its wall of its recess 32 r telescopes over the indicator cap 39 , thereby concealing the viewing of the red indicator cap 39 through the window 48 ( see fig1 ). consequently , in this condition the green color of the actuator 32 is visible through the window 48 instead of the red color of the indicator cap 39 , thereby indicating a fully charged and armed inflator 10 . fig6 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the collar 16 that is intended to be adhered to the tip of the cylinder 20 by means of an adhesive 50 . adhesive 50 may comprise any suitable industrial - strength adhesive that is sufficiently strong to adhere the annular base 16 b of the collar 16 to the annular periphery of the tip of the cylinder 20 about its frangible seal 20 s . as in the other embodiment , the “ glue - on ” collar 16 comprises an interior cavity 16 c having a break - ring 16 r bordered by a plurality of fracturable webs 16 w . slots 16 s extend longitudinally along the axis of the collar 16 allowing injection molding of the webs 16 w through the use of retractable pins during injection molding . preferably , in lieu of an equidistant angular arrangement ( e . g ., 120 degrees ), the webs 16 w are formed at non - symmetric angles ( e . g ., 110 degrees , 120 degrees and 130 degrees ) so as to make it more unlikely that the break - ring 16 r once broken off into the cavity 16 c , will not reorient relative to the slots 16 s to fall out of the cavity 16 c once entrained therein . as shown in fig7 , the outer diameter of the base 16 b of the collar 16 is appreciably smaller than the diameter of the bottommost trough of the thread 20 t of the cylinder 20 so as to not interfere with the threaded engagement of the threads 20 t of the cylinder 20 into the threaded boss 14 of the inflator 10 . the outer cylindrical surface of the collar 16 need not be threaded as in the case of the first embodiment of the collar ( fig1 - 5 ) because of the fact that it is the threads 20 t of the cylinder 20 that engages into the threaded boss 14 as shown in fig8 . indeed , the threaded boss 14 may be conventionally threaded to receive the standardized threads of conventional cylinders 20 ( e . g . ½ - 20 or ¾ - 24 threaded cylinders .) finally , as shown in fig9 , once the gas cylinder 20 with the glue - on collar 16 is fully threaded into the threaded boss 14 of the inflator 12 , the collar 16 functions the same as that described in connection with the other embodiment of the collar 16 ( fig1 - 5 ) wherein the tip of the reduced - diameter portion 32 r of the actuator 32 is seated onto the break ring 16 r of the collar 16 and wherein the pierce pin 16 p is in close proximity to be aligned with the frangible seal 20 s of the gas cylinder 20 . then , after pulling on the lanyard 22 as described above , the actuator 32 is forced forwardly in the bore 34 whereupon the break - ring 16 r is broken off by allowing the pierce pin 26 p to force through the frangible seal 20 s of the gas cylinder 20 . the present disclosure includes that contained in the appended claims , as well as that of the foregoing description . although this invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity , it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	1
[ 0039 ] fig1 is a schematic diagram of a system for conducting vascular catheterisation of a patient . the system includes a personal computer ( pc ) 1 that presents a graphical user interface ( gui ) via a number of monitors 2 . the user interface system is based on a microsoft windows ™ platform . multiple windows may be used to acquire / project data from / to the user . although not shown , the pc can accept user inputs via a keyboard and mouse , or other pointing device , in the usual manner . the pc includes a number of data stores 7 , which may be external , and a cd rom reader / writer device 3 . the pc is coupled via a data interface 4 to a thermography catheter 5 , details of which will be described below . in this example , the thermography catheter 5 transmits four channels ( one for each sensor ) which are received by the data interface 4 . an analogue temperature data signal on each channel is converted to a digital signal using an a / d converter within the data interface 4 at a user configured sampling rate of up to 2 . 5 khz . typically , the sampling rate would be set at around 25 to 50 hz to reduce the quantity of data acquired . the data interface 4 includes a multiplexer ( not shown ) that combines the four digital channels into a single time division multiplexed ( tdm ) signal . this tdm signal is coupled to the pc over a pci bus . the data from each channel are written into an area of memory within the data store 7 reserved for that channel where they can subsequently be retrieved for data processing along with the corresponding time sequenced data from other channels and image data from other sources . the temperature data from the thermography catheter 5 are introduced to the system software running on the pc using function calls . temperature data are input to the software as the actual voltage at the a / d hardware inputs , and therefore they have to be converted to temperature . a sensor data convert function handles this process . the system is designed to be used in conjunction with a fluoroscopy x - ray apparatus and therefore includes a video frame capture interface 6 that couples fluoroscopy video data inputs to the pc via a pci bus . similarly , it can be used in conjunction with intravascular ultrasound ( ivus ) image data fed from the thermography catheter 5 ( when provided with the appropriate hardware ). the system software allocates sufficient memory area to the systems memory for this data , taking into account the current system configuration , for example sampling rate , recording time , and video frame size . a memory handle hdib is used to map video data directly through the pci bus from the video frame capture interface 6 to this allocated area in memory . hdib memory is divided into i equal chunks , each of a size equal to the frame capture interface frame - buffer . optionally , hdib [ i ] in data can also be mapped to a memory area of a screen - video buffer , giving capability of live preview during recording . each time the software records an x group of four ( or more ) temperature measurements , it prompts for a frame capture at hdib [ x ]. a user configuration file determines the ratio between temperature data : fluoroscopy video frame capture . whilst in normal circumstances the thermography catheter 5 is inserted manually , it is intended that when performing vascular measurements the thermography catheter 5 is pulled back relative to a predetermined start position using an electro - mechanical pull - back drive 8 coupled to the body of the catheter . the pull - back drive 8 is controlled by the pc via a pull - back drive interface 9 . the system software accesses user - defined configuration files to get the necessary information about controlling the systems automatic pull - back interface 9 . data sampling rate , recording duration and pre - selected retraction rate are taken into consideration for adjusting the pull - back speed . the software routines control a d / a converter ( not shown ) that feeds the input of the pull - back interface 9 with an appropriate control voltage . the controlled pull - back process will be described in more detail below . temperature data plotting may be both on - line and / or off - line . in an on - line mode , the monitor presents a temperature / time - distance graph , where temperature is continuously plotted as connected dots . in an off - line mode , temperature data can be loaded from the data store 7 ( or other media ) and plotted on the screen graph . the user can scroll to different time / temperature locations , while several automated functions may be provided , for example auto min - max marking , colour coding of temperature on a bullseye graph , colour thermal maps , and 3d temperature coding on a cylinder model . in the latter case , an artificial colour 3d cylinder that represents the vessel is divided into splines equal to the temperature channels . the channel temperature is coded on each spline with colours varying from dark - blue ( minimum temperature ) to flashing - red ( maximum temperature ). the user can rotate the cylinder as he wishes in a virtual 3d world . the focus is set to the specific time / distance that corresponds to the mouse position on the screen temperature / time graph . 3d position control is performed using multi cubic - bezier lines , where the curvation control points change in relation to the cylinders position in the virtual world . a separate window shows numeric details for the particular time / distance position . video frame data from simultaneous fluoroscopy / ivus are plotted as image frames in a separate window . by moving to a specific time / temperature position , the corresponding video frame is automatically projected . in this way , temperature and video frames are accurately synchronised . the system software is designed to provide basic and advanced image processing functions for the captured fluoroscopy / ivus video frames , such as filtering and on - screen measurement functions . the user can filter the captured frame to discard unwanted information while focusing on the desired one . there are several auto - filter options as well as manual adjustment of the image curve . in addition , the user can calibrate the system and proceed in performing on - screen measurements of both distances and / or areas . automatic routines perform quantification of the measurements giving significant information on lesion characteristics .. the temperature can also be colour coded on the fluoroscopy frame , providing unique information about the correlation between temperature and morphology . by using temperature data and video frame data , the system software uses advanced algorithms based on interpolation and fractal theory to plot a 3d reconstruction of the vessel under measurement with colour coding of temperature . the user can freely move the virtual camera inside the reconstructed vessel in 360 °, and / or fly - through the vessel . 2d reconstructions are also provided . temperature data can be processed on the basis of mean temperature , or on a channel - by - channel basis . [ 0049 ] fig2 and 3 show an example of the distal tip of a thermography catheter incorporating sensors 10 mounted circumferentially about a central lumen 14 . in this example , four sensors 10 are mounted on resiliently biased projections 11 circumferentially about the central lumen at 90 ° intervals , although only one sensor is shown here for the sake of clarity . the projections 11 are made of nitinol . the figures clearly show the deployed configuration projection adopting an arcuate shape along its length , with the gradient of the projection , with respect to the longitudinal axis of the catheter , increasing as a function of distance along the projection from the end attached to the catheter body . the sensors 10 are ntc thermistors . such thermistors prove extremely reliable regarding the relation between the temperature changes and resistance changes . an ntc thermistor having a 30 kω impedance at 25 ° c . typically maintains linearity between 35 ° c . and 45 ° c ., at a resolution of 0 . 01 ° c .- 0 . 1 ° c . the construction of the thermistors 10 are that of two rectangular plates with a metal alloy oxide in the centre . the thermistor has dimensions in the range of 0 . 25 mm - 5 mm , and a caliper less than 1 mm . each thermistor 10 is attached to the end of each projection 11 by bonding with an thermally conducting epoxy glue 12 . each thermistor 10 is connected to an insulated bifilar wire 13 . the wire 13 has a low impedence and is constructed from nickel and / or copper . this wire provides an electrical connection with the proximal end of the device ( not shown ). as shown in the figures , the wire 13 is coiled around the length of the projection 11 . this feature has the effect of substantially eliminating strain when the projection 11 flexes . the pitch of the coil is typically arranged to be such that there are 5 to 10 turns over a length of 10 mm . as will be described below , a heat shrink wrapping 15 is applied over the projection 11 to prevent damage to the wire 13 during retraction and replacement of an outer sheath 16 . the heat shrink wrapping also provides an additional degree of electrical isolation . to assemble a projection , a nitinol arm is first pretreated by placing it in a bending tool and heating to around 700 ° c . to impart a bend in the arm . the nitinol arm is then held straight in a chuck and a thermistor / bifilar wire assembly is attached to a free end of the arm using a uv cure adhesive . the wire 13 is then spun around the length of the nitinol arm . finally , the heat shrink wrapping 15 is placed over the length of the nitinol arm to a point just beyond that of the thermistor . in this example , the heat shrink wrapping is supplied as a polyester tube that is cut to length . an epoxy resin is then injected into the end of the tube . the assembly is subsequently heat treated to shrink the tube and set the epoxy resin . the heat shrink wrapping is then trimmed back to expose at least part of the epoxy resin coated thermistor , while maintaining electrical isolation of the bifilar wires . after heat treatment , the heat shrink has a wall thickness of around 10 μm . as shown in the figures , the thermography catheter is mounted on an angioplasty guide wire ( not shown ) which runs through the central lumen 14 and a guide member 17 which defines the tip of the thermography catheter . in use , the apparatus may be actuated between a non - wall - temperature sensing configuration and a temperature sensing configuration . the non - temperature sensing configuration is hereinafter referred to as the retracted configuration . the temperature sensing configuration is hereinafter referred to as the deployed configuration . an example of the deployed configuration is shown in fig2 . an example of the retracted configuration is shown in fig3 . in the retracted configuration , the sheath 16 encompasses the projections 11 so that they are constrained to lie parallel to the longitudinal axis of the catheter and therefore cannot take up a deployed position . the sheath 16 extends as far as the rear end of the guide member 17 but does not overlap the guide member . this minimises any protrusions from the thermography catheter which could lead to damage of the vascular wall . this is particularly important where a vessel is angulated or there is bifurcation of the vessel . such features lead to bending of the thermography catheter and would emphasise any protrusions . hence , in this example the sheath 16 and the guide member 17 present a smooth profile when adjacent to one another in the retracted configuration . to adopt the deployed configuration , the sheath 16 is withdrawn away from the extreme distal tip i . e ., away from the guide member 17 , towards the proximal section , to expose the projections 11 . when the sheath 16 is withdrawn to the extent shown in fig2 the resiliently biased projections 11 take up the deployed configuration . it should be noted that the sheath is controlled from the proximal end of the apparatus and is not shown in its entirety in the figures . the projections 11 individually extend a certain distance ( r ) away from the longitudinal axis of the catheter . in the deployed configuration , r has a value in the range of 2 - 4 mm . however , r is not fixed and varies with the diameter of the vascular , tissue being measured due to the flexibility of the projections 11 . different diameter catheters may be used for different diameters of vascular tissue . however , as it is desirable to minimize the diameter of catheters in all interventional vascular treatments , it is desirable to adapt the length of the projections and / or the angle to which the projections may extend away from the central lumen depending on the dimensions of the vascular tissue being measured rather than increasing catheter body dimensions . thus , the projections for a large blood vessel , for example 8 mm diameter , will generally require a length of projection in the range of 5 mm to 10 mm . smaller diameter vascular tissue , for example 2 . 5 mm diameter , will generally require a length of projection in the range of 2 mm to 6 mm . typically , the ratio of the area of the cross - sectional profiles of the apparatus in the deployed to retracted configurations is up to 4 : 1 . the thermography catheter includes a valve system ( not shown ) allowing the annular gap between the sheath and the intermediate lumen to be flushed in an adequate way , thus minimising the possibility of air bubbles or debris within the sheath . such a valve is constructed to enable engagement by a 2 mm , 5 mm , or 10 mm , 6 ° luer syringe . the thermography catheter may be flushed with a suitable fluid such as saline . when flushing the catheter , fluid should exit via the distal tip of the catheter , indicating proper flushing of the sheath . in addition , the catheter includes a female luer fitting ( not shown ) attached to the proximal end of the central lumen , to enable the central lumen to be flushed in a similar way to the sheath . with reference to fig4 in use , the sequence of events begins with the insertion of a guiding catheter into the area of general interest ( step 100 ), for example the cardiac region . where , for example , the coronary arteries are to be examined , the guiding catheter is inserted so that it is in or adjacent to the opening of the coronary arteries . an angioplasty guide wire is then inserted into the coronary artery , past the point of specific interest ( step 110 ). the guide wire is usually inserted with the aid of standard fluoroscopic techniques , as is the guiding catheter . once the guiding catheter and guide wire are in position , the thermography catheter of the present invention is maneuvered over the guide wire to a position beyond the specific area of interest in the coronary artery ( step 120 ) with the aid of fluoroscopy . an angiogram is taken ( step 130 ) to assess the position of the thermography catheter in the vascular tissue . this image is saved and the position of the thermography catheter is marked on the image so as to define a starting point for the controlled pull - back step . the guiding catheter is then locked in position and both the sheath and the lumen housed in the sheath are locked to mounts on the pull - back device . the sheath is then retracted to allow the projections to adopt the deployed configuration . controlled pull - back of the thermography catheter then takes place ( step 140 ). the pull - back takes place at a constant speed and is controllable by the user . pull - back typically takes place at speeds of 0 . 1 to 2 mm in divisions of 0 . 1 mm or so . the pull - back takes place over a distance of the vascular tissue being measured . temperature readings may be taken intermittently or substantially continuously . the data transmitted by the sensors from the vascular wall is captured for data and image processing ( step 150 ) together with a fluoroscopy / ivus image frame . as the thermography catheter is withdrawn inside the artery , the projections automatically adjust their angle following the wall &# 39 ; s morphology without losing the desired thermal contact . the result is that the thermal contact between the sensors and the wall is continuously maintained , even when the catheter is crossing very irregular plaque formations . once the pull - back has been completed relative movement between the sheath and the intermediate lumen places the sensors in the retracted configuration . this restores the original smooth profile of the thermography catheter . as mentioned above , the system software has the capability to capture image - frames that come from standard fluoroscopy or ivus devices simultaneously with temperature . spatial data that come from fluoroscopy / ivus are combined by the software with temperature data . this is done as follows : before the thermography procedure starts , and while the thermography catheter is still out of the target vessel , the user records the fluoroscopy - tube / bed position and records a video frame during injection of contrast media . the vessel is opacified , and the image is stored and projected on one of the system monitors . the user calibrates the pixel / mm relation by using the guiding catheter as a known reference so that distances in mm can subsequently be estimated accurately on the monitor . as shown in fig5 the user then marks the beginning and ending of the area of interest ( points b and e ) by clicking on them using the mouse ; in return , the software marks these points on the monitor by arrows or lines . the user then positions the thermography catheter in the target vessel by pushing it forward on the guide wire until the fluoroscopic marker on the thermography catheter passes point e over a few mm ; while watching the system &# 39 ; s monitor , the thermal sensors are then deployed and the user manually pulls the thermography catheter back gently until the fluoroscopic marker overlaps exactly on point e . the software then instructs the automatic pull - back device to pull back the thermography catheter over the length of the be curve within the vessel . the software then performs auto - border detection on the be area of the fluoroscopy video frame using a photoluminescence technique , and temperature is subsequently coded in the atherosclerotic plaque outline as rgb color degradation from dark - blue ( 0 , 0 , 255 ) corresponding to the minimum detected temperature , to flashing red ( 255 , 0 , 0 ) corresponding to the maximum detected temperature . a reference color map may be provided , and by moving the mouse cursor inside the be area , temperature values may also automatically be provided in a numeric format .	0
the preferred embodiments of the present invention and their advantages are best understood by referring to fig1 and 3 of the drawings . like numerals are used for like and corresponding parts of the various drawings . referring to fig1 a block diagram of an integrated receiver / decoder 10 is shown . receiver / decoder 10 includes a front end block 11 which receives an incoming rf signal from an antenna ( not shown ). front end block 11 includes a tuner 12 for tuning to the desired frequency , a demodulator 13 for demodulating the rf signal and an error correction block 14 for correcting errors in the demodulated signal . the demodulated signal is provided to a transport unit 15 , which acts as a demultiplexer . transport unit 15 provides audio and video data to an audio / video processing system 16 , which processes the audio and video data and provides audio and video output to a monitor or other presentation system ( not shown ). transport unit 15 provides other data such as program and system information tables to a central processing unit ( cpu ) 17 , which takes appropriate action in response to the data . a memory 18 , which may comprise various ram and rom memory units , may be used by cpu 17 and transport unit 15 to store received data as needed . as will be seen , memory 18 may be used to store a virtual channel table for future use by receiver / decoder 10 . demodulator 13 is designed to decode an atsc / mpeg - 2 transport stream such as that described in the atsc standard entitled “ program and system information protocol for terrestrial broadcast and cable ,” doc . a / 65 , dec . 23 , 1997 ( hereinafter , “ atsc a / 65 ”), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety , as amended by “ amendment no . 1 to atsc standard : program and system information protocol for terrestrial broadcast and cable ,” doc . a / 67 , dec . 17 , 1999 ( hereinafter , “ atsc a / 67 ”), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . in accordance with the mpeg - 2 standard ( known as iso / iec 13818 - 1 ), the transport stream received by decoder block 16 includes program and system information in the form of tables . examples of program and system information tables include program association tables , program map tables , conditional access tables and “ private ” tables with unspecified content . atsc a / 65 and a / 67 provide formats for various “ private ” tables to carry additional program and system information . such “ private ” tables include terrestrial and cable virtual channel tables . each one of the aforementioned program and system information tables specified by iso / iec 13818 - 1 and atsc a / 65 and a / 67 includes a “ current_next_indicator ” field , which indicates whether the table is currently valid or will become valid “ next .” however , when such a conventional table is to be valid “ next ,” a receiver cannot anticipate when the table will become “ current ,” giving rise to the difficulties outlined above . accordingly , a new activation_time_descriptor is defined herein for carriage in these program and system information tables to address this problem . referring to fig2 a cable virtual channel table 20 adopted from atsc a / 65 and a / 67 in accordance with the present invention is shown . cable virtual channel table 20 has a number of fields that correspond to fields specified in atsc a / 65 and a / 67 . as will be described more fully below , cable virtual channel table 20 includes a novel descriptor (“ activation_time_descriptor ”) among the “ additional descriptors ” specified by atsc a / 65 and a / 67 . the number of bits and format for each field of cable virtual channel table 20 are set forth in fig2 and 3 . in accordance with atsc a / 65 and a / 67 and mpeg - 2 protocol , the format code “ bslbf ’ indicates a bit string , left bit first . the format code “ uimsbf ’ indicates an unsigned integer , most significant bit first . the format code “ rpchof ’ indicates remainder polynomial coefficients , highest order first . the “ table_id ” field of cable virtual channel table 20 ( fig2 ) carries a value ( 0xc9 ) which identifies the table as a cable virtual channel table in accordance with atsc a / 65 and a / 67 . the “ section_syntax_indicator ,” “ private_indicator ,” “ section_length ” and “ transport_stream_id ” fields are defined in accordance with atsc a / 65 and a / 67 , and will not be described further herein . the “ version_number ” field is a five - bit field carrying the version number of cable virtual channel table 20 . for the “ current ” virtual channel table ( vct ) ( current_next_indicator = 1 ), the version number is incremented by 1 whenever the definition of the current vct changes . for the “ next ” vct ( current_next_indicator = 0 ), the version number is one unit more than that of the “ current ” vct . the “ current_next_indicator ” field is a one - bit field in which a “ 1 ” indicates that cable virtual channel table 20 is currently applicable . if the bit is set to “ 0 ,” cable virtual channel table 20 is not yet applicable , but will be the next table to become valid . this value also determines the treatment given to the “ activation_time ” field , as described below . the “ section_number ” and “ last_section_number ” fields are defined in accordance with atsc a / 65 and a / 67 , and will not be described further herein . the “ protocol_version ” field is an eight - bit unsigned integer representing the protocol version of which cable virtual channel table 20 forms a part . a protocol_version value of zero is used for conventional atsc - specified tables . because the protocol described herein is modified from that described in atsc a / 65 and a / 67 , the protocol_version value for cable virtual channel table 20 may be any non - zero value such as , for example , one . the “ num_channels_in_section ” field and the following fields specified for each channel are defined in accordance with atsc a / 65 and a / 67 , and will not be described further herein . likewise , the “ additional_descriptors_length ” and “ additional_descriptors ” fields are defined in accordance with atsc a / 65 and a / 67 . in accordance with the present invention , an “ activation_time_descriptor ” is implemented as one of the “ additional_descriptors ” of cable virtual channel table 20 . the “ activation_time_descriptor ” specifies when cable virtual channel table 20 will become current , in the case where current_next_indicator = 0 . referring to fig3 a table illustrating an activation_time_descriptor is shown . the activation_time_descriptor defines a 32 - bit activation time , which is the time when a program and system information table becomes current , as specified below . note that an activation time can be defined in many cases because changes to the program and system information tables are pre - scheduled . for example , when the same channel number is shared by two program sources , such as “ cnnfn ” and “ country television network ,” the time to switch from one program source to the other is known in advance . this is also the case when a new service is scheduled to go online or an existing service is scheduled to stop . in fig3 the “ descriptor_tag ” field identifies this descriptor as an activation_time_descriptor . the actual value of the descriptor_tag may be chosen by individual system designers to meet their system requirements . the descriptor_tag may , for example , have a value selected from the range of 0xc0 through 0xff , which is in harmonization with atsc a / 65 and a / 67 , scte dvs 234 ( service information carried out - of - band for digital cable television ), and dvb si ( digital video broadcast ; specification for service information in dvb system ). the “ descriptor_length ” field specifies the number of bytes immediately following the descriptor_length field up to the end of the descriptor . the “ activation_time ” field is a 32 - bit unsigned integer representing the activation time of cable virtual channel table 20 as a number of global positioning system ( gps ) seconds from the from the epoch start time of 12 : 00 am , jan . 6 , 1980 . the activation_time_descriptor shown in fig3 is to be carried as a top - level descriptor in program and system information tables , including ( but not limited to ) virtual channel tables such as cable virtual channel table 20 shown in fig2 . as previously stated , the activation_time descriptor may be placed in the additional_descriptors loop immediately preceding the crc_ 32 field of cable virtual channel table 20 . referring to fig4 a flowchart illustrating a method for activating cable virtual channel table 20 by receiver 14 is shown . the method begins at step 22 , when receiver 14 receives cable virtual channel table 20 in the transport stream . in the normal course of decoding , decoder 16 determines from the “ table_id ” field that the table 20 is a cable virtual channel table . at step 24 , decoder 16 examines the “ current_next_indicator ” field . if the field has a value of 1 , indicating that cable virtual channel table 20 is “ current ,” then the table is activated immediately as the current cable virtual channel table at step 32 . if the “ current_next_indicator ” field has a value of 0 , indicating that cable virtual channel table 20 is “ next ,” then the method proceeds to step 26 , where cable virtual channel table 20 is stored in memory 18 for future activation . at step 28 , the “ activation_time ” field of the activation_time_descriptor is compared to the current clock time kept by receiver 14 . if , at step 30 , it is determined that the two times do not match ( i . e . if the “ activation_time ” is later than the current time ), then receiver 14 returns to step 28 , where the two times are again compared . this comparison step is repeated , at intervals determined by the available processor time in decoder 16 , until the “ activation time ” arrives ( i . e . the “ activation_time ” is the same as or earlier than the current time ). at that point , cable virtual channel table 20 is activated as the current cable virtual channel table at step 32 , and the method ends . it will be appreciated that the above - described method for activating cable virtual channel table 20 eliminates the need to periodically resend the “ next ” cable virtual channel table in the transport stream . sending the “ next ” cable virtual channel table once is sufficient to ensure that the table is activated at the appropriate time by receiver 14 . of course , it will be understood that the same method may be used for the activation of other system information tables , and is not limited to the cable virtual channel table . it will be understood that the activation_time_descriptor may not be useful in all types of program and system information tables . for example , the event information table defined in atsc a / 65 is used to inform a user of , among other things , the start times and titles of events available on television channels , and most of these events will occur in the future . in fact , in accordance with atsc a / 65 , the current_next_indicator of an event information table is always set to ‘ 1 ,’ indicating that the event information table is always currently applicable . in general , the activation_time_descriptor may be useful in program and system information tables that are transmitted in advance but are not applicable until a predetermined future time . for unexpected sudden parameter changes , the current_next_indicator may still be used as specified in atsc a / 65 . together with the current_next_indicator , the activation_time_descriptor allows the receivers to know in advance when to begin using a next program and system information table . obviously , a previously defined activation_time may be updated as necessary , and the revised value will be sent to and used by the receiver to override the old one . 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 therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .	7
referring to fig1 there is shown a module 10 which is seen from one end , and above it is a module 12 , which is seen from one side . the module 12 is supported at one end by a wall 14 , and at its opposite end it rests upon the lower module 10 . the module can extend a substantial distance without vertical support beneath it , as shown in the figure . the space beneath the upper module can function as a carport , for example . a home such as constructed in accordance with what is shown in fig1 can have its entrance position on the left side of the lower unit 10 , and can have an upper deck 14 over the lower unit 10 , as well as a deck 16 extending outwardly from the left side of the building . referring particularly to fig2 - 4 and the sectional views taken therein : a module constructed in accordance with the invention comprises a series of u - shaped stress members 18 , and 20 , arranged in spaced serial order lengthwise of the structure . they rest on a pair of plates 22 and 24 to which they are integrally attached . the stress members comprise horizontally positioned trusses , such as 26 and 28 , and pairs of vertically extending elements 30 , 32 and 34 . the trusses are of the readily available type now used in home construction . the vertically extending members are preferably 2 × 6 inch studs . plates 22 and 24 extend beneath these stress members and , similar plates 36 and 38 unite the upper ends of the u - shaped stress members . the vertically extending elements 30 and 32 extend along the sides of the trusses 26 and are integrally united therewith by gluing and nailing . the vertical members 30 and 32 thus form a single u - shaped member with the truss . these members obviously can be preformed before uniting in a serial order as shown in fig3 . the 2 × 6 risers , or vertically extending elements , thus extend below what is normally considered to be the floor area of the module , and are more integrally united with the trusses than if they were simply resting on plates supported on the trusses . loads tending to twist the building module embodying such u - shaped units are resisted by the overall u - shaped stress member . the upwardly extending risers are integral parts of the truss . it should also be noted that the risers are provided with notches 40 along their outer and lower faces . these notches are 4 feet in length , and are adapted to receive 4 foot sections of sheath - like stress panels , 42 and 44 . the vertically extending riser elements 30 and 32 are positioned with their notched faces 46 flush with panels 48 of trusses 26 . the sheath - like stress panels 42 are preferably plywood sheaths of 4 foot width . with the notched faces 46 being positioned flush with the edge panels 48 , the sheath - like stress panels abut both the inner faces 46 of the notch , and the end members 48 . thus , they can be integrally connected thereto by gluing and nailing , and form a load transmitting integral part of the structure with trusses 26 and 28 and with the risers 30 , 32 and 34 . the stress panels 42 and 44 extend along the complete lengths of the sides of the modules . upper trusses 50 are supported upon the plates 36 and 38 , and provide roof support as well as means of integrally uniting the wall structure . the trusses are spaced inwardly from the edges of the plates 36 and 38 sufficiently to receive spacer members or nailers 52 . in the preferred design illustrated , the upper trusses are 15 inch trusses , and the nailers are spaced 3 inches below the upper edge of the trusses for reasons hereinafter described . it will be understood that the structure described with respect to the one side illustrated in fig3 is the same as that used on the opposite side . further the sheath - like stress bands 42 , and the vertically extending elements 30 , 32 and 34 , are united with a sheath member 54 . this member is formed of tongue and grooved vertically extending panel members formed of 3 / 4 inch plywood , and the members extend from the very lowermost point opposite the plates 22 and 24 , and thus to the lowermost edge of the sheath - like bands 42 , upwardly along the bands 42 , then over and in contact with the risers 30 and 34 , and finally into face to face contact with the nailer strips 52 , and the upper plates 36 and 38 . this sheath member is glued and nailed to all faces which it contacts , and thus forms a further integral part of the truss - beam construction . the tops of the roof trusses are united by a sheath - like member 56 . this member extends along the length of the trusses , and is again composed of tongue and groove elements integrally united , and turn integrally united to the trusses by nailing and gluing . as shown in fig5 and 6 , this sheath - like member 56 projects at 58 beyond the edges of the trusses 50 , and over the tops of the side forming structure . the sheath 56 is in turn covered by a rubbery roof material , preferably of urethane , such as that referred to as the &# 34 ; carlyle rubber roof &# 34 ;. this material 60 can be obtained in sheets 15 feet wide and 48 foot long . this material extends completely over the sheath - like member 56 . near the edges there is provided a slight riser 62 . this is accomplished by providing a spacer board 64 around the periphery of the roof . the roof also preferably includes a second sheath - like member 66 over the member 56 . this is preferably formed of one - half inch rigid board , and extends the full length of the member 56 . it is secured thereto by adhesive as well as nailing . like the member 56 , the member 66 projects beyond the end of the trusses to assist in supporting the end of the rubber roofing . the spacer board 64 , and the two sheath - like members 56 and 66 are joined to a spacer and decorative molding piece 68 which projects downwardly from the edges of the members 66 , 64 and 56 . the rubber roof extends over the edge thus provided , and downwardly for a short distance along the molding 68 as indicated at 71 . the outer faces of the walls are finished by means of an insulating sheath 70 . preferably , this is formed of styrofoam and has two layers of foil , one at each side . this member extends the full length of the sheath 54 . over this member 70 there is provided decorative tongue and groove vertical siding 72 . as shown in fig5 and 6 , the decorative piece 68 extends below the upper edge of the side wall , and is spaced therefrom . inbetween the molding 68 and the upper surface of the wall there is provided a wire mesh barrier 74 . insulation such as that shown at 76 is provided between the roof trusses , and above the ceiling construction indicated at 78 . this insulation does not extend to the top of the trusses , but instead an air space is left between the trusses and beneath the sheath - like member 56 , as shown at 80 . the wire mesh barrier 74 provides for air flow through the space 80 . the inner wall and ceiling are also preferably provided with insulating barriers such as sheath members 82 and 84 . these are formed of a stryofoam type sheathing having double aluminium foil surfaces . over this sheathing the typical plasterboard construction 86 and 88 is placed . with reference to fig5 and 7 , at the end of the units the sheath - like stress panels 42 extend completely up the vertically extending elements , such as 32 . this is illustrated at 90 . this is accomplished by cutting back the last three vertically extending elements 32 the 1 / 2 inch needed to permit the stress band to extend completely upwardly to the plates 36 and 38 . the stress bands are formed at these ends by using a second sheet of 4 foot wider plywood , and a third sheet of 2 foot wide plywood thereabove as indicated at 92 and 94 respectively . this construction further rigidifies the box - beams at their ends where their greater shear stress may be in certain uses . as shown in fig2 the modules may rest on concrete blocks such as 96 , and these may be provided with suitable insulations such as styrofoam sheets 98 . beneath the units there is provided a crawl space 100 , which actually functions as a plenum chamber for the heating system . the base is leveled with fill sand preferably , and over this there is a 1 inch styrofoam insulation sheet , and above this 2 inches of p rock ballast . this cooperating with the full insulation along the walls , and extending up to the trusses provides a heat plenum chamber which can be used in various ways . for example , registers can be provided in the floor adjacent the perimeter of a housing unit to permit air to flow upwardly therethrough from beneath the crawl space and a return duct system can be provided centrally of the units to return the air into the space , and the heating devices can be in the crawl space . they can be either air or water heating means . insulation is also packed into the walls between the vertically extending members 30 , 32 and 34 as indicated at 102 . since a module may be used as shown by the upper module 12 in fig1 there is provided a lower covering sheath member , preferably of 1 / 2 inch plywood which extends completely over the bottom of the exposed floor trusses . this panel is indicated at 104 , fig2 . between the trusses , and within the space between the floor boarding and the lower sheathing , there is provided insulation similar to that employed in the walls and ceilings . this structure will be opened where necessary for heating ducts etc . when a module is mounted over a plenum as shown in fig2 . when mounted above another module , as in fig1 openings will also be made as necessary for stairways , etc . overhead heating units and other arrangements of heating and / or cooling devices such as heat pumps can obviously be used . the full value of the u - shaped stress members is realized by using the modules in the manner shown in fig1 . in this instance , the module 12 extends from the lower module 10 a substantial distance across an open space 106 . the box - beam like structure formed as described above provides adequate strength for this use of the modules . it is possible to have a great variety of arrangement of modules . a number of homes can be built on the same site , but be given different appearances , and suited to differently shaped lots and slopes . further , the units are sufficiently rigid to be transported with ease without additional structural support , and can be mounted at the building sites , such as in the manner shown , without any additional structural support , except for the normal basement , and / or walls such as 14 , yet an extremely rigid and strong building unit is provided , one which will give much satisfaction to the occupant . as also illustrated in fig1 and 2 , various combinations of windows and doors and decks can be provided . while i have shown and described preferred forms of the invention , it will be understood that other forms and variations can be devised within the scope of the invention and that accordingly the invention is to be limited only to the claims appended hereto .	4
head merge stations can go out of calibration during the manufacturing of a plurality of disc drives in a disc drive manufacture assembly line . if a head merge station goes out of calibration , some heads may contact discs during the head merge process . this can result in damage to the discs or the heads , thereby reducing the reliability of a disc drive . in some cases , this damage can reduce the reliability of the disc drive enough to cause customer returns and / or self - test failures . many disc drives may be produced after a head merge station goes out of calibration because it is difficult to determine if a head merge station is out of calibration during the disc drive assembly process . in general , the invention relates to techniques for detection of head - disc contact during head merge operations . for example , a head merge station may include a circuit that is connected to head positioning microactuators during the head merge operation . piezoelectric head positioning microactuators commonly used in disc drives produce an electrical signal in response to a deflection caused by head - disc contact . by identifying these electrical signals , head disc contact can be reliably detected . following detection of head - disc contact , maintenance may be performed on a head merge station before any other disc drives are assembled using that head merge station to prevent additional head - disc contact damage . fig1 is an illustration of exemplary disc drive 100 , which includes at least one head positioning microactuator that may be used to detect head - disc contact , e . g ., contact during a head merge operation during the assembly of disc drive 100 . cover 104 , shown partially cut away , cooperates with base 102 to form a housing that defines an internal environment of disc drive 100 . disc drive 100 also includes recordable magnetic disc 108 , spindle motor 106 and actuator assembly 110 with head 118 . while disc drive 100 only shows a single disc 108 and a single head 118 , disc drive 100 optionally includes additional discs 108 and heads 118 . each head 118 may be associated with one or more microactuators used for fine positioning of heads 118 relative to data tracts on discs 108 . one or more of these microactuators may be used to detect head - disc contact during a head merge operation during the assembly of disc drive 100 . spindle motor 106 operates to rotate disc 108 . actuator assembly 110 pivots about bearing shaft assembly 112 moving head 118 across media tracks of disc 108 . flex assembly 130 provides electrical connection paths to control actuator assembly 110 and allows pivotal movement of actuator assembly 110 during operation . printed circuit board 132 controls read and write operations of head 118 . flex assembly 130 terminates at flex bracket 134 . fig2 is a close - up illustration of disc drive read / write head 218 . for example , read / write head 218 may be the same as read / write head 118 of data storage disc 100 in fig1 . read / write head 218 includes flexible u - frame 250 . read / write elements 246 are integrated with slider 240 . piezoelectric microactuators 242 operate to flex u - frame 250 in order to move read / write elements 246 along line 252 during read and write operations . piezoelectric microactuators 242 may be used to position read / write elements 246 accurately relative to data tracks on a data storage disc ( not shown ). piezoelectric microactuators 242 may also be used to measure defections in flexible u - frame 250 . for example , a head merge station may include a circuit that is connected to piezoelectric microactuators 242 during a head merge operation in the production of a disc drive . piezoelectric microactuators 242 produce an electrical signal in response to a deflection , such as a defection occurring when read / write head 218 contacts a data storage disc ( not shown ). by measuring electrical signals from piezoelectric microactuators 242 , contact between read / write head 218 and a data storage disc can be reliably detected . detecting such contact may be useful , e . g ., to determine when maintenance of a head merge station is required to prevent damage to disc drives during the head merge process . furthermore , the contact magnitude of a head - disc contact event can be reliably determined to evaluate the likelihood that the contact event resulted in physical damage to the disc and / or head . the piezoelectric output signal amplitude is proportional to the magnitude of physical contact between the head and disc . the output signal is sufficient to detect physical contact well below and well above the point where physical damage occurs . contact magnitude data may be collected and input into a statistical process control system that provides trend data and maintenance trigger alerts . the electrical signal may be detected using the same electrical connection path used to power piezoelectric microactuators 242 to finely position read write elements 246 . fig3 is a conceptual block diagram illustrating signal path 301 for an exemplary head - disc contact detection circuit at head merge station 300 . signal path 301 includes partially - assembled disc drive 330 and contact detection circuit 340 . head merge station 300 also includes head merge tool 350 . for example , head merge tool 350 may be a dynamic head merge tool , a static head merge tool or other head merge tool . signal path 301 begins with head positioning microactuators 332 , which are in electrical communication with flex tape 336 via actuator arm 334 . flex tape 336 may also be referred to as a flex circuit . microactuators 332 move in response to an electrical signal and , conversely , generate an electrical signal in response to deflection . for example , microactuators 332 may comprise one or more piezoelectric crystals , and / or other microactuation mechanisms that generate electrical signals in response to deflection . contact detection circuit 340 is in electrical communication with head positioning microactuators 332 via flex tape 336 and actuator arm 334 of partially - assembled disc drive 330 . partially - assembled disc drive 330 includes one or more discs 331 . each of discs 331 include one or more data storage surfaces , e . g ., magnetically recordable data storage surfaces . partially - assembled disc drive 330 also includes actuator assembly 333 and flex tape 336 . actuator assembly 333 includes actuator arm 334 and one or more read / write heads for each of the data storage surfaces of discs 331 , the read / write heads each including one or more head positioning microactuators 332 . contact detection circuit 340 optionally includes sense amplifier 342 , which amplifies signals received from head positioning microactuators 332 . contact detection circuit 340 also optionally includes band pass filter 344 , which may isolate portions of output signals from head positioning microactuators 332 that indicate head - disc contact . for example , band pass filter 344 may isolate a first sway mode of head positioning microactuators 332 . in one example , a first sway mode of head positioning microactuators 332 may be between 10 kilohertz and 30 kilohertz , e . g ., a first sway mode of head positioning microactuators 332 may be approximately 19 kilohertz . contact detection circuit 340 includes programmable comparator 346 that evaluates the output signal from head positioning microactuators 332 received from signal path 301 to determine if head - disc contact occurs in partially - assembled disc drive 330 during the head merge operation . contact detection circuit 340 also includes alarm 348 which indicates the occurrence of head - disc contact occurs in partially - assembled disc drive 330 . for example , alarm 348 may be a visible or audible alarm . as another example , alarm 348 may be a stop switch that prevents operation head merge tool 350 until an operator resets alarm 348 , e . g ., after performing a maintenance operation on head merge tool 350 to prevent additional head - disc contact . as another example , alarm 348 may comprise a computing device that sends notice of the head disc contact to a remote computing device via a network , such as a local area network or the internet . other embodiments of alarm 348 are also possible . in some embodiments , contact detection circuit 340 may include a plurality of channels corresponding to each of microactuators 332 . for example , if head - disc contact event occurs , contact detection circuit 340 may be able to determine at which of microactuators 332 head - disc contact occurred . alternate embodiments of contact detection circuit 340 include but are not limited to digital signal processing techniques such as discrete fourier transform ( dft ) analysis of output frequencies and magnitudes or matched filter processing . fig4 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary techniques for detecting head - disc contact using a head positioning microactuator during manufacturing a plurality of disc drives . for clarity , the techniques illustrated in fig4 are described with respect to head merge station 300 of fig3 . first , disc drive 330 is mounted at head merge station 300 , which includes contact detection circuit 340 , e . g ., by an operator or an automated system ( 402 ). the process of mounting disc drive 330 at head merge station 300 may include , e . g ., a process of precisely positioning and aligning disc drive 330 relative to head merge tool 350 and fixedly securing disc drive 330 to maintain its position and alignment during a subsequent head merge operation using head merge tool 350 . next , contact detection circuit 340 is electrically connected to flex tape 336 to form an electrical connection between contact detection circuit 340 and head positioning microactuators 332 ( 404 ). contact detection circuit 340 monitors an output signal of the head positioning microactuators 332 ( 406 ). head merge tool 350 performs a head merge operation to position the read / write heads on discs 331 while monitoring the output signal with contact detection circuit 340 ( 408 ). contact detection circuit 340 evaluates the output signal of head positioning microactuators 332 while head merge tool 350 performs the head merge operation to determine whether a read / write head contacts one of discs 331 a contact magnitude sufficient to result in physical damage to at least one of the read / write head and the disc ( 410 ). in the event that one of the read / write heads contacts one of the discs 331 with sufficient force to exceed the programmed alarm threshold , contact detection circuit 340 activates alarm 348 ( 412 ). following activation of alarm 348 , an operator may perform maintenance on head merge station 300 before prior to head merge tool 350 performing the head merge operation on any additional disc drives . following the head merge operation , disc drive 330 is released from head merge station 300 and transferred to the next assembly station in the disc drive manufacture assembly line ( 414 ). another disc drive in the plurality of disc drives is then mounted at head merge station 300 ( 402 ). the techniques described with respect to fig4 are then repeated for each of the plurality of disc drives . various embodiments of the invention have been described . however , various modifications to the described embodiments may be made within the scope of the invention . for example , this document has described in detail the application of the invention to a head merge station in a drive manufacturing process . the invention may also be practiced in other processes where a head with a microactuator is loaded onto a disc . for example , other processes related to the manufacture of a disc drive load heads on to discs . as one example , the invention may be practiced at a media certification machine , where read / write heads are utilized to write and read on a disc to certify the number of defects on a disk . as another example , the invention may be practiced at bulk writing machine , which is used to write servo patterns on multiple discs prior to assembling the discs into disc drives . as yet another example , the invention may be used during dynamic testing and certification of heads . other applications are also possible . furthermore , the described embodiments are not limited to piezoelectric microactuators , but may be used with any microactuator that generates electrical signals in response to deflection . these and other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims .	6
in fig1 a typical installation is illustrated wherein fuel tanks or cells 10 and 12 , such as may exist in aircraft , are mounted in spaced relationship , each cell including a vertically extending wall 14 . the conduit assembly of the invention , generally indicated at 16 , consists of identical fittings 18 and 20 mounted within openings in the walls 14 interconnected by a tubular flexible hose 22 . each fitting includes a mounting flange 24 having holes therein for receiving the mounting bolts 26 , and each fitting , interiorly of the fuel tank , is provided with lateral ports 28 communicating with the interior of the hose wherein a free flow of fluid between the fuel cells 10 and 12 will take place in that the self sealing valves within the fittings are open under normal conditions . the construction of the fittings 18 and 20 is identical , and is best appreciated from fig2 . each fitting includes a tubular body 30 including a flow passage 32 . the body is provided with the lateral ports 28 communicating with the passage , and the conical passage portion 34 comprises a valve seat . flow through the fitting is controlled by an axially movable valve 36 slidably mounted upon tubular guide 38 , the guide constituting an axial portion of the cap 40 enclosing the inner end of the body 30 and maintained upon the body by a drive wire 42 . a compression spring 45 interposed between the valve 36 and cap 40 biases the valve toward the valve seat 34 , wherein engagement of the valve packing ring 44 with the valve seat will seal the passage 32 against fluid flow from the associated fuel tank . under normal conditions the valve 36 is maintained in its retracted open condition shown in fig2 by an elongated trigger 46 . the trigger includes an end 48 for engagement with a guide pin , as later described , and the trigger includes a cylindrical surface 50 which is normally radially aligned with a plurality of balls 52 mounted in openings 54 formed in the guide 38 . the valve 36 includes an oblique abutment shoulder 56 which engages the balls , and the balls hold the valve in the open position illustrated against the biasing force exerted by the spring 45 . a compression spring 58 biases the trigger 46 toward the right , but such movement is restrained by the guide pin 60 . as best illustrated in fig4 and 5 , the fitting body 30 includes a cylindrical coaxial recess 62 receiving the tubular adapter 64 which constitutes a nipple having a portion 66 received within the hose 22 . the adapter 64 includes a passage communicating with the passage of the body 30 , and the inner end of the adapter is provided with a recess 68 which receives a spider 70 which supports the pin 60 centrally within the fitting passage , and the spider bears against the adapter recess shoulder wherein the pin 60 is capable of axially holding the trigger 46 against the axial force exerted by the spring 58 as shown in fig2 . the adapter 64 includes an inner cylindrical surface 72 of significant axial dimension which is sealingly engaged by the annular packing ring 74 received within fitting groove 76 . additionally , the adapter includes a cylindrical portion 78 slidably received within the fitting recess 62 , and the adapter is recessed at 80 and 82 to form the radially extending annular rib 84 , and the radial rib 86 . also , the adapter is machined to provide a partially circular recess 88 for receiving the drive wire 90 , also partially received within the fitting body semicircular cross section recess 92 . accordingly , as appreciated from fig4 the drive wire 90 will be received within the recesses 88 and 92 , and engage the rib 84 to maintain the adapter within the fitting body recess 62 , and the wire 90 and rib 84 prevents relative axial movement between the fitting and adapter , and maintains the adapter assembled to the fitting . the engagement of the rib 86 with the radial body shoulder 94 also serves to position the adapter relative to the body , and the normal assembled relationship between fitting body 30 and adapter 64 is as shown in fig4 . the adapter nipple portion 66 is formed with annular ridges 96 to facilitate a sealed relationship to the hose 22 received thereon , and the metal swaged sleeve 98 encompassing the hose in radial opposition to the ridges 96 compresses the hose and assures a fluid tight connection between hose and adapter . the fittings 18 and 12 are mounted upon their associated fuel cell wall 14 by the mounting flanges 24 defined on the fitting body . the mounting flange is received within annular recess 100 , and preferably consists of a pair of plates 102 and 104 pivotally interconnected at 108 , fig3 and maintained in a closed condition by a bolt in hole 106 . the holes 110 permit the mounting bolts 26 to mount the fittings within openings in the tank walls , and the usual gaskets will be employed to render the assembly fluid tight . the hose 22 is preferably formed of an elastomeric material compatible with the chemical composition of the fuel or liquid within the tanks , and a reinforcing wire 112 may be employed about the central hose region . the hose and fitting assembly 16 is mounted upon the tanks 10 and 12 in the manner apparent from fig1 and the flexible nature of the hose 22 accommodates any slight misalignment that may exist between the axes of the respective fittings . under normal conditions the valves 36 will be held in their full open position , as apparent in fig2 and fuel passes between tanks 10 and 12 without restriction . in the event of a crash or severe impact of the aircraft sufficient to displace the tanks relative to each other such to produce a tension within hose 22 a predetermined sequence of events occurs as described below : the axial dimension of the frangible ribs 84 is predetermined wherein an axial force imposed upon the adapters 64 endeavoring to pull the adapters from the fitting body recesses 62 will cause the ribs 84 to fracture , as shown in fig5 prior to the known and predetermined rupture value of the hose 22 being exceeded under tension or bending forces . thus , initial hose tension forces less than those which will rupture the hose , will force the ribs 84 against their associated drive wires 90 , and cause the ribs to shear or bend permitting the adapter 64 to axially shift within the body recess 62 as apparent in fig5 . such axial movement of the adapter 64 relative to the body 30 moves the pin 60 away from its engaged trigger 46 , permitting the trigger spring 58 to push the trigger out from the under the balls 52 . as soon as the trigger surface 50 is no longer radially aligned with the balls to maintain the balls within their openings 54 , the axial force imposed upon the valve 36 by the spring 45 will force the balls inwardly releasing the valve which is rapidly forced against the valve seat 36 sealing the fitting passage 32 . packing ring 114 mounted upon guide 38 seals the bore of the valve 36 , and fluid is now prevented from escaping from the tank through the fitting . the aforementioned fracturing of the ribs 84 occurs regardless of whether the tension forces imposed upon the adapter 64 are truly axial with respect to the adapter axis , or a bending force is imposed on the adapter by the hose . a sufficient bending force may fracture only a portion of the circumference of the rib 84 , but sufficient axial deflection of the adapter relative to the body occurs to release the valve 36 and close the fitting to fluid flow . the axial dimension of the adapter rib 86 is considerably greater than the axial dimension of frangible rib 84 , and even though only one of the frangible ribs 84 initially fractures to permit closing of its associated valve , the engagement of the rib 86 with the drive wire 90 produces sufficient tension within the hose to assure that the other rib 84 will fracture to close its associated valve , thereby assuring that both fittings 18 and 20 will be closed to fluid flow prior to rupture of the hose . when the ribs 86 of both fittings are engaging their associated drive wire 90 both fittings will have closed , and continued tension forces within the hose 22 will either cause a rib 86 to fracture completely pulling the adapter from its associated fitting body , or the hose may rupture . with respect to fuel leakage , regardless of which occurrence takes place , the only fuel that will be spilled will be that within the hose itself since the valves of both fittings have closed . it will be appreciated that in the event of an aircraft crash the aforedescribed sequence of events usually happens in less than one second , and the spring biasing of the trigger 46 and valve 36 assures instantaneous response . the described structure and operation , by solely utilizing the hose as the interconnection between the adapters 64 , simplifys the interconnection between the fittings without complicating assembly and installation , and as the ribs 84 fracture prior to hose rupture integrity of the assembly is maintained until the valves 36 are fully closed . in this respect , it is to be noted that the axial dimension of the adapter sealing surface 72 is sufficient to permit engagement between the surface 72 and packing ring 74 until the adapter has been displaced far enough to insure closing of the associated valve . thus , in the event a partial displacement of the adapter should occur which is less than that necessary to permit the valve to close , the fluid tight assembly between the fitting body and adapter is not broken and leakage is prevented . it is appreciated that various modifications to the inventive concepts may be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	8
as illustrated in fig1 , a first embodiment of the inventive showerhead 2 utilizes a mini - or micro - electric motor 10 to drive , either directly or through a gear reduction , by gear 12 , the face plate 14 of the showerhead causing it to rotate . as illustrated drive gear assembly 11 transfers rotational force from motor 10 to gear 12 . water is introduced through water inlet 16 and into an interior cavity or manifold 13 within face plate 14 . a plurality of nozzles 18 is disposed in or on the outer surface of face plate 14 to release streams of water that rotate as manifold 13 and plate 14 rotate , producing a massaging action . in the more detailed illustration in fig9 , water entering through inlet 16 is directed into manifold 13 which distributes the water to nozzles 18 . the manifold 13 and nozzles 18 rotate with along with face plate 14 , as does the axial tube 15 . axial tube 15 is connected to inlet 16 by way of a rotating joint that permits water to flow continuously while axial tube 15 rotates relative to inlet 16 . miniature and micro - motors are commercially available and are widely used in toys , consumer electronics and vehicles , among other applications . preferably , the motor is a dc electric motor connected to one or more small , e . g ., a or aaa batteries 8 , or multiple ni - cad batteries or other small camera or calculator batteries capable of generating sufficient voltage to drive the motor . motor 10 and batteries 8 are retained within a separate , waterproof chamber 17 . a button ( not shown ) or other appropriate switch on the side of the showerhead is electrically connected to the motor 10 so that , when activated , the face 14 of the showerhead rotates . preferably , the button will be protected under a flexible , water - resistant cover to prevent water intrusion into the conductors of the circuitry . a speed control device may be connected , either in combination with the button , e . g ., a knob or toggle switch with multiple settings , or a separate knob or switch in line with the button , to allow the user to adjust the rotations per minute to his or her own preference . the speed control device may be simply a rheostat or other voltage level controller , but is preferably a programmable microcontroller with appropriate interface microcircuitry that provides control signals to the motor . the microcontroller can be used in conjunction with different combinations of electric solenoids and motors to provide programmable variability of operation for different timing of the opening and closing of valves , rotational speed , delays and pauses , among others . optionally , an lcd or led display screen can be connected to the microcontroller to provide a display of selections made during programming . this same rotating gear concept can be applied for individually rotating each spray nozzle within a showerhead . the independent operations allows the creation of various patterns rotating in a different combinations . in this embodiment , a gear assembly is provided in which a single motor drives the gears for each nozzle . if desired , the gear ratios can be selected to drive each nozzle at a different rotational speed . alternatively , a separate motor may be used for each nozzle , allowing the nozzles to be rotated separately and with different speeds or patterns . in an alternate embodiment , actuation of the nozzles and or the outer portion of the showerhead can be moved using linear actuators with either electric solenoids or electric motors and the corresponding gear sets to cause the individual spray nozzles to move back and forth and or cause the outer portion of the showerhead to move back and forth , pivoting from a central axis point and or rotating back and forth . as illustrated in fig2 , solenoid valves 22 are alternately activated to release water from manifold 21 through corresponding nozzles to create a pulsing effect . activation of the solenoid valves 22 is controlled by microcontroller 24 which is programmable to provide any number of pulsing patterns that may be selected by the user . the solenoids 22 and microcontroller 24 are powered by battery 26 . in an alternate configuration , a single solenoid valve 42 is activated to release pulsed water into manifold 41 and out through nozzles 48 . microcontroller 44 is programmable to control activation of solenoid valve 42 to produce a variety of different pulsing actions in the water released through nozzles . again , the solenoid 42 and microcontroller are powered by battery 26 . in another embodiment , an electric motor can be used to actuate valving that can cause a pulsing effect of the water . as illustrated in fig3 , an electric motor 30 can be used to spin a rotary valve 32 to alternately open water ports 34 , causing pulsed water to be emitted from the showerhead . fig5 provides an alternate configuration to the embodiment of fig3 , where motor 50 controls a separate valve 52 corresponding to each nozzle , allowing the output water streams to be alternated in various patterns to create the desired massaging effect . in the preferred version the electric motor and or valves are located within the showerheads traditional enclosure . in another embodiment the electrical components can be mounted in a casing to the exterior of a traditional showerhead enclosure , this can offer benefits to space issues and provide room for additional motors , batteries , or microcontrollers . fig6 illustrates an embodiment with an asymmetric nozzle 68 that can create a circular spray pattern when the nozzle is rotated . motor 60 drives gear 62 , which is disposed around the nozzle inlet side 67 . nozzle inlet side 67 is retained within a swivel joint 63 allowing the nozzle inlet side 67 to rotate around its central axis 65 . the asymmetric nozzle 68 traces a circular pattern . multiple such nozzle assemblies can be disposed within a single showerhead that can optionally include another motor for separately rotating the face plate . in addition , valves may be included upstream of each nozzle inlet 67 to provide pulsing action to the water . the showerhead can incorporate a combination of the same or different nozzle assemblies in which some of the nozzles rotate , wobble , move linearly , while others remain stationary . the various combinations can be applied to achieve the most desirable sensation to the user . optionally , an led can be incorporated into the showerhead to provide visual effects for stimulation or relaxation as the showerhead is spinning , moving , or oscillating . this light may also be used to provide subdued lighting to illuminate the interior of the shower stall . another advantage of being able to control the pulsations of water independently of the water pressure and / or flow is that an energy / water storage device can be incorporated upstream of the valve for each spray nozzle outlet to produces a capacitive effect of briefly storing the water until the volume is full and the valve is opened downstream . in one embodiment , an expandable volume is provided by way of a flexible bladder , as shown in fig7 a . when the valve 72 is closed , water continues to enter inlet 71 , filling the flexible bladder 74 . bladder 74 expands and builds pressure so that when the valve 72 is opened , the stored water is released from nozzle 78 as a pulse at a greater pressure than would be available under a continuous flow operation . fig7 b illustrates an second possible configuration using an expandable air bladder 75 to fill the storage volume 73 . storage volume 73 is filled when valve 72 closes , compressing air bladder 75 . when the downstream valve 72 is opened to release water through the nozzle 78 , air bladder 75 expands to provide additional pressure . in the embodiment of fig7 c , a temporary blockage is created using a piston 77 that blocks the water stream under the valve 72 is released . in each of the embodiments of fig7 a - c , as a microcontroller or motor causes the valves to open and close to control the water flow , the back pressure surge of water with the valve closed causes a momentary spike in water pressure causing this increase in energy to be stored in the rubber material , air bladder or air in the piston cylinder combination . as the valve opens again , the energy is released producing a sudden increase in water pressure to momentarily amplify the pulsing sensation detected by the user . fig8 illustrates an embodiment that can be used to generate an oscillating or wiggle spray by moving the nozzle tip 88 within the plane of the face plate . micromotor 80 , through an eccentric cam 82 , or gears , gear reduction or linear actuator , causes the nozzle 88 to move up and down ( or side to side ), i . e ., perpendicular to the direction of water flow 81 . preferably , this nozzle assembly will be incorporated in showerhead with a rotating face plate so that the spray streams rotate as well as oscillate or wiggle . in an exemplary embodiment , the showerhead is retained on the wall of the shower stall by at least one suction cup . as illustrated in fig9 , two suction cups 92 are shown attached to the outer back surface of a housing 94 . the water supply is introduced into the showerhead by way of water inlet 96 , which is a knurled or ribbed fitting that produces a water - tight fits within the end of a flexible tubing of appropriate diameter . alternate connection means will be readily apparent to those in the art , including hard plumbing , screw - on attachments , and combinations thereof . fig1 illustrates a manifold and nozzle assembly that is rotated by a motor , according to the embodiments of fig1 and 9 . as described previously , motor 10 drives gear assembly 11 which transfers force to gear 12 . gear 12 is attached to the bottom of manifold 13 which includes arms 113 that terminate with nozzles 18 . each nozzle 18 has a plurality of openings through which streams of water are emitted . in the preferred embodiment , the nozzle faces can be tilted by axially rotating arm 113 where it is inserted into manifold 13 , which provides for variation in the direction of the water streams . fig1 illustrates an exemplary production showerhead that incorporates the present invention . the assembly of fig1 is mounted within a housing 110 . the arms 113 extend through openings through face plate 14 and the nozzles 18 are attached to the ends of arms 113 by a threaded attachment . the arms are inserted into manifold 13 in a way that allows each arm , and thus , the nozzle , to be rotated around its axis . this adjustment can be selected by the user to produce a wider or narrower spray pattern . motor 10 ( shown in fig1 ) drives the rotation of face plate 14 and nozzles 18 . the showerhead is activated by depressing one or more buttons 112 , 114 and / or 116 which turn the motor on and off and control the rotational speed of the nozzles and / or the pulse rate of a valve controlling the water stream . the motor is preferably controlled by a microcontroller that has a number of program variations for selecting different spray patterns and pulse variations . the microcontroller may also provide signals for activating an led display . one of the buttons 112 , 114 and / or 116 , or a separate button , may be used to turn the led arrays 120 on or off , or to select variations in the light produced by the leds . the led arrays may be used to provide illumination or as indicators of the operational settings selected on the showerhead . the spinning and pulsating mechanisms described herein may be incorporated in various combinations into either overhead showerheads or body showers mounted on a vertical wall and directed toward the bathing area . in the foregoing specification , the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof . it will , however , be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims and their full scope of equivalents .	1
reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments of the present invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . referring generally now to fig1 through 3 , exemplary embodiments of the present invention are discussed , wherein an apparatus for utilizing single ported serial disk drives , such as sata disk drives in multi - ported fault tolerant applications are discussed . fault tolerant storage systems such as fibre channel disk drives offer increased functionality over sata drives which are subject to a single point of failure , thus reducing the availability of data to the system . while fibre channel drives offer advantages over that of sata drives , the high cost of fibre channel drives continues to be a factor in overall utilization . for example , fibre channel disk drives are often utilized in high performance information handling systems . therefore , the current invention provides an apparatus to incorporate sata drives into fault - tolerant applications without the previously experienced single point failure associated with sata drives . referring now to fig1 , in a first embodiment of the present invention an apparatus for dual porting a serial disk drive 102 , such as a sata drive 104 , is discussed . in the current embodiment , the dual porting apparatus 102 is included on a disk drive canister 114 . the present implementation allows for the utilization of the sata drive 104 in a fibre channel environment without the drawbacks associated with single point failures . in the present embodiment , the dual porting apparatus 102 is employed as part of the disk drive canister 114 incorporated in an information handling system 100 . furthermore , the arrangement of disk drive canister 114 including associated sata drives 104 and dual porting apparatus 102 allows for redundancy in the information handling system 100 , thus reducing the risk of a failure . in the present embodiment , the dual porting apparatus 102 is connected to a first and a second sata master devices 110 & amp ; 112 through a back panel 106 of the information handling system 100 through peripheral component interfaces ( pci ) 108 implemented in the first and second sata master devices 110 & amp ; 112 . it is to be understood that various interfaces may be employed as contemplated by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention , and it is the intention of the present invention to encompass and include these variations . for example the present interface may be incorporated in a proprietary bus or the like . for present purposes the first and the second sata master devices are substantially similar and are merely referred to as “ first and second ” sata master devices 110 & amp ; 112 for convenience . in the present embodiment , the first and second sata master devices 110 & amp ; 112 individually include a fibre channel connection 116 . furthermore , the first and second sata master devices include a uniprocessor ( up ) 118 and a memory 120 . additionally , in the present embodiment the sata master devices 110 & amp ; 112 are capable of providing control signals from a higher level to the dual porting apparatus 102 ensuring that only a single disk drive canister 114 is enabled at a time . in further embodiments , the first and the second sata master devices 110 & amp ; 112 are continuously enabled with controls executed at a higher level guaranteeing that only a single sata master device is enabled at a time . for example , by sending control signals from a higher level , switching in the middle of a command is prevented . referring now to fig2 , a disk drive canister 200 including a dual porting apparatus 202 for porting a serial disk drive is discussed . in the present embodiment , the dual porting apparatus 202 may be connected between a sata disk drive 204 and the back panel of an information handling system , such as the arrangement discussed in fig1 , thus effectively multiplexing the serial disk drive 204 . in the current embodiment the dual porting apparatus 202 is integrated in the disk drive canister 200 thus allowing for ease of replacement in the event of failure . the present embodiment thus allows for the incorporation of the sata disk drive 204 into a fault tolerant environment , such as fibre channel based systems without the drawback of a single failure point previously experienced with sata drive included without the dual porting apparatus 202 of the present invention . further , through implementation of the present invention the sata drive 204 may continue to receive idle characters during utilization . the dual porting apparatus 202 includes a first idle regenerator 206 . the first idle regenerator 206 is connected to a first serial master device , such as discussed in fig1 . the first idle regenerator 206 in the present embodiment is capable of transmitting and receiving signals to the first serial master device via an input / output connection 208 . in the current embodiment the input / output connection is made utilizing a pci , although it is contemplated that other interfaces are capable of utilization for this purpose without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention . for example , the interface may be implemented without a processor or be embodied in a proprietary bus , or the like . the dual porting apparatus 202 of the present embodiment further includes a second idle regenerator 210 . the second idle regenerator 210 is connected to a second serial master device via input / output connection 212 . the second serial master device of the present embodiment is substantially similar to the second serial master device as discussed in fig1 . the second idle regenerator 210 is capable of receiving and transmitting signals to the second serial master device . additionally , the second idle regenerator 210 is connected through connection 212 which is ported to the second serial master device though a pci . a third idle regenerator 214 is connected to the first and the second idle regenerators 206 & amp ; 210 and additionally to the serial disk drive 204 . the third idle regenerator 214 , included in the dual porting apparatus 202 , is capable of transmitting and receiving signals from the first and second idle regenerators 206 & amp ; 210 and the serial disk drive 204 , such as a sata disk drive . further included in the dual porting apparatus 202 , is synchronization logic 216 connected to the first , second and third idle regenerators 206 , 210 and 216 respectively . the synchronization logic 216 is capable of synchronizing data transfers between one of the first and second idle regenerators 206 & amp ; 210 and the third idle generator 214 . for example , the synchronization logic 216 is capable of synchronizing the third idle regenerator 214 with the second idle regenerator in the event of a desired switch in data stream input from the first idle regenerator 206 to the second idle regenerator 210 . furthermore , should an event occur which causes a disruption in synchronization in the dual porting apparatus , the synchronization logic 216 is utilized to reestablish synchronization between the third idle regenerator and the first or second idle regenerator as required by the circumstances . in embodiments of the present invention the dual porting apparatus 202 further includes an auto detector 218 . the auto detector 218 in the present embodiment is connected to the input / output of the first and the second serial masters devices 208 & amp ; 212 , respectively as well as the synchronization logic 216 . for example , the auto detector 218 may be incorporated into the dual porting apparatus 102 which in turn is included in a disk drive canister 114 as discussed in fig1 or the like . the auto detector 218 is capable of automatically switching between the first and second master devices based on the presence or absence of idle characters transmitted by either of the first and second master devices . the auto detector 218 is further capable of controlling the switching between the first and second serial master devices , thus allowing the input / output of data between the dual porting apparatus and one of the first and second master devices at a time . in embodiments of the present invention the dual porting apparatus 202 is implemented as an application specific integrated circuit ( asic ). referring generally to fig3 , in an alternative embodiment a dual porting apparatus 302 may be capable of being switched between the first and the second serial master devices through control signals sent from an external source , such as a sata master device . it is believed that the dual porting serial ata disk drives for fault tolerant applications of 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 . 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
malignant tumors when surgically resected leave excavated cavities of various dimensions and configurations in the operated breast . because of present day inability to definitively surgically eradicate all cancer bearing tissue at the site of operation , radiation treatment is delivered to the site of surgical excision to incorporate a 2 - 3 cm rim of normal appearing tissue on all sides of the surgical cavity . however , the geometry of a lumpectomy cavity is predicated on the particular geometry of the resected breast cancer and , because of this , is usually irregular in geometric shape . because of this , the delivery of radiation treatment to the surgical rim cannot be uniformly delivered utilizing present day brachytherapy delivery systems . as an example , the proxima system requires shaping of the remaining unresected breast tissue around a form . the present invention is designed to position and support the lining tissue from the surgically excised cavity to its natural contour by forming within the surgical cavity a permanent or degradable support . the present invention also enables calculation of actual excised tissue volume and acts as an anatomical surrogate for the excised cancerous tissue , allowing precise dosimetry calculations to be formulated along real anatomic boundaries unaffected by further surgical distortion . the present invention also provides a stable , reproducible , semi - permanent to permanent mold through which a brachytherapy delivery device can be positioned under precise ct or ultrasound guidance to insure the optimal delivery of the therapeutic radiation dose to targeted tissues . the present invention provides a stable scaffold maintaining the anatomically correct relationship of the remaining breast tissue vis - à - vis the excised tissue in order to precisely delivery conformal radiation or brachytherapy . with the maturation of the porous , bioresorbable , biocompatible tissue support scaffold , interstitial spaces ( pores ) will be created between the latticework of the support scaffold . this provides for the accumulation and distribution of the normal post operative fluid effusion ( seroma ) throughout the newly excised surgical cavity . the effusion of this fluid will replace in a volumetric manner the gradual biologic degradation of the porous , bioresorbable , biocompatible tissue support scaffold , thereby strengthening the borders of the cavitary tissue mold . this will lessen or prevent the contour deformity of the breast commonly seen after either surgical or radiotherapeutic treatment . in addition to its ability to sequester and constructively utilize seroma fluid post treatment , any of a variety of biocompatible chemo - therapeutic , chemo - preventive agent , antibiotic or any substance found to enhance the delivery of radiotherapy to the surrounding breast tissue can be bound to the porous , bioresorbable , biocompatible tissue support scaffold , and thereby be incorporated into the organic / inorganic make up of the cavitary matrix . a porous , bioresorbable , biocompatible tissue support scaffold may be delivered into the surgical cavity at the completion of the operation or , in another application , during the postoperative period in those patients determined to be candidates for brachytherapy treatment . terms and phrases such as porous bioresorbable biocompatible tissue support scaffold , bulking media , media , and the like may be used interchangeably throughout this specification . in general , the media or bulking media may be in any of a variety of liquid , semi - liquid or solid forms , which can be caused to conform to the irregular contours of a tissue cavity and act as a scaffold to approximate the volume and shape of the excised tissue . if the porous , bioresorbable , biocompatible tissue support scaffold is injected at the time of surgery , the skin closure of the incision will be performed after placement of an injection port that utilizes the skin closure site or a newly formed para incisional site . the porous , bioresorbable , biocompatible tissue support scaffold will be then be injected either under direct vision or aided by real time operative ultrasound . in this fashion the volume of injected tissue support scaffold can be tactically and visibly monitored to insure that the surgical cavity is reconstructed in its entirety . a precise volume assessment of the surgical cavity can be inferred by noting the cc volume of bulking agent used . the volumetric distention of the surgical cavity can also be monitored utilizing intra operative sonography if so desired . the operative phase is completed by withdrawing the injection port in either instance and the application of postoperative dressings . certain bulking agents may undergo a volume change as they transform from a flowable , injectable form to a polymerized or otherwise hardened or gel form for providing a tissue scaffold as described herein . in this case , the volumetric assessment will involve a calculation which take into account the volume change upon transformation of the bulking media , as will be understood by those of skill in the art in view of the disclosure herein . alternatively , for bulking agents which do not undergo a transformation in volume , the precise volume assessment may be accomplished by simply monitoring the volume of infused media . the postoperative infusion of porous , bioresorbable , biocompatible tissue support scaffold for the reconstruction of the surgical bed is done in a similar fashion and facilitated by either placement of the injection port through the post operative incision or by the para incisional creation of a percutaneous tract through the pseudo capsule of the resected tissue . this postoperative placement of an injection port can be aided by real time sonography or other imaging modalities . any residual seroma is evacuated prior to the injection of the hydrogel . once again , the tissue support scaffold is injected under visual , tactile and real time sonographic scanning until the surgical cavity is filled . the operative injection of porous , bioresorbable , biocompatible tissue support scaffold will additionally facilitate , if the need should arise , of any further surgery necessitated at the lumpectomy site for “ an involved margin ”. this contingency can result from the finding of an involved cancerous margin i . e . a cancer containing border ( outer rim ) of the lumpectomy specimen , during pathologic assessment . this finding mandates reoperation and the reexcision of any portion of the involved lumpectomy circumference ( rim ). this re - excision will be facilitated by having a stable tissue mold in place that will provide the surgeon with directional tactile and visual cues during the re - excision process . after completion of the re - excision , tissue support scaffold is infused into the newly created surgical cavity as initially performed . this re - excision provides an easily imaged target for the percutaneous image directed excision of additional tissue . because of porous , bioresorbable , biocompatible tissue support scaffold preset fluid properties during the injection phase , the resultant hydrogel mold will fill the surgical cavity by utilizing the geometry of the lumpectomy site as its insitu mold . the result is a mold that replicates anatomically the configuration of the surgical cavity . no additional surgical manipulation or suturing of the lumpectomy site or surrounding tissue is required . radiation dosimetry planning utilizing advanced imaging devices can now be done with greater accuracy because the para lumpectomy breast tissue that may harbor residual microscopic foci of breast cancer remains in its normal anatomic relationship to the excised cancer . the ability to deliver an optimal radiation therapy conducive to treatment of a surrounding rim of breast tissue to the accepted parameters of treatment regardless of excisional geometry of the surgical site , is technically facilitated . the optimal treatment axis ( or axes for complex shaped excisional cavities ) can be determined and is consistently reproducible because of the stability of the tissue mold and its relationship to the surrounding breast tissue . once the axis of the optimal treatment is determined , the percutaneous insertion of the brachytherapy delivery device can be done under advanced imaging methodology and then utilized throughout the course of treatment . axial stabilizing device ( s ) which include a canula , trocar and a cutaneous anchoring system is inserted utilizing local anesthesia at the skin sites . once placed , it is anchored to the skin at entrance and exit sites to ensure stability and is easily removed at the completion of the treatment regimen . the positioning of the axial stability device is facilitated utilizing advanced imaging to assure the most precise placement along the predetermined axis of optimal radiation therapy conducive to treatment of a 2 cm rim of surrounding breast tissue regardless of excisional geometry . one or more axial stabilizing devices can be used , depending on the determination by a radiation physicist on the requirements for a uniform distribution of radiation within the target tissue . the porous , bioresorbable , biocompatible tissue support scaffold utilized for cavitary molding will be in either a permanent or semi permanent ( e . g ., absorbable ) form . in either form , it will provide additional benefits in addition to providing a stable and structurally supporting medium for placement of the percutaneous delivery device . by virtue of its volumetric presence in the surgical cavity , it will retard or prevent the development of contractual scar formation at the surgical site and resultant contour deformity . this will result in enhanced cosmetic outcomes after surgical or surgical / radiotherapeutic procedures for breast mastopathies . at the completion of radiotherapy , the axial “ positional ” stabilizing device ( s ) is withdrawn by releasing the anchoring mechanism at both entrance sites and withdrawing the canula . dressings are then placed and wound healing allowed to occur . the presence of a permanent marker ( tissue mold ) in the configuration of the initial lumpectomy cavity will facilitate better long - term analysis utilizing radiography , sonography , advanced imaging techniques including ct and mri of the surrounding rim of treated tissue . in the event that a semi permanent mold has been used , the replacement of the hydrogel by seroma fluid will act in a similar fashion for the long term assessment of the treated cancerous site . referring to fig1 through 7 , one embodiment of a brachytherapy applicator system in accordance with the present invention may include 5 main components : a biocompatible bulking media or tissue scaffold ( 1 ), a hollow trocar ( 2 ), a brachytherapy guide such as a tube ( 3 ), an elastomeric septum attached to the brachytherapy guide ( 4 ) and connectors such as sutures ( 5 ) connecting the trocar and guide tube . fig2 shows the surgical cavity ( 10 ) after lumpectomy or wide surgical excision . the bulking media , such as a porous , bioresorbable , biocompatible tissue support scaffold ( 1 ) is shown filling the surgical cavity ( 6 ) in fig3 . fig4 illustrates a second step in the procedure . hollow trocar ( 2 ) is inserted through the surgical cavity , along a predetermined axis such as the long axis of the cavity , which is centered in the irregular cavity . hollow trocar ( 2 ) pierces the skin on the near side of the breast and on the far side of the breast . hollow trocar ( 2 ) is of a generally tubular shape and can be made of a metal or a polymer . the trocar preferably has a closed distal end . it has sufficient rigidity to pierce the tissue and traverse the implant material without being deflected . in general , the hollow trocar ( 2 ) will have a diameter with the range of from about 3 mm to about 6 mm , and an axial length within range of from about 5 cm to about 12 cm . the hollow trocar ( 2 ) may have an outside diameter of preferably no more than about 6 mm , and an inside diameter sufficient to receive the brachytherapy guide tube ( 3 ), which will often have an outside diameter no more than about 5 mm . hollow trocar ( 2 ) may be provided with a sharpened distal end to facilitate soft tissue penetration as is understood in the art . any of a variety of other dimensions or configurations may also be used , depending upon the intended clinical performance . hollow trocar ( 2 ) is connected to brachytherapy guide tube ( 3 ) by a flexible and / or extendable connector such as sutures ( 5 ). sutures ( 5 ) may be attached to the proximal end of the hollow trocar ( 2 ) and the distal end of brachytherapy guide tube ( 3 ). the brachytherapy guide tube is made of any of a variety of materials known in the art that are generally transparent to x - rays , beta rays and / or gamma rays . many polymers are suitable to pass these highly energetic photons , so that most of the photons are absorbed by the tissue , rather than the guide tube . the brachytherapy guide tube ( 3 ) is inserted into the hollow trocar ( 2 ) and positioned so that the distal end of the brachytherapy guide tube is just under the skin on the far side of the breast , where the trocar exits the breast ( fig5 ). the trocar ( 2 ) is pulled through the breast while the surgeon holds and stabilizes the brachytherapy guide tube so that it does not move . the sutures ( 5 ) are exposed on the far side of the breast ( fig6 ). the surgeon severs the sutures from the trocar and sutures the distal end of the brachytherapy guide tube to the skin so that the distal end for the brachytherapy guide tube is under the skin . the surgeon then sutures the elastomeric septum ( 4 ) to the near side breast skin . the elastomeric septum ( 4 ) provides a sealed port for introducing a brachytherapy catheter or probe . the elastomeric septum ( 4 ) preferably comprises silicone , pebax , polyurethane or any of a variety of other suitable elastomeric , biocompatible materials . the elastomeric septum provides a sealed , infection resistant system between radiation fractions , providing the patient with an unobtrusive device that does not protrude from the breast . the elastomeric septum can be coated or embedded with silver or platinum particles to help resist infection . fig7 shows a brachytherapy catheter ( 8 ) positioned inside of the brachytherapy guide tube . the bulking media or tissue scaffold may comprise any of a number of materials known in the art . peg hydrogels are suitable materials that can be tailored so that they biodegrade over different lengths of time , depending on the application . nektar therapeutics , san carlos , calif . is one manufacturer of these materials . other good candidates for implant material include porous gelatins , collagen , polyanhydrides , polyglycolic acid , polylactic / polyglycolic copolymers , polyhydroxybutyrate - valerate and other aliphatic polymers . suitable soft gels may additionally include injectable , cross - linked hyaluronic acids such as hylaform from genzyme or from inamed ( santa barbara , calif .). alternatively , a bioresorbable thermal reversal gel may be utilized . such gels are liquid at room temperature , but form a gel at body temperature . one suitable gel may be regel , available from macromed . hard gels may be provided in a variety of ways , which are understood in the art . in general , such gels transform into the hardened state based upon the change in solubility as the polymer is transferred from a biocompatible solvent into the aqueous environment of a water containing cavity . preferably , the bulking material will degrade over time to allow replacement by native tissue and other native byproducts of the healing process . this is facilitated if the bulking media is selected such that breakdown products which may be released as the bulking media degrades do not unduly interfere with the healing process . polylactic ( pla ) and polyglycolic ( pga ) based polymer and copolymers are known to generate glycolic acid and lactic acid in their final phase of degradation . depending upon the geometry of the implant and the size of the implant , the amount of acid may have negative effects on the body , which may influence specific design and concentration criteria . other bulking media such as hydrogels may be selected which do not include pla / pga , or may contain only a relatively smaller amount of pla and / or pga in their formulation . this allows a reduction in the amount of acid compared to an implant made entirely of pla and / or pga or their derivatives . in general , the rate of degradation of the tissue scaffold may be selected depending upon the desired clinical performance . for example , tissue ingrowth may occur more quickly in smaller cavities . for this reason , a bulking media with a more rapid degradation rate may be desirable in relatively smaller cavities , while a longer degradation , may be desirable in a larger tissue cavity . for a spherical cavity having a diameter of about 3 cm the media may desirably degrade in about 6 to 12 months . the present inventors contemplate a degradation period of about 3 to 9 months for smaller cavities . however , other degradation rates may be utilized depending upon the desired performance of the tissue scaffold in a particular patient . when used with biodegradable bulking media , the present invention thus provides a declining volume tissue support which provides continuous support for the excisional cavity throughout a range of cavity volumes . at the same time , the bulking media may transform in its three dimensional configuration to facilitate growth of adjacent tissue , regardless of the geometry of the tissue cavity . the tissue support scaffold may additionally serve as a drug delivery vehicle . chemotherapeutic drugs and antibiotics among other therapeutic substances can be incorporated into the scaffold . any of a variety of known technologies may be utilized , for incorporating a drug into or on to the bulking media , for delivery over a period of time . the selection of a particular technology will depend upon the desired drug , the desired bulking media , and the desired drug delivery time period as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art in view of the disclosure herein . although the present invention has been described in terms of certain preferred embodiments , other embodiments can be readily devised by one of skill in the art in view of the foregoing , which will also use the basic concepts of the present invention . accordingly , the scope of the present invention is not intended to be limited by the foregoing discussion , but should rather be defined by reference to the attached claims .	0
the following detailed description should be read with reference to the drawings , in which like elements in different drawings are identically numbered . the drawings , which are not necessarily to scale , depict selected preferred embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention . the detailed description illustrates by way of example , not by way of limitation , the principles of the invention . this description will clearly enable one skilled in the art to make and use the invention , and describes several embodiments , adaptations , variations , alternatives and uses of the invention , including what is presently believed to be the best mode of carrying out the invention . integrated in the housing interior of a hand piece 1 are all devices required to perform a vacuum biopsy ( fig1 ), so that no cables or lines are required going from the housing of the hand piece to other external supply devices . thus , the hand piece 1 constitutes a complete vacuum biopsy device , which is freely moveable in all directions . from the distal part of the left end cover 6 protrudes the distal part of the hollow biopsy needle 2 with the cutting sheath 3 surrounding it coaxially , which is required to remove the tissue sample . usually , a coaxial cannula is placed in the tissue , into which the biopsy needle 2 with cutting sheath 3 is introduced . outside the right end cover 7 of the housing there is arranged a connection element 4 , e . g ., a transparent flexible hose , which connects the vacuum pressure - generating device 5 , arranged in parallel with the biopsy needle , to the interior cavity of the biopsy needle 2 . the hollow connection element 4 is situated in immediate proximity to the end cover 7 of the housing . the biopsy needle with cutting sheath and additional elements , arranged in a biopsy needle carrier 37 , forms together with the connection element 4 and the vacuum pressure - generating device 5 an element 20 , easily inserted or taken out at the top , which is replaced as necessary ( fig2 ). the housing cover 10 is opened for this purpose . as fig2 in particular shows , the biopsy device can be divided into parts which are firmly connected to the housing ( disinfected parts ) and a removable element 20 ( sterile part ). while the parts firmly connected to the housing are merely disinfected , the removable element 20 comes in a sterile package and can be replaced as necessary , especially for each new patient . in the sample embodiment described hereafter , the vacuum pressure - generating device is arranged in parallel with the biopsy needle . however , in the scope of the invention , the vacuum pressure - generating device can also be arranged lying in the axis of the biopsy needle or the hand piece ; neither does it require its own connection element , if for example it is mounted directly on the end of the biopsy needle . between the left and right end covers 6 , 7 of the housing is the lower piece 9 of the housing and a housing cover 10 which is hinged in the end covers of the housing , with a locking latch 11 . by means of tie rods or screws , which are partly screwed into a base block 8 , the lower piece 9 of the housing is clamped between the end covers 6 , 7 , or it is joined to the base block 8 . the housing cover 10 can swivel about an axis secured in the end covers 6 , 7 of the housing . the housing cover 10 is closed before the biopsy mechanism is used ; the inner contour of the housing cover corresponds to the outer contour of the biopsy needle carrier 37 , which will be described more precisely hereafter . approximately at the center of the interior space of the housing is arranged the base block 8 , which is firmly connected to the lower piece of the housing , for example , by fixation elements and / or by a screw connection . the base block 8 , which extends not only in the lengthwise axis from the middle to the left , but also across the entire transverse surface , is connected to the drive elements for the vacuum pressure - generating device 5 , the cutting sheath 3 and the cocking mechanism for the tension slide 28 , on which the biopsy needle carrier 37 is mounted . furthermore , the base block 8 has a holder 36 , open at the top , for the biopsy needle / cutting sheath , and an additional insert element 62 for the vacuum pressure - generating device . in order to specify the position of the individual elements , as well as the position of the individual parts , especially in the interior of the housing , a coordinate scale has been drawn in fig1 , the midpoint of the coordinates lying at the center of the base block 8 ( fig1 ). accordingly , for the following description and for the claims , movement indicated in the direction of the x - axis is considered left ( distal ) and movement indicated away from the x - axis is considered right ( proximal ). for the other coordinates , movement in the direction of the y - axis is considered top , movement away from the y - axis is considered bottom , movement in the direction of the z - axis is considered rear , and movement away from the z - axis is considered forward ( fig1 ). thus , the coordinate system divides the interior of the housing and the other references into left and right , forward and rear , and top and bottom . making reference to these remarks , in the bottom , front , left part of the housing interior are found the joint actuating mechanisms 106 for the cocking mechanism and the cutting sheath , and in the bottom , rear , left part of the housing is the actuating mechanism 105 ( fig1 ) for the vacuum pressure - generating device 5 . in the bottom right part is accommodated the energy supply for the actuating motors and the other electrical parts , such as for the control and / or monitoring elements ; preferably , batteries or a storage battery 111 are used for this , e . g ., a 7 . 2 v lithium ion battery , 1 ah . the forward , right , top interior space of the housing lying above the battery compartment is utilized mainly for the tension slide 28 with locking piece ( fig5 ); this is connected to a block 26 , which is part of the base block 8 . the battery compartment is sealed on top by a separation plate 114 . in the uppermost front part of the housing interior there is arranged a biopsy needle carrier 37 , which can be inserted into and taken out from the u - shaped insert holder 36 of the base block 8 , which is open at the top , and the bracket 40 arranged on either side of the tension slide 28 and pointing upward ; the biopsy needle / cutting sheath unit with actuating parts is moveably mounted in this , extending for almost the entire length of the hand piece . this means that , in the uncocked state , the left end surface of the biopsy needle carrier 37 lies against the left end cover 6 of the housing , and in the cocked state the right end surface lies against the right end cover 7 . “ almost the entire length ” means that the biopsy needle carrier is at least shorter by the distance required in the interior of the housing for the cocking sequence . if the cocking distance of the tension slide is 20 mm , for example , the biopsy needle carrier must be able to move by this amount . in general , the cocking distance is between 15 and 25 mm , depending on the biopsy needle used . it is therefore advisable to design the interior for the longest possible cocking distance . the cocking device ( situated right front ) itself consists of a tension slide 28 , placed on a bolt 30 , the bolt screwing into the base block 8 . the bolt 30 has a spiral spring 31 surrounding it . the locking device ( see especially fig9 b and 10 b ) of the tension slide is secured to the block 26 . in the top , rear , right interior of the housing is accommodated the vacuum pressure - generating device 5 with parts of the actuator ; the actuating motor with reduction gearing for the vacuum pressure - generating device is located in the left , bottom , rear area of the housing interior . the hand piece , and also in particular the biopsy needle or the vacuum pressure - generating device , are not connected either by cable or hose lines to additional supply units situated outside of the housing hand piece . therefore , the mobility and maneuverability is not impaired either by lines or by cables . the housing cover , the bottom piece of the housing , the end covers of the housing and the base block consist preferably of aluminum . the hand piece 1 consists , as already specified , of a housing , which is formed from a housing lower piece 9 with side walls raised to different height , the housing cover 10 adapted to the lower piece of the housing with lengthwise moveable locking latch 11 , and the two end covers 6 and 7 . the lower piece of the housing is joined to the two end covers by tie rods or screws , e . g ., made of iron , which are partly screwed directly into the base block 8 . the housing is around 200 mm in length , the end covers have approximately square cross section , roughly 40 × 40 mm ( fig2 ). the housing cover 10 can swivel about an axis 104 , which is secured in the end covers 6 , 7 ; boreholes 14 in the end covers are used for this . the dog 12 of the locking latch 11 can be pushed into the recess 45 of the base block 8 to close the housing cover . the left end cover 6 has , in the upper forward part , an upward open u - shaped passage 13 for the forward protruding part of the biopsy needle / cutting sheath 2 , 3 and the guide roller 81 mounted thereon . the rear end cover 7 of the housing has two upward open u - shaped passages 15 , 16 . the passage 15 corresponds to the passage 13 ; it receives the end of the plastic part 47 , with round cross section , mounted on the hollow biopsy needle . in passage 16 is inserted a connection piece 63 for the vacuum pressure - generating device ( fig2 ). an additional plastic part 112 , inserted in the plastic part 47 , has a plug 17 which is used to connect the connection element 4 to the outlet connector 64 of the vacuum pressure - generating device . the inner cavity of the biopsy needle is connected continuously to the cavity of the plunger / cylinder arrangement and the cavity of the vacuum pressure - generating device . the connections are configured such that neither can air get into the system from the outside nor can air flow out when excess pressure prevails ; thus , the connection points are air - tight . as fig6 shows in particular , a miniature switch 18 is integrated in the passage 16 of the right end cover 7 at the bottom side , whose switch pin 19 protrudes into the passage . as soon as the connector 63 of the vacuum pressure - generating device is inserted in the passage and the housing cover is closed , the switch pin 19 of the miniature switch 18 is pressed downward and the miniature switch 18 allows current to flow . terminals for hooking up a charger can be built into the passages 97 , 98 of the right end cover 7 . at the front side of the bottom piece 9 of the housing there is a surface 113 provided for the board with the operating and monitoring elements ( fig1 ). the board 57 secured to the housing is designed as an independent component , which is glued , for example , onto the surface 113 of the bottom piece 9 . this board 57 is connected by lines to other electronic components arranged in the housing , and to the power supply . the board contains in particular switches for the operation and diodes for the monitoring . the activating button 88 for mechanical triggering of the cocked tension slide protrudes through a recess 65 in the bottom piece of the housing and the board . when configuring the operating and monitoring elements consideration was given to the difference between the cocking sequence of the tension slide and the triggering of the tension slide , on the one hand , and the performance of the biopsy , such as the cutting out of the sample , as well as the removal of the sample with the ejection of the sample , on the other hand . accordingly , the activating button 88 ( trigger ) for the tension slide has been placed at the right and the cocking button 90 for cocking the tension slide is at left . the program button 89 for performing the biopsy is in the middle . it is necessary to press the program button for three functions . the first function , start or reset , is indicated by the reset diode 91 , while the sample removal diode 92 arranged underneath indicates the opening and closing of the sample removal chamber when removing the sample . the lowermost eject diode 93 indicates the ejection of the removed sample . the cocking diode 94 indicates the cocking of the tension slide ; the locking diode 95 indicates the locking of the tension slide . the battery charge diode 96 indicates the charge condition of the battery or storage battery . the diodes are switched so that the diode blinks while performing the particular sequence and after completion of the sequence the diode remains lit . when there are two possible choices , both diodes are lit . the operator is then free to make a choice . the mode of operation and possibility of control shall be examined more closely in detail when describing the sequence . symbols ( icons ) at the margin symbolize the individual processes . to improve the operating safety it may be advisable to outfit individual automated sequences with delay circuit . in particular , it has been found that the processes of “ cocking of the tension slide ” by pressing the cocking button 90 and “ ejection of sample ” by pressing the program button 89 are provided with delay circuits of around 1 . 2 - 1 . 5 seconds to improve the operating safety . furthermore , the operating safety is improved when the light - emitting diodes indicating the individual processes have different colors for processes outside and processes inside the tissue . a perspective representation of the base block 8 ( looking from the front in the direction of the x - axis ) is shown by fig8 a ; the base block 8 is shown from the rear in the x - axis by fig8 b ( both of them perspective views ). the base block 8 can be divided into two halves , looking in the lengthwise direction ; the front part serves to secure the joint actuation for the cutting sheath and tension slide , and also in its upper part to mount the biopsy needle carrier ( fig8 a ); the rear part serves to secure the actuation for the vacuum pressure - generating device and to mount one side of the vacuum pressure - generating device ( fig8 b ). between the two actuating motors 21 , 58 , beneath the center rib 87 , is arranged a central electronic board . the base block 8 has in its left front part a u - shaped space 24 , in which is installed a toothed roller 23 , driven by the gear motor 21 . for this , the take - off shaft of the gear motor is mounted or inserted in an opening in the wall 25 of the base block 8 . the toothed roller 23 is mounted on the take - off shaft and secured to it , for example , by means of a screw , so that it cannot turn or shift . at the other end , the toothed roller 23 is mounted in the wall 22 of the base block 8 . the actuating motor used is a dc motor with a speed of around 11000 rpm . the dc motor is connected to a planet gear with high reduction ratio , on whose take - off shaft the toothed roller 23 is mounted . an additional block 26 is molded on the wall 22 , pointing to the right , which accommodates both the swiveling double lever 33 for the locking process and also serves to fasten the bolt 30 for guiding the tension slide 28 . the bolt 30 is screwed into the threaded borehole 29 . during the cocking process , the tension slide 28 moves to the right on the bolt 30 and the separating plate 114 is arranged underneath . the spiral spring 31 arranged on the threaded bolt 30 is compressed during the cocking process . at one end , the spiral spring thrusts against an end piece 32 of the threaded bolt or directly against the end cover 7 of the housing ; the other end of the spiral spring thrusts against the end of the guide borehole 115 of the tension slide . the tension slide 28 moves on the threaded bolt and the separating plate 114 and is thus prevented from twisting . one arm 99 of the double - arm lever 33 of the locking device engages with a groove 27 of the tension slide 28 ( fig9 a and 10 a ). the locking device , integrated in the block 26 of the base block 8 , consists of the double - arm lever 33 , which can swivel about an upright axis 35 ( looking in the y - axis ) by means of a compression spring 34 . the axis 35 , an upright pin , is secured in the boreholes 38 of the base block . in the uncocked condition , the part 99 of the double - arm lever lies in the groove 27 of the tension slide ; the compressed spring 34 acts on the part 100 of the lever to press the locking button 88 outward ( forward ). as soon as the part 99 of the double - arm lever can engage in the recess 82 of the tension slide , the activating button 88 is pressed outward . the tension slide is locked by the locking of the lever part 99 in the cocked condition and can now be triggered when necessary with the activating button 88 . since the tension slide is advisedly made of plastic , it has proven advisable to employ a metal part 83 in the recess , so as not to damage the plastic , since the double - arm lever is made of metal . unlike the removable element 20 , the hand piece 1 with replaced insertion element can be used repeatedly . the cocking distance corresponds to the depth of penetration of the biopsy needle into the tissue . hence , the length of the lever 99 likewise corresponds to the cocking distance . since the depth of penetration is generally between 15 and 25 mm , the same hand piece 1 can be used for different depth of penetration by appropriately configuring the length of the lever 99 and changing the setpoints of the control system . the tension slide 28 , which adjoins the block 26 , is arranged at equal height and is roughly equal in cross section . on its top side , the tension slide has two brackets 40 . the upward pointing surface 41 of the tension slide , as well as the upward pointing surface 44 of the block 26 , and the upward pointing surface of the extension 42 of the basic block 8 , together form a planar bearing surface for the lower sliding surface 43 of the biopsy needle carrier 37 mounted thereon . the biopsy needle carrier is made of plastic . as the tension slide is moved from the starting uncocked condition ( fig9 a ) to the cocked condition ( fig1 a ), i . e ., to the right , the biopsy needle carrier 37 held by the brackets 40 slides across the surface 42 and 44 . it is also conceivable that the sliding surfaces are configured not planar , as in the sample embodiment , but instead have specially configured sliding surfaces ; the important thing is that the biopsy needle carrier 37 can slide easily and straight on the sliding surface and the biopsy needle can penetrate straight into the tissue , or tumor , after triggering the activation button 88 . therefore , the upper outer contour of the biopsy needle carrier is also configured correspondingly to the inner contour of the housing cover and has only slight play relative to the housing cover in order to prevent the biopsy needle from deviating upward . above the u - shaped space 24 for the toothed roller 23 , at the height of the sliding surface 42 , the basic block 8 has a u - shaped upwardly open holder 36 , for inserting the biopsy needle / cutting sheath among other things . this holder serves primarily as a radial thrust bearing , i . e ., as a prop for the actuating part connected to the cutting sheath , the gear 74 , or the plastic disk 78 , in order to bring the tension slide into its cocked position by means of the actuating device 106 , as shall be described afterwards . in the upper rear part of the base block there is provided another u - shaped insert element 62 , in which the free end 61 of the threaded spindle of the vacuum pressure - generating device 5 is inserted . in the middle , top , of the base block 8 is the recess 45 , into which the dog 12 of the locking latch 11 of the housing cover is forced . a cover 46 arranged on the base block 8 , pointing to the left , separates the space of the actuating motors and the board from the upper left part of the housing interior , which is used primarily to keep the exchangeable biopsy needle carrier 37 , including biopsy needle and cutting sheath . the cover 46 protects the electric gear motors and the board against dirt . the board for the electronics lies between the actuating motors and underneath the middle rib . fig2 shows the biopsy needle carrier 37 , which can be inserted into the brackets 40 of the tension slide 28 with biopsy needle 2 and cutting sheath 3 , as well as other parts . the hollow , round circular biopsy needle 2 has a needle tip 70 , which adjoins the sample removal chamber 71 ( fig1 a - 11 e ). the biopsy needle 2 , which is round in cross section , is surrounded by a coaxially arranged cutting sheath 3 , round in cross section , having a cutting edge 72 at its left end , facing the sample removal chamber , which serves to cut out the tissue sample after the biopsy needle is introduced ( with sample removal chamber closed ) and after the sample removal chamber is opened and the sample is sucked into the sample removal chamber . the cutting edge preferably stands perpendicular to the lengthwise axis of biopsy needle and cutting sheath . the cutting process occurs by rotation and simultaneous lengthwise displacement of the cutting sheath by means of the threaded spindle drive . it is also conceivable that the motion occurs not continuously , but stepwise or vibrating , i . e ., the feed process moves back and forth with short intervals . at the other , proximal end of the cutting sheath , away from the cutting edge 72 , there is fastened a threaded spindle casing 73 with a gear 74 arranged at the end face of the threaded spindle casing . the threaded spindle casing with gear is arranged on the cutting sheath and prevented from turning and shifting . the threaded spindle cooperates with a threaded spindle nut 75 , which is firmly press - fitted in the biopsy needle carrier 37 . the gear 74 lies to the left , i . e ., before the spindle casing begins . when the threaded spindle casing is turned by means of the gear 74 , the cutting sheath is rotated and shifted in lengthwise direction along the biopsy needle 2 . the gear 74 at the left end of the threaded spindle engages with the toothed roller 23 after the biopsy needle carrier is inserted in the brackets 40 . so as to allow for inserting the biopsy needle carrier 37 into the brackets of the tension slide when the slide is not cocked ( fig2 ), the biopsy needle carrier has two plane parallel recesses 77 . when the sliding surface of the biopsy needle carrier 37 is placed on the surfaces 41 , 42 and 44 , at the same time the cutting sheath is inserted in the holder 36 of the base block 8 . to improve the turning of the spindle drive , especially when the holder 36 is used to support the cocking of the tension slide , a plastic disk 78 can be inserted at the left side of the gear , being provided with a slight cone . when the biopsy needle carrier is correctly inserted , it slides to the right by the sliding surface 43 over the surfaces 42 and 41 when the tension slide is cocked . since the specimen removal chamber is only closed after inserting the biopsy needle carrier , the gear 74 bears against the holder 36 . now , if the toothed roller 23 is driven further in the same direction , the threaded spindle drive will screw the tension slide to the right along the biopsy needle carrier , until it locks ; the biopsy needle will be pulled inward , while the cutting sheath remains in its position . after the locking , the cutting sheath protrudes beyond the tip of the biopsy needle . therefore , after the locking of the tension slide , the cutting sheath is rotated back to the starting position ( opposite direction of rotation ); the gear 74 will move from left to right in the toothed roller . after releasing of the tension slide , the biopsy needle / cutting sheath with gear slides back to the left with the biopsy needle carrier . now , the cutting sheath can again be moved to the right in order to open the sample removal chamber . the right end of the cutting sheath is connected to the hollow biopsy needle by a seal element 76 , able to move in rotation , but air - tight , so that neither air can get in between biopsy needle and the cutting sheath coaxially surrounding it , nor can air escape during excess pressure . on the right end of the biopsy needle 2 is mounted air - tight a round , likewise hollow plastic part 47 , being frictionally joined to the biopsy needle . the plastic part 47 has a bearing element 49 at its left end , which is press - fitted into the biopsy needle carrier ; at its right end , protruding from the hand piece 1 , there is inserted another plastic part 112 , which can turn relative to the plastic part 47 and the biopsy needle 2 . between biopsy needle and plastic part 112 there is inserted an o - ring seal . the plastic part has a plug 17 at its right end , onto which the connection element 4 is placed air - tight . there is also a knurled disk 80 on the right part , protruding from the biopsy needle carrier and the housing , by which , when rotated , the position of the sample removal chamber can be adjusted radially , without altering the position of the cutting sheath . one rotation of the biopsy needle involves only one rotation of the sample removal chamber and , thus , the sample removal device . the plastic part 47 with biopsy needle and cutting sheath is press - fitted into the biopsy needle carrier with the bearing element 49 and the threaded spindle nut 75 . the biopsy needle can rotate in the biopsy needle carrier and is mounted in the cutting sheath by the bearing element 49 and its narrow guide in the cutting sheath , and it can shift in the lengthwise axis with the biopsy needle carrier . as described above , the cutting sheath is axially movable by rotation relative to the biopsy needle . to the right of the bearing element 49 a polygon 50 is arranged on the plastic part , which can lock with the biopsy needle carrier by tension , so that the sample removal chamber of the biopsy needle can be brought into the most favorable position for the biopsy removal and held there by means of the knurled disk 80 . details of the sample removal chamber and the tip of the biopsy needle are represented in fig1 a - 11 e . the sample removal chamber 71 adjoining the needle tip 70 is open from above for approximately 25 % of its cross section . the cutting edges can be ground or sharpened . the sample removal chamber is between approximately 15 and 25 mm in length . it adjoins the cavity of the biopsy needle . at the transition , i . e ., the right end of the sample removal chamber , the cross section of the cavity of the biopsy needle is closed between approximately 50 % and 75 % by a narrowing , e . g ., a stopper 79 ( fig1 b - 11 e ). the height of the stopper is chosen such that it extends downward past the recess of the sample removal chamber . in this way , the vacuum will especially draw in the tissue sample through the continuous opening of the sample removal chamber and bring the tissue sample up against the wall of the sample removal chamber . when there is excess pressure in the cavity of the biopsy needle , the narrowing or stopper has a pressure boosting effect . the stopper has roughly the length of 10 mm and is glued or welded into the cavity . when using laser welding , it has proven to be advantageous to make the left side of the stopper thin for a short length , around 2 mm , by removing material at the end surface . as a result , in this region at the end surface the tube of the biopsy needle is welded to the end surface of the stopper and is air - tight at the end surface . the stopper can also be of shorter length , as long as the same effect is achieved . thus , the stopper can also be replaced by a lip or dog of approximately the same height . the important thing is that the narrowing is configured such that the vacuum is brought to bear primarily from the bottom in the sample removal chamber , so that the sample clings to the wall of the sample removal chamber during the cutting process and does not change in length . it has also proven to be advantageous to provide additional fixation means on the sample removal wall . the suctioning of the sample from the bottom into the sample removal chamber produces , first , a high fill ratio of the sample removal chamber and , second , especially thanks to its configuration , a good fixation of the sample on the wall . since the cutting sheath separates the sample at the outside of the biopsy needle , this firm suctioning of the sample into the interior is also preserved during the separation process . furthermore , thanks to the cutting sheath arranged on the outside , thanks to the vacuum applied , no tissue is suctioned into the hollow cutting sheath and thus the tissue cannot get twisted or turned by the rotating lengthwise movement of the cutting sheath , as it is held fast in the interior of the cutting sheath . this improves the quality of the sample , since the pathologist obtains original material corresponding to the cross section of the cut and not being twisted or deformed . when the sample is ejected under pressure , a complete cleaning of the sample removal chamber occurs in addition through the stopper 79 , so that no comingling occurs when used repeatedly . since the vacuum generating device is used at the same time as a pressure generating device , the entire cavity is cleaned , especially that of the needle . fig1 shows the drive and the installation of the vacuum pressure - generating device 5 ( view from the rear , i . e ., opposite the z - axis , housing cover and lower housing piece left out ). in the upper , rear , right region , the vacuum pressure - generating device 5 is arranged as a piston / cylinder unit 69 . it consists of a syringe body 52 with threaded spindle 53 arranged inside , at whose end facing the syringe bottom 51 there is fastened a plunger 54 with seal elements — as is commonly known with syringes ( fig1 a - 14 d ). at the end of the syringe body 52 facing the base block 8 , a threaded spindle nut 48 is arranged on the threaded spindle with a gear 55 formed at the circumference . the threaded spindle nut has one or more thread turns . the threaded spindle 53 interacts with the threaded spindle nut 48 . the spindle has a pitch of around 5 mm per turn , so that at each rotation the plunger is moved out from the syringe body by a precisely defined amount , i . e ., away from the syringe bottom 51 , or toward the syringe bottom , depending on the direction of turning . the toothed crown 55 arranged on the circumference of the threaded spindle nut meshes with the drive pinion 56 , which is fastened on the take - off shaft of the dc gear motor 58 . the take - off shaft of the dc gear motor 58 is mounted in the base block 8 ; for this , the take - off shaft is inserted into the transverse plate 59 of the base block . when the dc gear motor 58 is activated , the plunger is moved toward the syringe bottom or in the direction of the base block 8 , depending on the direction of turning . the drive motor used is likewise a dc motor with high speed , connected to a planet transmission with high reduction ratio . it corresponds to the motor already described for the cocking mechanism . the plunger 54 is configured in familiar fashion as a syringe plunger . the syringe body made from plastic , being a cylinder with a bottom , is transparent . in order to prevent a twisting of the threaded spindle 53 upon actuation of the threaded spindle nut , the two opposite surfaces 60 of the threaded spindle are planer in configuration ( fig1 d ). the threaded spindle is inserted into the insert element by its free end . the spacing between the surfaces of the threaded spindle corresponds to the width of the u - shaped insert element 62 of the base block 8 . there is only slight play between the u - shaped cross section of the insert element and the spindle surfaces at either end . the threaded spindle nut thrusts against the base block . in order to prevent the syringe body 52 from sliding out upon turning of the threaded spindle nut , the bearing surface at the base block 8 is slightly conical toward the bottom . the connection piece 63 of the syringe body 52 is inserted into the passage 16 of the right end cover 7 so that the syringe body is held in roughly horizontal position . in order to make the threaded spindle easy to turn , the threaded spindle nut with toothed crown has a chamfer 66 around 1 . 5 mm in thickness at the side facing the base block . since , furthermore , the surface of the rib 59 on the base block 8 , which interacts with the chamfer 66 of the threaded spindle nut 48 , is inclined from top to bottom , the vacuum pressure - generating device is pulled downward during operation . to create a sufficient vacuum of around 200 hph in the sample removal chamber , for example , when using a biopsy needle with length of around 250 mm and an internal diameter of the hollow biopsy needle of around 5 mm , one uses a syringe body for 20 ml with a length of around 90 mm . in order to be able to use the syringe body also as a pressure generator , a ventilation opening 67 of around 1 . 5 mm diameter , for example , is provided after around ¾ of its length , corresponding to the stroke for producing the vacuum ( position per fig1 b ). if the syringe plunger is moved beyond the ventilation opening 67 ( fig1 c )— when the vacuum is no longer required — intake of air ( atmospheric pressure ) through the ventilation opening 67 will dissipate the previously established vacuum in the hollow biopsy needle . if , then , the direction of turning of the gear motor is reversed , the vacuum pressure - generating device will build up an excess pressure in the system by retraction of the plunger ( toward the bottom of the syringe ), which brings about the ejection of the tissue sample after opening the sample removal chamber . moreover , the pressurized air will clean not only the sample removal chamber , but also in particular the inside of the biopsy needle . the stopper narrowing the cavity of the needle will make it difficult or entirely prevent tissue parts from getting into the cavity of the biopsy needle . the narrowing of the needle cavity by the stopper 79 will increase the pressure at the sample removal chamber and thereby improve the ejection of the sample , even when the sample removal chamber is half open . the handling of the biopsy mechanism shall now be explained more fully . the removable insert element 20 , comprising a vacuum pressure - generating device , elastic connection element , biopsy needle carrier with needle and cutting sheath and additional elements connected to it , also contains a guide roller 81 mounted on the needle . this unit , including an insert aid , comes in a sterile package . the plunger 54 in the syringe body 52 comes slightly ( 1 - 2 mm ) lifted up from the syringe bottom , the sample removal chamber 71 of the biopsy needle 2 is open so that one can make a visual inspection of the chamber prior to inserting . after opening the housing cover 10 , the carrier element 37 , including biopsy needle 2 , cutting mechanism 3 , and other parts connected with it , such as the vacuum pressure - generating device 5 hooked up to the connection element 4 , is inserted into the connection element provided for this ( fig2 ). during the insertion process , one must make sure that the gear 74 engages with the teeth of the toothed roller 23 ; the cutting sheath is inserted from above into the u - shaped holder 36 , and at the same time the brackets 40 of the tension slide are introduced into the recesses 77 of the carrier element ; the guide roller 81 is inserted in the passage 13 , so that the flanks 101 and 102 embrace the left end cover 6 . the cutting sheath is mounted in the guide roller , able to move lengthwise and turn freely ; the guide roller itself , however , can no longer move relative to the cutting sheath after being inserted in the left end cover 6 . the vacuum pressure - generating device is then inserted at one end into the upward - open insert element 62 of the base block 8 by its free end 61 and at the other end into the u - shaped , upward - open passage 16 by the connection piece 63 . the connection piece 63 lies above the switch pin 19 . since the insert element at the base block has a clear width which just allows the inserting of the threaded spindle provided with surfaces 60 at either end , the threaded spindle is held in the insert element , secure from turning . the toothed crown 55 of the threaded spindle nut 48 engages with the take - off pinion 56 of the gear motor after being inserted . the spacing between the base block at one end and the housing end cover 7 at the other is maintained so that syringe body 52 with the threaded spindle nut 48 placed on the syringe body has just enough room . the unit formed by the syringe body and the mounted gear is held in this way so that it cannot shift axially . after being inserted , the vacuum pressure - generating device lies parallel to the biopsy needle carrier ; the connection element describes an arc of around 180 °. it should further be noted that the inserting is done when the tension slide is not cocked ; this means that the gear 74 engages at the right end of the toothed roller with the sample removal chamber open ( fig3 ). after being properly inserted , the housing cover can be closed . to facilitate the inserting process , an insert aid can be used . when the housing cover is closed , the connection piece 63 is forced downward and activates the miniature switch by the switch pin 19 built into the end cover of the housing . this activates the electrical system , which is indicated by blinking of the reset diode 91 on the front side of the hand piece 1 . the reset diode at first blinks green , which means that the positioning of the individual elements , i e ., the inserting process , is not yet finished ; the dc gear motor 21 must first close the sample removal chamber 71 with the cutting sheath 3 ( the sample removal chamber was partly opened during the inserting ). this occurs by twisting the threaded casing connected to the cutting sheath . the cutting sheath moves to the left until the gear 74 comes to bear against the inside of the holder 36 . after closing the sample removal chamber , the plastic disk 78 bears against the holder 36 ( inside ). during this process , or before or after it , the dc gear motor 58 brings the syringe plunger 54 to bear against the syringe bottom 51 . after the starting positions are reached for the vacuum pressure - generating device and the biopsy needle / cutting sheath , the cocking diode 94 and the sample removal diode 92 light up green , and the reset diode goes out . the operator must now decide whether to initiate the cocking of the tension slide or to remove an additional sample , e . g ., because he has already previously removed one tissue sample . if the operator presses the cocking button 90 , the cocking of the tension slide is initiated ; the cocking diode blinks green , the sample removal diode 92 goes out . by pressing the cocking button , the electrical dc gear motor 21 receives current and the dc gear motor actuates the toothed roller 23 . the gear 74 meshing with the toothed roller 23 turns the spindle shaft and at the same time the cutting sheath 3 connected to it . since the spindle nut 75 is press - fitted in the biopsy needle carrier 37 and the gear 74 is supported by the plastic disk 78 against the holder 36 , which is firmly connected to the housing by the base block 8 , the turning of the threaded spindle casing 73 has the effect of moving the biopsy needle carrier to the right . at the same time , the biopsy needle 2 connected to the biopsy needle carrier by the bearing element 49 is carried along , resulting in the tip of the biopsy needle moving into the cutting sheath . the biopsy needle carrier 37 is moved to the right by the recess / bracket connection of the tension slide against the action of the spiral spring 31 until the lever 33 of the locking element is forced into the recess 82 of the tension slide by the spring 34 . the tension slide is locked in this position . the gear motor receives the control command that the locking position has been reached , e . g ., via a photocell installed in the sliding surface of the cover plate , which interacts with the retracted biopsy needle carrier ; the direction of turning of the motor is reversed and the cutting sheath is turned back to the right by the amount that the cutting sheath had moved beyond the tip of the biopsy needle by the movement of the tension slide and the biopsy needle . at the end of this step , the cutting sheath completely closes the sample removal chamber ( fig1 d ), as at the start of the cocking process . the locking diode 95 lights up green ; the blinking of the cocking diode 94 goes out . so as to reduce the friction between gear and support element during the cocking process , the plastic disk 78 is arranged between gear 74 and holder 36 . now , the biopsy needle of the biopsy mechanism is inserted , for example , in a previously mounted coaxial cannula . the proximal end of the mounted coaxial cannula receives a seal , designed so that it seals off the space between cutting sheath and cannula , on the one hand , and allows an easy insertion of the biopsy needle with cutting sheath , on the other . the seal ring prevents air from the outside getting sucked in through the space between cannula and cutting sheath . the seal ring likewise prevents fluid ( cytological material ) from escaping after the biopsy needle is introduced or inserted . thus , the possibility of the disinfected hand piece 1 getting dirty is nearly precluded ; on the other hand , the flank 101 of the sterile guide roller 81 prevents the sterile cannula from getting dirty by reason of the hand piece 1 . the tip of the biopsy needle is brought up in the cannula to the tumor and , after being correctly positioned , thrust into the tumor . the shot is triggered by pressing the activation button 88 . this has the result of swiveling the double - arm lever 33 about the axis 35 to release the tension slide . the tension slide is hurled to the left by spring action . the sample removal diode lights up green , the cocking diode goes out . by operating the program button 89 , the sample removal sequence is enabled ; the sample removal diode 92 blinks green . at first , the dc gear motor 58 will activate the vacuum pressure - generating device . the plunger of the vacuum pressure - generating device is moved in the direction of the base block , i . e ., away from the bottom of the syringe , until it reaches a position just before clearing the ventilation borehole 67 ( fig1 b ). the vacuum is generated in the system . after reaching its end position , the system activates the motor 21 , the cutting sheath which closes the sample removal chamber is opened via the gear / spindle drive . during the opening process , the partial vacuum prevailing in the system sucks in the tissue and any cytological fluid ( cytological material ) into the sample removal chamber . cytological fluid will also flow thanks to the vacuum into the biopsy needle cavity and the vacuum pressure - generating device . it has proven to be advantageous to direct the partial vacuum by the stopper 79 primarily at the lower region , the lower side , of the sample removal chamber , and the stopper 79 will prevent or impede tissue from getting into the biopsy hollow needle . when the sample removal chamber is fully open — the tissue sample is accommodated in the sample removal chamber — the gear motor 21 is reversed and the sample removal chamber is closed . by turning the cutting sheath , the tissue is separated by the cutting edge 72 of the sheath 3 during the closing process . in order to reliably cut through the tissue filaments , it is advantageous to move the cutting sheath 3 beyond the distal end of the sample removal chamber ( around 2 mm ). in order to accomplish this , it is only necessary to program accordingly the microprocessor where the control data is kept . because of the special configuration of the sample removal chamber and thanks to the vacuum applied , the tissue sample is held in the chamber without torsion , so that the tissue sample is not twisted or turned by the rotating and lengthwise moveable cutting sheath 3 which surrounds the biopsy needle on the outside , as described . after the sample removal chamber is closed , the dc gear motor is activated for the vacuum generating unit 5 . the plunger 54 is first retracted far enough to clear the ventilation opening ( fig1 c ). after the vacuum is dissipated in the system , the plunger travels toward the vacuum bottom until the ventilation borehole is again closed , in order to prevent the outflow of bodily fluid ( cytological fluid ). the blinking of the sample removal diode 92 goes out . the ejection diode 93 lights up green . the biopsy needle with closed sample chamber is extracted from the cannula . after the removal of the biopsy unit and providing a vessel to receive the tissue sample and fluid , the program button 89 is again operated and the ejection diode 93 starts to blink . at first , the gear motor 21 of the cutting sheath is operated to open the sample removal chamber roughly halfway . after this , the dc gear motor 58 of the vacuum pressure - generating device is activated . the turning direction of the dc gear motor 58 remains and the threaded spindle 53 with plunger moves in the direction of the syringe bottom , so that now an excess pressure is created in the system . the plunger travels up to the plunger bottom , and the actuating motor 58 is deactivated . the gear motor 21 moves the cutting sheath back across the sample removal chamber after the plunger has reached the plunger bottom . thanks to the excess pressure built up in the system , the sample is forced out under pressure into a waiting laboratory vessel even when the sample removal chamber is halfway open , and at the same time the cavity of the vacuum pressure - generating device , the biopsy needle and the sample removal chamber is cleared of tissue particles and fluid . the ejection of the sample when the sample removal chamber is around halfway open is so that the ejection of the tissue sample is assured and the tissue sample does not fall back into the chamber as a result of premature dissipation of the excess pressure . the narrowing of the cavity of the biopsy needle by the stopper 79 , which prevents or impedes tissue from getting into the cavity of the biopsy needle , proves to be especially advantageous when removing the sample , since the narrower cross section boosts the ejection pressure . the best ejection results were therefore achieved with the sample removal chamber halfway open ; i . e ., the cutting sheath clears half of the sample removal chamber . the excess pressure also forces tissue fluid out of the sample removal chamber and cleans it . after the sample removal chamber is fully open , the removal and cleaning is finished , and the ejection diode goes out . the reset diode 91 lights up green . if no further samples are to be removed now , the housing cover is opened and the removable element 20 is taken out . when the housing cover 10 is opened , the system is deactivated by the miniature switch 18 . however , if an additional sample is to be taken from the same tissue environment , the operator presses the program button 89 and the reset diode 91 starts to blink . the vacuum pressure - generating device , as well as the cutting sheath , are again adjusted as described . at the end of the process , the reset diode 91 goes out and the sample removal diode lights up . the next steps of the process occur in the sequence already described . the process can be repeated as often as desired . at the end , the operator need only decide whether to take another sample or to conclude the sampling and open the housing cover . as already described , in order to enhance the operating safety , a delay circuit can be provided for individual steps such as “ cocking ” and “ ejection of sample ”. furthermore , the light - emitting diodes can have different colors , so that one can distinguish between work in the tissue and that outside the tissue . if it is required to take the sample from a location of the tumor that does not lie directly above or at the sample removal chamber after being inserted , i . e ., it lies to the side , the position of the sample removal chamber 71 can be turned by means of the knurled disk 80 . so that the operator can recognize this radial positioning of the sample removal chamber , a marking in the form of a notch 119 is made on the knurled disk , pointing upward when the opening of the sample removal chamber points upward . the biopsy needle is fixed in the particular position by the surfaces of the polygon 50 and the elastic forces in the carrier piece . the sampling process is the same as already described . after completion of the biopsy , the interchangeable element 20 ( vacuum / pressure device , biopsy needle / cutting device with all elements arranged on it ) is removed from the top after releasing the cover . to make it impossible to open the housing when the tension slide is cocked , a safety tab 84 is arranged on the biopsy needle carrier , which bears against the left end surface 85 of the closure mechanism in the cocked condition . in this way , the closure mechanism , moveable in the x - axis , can no longer be moved to the left into the open position and thus the dog 12 can no longer be taken out from the recess 45 . on the other hand , the housing cover also cannot be closed if the carrier unit has been inserted in the cocked condition , since the safety tab prevents the latch from being introduced into its designated space . the surface 85 of the latch adjoins the safety tab . the battery charge diode 96 is turned off as soon as the housing cover is opened . when the cover is closed and the insert element 20 is installed , the battery charge diode indicates whether sufficient energy is available . basically , it is conceivable to control all steps individually by hand for the removal of a sample , as well as the cocking of the slide , etc ., by activating and deactivating the two gear motors . however , it is expedient to group together the individual steps of the sequence and have them run automatically , with only the following step initiated by activating a switch . this semiautomatic method , as described above , has proven to be especially advantageous . basically , there are two conceivable methods for detecting the actual values and comparing them to the nominal values . one method is based on measuring the lengthwise displacement of the threaded spindle as it is pulled out or pushed in , and measuring the axial displacement of the cutting sheath or the biopsy needle carrier . in order to detect these changes , photocells or miniature switches are arranged inside the housing , in particular on the extension of the base block 8 . in addition , a positioning finger 103 is mounted on the cutting sheath , while the free end 61 protruding from the plunger unit can be used as a measuring point for the threaded spindle of the vacuum pressure - generating device ; if the front edge of the biopsy needle carrier is used as a measuring point with a photocell , no additional positioning finger is required . the embedded photocells are covered with suitable transparent material in case of possible contamination . the positioning finger 103 engages with a slot in the biopsy needle holder . at appropriate places on the extension of the base block 8 there are provided recesses 107 , in which photocells or miniature switches are installed , which interact either with the free end 61 of the plunger spindle , the positioning finger 103 , or an edge of the biopsy needle carrier ( see fig1 ). these signals ( actual value ) are processed in the electronics to form the control signals . the other system is based on measuring the number of revolutions of the dc motors . in this case , a pickup is mounted on the shaft of the dc motor , which interacts with a photocell mounted on the housing of the dc motor . in this way , the number of revolutions of the motor is measured . since the dc motors operate with a speed of around 10 , 000 to 12 , 000 rpm , depending on the load , and on the other hand the secondary planet transmission arranged at the take - off end which interacts with the spindle drive considerably reduces the number of revolutions , an exact lengthwise control is possible . the lengthwise displacement by the spindle drive is a constant value proportional to the operating speed and is therefore sufficient as a control signal for the lengthwise displacement . in order to precisely determine the position of the cutting sheath 3 as well as the plunger 54 at the start , i . e ., after inserting the removable element and closing the housing cover 10 , the dc gear motor 58 rotates the plunger 54 until it strikes against the syringe bottom and the dc gear motor 21 brings the drive of the cutting sheath to a zero position by moving the gear 74 until it strikes against the threaded spindle nut 75 . ( the threaded spindle nut 75 abuts against the gear 74 .) from this zero position , the individual steps are then controlled by comparing the settings and the actual values . the necessary cables from the measuring pickup to the electronics are accommodated in the housing , as is the board with the electronic components . a microprocessor arranged inside the housing , under the cover , with the setpoint values stored in it , controls the individual processes . in order to enable easy insertion of the removable insert unit , the insert aid shown in fig1 and 17 can be used . as fig1 and 17 show in particular , the biopsy needle carrier is enclosed by two brackets 108 and axially fixed in the holder by an additional cross piece 109 , so that it comes to lie parallel to the vacuum / pressure device in the insert aid . the vacuum pressure - generating device is likewise enclosed by the bracket 116 at one side and by the centrally arranged bracket 108 on the other side . in addition , a pin 110 engages with the ventilation borehole 67 . this ensures that the vacuum pressure - generating device is oriented parallel to the biopsy needle carrier ( fig1 ). the parts so oriented are fixed in the insert aid so that they can easily be inserted from above into the hand piece 1 by means of the holder piece 117 . since the parts come in a sterile package with the insert aid , the interchangeable element 20 can be removed from the package without manual contact and be inserted in a sterile manner into the hand piece 1 . the brackets are slightly slanted for easier lodging of the vacuum pressure - generating device and the biopsy needle carrier . since the insert aid is made of plastic , the installed parts can easily be held in place by clamping , thanks to appropriate choice of the tolerance and flexibility . the tip of the needle unit of the biopsy device can be placed directly on the tissue being sampled and inserted into the tissue . it can be expedient , however , to first position a coaxial cannula and then introduce the portion of the needle unit ( consisting of biopsy needle and cutting sheath ) protruding from the hand piece 1 of the biopsy device into the coaxial cannula 125 . in this case , one should make sure that , when the vacuum is created for sucking in the tissue sample , no air can get in from the outside into the space between the inner surface of the coaxial cannula and the outer surface of the needle unit . in the coaxial cannula ( fig1 ) consisting of a tube 121 with cap 122 placed at the proximal end , the tube 121 at the proximal end has a seal element 123 ( e . g ., a properly dimensioned silicone hose ), into which the needle unit is placed . in order to insert the coaxial cannula , a spike 124 is connected to the coaxial cannula 125 . the spike 124 has a tip 126 protruding beyond the distal end of the coaxial cannula in the inserting state . the connection between coaxial cannula and spike is a screw fastening , for example , so that the spike cap is configured as a screw cap 127 . the screw cap is screwed onto the proximal end of the cap 122 . the tube of the coaxial cannula is held in the cap 122 by clamping , for example . after inserting the coaxial cannula , the spike is removed and the needle unit of the biopsy device ( in the cocked condition ) is introduced and positioned in the coaxial cannula ( fig2 ). the distal flank 101 of the guide roller is placed on the proximal end surface 128 of the cap . after the tension slide is released , the needle tip with the sample removal chamber is forced into the tissue to its full length . the depth of penetration of the biopsy needle unit of the biopsy device is between 20 and 35 mm , depending on the selected size of needle . in general , it is 20 mm . in the case of small breasts or tumors lying just below the skin , the depth of penetration of the biopsy needle is therefore too deep , since the biopsy device is placed directly or by means of the guide roller onto the coaxial cannula and the depth of penetration cannot be changed at the device . the depth of penetration is device - fixed . in order to be able to use the same biopsy device with the same biopsy needle and same depth of insertion and the same , i . e ., uniform coaxial cannula with same overall length and less depth of insertion , one or more spacing pieces 129 are placed medially onto the biopsy needle prior to insertion ; thus , these lie medially in front of the guide roller mounted in the housing and the proximal end surface 128 of the cap 122 . thus , by introducing spacing pieces or a spacing piece , the depth of penetration can be changed for the same depth of insertion provided in the device . after inserting the spacing piece , the tip of the biopsy needle in the cocked condition no longer projects slightly from the coaxial cannula , as when no spacing piece is used , but rather lies in the coaxial cannula . the depth of penetration is thus reduced by the length l of the spacing piece ( also see fig2 and 21 ). this does not impair the functioning of the sample removal chamber or the operation of the cutting sheath . for example , if a spacing piece of 10 mm is used with a depth of needle penetration of 20 mm , the depth of penetration will be reduced to 10 mm . of course , the spacing piece can be made up of one or more parts , i . e ., when using spacing pieces of 5 mm thickness , two spacing pieces are necessary to reduce the depth of penetration by 10 mm . the adding of spacing pieces or one spacing piece of corresponding length offers the possibility of using a uniform coaxial cannula including a uniformly added insertion spike 124 for various depths of penetration . the same result regarding a reduced depth of penetration could also be achieved by using caps of different height or by mounting the spacing pieces on the cap , which is equivalent to the threaded - on spacing pieces .	0
a grass cutting device according to the invention is a self - contained unit having a chassis formed from aluminium sheet folded to form a base plate 1 and two upstanding , generally trapezoidal side plates 3 . a protective cowling 4 of plastics fits over the chassis and is secured , together with a top - mounted carrying handle 5 , on two upstanding threaded bolts 6 by nuts 7 . the bolts 6 are fixedly secured at their lower ends to the base plate 1 by fixing nuts 7 . the device stands on a pair of drive wheels 8 and a rear castor 9 . the drive wheels 8 are individually driven by electric motors 10 , which are bolted to the internal faces of the side walls 3 . the castor 9 is not powered . power for the electric motors 10 is provided by a 12 v electric battery pack 11 which is supported above the motors 10 on a support plate 12 , the forward edge of which is formed into an upstanding flange 13 to prevent forward dislodgement of the battery pack 11 . the battery pack 11 is connected to the motors 10 via a bank of proprietary timer relays 14 which control the motion of the device in a manner described in detail below . in a production embodiment , it is envisaged that the bank of relays 14 and associated electronic components would be replaced by a printed circuit board , e . g . utilising ne555 timer chips . the printed circuit board may also provide for under - voltage protection , e . g . automatically switching the power off if the battery voltage falls to , say , 11 . 7 v . this would prevent over - discharge of the battery 11 , as well as ensuring reliable operation of the timer circuits and sufficient power to the motors 10 to enable the device to penetrate dense grass while cutting . an on / off switch 15 is fitted to the underside of the base plate 1 at the rear of the device . also supported on the base plate 1 is a cutter mechanism comprising a support plate 20 , the ends of which are folded to form downwardly - depending arms 21 which pass through slots in the base plate 1 . the rear edge of the support plate 20 is folded upwardly and then horizontally to form a cutter mechanism top plate 26 . the threaded bolts 6 pass through apertures in both the support plate 20 and the top plate 26 . the height of the cutter mechanism is adjusted by means of adjusting nuts 27 mounted on the threaded bolts 6 above the top plate 26 . the top plate 26 ( and hence the whole cutter mechanism ) is urged upwards by compression springs 28 mounted on fixed nuts 29 on the threaded bolts 6 . the cutter mechanism can be lowered by the adjusting nuts 27 against the action of the springs 28 . a cutter mechanism support plate 22 is bolted to the lower ends of the arms 21 and supports two reciprocating bar cutters 23 mounted side - by - side . each cutter 23 comprises a fixed lower blade with forwardly protruding fingers , the lateral edges of which form cutting surfaces , and an upper blade having correspondingly formed fingers and moveable relative to the fixed blade in a cutting action . the upper blades are driven by respective eccentrically - mounted drive shaft 25 which extend upwards through apertures in the base plate 1 , the support plate 20 and the top plate 26 . gear wheels 30 are mounted on the upper ends of the drive shafts 25 and mesh with a central gear 31 mounted on the upper end of cutter drive shaft 32 , which is driven by a cutter drive motor 33 bolted to the underside of the top plate 26 . the cutter drive motor 33 is supplied by the battery pack 11 via the bank of timer relays 14 . at the front of the device , an obstacle detector is provided . this comprises a bar 40 , which is pivotally mounted on a shaft 41 passing through corresponding apertures in the side walls 3 . the bar 40 is biased forwardly by a compression spring 42 which acts between the inward edge of the bar 40 and an upstanding bracket 43 bolted to the base plate 1 . the inward edge of the bar 40 also bears against the pivoting arm of a first microswitch 44 which is bolted to the base plate 1 and connected to the timer relays 14 . the front of the bar 40 is bolted to a buffer 45 which extends across the whole of the front of the device . if , during forward movement of the device , an obstacle is encountered , the buffer 45 is pressed backwards ( relative to the movement of the device ) against the action of the spring 42 and the inward edge of the bar 40 actuates the first microswitch 44 . this has the effect of causing the direction of rotation of the drive wheels 8 to be reversed for a predetermined period . first one and then both drive wheels 8 then automatically return to forward drive . the effect of switching the drive wheels 8 from reverse to forward one after the other , rather than simultaneously , is to cause the device to turn . in another embodiment , the lower edge of the buffer 45 is radiused to reduce the likelihood of the buffer 45 becoming caught on irregularly shaped obstacles such as the surface of a rough stone wall . also mounted on the shaft 41 , below the front of the base plate 1 , is a long - grass detector bar 50 . this is connected to the shaft 41 by brackets 52 . one of the brackets 52 is provided with a pin 53 which protrudes inwardly through a suitably - formed slot in one of the side walls 3 and bears against the pivoting arm of a second microswitch 55 which is bolted to the internal face of the side wall 3 . the lower edge of the long - grass detector bar 50 lies lower than the lower edge of the buffer bar 45 and is therefore the first part of the device to encounter long grass during forward movement or the device . the resistive force exerted by long grass is sufficient to cause the long - grass detector bar 50 to pivot backwards , actuating the second microswitch 55 . the second microswitch 55 is connected to the time relays 143 and acts to switch on the cutter drive motor 33 . when the long grass detector bar 50 returns to the vertical , indicating that the grass below it is short , the cutter drive motor 33 remains switched on for a predetermined period to permit cutting of grass between the cutters 23 and the long grass detector bar 50 . movement of the device over the edge of a lawn is prevented by an edge detector mechanism comprising pivoting arms 61 mounted at each side of the device between the side plates 3 and the drive wheels 8 . the forward end of each pivoting arm 61 carries an edge detector wheel 62 , and the rear end carries an inwardly extending pin 63 . the pin 63 extends inwardly through a suitably formed slot 64 in the side plate 3 , and bears against the pivoting arm of a third microswitch 65 . in the event that the device approaches the edge of the lawn edge detector wheel 62 will drop over the edge , causing the third microswitch 65 to be actuated . the third microswitches 65 are connected to the bank of relay timers 14 such that actuation of one or other of the third microswitches 65 causes the device to reverse and turn . the initiation of reversing motion is , however , delayed by the timer relays 14 to permit the device to cut right up to the edge of the lawn . in the embodiment shown , if the device approaches the edge of a lawn at an angle which is nearly parallel to the edge , when the edge is detected and the device attempts to reverse the vertical inner surface of the edge detector wheel 62 may catch on the lawn edge and resist proper turning . to overcome this problem , in an alternative embodiment , the edge detector wheels are conically shaped , with the apex towards the centre of the device . this facilitates return of the wheel to the lawn surface when the device reverses . in order for such wheels to be accommodated , it may be necessary to extend the pivoting arms 61 . in use , the device is placed on the lawn and switched on by means on the on / off switch 15 . the device then moves forward until long grass is detected by the long - grass detector bar 50 , in which case the cutters 23 are actuated , or until an obstacle is encountered by the buffer 45 or an edge by an edge detector wheel 62 . as described above , when an obstacle such as an edge is encountered the device turn is determined by the timer relays 14 and may have one of two values . during a first phase of operation the angle has one value , and during a second phase of operation the angle has a second , each phase lasting , say , thirty minutes . during the first phase the angle of turn may be , say , 160 °, and during the second phase 50 °. this mode of operation reduces any tendency for the device to repeatedly traverse the same path . the device thus travels over the lawn surface in a generally random path , cutting any long grass which it encounters . the effect of the device is to maintain the grass generally short , much in the manner of a grazing animal .	8
the bundle protocol is assumed to be applied to the communication having no real time as premises for the delay , like a communication under a special environment such as an outer space and an ocean essentially . therefore , it is difficult to directly use the bundle protocol for a general application . accordingly , to use the bundle protocol in the communication of the general application , it is considered to use a proxy function communicating based on the bundle protocol . however , when the proxy function is used , even if the data transmission fails on the bundle protocol , the proxy function causes the application to recognize the failure of the data transmission as having succeeded in communication , and hence it is difficult for the user to grasp a communication result . moreover , since a timer expiration time for judging the communication propriety is longer than other protocols in the bundle protocol , it is difficult to use a normal error detection means . fig1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a terminal . a communication device such as a smartphone and a personal computer is referred to as a terminal 1 , for example , but the terminal 1 is not limited to this . the terminal 1 includes a cpu ( central processing unit ) 10 , a rom ( read only memory ) 11 , a ram ( random access memory ) 12 , a storage unit 13 such as a hdd ( hard disk drive ) and a memory , a wireless lan ( local area network ) module 14 , an input unit 15 , and a display unit 16 . the cpu 10 is connected to the rom 11 , the ram 12 , the storage unit 13 , the wireless lan module 14 , the input unit 15 and the display unit 16 via a bus 19 so as to be capable of inputting and outputting signals each other . a program for driving the cpu 10 is stored into the rom 11 . a communication program executing a communication method of the embodiment is included in programs in the rom 11 . the ram 12 functions as a working memory of the cpu 10 . various information that is used for the execution of the program is stored into the storage unit 13 . the wireless lan module 14 communicates with a server on an internet by performing link - up with an ap ( access point ) connected to an access system network , for example . the wireless lan module 14 can perform the link - up with the ap by using a plurality of communication lines . the input unit 15 inputs information to the terminal 1 . a keyboard , a mouse , a touch panel or the like is referred to as the input unit 15 , for example . the input unit 15 outputs input information to the cpu 10 via the bus 19 . the display unit 16 outputs information of the terminal 1 . a display , a touch panel , a printer or the like is referred to as the display unit 16 , for example . the display unit 16 acquires information from the cpu 10 via the bus 19 to display the acquired information . a status and a result of the communication of a client application in the terminal 1 described later are displayed on the display unit 16 . when the cpu 10 reads the program from the rom 11 , various functions for executing the communication method are formed . the cpu 10 is an example of a computer executing the program . here , a functional configuration of the terminal 1 is described later . fig2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a server 2 . the server 2 is a communication device that is connected to the internet , and provides a predetermined service by communicating with the terminal 1 , for example . the server 2 includes a cpu 20 , a rom 21 , a ram 22 , a hdd 23 and a communication port 24 . the cpu 20 is connected to the rom 21 , the ram 22 , the hdd 23 and the communication port 24 via a bus 29 so as to be capable of inputting and outputting signals each other . a program for driving the cpu 20 is stored into the rom 21 . the ram 22 functions as a working memory of the cpu 20 . the communication port 24 is a nic ( network interface card ), for example , and communicates with the terminal 1 via the internet . when the cpu 20 reads the program from the rom 21 , various functions are formed . fig3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of each functional configuration of the terminal 1 and the server 2 . the terminal 1 and the server 2 are connected to each other via a network nw . the terminal 1 includes an application function unit 100 , a proxy protocol function unit 110 , a bundle controlling unit 120 , a condition notification unit 121 , a bundle buffer 122 , and a route table ( route tbl ) 123 . the application function unit 100 includes a client application ( arlc ) 101 and a tcp ( transmission control protocol ) processing unit 102 . the proxy protocol function unit 110 includes a proxy controlling unit 111 , a connection monitoring unit 112 , an address conversion unit 113 , a transmission and reception controlling unit 114 , a response controlling unit 115 , a connection list 116 , an initial setting file 117 , and a filter table ( filter tbl ) 118 . the client application 101 , the tcp processing unit 102 , the proxy controlling unit 111 , the connection monitoring unit 112 , the address conversion unit 113 , the transmission and reception controlling unit 114 , the response controlling unit 115 , the bundle controlling unit 120 and the condition notification unit 121 are functions formed in the cpu 10 of the terminal 1 . then , the connection list 116 , the initial setting file 117 , the filter tbl 118 , the bundle buffer 122 and the route tbl 123 are stored into the storage unit 13 . parts other than the application function unit 100 in the functional configuration of the terminal 1 illustrated in fig3 serve as a communication device and a communication program of the embodiment , and relay communication from the client application 101 to a communication destination . the communication device and the communication program of the embodiment may be provided inside the terminal 1 as illustrated in fig3 , but may be provided in a device other than the terminal 1 . on the other hand , the server 2 includes an application function unit 200 , a proxy protocol function unit 210 , a bundle controlling unit 220 , a condition notification unit 221 , a bundle buffer 222 and a route tbl 223 . the application function unit 200 includes a server application ( arls ) 201 and a tcp ( transmission control protocol ) processing unit 202 . the proxy protocol function unit 210 includes a proxy controlling unit 211 , a connection monitoring unit 212 , an address conversion unit 213 , a transmission and reception controlling unit 214 , a response controlling unit 215 , a connection list 216 , an initial setting file 217 , and a filter tbl 218 . the server application 201 , the tcp processing unit 202 , the proxy controlling unit 211 , the connection monitoring unit 212 , the address conversion unit 213 , the transmission and reception controlling unit 214 , the response controlling unit 215 , the bundle controlling unit 220 and the condition notification unit 221 are functions formed in the cpu 20 of the server 2 . then , the connection list 216 , the initial setting file 217 , the filter tbl 218 , the bundle buffer 222 and the route tbl 223 are stored into the hdd 23 . the server application 201 and the client application 101 cooperate and offer predetermined functions by communicating by the tcp processing units 102 and 202 . a file transfer function , a web browser function and so on are referred to as the functions of the server application 201 and the client application 101 , but the functions of the server application 201 and the client application 101 are not limited to the above - mentioned functions . here , the client application 101 is an example of an application executed in the terminal 1 . each of the tcp processing units 102 and 202 includes a communication function of a tcp / ip ( internet protocol ) that is offered by a driver of an os ( operating system ), for example . the tcp processing unit 102 of the terminal 1 controls the wireless lan module 14 to transmit and receive packets . the tcp processing unit 202 of the server 2 controls the communication port 24 to transmit and receive packets . here , the tcp / ip is an example of a first protocol . the server application 201 and the client application 101 directly perform communication based on the tcp / ip via the network nw . however , in an environment where the communication becomes intermittent , the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 perform communication based on a bundle protocol of dtn ( delay / disruption tolerant networking ) as substitute for communication based on the tcp / ip . the bundle controlling unit 120 switches a communication protocol between the client application 101 and the communication destination from the tcp / ip to the bundle protocol of the dtn in accordance with a connection condition with the communication destination . at this time , the connection monitoring unit 112 monitors the connection condition with the communication destination , and controls the address conversion unit 113 in accordance with the connection condition . thereby , the connection monitoring unit 112 switches the communication protocol of the client application 101 with the communication destination from the tcp / ip to the bundle protocol of the dtn , as an example of a switch processor . therefore , the communication protocol of the client application 101 is switched from the tcp / ip by the tcp processing unit 102 to the bundle protocol by the bundle controlling unit 120 . moreover , the bundle controlling unit 220 switches the communication protocol between the server application 201 and the communication destination from the tcp / ip to the bundle protocol of the dtn in accordance with the connection condition with the communication destination . at this time , the connection monitoring unit 212 monitors the connection condition with the communication destination , and controls the address conversion unit 213 in accordance with the connection condition . thereby , the connection monitoring unit 212 switches the communication protocol of the server application 201 with the communication destination from the tcp / ip to the bundle protocol of the dtn . therefore , the communication protocol of the server application 201 is switched from the tcp / ip by the tcp processing unit 202 to the bundle protocol by the bundle controlling unit 220 . the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 perform the communication based on the bundle protocol according to a rule of rfc5050 , for example . the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 accommodate transmission object data of the client application 101 and the server application 201 into a payload part of a data message called a bundle to transmit the data message . here , the bundle controlling unit 120 is an example of a communication unit that communicates with the communication destination by the bundle protocol . fig4 a illustrates a format of a primary bundle block included in the bundle , and fig4 b illustrates a format of a bundle payload block included in the bundle . the bundle includes the primary bundle block and the bundle payload block . included in the primary bundle block are information on a transmission source and a destination , a life time (“ lifetime ”) indicating a time before the deletion of the bundle and so on . a payload (“ bundle payload ”) accommodating data is included in the bundle payload block . each field in the bundle is defined in the rfc5050 . when each of the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 transmits the bundle , each of the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 acquires a destination ip address on the tcp / ip corresponding to an eid ( endpoint id ) indicating a destination in the bundle protocol , and a tcp port number ( hereinafter referred to as “ a port number ”) with reference to the corresponding route tbl 123 or 223 . when the connection with the destination , i . e ., the connection between the terminal 1 and the server 2 is disconnected , each of the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 stores the bundle into the corresponding bundle buffer 122 or 222 . when the disconnected connection is reconnected , each of the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 reads the bundle from the bundle buffer 122 or 222 to transmit the bundle to the destination . thereby , the communication based on the dtn is performed . in the case of the terminal 1 , the bundle controlling unit 120 transmits and receives the bundle by controlling the wireless lan module 14 . in the case of the server 2 , the bundle controlling unit 220 transmits and receives the bundle by controlling the communication port 24 . fig5 c illustrates an example of the bundle buffers 122 and 222 . the bundle buffers 122 and 222 are storage domains of the bundle . the bundle is stored into the bundle buffer 122 or 222 along with a bundle id identifying the bundle . each of the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 stores the bundle into the corresponding bundle buffer 122 or 222 at the time of not only the transmission but also the reception of the bundle . referring to fig3 again , each of the proxy protocol function units 110 and 210 converts the communication of the client application 101 and the server application 201 from the communication of the tcp to the communication of the bundle protocol . at this time , each of the proxy protocol function units 110 and 210 performs setting and control to the corresponding bundle controlling unit 120 or 220 by a bundle api ( application programing interface ), so that even a general application can use the dtn . hereinafter , a description will be given of the proxy protocol function units 110 and 210 in detail . the address conversion units 113 and 213 convert the destinations of the communication of the client application 101 and the server application 201 into the destinations of the transmission and reception controlling units 114 and 214 , respectively . for example , in the terminal 1 , the address conversion unit 113 converts the destination ip address and the port number of the packet to be transmitted to the server 2 into the destination ip address and the port number of a tcp socket ( hereinafter referred to as “ a socket ”) set in the transmission and reception controlling unit 114 . therefore , the proxy protocol function units 110 and 210 can receive the packet transmitted from the client application 101 and the server application 201 to the communication destination , respectively . for example , when windows is used as the os , the address conversion units 113 and 213 are realized by a wfp ( windows filtering platform ). when linux is used as the os , the address conversion units 113 and 213 are realized by “ iptables ”. each of the transmission and reception controlling units 114 and 214 terminates socket communication of the tcp of the client application 101 and the server application 201 . each of the transmission and reception controlling units 114 and 214 establishes local loop - back connection in the device . the transmission and reception controlling unit 114 monitors connection of the socket from the client application 101 , establishes the socket for the server application 201 in accordance with an instruction from the proxy controlling unit 111 , and transmits data to the instructed socket . the transmission and reception controlling units 114 and 214 divide the packet received from the client application 101 and the server application 201 through the socket into a designated size in accordance with a policy ( an algorithm , a processing policy ) set by a user or an operator , and output divided data to the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 , respectively . a division size is a size of data received from the open of the socket to the close thereof , a received size of the packet , or a predetermined value , for example . the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 accommodate data of the packet received by the transmission and reception controlling units 114 and 214 into the payload of a proxy message , and output the proxy message to the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 by the bundle api , respectively . thereby , the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 request the transmission of the bundle to the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 , respectively . each of the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 manages the proxy message according to a connection number corresponding to the destination . whenever the socket is opened by the transmission and reception controlling units 114 and 214 , the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 register a new connection number into the connection lists 116 and 216 , respectively . fig5 a illustrates an example of the connection lists 116 and 216 . the connection number , a socket channel id and a destination eid are associated with each other and registered into the connection lists 116 and 216 . the socket channel id is an identifier of the socket of the transmission and reception controlling units 114 and 214 . the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 add the connection number corresponding to the socket channel id of the socket in a reception source of the packet to the proxy message , and output the proxy message with the connection number to the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 , respectively . the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 request the transmission of the bundle for the corresponding destination eid to the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 , respectively . therefore , the eid of the server 2 is registered into the destination eid of the connection list 116 of the terminal 1 , and the eid of the terminal 1 is registered into the destination eid of the connection list 216 of the server 2 . the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 acquire information necessary for the communication such as the eid of its own device and the eid of the communication destination by reading the initial setting files 117 and 217 , respectively . the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 receive the proxy message from the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 , respectively . when the connection number of the received proxy message is not registered into the connection lists 116 and 216 , the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 instruct the transmission and reception controlling units 114 and 214 to open the new socket , and begin the communication with the use of the new socket , respectively . when data is not accommodated into the received proxy message , the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 search the socket channel id corresponding to the connection number from the connection lists 116 and 216 , respectively . the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 instruct the transmission and reception controlling units 114 and 214 to delete the socket corresponding to the searched socket channel id , respectively . thus , the socket and the eid are associated with each other and managed by the connection lists 116 and 126 . therefore , the communication of the tcp / ip using the socket can be performed based on the bundle protocol . the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 transmit the bundle in accordance with a transmission request of the bundle from the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 , respectively . therefore , the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 can perform the communication from the client application 101 and the server application 201 to the communication destination based on a protocol of the dtn . when the communication from the client application 101 and the server application 201 requests a response , the response controlling units 115 and 215 generate the response to output the response to the client application 101 and the server application 201 , respectively . therefore , even when the communication with the communication destination is disrupted due to the disconnection of the connection , the client application 101 and the server application 201 operate without knowing the disruption of the communication . accordingly , the retrial of the communication is not needed after reconnection of the connection . for example , in the terminal 1 , when the proxy controlling unit 111 performs the communication of the client application 101 , the response controlling unit 115 outputs the response to the communication to the client application 101 . when a file is divided and divided file data is transferred from the client application 101 to the server application 201 , the response controlling unit 115 of the terminal 1 prompts the client application 101 to transmit next file data instead of the server application 201 , as a response . that is , the response controlling units 115 and 215 notify the client application 101 and the server application 201 of the completion of the communication , respectively . for this reason , the client application 101 and the server application 201 recognize that the communication has succeeded without knowing a result of the communication based on the bundle protocol of the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 . therefore , the condition notification units 121 and 221 notify the user of communication information on the condition and the result of the communication by pop - up display to the screen and logs , for example . more specifically , the condition notification unit 121 of the terminal 1 outputs the communication information to the display unit 16 or writes into the storage unit 13 a log file in which the communication information is recorded . the condition notification unit 221 of the server 2 writes into the hdd 23 a log file in which the communication information is recorded . the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 instruct the condition notification units 121 and 221 to output a notification depending on the condition of the communication , respectively . the notification includes a reception notification indicating that the transmission request of the bundle is received from the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 , and a pending notification indicating that the transmission of the bundle is suspended to disconnect the connection with the communication destination . the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 instruct the condition notification units 121 and 221 to output a notification based on various reports from the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 , respectively . the notification includes a transfer failure notification based on a deletion report , a transfer completion notification based on a distribution report , and a transfer notification based on a forwarding report . each of the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 determines whether the communication based on the bundle protocol has succeeded based on each report . when the lifetime ( see fig4 a ) of the bundle has expired or the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 have relayed the bundle from another device , each of the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 accommodates the deletion report into another bundle and transmits the another bundle to the another device which is the transmission source of the bundle . when the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 have completed the reception of the bundle , each of the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 accommodates the distribution report or the forwarding report into another bundle and transmits the another bundle to the transmission source of the bundle . the reports are mentioned later while referring to their examples . when each of the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 determines that the communication has failed , each of the condition notification units 121 and 221 notifies the user of the failure of the communication . when the communication completion to the communication destination has been notified to the client application 101 by the response controlling unit 115 and the communication according to the bundle protocol of the dtn has failed as a result of the determination of the proxy controlling unit 111 , the condition notification unit 121 notifies the terminal 1 of the failure of the communication . at this time , the failure of the communication is notified to the user as the pop - up display of the display unit 16 of the terminal 1 or logs stored into the storage unit 13 as mentioned later . as with the condition notification unit 121 , when the communication completion to the communication destination has been notified to the server application 201 by the response controlling unit 215 and the communication according to the bundle protocol of the dtn has failed as a result of the determination of the proxy controlling unit 211 , the condition notification unit 221 also notifies the server 2 of the failure of the communication . for this reason , even when the communication based on the bundle protocol is performed and the client application 101 and the server application 201 recognize that the communication has succeeded , the user can know the failure of the communication by the notification of the condition notification units 121 and 221 . therefore , the user can easily grasp the communication result . here , each of the condition notification units 121 and 221 is an example of a failure notification unit . the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 monitors the condition of the connection of the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 , respectively . the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 perform the connection in a state where the connection is disconnected . when the connection has succeeded , the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 instruct the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 to transmit the transmission object bundle in the bundle buffers 122 and 222 , respectively . the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 perform setting and deletion of conversion information to the address conversion units 113 and 213 in accordance with the condition of the connection , respectively . the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 set the conversion information based on the filter tbls 118 and 218 , respectively . fig5 b illustrates an example of the filter tbls 118 and 218 . a filter condition of the packet , conversion information , and a setting state are associated with each other and registered into the filter tbls 118 and 218 . the filter condition designates the transmission source of an address conversion object packet , the ip address of the destination , the port number and so on . the conversion information indicates a part of the packet to be rewritten meeting the filter condition , and a value of the part after rewriting . the setting state indicates the validity or invalidity of setting of the filter condition and the conversion information . the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 perform setting and deletion of the conversion information of the address conversion units 113 and 213 in accordance with the condition of the connection , respectively . therefore , the bundle protocol is automatically applied to the communication of the client application 101 and the server application 201 . thus , each of the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 detects the condition of the connection with the communication destination , and decides whether the bundle protocol is applicable to the communication of the client application 101 and the server application 201 in accordance with the condition of the connection . for this reason , the bundle protocol is used for the communication of the client application 101 and the server application 201 in accordance with the condition of the connection . when the communication becomes intermittent , the client application 101 and the server application 201 communicate by protocol - converting the tcp / ip with the use of the configuration mentioned above . fig6 illustrates an example of the protocol conversion . fig6 illustrates the client application 101 , the proxy controlling unit 111 and the bundle controlling unit 120 in the terminal 1 , and the server application 201 , the proxy controlling unit 211 and the bundle controlling unit 220 in the server 2 from among the configuration illustrated in fig3 . the communication of the tcp / ip using the ip address and the port number is performed between the client application 101 and the server application 201 . any socket sc 1 is opened in the client application 101 , and a fixed socket sc 6 is opened in the server application 201 . the communication according to a proxy protocol with the use of the connection number is performed between the proxy controlling units 111 and 211 . in the proxy controlling unit 111 , a socket sc 2 corresponding to the socket sc 6 of the server application 201 one - on - one is opened by the transmission and reception controlling unit 114 . in the proxy controlling unit 211 , a socket sc 5 corresponding to the socket sc 1 of the client application 101 one - on - one is opened by the transmission and reception controlling unit 214 . the communication by the sockets sc 1 and sc 2 is performed between the client application 101 and the proxy controlling unit 111 , and the communication by the sockets sc 5 and sc 6 is performed between the server application 201 and the proxy controlling unit 211 . for this reason , the transmission and reception controlling units 114 and 214 open and close the sockets sc 2 and sc 5 in accordance with the opening and closing of the respective sockets sc 1 and sc 6 of the client application 101 and the server application 201 , and transmit and receive data via the sockets sc 2 and sc 5 . the communication of the bundle protocol using the eid is performed between the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 . in the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 , the sockets sc 3 and sc 4 are opened , respectively . when the communication from the client application 101 to the server application 201 is performed , in the terminal 1 , the proxy controlling unit 111 converts the port number of the packet into the destination eid based on the initial setting file 117 , and the bundle controlling unit 120 converts the destination eid into the destination ip address and the port number based on the route tbl 123 . moreover , in the server 2 , the bundle controlling unit 220 converts the destination eid into an output pointer mentioned later , and the proxy controlling unit 211 converts the output pointer into the destination ip address and the port number . in this way , the communication from the client application 101 to the server application 201 is performed . hereinafter , a description will be given of processing executed in the communication . fig7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of data transmission processing by the client application 101 . the proxy controlling unit 111 of the terminal 1 reads the initial setting file 117 as illustrated by a code g 1 ( step st 1 ). an eid “ dtn :// node1 ” of the terminal 1 , and a port number “ 8001 ” for receiving the packet for the server application 201 of the communication destination by the tcp are written in the initial setting file 117 , as “ tcp 13 proxy_client ”. next , the proxy controlling unit 111 generates , in the transmission and reception controlling unit 114 , a socket for receiving the packet for the server application 201 from the client application 101 ( step st 2 ). the above - mentioned port number “ 8001 ” or a loop - back ip address “ 127 . 0 . 0 . 1 ” is set to the socket . the client application 101 transmits the packet to the socket generated by the transmission and reception controlling unit 114 as substitute for the socket of the server application 201 . at this time , the destination ip address of the packet and the port number are converted by a predetermined setting or the address conversion unit 113 . next , the transmission and reception controlling unit 114 determines whether the socket receives the packet ( step st 3 ). when the packet is not received ( no in step st 3 ), the determination process of step st 3 is performed again . when the packet is received ( yes in step st 3 ), the proxy controlling unit 111 determines whether the port number of the transmission source of the packet is new ( step st 4 ). that is , the proxy controlling unit 111 determines whether the port number of the client application 101 is changed and the new channel is established . here , when the packet is received by the socket , the transmission and reception controlling unit 114 detects the completion of the communication from the client application 101 , and outputs data of the receive packet to the proxy controlling unit 111 via the memory . when the port number of the transmission source is new ( yes in step st 4 ), the proxy controlling unit 111 registers a new connection number , a socket channel id and a destination eid corresponding to the new connection number into the connection list 116 ( step st 9 ). moreover , when the port number of the transmission source is not new ( no in step st 4 ), the proxy controlling unit 111 does not perform the processing of step st 9 . next , the proxy controlling unit 111 generates the proxy message as illustrated by a code g 2 ( step st 5 ). the connection number and the payload are included in the proxy message . the proxy controlling unit 111 accommodates data of the packet into the payload and adds the connection number searched from the connection list 116 to generate the proxy message . the proxy message is output to the bundle controlling unit 120 by the bundle api . next , the response controlling unit 115 determines whether the response to the transmission object packet is necessary ( step st 6 ). the response controlling unit 115 determines whether there is a response , not an ack of the tcp , necessary for the continuation of the communication in the application level . when the response is necessary ( yes in step st 6 ), the response controlling unit 115 generates response data as substitute for the server application 201 based on a predetermined algorithm , and transmits the response data to the client application 101 ( step st 7 ). that is , the response controlling units 115 and 215 notify the client application 101 and the server application 201 of the completion of the communication , respectively . for this reason , the client application 101 recognizes that the communication has succeeded even when the communication of the bundle protocol has failed , as described above . when the response is not necessary ( no in step st 6 ), the response controlling unit 115 does not generate the response data . next , the proxy controlling unit 111 requests the bundle controlling unit 120 to transmit the bundle by the bundle api ( step st 8 ). the bundle controlling unit 120 generates the bundle from the proxy message to transmit the bundle . thereby the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 perform the communication from the client application 101 and the server application 201 to the communication destination based on the protocol of the dtn . in this way , the data transmission processing of the client application 101 is performed . fig8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of transmission processing of the bundle . when the transmission of the bundle is requested from the proxy controlling unit 111 , the bundle controlling unit 120 reads the route tbl 123 ( step st 11 ). next , the bundle controlling unit 120 generates the bundle of the destination eid corresponding to the destination ip address and the port number based on the route tbl 123 ( step st 12 ). the bundle controlling unit 120 determines whether the connection with the communication destination depending on the destination eid is an establishment state ( step st 14 ). when the connection is not the establishment state ( no in step st 14 ), the bundle controlling unit 120 stores the bundle into the bundle buffer 122 ( step st 13 ), and the processing of step st 14 is performed again . when the connection is the establishment state ( yes in step st 14 ), the bundle controlling unit 120 transmits the bundle ( step st 15 ). in this way , the transmission processing of the bundle is performed . fig9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of reception processing of the bundle . the present processing is performed by the server 2 . the proxy controlling unit 211 reads the initial setting file 217 as illustrated by a code g 3 ( step st 21 ). an eid “ dtn :// node1 ” of the server 2 is recorded in the initial setting file 217 as “ com_eid ”, an output pointer “ data / service ” of the reception data of the server 2 is recorded in the initial setting file 217 as “ tcp_proxy_registration ”, and an ip address “ 192 . 168 . 1 . 1 ” and a port number “ 8001 ” of the server 2 are recorded in the initial setting file 217 as “ tcp_proxy_server ”. next , the proxy controlling unit 211 resisters the eid and the output pointer into the bundle controlling unit 220 with the use of the bundle api so that the bundle controlling unit 220 can receive the bundle from the client application 101 of the terminal 1 ( step st 22 ). at this time , the proxy controlling unit 211 registers the eid and the output pointer designated respectively by the “ com_eid ” and the “ tcp_proxy_registration ” of the initial setting file 217 into the bundle controlling unit 220 . thereby , when the bundle controlling unit 220 receives the bundle , the bundle controlling unit 220 outputs the bundle to a designated directory of an output pointer “ data / receive ”. next , the bundle controlling unit 220 determines whether the bundle is received ( step st 23 ). when the bundle is not received ( no in step st 23 ), the bundle controlling unit 220 performs the processing of step st 23 again . moreover , when the bundle is received ( yes in step st 23 ), the bundle controlling unit 220 determines whether the destination eid of the bundle is identical with the eid registered in step st 22 ( step st 24 ). when the destination eid of the bundle is not identical with the registered eid ( no in step st 24 ), the bundle is not for the server 2 and the bundle controlling unit 220 discards the bundle to finish the processing . when the destination eid of the bundle is identical with the registered eid ( yes in step st 24 ), the bundle controlling unit 220 acquires data of the packet from the payload of the packet , generates the proxy message , and outputs the proxy message to the designated directory of the output pointer ( step st 25 ). next , the proxy controlling unit 211 acquires the proxy message with reference to the designated directory of the output pointer ( step st 26 ). next , the proxy controlling unit 211 determines whether the connection number of the proxy message is registered into the connection list 216 ( step st 27 ). when the connection number is not registered ( no in step st 27 ), the proxy controlling unit 211 instructs the transmission and reception controlling unit 214 to open the socket of the ip address and the port number designated by the “ tcp_proxy_server ” of the initial setting file 217 ( step st 28 ). when the connection number is registered ( yes in step st 27 ), the proxy controlling unit 211 determines whether the data of the packet is accommodated into the payload of the proxy message ( step st 30 ). when the data of the packet is accommodated ( yes in step st 30 ), the proxy controlling unit 211 transmits the data to a corresponding socket ( step st 29 ). when the data of the packet is not accommodated ( no in step st 30 ), the proxy controlling unit 211 instructs the transmission and reception controlling unit 214 to close the corresponding socket ( step st 31 ). in this way , the reception processing of the bundle is performed . thus , between the client application 101 and the server application 201 , the opening and closing of the socket are reproduced based on the operation of the application by the proxy protocol function units 110 and 210 independently of the presence or absence of the connection between the terminal 1 and the server 2 . for this reason , even when the connection between the client application 101 and the server application 201 is disconnected , the communication can be continued . as described above , the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 perform the setting or deletion of the conversion information of the address conversion units 113 and 213 in accordance with the condition of the connection , respectively . for this reason , the bundle protocol is automatically applied to the communication of the client application 101 and the server application 201 . fig1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of switching processing of the application of the bundle protocol . each of the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 detects the presence or absence of the connection with the communication detection ( step st 41 ). the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 detect the link - up / link - down with a corresponding communication destination based on the destination ip addresses and the port numbers set in the route tbls 123 and 223 , respectively , and detect the condition of the communication by a keep alive function . the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 acquire the detection result of the bundle controlling units 120 and 220 , respectively , or detect the condition of the connection by the controlling with the use of the bundle api . when the connection with the communication detection is detected ( yes in step st 41 ), the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 determine whether the bundles to be transmitted are stored into the bundle buffers 122 and 222 , respectively ( step st 42 ). when there are no stored bundles ( no in step st 42 ), each of the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 performs the processing of step st 41 again . when there are the stored bundles ( yes in step st 42 ), the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 determine whether there are the settings of the conversion information for the address conversion units 113 and 213 by referring to the setting states of the filter tbls 118 and 218 , respectively ( step st 43 ). when there are no settings of the conversion information ( no in steps st 43 ), each of the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 finishes the processing . when there are settings of the conversion information ( yes in steps st 43 ), each of the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 deletes the conversion information ( step st 44 ). thereby , the transmission of the packets from the tcp processing units 102 and 202 to the sockets of the transmission and reception controlling units 114 and 214 is stopped . therefore , the application of the bundle protocol is stopped for the communication between the client application 101 and the server application 201 , so that the direct communication of the tcp / ip is performed without passing through the proxy protocol function units 110 and 210 . on the other hand , when the connection is disconnected , i . e ., the connection with the communication detection is not detected ( no in step st 41 ), the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 determine whether there are the settings of the conversion information for the address conversion units 113 and 213 by referring to the setting states of the filter tbls 118 and 218 , respectively ( step st 45 ). when there are the settings of the conversion information ( yes in steps st 45 ), each of the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 finishes the processing . when there are no settings of the conversion information ( no in steps st 45 ), each of the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 sets the conversion information ( step st 46 ). thereby , the transmission of the packets from the tcp processing units 102 and 202 to the sockets of the transmission and reception controlling units 114 and 214 is started . therefore , the application of the bundle protocol is started for the communication between the client application 101 and the server application 201 , so that the communication is performed through the proxy protocol function units 110 and 210 . thus , each of the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 detects the condition of the connection with the communication destination , and decides whether the bundle protocol can be applied to the communication between the client application 101 and the server application 201 . therefore , the application of the bundle protocol is automatically performed . here , when the bundle protocol is not applied and the connection is disconnected during the communication , the communication cannot be continued . for this reason , each of the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 may decide whether the bundle protocol can be applied to the communication by another determination processing different from the above - mentioned determination processing . for example , each of the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 predicts a communicable time of a communication interface by referring to an identifier and a communication history of the physical communication interface , and when the connection of the communication interface having a short communicable time is used based on the prediction result , each of the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 always may apply the bundle protocol to the communication . when a large - capacity file requiring a long communicable time is transferred , each of the connection monitoring units 112 and 212 always may apply the bundle protocol to the communication . in this case , even when the terminal 1 is connected to the ap of wi - fi connectable for a short time , for example , the communication can be continued . however , when the bundle protocol is applied to the communication , a data amount for the overhead of the bundle is added to the data of the packet , and hence the load of the network nw increases compared with a case where the bundle protocol is not applied to the communication . therefore , it is decided whether the bundle protocol can be applied to the communication by the processing illustrated in fig1 , so that the load of the network nw can be reduced adequately . when the plurality of communication lines can be used , the bundle controlling unit 120 may measure a communication quality of each of the communication lines , and transmit the bundle via a selected communication line based on the measurement result , to thereby optimize the bundle communication . fig1 a illustrating the bundle communication using the plurality of communication lines according to a comparative example , and fig1 b illustrates the bundle communication using the plurality of communication lines according to the embodiment . in this example , it is assumed that the terminal 1 of a node na and the server 2 of a node nb perform the bundle communication with each other via two communication lines l 1 and l 2 . in the comparative example , the node na divides data dt of the bundle into blocks # 1 to # n ( n : a positive integer ), and evenly transmits the blocks # 1 to # n to the node nb via the two communication lines l 1 and l 2 . the node nb receives the blocks # 1 to # n via the two communication lines l 1 and l 2 , and restores the data dt of an original bundle . however , when the communication quality of the communication line l 1 is lower than that of the communication line l 2 for example , the delay , errors or lose of the blocks # 1 , # 3 , . . . , # n - 1 transmitted via the communication line l 1 occurs , and hence a restoration time of the data dt in the node nb increases and a throughput decreases . on the contrary , in the embodiment , the node na divides a head portion of the data dt ( see a dotted frame ) into the blocks # 1 and # 2 , transmits the block # 1 to the node nb via the communication line l 1 and transmits the block # 2 to the node nb via the communication line l 2 , as illustrated by a code g 4 . thereby , the node na measures the communication qualities of the communication lines l 1 and l 2 . more specifically , the node na measures times required for transmission of the blocks # 1 and # 2 in the head portion . the times required for transmission are calculated from transmission times of the blocks # 1 and # 2 and arrival times of responses from the node nb after the reception of the blocks # 1 and # 2 , respectively , for example . the node na determines speeds of the communication lines l 1 and l 2 based on the times required for transmission . the node na selects any one of the communication lines l 1 and l 2 based on a result of the determination . when the speed of the communication line l 1 is low ( see “ low speed ”) and the speed of the communication line l 2 is high ( see “ high speed ”) as illustrated by a code g 5 , the node na transmits the remaining blocks # 3 to # n to the node nb via the communication line l 2 . therefore , the time required for transmission of all data # 1 to # n can be reduced , and the throughput can be improved . fig1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of optimization processing of the bundle communication . the present processing is performed in the terminal 1 . the bundle controlling unit 120 compares a data amount ( size ) of the bundle with a threshold value th ( step st 51 ). when the data amount of the bundle is equal to or less than the threshold value th ( no in step st 51 ), the bundle controlling unit 120 transmits the bundle ( step st 58 ). this is because , when the size of the bundle is small , there are few blocks after the division of data of the bundle and hence the throughput might decrease more due to a measurement time of the communication quality . when the data amount of the bundle is more than the threshold value th ( yes in step st 51 ), the bundle controlling unit 120 determines whether the plurality of communication lines are used for link from the information of the wireless lam module 14 ( step st 52 ). when one of the communication lines is used for link ( no in step st 52 ), the bundle controlling unit 120 transmits the bundle ( step st 58 ). this is because there is no choice of the communication line . when the communication lines are used for link ( yes in step st 52 ), the bundle controlling unit 120 divides a predetermined head portion of the data of the bundle into a plurality of blocks ( step st 53 ). at this time , the bundle controlling unit 120 generates at least the same number of blocks as the communication lines . next , the bundle controlling unit 120 transmits the plurality of blocks via the respective communication lines ( step st 54 ). here , the numbers of blocks to be transmitted via the respective communication lines may be the same as each other or different from each other . next , the bundle controlling unit 120 measures the time required for transmission of the blocks via each communication line ( step st 55 ). here , the time required for transmission is an example of the communication quality . next , the bundle controlling unit 120 selects one or more communication lines based on the time required for transmission ( step st 56 ). more specifically , the bundle controlling unit 120 preferentially selects the communication line having a short time required for transmission . next , the bundle controlling unit 120 transmits remaining data via the selected communication line ( step st 57 ). when the bundle controlling unit 120 selects only one of the communication lines , the bundle controlling unit 120 can transmit the remaining data without dividing the remaining data into the blocks . moreover , when the bundle controlling unit 120 selects the communication lines meeting a predetermined standard value , the bundle controlling unit 120 can divide the remaining data into the blocks having a size based on the number of communication lines and transmit the divided data . for this reason , the transmission of the remaining data is completed by the high - speed communication line in a short time . in this way , the optimization processing of the bundle communication is performed . in this example , the bundle controlling unit 120 measures the time required for transmission as the communication quality , but a measurement object is not limited to this . for example , the bundle controlling unit 120 may measure an error rate . thus , the bundle controlling unit 120 measures the respective communication qualities of the communication lines connected to the communication destination , selects one or more communication lines based on the respective communication qualities , and performs the bundle communication with the use of the selected communication lines . for this reason , the bundle controlling unit 120 can improve the communication qualities of the bundle communication . when the bundle controlling unit 120 can use a low speed wi - fi communication line and a high speed lte ( long term evolution ) communication line for example , the bundle controlling unit 120 can actually measure a communication speed of each of the communication lines and select the lte communication line based on a result of the measurement . moreover , the bundle controlling unit 120 divides the predetermined head portion of the data into the plurality of blocks , and transmit the plurality of blocks to the communication destination via the respective communication lines . thereby , the bundle controlling unit 120 measures the respective communication qualities of the communication lines . the bundle controlling unit 120 selects at least one communication line based on the communication qualities , and transmits another portion ( other than the head portion ) of the data to the communication destination via the selected communication line . for this reason , the bundle controlling unit 120 does not have to prepare for test data for the measurement of the communication qualities , and can easily measure the communication quality of each communication line by using only the head portion of the data of the bundle to be transmitted . next , a description will be given of functions of the condition notification units 121 and 221 . fig1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of notification processing . in this example , the notification processing of the condition notification unit 121 in the terminal 1 is referred to , but the condition notification unit 221 in the server 2 also can perform the same notification processing . when the proxy controlling unit 111 requests the bundle controlling unit 120 to transmit the bundle , the proxy controlling unit 111 determines whether the request is a first transmission request after start - up ( step st 61 ). when the request is the first transmission request ( yes in step st 61 ), the proxy controlling unit 111 instructs the condition notification unit 121 to display or store the reception notification of the data transmission ( step st 62 ). the condition notification unit 121 displays the reception notification on the display unit 16 in a pop - up form or stores the reception notification into the storage unit 13 as a log . when the request is not the first transmission request ( no in step st 61 ), the proxy controlling unit 111 does not instruct the condition notification unit 121 so as not to redundantly display or store the reception notification . next , the proxy controlling unit 111 instructs the condition notification unit 121 to display or store the pending notification of the data transmission based on a value of a timer measuring a pending time of the bundle transmission ( step st 63 ). the pending notification is performed every time a predetermined time elapses based on the value of the timer , for example . the condition notification unit 121 displays the pending notification on the display unit 16 in the pop - up form or stores the pending notification into the storage unit 13 as the log . the proxy controlling unit 111 outputs a request flag of a report depending on the communication result to the bundle controlling unit 120 through the bundle api . the bundle controlling unit 120 can include the report corresponding to the request flag into the bundle and transmit the bundle . referred to as the report are the distribution report indicating that data is distributed to the destination , the forwarding report indicating that data is forwarded to a next node , and the deletion report indicating the deletion of the bundle , for example . the deletion report is issued when the bundle has not been transmitted and the lifetime of the bundle has expired or the bundle has been deleted from the bundle buffer 122 by the transmission of the bundle . in the following processing , the notification corresponding to each report is performed . the proxy controlling unit 111 determines whether the distribution report is received ( step st 64 ). when the distribution report is received ( yes in step st 64 ), the proxy controlling unit 111 instructs the condition notification unit 121 to display or store a distribution completion notification ( step st 68 ). the condition notification unit 121 displays the distribution completion notification on the display unit 16 in the pop - up form or stores the distribution completion notification into the storage unit 13 as the log . when the distribution report is not received ( no in step st 64 ), the proxy controlling unit 111 determines whether the forwarding report is received ( step st 65 ). when the forwarding report is received ( yes in step st 65 ), the proxy controlling unit 111 instructs the condition notification unit 121 to display or store the forwarding notification ( step st 69 ). the condition notification unit 121 displays the forwarding notification on the display unit 16 in the pop - up form or stores the forwarding notification into the storage unit 13 as the log . when the forwarding report is not received ( no in step st 65 ), the proxy controlling unit 111 determines whether the deletion report is received ( step st 66 ). that is , the proxy controlling unit 111 determines whether the bundle communication has succeeded based on the deletion report . when the deletion report is not received ( no in step st 66 ), the proxy controlling unit 111 finishes the processing . when the deletion report is received ( yes in step st 66 ), the proxy controlling unit 111 instructs the condition notification unit 121 to display or store the forwarding failure notification ( step st 67 ). the condition notification unit 121 displays the forwarding failure notification on the display unit 16 in the pop - up form or stores the forwarding failure notification into the storage unit 13 as the log to notify the terminal 1 of the forwarding failure . thus , when the proxy controlling unit 111 determines that the communication has failed based on the deletion report , the condition notification unit 121 notifies the user of the failure of the communication . for this reason , even when the communication is performed based on the bundle protocol and the client application 101 and the server application 201 recognize that the communication has succeeded , the user can know the failure of the communication by the notification of the condition notification units 121 and 221 . next , a description will be given of an operation example of the communication between the client application 101 and the server application 201 . fig1 a to 14d illustrates the initial setting file 117 , the route tbl 123 , the initial setting file 217 and the route tbl 223 of a communication operation example 1 , respectively . fig1 to 19 illustrate the communication operation example 1 in a time series manner . in this example , it is assumed that the file transmission from the terminal 1 which is an application client ( apl client ) to an application server ( apl server ) 2 b is performed , as illustrated in fig1 . the apl server 2 b includes the application function unit 200 from among the server 2 of fig3 . a dtn server 2 a includes other units other than the application function unit 200 from among the server 2 of fig3 . each of the dtn server 2 a and the apl server 2 b has the same configuration as fig2 , and is connected to an internet nwb . here , there may be a plurality of apl servers 2 b . thus , the application function unit 200 of the server 2 is implemented in other device , so that other units such as the proxy controlling unit 211 of the server 2 can be configured as a communication device independent of the server application 201 . moreover , the terminal 1 is connected to an access network nwa via a wireless communication line illustrated by a dotted line . an ap ( e . g ., a hotspot of the wi - fi ) to which the terminal 1 can link is included in the access network nwa . fig1 a and 14b illustrate the initial setting file 117 and the route tbl 123 of the apl client ( terminal 1 ), and fig1 c and 14d illustrate the initial setting file 217 and the route tbl 223 of the apl server 2 b . the initial setting files 117 and 217 and the route tbls 123 and 223 are stored beforehand into the apl client and the apl server 2 b before the start - up of the application . by the initial setting file 117 , an eid “ dtn :// node1 ” is set to the terminal 1 , an ip address “ 10 . 10 . 30 . 1 ” and a port number “ 40000 ” of the apl server 2 b are set as the communication destination of the client application 101 . moreover , a destination eid “ dtn :// dtnserver ”, a destination ip address “ 10 . 10 . 20 . 1 ” and a port number “ 4556 ” of the dtn server 2 a are set to the terminal 1 based on the route tbl 123 . by the initial setting file 217 , the eid “ dtn :// dtnserver ” is set to the dtn server 2 a , and the ip address “ 10 . 10 . 30 . 1 ” and the port number “ 40000 ” of the apl server 2 b are set to the dtn server 2 a . moreover , a destination eid “ dtn :// node 1 ”, a destination ip address “ 10 . 10 . 10 . 1 ” and a port number “ 4556 ” of the terminal 1 are set to the dtn server 2 a based on the route tbl 223 . fig1 illustrates a condition of the communication when the terminal 1 is connected to the access network nwa . in this case , the connection monitoring unit 112 of the terminal 1 determines that the connection is performed , and therefore the connection monitoring unit 112 does not set the conversion information to the address conversion units 113 . for this reason , the client application 101 directly communicates with the apl server 2 b by the tcp / ip . a code g 6 indicates application data ( apl data ) of the tcp to be transmitted by the terminal 1 . the apl data ( packet ) has the ip address “ 10 . 10 . 30 . 1 ” and the port number “ 40000 ” as the destination . fig1 illustrates a condition of the communication when the terminal 1 is not connected to the access network nwa . in this case , the connection monitoring unit 112 determines that the connection is disconnected , and therefore the connection monitoring unit 112 sets the conversion information to the address conversion units 113 . thereby , the apl data of the client application 101 is converted by the address conversion unit 113 and received by the socket of the transmission and reception controlling unit 114 so as to be processed by the proxy protocol function unit 110 . more specifically , as illustrated by a code g 7 , the apl data having the ip address “ 10 . 10 . 30 . 1 ” and the port number “ 40000 ” as the destination is converted into apl data having the ip address “ 10 . 10 . 10 . 1 ” and the port number “ 8001 ” as the destination by the address conversion unit 113 . when the proxy controlling unit 111 receives the converted apl data , the proxy controlling unit 111 instructs the condition notification unit 121 to display or output reception notification of the apl data . the condition notification unit 121 displays the reception notification on the display unit 16 in the pop - up form or outputs the logs to the storage unit 13 as illustrated by a code g 8 . the reception notification includes the date and time of the reception , the ip address and the port number of the communication destination , and so on . the proxy controlling unit 111 requests the bundle controlling unit 120 to transmit the apl data . at this time , the proxy controlling unit 111 accommodates the apl data into the payload of the proxy message to output the proxy message to the bundle controlling unit 120 . in response to the request , the bundle controlling unit 120 accommodates the apl data into the bundle for the eid “ dtn :// dtnserver ” based on the route tbl 123 and attempts the transmission of the bundle . however , the connection with the access network nwa is disconnected , and therefore the bundle controlling unit 120 stores the bundle into the bundle buffer 122 . fig1 illustrates a pending condition of the bundle communication . while the connection with the access network nwa is disconnected , the proxy controlling unit 111 measures a transmission pending time of the bundle with the use of a notification timer , as illustrated by a code g 9 . when the notification timer has expired , the proxy controlling unit 111 instructs the condition notification unit 121 to display or output the pending notification . the condition notification unit 121 displays the pending notification on the display unit 16 in the pop - up form or outputs the logs to the storage unit 13 as illustrated by a code g 10 . the pending notification includes a current date , a current time , the pending time , the ip address and the port number of the communication destination , and so on . fig1 illustrates a condition where the transmission of the bundle has failed by the expiration of the lifetime . the bundle controlling unit 120 manages the lifetime of the bundle with the use of the timer and outputs the deletion report to the proxy controlling unit 111 when the lifetime has expired , as illustrated by a code g 11 . when the proxy controlling unit 111 receives the deletion report , the proxy controlling unit 111 instructs the condition notification unit 121 to display or output the transfer failure notification . the condition notification unit 121 displays the transfer failure notification on the display unit 16 in the pop - up form or outputs the logs to the storage unit 13 as illustrated by a code g 12 . the transfer failure notification includes date and time of the failure , the ip address and the port number of the communication destination , and so on . fig1 illustrates a condition where the terminal 1 is reconnected to the access network nwa before the expiration of the lifetime and therefore the bundle is transmitted . when the bundle controlling unit 120 detects the establishment of the connection with access network nwa , the bundle controlling unit 120 reads the bundle from the bundle buffer 122 and transmits the bundle as illustrated by a code g 13 . the bundle is transmitted to the destination eid “ dtn :// dtnserver ” corresponding to the ip address “ 10 . 10 . 20 . 1 ” and the port number “ 4556 ” on the tcp , as illustrated by a code g 14 . in the dtn server 2 a , when the bundle controlling unit 220 receives the bundle , the bundle controlling unit 220 transmits the proxy message to the proxy controlling unit 211 . the proxy controlling unit 211 receives the apl data from a designation directory “ data / receive ” of an output pointer set by the initial setting file 217 . the proxy controlling unit 211 establishes , by the tcp , the connection with the ip address “ 10 . 10 . 30 . 1 ” and the port number “ 40000 ” of the apl server 2 b set by the initial setting file 217 , and transmits the apl data of the destination , as illustrated by a code g 16 . when the output of the apl data to the proxy controlling unit 211 is completed , the bundle controlling unit 220 recognizes that the transfer has completed , and transmits the distribution report to the terminal 1 . in the terminal 1 , when the bundle controlling unit 120 receives the distribution report , the bundle controlling unit 120 transfers the distribution report to the proxy controlling unit 111 . when the proxy controlling unit 111 receives the distribution report , the proxy controlling unit 111 instructs the condition notification unit 121 to display or output the transfer completion notification . the condition notification unit 121 displays the transfer completion notification on the display unit 16 in the pop - up form or outputs the logs to the storage unit 13 as illustrated by a code g 15 . the transfer completion notification includes date and time of the transfer completion , the ip address and the port number of the communication destination , and so on . when the communication is performed by relaying a plurality of nodes having the bundle communication function unlike the above - mentioned example , it is possible to grasp the communication status effectively by the forwarding notification . fig2 is a diagram illustrating a use example of the forwarding notification . the communication system of this example includes an apl client 1 a , a proxy node (# 1 ) 1 b , a relay node (# 2 ) 7 , the dtn server 2 a and the apl server 2 b . the apl client 1 a , the proxy node (# 1 ) 1 b , the relay node (# 2 ) 7 , the dtn server 2 a and the apl server 2 b are connected in this order . the apl client 1 a includes the application function unit 100 from among the terminal 1 of fig3 . the proxy node 1 b includes other units other than the application function unit 100 from among the terminal 1 of fig3 . each of the apl client 1 a and the proxy node 1 b has the same configuration as fig1 . thus , the application function unit 100 of the terminal 1 is implemented in other device , so that other units such as the proxy controlling unit 111 of the terminal 1 can be configured as a communication device independent of the client application 101 . the apl client 1 a transmits the apl data to the proxy node 1 b having an ip address “ 10 . 10 . 10 . 1 ”. the proxy node 1 b transmits the apl data to the relay node 7 having an ip address “ 10 . 10 . 40 . 1 ”. the relay node 7 includes a relay function in conformity with rfc5050 . the relay node 7 relays the apl data to the dtn server 2 a having the ip address “ 10 . 10 . 20 . 1 ”. the dtn server 2 a transmits the apl data to the apl server 2 b having the ip address “ 10 . 10 . 30 . 1 ”. when the proxy node 1 b transfers the apl data to the relay node 7 , the proxy node 1 b transmits to the relay node 7 the forwarding report indicative of having forwarded the apl data from the node # 1 to the node # 2 . moreover , when the relay node 7 relays the apl data to the dtn server 2 a , the relay node 7 transmits to the dtn server 2 a the forwarding report of the proxy node 1 b and the forwarding report indicative of having forwarded the apl data from the node # 2 to the dtn server 2 a . the dtn server 2 a records the forwarding reports collected in this way on a log 9 as the forwarding notification , as illustrated by a code g 17 . the transfer completion notification includes date and time of the transfer , the nodes ( the nodes 1 and 2 ) of the transfer destinations , the ip address and the port number of the communication destination , and so on . moreover , a transfer history management application ( transfer history management apl ) 8 is implemented in the dtn server 2 a , and the transfer history management apl 8 can manage a transfer history based on the log 9 as illustrated by a code g 18 . the ip addresses of the transmission source and the destination , the transfer time of the transmission source , the transfer time of the relay node 7 , the distribution time to the dtn server 2 a and so on are recorded in the transfer history as an example . for example , such a communication system is applied to a case where a vehicle perambulates and collects information for environmental monitoring from a plurality of sensor devices installed extensively . in this case , the apl client 1 a installed in the vehicle collects measurement data from each sensor device of each place and transfers the measurement data to the apl server 2 b . at this time , a system administrator can grasp the process of the data relay by referring to the log 9 and the transfer history of the dtn server 2 a . fig2 a and 21c illustrate the initial setting files 117 and 217 of a communication operation example 2 , respectively . fig2 b and 21d illustrate the route tbls 123 and 223 of the communication operation example 2 . fig2 illustrates the communication operation example 2 . in fig2 , elements identical to those of fig1 are designated by identical reference numerals , and a description thereof is omitted . the dtn server 2 a , a web proxy server 2 c , and a web server 2 d are connected to an internet nwb . the terminal 1 functions as the apl client of the web browser , and accesses the web server 2 d through the web proxy server 2 c . by the initial setting file 117 , an eid “ dtn :// node1 / web ” is set to the terminal 1 , and an ip address “ 10 . 10 . 40 . 1 ” and a port number “ 8080 ” of the web proxy server 2 c are set as the communication destination of the client application 101 , as illustrated in fig2 . moreover , a destination eid “ dtn :// dtnserver / web ”, an destination ip address “ 10 . 10 . 20 . 1 ” and a port number “ 4556 ” of the dtn server 2 a are set to the terminal 1 based on the route tbl 123 . by the initial setting file 217 , an eid “ dtn :// dtnserver / web ” is set to the dtn server 2 a , and an ip address “ 10 . 10 . 40 . 1 ” and a port number “ 8080 ” of the web proxy server 2 c are set to the dtn server 2 a . moreover , a destination eid “ dtn :// node1 / web ”, a destination ip address “ 10 . 10 . 10 . 1 ” and a port number “ 4556 ” of the terminal 1 are set to the dtn server 2 a based on the route tbl 223 . first , a description will be given of the communication operation when the connection between the terminal 1 and the access network nwa is established . the web browser of the terminal 1 requests an access to a url ( uniform resource locator ) “ http :// sample . abc . com ”, a request message of a http ( hyper text transfer protocol ) is transmitted to the web proxy server 2 c . when the web proxy server 2 c receives the request message and there is no cache data of the above url , the web proxy server 2 c searching the cache data of the above url searches “ sample . abc . com ” which is a fqdn ( fully qualified domain name ) of the url by using a dns ( domain name system ), and specifies an ip address “ 10 . 10 . 50 . 1 ” of the corresponding web server 2 d . the web proxy server 2 c transmits the request message of the http into which a port number “ 80 ” of the tcp is set , to the web server 2 d . the web server 2 d transmits information to be displayed on the web browser to the web proxy server 2 c as a response message to the request message . the web proxy server 2 c transfers the response message to the terminal 1 . thereby , a screen as illustrated by a code g 19 of fig2 a , for example , is displayed on the web browser of the terminal 1 . next , a description will be given of the communication operation when the connection between the terminal 1 and the access network nwa is disconnected . since the connection is disconnected in the terminal 1 , even when the web browser transmits the request message of the http corresponding to the above url , the request message is not received by the web proxy server 2 c . for this reason , if the bundle protocol is not applied to the communication of the client application 101 of the terminal 1 , a message indicating an unconnectable condition as illustrated by a code g 20 of fig2 b , for example , is displayed on the web browser . on the contrary , when the bundle protocol is applied to the communication of the client application 101 of the terminal 1 , the request message is received by the proxy protocol function unit 110 via the address conversion unit 113 . for this reason , a condition during the communication request is continuously displayed as illustrated by a code g 21 of fig2 c , for example . next , a description will be given of the communication operation when the connection between the terminal 1 and the access network nwa is reestablished . when the connection with the access network nwa is reestablished , the bundle controlling unit 120 reads the bundle into which the request message is accommodated , and transmits the bundle to the dtn server 2 a . the dtn server 2 a transfers the request message to the web proxy server 2 c . moreover , the web proxy server 2 c transfers the request message to the web server 2 d . the web server 2 d transmits the response message to the dtn server 2 a via the web proxy server 2 c in response to the request message . in the dtn server 2 a , the response message is received by the socket of the transmission and reception controlling unit 214 . the proxy controlling unit 211 searches the connection number and the destination eid from the connection list 216 based on the socket channel id of the socket . the proxy controlling unit 211 generates the proxy message based on a result of the search , and requests the bundle controlling unit 220 to transmit the bundle . the bundle controlling unit 220 transmits the bundle to the terminal 1 based on the bundle protocol . in the terminal 1 , the bundle controlling unit 120 receives the bundle of the response message , and outputs it to the proxy controlling unit 111 as the proxy message . the proxy controlling unit 111 acquires the connection number of the proxy message , and uses the connection number for the search of the connection list 116 along with the destination eid acquired from the bundle controlling unit 120 . thereby , the proxy controlling unit 111 searches a corresponding socket channel and transmits the response message to the socket . the web browser acquires the response message from the socket . this communication operation is continued until a screen illustrated by a code g 19 of fig2 is displayed on the web browser . when the web browser requests a new connection during the communication operation , the proxy controlling unit 111 registers a new connection number into the connection list 116 , and the same communication as the above is performed . by such communication operation , the user can continue the communication condition without reloading the web browser in the terminal 1 and can display a web page on the web browser even when the communication environment is bad . when the connection is disconnected during the communication based on the bundle protocol , even if the display of the web page is any stage , it is possible to continue the communication at the time of the reconnection of the connection . the above - mentioned processing functions can be realized by a computer . in this case , a program in which the processing contents of the functions which the computer should include is written is provided . by executing the program on the computer , the processing functions are realized by the computer . the program in which the processing contents are written may be recorded on a non - transitory computer - readable recording medium ( however , a carrier wave is excluded ). when the program is distributed , a removable recording medium such as a dvd ( digital versatile disc ) or a cd - rom ( compact disc read only memory ) in which the program is recorded is sold . further , the program may be stored in a memory device of a server computer and transferred from the server computer to another computer via a network . the computer which runs the program , e . g ., stores the program recorded in the removable recording medium or transferred from the server computer into a memory device of the computer . then the computer reads the program from the memory device of the computer , and runs the process according to the program . incidentally , the computer may read the program directly from the removable recording medium and run the process according to the program . further , every time the program is transferred from the server computer , the computer may successively run the process according to the received program . all examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art , and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions , nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority and inferiority of the invention . although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail , it should be understood that the various change , substitutions , and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	7
fig1 illustrates a specific embodiment of a dynamic load stress tester 10 constructed in accordance with the present invention . the dynamic load stress tester 10 comprises a frame assembly 12 and a base assembly 14 that may each be operated alone or in combination with each other . fig1 illustrates the dynamic load stress tester 10 set for measurement of the diametric deflection of the sample 18 . the frame assembly 12 engages the curved surface 16 of the cylindrical sample 18 , while the positioning rollers 20 and retaining knobs 22 ( one of each being visible in fig1 ) are shown in their inoperative , retracted testing positions . as further indicated by the dashed lines of fig4 in their inoperative testing position the positioning rollers 20 and retaining knobs 22 are fully disengaged from the sample or frame . due to a static load induced by pneumatic driver 32 , the sample is fixedly held between the top load strip , or force - applying member 26 , and the loading face 28 of the bottom loading strip 30 . to measure the resiliency of a particular sample 18 the user sends an appropriate control signal to the pneumatic driver 32 . the pneumatic driver then causes a downward urging of the force - applying member 26 toward the loading face 28 of the bottom loading strip 30 thereby establishing a dynamic stress in the sample along the force - applying axis 34 . this dynamic stress , while increasing , causes an outwardly directed diametric deflection of the sample 18 , the extent of such deflection being a function of the sample resiliency . transducers 36 on the frame assembly 12 measure the resulting deflection or strain , while transducers contained in the bottom load cell 38 ( fig4 ) measure the applied dynamic load . during the above - described measurements , correct alignment of the sample 18 relative to the force - applying member 26 and loading face 28 is important . also important is correct alignment of the frame assembly 12 relative to the sample 18 . it has been conventional in the past to make such alignments manually for each sample tested . described , hereafter , is an exemplary frame assembly 12 and base assembly 14 , permitting such alignments to be made automatically after one time alignment of the base assembly during initial setup . more specifically , the base assembly 14 provides a retaining mechanism for automatic frame alignment and engagement and a positioning mechanism for automatic sample alignment . referring again to fig1 and 4 , initial alignment begins by sliding the threaded legs 40 of the base assembly 14 into the leg slots 42 provided on the test frame 44 . this ensures that the base assembly 14 is centered relative to the force - applying member 26 . next , the load cell support 46 , carrying bottom load strip 30 and bottom load cell 38 , is slid beneath the base assembly 14 . hand knobs 48 are passed through guide slots 50 in the load cell support 46 into threaded holes ( not shown ) in the test frame 44 ( only the left knob and left guide slot are visible in fig1 ). after the bottom load strip 30 has been positioned to directly oppose the top load strip or force - applying member 26 , hand knobs 48 are tightened to secure this position . by passing a screwdriver through leg adjustment holes 52 each screw head 54 of a threaded leg 40 may be turned , as needed , to level the base assembly with the flat loading face 28 of the bottom load strip 30 . this completes alignment of the base assembly 14 with the loading face 28 and the force - applying member 26 . in fig3 an exemplary embodiment of the frame assembly 12 is presented from a plan view . retaining knobs 22 , being a part of the base assembly 14 , are shown as holding the frame 12 in a fully opened position . the frame 12 includes a pair of opposed side members 56 that are movable alternatively toward and away from each other so as to engage and disengage the curved surface 16 of a cylindrical sample 18 , such surface here being represented by dashed lines . this approach is in contrast to conventional methods where transducers on the frame , not the frame itself , engage the curved surface of the sample . for the exemplary frame assembly shown , the side members 56 are yieldably biased toward each other by springs 58 . these springs must be light enough to allow outward displacement of the side members 56 upon outward deflection of the curved surface 16 of the sample , yet they must be heavy enough so that the side members 56 do not slip tangentially across the curved surface 16 upon reversal of the deflection path . to further prevent tangential slippage , a curved nonskid face 60 , made of material having the roughness of sandpaper , is provided on the side members 56 . to detect changes in displacement between the opposed side members 56 , upon diametric deflection of the sample , a pair of transducers 36 are employed . the transducers constitute conventional linear variable differential transformers ( lvdts ) that measure the depth of insertion of the lvdt piston 64 into the lvdt sleeve 66 . diametric deflection of the curved surface 16 of the sample is thus measured indirectly , by measuring the displacement of the side members 56 , as contrasted with the conventional approach where the transducers directly engage the curved surface 16 of the sample . the exemplary frame assembly 12 shown in fig3 may be constructed in the following manner . a back support 68 having two legs 70 extending normally therefrom provides support for the remaining elements of the frame assembly 12 . a spring 58 is slipped onto each leg 70 followed by a pair of side members 56 and another spring 58 . end pieces 72 affixed to the legs 70 prevent the springs 58 and side members 56 from sliding off the legs 70 . next transducers 62 are slideably inserted through the pair of collars 73 provided in the back support 68 and are affixed one of the side members 56 by tightening of the screws 75 that completely pass through holes ( not shown ) in side member collars 74 . thumbscrew micrometers 76 are then fixedly inserted into the pair of holes provided in the other side member 56 . after the side members 56 have been released against the curved surface 16 of the sample these micrometers 76 adjust the insertion depth of the transducer pistons 64 into the transducer sleeves 66 so as to establish a zero or null signal to the transducer sensor wires 24 for the particular sample being tested . a substantial advantage of the exemplary frame assembly 12 over prior frame assemblies is the speed with which the frame assembly may be positioned on the sample due to the use of springs 58 . as noted above , however , the springs must be made relatively heavy to maintain engagement of the side members 56 with the curved surface 16 of the sample upon reversal of the deflection path . for the user to manually pull apart the side members 60 , given the heavy springs 58 that are required , involves much physical strength , and the user &# 39 ; s fingers , being wrapped around the side members 56 , interfere in the alignment of the frame 12 with the sample 18 . for these reasons , it is preferable to use a selectively actuated retaining mechanism that alternatively holds the side members 56 outwardly from , or releases the side members 56 into engagement against , the curved surface 16 of the sample 18 . for the exemplary invention depicted in fig1 - 4 , the selectively actuated retaining mechanism includes four retaining knobs 22 with each pair of retaining knobs connected to a left or right turning rod 80 connected , in turn , to a left or right turning gear 82 . referring to fig2 it may be seen that a clockwise pull on handle arm 84 causes the left and right turning rods 80 to rotate in opposite directions . this , in turn , causes the left and right pairs of retaining knobs 22 to move upward and outward from each other and to engage a respective opposed side member 56 , thereby holding the side members outwardly from the curved surface 16 of the sample 18 . pulling the handle arm 84 in the counterclockwise direction will cause the left and right turning rods 80 to turn oppositely so as to bring the left and right pairs of retaining knobs 22 toward one another so that the left and right side members are released into engagement against the curved surface 16 of the sample as shown by the solid lines in fig4 . further counterclockwise motion of the handle arm 84 eventually brings the left and right pair of retaining knobs 22 into the inoperative , retracted testing position indicated by the dashed lines in fig4 . in this retracted position , the retaining knobs 22 do not interfere with measurement of the deflection of the side members 56 . the retaining mechanism just described represents one suitable embodiment . other approaches may be used to hold the side members 56 outwardly from , and release the side members 56 into engagement against , the curved surface 16 of the sample . for example , a pneumatic piston may be connected between the side members 56 that , upon user command , holds or releases the side members . such a piston may remain engaged with the side members 56 at all times without disturbing the outward deflection of the side members 56 . referring to fig1 and 3 , to ensure that the left and right pairs of retaining knobs 22 properly engage the side members 56 as the handle arm 84 is turned clockwise , a left and right pair of concave depressions 86 are provided on the left and right side members 56 . additionally , the left and right pair of retaining knobs 22 are rotatable and therefore will tend to roll into the deepest portion of the depressions 86 thereby aligning the frame 12 with the retaining knobs 22 . referring to fig1 and 3 , a further feature of the retaining mechanism is lock knob 88 . with the lever arm 84 fully clockwise , the retaining knobs 22 press outwardly against the side members 56 , and the curved surface 16 of the sample 18 may then be positioned therebetween . it is convenient to lock the side members 56 in this outward position from the curved surface 16 of the sample so that both hands may be used to position the sample . lock knob 88 performs this function . specifically , referring also to fig2 as the handle arm 84 is turned fully clockwise , the lock knob 88 , mounted on center gear 90 , moves in a clockwise direction in a circular path . at the fully clockwise position of the handle arm 84 , the terminal end 92 of the lock knob 88 encounters a knob hole 94 ( fig3 ) drilled into the base assembly 14 . internal springs in the lock knob 88 force its terminal end 92 into the knob hole 94 thereby preventing further movement of the center gears 90 , the turning gears 82 , the turning rods 80 , and ultimately the retaining arms 22 . after the curved surface 16 of the sample has been properly positioned the user may hold handle arm 84 , pull lock knob 88 away from the knob hole 94 , and gradually loosen his hold on lever arm 84 to permit the side members 56 to engage the curved surface 16 of the sample . in addition to a retaining mechanism , the base assembly 14 also includes a positioning mechanism . fig3 depicts the base assembly 14 when the handle arm 84 is in fully clockwise position and the left and right positioning rollers 20 are ready to receive the curved surface 16 of a sample . it will be recognized that centering of the loading face 28 relative to the base assembly 14 , during initial setup as described above , also results in centering of the loading face 28 relative to the positioning rollers 20 . therefore , the cylindrical axis 96 of a sample 18 placed on the positioning rollers 20 will be aligned with the center of the loading face 28 or with the force - applying axis 34 . the positioning rollers 20 hold the sample 18 above the loading face 28 . referring also to fig4 if the threaded legs 40 have been properly adjusted during initial setup , when the sample 18 rests on the positioning rollers 20 the cylindrical axis 96 should be substantially normal to the force - applying axis 34 . referring again to fig3 and 4 , the left and right positioning rollers 20 are freely rotatable about the left and right roller shafts 98 , respectively . therefore , if a sample 18 is placed on the positioning rollers 20 at a skewed angle , such that the cylindrical axis 96 &# 39 ; of the sample is skewed relative to its predetermined rotational orientation , the positioning rollers 20 will tend to spin so that the final cylindrical axis 96 of the sample is aligned with the predetermined rotational orientation . this orientation will generally be parallel to the contacting edges 100 of the loading face 28 . from the above discussion , it may be recognized that after initial setup of the base assembly 14 , each individual sample is thereafter automatically aligned relative to the loading face 28 . if the cylindrical axis 96 of the sample 18 were skewed relative to the loading face 28 , the stress measurement could be inaccurate because variable areas of the sample &# 39 ; s curved surface 16 would come in contact with the loading face 28 upon application of a dynamic load . in the initial seating position depicted in fig3 the curved surface 16 of the sample 18 is supported out of contact with the loading face 28 . in this position , the free rotation of the positioning rollers 20 about roller shafts 98 allows rotation of the sample 18 about its own cylindrical axis 96 . after a sample has been tested along one section , the sample may be rotated 90 ° about its cylindrical axis so that another section of the sample may be measured for resiliency . during this procedure , the retaining knobs 22 hold the side members 56 away from the curved surface 16 of the sample . it will be recognized that this selection process is performed without disturbing the alignment of the sample . after initial setup of the base assembly 14 and the loading face 28 , and after the sample 18 has been placed on the positioning rollers 20 while the handle arm 84 in fully clockwise position , engagement of the sample 18 by the frame assembly 12 may occur . the force - applying member 26 is placed on top of the sample in directly opposing relationship to the loading face 28 . a nominal static load , being approximately 5 % of the expected dynamic load , is then exerted on the sample 18 through the force - applying member 26 . referring to fig3 handle arm 84 is gripped while lock knob 88 is pulled away from knob hole 94 . this induces a counterclockwise pressure on handle arm 84 due to the pressure of the frame springs 58 acting on the retaining knobs 22 and the pressure of the statically loaded sample 18 on the positioning rollers 20 . handle arm 84 is gradually released to permit movement in this counterclockwise direction , until retaining knobs 22 release the side members 56 into engagement with the curved surface 16 of the sample 18 . this engagement is illustrated in fig4 by the solid line elements of the frame assembly 12 and base assembly 14 and by the lightly dashed outline of the sample 18 . at this position , the curved surface 16 of the sample 18 is supported by positioning rollers 20 at an intermediate seating position . the side members 56 engage the curved surface 16 of the sample along a predetermined orientation with respect to the force - applying axis 34 . specifically , the measurement plane extending horizontally from the middle of the left side member 56 to the middle of the right side member 56 lies substantially normal to the force - applying axis 34 . this normal relationship occurs because each retaining knob 22 is similarly attached to a respective turning rod 80 , and the pair of turning rods 80 were aligned with the force - applying axis 34 when the base assembly 14 was leveled during initial setup . having a measurement plane normal to the force - applying axis 34 allows accurate measurement of a sample &# 39 ; s horizontal strain upon application of a dynamic vertical load . the left and right pairs of retaining knobs 22 are connected to the left and right positioning rollers 20 , respectively , by the left and right lever arms 104 . therefore the retaining knobs 22 are movably synchronized with the positioning rollers 20 . their relative positions are such that a full diameter of the sample 18 will be presented to the side members 56 as the side members 56 are released into engagement against the sample 18 . stated differently , the measurement plane extends through the cylindrical axis 96 of the sample 18 . without proper alignment of the frame relative to the force - applying axis 34 or the sample cylindrical axis 96 , the strain measurement may be inaccurate due to uneven deflection of the curved surface 16 between the pair of regions selected . at the point of engagement of the side members 56 with the curved surface 16 , not only the frame assembly 12 but also the sample 18 itself will be in proper predetermined orientation with respect to the force - applying axis 34 . referring again to the specific embodiment depicted in fig4 the positioning rollers 20 maintain their level relationship with the loading face 28 even as they are moved from their initial supporting position to their intermediate seating position shown in solid lines . therefore the cylindrical axis 96 of the sample remains in substantially normal relationship to the force - applying axis 34 . referring again to fig2 because the turning gears 82 and center gears 90 are equally dimensioned , the left and right turning rods 80 will rotate at equal rates upon movement of the handle arm 84 . this ensures that the positioning rollers 20 move equal distances away from the center of the base assembly 14 so that the cylindrical axis 96 of the sample 18 is maintained in alignment with the force - applying axis 34 . because the positioning rollers 20 always maintain their parallel relationship , the rotational orientation of the cylindrical axis 96 of the sample 18 about the force - applying axis 34 is preserved . after the side members 56 have been released into engagement against the curved surface 16 of the sample 18 , gradual release of handle arm 84 is continued to permit further movement in a counterclockwise direction . referring again to fig4 the positioning rollers 20 here represented in dashed lines , will bring the sample 18 , here represented by heavy dashed lines , to a final seating position for testing , wherein the curved surface 16 of the sample 18 comes to rest against , or in contact with , the loading face 28 . for reasons similar to those just provided , the cylindrical axis 96 of the sample 18 will maintain its alignment with the force - applying axis 34 . during movement of the sample 18 , from the intermediate seating position to the final seating position , the retaining knobs 22 will become detached from the side members 56 . an unbalanced weight distribution on the frame , caused by the transducers 36 and transducer wires 24 , tends to tilt the frame 12 to one side . however , the static load force exerted by the force - applying member 26 in conjunction with the counteracting forces exerted on the sample by the positioning rollers 20 prevent this tilt of the frame 12 . therefore , the measurement plane extending between the side members 56 remains substantially normal to the force - applying axis 34 as the curved surface 16 of the sample 18 comes to rest against the loading face 28 . once the retaining knobs 22 are detached from the side members 56 , and once the positioning rollers 20 have brought the sample 18 to its final seating position , there is no longer any counterclockwise pressure on the handle arm 84 . further counterclockwise movement of the handle arm 84 places the retaining knobs 22 and positioning rollers 20 in their inoperative , retracted testing positions as indicated by the dashed lines in fig4 . these retracted positions may also be seen in fig1 . a dynamic force may now be exerted on the sample , through the force - applying member 26 , and the resulting diametric deflection of the sample measured . after measurement is completed on a particular section of a particular sample , the static load may be removed and the force - applying member 26 lifted off the sample . returning the handle arm 84 to its fully clockwise position reopens the frame and resets the positioning rollers 20 for initial support of the sample 18 so that a different rotational section of the sample can be selected for test . alternatively , a new sample 18 may be set in the base assembly 14 for automatic alignment , frame engagement , and test . in this manner , expedited testing of many consecutive samples is possible . the terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation , and there is no intention , in the use of such terms and expressions , of excluding equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof , it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims which follow .	6
referring to fig1 there is generally indicated a post - mix beverage dispenser 10 of a conventional type which is normally supplied with water from a commercial water supply . the beverage dispenser 10 may be of the type disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 496 , 080 to farber , et al , assigned to the same assignee of the present invention . the disclosure of that u . s . patent is incorporated herein by reference . adjacent the left side of the beverage dispenser 10 , there is provided the manually - refillable , water reservoir assembly 14 of the present invention , including a top water container portion 16 and a base assembly 18 , the details of which will be described hereinafter with respect to fig2 and 3 . however , assembly 14 may be disposed remotely from the cabinet if desired . attached to the right side of the dispenser 10 is an optional coin validator mechanism 12 . the validator mechanism 12 may be used if the dispenser is located in a commercial establishment unattended by operators . the dispenser 10 is normally provided with a water inlet fitting on the back side of the cabinet behind the selection panel sp , and the water handling and carbonator system ( not shown ). referring to fig2 and 3 , the water reservoir assembly 14 includes a top container 16 having a base wall including a discharge spout 16a . disposed within discharge spout 16a is a ball check valve 16b which is normally closed when container 16 is filled with water , and positioned in the orientation illustrated . container 16 is preferably transparent , so that one may visually observe the quantity of water in the container at any given time . it is also clear from reference to fig2 that the bottom wall on the interior of container 16 slopes slightly toward the discharge spout 16a to facilitate the gravity flow dispensing of water through the spout once the check valve 16b becomes open . the water reservoir assembly also includes a base section or assembly 18 , including a centrifugal pump p2 , a socket 20 , and an activated carbon filter f . the pump p2 has an inlet 24 in fluid communication with the socket 18a , and an outlet 26 connected via a conduit c to the optional filter f . within the socket 18a , there is provided an o - ring seal and an actuating stem 20 supported on a spider 22 for operative interaction with the ball check valve 16b in spout 16a . that is , when container 16 is plugged into socket 18a with spout 16a , the actuating stem 20 displaces ball check valve 16b upwardly , permitting water to flow by gravity from container 16 into socket 18a and the inlet 24 of pump p2 . pump p2 will then pump this water through filter f and conduit c , to the water fitting at the rear of the dispenser 10 and into the water system of the dispenser 10 , in a manner to be described hereinafter with respect to fig4 . also illustrated in fig3 is an access opening 28 through one sidewall of the water container 16 , a threaded rim 30 surrounding access opening 28 , and a recessed annulus 32 . access opening 28 is preferably large enough to permit an operator &# 39 ; s hand to reach into the interior of the container 16 for cleaning and sanitizing the same . a threaded cap 34 screws onto rim 30 to close the access opening . opening 28 may be disposed even lower on the sidewall than illustrated to preclude refilling in place . a vent 16c is provided in the sidewall of container 16 above the access opening 28 . this location of vent 16c is very significant in that the vent 16c will be located above the water line within container 16 in all operative positions of the container 16 . for example , when the container 16 is plugged into the base assembly 18 , the vent 16c is clearly above the water line within the container , and therefore functions properly to allow water to flow from the container . however , even in a position in which the container is being refilled wherein the container will be placed on its sidewall opposite to the opening 28 , the vent 16c is still disposed above the water line . therefore , the vent 16c is still in an advantageous position with respect to refilling of the container . that is , water will not run out of vent 16c . fig4 illustrates the manner in which the respective water systems of the water reservoir assembly 14 and the post - mix beverage dispenser 10 are connected together in order to achieve compatible flow rates and water pressures in the two respective systems . the post - mix beverage dispenser 10 includes a carbonator ct to which water is supplied from a pump p1 . the carbonator ct is also supplied with co 2 gas from conduit cg , as indicated , in a conventional manner , and carbonated water is output through a conduit cw . pump p1 in the system illustrated is a turbine - type pump which is operated in order to achieve a flow rate of 1 . 3 liters per minute , and develop a water pressure sufficient to overcome the co 2 pressure within carbonator ct . both pumps may be coupled to a 3 - part pressure sensor ps which monitors pressure in inlet 24 . a low - pressure in inlet 24 indicates a low water level . when such a low - level signal is sensed , switch ps will shut down both pumps . an alternate construction would place place the pressure sensor in conduit c . in order to accurately match the flow rates and pressures of the turbine - type pump p1 , it would normally be necessary to provide sophisticated flow rate and pressure control systems for the pump p2 of the water reservoir assembly 14 . however , in accordance with the present invention , the pump p2 is a centrifugal pump which has a sufficient amount of slippage so that it will adjust to the flow rate of the pump p1 regardless of the speed at which pump p2 is operated . accordingly , when pump p2 is operated in unison with pump p1 , the flow rates controlled by pump p1 and the water pressure become compatible throughout the system in spite of the presence of the filter f , and in spite of the speed at which pump p2 is operated . therefore , a totally compatible water system is provided between the water reservoir assembly 14 and post - mix dispenser 10 , making it easy to retrofit the water reservoir assembly to a conventional type of post - mix beverage dispenser , as illustrated . the centrifugal pump p2 , for use in the assembly of the present invention , may be a gorman - rupp industries , high - speed centrifugal pump that produces 0 . 5 gpm at 15 psi with maximum flow of 1 gpm and maximum head of 17 psi . the activated charcoal filter f , utilized in the assembly of the present invention , may be a commercially - available type manufactured by omnipure filter company . it should be understood that the system and assembly described hereinabove may be modified as would occur to one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention .	8
the invention provides a completed pile that is equivalent to a one piece precast concrete pile of the same dimensions . the diameter or width of a segment is commonly 6 - inches , with the segment being precast of concrete having a minimum compressive strength of 3000 - psi or more . normally the segments will have a cylindrical form . a rectangular or other cross section may be used . a structural adhesive , typically a 2 - component epoxy , may be used to bond the concrete segments one to another during their assembly in the ground as pile . installation equipment typically comprises incidental hand tools to excavate access tunnels or holes and hydraulic jacks with an electric pump . because the precast components and equipment are small in nature , the underpinning operations usually require only limited clearance , or head room , and support locations will be beneath the perimeter or interior of a building . the dimensions , reinforcing requirements and location of the pile are site specific , and depend primarily on the soil conditions and structural loads needing to be supported . the structural adhesive may be a 2 - component epoxy having a minimum compressive strength of 6 , 000 - psi and a minimum bond strength of 1000 - psi , such as an astm c - 881 , type vi bonding system . normal penetration requirements range from a minimum of about 7 - ft , up to possibly 20 - ft or more , with most installations being around 12 - ft and is normally determined by a desired resistance being obtained in the soil penetration . as can be appreciated when used the epoxy is not of a fast setting type , preferably allowing a series of precast segments to be placed , since some degree of movement may be expected as the pile segments are added and driven into the ground . the need for epoxy between the segments of the pile is dependent on the nature of the soil into which they are driven . normally the weight of the structure will be enough to maintain the contact between the segments . also the cooperating interlocking components may have slots and lugs to secure the segments from the vertical movement , with or without an adhesive . the process of installing may include steps of removing a volume of earth from beneath a portion of a structure , positioning a first pile segment below said portion of said structure , placing a jack between said first pile segment and said portion of said structure , driving a first pile segment a distance into unexcavated earth . the first pile segment has an end extending out of the earth having a first cooperating element for engaging a second cooperating on a second pile segment , fully engaging said first and second cooperating elements to seat said second pile segment onto said first pile segment ; and driving said second pile segment another distance into the earth . fig1 is a side view of a preferred embodiment of the invention for the installation of several segments , where a hydraulic jack 8 presses the pile segments 4 , 5 and 6 into the soil 1 pushing against the weight of the structure 9 . a flat plate 18 is used on the piston of the hydraulic jack to bridge the cooperating depression 19 . multiple pile segments 4 , 5 , and 6 are sequentially mounted by inserting cooperating projections 20 into cooperating depressions 19 for installation and aligned by the connection . when the desired depth or penetration resistance is reached the underpinning installation is backfilled with soil fill ( not shown ). fig2 differs from fig1 by having adhesive 17 inserted in the connection between cooperating projection 20 and depression 19 . fig3 is a generally cylindrical segment 100 having a projection 20 on one end and a depression 19 on the other end . the projection and slots are preferably cooperating such that there is tight fit . as shown the projections are trapezoidal , and the depression is the same . in this configuration the segments mounted together are laterally stable and also rotationally stable . in some configurations such as a cylindrical shape cooperating components rotational stability can be obtained with adhesive . fig4 is a segment 200 with a depression 19 at each end . fig5 is a segment 300 with an extension 19 at each end . fig6 is a segment 400 with an extension 420 and a cooperating depression 419 . this segment is designed to have a rotational locking feature . the tabs 422 are engaged into slots 421 and the extension 420 seated entirely into the depression 419 and rotated to engage the tabs 422 in slots 423 . fig8 , 9 and 10 each show a pair of engagement configurations exploded in vertical alignment from engagement . in fig8 the segment 500 has an intersecting depression 504 on both ends with one end aligned with a second segment 502 which has cooperating intersecting projections 506 which engage in the depression 504 . fig9 shows a variation of the engagement of fig8 in that the depression 524 on segment 520 is a single slot and the cooperating projection 526 is a single straight ridge . fig1 shows a pyramidal project 556 on segment 552 for cooperative engagement in a corresponding depression 554 in segment 550 . it will be appreciated that the bottom segment in a piling may not have any engagement means on its lower end and further that the uppermost or any other segment may engage cooperatively with a segment of a configuration other than elongated , such as a flat element 528 ( a footing ) with projection 530 as shown in fig9 .	4
fig4 schematically illustrates a magnetic resonance imaging ( tomography ) apparatus for generating a nuclear magnetic image of a subject according to the present invention . the components of the nuclear magnetic resonance tomography apparatus correspond to those of a conventional tomography apparatus , but it is controlled according to the invention . a basic field magnet 1 generates a time - constant , intense magnetic field for polarization ( alignment ) of the nuclear spins in the examination region of a subject such as , for example , a part of a human body to be examined . the high homogeneity of the basic magnetic field required for the nuclear magnetic resonance measurement is defined in a spherical measurement volume m in which the part of the human body to be examined is introduced . for supporting the homogeneity demands and , in particular , for eliminating time - invariable influences , shim plates of ferromagnetic material are attached at suitable locations . time - variable influences are eliminated by shim coils 2 that are driven by a shim power supply 15 . a cylindrical gradient coil system 3 is built into the basic , field magnet 1 , the system 3 being composed of three sub - windings . each sub - winding is supplied with current by an amplifier 14 for generating a linear gradient field in the respective directions of a cartesian coordinate system . the first sub - winding of the gradient field system 3 generates a gradient gx in the x - direction , the second sub - winding generates a gradient gy in the y - direction , and the third sub - winding generates a gradient gz in the z - direction . each amplifier 14 has a digital - to - analog converter dac that is driven by a sequence control 18 for the time - controlled generation of gradient pulses . a radio - frequency antenna 4 is situated within the gradient field system 3 . the antenna 4 converts the radio - frequency pulses emitted by a radio - frequency power amplifier into an alternating magnetic field for exciting the nuclei and aligning the nuclear spins of the subject under examination , or of a region of the subject under examination . the radio - frequency antenna 4 is composed of one or more rf transmission coils and a number of rf reception coils in the form of an arrangement ( preferably linear ) of component coils . the alternating field proceeding from the precessing nuclear spins , i . e . the nuclear spin echo signals produced as a rule by a pulse sequence composed of one or more radio - frequency pulses and one or more gradient pulses , is also converted into a voltage by the rf reception coils of the radio - frequency antenna 4 , this voltage being supplied via an amplifier 7 to a radio - frequency reception channel 8 of a radio - frequency system 22 . the radio - frequency system 22 also has a transmission channel 9 wherein the radio - frequency pulses are generated for exciting magnetic nuclear resonance . the respective radio - frequency pulses are digitally presented as a sequence of complex numbers on the basis of a pulse sequence in the sequence control 18 prescribed by the system computer 20 . this number sequence — as a real part and an imaginary part — is supplied via respective inputs 12 to a digital - to - analog converter dac in the radio - frequency system 22 and is supplied from there to a transmission channel 9 . in the transmission channel 9 , the pulse sequences are modulated onto a radio - frequency carrier signal having a basic frequency corresponding to the resonant frequency of the nuclear spins in the measurement volume . the switching from transmission mode to reception mode ensues via a transmission / reception diplexer 6 . the rf transmission coil of the radio - frequency antenna 4 radiates the radio - frequency pulses , based on signals from a radio - frequency amplifier 16 , for excitation of the nuclear spins into the measurement volume m and samples the resulting echo signals via the rf reception coils . the acquired nuclear magnetic resonance signals are phase - sensitively demodulated in the reception channel 8 of the radio - frequency system 22 and are converted via respective analog - to - digital converters adc into the real part and the imaginary part of the measured signal , which are respectively supplied to outputs 11 . an image computer 17 reconstructs an image from the measured data acquired in this way . administration of the measured data , the image data and the control programs ensues via the system computer 20 . on the basis of control programs , the sequence control 18 monitors the generation of the respectively desired pulse sequences and the corresponding sampling of k - space . in particular , the sequence control 18 controls the timed switching of the gradients , the emission of the radio - frequency pulses with defined phase and amplitude , as well as the reception of the nuclear magnetic resonance signals . the timing signals for the radio - frequency system 22 and the sequence control 18 is made available by a synthesizer 19 . the selection of corresponding control programs for generating a nuclear magnetic resonance image as well as the presentation of the generated nuclear magnetic resonance image ensues via a terminal 21 that has a keyboard as well as one or more picture screens . the system computer 20 and the sequence control 18 are programmed in accordance with the present invention to conduct a continuous sequence , embodying reference scans and image acquisition scans , wherein the reference scans are executed using a first sequence kernel , optimized for coil sensitivity calibration , and wherein the image acquisition scans are based on a second sequence kernel , different from the first kernel , optimized for imaging . the inventive method which is executed by the apparatus shown in fig4 is schematically illustrated in fig5 for two slices , slice 1 and slice 2 . time is indicated on the horizontal axis and the y - direction ( k y ) of k - space is indicated on the vertical axis . as stated above , each complete measurement sequence executes a combination of two pulse sequence kernels . the first kernel acquires data for coil sensitivity calibration and the second kernel executes an accelerated image acquisition sequence , which can be used for reconstructing a single image of an examination subject , or reconstructing a series of images in a dynamic study , such as cardiac cine imaging . an exemplary embodiment of a complete sequence in accordance with the invention is a shown in fig6 , wherein a flash sequence is used as the first kernel and truefisp sequence is used as the second kernel . within each kernel , the respective sequence is executed in a conventional manner . thus the flash sequence proceeds with rf spoiling by a series of rf pulses each having a flip angle α 1 , separated by a repetition time tr 1 . after each rf pulse combination , an analog - to - digital converted ( adc ) signal is obtained , which represents the magnetic resonance data . as shown in fig6 , the flash sequence is immediately followed by a truefisp sequence which employs a first rf pulse having a flip angle of α / 2 , followed by rf pulses having alternating flip angles − α and α . the sequences respectively beginning with rf pulses of alternating flip angles are separated by a repetition time tr , and the first of those rf pulses is preceded by the α / 2 rf pulse at a time tr / 2 . in general tr 1 will not be equal to tr . moreover , the phase - encoding step size ( δk y ) for the flash sequence can be different from δk y for the truefisp sequence , in order to allow a smaller fov in the truefisp sequence . as shown in fig6 , and as is conventional for a truefisp sequence , so - called dummy cycles are initially executed for steady state preparation , followed by a number of cycles wherein data are acquired , as indicated by adc signals . as noted above , the two kernels can be executed with the same slice position and orientation information . as schematically indicated in fig6 , the second kernel employed for imaging can have a flip angle which is larger than the flip angle in the first kernel ( i . e ., α & lt ; α 1 ) so that a better signal - to - noise ratio can be obtained in the imaging sequence . moreover , the contrast for the first kernel need not be the same as ( as high as ) the contrast for the second kernel , so that the calibration scans can be conducted in a shorter time . although modifications and changes may be suggested by those skilled in the art , it is the intention of the inventors to embody within the patent warranted hereon all changes and modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of their contribution to the art .	6
fig1 illustrates one example of a telecommunications system in which the invention may be applied . in the telecommunication system of fig1 , various telecommunication services such as voice calls , data calls , facsimile transmissions , music transmissions , still image transmissions , video transmissions , electronic message transmissions , mobile browsing and electronic commerce may be performed to and / or from different mobile terminals 100 , 106 or other portable devices 116 . at least some of these services may be used by a user 1 of the mobile terminal 100 and be debited against a prepaid account 30 that the user 1 holds at a network operator 2 . therefore , the mobile terminal 100 is one example of an apparatus according to the invention . as already explained in a previous section of this document , the invention is however also applicable to other apparatuses than mobile terminals , including but not limited to digital music players , digital video players , gaming devices , digital television receivers , navigating devices , and computers , and consequently to other service providers than operators of mobile telecommunications networks . the mobile terminals 100 , 106 are connected to a mobile telecommunications network 110 , held by the network operator 2 , through rf links 102 and 108 via respective base stations 104 , 109 . the mobile telecommunications network 110 may be any commercially available mobile telecommunications system , including but not limited to gsm , umts , d - amps , cdma2000 , foma or td - scdma , or any combination of such systems . the mobile terminals 100 , 106 are illustrated as mobile ( cellular ) telephones but may alternatively be other kinds of portable devices , such as personal digital assistants or communicators , as mentioned above . a public switched telephone network ( pstn ) 130 is connected to the mobile telecommunications network 110 in a familiar manner . various telephone terminals 132 are connected to the pstn 130 . the mobile telecommunications network 110 is operatively connected to a wide area network 120 , which may be internet or a part thereof . various web / wap servers 122 may make contents 124 available for client computers 126 connected to the wide area network 120 , and for the mobile terminals 100 , 106 . the network operator 2 has a network resource 112 in the form of e . g . a server computer or computer system with an associated account database 114 . the account database 114 stores the prepaid account 30 of the user 1 , as well as a large number of other accounts , which may be prepaid accounts or conventional subscription accounts with post - payment ( i . e . accounts the owners of which will be billed after service usage at some periodicity ). the network resource 112 , or other equipment of the network operator 2 , has debiting functionality which monitors service usage by the user 1 and charges his prepaid account 30 accordingly . moreover , the network resource also has functionality for sending credit status information 20 to the mobile terminal 100 over the mobile telecommunications network 110 on an available channel . for instance , the credit status information 20 may be included in an sms sent to the mobile terminal 100 from the network resource 112 , or the credit status information may be sent as packet - switched data , or it may be appropriately included in system control data exchanged between the network 110 and mobile terminal 100 at system access , paging , etc . in some embodiments , the credit status information 20 is pulled by the mobile terminal 100 by sending a request 10 to the network operator 2 , which upon receipt thereof may initiate sending of the credit status information 20 by the network resource 112 . the credit status information 20 will be used in the mobile terminal 100 provide service availability update functionality according to the invention for the prepaid account user 1 , as will be described in more detail later . the credit status information 20 may be temporarily received and stored in local memory of the mobile terminal 100 one beforehand ; it need not be received in direct conjunction with the performance of the service availability update functionality . as seen in fig2 , the mobile terminal 100 has a processing device in the form of a controller 200 which is responsible for the overall operation of the mobile terminal and is preferably implemented by any commercially available cpu ( central processing unit ), dsp ( digital signal processor ) or any other electronic programmable logic device . the controller 200 has associated electronic memory 202 such as ram memory , rom memory , eeprom memory , flash memory , or any combination thereof . the memory 202 is used for various purposes by the controller 200 , one of them being for storing data and program instructions for various software in the mobile terminal . the software includes a real - time operating system 220 , man - machine interface ( mmi ) drivers 234 , an application handler 232 as well as various applications . the mmi drivers 234 cooperate with conventional mmi or input / output ( i / o ) devices , including a display 236 and a keyboard 238 as well as various other i / o devices such as a microphone , a speaker , a vibrator , a joystick , a ringtone generator , an led indicator , etc . as is commonly known , the user 1 may operate the mobile terminal through the man - machine interface thus formed . the applications include a control panel application 240 , a contacts ( phonebook ) application 250 , a call handling application 260 for voice calls and optionally circuit - switched data calls and / or fax transmissions , a messaging application 270 for sms , mms and / or email , and a web / wap browser 280 . applications 260 - 280 thus execute different telecommunication services 262 , 272 and 282 , respectively , in cooperation with the mobile telecommunications network 110 . various other applications which are not explicitly shown in fig2 may be present , such as a calendar application , a word processing or notebook application , a calculator , an electronic game , etc . the software also includes various modules , protocol stacks , drivers , etc ., which are commonly designated as 230 and which provide communication services ( such as transport , network and connectivity ) for a wireless rf interface 206 , and optionally a bluetooth interface 208 and an irda interface 210 . the rf interface 206 comprises an internal or external antenna as well as appropriate radio circuitry for establishing and maintaining a wireless link to a base station of a mobile telecommunications network ( e . g . link 102 , base station 104 and network 110 in fig1 ). as is well known to a man skilled in the art , the radio circuitry comprises a series of analogue and digital electronic components , together forming a radio receiver and transmitter . these components include , inter alia , band pass filters , amplifiers , mixers , local oscillators , low pass filters , ad / da converters , etc . the mobile terminal also has a sim card 204 and an associated reader . as is commonly known , the sim card 204 comprises a local processor 205 as well as local work and data memory 206 . service availability update functionality 290 is also included in the mobile terminal . it is illustrated in fig2 as a separate software application , but in other embodiments it may be integrated with the telecommunication service applications 260 - 280 , or with lower layers of the terminal &# 39 ; s software structure , such as the application handler 232 , mmi 234 or real - time operating system 220 . with reference to fig3 , one embodiment of a method 300 performed by the service availability update functionality 290 will now be described . this embodiment operates in a pull manner , and therefore the method 300 starts with a step 302 where the request 10 for credit status information is sent from the mobile terminal 100 to the network resource 112 over the mobile telecommunications network 110 . any available channel may be used depending on implementation , as has already been explained . in other embodiments which instead operate in a push manner , the step 302 can be omitted . the sending of the request 10 is triggered by a service availability update scheme which has been configured in the mobile terminal , or if the user 1 manually requests service availability update by entering the separate application 290 or invoking a command to this effect in any of the telecommunication service applications 260 - 280 . the disclosed embodiment uses a service availability update scheme which specifies service availability update each time the mobile terminal is powered on and / or at system access . however , as previously explained , in other embodiments the scheme may define a time - based periodicity , and / or that service availability update be performed after each completion of a telecommunication service ( i . e ., after completion of each voice call , transmission of each sms message , etc ). the request 10 includes data by which the prepaid account 30 of the user 1 can be identified , such as relevant data from the user &# 39 ; s sim card 204 . upon receipt of the request 10 , or triggered by other parameters such as a timer in push - based embodiments , the network resource retrieves a prepaid account record in the account data base 114 , reads the current balance and creates the credit status information 20 by including the current balance 22 therein . in addition , in the disclosed embodiment , the network resource includes service price data 24 in the credit status information 20 . the service price data 24 includes a list of applicable charges per relevant usage unit for different telecommunication services . in one example , the service price data may look like : in other embodiments , as explained in a previous section of this document , service price data may have been stored in advance in local memory of the mobile terminal 100 ( either in the terminal memory 202 , as seen at 224 a , or in the sim card memory 206 , as seen at 224 b ). the thus created credit status information 20 is sent by the network resource 112 to the mobile terminal 100 over an available channel , which may or may not be the same channel as the request 10 was received over . in step 304 , the mobile terminal 100 receives the credit status information 20 . in step 306 , the received credit status information is processed to determine the current availability of different telecommunication services for the prepaid account user , given his current account balance . to this end , in the disclosed embodiment , the mobile terminal derives the current balance 22 together with the service price data 24 from the received credit status information 20 and determines to what extent different telecommunication services are currently available for the prepaid account user 1 , given the current balance 22 of his account 30 and a usage cost derived from the service price data 24 ( 224 a , 224 b ). the thus determined availability of telecommunication services is indicated to the user 1 in the user interface of the mobile terminal 100 in step 308 . as already explained , this can be made in many different ways and at different levels of detail . in one embodiment , continuing with the exemplifying service price data 24 above , the indication may be an informative text like in the following examples : in this example , the user 1 is thus given a lot of useful information that provides him with a clear overview of his possible extent of service usage , given his current account balance . for instance , the user 1 will learn that he can either make up to 4 local calls via his home operator , or up to 3 local calls to other operators , assuming that such local calls are shorter than one minute and therefore only incur the startup cost . alternatively , he can make up to 3 and 2 national calls , respectively , or send 9 sms messages via his home operator or 6 via other operators , or use 90 kb of packet data . he cannot currently afford any mms messages , and nor can he make any international calls . of course , in different embodiments , both the way in which such service availability update is presented , and into what detail it is made , may vary widely , as is understood by a skilled person . the determined current availability of different telecommunication services may be used further in different ways . for instance , in the above examples 2 - 4 where international calls are unavailable , the call handling application 260 may prevent an outgoing call to an international number already when the user attempts to make the call . correspondingly , the contacts application may disable calls to all international numbers in the various contact records therein . likewise , when the current balance only permits voice calls to the home operator ( network operator 2 ), telephone numbers to subscribers of other operators may be blocked in the call handling and contacts applications . alternatively , appropriate warning messages may be given in the user interface of the mobile terminal 100 , if the user attempts to use a service which , according to the most recent service availability update , his current balance cannot afford . a use case will now be described with reference to the display screen snapshots of fig4 a - 4 e , which are shown in sequence to the user 1 of the mobile terminal 100 when using one embodiment of the method according to the invention . starting with fig4 a , the display screen 400 of the mobile terminal 100 contains at its upper part a status area 410 which may contain various visual indications ( text characters and / or graphical symbols ), such as an antenna / received signal strength indicator , the current network operator , a battery level indicator , the current date / time , and a text header . the center of the display screen 400 contains a main presentation area 420 which in fig4 a shows a feedback 421 to the user 1 , in the form of a text and a progress bar . soft key labels 430 are provided at a lower part of the display screen 400 . the display screen 400 of fig4 a may be shown for steps 302 and 304 of fig3 . in fig4 b , once the credit status information received in step 304 has been processed in step 306 and the execution enters step 308 , the display screen 400 shows the derived current balance as 10 euros at 422 , as well as the determined service availability in the form of a popup menu list with three menu items 423 a - 423 c , one for each different service category sms messages , mms messages , and calls . in fig4 c , upon selection of one menu item 423 c , calls , the display screen 400 shows different operators , including the home operator elisa , as respective sub menu items 424 a - 424 c . upon selection , by way of a soft key , of the home operator elisa , the display screen 400 is updated in fig4 d to present , at 425 , an estimated remaining calling time ( 30 minutes ) for calls to the home operator . simultaneously , at 426 , the user 1 is offered to invoke further functionality in the form of a list 427 ( fig4 e ) of all contact records in the contacts application 250 which are subscribers of the operator elisa . this list may be used to conveniently place calls to any such contact . in the example screenshots of fig4 a - 4 e , all services were available ( since the current balance 422 was large enough ). however , when a certain service is no longer available because of a shortage of the current prepaid account balance , this fact can be indicated by disabling the corresponding menu item 423 a - c / 424 a - c , thereby preventing selection thereof . alternatively , the menu item can be left selectable , but a help / warning text can be given should the user 1 select it . the invention has mainly been described above with reference to a few embodiments . however , as is readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art , other embodiments than the ones disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the invention , as defined by the appended patent claims .	7
the embodiments of the present invention are described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig1 is a section view showing the general construction of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention . facsimile apparatus 1 comprises scanning unit 10 for reading documents and converting them to data signals , image signal process section 20 for processing image signals transmitted from scanning unit 10 , memory unit 30 for outputting image data received from image signal process section 20 directly to a printing device or storing said image data in memory , and print process section 40 for driving a semiconductor laser 61 based on image data output from memory unit 30 . facsimile apparatus 1 further controls communications such as modulation and demodulation of image data and control signals during facsimile operation with facsimile conversion section 41 which transfers image data and memory unit 30 during facsimile operation . facsimile apparatus 1 further comprises a g3 unit 42 for controlling communication with a telephone line network connected via telephone lines , a laser optical unit 60 for directing a laser beam emitted from semiconductor laser 61 to an exposure position on the surface of a photosensitive drum 71 , an image forming section 70 for developing an electrostatic latent image formed by said exposure , transferring said image to a recording sheet , and fixing said image on said recording sheet , and a document transporting section 500 for transporting documents and inverting said documents front - to - back , as necessary . image reading device ir comprises a scanning unit 10 and image signal process section 20 , and the like . printing device prt comprises print process section 40 , laser optical unit 60 , image forming section 70 , and the like . the construction of each section is described hereinafter . scanning unit 10 includes a scanner 19 that is movable below a glass document platen 18 ; an optical exposure lamp 11 and a first mirror 12 are combined with the scanner 19 . scanning unit 10 further includes second and third mirrors 13a and 13b for receiving the light reflected by the first mirror 12 , a photoelectric conversion element 16 using a ccd array , and a scanning motor m2 . image signal process section 20 , memory unit 30 , and facsimile conversion section 41 are described later in the discussion pertaining to the control section . print process section 40 generates light from semiconductor laser 61 in accordance with transmitted image data . laser unit 60 comprises a semiconductor laser 61 , a polygonal mirror 65 for deflecting the laser beam , a main lens 69 , a reflecting mirror 67a , a reflecting mirror 67b , and the like . image forming unit 70 comprises a developing / transfer unit 70a , transport unit 70b , and fixing unit 70c . developing / transfer unit 70a comprises a photosensitive drum 71 that is driven in rotation in a counterclockwise direction , and around the periphery of which are sequentially arranged from the upstream side in the direction of rotation : a charger 72 , a developing device 73 , a transfer charger 74 , a separation charger 75 , and a cleaning section 76 . a two - component developer comprising a black toner and a carrier is accommodated in developing device 73 . transport section 70b comprises cassettes 80a and 80b which accommodate recording sheets , size sensors se11 and se12 for detecting recording sheet size , a sheet guide 81 , a timing roller 82 , and a transport belt 83 . fixing unit 70c comprises a fixing roller 84 which fuses via heat and pressure the toner image formed on a recording sheet while transporting the same , a discharge roller 85 , and a discharge sensor se62 for detecting the ejection of a recording sheet after the fixing process . document transport section 500 automatically transports documents set on the document feed tray 510 onto the glass document platen 18 , and ejects the documents read by the scanner 19 to the document discharge unit 511 . document transport section 500 comprises the document feed tray 510 for placement of documents , the document discharge section 511 for discharging documents , a feed roller 501 for feeding documents one sheet at a time , a guide roller 502 , a guide pad 503 , an intermediate roller 504 for transporting documents , a registration roller 505 , a transport belt 506 , an inverting roller 507 , a switching member 508 , a discharge roller 509 , and a document scale 512 disposed on the document platen 18 as a document position reference . the operation panel op is described below . operation panel op is provided on the top of the facsimile apparatus 1 . fig2 is a top view showing the construction of the operation panel op . operation panel op is provided with a liquid crystal touch panel 91 , a ten - key pad 92 for entering numerical settings such as the number of copies , copy magnification , recipient fax number and the like , a clear key for returning numerical settings to a standard value of &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;, a panel reset key 94 for returning the values set within the apparatus to standard values , a stop key 95 for terminating copy operation and facsimile operation , a start key 96 for starting a copy operation and facsimile operation , and an interrupt key 99 for copying or fax transmission by interrupting an on - going copy process or auto - printing process . operation panel op further comprises an application switching key 98 for switching between facsimile modes and copy modes , a display section 98a for displaying a selected facsimile mode , and a display section 98b for displaying a selected copy mode . liquid crystal touch panel 91 displays copying apparatus operational states such as exposure levels , copy magnification , recording sheet size , and the like ; various anomaly states of the copying apparatus such as paper jam , service call , paper empty , and the like ; facsimile operational states during communications such as recipient fax number , transmission resolution , and facsimile modes such as polling and the like , as well as other information . liquid crystal touch panel 91 also may be used for automatic selection of specifying copy operations such as density , copy magnification , recording sheet size and the like , as well as facsimile operations such as transmission resolution and the like , and mode specification . the control section of facsimile apparatus 1 is described below . fig3 is a block diagram showing the construction of control section 100 of facsimile apparatus 1 . control section 100 comprises a core of four individual cpus 101 ˜ 104 . these cpus 101 ˜ 104 are respectively connected to rom 111 ˜ 114 which store programs , and ram 121 ˜ 124 which are used as work areas . each cpu 101 ˜ 104 is mutually connected via a command line , so as to exchange necessary command data . image data input / output is accomplished through an image data line , and the various sections are respectively connected to said data line via bus switches bus sw . each cpu is described below . cpu 101 executes control of input from the various operation keys of operation panel op and display output to the display sections . the operation panel initial mode settings , total counter , and section discrimination counter are stored in nvram 127 . cpu 102 controls the actuation of scanning section 10 and controls the various parts of image signal process section 20 . cpu 103 controls print process section 40 , laser unit 60 , and image forming unit 70 . cpu 104 executes processing for setting the operation mode and timing adjustments for the entire control section 100 . read image data are temporarily stored in memory 125 and code memory 126 via the control of memory unit 10 . these image data are read out and output to print process section 40 when the copy mode has been set , or are output to facsimile conversion section 41 when facsimile transmission has been set , and are thereafter output to the telephone line ( pstn ) via g3 unit 42 . during facsimile reception , image data received from the telephone line are temporarily stored in code memory 126 and image memory 125 via g3 unit 42 and facsimile conversion section 41 , then said image data are read and output to print process section 40 . during facsimile mode , data conversions are executed such as the pixel density conversion process and the like between memory unit 30 and g3 unit 42 by controlling facsimile conversion section 41 . image signal process section 20 is described below . image signal process section 20 processes image signals output from photoelectric conversion element 16 , and outputs image data to memory unit 30 . image signal process section 20 comprises an analog - to - digital ( a / d ) converter , shading correction section , variable magnification process section , and image quality correction section . image signals input from photoelectric conversion element 16 are subjected to a / d conversion , and quantized as 8 - bit image data for each pixel . the image data are then subjected to various processing such as shading correction , variable magnification , image quality correction and the like before being output . memory unit 30 is described below . memory unit 30 comprises a binarizer for creating binary data based on parameters received from the switching section and cpu 104 , a multiport image memory 125 provided with a capacity to store two a4 size pages at 400 dots - per - inch ( dpi ) resolution , an encode section provided with a compressor and expander capable of operating with mutual independence , a multiport code memory 126 , a rotation section , and a multi - level converter for creating multi - level data based on parameters received from cpu 104 . cpu 104 controls all the aforesaid elements . facsimile conversion section 41 is described below . facsimile conversion section 41 is positioned between memory unit 30 and g3 unit 42 , and converts the format of the image data during transmission and reception . image data conversion includes the following items . ( 3 ) operation sequence of the entire facsimile apparatus in each operational mode the operation sequence of the entire facsimile apparatus in the fax transmission mode and fax reception mode is described below with reference to fig4 and 5 . requests transmitted among cpus 101 ˜ 104 , responding commands and the like , and data flow are the focus of the following discussion , whereas nonessential requests , and responding commands and the like are omitted from the following discussion . fig4 shows the operational sequence in the fax transmission mode . in the fax transmission mode , image data read by image reading device ir are temporarily written to image memory 125 , subjected to compression processing , and stored in code memory 126 , and thereafter undergo data conversion in facsimile conversion section 41 for fax transmission . first , a send request is output from cpu 101 to cpu 104 by pressing the start key 96 , and when this request is received a scan request is output from cpu 104 to cpu 102 . then , cpu 102 starts scanning via the aforesaid request , and when the image region of the document is reached , executes image processing in accordance with the selected image processing mode . the processed image data are output to memory unit 30 , and stored in image memory 125 . thereafter , cpu 104 executes a compression process for the image data stored in image memory 125 , and stores the code data in code memory 126 . when reading of the document image via scanning is completed , a reply indicating that scanning has ended is output from cpu 102 to cpu 104 , and a signal indicating that the fax transmission has ended is output from cpu 104 to cpu 101 . when the image ( code ) data to be transmitted to the code memory 126 are all stored , cpu 104 controls g3 unit 42 and specifies the connection to the telephone line . the receiving side is called according to the aforesaid directive , and the telephone line connection is completed , and a line connection reply is received . next , cpu 104 reads the code data and outputs said data to facsimile conversion section 41 where it is converted to image data . after cpu 104 modulates the image data via a modem within g3 unit 42 , said data are transmitted via a telephone line ( pstn ) to the receiving side . when the transmission of the image data ends , cpu 104 sends a line disconnect request to the receiving side , executes a line disconnect process , and clear memory to end the operation . when a report is output following the end of a fax transmission , or when an error report is output due to the occurrence of an error during transmission , a print request is output from cpu 104 to cpu 103 . this request causes image data ( report data ) to be output from cpu 104 to print processing section 40 , and print processing section 40 starts printing said data . when the printing of the report ends , a print end reply is output from cpu 103 to cpu 104 . then , memory is cleared and the operation ends . fig5 shows the operational sequence in the fax reception mode . in the fax reception mode , received image data are subjected to data conversion by facsimile conversion section 41 , and are stored in code memory 126 . after being subjected to an expansion process , the data are written to image memory 125 , and thereafter are read out to printing device prt and printed . when cpu 104 receives a call request from the transmission side , cpu 104 connects the telephone line . then , cpu 104 sets the settings for the image reception mode , such as encoding method , reception magnification , number of pixels in 1 - line of the reception image , maximum number of lines permitted for line error , and the like . when the code memory 126 completes reception preparation , the image data output from the sending side is demodulated by the internal modem of g3 unit 42 , subjected to data conversion by facsimile conversion section 41 , and thereafter stored in the code memory 126 . when the image data reception ends , the cpu 104 disconnects the telephone line , and executes a print request to cpu 103 . after printing is requested , cpu 104 expands the code data via an expansion process . the expanded image data are written to image memory 125 . the image data read out from image memory 125 are then output to the printing device prt for printing . when printing is completed , a print end reply is output from cpu 103 to cpu 104 , and when said reply is received , cpu 104 clears memory to end the operation . when a report is output after fax transmission ends , or when an error report is output due to the occurrence of an error during transmission , a print request is output from cpu 104 to cpu 103 . thus , image data ( report data ) is output from cpu 104 to the print processing section , which starts printing . when the printing of the report ends , a print end reply is output from cpu 103 to cpu 104 . then , memory is cleared to end the operation . the controls executed by each cpu 101 ˜ 104 are briefly described below . first , the operation panel is described below . fig6 is a flow chart showing the processes of the operation panel . after power to facsimile apparatus 1 has been turned on , the panel display program stored in rom 111 and initial display mode stored in nvram 127 are read by the initialization routine ( step # 1 ; &# 34 ; step &# 34 ; is omitted hereinafter ), and the initial screen is displayed on operation panel op . then , a timer within cpu 101 is started for the auto - clear function (# 2 ), and key input from operation panel op is awaited . when key input occurs (# 3 ), the content of the key input is detected by key branching (# 4 ), and the program branches to the display mode corresponding to the key input . for example , if application switching key 98 is pressed on the operation panel op when the copy operation screen is being displayed , the program branches to the fax display routine (# 6 ), whereas if the application switching key 98 is pressed when the fax operation screen is being displayed , the program branches to the copy display routine (# 5 ). if no key input occurs when a time previously recorded in nvram 127 is elapsed after the final key operation , the timer ends (# 7 ), and operation panel op is automatically set in the initial mode . the fax display routine (# 6 ) is described below with reference to the flow chart of fig7 . in the fax display routine , the fax display screen is read out from nvram 127 ( refer to fig8 ), and is displayed on the liquid crystal touch panel 91 of the operation panel op (# 8 ). then , the timer for auto - clearing the fax application is started (# 9 ), and entered data from the liquid crystal touch panel 91 is awaited . when data are entered via the liquid crystal touch panel 91 (# 10 ), the content of the key input is detected by key branching (# 11 ), and the program branches to the display mode corresponding to the input key . for example , when the recipient selection key ( refer to tp4 of fig8 ) is pressed , the program moves to the recipient selection routine (# 12 ), so as to look up the desired recipient from among recorded telephone numbers . if the application key tp2 is pressed , the program moves to the application display routine (# 13 ), and if the application selection key 98 is pressed , the copy display mode routine is executed (# 5 ). when a recipient has been selected in the recipient selection routine (# 12 ) and the start key 96 is pressed , the program moves to the fax transmission routine (# 15 ), and a fax transmission request is transmitted to cpu 104 . if the internal timer ends without additional key input after the elapse of a previously recorded time stored in nvram 127 following a final key operation (# 16 : yes ), the operation panel op automatically returns to the basic screen display (# 8 ). the application display routine of # 13 of fig7 is described below with reference to the flow chart of fig1 . in the application display routine , the fax application screen ( refer to fig9 ) is read out from nvram 127 so as to be displayed on liquid crystal touch panel 91 (# 17 ), and input from liquid crystal touch panel 91 is awaited . when there is input from liquid crustal touch panel 91 (# 18 ), the content of the key input is detected by key branching (# 19 ), and the program moves to the display mode corresponding to the key input . for example , if the confidential transmission key tp6 ( refer to fig9 ) is pressed , the program moves to the confidential transmission routine (# 21 ). if the basic key tp1 is pressed , the program moves to the fax display routine (# 6 ). fig1 shows a flow chart of the operation of the control section . in the control section , initialization is accomplished by a program stored in rom 114 after power is turned on (# 23 ). thereafter , commands from the operation control section ( cpu 101 ) are awaited . if a command is input from the operation control section ( cpu 101 ) (# 24 ), the content of the command is detected by command branching (# 25 ), and processes corresponding to said command are executed (# 26 ˜# 31 ). for example , when a fax transmission request command is input , the fax transmission process is executed (# 26 ), whereas when the copy request command is input , the copy process is executed (# 27 ). if a confidential transmission request command is input , the confidential transmission process is executed (# 28 ). if the g3 unit 42 receives a fax reception from the telephone line ( pstn ), the fax reception control routine is executed (# 32 ). when an error occurs , the report process is executed (# 33 ). fig1 is a flow chart showing the contents of the scanner section operation . the scanner section is initialized by a program stored in rom 112 after power is turned on (# 35 ). thereafter , reception of commands from the control section ( cpu 104 ) is awaited . if a scan request (# 37 ) is detected when a command is input from the control section (# 36 ), a scan control / image process routine is executed (# 38 ). if a scan request is not received , command input is awaited . in the scan control / image process routine (# 38 ) , scan and image processes are executed in the image reading mode , e . g ., resolution and halftone , which are transmitted together with the scan request from the control section , and image data are subsequently transmitted to the control section . fig1 is a flow chart showing the content of the operation of the print section . the print section is initialized by a program stored in rom 113 when the power is turned on (# 39 ). thereafter , reception of commands from the control section are awaited . when a command is received from the control section (# 40 ), and a print request is detected by the print request branch (# 41 ), the print control routine is executed (# 42 ). if a print request is not detected , command reception is awaited . in the print control routine (# 42 ), a print process is executed in the print mode , e . g ., resolution , halftone , which is transmitted together with the print request from the control section , and image data are subsequently transmitted to the printing device prt for printing . confidential transmission is a function wherein confidential code data are appended and transmitted by the fax transmission device , and printing of the transmission is prevented when the confidential code is not input in the fax reception device . confidential transmission is possible not only for individual recipients , but also allows batch transmissions to a plurality of recipients by using the group transmission recording function of the fax transmission device . ( a ) operation panel section ( cpu 101 ) of the confidential transmission display routine fig1 is a flow chart showing the contents of the processing of the operation panel section in the confidential transmission display routine . in the confidential transmission display routine , the confidential transmission screen ( refer to fig1 ) is read out from nvram 127 and displayed on the liquid crystal touch panel 91 of the operation panel op (# 51 ), and the liquid crystal touch panel 91 awaits input . when there is input from liquid crystal touch panel 91 (# 52 , # 53 ), the content of said key input is detected by key branch (# 54 ), and processing is executed in accordance with said key input . for example , when the transmission key tp21 is pressed after a confidential code is input following recipient selection ( tp23 in fig1 ), the confidential code and recipient are specified to the control section . if the cancel key tp 22 is pressed , the program moves to the application display routine (# 13 ). fig1 is a flow chart showing the contents of the operation of the control section in the confidential transmission routine . the recipient and confidential codes are set via input from the operation panel op (# 57 ) based on the fax transmission request from the operation panel op (# 56 ), and a scan request is executed by the scan section (# 58 ). then , after image data are received (# 59 ) and a scan end reply is received (# 60 ), a fax transmission end reply is sent to the operation panel (# 61 ). thereafter , the fax transmission process is executed (# 62 ), and the report process is executed (# 63 ). in fax reception , there are three types of documents ( confidential document , receipt document , and other ) considered . a sample of a receipt is shown in fig2 . the receipt image data are stored in rom 114 and are called up during transfer . ( a ) control section ( cpu 104 ) of the fax reception control routine fig1 is a flow chart for the control section in the fax reception control routine . in the fax reception control routine , after a fax reception is received (# 70 ), a reception process is executed (# 71 ), and stored in memory (# 72 ). in the reception process (# 71 ), a received document is discriminated by type , and processed in accordance with said discriminated type . if a received document is a confidential document , a confidential reception display request is sent to the operation panel section (# 76 ). if a received document is a receipt , a receipt display request is sent to the operation panel section (# 77 ). if a received document is not a confidential document , a print request is sent to the print section (# 74 ), and the image data are transferred (# 75 ). ( a ) operation panel section ( cpu 101 ) in the confidential reception print routine fig1 is a flow chart of the operation panel section of the confidential reception print routine . referring to fig1 , in the confidential reception routine , the confidential reception screen ( refer to fig1 ) is read out from nvram 127 and displayed on the liquid crystal touch panel 91 of the operation panel op (# 65 ), and input from the liquid crystal touch panel 91 is awaited . when a confidential code is entered on the operation panel op (# 66 ) and input is generated via the liquid crystal touch panel 91 (# 67 ), the content of the key input is detected by the key branch (# 68 ), and processing is executed in accordance with said key input . for example , when the confirmation key ( tp 24 in fig1 ) is pressed , a check of the input confidential code is specified to the control section ( cpu 104 ) (# 69 ). if the cancel key ( tp 25 in fig1 ) is pressed , the program moves to the application display routine . ( b ) control section ( cpu 104 ) in the confidential reception print routine fig2 is a flow chart showing the control contents of the control section in the confidential reception print routine . in the confidential reception print control , first a confidential code check is executed (# 80 ), and the program moves to appropriate processing in accordance with said check result (# 81 ). for example , if printing is accepted (# 81 : yes ), a print request is sent to the print section (# 82 ), and the image data are transferred (# 83 ). when a print end reply is received (# 84 ), a receipt is generated (# 85 ) and transmitted to the destination (# 86 ). if the confidential code is not accepted (# 81 : no ), no process is executed . the confidential reception receipt list is a list generated on the sending side and lists the receipts returned to the sending side for reception confirmation when a document has been sent by confidential transmission from a sending apparatus and received and printed by a receiving apparatus . that is , this list is generated by the sending apparatus . receipts are generated on the receiving side , and have the confidential code data and fax number data appended thereon , and are transmitted in reply to the sending apparatus . after the sending apparatus generates a confidential transmission receipt list , the sending apparatus automatically generates and transmits a receipt request ( refer to fig2 ) to receiving apparatuses which have not yet transmitted a confidential transmission receipt , i . e ., from which a receipt has not yet been received . ( a ) operation panel section ( cpu 101 ) in the utility display routine the confidential transmission receipt printing is achieved by the utility display routine (# 14 ). the flow of the utility display routine is shown in fig2 . in the utility display routine , the utility screen ( refer to fig2 ) is read out from nvram 127 and displayed on liquid crystal touch panel 91 of operation panel op (# 90 ), and input via liquid crystal touch panel 91 is awaited . when there is input from liquid crystal touch panel 91 , the content of the key input is detected by key branch (# 92 ), and the program moves to the display mode corresponding to said key input . for example , if the telephone directory key tp 8 is pressed , the program moves to the telephone directory routine (# 93 ), whereas if the list key tp 9 is pressed , the program moves to the list routine (# 94 ). if the basic key tp 1 is pressed , the program moves to the fax display routine . the flow chart of fig2 shows the specific content of the aforesaid list display routine (# 94 in fig2 ). in the list display routine , first the list screen ( refer to fig2 ) is read out from nvram 127 and displayed on liquid crystal touch panel 91 of the operation panel op (# 100 ), and input from the liquid crystal touch panel 91 is awaited . when there is input from the liquid crystal touch panel 91 (# 101 ), the contents of the key input is detected by key branch (# 102 ), the program moves to the display mode corresponding to said key input . for example , if the communication management list key tp 17 ( refer to fig2 ) is pressed , the program moves to the communication management list routine (# 103 ), whereas if the confidential transmission receipt list key tp 18 is pressed , the program moves to the confidential transmission receipt list routine (# 104 ). if the utility key tp 3 is pressed , the program moves to the utility display mode . fig2 is a flow chart of the aforesaid confidential transmission receipt list routine . in the confidential transmission receipt list display routine , first the confidential transmission receipt list screen ( refer to fig2 ) is read out from nvram 127 and displayed on liquid crystal touch panel 91 of operation panel op (# 110 ), and input from the liquid crystal touch panel is awaited . when there is key input from liquid crystal touch panel 91 ( 112 ), the content of said key input is detected by key branch (# 113 ) and the program moves to processes corresponding to said key input . for example , if the print key tp 19 ( refer to fig2 ) is pressed , a receipt list print request is sent to the control section (# 114 ), whereas if the cancel key tp 20 is pressed , the program moves to the list screen display routine . ( b ) control section ( cpu 104 ) in the confidential transmission receipt routine a flow chart of the control section in the confidential transmission receipt routine is shown in fig2 . in the print control of the confidential transmission receipt list , first a check is made of the code memory management table (# 120 ), and the image data of the appropriate receipt is extracted (# 121 ). the recorded transmission data and the received receipt data are compared (# 122 ), and unreceipted recipients are extracted (# 123 ). if a plurality of receipts are received (# 124 : yes ), the extracted receipt image data are compressed and combined so as to fit on one page (# 125 ). then , an unreceipted recipient list is synthesized (# 126 ), and after a print request is sent to the print section (# 127 ), the image data are transferred to the print section (# 128 ). when no receipts have yet been received or only a single receipt has been received , the receipt image data compression and combination process is not executed (# 124 : no ). after receipt list image data have been transferred (# 128 ), a receipt request is generated for transmission to the unreceipted recipients (# 129 ), and said data are faxed to the unreceipted recipients (# 130 ). although receipt image data are generated on the receiving side in the present embodiment , said receipt image data may be generated on the sending side . furthermore , when it is difficult to render the confidential transmission receipt list on a single sheet of paper due to a high number of destinations , the list may be divided and printed on two or more sheets . as described above , when there are replies specifying confidential reception from a plurality of facsimile apparatuses , the confidential transmission completion reports from a plurality of facsimile apparatuses can be output in a batch , thereby easily confirming that the intended recipients have reliably received the transmitted documents . when a number of replies indicating reception of confidential transmission is forthcoming from a plurality of facsimile apparatuses , these replies are compared to destinations stored in memory to detect destinations which have not yet replied . as a result , destinations that have not had confidential reception can be immediately confirmed , and confidential reception can be requested for said destinations . since a request for confidential reception is executed at the same time as the confidential transmission completion report is output , a separate process for recipients that have not had confidential reception is unnecessary , and requests can be made more quickly . although the present invention has been fully described by way of examples with reference to the accompanying drawings , it is to be noted that various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art . therefore , unless otherwise such changes and modifications depart from the scope of the present invention , they should be construed as being included therein .	7
referring briefly to fig1 , a system block diagram of an information handling system 100 is shown . the information handling system 100 includes a processor 102 , input / output ( i / o ) devices 104 , such as a display , a keyboard , a mouse , and associated controllers , memory 106 including volatile memory such as random access memory ( ram ) and non - volatile memory such as a hard disk and drive , and other storage devices 108 , such as an optical disk and drive and other memory devices , and various other subsystems 110 , all interconnected via one or more buses 112 . the memory 106 includes a raid controller 120 as well as a raid system 122 that includes a plurality of drives configured as a raid device . for purposes of this disclosure , an information handling system may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute , classify , process , transmit , receive , retrieve , originate , switch , store , display , manifest , detect , record , reproduce , handle , or utilize any form of information , intelligence , or data for business , scientific , control , or other purposes . for example , an information handling system may be a personal computer , a network storage device , or any other suitable device and may vary in size , shape , performance , functionality , and price . the information handling system may include random access memory ( ram ), one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit ( cpu ) or hardware or software control logic , rom , and / or other types of nonvolatile memory . additional components of the information handling system may include one or more disk drives , one or more network ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input and output ( i / o ) devices , such as a keyboard , a mouse , and a video display . the information handling system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components . referring to fig2 , a block diagram of a raid controller 120 is shown . the raid controller 120 includes an 10 processor ( iop ) 210 . the iop 210 is coupled to dedicated volatile memory ( e . g ., ram ) 212 . the iop 210 is also coupled to an io controller 220 of the information handling system 100 via the bus 112 . the dedicated iop 210 handles all raid functions and performs rebuilds , error recovery and any additional functions that are part of the feature set of the raid system . the iop 210 performs these operations independently of an operating system and thus enables many raid tasks to execute outside of the operating system without affecting performance of the processor 102 . the iop 210 executes raid controller firmware 240 in its processing core 242 . the io controller 220 includes flag and id detection logic 250 . the raid controller firmware 240 stores memory variables as well as metadata variables , flags and identifiers . the memory variables include a last initialize block variable . the last initialize block variable ( lastlnitializeblock ) identifiers the last block that has completed initialization during background initialization . the last initialize block variable is loaded with a background initialize checkpoint when the raid controller 120 is restarted , due to user action of restart of the information handing system 100 . the metadata variables , flags , and identifiers include a fast rebuild supported indication ( fastrebuildsupported ), as well as a virtual disk consistent indication ( virtualdiskconsistent ) and a background initialize checkpoint ( backgroundlnitializecheckpoint ) value . the fast rebuild supported indication is a flag that is stored in raid metadata to indicate that the raid system supports fast rebuild . the fast rebuild supported indication is useful during raid migration for importing controllers that support the fast rebuild feature to enable the fast rebuild feature for the virtual disk . the fast rebuild supported indication is meaningless to a controller that does not support the fast rebuild feature . the virtual disk consistent indication is a flag is stored in the raid metadata to indicate whether the virtual disk is consistent . the background initialize checkpoint value includes a logical block address ( stripe ) for the virtual disk that represents a checkpoint for a background initialization process . block flags and identifiers include a block valid data ( blockvaliddata ) indication , a data written on inconsistent stripe ( datawrittenoninconsistentstripe ) identifier . the block flags and identifiers are defined for every block in a virtual disk and are stored in the region of the block outside the data area for the block ( see fig4 ). the block valid data indication indicates that a block contains valid data written by a host ( blocks having this indication or flag set indicate that the block needs to be rebuilt ). the block valid data indication is set by the raid controller firmware 240 for every block that is written as a result of a host write operation . the block valid data indication is used by the rebuild task to determine if the stripe needs to be rebuilt . the data written on inconsistent stripe identifier is an identifier that is used by the raid controller firmware 240 to track writes on inconsistent stripes ( if background initialization is supported with fast rebuild ). when the raid controller 120 is writing to a block that is not consistent , it uses this flag to so indicate . when the initialization task detects this identifier on a block , then during a background initialization process , the controller does not reset the block valid data indication , but clears the data written on inconsistent stripe identifier . the data written on inconsistent stripe identifier is also used by the rebuild task to determine whether a stripe needs to be rebuilt in the inconsistent part of a virtual disk , if a rebuild process is started as a result of a disk failure that happened prior to completion of a background initialization process . fig3 shows a block diagram of a typical organization of disks , virtual disks , and raid metadata within a raid system 122 . more specifically , the raid system 122 includes a plurality of disks 310 ( disk 0 , disk 1 , disk n ) which are controlled via the raid controller 120 . the raid system 122 also includes a plurality of virtual disks 320 ( virtual disk 1 , virtual disk 2 , virtual disk m ), which are stored across the plurality of disks 310 . the raid system 122 also includes raid metadata 330 that is stored across the plurality of disks 310 . fig4 shows a diagram of a block of data . more specifically , a block of data includes user data 410 as well as block information which is separated from the user data 410 . the block information also includes the block valid data indication 430 as well as the data written on inconsistent stripe indication 432 . fig5 shows a block diagram of flag and id detection logic 250 . more specifically , the flag and id detection logic 250 includes a data stream processor 510 as well as an id register 512 . the data stream processor 510 of the io controller 230 receives data read from physical disks that are part of the raid system 122 . the data stream processor 510 receives an input from the id register 512 . when id detection is enabled , the contents of this register is that the id that is used by the raid controller to indicate the data written on an inconsistent stripe . the id detection is used when a background initialization operation or rebuild operation is being performed . the data stream processor also receives an enable id detect ( enable_id_detect ) signal , and generates an id detected ( id_detected ) interrupt and a block valid data detected ( blockvaliddata_detected ) interrupt . the enable id detect signal enables detection of id programmed into the id register 512 in the data read from the raid system 122 . the id detected interrupt is generated when the processor detects the id programmed in the id register 512 in the data stream read from disk drives , when the enable_id_detect signal is asserted . the block valid data detected interrupt occurs when the processor detects block valid data value . fig6 shows a flow chart of a write operation 600 for the raid system 112 . more specifically , during a write operation 600 , the virtual disk consistent indication is analyzed to determine whether the indication is set ( i . e ., is true ) at step 610 . if the virtual disk consistent indication is set , then the data written on inconsistent strip indication is set to zero at step 612 . next , the block valid data indication is set true at step 614 and the block of data is written to the disk system 112 at step 616 . if the virtual disk consistent indication is not set ( i . e ., is not true ), then the block to write is analyzed to determine whether the block is greater than the last initialize block at step 630 ( i . e ., is after the last initialized block ). if the block to write is greater than the last initialized block , then the data written on inconsistent strip indication is set to the block at step 632 . next , the block valid data indication is set true at step 614 and the block of data is written to the disk system 112 at step 616 . fig7 shows a flow chart of a foreground initialization operation 700 with fast rebuild enabled . when fast rebuild is enabled , host 10 operations are blocked until initialization completes . more specifically , during the foreground initialization operation starts operation by setting the virtual disc consistent value to false and the fast rebuild supported value to true at step 710 . next , the iop 210 determines whether the present block to be initialized is the last block on the disk for the virtual disk at step 710 . if the block is not the last block on the disk , then the data written on inconsistent stripe value is set to zero and the block valid data value is set to false at step 730 . next , a write same operation is used to zero the data area and to write the block valid data flag and the data written on inconsistent stripe id value to the disk at step 732 . steps 730 and 732 are repeated for every block that is on the disk that is part of the virtual disk . the virtual disk consistent value is set to true when the process is completed on every member of the virtual disk that is being initialized within the raid system 122 . fig8 shows a flow chart of a background initialization operation 800 . more specifically , a background initialization operation 800 starts by setting the virtual disk consistent value to false , the fast rebuild supported value to true where the background initialize the checkpoint value to zero and the last initialize block value to zero at step 810 . next , the iop 210 determines whether the raid system is configured as a parity based raid at step 812 . if the system is not configured as a parity based raid , then the raid system 122 is configured as a mirror system and one disk is selected at the base drive at step 814 . if the system is configured as a parity based raid system then for every stripe of the virtual disk , the iop 210 selects a parity drive as the base drive at step 820 . next , the iop 210 reads data from the base disk strip at step 830 . next , the id detected interrupt and the block valid data detected interrupt are monitored at step 832 . if these interrupts are not present , then a write same operation is used to set the block valid data value to zero and the data written on inconsistent stripe value to zero for all strips in the stripe of the block at step 834 . if the strip is not the last strip of the virtual disk , then the system returns to step 816 to process the next stripe in the virtual disk . if at step 832 , the id detected interrupt and the block valid data detected interrupt are present , then the system writes back the strip to the base drive with a value of data written on inconsistent stripe value set to zero at step 840 . next for every other drive in the strip at step 842 , the system reads the strip data at step 850 . next , the id detected interrupt and the block valid data detected interrupt are monitored at step 852 . if the id detected interrupt and the block valid data detected interrupt are present , then the data written on inconsistent stripe value is set to zero at step 854 and the system writes the strip back to the disk at step 856 . if the id detected interrupt and the block valid data detected interrupt are not present , then the block valid data value is set to zero at step 858 . the data written on inconsistent stripe value is set to zero and the system writes the strip back to the disk at step 856 . after the system writes the strip back to the disk at step 856 , the system determines whether all member disks in the stripe have completed processing at step 860 . if all members in the strip have not completed processing , then the system reads the next strip data at step 850 . if all members in the strip have completed processing , then at step 836 the system updates the background initialize checkpoint value at step 835 to indicate that this stripe of the virtual disk has completed background initialization . at step 836 , the system checks if the last stripe processed was the last stripe of the virtual disk . if there are more stripes in the virtual disk to process , the system returns to step 816 to continue the background initialization process . at step 836 , if the last stripe processed is the last stripe of the virtual disk , then the system sets the virtual disk consistent value to true at step 870 and completes the background initialization operation . fig9 shows a flow chart of a fast rebuild operation 900 . prior to starting the rebuild operation , all flags have to be cleared on the disk to which rebuild will be performed prior to start of the rebuild ( such as by using a write same operation ( a write same operation does not require any data transfer to the disk )). for every stripe in the virtual disk at step 908 , a fast rebuild operation determines whether the virtual disk consistent value is true at step 910 . if the virtual disk consistent value is true , then the iop 210 determines whether the raid system 122 is a parity based raid system at step 912 . if the raid system 122 is a parity based raid system , then the iop 210 determines whether the stripe includes a corresponding parity stripe at step 914 . if the stripe does include its corresponding parity strip then the iop 210 reads the strip data at step 916 . if the stripe does not include it corresponding parity strip , then the iop 210 reads all strips in the stripe at step 918 . if , at step 912 , the iop 210 determines that the raid system 122 is not a parity based raid system , then the iop 210 reads all strips in the stripe at step 918 . after all strips in the stripe are read or the strip data is read , the iop 210 determines whether the block valid data detected interrupt is present at step 920 . if the block valid data detected interrupt is present , then the iop rebuilds this stripe and sets the block valid data value to one for the rebuild data at step 930 . if the block valid data detected interrupt is not present , then this stripe does not need to be rebuilt . next , the iop 210 determines whether all stripes have completed the rebuild operation at step 932 . if all stripes have completed , then the rebuild operation completes . if , at step 910 , the iop 210 determines that the virtual disk consistent value is not true , then the iop 210 determines whether the background initialize checkpoint value is greater than the current stripe that needs to be rebuilt ( as indicated by the rebuild stripe value ) at step 940 . stripes with blocks with logical block addresses less than the background initialize checkpoint are consistent , while stripes with logical block addresses greater than the background initialize checkpoint are inconsistent . if the background initialize checkpoint value is greater than the rebuild stripe value , then the rebuild operation proceeds to step 912 . if the background initialize checkpoint value is not greater than the rebuild stripe value , then the iop 210 determines whether the raid system 122 is a parity based raid system at step 952 . if the raid system 122 is a parity based raid system , then the iop 210 determines whether the stripe includes a corresponding parity stripe at step 954 . if the stripe does include its corresponding parity strip then the iop 210 reads the strip data at step 956 . if the stripe does not include it corresponding parity strip , then the iop 210 reads all strips in the stripe at step 958 . if , at step 952 , the iop 210 determines that the raid system 122 is not a parity based raid system , then the iop 210 reads all strips in the stripe at step 958 . after all strips in the stripe are read or the strip data is read , the iop 210 determines whether the id detected interrupt and the block valid data detected interrupt are present at step 960 . if the id detected interrupt and the block value data detected interrupt are present , then the iop rebuilds this stripe and sets the block valid data value to one for the rebuild data at step 970 . next , the iop 210 determines whether all stripes have completed the rebuild operation at step 932 . if all stripes have completed , then the rebuild operation completes . if a background initialization process was executing on the virtual disk when a drive failure occurred , the process is paused and then restarted on the virtual disk when the rebuild process completes . the present invention is well adapted to attain the advantages mentioned as well as others inherent therein . while the present invention has been depicted , described , and is defined by reference to particular embodiments of the invention , such references do not imply a limitation on the invention , and no such limitation is to be inferred . the invention is capable of considerable modification , alteration , and equivalents in form and function , as will occur to those ordinarily skilled in the pertinent arts . the depicted and described embodiments are examples only , and are not exhaustive of the scope of the invention . in addition , for example , the above - discussed embodiments include software modules that perform certain tasks . the software modules discussed herein may include script , batch , or other executable files . the software modules may be stored on a machine - readable or computer - readable storage medium such as a disk drive . storage devices used for storing software modules in accordance with an embodiment of the invention may be magnetic floppy disks , hard disks , or optical discs such as cd - roms or cd - rs , for example . a storage device used for storing firmware or hardware modules in accordance with an embodiment of the invention may also include a semiconductor - based memory , which may be permanently , removably , or remotely coupled to a microprocessor / memory system . thus , the modules may be stored within a computer system memory to configure the computer system to perform the functions of the module . other new and various types of computer - readable storage media may be used to store the modules discussed herein . additionally , those skilled in the art will recognize that the separation of functionality into modules is for illustrative purposes . alternative embodiments may merge the functionality of multiple modules into a single module or may impose an alternate decomposition of functionality of modules . for example , a software module for calling sub - modules may be decomposed so that each sub - module performs its function and passes control directly to another sub - module . consequently , the invention is intended to be limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims , giving full cognizance to equivalents in all respects .	6
in fig1 a pulse proximity detector 10 like that described in my above - mentioned u . s . pat . no . 4 , 716 , 430 is shown in simplified form comprising a light emitter such as an led 12 for directing light along a path shown by arrow 14 to a reflector such as a rotating mirror 16 connected by a shaft 18 to a motor 20 . mirror 16 , shaft 18 , and motor 20 may be part of a robot which is mobile within an area to perform tasks and is desirous of viewing its area of work as , for example , by rotating the mirror 16 through a 360 ° scan so that light travelling along path 14 is reflected along a path 22 to be reflected off all of the various objects in its surroundings . mirror 16 is caused to rotate relatively slowly , as for example , 1 to 2 revolutions per second while the light emitting diode 12 is modulated so as to produce pulses of light fairly rapidly , as for example , every 0 . 5 to 2 milliseconds . accordingly , the light travelling along path 22 will strike substantially all of the objects in the robot &# 39 ; s surroundings and be reflected back along paths such as shown by dash lines 24 and 26 to the mirror 16 where it is reflected downwardly along paths shown as dash lines 28 and 30 to first and second detectors 32 and 34 located in the pulse proximity detector at slightly different distances , l , away from the remote object . as is explained in my above - mentioned u . s . pat . no . 4 , 716 , 430 , a greater signal will build up on detector 32 than on detector 34 because of this difference in distance and the difference between the signal on the two detectors is a function of the range to the remote object . this range signal is produced at an output shown by arrow 35 for use by the control system of the robot . to inhibit signals which are derived from specular surface reflections , the signals from the detectors 32 and 34 are also presented to a differential amplifier 36 along lines shown as arrows 38 and 40 , respectively . differential amplifier 36 will detect the difference in the signals on lines 38 and 40 and produce an output on a line shown by arrow 42 . as explained above , the range signal is only accurate so long as the remote object has some diffuse property and is not highly specular so that enough of the reflected energy will travel along paths 24 and 26 to reach detectors 32 and 34 in sufficient amounts to allow the system to operate satisfactorily . if the object is highly specular , and approximately normal to path 22 , then the amount of radiation received by the detectors becomes unrelated to range . with a highly specular surface , light travelling from led 12 will be substantially totally reflected back towards mirror 16 in a narrow beam and accordingly either one of the detectors or possibly both will receive a much higher level of radiation than from a diffuse object . accordingly , the output of amplifier 36 may be highly positive or highly negative depending on which of the detectors receives the most reflected light in the narrow beam . in order to utilize the either highly positive or highly negative output from amplifier 36 to produce an inhibit signal for the system , line 42 is shown connected to an absolute value circuit 44 which will produce an always positive output ( or negative output , if desired ) on a line 46 , whether the signal on line 42 is positive or negative . likewise , as mirror 16 rotates , the rate of change of the difference signal when a highly specular surface is encountered is very rapid as compared to the change which occurs when the scanning encounters first and second diffuse objects . as explained , it is undesirable to use signals representative of specular surfaces to try to determine range to the objects since such range would likely be in error and not useful or actually harmful to the operation of the robot . while inhibit signals will cause the robot to be uncertain about the specular object , such uncertainty is better than having erroneous range information and not know of the error . to minimize the possibility of serious collisions , the robot may be controlled to slow down or stop if the inhibit signal persists . the present invention operates to detect the too large or too rapidly changing signals which are created because of reflections from highly specular surfaces and to produce inhibit signals accordingly . to this end , a high pass filter circuit 50 is employed comprising a capacitor 52 , one side of which is connected to receive the signals on output 46 and the other side of which is connected to a resistor 54 which has it other end connected to ground the values of capacitor 52 and resistor 54 are selected so as to pass those signals which have a high rate of change which , as explained above , is indicative of a highly specular surface . accordingly , only signals which are from such highly specular surfaces will produce a significant output from high pass 50 along a line such as shown by arrow 56 . signals of lower rate of change will be suppressed by filter 50 and will be of smaller magnitude than those representing signals from highly specular surfaces . while the output on line 56 alone might be used to inhibit the range detection signal on line 35 or 42 , some lower magnitude signals may also exist on line 56 and to make sure that valid range signals are not also suppressed , a level detect circuit 60 is employed . level detect circuit 60 is shown having an amplifier 62 therein for receiving the signal on line 56 at a first input thereof . amplifier 62 has a second input connected to the wiper 64 of a resistive winding 66 , the upper end of which is connected to a positive voltage source and the lower end of which is connected to a negative voltage source or ground so that by positioning wiper 64 , a predetermined reference level of voltage ( either positive or negative , depending on whether the output of absolute value circuit 44 is chosen to be positive or negative ) may be presented to the lower terminal of amplifier 62 . amplifier 62 operates to produce an output on a line 70 whenever the input on the upper terminal of amplifier 62 exceeds the level of input on the lower terminal thereof . accordingly , signals below the predetermined level set by the wiper 64 will not produce an output on line 70 whereas signals which are above the predetermined reference level will do so . the reference level is set so that only those signals truly representative of highly specular surfaces produce outputs on line 70 but to block those which are of lower level due to reflections from diffuse surfaces . accordingly , the output on line 70 will be indicative only of the encountering of a highly reflective surface and the signal may be used therefore to inhibit the range signal being produced by the proximity detector at output 35 thereof . in this way , the robot will disregard the signals from the highly specular surfaces and will respond only to those reflected from diffuse surfaces as is desired . fig2 shows an alternate embodiment of the invention in which the high pass filter 50 of fig1 is omitted since , as explained above , the output of differential amplifier 36 is in itself much higher ( positive or negative ) when responding to signals from specular surfaces than it is when responding to signals from diffuse surfaces . accordingly , the signal on line 46 in fig1 will be considerably greater for specular surfaces than for non - specular surfaces and the level detect circuit 60 can , alone , be set to pass those signals out to line 70 . the apparatus of fig2 carries the same reference numerals as were used with respect to fig1 and , aside from the omission of high pass filter 50 , fig2 is substantially identical to fig1 and it operation need not be further explained . fig3 shows another alternate embodiment of the present invention in which a microprocessor 80 which may be part of the robotic control system is employed to receive the signals from the proximity detection device 10 . microprocessor will be programmed in a convenient manner , such as will be described in connection with fig4 below , for example , to compare the signals on lines 38 and 40 from the proximity detection device 10 and to take the difference therebetween and determine if it exceeds a predetermined level as was the case with respect to fig2 or , to determine if the rate of change is greater than a predetermined level as was the case in connection with fig1 and to produce an output along a line shown by arrow 82 indicative of when these levels are exceeded so that the signal on line 82 can be used to inhibit the signal from line 35 to the robot . in fig4 the signals on lines 38 and 40 are shown being presented to a pair of analog to digital converters 90 and 92 , respectively , in order to produce digital signals on outputs shown by arrows 96 and 98 , respectively , indicative of the radiation sensed by detectors d 1 and d 2 which represent the detectors 32 and 34 of fig1 respectively . a to d converters 90 and 92 are clocked by a clock pulse generator 100 over outputs shown by arrows 102 and 104 , respectively the digital signals on lines 96 and 98 are presented to a subtract circuit 108 which operates to determine d 1 - d 2 and produce an output signal indicative thereof on an output shown as arrow 110 . a signal storage section 114 receives and stores the value of subtraction d 1 - d 2 from output 110 and , in accordance with a signal from clock 100 over an output shown by arrow 118 , periodically transfers the d 1 - d 2 signal to a second signal storage section 120 over an output shown by arrow 122 . at the same time , clock 100 , through outputs 102 and 118 , causes subtract circuit 109 to receive a next digital signal from a to d circuits 90 and 92 and to transfer the new d 1 - d 2 signal to the store section 114 so that the signal in section 114 always represents the current value of d 1 - d 2 while the signal in section 120 represents the previous d 1 - d 2 value referred to as d 1 &# 39 ;- d 2 &# 39 ;. store section 120 is also connected to clock output 118 and both store sections 114 and 120 are caused to present their stored signals representative of d 1 - d 2 and d 1 &# 39 ;- d 2 &# 39 ;, respectively over outputs shown by arrows 126 and 128 , respectively to a second subtract circuit 130 . subtract circuit 130 produces a signal &# 34 ; s &# 34 ; representative of the subtraction ( d 1 - d 2 )-( d 1 &# 39 ;- d 2 &# 39 ;) and this value is produced on an output shown by arrow 132 . in effect , the value of s is indicative of the rate of change of the signals from the detectors since a previous value is subtracted from a present value and s will become large when a highly reflective surface is first encountered . a first level check circuit 136 receives the &# 34 ; s &# 34 ; output from subtract circuit 130 and compares this with an internal reference value &# 34 ;+ l1 &# 34 ;. so long as no highly reflective surface has been encountered , the s signal will be below the positive reference + l1 , value , and an &# 34 ; ok &# 34 ; signal will be passed as an output shown by arrow 138 . if a highly reflective surface has been encountered , either d 1 and / or d 2 will be very large and d 1 - d 2 will be very positive or very negative . if very positive , s will be greater than the reference value + l1 and , accordingly , a &# 34 ; bad range &# 34 ; signal is passed as an output shown by arrow 140 which corresponds to the output 82 of fig3 . of course , ( d 1 - d 2 ) could be a very large negative signal if d 2 received most of the highly reflected light and accordingly the &# 34 ; ok &# 34 ; signal on line 138 is checked by a second level check circuit 142 where s is compared with an internal reference value &# 34 ;- l1 &# 34 ;. if s is not highly negative , then it would be greater than &# 34 ;- l2 &# 34 ; and a final &# 34 ; range ok &# 34 ; signal is presented as an output shown by arrow 144 . if , however , the value of d 1 - d 2 is very negative so that s is very negative , s will be less than &# 34 ;- l1 &# 34 ; and a &# 34 ; bad range &# 34 ; signal will be passed as an output shown by arrow 146 which also corresponds to the output 82 in fig3 . the above logic circuit can be used by the computer to detect highly reflective objects using the rate of change of intensity principle described in connection with the rate circuit 50 of fig1 . if desired , the magnitude of d 1 - d 2 can be also checked by using a pair of level check circuits like 136 and 144 connected to receive a value v representative of the d 1 - d 2 output of subtract circuit 108 on line 110 . the first circuit 156 shown in dashed line 5 is shown receiving the &# 34 ; v &# 34 ; signal on line 110 as is indicated by dashed line output 158 . level check circuit 156 checks to determine if v is less than a positive reference value &# 34 ;+ r1 &# 34 ;. the second level check circuit 162 checks to determine if v is greater than a negative reference value &# 34 ;- r1 &# 34 ;. if either of these conditions is not met , a &# 34 ; bad range &# 34 ; inhibit signal is passed as by outputs shown as dashed arrows 164 and 166 , respectively . otherwise , the &# 34 ; range ok &# 34 ; signal is passed by an output shown as dashed arrow 170 . thus , the computer may use the magnitude principle described in connection with the comparison circuit 60 of fig2 to detect the presence of a highly reflective circuit and inhibit the range detectors accordingly . of course , both magnitude and rate type comparisons may be used in fig3 and was the case in fig1 using logic circuit like that of fig4 . it is seen that i have provided a system for determining when specular surfaces are encountered in connection with proximity detection and to inhibit the signals coming from the proximity detector when such surfaces are encountered . it will be obvious that many changes can be made to the specific disclosures used in connection with the preferred embodiments , for example , the resistor capacitor combination of the high pass filter 50 may be replaced by any other high pass device and the level detecting circuit of detector 60 including amplifier 6 and potentiometer wiper 64 may be replaced by other level detectors . also , the scanning mechanism including motor 20 , shaft 18 , and mirror 16 may be replaced by other scanning devices and the pulsed level detector 10 which was described as consisting of apparatus from my u . s . pat . no . 4 , 716 , 430 could likewise have apparatus similar to that shown in the above - mentioned u . s . pat . no . 3 , 937 , 574 , or any other appropriate modulated proximity detection system . also , the logic diagram of fig4 is exemplary only and those skilled in the art may readily devise alternate schemes to accomplish the desired result . i therefore do not wish to be limited by the specific disclosures used in connection with describing the preferred embodiments but wish only to be limited by the appended claims .	6
fig1 shows a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the invention . coil 1 serves to both carry the high - power output signal being sent to the loop , as well as to receive the much weaker signal emitted by the sensor loop . balanced drive circuitry 4 takes the signal from vco 3 , which is constrained to have a frequency covering all the expected operating frequencies of loop sensors ( typically 20 khz - 200 khz ) and applies it to both coil 1 and inductor 2 . coil 1 consists of approximately 20 turns of wire wound in a rectangular form , approximately 4 inches by 5 inches along its sides . the nominal inductance of coil 1 is chosen to be approximately 50 microhenries . inductor 2 is wound on an iron - powder toroidal form and also has an inductance of approximately 50 microhenries . the field of inductor 2 should be kept substantially isolated from coil 1 so that little mutual inductance exists between the two . in this manner , substantially out - of - phase signals applied to coil 1 and inductor 2 , as connected in series , will produce little signal at the output frequency at their common terminal . in practice , some imbalance will occur , and the common connection point will contain some amount of the output signal . however , this will not adversely affect the operation of the circuit as long as it is sufficiently low as to keep mixer 5 from becoming desensitized . meanwhile , coil 1 , when placed in proximity to an active sensor loop , will also develop some amount of signal at the frequency of the sensor loop at the common terminal with inductor 2 and , hence , at the first input to mixer 5 . the second input to mixer 5 comes directly from vco 3 and hence carries a large signal with a frequency corresponding to the output frequency . mixer 5 then mixes these two signals in a heterodyne process to produce both sum and difference frequencies at its output , according to methods well known in the design of radio receivers ( see , for example , carlson , a . b . “ communication systems ”, pp . 201 - 202 , mcgraw - hill 1975 ). low - pass filter 6 then substantially attenuates all but the difference frequency signal . when that difference frequency is within the passband of low - pass filter 6 , namely less than approximately 2 khz , it is amplified by amplifier 7 and presented to detector 8 . detector 8 can be much like the detector found in inexpensive am radio receivers , commonly known as a peak detector . its output is a slowly varying representation of the amplitude of its input . when the low frequency alternating signal , derived from the frequency difference , is presented to detector 8 , its output voltage rises . that is , the difference frequency of a few hundred to a few thousand hertz at the input to detector 8 causes its output to quickly rise to some positive voltage , which decays relatively slowly after the input signal is removed . as a result , even low duty - cycle time - shared bursts of high frequency signal presented to coil 1 will result in some rise in voltage at the output of detector 8 which , although unsteady , will remain above zero for a time substantially longer than the cycle time of the time - sharing sequence . output from detector 8 is presented to microcontroller 9 . ideally , micro - controller 9 contains an analog - to - digital converter which can , under software control , measure the output voltage of detector 8 . microcontroller 9 also contains a digital - to - analog converter ( dac ) which is connected to vco 3 . the software executed by microcontroller 9 is designed to slowly scan the output of its dac through the range of voltages corresponding to the range of frequencies ( typically 20 khz - 200 khz ) expected for loop sensor operation , according to the operation of vco 3 . when some , albeit small , indication of a beat frequency signal is indicated by detector 8 , the software then immediately stops the scanning , and implements any of various algorithms for fine - tuning the output frequency to closely match or dither around that of the input . in this manner , the frequency or phase measurement circuitry in the loop sensor is presented with an abrupt perturbation and if sufficiently strong , a sensor activation will result . fig2 shows three signals corresponding to the acquisition of an input signal . shown at 10 is a periodic burst of high frequency signal , as would be derived from coil 1 in the presence of a time - shared sensor loop . at 11 is shown the beat signal , as filtered by low - pass filter 6 and amplified by amplifier 7 . this signal consists of a relatively small number of cycles of the difference frequency corresponding to the difference between the input signal from a loop sensor and the instantaneous frequency of vco 3 . at 12 is shown the output of detector 8 corresponding to signal 11 . a signal , with a net positive value , is built up quickly and decays over a time somewhat longer than the inter - arrival time of input bursts . fig3 shows details of a preferred embodiment . vco 3 is implemented as a cmos integrated circuit ( ic ) 31 , such as the mm74hc4046m from fairchild semiconductor corporation . its control voltage input is derived from the filter consisting of resistor 92 and capacitor 93 . microcontroller ic 91 can be , for example , a pic16f716 from microchip corporation , which has a pulse - width modulation controller internally configured to operate as a low - cost digital - to - analog converter ( dac ) by the use of resistor 92 and capacitor 93 . vco ic 31 is configured with resistors 32 and capacitor 33 so that its frequency varies from 20 khz to 200 khz when its input control voltage is driven over the entire range of voltages from this dac output . in this manner , microcontroller ic 91 can control the frequency of vco 3 over the full range of required operating frequencies . the output of vco 3 is connected to balanced drive circuit 4 comprising logic gates 45 and 46 , mosfet driver transistors 41 , 42 , 43 , and 44 , and timing components in the form of resistors 47 and capacitors 48 . logic nand gates 46 , for example the sn74hc00d from texas instruments corporation , form a non - overlapping complementary drive circuit in conjunction with resistors 47 and capacitors 48 . in this configuration , each output substantially represents the complement of the other , except for a brief time , typically several hundred nanoseconds , around the transition time . during this interval , both outputs are held high , thus ensuring that there is a small window of time between one output going high and the other going low . these outputs then drive p - channel enhancement mosfets 41 and 43 , and , through the use of inverters 45 ( for example the sn74hc04d from texas instruments corporation ), n - channel enhancement mosfets 42 and 44 . p - channel enhancement mosfets 41 and 43 are , for example , of type nds332p from fairchild semiconductor corporation , while n - channel enhancement mosfets 42 and 44 are , for example , of type nds331n also from fairchild semiconductor corporation . both of these devices are capable of very large drain currents , as each has a typical on - resistance of less than 1ω . as a result , it is important that each complementary pair , 41 and 42 or 43 and 44 , not be driven in such a manner that both devices of the pair are turned on at the same time . this is the reason for the non - overlapping drive circuit outlined above . it prevents unnecessary current flow , potentially draining an operating battery or damaging the devices . transistors 41 , 42 , 43 , and 44 form what is commonly referred to as an h - bridge . each common connection of a complementary pair is substantially opposite in phase to the other . thus , aside from the brief non - overlap time described above , when the connection between mosfets 41 and 42 is low , that between 43 and 44 is high , and vice - versa . a very large amount of current , however , can be delivered to whatever load is connected between the pairs . as they are driven from logic gates 45 and 46 and , in turn , from ic 31 , the voltage across the h - bridge will be a roughly square wave signal with a frequency corresponding to that of ic 31 . across the output of this h - bridge is placed coil 1 and inductor 2 . inductor 2 can be a toroidal inductor of the type used in switching power supplies , such as the model 2209 - h from j . w . miller magnetics division of bell industries . by having similar nominal inductances , as described above , the voltage at the common connection between coil 1 and inductor 2 exhibits relatively little of the drive signal . operational amplifiers 52 and 53 , such as the mcp6284 from microchip corporation , buffer the signal at the common connection of coil 1 and inductor 2 , and form its inversion . multiplexer 51 can be , for example , the sn74lvc1g3157dbv from texas instruments , corporation . the inputs to multiplexer 51 are thus 180 - degrees out of phase with respect to each other and allow multiplexer 51 to act as a balanced mixer . the control signal for multiplexer 51 is taken from the output of ic 31 and , hence , vco 3 . any residual signal at the frequency of vco 3 present at the input to multiplexer 51 will then be synchronously converted to d . c . and removed afterward by suitable coupling . by this action , the residual output signal present at the common connection of coil 1 and inductor 2 is prevented from being applied to the following amplification circuitry . however , any other signal generated by coil 1 , as derived from mutual coupling to a sensor loop , will result in a mixer product at the output of multiplexer 51 . this product will contain the difference frequency between that of vco 3 and that of the sensor loop . this signal is then presented to low - pass filter 6 . low - pass filter 6 is comprised of operational amplifier 61 , possibly of the same type as 52 and 53 ( although its frequency response need not be nearly as high as those ), and various resistors and capacitors to make an active low - pass filter with an upper cutoff frequency of a several khz . the output coupling , via capacitor 69 , and bias circuitry , via resistors 66 and 67 and capacitor 68 , are such that there is also a low - frequency cutoff frequency chosen to be a few hundred hz or below . this is what serves to remove the synchronous mixer product described above , but is easily chosen to be so low as to not adversely affect the operation of the circuit . the output of low - pass filter 6 is connected to amplifier 7 , comprising operational amplifier 71 , possibly of the same type as 61 , resistors 72 and 73 which determine its gain , and stabilizing capacitor 74 . the output of this stage is then a highly filtered and amplified version of the difference frequency signal as generated by the output of vco 3 and whatever input signal might be present . signal 11 of fig2 depicts this output in the presence of a pulsing input signal with frequency sufficiently near to that of vco 3 . detector 8 utilizes two schottky diodes , such as the type bat54 from vishay semiconductor corporation . capacitor 84 and resistor 85 serve to set the decay rate of this detector , and is set to provide decay over some tens of milliseconds . output from detector 8 goes to the analog - to - digital input of microcontroller ic 91 . fig4 shows a flowchart of a typical program to be executed by microcontroller ic 91 . at power - up , initialization of all control bits and timing registers takes place , and then the program enters into a software loop which consists of a short wait of several milliseconds , a test of its input for presence of signal , and barring the detection of one , a step to the next frequency , either increasing or decreasing . in this manner , the microcontroller effectively scans through all relevant frequencies , in an increasing and then decreasing direction , until some signal is presented to coil 1 which generates an output from detector 8 which is above some pre - determined threshold . upon detection of some event , indicating a nearby sensor loop , another software loop is entered which attempts to dwell at or near the frequency of the discovered signal , and to possibly improve the frequency of vco 3 to more closely approach that of the input . as shown in fig4 , when a signal is detected , control flows to the right and enters a second test to ensure that the signal remains present . assuming it does , three frequency values are computed . the first is the dac value corresponding to the current frequency where signal was discovered . the second is one increment below that of the current frequency , and the third is one increment above . the loop proceeds by first dwelling at the current frequency , and taking a long average of the amplitude of the output of detector 8 , with many samples over a period greater than 100 ms . vco 3 is then set to the second frequency , still close to the original , and a similar long average reading of amplitude is taken . if this amplitude is greater than that at the first frequency , the second frequency becomes the current frequency , and the loop begins again . if the amplitude as measured for the first frequency is greater than that of the second , then the third frequency is tried . if its measurement is greater than that of the first , the third frequency becomes the new current frequency , and the loop begins again . if not , then the original frequency is retained and the loop begins again . if , during the test at the beginning of this second software loop , the input signal disappears , the current frequency is retained for some amount of time ( for example , 200 ms ), and control is returned to the original software loop . in this manner , a brief lapse in signal , such as is encountered when moving between a first and second loop sensor as found in some intersections , will not necessarily lead to a completely new search , with its associated delays , and possible loss of detection by the loop sensor circuitry . as described , the software is designed to scan sufficiently slowly that a detected signal is not passed over by the time the second software loop is entered . that is , the response speed of the dac and its output filter , as well as that of detector 8 , must be factored in to the scanning speed of the first software loop . it is possible to implement a variation of this program in which scanning happens at a faster rate , but which would require a modification of the second software loop to go back a few steps to find the frequency at which the detection actually occurred . many such speed improvements can be implemented with more sophisticated software and / or hardware . in practice , it is found that an important advantage is obtained by performing the scanning primarily in the direction of decreasing frequency . that is , the initial frequency at activation should be at the high end of the range of possible frequencies , and the scan steps should each act to decrease the frequency while the system searches for output from detector 8 . upon reaching minimum frequency , in the absence of output from detector 8 , the frequency is made to jump back to the highest frequency and , after a short pause to allow any transients caused by the large frequency jump to decay , step - by - step scanning in the direction of decreasing frequency resumes . the advantage of scanning in the direction of decreasing frequency is due to the possibility of having a false detection due to mixing of the incoming signal from the loop sensor with a harmonic of the vco frequency . when mixer 5 is implemented with such circuitry as multiplexer 51 , the third harmonic of the output signal of vco 3 can cause a substantial beat frequency signal to be generated when an input signal is present . however , no such false detection can be expected from the third harmonic of the loop sensor signal mixing with the fundamental of vco 3 , since signals from loop sensors are generally sinusoidal and have very little harmonic content . thus , by scanning primarily in the direction of decreasing frequency , the first detector output to be encountered will be most likely that for which the fundamental vco frequency is close to that of the loop sensor . in this manner , the stronger fundamental vco signal is available to interact with the loop sensor and inadvertent operation with the weaker harmonics is substantially avoided . heretofore , initiation of the circuitry of the invention by the user was unspecified . in cases where the device is powered from a small battery , it is important that the high current demand of the drive circuitry 4 , as well as the remaining analog processing circuitry comprising mixer 5 , low - pass filter 6 , and amplifier 7 , be reduced or eliminated when a loop sensor is not present . this functionality could be provided by pushbutton 1002 connected to battery 1101 as shown in fig3 . when the user approaches a loop sensor , the user will press pushbutton 1002 , and the operation commences . it is possible for automatic initiation to be provided . fig5 shows a block diagram of a system according to the invention which would sense the presence of an inductive loop sensor , and activate the circuitry which consumes the largest share of operating current only subsequently . microcontroller 9 would be arranged , by its own software , to enter a “ sleep ” mode wherein its own current consumption reduces to only a few microamperes or less . before doing so , it would de - assert power control signal 1101 , which would force the outputs of logic gates 47 and 48 to be such that all four power mosfets 41 , 42 , 43 , and 44 , were turned off regardless of the signals present on the other inputs of gates 47 and 48 . similarly , power to most of the other circuitry , including vco 3 , mixer 5 , low - pass filter 6 , and amplifier 7 are controlled from signal 1101 by the use of switching circuitry shown as 1106 in fig5 . when signal 1101 is de - asserted , power to vco 3 , mixer 5 , low - pass filter 6 , and amplifier 7 , all powered from switched power signal 1107 , is disconnected from primary power source vcc . before going into “ sleep ” mode , microcontroller 9 would also , under software control , assert signal 1105 thus enabling analog switch 1102 . high frequency amplifier 1103 must be designed to consume very little current while providing sufficient gain across the range of desired operating frequencies ( typically 20 khz to 200 khz ) that detector 1104 would produce a logic - level output when coil 1 is placed in position above an active sensing loop . this logic level output from detector 1104 is then used to activate microcontroller 9 through an interrupt , removing it from its “ sleep ” mode . upon leaving “ sleep ” mode , microcontroller 9 , as determined by its software , would then assert power control signal 1101 , de - assert signal 1105 , and normal operation of the device according to the algorithm described earlier would ensue . after a sufficiently long period of loss of signal from detector 8 , while under normal operation , the software of microcontroller 9 would then cause it to de - assert signal 1101 , assert signal 1105 , and put it back into “ sleep ” mode for power savings . a circuit diagram of an alternate technique for automatic initiation is shown in fig6 in which circuitry is provided to allow microcontroller 9 to selectively inhibit the coupling between vco 3 and coil 1 . in this embodiment , logic gates 45 have been relocated , and logic gates 49 have been added to balanced drive circuitry 4 . in the arrangement shown , signal 96 from microcontroller 9 is asserted to enable the signal from vco 3 to be applied to mosfet driver transistors 41 , 42 , 43 , and 44 . in this state , operation is as earlier described in connection with fig3 . when de - asserted , signal 96 then forces mosfet driver transistors 41 and 43 to be turned off , while mosfet driver transistors 42 and 44 are turned on . as a result , the high power output signal is not carried by coil 1 as long as signal 96 is de - asserted . however , vco 3 remains connected to mixer 5 , and signals induced in coil 1 continue to contribute to the voltage at the input to mixer 5 . a signal at the beat frequency will still be generated at the output of amplifier 7 , and detector 8 will continue to indicate the presence of a signal from a loop sensor . in the absence of a signal from a loop sensor , this embodiment will continue to search , much as in the embodiment of fig3 . however , the software executed by microcontroller 9 , as shown in flowchart form in fig7 , will cause microcontroller 9 to assert signal 96 in response to a sufficiently strong signal from detector 8 . at that point , operation continues with balanced drive circuit 4 enabled , and large currents will flow in coil 1 at the frequency of vco 3 . when a signal no longer exists at the output of detector 8 , signal 96 is de - asserted , and a short pause in operation is performed in order to prevent any transient signals caused by the abrupt cessation of output from balanced drive circuit 4 from regenerating an output from detector 8 . after that pause , microcontroller 9 resumes scanning across relevant frequencies until another detection occurs . thus , in the absence of a loop sensor signal , no large current flows in coil 1 , and power consumption is greatly reduced . with mosfet drivers 41 and 43 turned off , the remaining circuitry can be made to draw very little current . pushbutton 1002 is replaced in this embodiment by switch 1003 owing to the lack of need for the user to de - activate the device for power conservation purposes when not over a loop sensor . de - activation of balanced drive circuit 4 as shown in the embodiment shown in fig6 is implemented primarily for power conservation purposes . the operation of mixer 5 and filter 6 ensures that detection can be performed whether balanced drive circuit 4 is activated or not . this is in contrast to the prior art of baer and sunda ( u . s . pat . no . 6 , 072 , 408 ) in which a method for disabling that transmitter is described for purposes of measurement of the loop sensor frequency during a timing interval . thus , as described in &# 39 ; 408 , that transmitter is occasionally inhibited while in the presence of a loop sensor in order to measure its frequency . in contrast , a system according to the present invention is able to determine the presence and frequency of the loop sensor signal without the necessity of inhibiting its own output signal . it should be understood that numerous changes in details of construction and the combination and arrangement of elements and materials may be resorted to without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed .	6
certain specific details are set forth in the following description and figures to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of the invention . certain well - known details often associated with computing and software technology are not set forth in the following disclosure , however , to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the various embodiments of the invention . further , those of ordinary skill in the relevant art will understand that they can practice other embodiments of the invention without one or more of the details described below . finally , while various methods are described with reference to steps and sequences in the following disclosure , the description as such is for providing a clear implementation of embodiments of the invention , and the steps and sequences of steps should not be taken as required to practice this invention . in one embodiment , contemplated systems and methods cam perform focus inference in a system with a call - graph , a data - flow graph , various flow analyses and an optimizing code generator . the performance of a technology such as xslcompiledtransform is achieved through a combination of techniques including optimizations as referenced in the background section , as well as : computation of a call graph , computation of a data - flow graph , side - effect inference , type inference , as described in u . s . provisional application 60 / 789 , 554 , unused parameter elimination , dead - code elimination , and focus inference , as described herein . focus is more than just a parameter that is passed all through many levels of function application ( i . e ., template calls ). various forms of xslt expressions define a new focus , e . g ., select , for - each . because of this , in one embodiment , it would not be enough to make parameter positions for focus explicit ; we would also need to anticipate “ code ” for computing focus . given the pervasive propagation and re - definition of focus , this approach will lead to a blow - up of the overall “ code ” or ast representation of xslt programs , which will hamper all sorts of program analyses on top of this more explicit representation . the envisaged program analysis will be more challenging with regard to scalability . we recall that we are facing a so - called interprocedural ( i . e ., inter - template ) analysis , which is known to easily get out of hand . in one embodiment , the invention conducts a dedicated analysis for focus inference that is applied directly to the xslt abstract representation which maintains the xslt language constructs for calling and import templates . however , it is worth stressing that embodiments of the invention effectively refine the established technique for control - flow graphs and data - flow analysis . our flow analysis need not deal with low - level def / use paths ; it can rather deal with high - level “ focus use ”. here is an xslt template that uses last ( ) and position ( ) at the top level : these uses of last ( ) and position ( ) are naked . hence , it is clear that any “ caller ” template would need to pass focus , if it may end up calling “ callee ”. a note on xslt : we recall that the template name , “ callee ”, is optional in some sense . that is , a caller may specifically select the relevant template indeed by using that name in xsl : call - template instruction , or the caller may use one of apply - templates instructions , and then any named and anonymous templates with the relevant “ mode ” and “ match ” attributes will be considered . & lt ; xsl : template name =“ caller ”& gt ; & lt ; xsl : for - each select =“ foo ”& gt ; & lt ; xsl : call - template name =“ callee ”/& gt ; & lt ;/ xsl : for - each & gt ; & lt ; xsl : apply - templates select =“ bar ”/& gt ; & lt ;/ xsl : template & gt ; it selects “ foo ” s for a for - each loop that calls the “ callee ” template per “ foo ”. it also applies ( all ) templates to the node set with “ bar ” s . we can see that in one embodiment the template does neither use last ( ) nor position ( ), and therefore no naked calls . however , the program structure is such that not even any template call within “ caller ” could involve naked uses on the current node of the “ caller ” template . instead , the given template calls templates on “ new ” nodes or node sets . so it turns out that we do not have to pass context size and context position to “ caller ”. since the template “ callee ” will be ( potentially ) applicable in both locations in “ caller ”, we can pass the new focus with the calls . in one embodiment , focus inference can comprise program analysis for xslt programs that comprises the phases illustrated in fig1 , each of which is described in greater detail below . the phases illustrated in fig1 are : focus inference inside xpath expressions on a per xsl : template basis 101 , reverse call - graph construction for all templates in an xslt program 102 , and focus propagation to do the flow analysis over the call graph 103 . while fig1 - 4 are presented as steps of exemplary methods , it should be understood that such steps may be implemented as components in a computing system and / or as instructions on computer readable medium . according to step 101 in fig1 , one embodiment may conduct a focus inference inside xpath expressions on a per xsl : template basis step 101 . one implementation of such a step 101 is illustrated in fig2 . referring to fig2 , in one embodiment , we annotate xslt ast nodes with focus inference flags 201 . in such an implementation , these flags carry the following names : xslflags . current , xslflags . position , xslflags . last . these flags record the status of ast nodes to require the relevant part of the focus . simple bottom - up analysis allows us to determine the parts of the focus that may be required for any xpath expression at execution time 202 . the expression “ position ( )= 3 ” requires the context position of its parent expression . the context position must therefore be maintained along the query of “ foo ” s . we record this context dependency by annotating the “ position ( )= 3 ” expression with the flag xslflags . position . here is another example dealing with xpath expressions in a context of a single template : we face a nested expression with a for - each loop at the outer level and another select inside . we can observe that the inner select makes use of last ( ); we can also observe that this use of last ( ) refers to the context size that resulted from the outer query for the node set with “ bar ” s . hence , phase 1 annotates the inner select with xslflags . last . all these annotations provide the seed set for the subsequent propagation . we note that the use of position ( ) and last ( ) in the above two examples are indeed restricted to the local node set for “ foo ” s and “ bar ” s ; the uses do not imply , by themselves , that context position or context size must be passed to the templates that host the shown xslt constructs . according to step 102 in fig1 , one embodiment may conduct a reverse call - graph construction for templates in an xslt program step 102 . one implementation of such a step 102 is illustrated in fig3 . referring to fig3 , refer to our explanation for the inter - template focus inference on the sample templates “ caller ” and “ callee ”. in one embodiment , this flow analysis is automated as follows , with the ultimate goal of detecting which templates really need implicit position / last according to step 303 . step 301 entails building the reverse call - graph for the templates for the xslt stylesheets . a note on terminology : a “ normal ” call graph displays caller - callee dependencies ; then the reverse one charts callee - caller dependencies . in an exemplary algorithm , the reverse - call - graph represents the relation “ can - be - called by ” for two cases : 1 . xsl : call - template in an xsl - template at the top level ( not in the context of any xsl : for - each ). 2 . xsl : apply - imports ( always at the top level per xslt syntax rules ). these cases can be important because context flags of callee templates should be propagated to caller templates , according to step 302 . the remaining cases of xsl : call - template do not take part in propagation of focus flags , because they are executed in the context of xsl : for - each . we note that xsl : apply - templates does not contribute to the propagation of focus flags because it calls templates in the context of its own implicit for - each . according to step 103 in fig1 , one embodiment may conduct a focus propagation to do the flow analysis over the call graph step 103 . one implementation of such a step 103 is illustrated in fig4 . referring to fig4 , in one embodiment , given focus flags on abstract representation per phase 1 , and a reverse call graph per phase 2 , we are now in the position to propagate focus flags through the reverse - call - graph , according to step 404 . in the general case of flow analysis the result is potentially obtained by means of a fix - point algorithm on a control - flow 401 or data - flow graph 402 (“ stop if no more changes have been done in the previous pass ”). it turns out focus inference admits a more efficient approach : a one - pass ( hence non - iterative ) post - order (“ depth - first ”) traversal of the call graph 403 . this is an insight that contributes to the scalability of focus inference . an exemplary embodiment of our technique can handle imports as explained below . consider the following xslt stylesheets that are scattered over two files . in this case , the xsl : apply - imports instruction may call ether the “ t1 ” template or the “ t2 ” template , and therefore the focus flags of the “ tmain ” template depend on the focus flags of both “ t1 ” and “ t2 ”. this means that logically we should add as many edges to the reverse call graph as there are templates that were imported by “ main . xsl ” and that carry the relevant mode “ m ”. in practice , we instead add edges to a special node that collectively represents all templates in a given mode imported into a given stylesheet . this also improves scalability of the inference . as an aside , this discussion also demonstrates that focus inference naturally interacts with the xslt concept of modes . this section presents an overview of an exemplary implementation . the logic , as described above , can be implemented in a system such as the net framework 2 . 0 . such an implementation uses , for example , c # 2 . 0 . the exemplary implementation is located in the xslastanalyzer class , which is one of the internal classes of the xslcompiledtransform implementation . this class implements a visitor on the xslt ast — the in - memory tree that represents stylesheets . we use the standard visitor pattern here . we refer to listing 1 for the visitor methods which clearly resemble the ast node types for an xslt program . the visitor traverses the ast in bottom - up manner while calculating the flags for tree node according to phase 1 and adding edges to the reverse call graph according to phase 2 . hence , phase 1 and phase 2 are carried out in an interleaved manner . ( in reality , the visit methods also build data structures for other program analyses as mentioned earlier .) for instance , the following visit method deals with ast nodes that represent those template calls that contribute to focus propagation : that is , the visit method creates an edge in the reverse - call - graph . we refer to listing 2 for a sketch of the graph class that is instantiated for reverse call graphs . upon completion of the visitor &# 39 ; s work , the xslastanalyzer class calls the propagateflag ( ) method separately for each of the three focus flags . the propagation method is also shown in listing 2 . as a result of this analysis , the entire ast is annotated with xslflags and the “ code generator ” component of the xslt compiler can use this information directly to avoid computation of unused focus and parameter passing for unused focus . in addition to the specific implementations explicitly set forth herein , other aspects and implementations will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification disclosed herein . it is intended that the specification and illustrated implementations be considered as examples only , with a true scope and spirit of the following claims . the shown methods correspond to the ast node types for xslt programs . there is also readily support for propagation of flags ( using depthfirstsearch ; elided ).	6
hereinafter , the first embodiment of the image display apparatus to which the image processing apparatus relating to the present invention is applied will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings . however , the scope of the present invention is not limited to the illustrations . fig1 is a front view of an image display apparatus 1 relating to this embodiment . the image display apparatus 1 , for example , is a monitor for a medical diagnostic apparatus . as shown in fig2 , the image display apparatus 1 includes a liquid crystal panel ( lcd , liquid crystal display ) 2 as a display unit for displaying a color image on the basis of an internal signal value and a liquid crystal drive unit 3 as a display drive unit for driving the display unit . the kind of the liquid crystal panel 2 applicable to this embodiment is not restricted particularly and with respect to the method for the liquid crystal drive unit 3 to drive the liquid crystal panel 2 , various drive methods such as the tn ( twisted nematic ) method , stn ( super twisted nematic ) method , mva ( multi - domain vertical alignment ) method , and ips ( in - plane switching ) method can be applied . further , in this embodiment , the liquid crystal panel 2 , by a color filter not drawn , can reproduce the 8 - bit ( 256 grades ) grayscale respectively for red ( r ), green ( g ), and blue ( b ). further , in this embodiment , a liquid crystal panel composed of three colors of red ( r ), green ( g ), and blue ( b ) is used , though the embodiment is not limited to the three colors of red ( r ), green ( g ), and blue ( b ) and for example , three colors of yellow ( y ), magenta ( m ), and cyan ( c ) are acceptable . further , four or more colors are acceptable and six colors of r , g , b , y , m , and c or six colors of red ( r 1 , r 2 ), green ( g 1 , g 2 ), and blue ( b 1 , b 2 ) which are different in color tone are acceptable . the image process which will be described later is neither limited to three colors of red ( r ), green ( g ), and blue ( b ). further , this embodiment can be applied to an image display apparatus for not only multi - color displaying by a color filter but also multi - color displaying by switching light sources of a plurality of colors . further , the image display apparatus 1 has a back light 4 for irradiating light to the liquid crystal panel 2 from the non - observation side . with respect to the back light 4 , if it provides light sufficiently enough to illuminate the liquid crystal panel 2 , for example , an led , a cold cathode fluorescent tube , a hot cathode fluorescent tube , and other light emitting elements can be applied , though to suitably apply to a medical monitor , it is preferable to display an image at a maximum luminance of 500 to 5000 cd / m 2 . further , the image display apparatus 1 has a measuring means 5 for measuring a display characteristic of an image displayed in a specific target area t of the liquid crystal panel 2 . for the measuring means 5 , a known sensor such as a luminance meter of a chromaticity meter can be used in accordance with the kind of the liquid crystal panel 2 . the measuring means 5 is connected to an lut generation unit 13 which will be described later and the lut generation unit 13 measures the display characteristic displayed every switching of a test pattern displayed on the liquid crystal panel 2 and the measured results are outputted to the lut generation unit 13 . the display characteristic of the liquid crystal panel 2 is information on the r , g , and b values inputted to the liquid crystal panel 2 and the luminance and / or chromaticity of the display light for them . for the information on the luminance and / or chromaticity , indexes of the color specification used generally can be used . for example , the xyz color specification system , x 10 y 10 z 10 color specification system , xyz chromaticity coordinates , x 10 y 10 z 10 chromaticity coordinates , ucs chromaticity , l * a * b * color specification system , l * c * h * color specification system , and l * u * v * color specification system which are decided by the cie may be cited , though the present invention is not limited to them . the information on the luminance and / or chromaticity may be measured at predetermined timing using the measuring means 5 by displaying the test pattern in the target area t of the liquid crystal panel 2 or may store results obtained by displaying and measuring the test pattern on the liquid crystal panel 2 at time of shipment from the factory . further , without using measured results for each display apparatus , the correspondence of the information on the luminance and / or chromaticity to the r , g , and b values may be stored as a predetermined conversion formula . the position and magnitude of the specific target area t where the measuring means 5 measures the display characteristic are not restricted particularly , though in this embodiment , the region of an area of about 10 % in the central part of the display screen of the liquid crystal panel 2 is designated . the measuring means 5 is connected online to the image display apparatus 1 , though for example , it is possible to measure the display characteristic using a measuring means not connected online to the image display apparatus 1 and input the measured results to the image display apparatus 1 via an input means such as a keyboard . further , in the image display apparatus 1 , for example , a controller 6 for controlling the liquid crystal drive unit 3 composed of a cpu ( central processing unit ), a rom ( read only memory ) for storing various control programs , and a ram ( random access memory ) for temporarily storing image data ( these units are not drawn ), an interface ( i / f ) 7 for connecting the controller 6 to an external apparatus , and an input unit 15 are installed . to the interface 7 , an image generation apparatus 8 as an external apparatus is connected . the image generation apparatus 8 supplies , for example , monochromatic image data 12 bits long , thus to the interface 7 , an input signal value of the monochromatic image data ( hereinafter , referred to as p value ) is inputted . the image generation apparatus 8 is not restricted particularly , though for example , there are image processing apparatuses of various medical diagnostic apparatuses such as an x - ray diagnostic apparatus , an mri ( magnetic resonance imaging ) diagnostic apparatus , and various ct ( computed tomography ) apparatuses . in the controller 6 , a frame memory ( fm shown in fig2 ) 9 , a data processing unit 10 , an lut memory unit 61 , and the lut generation unit 13 are installed . the frame memory 9 stores the monochromatic image data inputted from the image generation apparatus 8 via the interface 7 . the data processing unit 10 data - distributes 1 - channel monochromatic image data inputted from the frame memory 9 to three channels of r , g , and b and converts it to 8 - bit r , g , and b display image data . here , in this embodiment , the data processing unit 10 of the controller 6 converts monochromatic image data ( n + m ) ( n indicates a positive integer of 8 or more and m indicates a positive integer of 2 or more ) bits long to r , g , and b display image data n bits long on the basis of a preset correspondence . concretely , the data processing unit 10 , on the basis of the lut as a correspondence pre - stored in the lut memory unit 61 , data - distributes monochromatic image data 12 bits long to r , g , and b values and converts it to r , g , and b image data 8 bits long . namely , in this embodiment , the measuring means 5 , controller 6 , and input unit x function as an image processing apparatus relating to the present invention . in this embodiment , the liquid crystal panel 2 displays an image in three colors of r , g , and b , so that the monochromatic image data is converted to r , g , and b display image data as color display image data of three channels of r , g , and b , though when displaying an image in four or more colors by the display apparatus , it is desirable to convert it to image data of the number of channels in correspondence to the number of colors displayed . the lut generation unit 13 includes a candidate selection unit 62 , a target chromaticity decision unit 63 , a target luminance decision unit 64 , a chromaticity calculation unit 65 , a luminance calculation unit 66 , a signal value decision unit 67 , and a test pattern holding unit 68 and functions as a correspondence generation unit for generating an lut as a correspondence on the basis of the display characteristic of the liquid crystal panel 2 . the lut generation unit 13 is connected to the lut memory unit 61 , which stores an lut generated by the lut generation unit 13 . here , the lut generation unit 13 , at time of shipment of the image display apparatus 1 from the factory or every lapse of a specified period of time , measures the display characteristic of the liquid crystal panel 2 which will be described later and generates an lut . the target chromaticity decision unit 63 decides a target chromaticity corresponding to each signal value of the monochromatic image data and the target luminance setting unit 64 decides a target luminance corresponding to each signal value of the monochromatic image data . the test pattern holding unit 68 holds a plurality of solid image data ( r , g , and b values ) displayed as a test pattern on the liquid crystal panel 2 . the number and kind of held test patterns are not restricted particularly , and when all combinations of r , g , and b values are used as a test pattern , an precise display characteristic can be preferably measured , though all the combinations of r , g , and b values include about 16 . 77 millions (= 256 3 ) colors , so that it is difficult to realize it . therefore , it is preferable to restrict beforehand combinations of r , g , and b values under a predetermined condition . in this embodiment , 256 colors in which the r , g , and b values are equivalent are used as a test pattern . further , to improve the accuracy of measurement , it is possible to display and measure a combination in which at least one of the equivalent r , g , and b values is increased or decreased within a predetermined range as a test pattern . the lut generation unit 13 measures color irritant values x , y , and z when a test pattern is displayed by the measuring means 5 and inputs measured results . here , the value indicated by y among the color irritant values indicates luminance . the chromaticity calculation unit 65 calculates chromaticity for each of the candidate r , g , and b display image data selected by the candidate selection unit 62 and the luminance calculation unit 66 calculates luminance for each of the candidate r , g , and b display image data selected by the candidate selection unit 62 . the chromaticity calculation unit 65 and luminance calculation unit 66 , on the basis of the color irritant values of the test pattern measured by the measuring means 5 and the r , g , and b values , generate an rgb - xyz estimation formula for approximately estimating color irritant values x , y , and z when r , g , and b image data of combination of unmeasured r , g , and b values are displayed on the liquid crystal panel 2 . the rgb - xyz estimation formula is expressed by a general formula ( 1 ) indicated below . the generation method of the general formula ( 1 ) is not restricted particularly , though for example , a method , in the general formula ( 1 ), for obtaining y and 10 unknown variables of c xr , c xg , - - - by the method of least squares can be applied . further , there is an advantage available that as the number of test patterns to be displayed is increased , an accurate rgb - xyz estimation formula can be generated . on the other hand , there is an advantage available that as the number of test patterns to be displayed is decreased , an rgb - xyz estimation formula can be generated in a short time . the chromaticity calculation unit 65 and luminance calculation unit 66 , on the basis of the general formula ( 1 ) indicated above , calculate chromaticity information and luminance information respectively corresponding to internal signal values of the monochromatic image data . the candidate selection unit 62 , for the respective internal signal values of the monochromatic image data , from the r , g , and b display image data having about 16 . 77 millions (= 256 3 ) signal values , selects a plurality of candidate r , g , and b display image data ( candidate colors ). here , the candidate color , assuming the color having equivalent r , g , and b values corresponding to an internal signal value k as a reference color , is referred to as a color obtained by increasing or decreasing the r , g , and b values within the range of ± 2 . as shown in fig3 , for the candidate color , in general , 125 (= 5 × 5 × 5 ) colors may be cited for one internal signal value ( e shown in the drawing ), though when candidate colors of different internal signal values are duplicated , the results calculated once may be used . in that case , as shown in fig4 , there are 55 candidate colors . further , for each of the internal signal values of the monochromatic image data , the candidate colors may be selected every decision of the r , g , and b values corresponding to the internal signal value k or candidate colors for all the internal signal values k may be selected beforehand . the signal value decision unit 67 decides the r , g , and b values of the r , g , and b display image data ( hereinafter , also referred to as signal values of color display image data ) corresponding respectively to the internal signal values of the monochromatic image data . further , the signal value decision unit 67 , from the candidate r , g , and b display image data , on the basis of the luminance information from the target luminance setting unit 64 and luminance calculation unit 66 , selects primarily a plurality of the primary candidate r , g , and b display image data . furthermore , the signal value decision unit 67 , from the primary candidate r , g , and b display image data , on the basis of the chromaticity information from the target chromaticity decision unit 63 and chromaticity calculation unit 65 , decides one selection color ( decision of the signal values of the color display image data ) and sets the r , g , and b values thereof for correspondence as r , g , and b display image data . next , the image processing apparatus control method relating to the present invention will be explained . firstly , the lut generation process executed by the lut generation unit 13 will be explained in detail . the lut generation process is a process of generating or correcting an lut so as to display a monochromatic image of an appropriate color tone by the image display apparatus 1 and for example , at time of shipment of the image display apparatus 1 , the process is started by the operation of the input unit 15 . in the lut generation process , a conversion rule generation process as a correspondence generation process in this embodiment is executed ( refer to fig5 ). the conversion rule generation process is broadly divided into a process of selecting the color tone of a display image desired by a user ( step s 1 ), a process of obtaining the display characteristic of the liquid crystal panel 2 ( step s 2 ), a process of deriving a conversion rule ( step s 3 ), and a correspondence setting process ( step s 4 ). in the color tone selection process ( step s 1 ), for example , a plurality of screens of different color tones as shown in fig6 are displayed on the liquid crystal panel 2 , and a desired display image color tone is selected by a user using the input unit x ( refer to fig2 ) such as a mouse , and the information is stored . in fig6 , four kinds of x - ray transmitted images in total including the color tone of neutral gray and three kinds of bluish color tones different in depth are shown , and the process is structured so as to click the mouse pointer on the image of the color tone desired by the user , thereby select the color tone , though the color tone selection method is not limited to it . in the display characteristic acquisition process ( step s 2 ), the correspondence of the r , g , and b values inputted to the liquid crystal panel 2 to the information on the luminance and / or chromaticity of the display light from the liquid crystal panel 2 is obtained . more in detail , in the display characteristic acquisition process ( step s 3 ), the image display apparatus 1 measures the display characteristic of the liquid crystal panel 2 by the lut generation unit 13 . namely , the lut generation unit 13 makes the liquid crystal panel 2 display sequentially the test patterns held by the test pattern holding unit 68 and makes the measuring means 5 measure the color irritant values x , y , and z of the cie xyz color specification system every display switching of the test pattern . the chromaticity calculation unit 65 and luminance calculation unit 66 , on the basis of the r , g , and b values of the test pattern and the measured color irritant values x , y , and z , generate the rgb - xyz estimation formula expressed by the general formula ( 1 ). here , the lut generation unit 13 , to generate a more accurate rgb - xyz estimation formula , may display the color in which the r , g , and b values of the test pattern are increased or decreased within a predetermined range as a test pattern and measure the color irritant values of the liquid crystal panel 2 . the increasing and decreasing range of the r , g , and b values of the test pattern is not restricted particularly , though to prepare a more accurate estimation formula , the concerned range preferably coincides with the range of candidate colors . the conversion rule derivation process ( step s 3 ), on the basis of the correspondence of the information on the luminance and / or chromaticity to the r , g , and b values of the test pattern , derives an lut as a conversion rule for converting a 1 - channel monochromatic image signal value ( m + n bits ) to 3 - channel r , g , and b values ( m bits ). in other words , the signal value decision unit 67 serves as a signal value determining section in the conversion rule derivation process ( step s 3 ). further , in this embodiment , an lut is generated as a conversion rule , though a conversion formula is acceptable . further , one conversion formula or one lut is acceptable and a combination of multi - grade conversion rules is acceptable . the correspondence setting process ( step s 4 ) makes the lut memory unit 61 store the aforementioned conversion rule derived by the conversion rule derivation process ( step s 3 ) as a correspondence . namely , in the correspondence setting process ( step s 4 ), the lut generation unit 13 functions as a correspondence setting means . here , the conversion rule derivation process ( step s 3 ) will be explained in detail by referring to fig7 . firstly , the lut generation unit 13 , on the basis of the display characteristic of the liquid crystal panel 2 , generates dicom calibration conversion rule for relating the internal signal value to the p value ( step s 31 ). here , the dicom calibration conversion rule is preferably generated as an lut . further , the display luminance to the p value is preferably generated so as to correspond to the gsdf ( grayscale standard display function ) specified in dicom ps 3 . 14 and by the dicom calibration which is conventionally known , the display luminance to the p value may be generated using the grayscale standard display function . the measured results by the measuring means 5 are outputted to the controller 6 and the lut generation unit 13 brings the r , g , and b values into correspondence to the luminance of the test pattern . in this case , the lut generation unit 13 , as shown in table a in fig8 , to the internal signal values of 16 grades at 273 intervals among the internal signal values ( 0 to 4095 ) of 4096 grayscales , allocates the r , g , and b values of 16 grades at 17 intervals among the test pattern signal values r , g , and b of 256 grayscales , and brings the measured luminance at the respective r , g , and b values into correspondence to them . and , the lut generation unit 13 brings the respective internal signal values into correspondence to the r , g , and b values by proportional allotment . in this case , the r , g , and b values may not always be integers . furthermore , when the estimated measured luminance corresponding to the r , g , and b values is calculated , for example , using the general formula ( 1 ) aforementioned , the estimated measured luminance ( refer to table b and fig9 ) for the internal signal values of 4096 grayscales are estimated . then , the lut generation unit 13 obtains the lowest luminance and highest luminance of the estimated measured luminance and allocates the maximum luminance to the lowest luminance to the p values of 4096 grayscales on the basis of the gsdf ( refer to fig1 ). and , as shown in fig1 , a calibration lut for relating the internal signal values to the p values is generated . when the image display apparatus 1 is adjusted to the characteristic of the gsdf curve , the internal signal values and p values are equivalent and the generated calibration lut is a proportional straight line at a slope of 1 . on the other hand , when the image display apparatus 1 is not adjusted , the calibration lut is a curved line in accordance with the characteristic of the liquid crystal panel 2 . the candidate selection process , by the candidate selection unit 62 , for the respective internal signal values of the monochromatic image data , from among the r , g , and b display image data having 256 3 signal values , limits the selection subject to a plurality of candidate r , g , and b display image data ( candidate colors ) ( step s 32 ). by restriction to the candidate colors , the calculation time when performing the subsequent processes can be preferably shortened . the signal value determining process , from among the selected candidate colors , selects r , g , b values based on the luminance and chromaticity ( decision of the signal values of color display image data , step s 33 ). the r , g , b values based on the luminance and chromaticity are selected in this way , thus the image chromaticity and the number of grayscales can be made compatible with each other . here , the selection of the r , g , b values in the signal value determining process will be explained by referring to fig1 . firstly , assuming k = 0 ( step s 331 ), a target luminance y ( k ) for the internal signal value k is decided by the target luminance setting unit 64 . here , the target luminance y ( k ) is referred to as luminance of an image which will be represented on the liquid crystal panel 2 when the p value , which will be the internal signal value k , is inputted to the image display apparatus 1 . concretely , the estimated measured luminance shown in table b can be used as a target luminance y ( k ). then , the luminance calculation unit 66 calculates luminance y of each candidate color using the general formula ( 1 ) aforementioned ( the luminance calculation process ). and , as shown in fig1 , by the signal value decision unit 67 , n candidate colors a to c ( primary candidate r , g , and b display image data ) nearest to the target luminance y ( k ) are selected primarily ( step s 332 , the luminance selection process ). here , in this embodiment , the number n of candidate colors selected primarily is taken as 3 , though the value of n is not restricted particularly and can be changed as appropriate . next , the chromaticity calculation unit 65 , for the respective candidate colors a to c , calculates the color irritant values x , y , and z using the general formula ( 1 ) and obtains the chromaticity on the basis of the color irritant values calculated ( the chromaticity calculation process ). here the chromaticity ( l , a , b ) is generally a cie l a * b * color specification system indicated using the color irritant values x , y , and z and the following formulas ( 2 ) to ( 4 ). further , the target chromaticity decision unit 63 assumes the chromaticity of the r , g , and b values selected for the internal signal value ( k − 1 ) of the monochromatic image data as target chromaticity ( the chromaticity decision process ). and , the signal value decision unit 67 obtains a color difference δe * ab ( k − 1 ) in the cie l * a * b * color specification system between the target chromaticity obtained in this way and the estimated chromaticity of the candidate colors a to c and selects secondarily a color having a minimum \| δe * ab ( k − 1 )\| among the candidate colors a to c as a selection color ( step s 333 , the chromaticity selection process ). for example , as shown in fig1 , when the estimated chromaticity of the candidate color a is nearest to the target chromaticity , the candidate color a is a selection color . further , the r , g , and b values of the selection color are set to correspondence as the r , g , and b display image data . the color difference δe * ab ( k − 1 ) in the cie l * a * b * color specification system is defined by formula ( 5 ) indicated below , though it may be defined as formula ( 6 ) excluding the influence of an index l * corresponding to the luminance . δ e * ab ={( δ l ) 2 +( δ a ) 2 +( δ b ) 2 } 1 / 2 ( 5 ) δ e ab ={( δ a ) 2 +( δ b ) 2 } 1 / 2 ( 6 ) namely , in the chromaticity selection process , the chromaticity of the r , g , and b display image data corresponding to the monochromatic image data of the internal signal value k − 1 is assumed as a target chromaticity . and , the chromaticity selection process , among the primary candidate r , g , and b display image data corresponding to the monochromatic image data of the internal signal value k , selects the r , g , and b display image data of the chromaticity having a minimum color difference from the target chromaticity , and establishes the selected r , g , and b display image data as the r , g , and b values of the internal signal value k . according to the abovementioned process , it becomes possible to suppress the chromaticity variations between the r , g , and b display image data of the continuous internal signal value k , and accordingly , when looking at the liquid crystal panel 2 at an ordinary observation capacity , as a whole , the grayscale continuity of chromaticity can be stabilized . further , the number of target chromaticities used in the chromaticity selection process is not restricted particularly . for example , the target chromaticity corresponding to the monochromatic image data of the internal signal value k is assumed as the chromaticity of the r , g , and b display image data corresponding to the monochromatic image data of the internal signal value k − 1 and the chromaticity of the r , g , and b display image data corresponding to the monochromatic image data of the internal signal value k − 2 ( refer to fig1 and 15 ). further , among the primary candidate r , g , and b display image data corresponding to the monochromatic image data of the internal signal value k , the color difference from the chromaticity of the r , g , and b display image data corresponding to the monochromatic image data of the internal signal value k − 1 is taken as \| δe * ab ( k − 1 )\| and the color difference from the chromaticity of the r , g , and b display image data corresponding to the monochromatic image data of the signal value k − 2 is taken as \| δe * ab ( k − 2 )\|. and , the r , g , and b display image data in which \| δe * ab ( k − 1 )\|−\| δe * ab ( k − 2 )\| is maximized can be selected . in the examples shown in fig1 and fig1 , the candidate color b is selected . accordingly , when selecting the r , g , and b display image data in this way , the r , g , and b display image data in which the variation in the chromaticity at the signal value of the neighboring monochromatic image data is maximized within the permissible range of a user and the r , g , and b display image data in which it is minimized are selected alternately . accordingly , the chromaticity difference between the r , g , and b display image data corresponding to the signal value of the neighboring monochromatic image data are getting large . however , generally speaking , when looking at the liquid crystal panel 2 at an ordinary observation capacity , since the density of the adjacent pixels is higher than the special frequency being visually recognizable , the chromaticity difference between adjacent display pixels cannot be clearly recognized , but recognized as a smooth plane as a whole . namely , it becomes possible to stabilize the gradation continuity of chromaticity , even in an image in which the low luminance portion and high luminance portion are neighboring with each other . the lut generation unit 13 takes the r , g , and b values of the color selected in this way as r , g , and b values corresponding to the internal signal value k . then , the lut generation unit 13 , also for the internal signal value k + 1 , selects similarly the r , g , and b values ( step s 334 , no at step s 335 ), selects the r , g , and b values for all the internal signal values of 4096 grayscales , and finishes the generation of the lut ( yes at step s 335 ). next , the image display method by the image display apparatus 1 will be explained by referring to fig1 . firstly , 10 - bit monochromatic image data is inputted to the image display apparatus 1 from the image generation apparatus 8 ( step s 5 ). the input monochromatic image data is inputted to the controller 6 via the interface 7 . the monochromatic image data inputted to the controller 6 is stored in the frame memory 9 . the monochromatic image data stored in the frame memory 9 is outputted sequentially to the data processing unit 10 . the data processing unit 10 , firstly , data - distributes the p value of the monochromatic image data to the r , g , and b values on the basis of the lut stored beforehand in the lut memory unit 61 and converts it to 8 - bit r , g , and b image data ( step s 6 ). at step s 6 , the data processing unit 10 performs the dicom calibration lut process for the p value , thereby converts it to the internal signal value k , and then performs the lut process of converting the internal signal value k to the r , g , and b values . here , the lut process does not need to be composed of 2 grades and for example , an lut composed of a calibration lut and a conversion lut from an internal signal value to r , g , and b values is prepared and one process using the composite lut may be used as an lut process . the r , g , and b image data converted at step s 6 is outputted to the liquid crystal drive unit 3 ( step s 7 ) and the liquid crystal drive unit 3 displays an image based on the r , g , and b image data and realizes a 10 - bit monochromatic image ( step s 8 ). further , this embodiment is explained by the process free of frame division display , though the frame division display is also available . in the case of frame division display , the r , g , and b image data converted at step s 6 is divided into four frame data , and the respective frame data is stored in a second frame memory not drawn , and the stored frame data is outputted to the liquid crystal drive unit 3 by switching sequentially . by doing this , a monochromatic image 12 or more bits long can be represented . as mentioned above , according to the image display apparatus 1 relating to the present invention , the characteristic of the liquid crystal panel 2 is measured and an lut is generated or corrected , so that a monochromatic image can be reproduced precisely without being influenced by variations in the display characteristic of the liquid crystal panel 2 . further , a selection color is selected from among a plurality of candidate colors in which the r , g , and b values for the internal signal value are respectively shifted within the range of ± 2 , so that the color choices for one internal signal value can be increased , and a multi - grayscale display exceeding the grayscale characteristic of the display unit is available , and an image of a high grayscale resolution can be represented on the display unit . concretely , in an lut having equivalent r , g , and b values , images of 256 colors are just displayed , though when the r , g , and b values are shifted respectively within the range of ± 2 , 125 candidate colors may be cited for one internal signal value , so that images of about 14000 colors can be displayed . therefore , regardless of the grayscale resolution of the liquid crystal panel 2 , an image of more grayscales like a medical image can be displayed . further , the luminance and chromaticity can be estimated using the rgb - xyz estimation formula , so that the target luminance can be estimated from the internal signal value and furthermore the chromaticity displayed on the liquid crystal panel 2 can be estimated from the r , g , and b values . and , colors are selected twice from among a plurality of candidate colors using the estimation formula , thus the selection color is decided , so that there is no need to estimate the luminance and chromaticity for all the candidate colors , and the time required for the lut correction process can be shortened , and the process can be simplified . further , the range of candidate colors is not restricted particularly , though there is an advantage that as the range of candidate colors is widened , a precise lut can be prepared . on the other hand , there is an advantage that as the range of candidate colors is narrowed , an lut can be prepared in a short time . further , in this embodiment , the controller 6 is built in the image display apparatus 1 , though a personal computer may take over the function of the controller 6 . further , in this embodiment , even if the frc display is not used , a multi - grayscale representation is available , though if the multi - grayscale representation is combined with the frc display , a constitution of displaying an image of more grayscales may be used . the second embodiment of selection of the r , g , and b values at step s 33 shown in fig7 will be explained by referring to the flow chart shown in fig1 . in the flow chart shown in fig1 , the respect that the selection by luminance is carried out following the primary selection by chromaticity is different from the first embodiment . hereinafter , the process different from the first embodiment will be explained . firstly , the chromaticity calculation unit 65 decides a target chromacity c ( k ) for the internal signal value k ( step s 101 , the chromaticity decision process ). for the target chromaticity c ( k ), the estimated measured chromaticity which is stored beforehand in correspondence with the internal signal value k is used . the chromaticity calculation unit 65 , for each of the candidate colors restricted at step s 32 shown in fig7 , calculates the color irritant values x , y , and z using the rgb - xyz estimation formula of the general formula ( 1 ) aforementioned and on the basis of the calculated color irritant values , obtains the chromaticity using the general formulas ( 2 ) to ( 4 ) aforementioned ( step s 102 , the chromaticity calculation process ). and , the signal value decision unit 67 selects primarily n candidate colors a to c ( the primary candidate r , g , and b display image data ) starting from the closest one to the target chromaticity c ( k ) ( step s 103 , the chromaticity selection process ). next , the target luminance decision unit 64 assumes the luminance of the r , g , and b values selected for the internal signal value k − 1 of the monochromatic image data added with a predetermined value as a target luminance ( step s 104 , the luminance decision process ). on the other hand , the luminance calculation unit 66 calculates the luminance y of each of the candidate colors a to c using the general formula ( 1 ) aforementioned ( step s 105 , the luminance calculation process ). and , the signal value decision unit 67 , among the candidate colors a to c , assumes a color having luminance closest to the target luminance y ( k ) within the range not exceeding the target luminance y ( k ) as a selection color ( step s 106 , the luminance selection process ). the lut generation unit 13 assumes the r , g , and b values selected in this way as r , g , and b values of the internal signal value k ( the signal values of the color display image data ). then , the lut generation unit 13 , also for the internal signal value k + 1 , selects similarly the r , g , and b values ( step s 107 , no at step s 108 ), selects the r , g , and b values for all the internal signal values of 4096 grayscales , and finishes the generation of the lut ( yes at step s 108 ). as mentioned above , according to the image display apparatus 1 relating to this embodiment , from among the candidate colors of the respective internal signal values , the color close to the preferable chromaticity is selected primarily , and then one selection color is selected on the basis of luminance , thus an lut can be generated or corrected , and an lut reflecting the display characteristic of the liquid crystal panel 2 can be used . further , a selection color may be selected from among a plurality of candidate colors for the internal signal value , so that the choices of combination of r , g , and b values for one internal signal value can be increased . therefore , a multi - grayscale display exceeding the grayscale characteristic of the liquid crystal panel 2 is available , and an image of a high grayscale resolution can be represented . uniform images corresponding to 0 to 4095 input grayscales are prepared and the conversion process is performed using the lut prepared by the first embodiment relating to the present invention . those images are displayed by adjusting the 3 - mega - pixel color liquid crystal monitor ( fa - 2090 ) by eizo nanao corporation to γ = 2 . 2 and the chromaticity is measured at a view field angle of 2 ° using the luminance meter ( ls - 1000 ) by konica minolta sensing , inc . the results of the measured chromaticity are shown in fig1 . fig1 is a cie xy chromaticity diagram . it is found that for the 0 to 4095 input grayscales , the chromaticity is always within the chromaticity range suited to the monochromatic image . on the other hand , the change process is performed for images using the lut ( only the first 0 to 100 input grayscales and last 3995 to 4095 input grayscales ) of patent document 3 shown in fig3 , and γ of the liquid crystal monitor is adjusted to 3 . 177 , and images are displayed , thus the chromaticity is measured . the results show that for the 0 to 100 input grayscales , in correspondence with an increase in the input grayscale , the chromaticity is changed . furthermore , the chromaticity for the 3995 to 4095 input grayscales is separated greatly from the area of the monochromatic image and is seen almost yellow . the reason is that for the lut of patent document 3 shown in fig3 , a multi - grayscale display on a monochromatic monitor is supposed , so that the selectable range of a sub - pixel signal value is large excessively and under only the condition concerning luminance , the sub - pixel value is selected . as mentioned above , the present invention , on the basis of not only the luminance information but also both luminance information and chromaticity information , decides r , g , and b data and generates an lut , so that the present invention can display an image of an appropriate chromaticity as a monochromatic image and can represent a multi - grayscale 2 bits ( 4 times ) or more long than the number of drive grayscales of the display free of an frc display . according to the present invention , since each combination of r , g and b signal values of color display image data , corresponding to each signal values of the monochromatic image data , is determined , based on the luminance information and the chromaticity information corresponding to each signal value of the monochromatic image data , it becomes possible to establish correlations for displaying a medical image having a sufficient grayscale reproducibility and a color tone , which are indispensable for the medical image diagnosis . in other words , even when a low - cost color image display apparatus , having a relatively small number of drive grayscales , is employed , it becomes possible to display a medical image having the sufficient grayscale reproducibility and the color tone , with respect to the high - resolution monochromatic image data having a number of gradations , which is equal to or greater than four times of the number of drive grayscales of the color display apparatus , without employing any kind of time sharing display mode . while the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described using specific term , such description is for illustrative purpose only , and it is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims .	6
it is understood that the examples below discuss uses in the cerebral vasculature ( namely the arteries ). however , unless specifically noted , variations of the device and method are not limited to use in the cerebral vasculature . instead , the invention may have applicability in various parts of the body . moreover , the invention may be used in various procedures where the benefits of the method and / or device are desired . fig1 a illustrates a system 10 for removing obstructions from body lumens as described herein . in the illustrated example , this variation of the system 10 is suited for removal of an obstruction in the cerebral vasculature . typically , the system 10 includes a catheter 12 microcatheter , sheath , guide - catheter , or simple tube / sheath configuration for delivery of the obstruction removal device to the target anatomy . the catheter should be sufficient to deliver the device as discussed below . the catheter 12 may optionally include an inflatable balloon 18 for temporarily blocking blood flow or for expanding the vessel to release the obstruction . it is noted that any number of catheters or microcatheters maybe used to locate the catheter / microcatheter 12 carrying the obstruction removal device ( not illustrated ) at the desired target site . such techniques are well understood standard interventional catheterization techniques . furthermore , the catheter 12 may be coupled to auxiliary or support components 14 , 16 ( e . g ., energy controllers , power supplies , actuators for movement of the device ( s ), vacuum sources , inflation sources , sources for therapeutic substances , pressure monitoring , flow monitoring , various bio - chemical sensors , bio - chemical substance , etc .) again , such components are within the scope of the system 10 described herein . in addition , devices of the present invention may be packaged in kits including the components discussed above along with guiding catheters , various devices that assist in the stabilization or removal of the obstruction ( e . g ., proximal - assist devices that holds the proximal end of the obstruction in place preventing it from straying during removal or assisting in the removal of the obstruction ), balloon - tipped guide catheters , dilators , etc . fig1 b illustrates a first variation of a device according to the features described herein . as shown , the device 200 generally includes a main bundle 202 comprising a group of individual wires 204 . the individual wires 204 may be comprised of a number of different wires , or a single type of wire . variations of the wires 204 are discussed in detail below ; however , the wires 204 can be strands , filaments , or any similar structure that is able to be joined to form the device . the bundle 106 may be braided , wrapped , twisted , or joined in any manner such that they do not separate or become unbundled except where desired . as shown , the main bundle 202 diverges to form a first shaped section 206 . in this particular example , the bundle 202 diverges in two sections 208 , 210 which then diverge again to form the first shape 206 . next , the wires 204 forming the first shape 206 diverge in groups or subsets of wires 212 , 214 , 216 , 218 , to form a second shaped section 220 . ultimately , the subsets of wires 212 , 214 , 216 , 218 converge to form a third shaped section 224 . the ends of the wires 204 may terminate in the final shape of the device . in other variations , the device is constructed such that the shapes formed by the divergence and convergence of the wires are formed by the center of the individual wires where all the ends of the wires are located in the main bundle 202 . in such a configuration , the device will not contain any terminating ends . in such a case , the wires forming the shapes are continuous and the device is completely joint or connection free . in the illustrated variation , the first shaped section and third shaped section 206 , 224 form loop shapes while the second shaped section forms a series of traversing elements that extend between the loops . when formed into traversing elements , the wires extend substantially parallel to one another and normal to the shaped sections so that they can span between the first and third shaped sections . as noted below , any number of shapes may be formed with this joint - less construction . in addition , the devices described herein may have any number of shaped sections . for example , in the illustrated variation , the first and second 206 , 224 shaped sections form two loop type structures . however , the device may be constructed such that the wires diverge to form any number of looped shaped structures . in any case , the individual wires 204 form a composite device 200 having individual sections that can serve various functions upon deployment of the device 200 . the divergence and convergence of the wires minimizes the numbers of joints or connections that would otherwise be required to form the composite shape . such a configuration produces a smooth geometry given that the wires forming the device 200 are continuous . fig1 c illustrates a partial view of another variation of a device 200 according to the present invention . in this variation , the device 200 comprises a main bundle 202 where the main bundle 202 diverges to form the first shape 206 . in contrast with the device shown in fig1 b , the main bundle 206 does not diverge to form sections 208 , 210 prior to forming the first shape 206 . it is noted that any number of shapes , configurations , as well as any number of joined wires may be contemplated to form devices under the present disclosure . however , variations of the invention include selecting a number of wires 204 to produce specific structural properties to the device . for example , if it is desired that each subset 212 , 214 , 216 , 218 , have at least two wires , then naturally the first section , third section , and main bundle 202 must have at least two wires . however , in some cases , it may be desired that these sections have additional wires to impart the required characteristics . for example , in the illustrated variation , the main bundle may comprise any number of wires that do not diverge to form subsequent shapes in the device . in other words , not all of the wires forming a section are required to diverge to form an adjacent section . instead , these non - diverging wires may simply “ loop ” back away from the device . in an additional variation , one or more wires may diverge to form a first shape and part of a second shape . then the wires can loop back to converge again with the main bundle . of course , the opposite construction is also within the scope of this disclosure . namely , that each wire from the main bundle diverges to form an adjacent section or shape . fig2 a to 2f show one example of the deployment of a basic structure of a device according to the present invention about an obstruction in a vessel . the figures are intended to demonstrate the initial placement of the device immediately prior to removal of the obstruction either using a filter or by torquing , rotating and / or twisting the device ends relative to one another . this action converts the device from a low friction device to a high friction device ( where the low / high friction is the friction between the device and the obstruction ). this action may also be referred to as a low surface area mode converting to a high surface area mode ( in cases where the device extends beyond the obstruction and relative motion between ends of the device causes the device to shrink in axial length as it is twisted .) fig2 a illustrates an example of an obstruction 2 lodged within a body lumen or vessel 6 . in the case where the vessel is a cerebral artery , the obstruction may result in an ischemic stroke . using standard interventional catheterization techniques , a microcatheter 102 and guidewire 104 traverse the obstruction . the microcatheter 102 may be advanced through the obstruction 2 . alternatively , the microcatheter 102 may “ push ” aside the obstruction and is advanced around the obstruction . in any case , the microcatheter 102 travels from the near end 3 ( or proximal side ) of the obstruction 2 to the far end 4 ( or distal side ) of the obstruction 2 . it is noted that the catheter 102 may be centered or off - center with respect to the obstruction 2 . furthermore , the device may or may not be used with a guidewire to navigate to the site and traverse the obstruction . fig2 b shows another variation where a microcatheter 102 traverses the obstruction 2 between the wall of the vessel 6 and the obstruction 2 . as shown , the open end of the microcatheter 102 is distal to the obstruction 2 and is now positioned to deploy devices for removal of the obstruction 2 . this variation shows the device after removal of any guidewire . however , some variations of the device may be placed without an accompanying guidewire . moreover , the structures discussed herein may be directly incorporated into a guidewire assembly where deployment may require a sheath or other covering to release the components from constraint . fig2 c illustrates deployment of a portion of the device 200 from within the microcatheter 102 distal to the obstruction 2 . in this example , the third shaped section 224 deploys distally to the obstruction 2 . as noted herein , depending on the properties of the device 200 as determined by the types of wires used , third shaped section 224 can be self - expanding such that it assumes , or moves towards , the expanded profile ( as shown ) upon deployment from the constraint of the microcatheter 102 . alternatively , the third - shaped section 224 can be actuated to assume the shape ( e . g ., upon reaching a transition temperature where one or more wires comprise a shape memory alloy ). fig2 d shows withdrawal of the microcatheter 102 to the proximal side 3 of the obstruction 2 . the spacing between the third shaped section 224 and the obstruction 2 may vary . in some cases , the third shaped section 224 will move closer towards the obstruction 2 during spacing of the remainder of the device as discussed below . the third shaped section 224 remains in place either using the inherent friction of the wires against the vessels and / or obstruction 2 . alternatively , or in combination , a wire - type member ( not shown ) may provide an opposing force against the third shaped section 224 as the catheter 102 moves proximal to the obstruction 2 . as noted above , this variation of the device 200 include a plurality of subsets 212 , 214 , 216 , 218 that traverse between the first and third shaped sections 206 , 224 . as shown in fig2 e , eventually , second shaped section 220 spans across the obstruction 2 as shown . fig2 f illustrates the device 200 after the second shaped section 220 separate about the obstruction 2 this action causes the second shaped section 220 to span the obstruction 2 while reorienting towards an exterior of the obstruction 2 . the subsets of wires may remain partially or fully within the obstruction 2 . however , given that the filaments are spaced about the loops formed by the first shaped section 206 and third shaped section 224 , the filaments shall separate radially over the obstruction allowing for the subsequent ensnaring and removal of the obstruction 2 . spacing the subsets that traverse across the obstruction can occur via a number of modes such as tensioning , expanding , spreading separating and / or withdrawing the wires . regardless of the mode used , the subsets are intended to be positioned at or near a surface of the obstruction so that they can reduce the effects of any friction between the obstruction and the lumen or vessel wall . fig2 g to 2h illustrates examples of the device 200 that ensnare the obstruction 2 after the device is in the configuration demonstrated by above . in these cases , the devices 200 transform from a low friction mode to a higher friction mode for removal of the obstruction 2 . fig2 g to 2h illustrate rotation of the ends of the device 206 and 224 relative to one another . the resulting action converts the device 200 to a high friction mode to ensnare the obstruction 2 within the traversing section formed by the wires in the second shaped section 220 . as noted herein , either connector may rotate while another connector remains stationary . alternatively , each connector may rotate with the rate of rotation for one connector being slower than another . in yet another variation , each connector may be rotated in opposite directions . although the variation shows only four individual subsets of wires traversing across between the first and third shaped sections 206 and 224 any number subsets may be used so long as the rotation converts the wires into a relatively increased friction mode as compared to the low friction mode ( when the subsets are in a parallel configuration ). the low friction mode is represented by fig2 f . fig2 g illustrates a device in a high friction mode where the subsets of wires forming the second shaped section 220 twist and cross one another over the length of the obstruction 2 . it should be noted that additional shaped sections 206 , 220 , and / or 224 may be required to produce the crossing pattern shown in fig2 g , or other preferred patterns when the device is twisted to convert to a high friction mode . in contrast , the device 200 may be configured to transform as shown in fig2 h . in this case , conversion of the device 200 causes twisting at points 116 where the twist points 116 are proximal and distal to the obstruction 2 . to accomplish this , the device 200 can be selected to have a length greater than the targeted obstruction 2 . upon rotation , the second shaped section 220 formed from the subsets of wires that traverse across obstruction remain uncrossed over the length of the obstruction 2 . in some cases , the second shaped section 220 can experience some twisting and will not remain parallel . the relative motion of the ends 206 and 224 as well as the twist points 116 causes the second shaped section 220 to exert a compressive force on the obstruction 2 without crossing one another over the length of the obstruction . accordingly , while the surface area in contact between the second shaped section 220 and obstruction 2 remains relatively the same , the compressive action of the second shaped section 220 onto the obstruction converts the device 200 to a high friction mode on the obstruction . the rotation of the ends of the device 206 , 224 can be performed in any number of ways as known to those skilled in the art . in either case , the obstruction 2 becomes ensnared ( and / or encapsulated ) and can be removed from the body . fig3 a illustrates another variation of a device where the wires 204 diverge from an end of the device 200 to form a basket 226 shape or structure . the basket structure 226 may also be referred to as a filter or surrounding portion . in variations of the device , the basket 226 is sufficiently permeable to allow blood flow therethrough . as noted above , basket 226 may be any structure that covers , encapsulates , engulfs , and / or ensnares the obstruction either fully or partially . accordingly , although the basket 226 is illustrated as a filter / bag , the wires may diverge to form a coil , helical shape , other mesh structure , or any other structure that may translate or remove the obstruction 2 once the frictional component is addressed . fig3 b shows a top view of a variation of a device 200 showing another configuration of a basket shape 226 formed by wires that diverge from an end of the device 200 . in this variation , the wires 204 diverge in subsets 228 from the third shaped section 224 . however , the subsets 228 continue to diverge at the far end of the device to form a mesh region 230 ( i . e ., an area of dense wire coverage ). this mesh region 230 can increase the contact area between the wires 204 and the obstruction , which assists in removal of the obstruction . divergence of wires could occur multiple times as wires head to the distal region of basket , creating a basket with denser and denser coverage moving distally . fig3 c depicts a variation of the device similar to that of fig3 a . as shown , the device 200 is deployed distally to the obstruction 2 as shown , this deployment allows the subsets of wires that extend along the device 200 to expand within the vessel 6 prior to contacting the occlusion 2 . next , as shown in fig3 d , the device 200 is pulled over the occlusion 2 . as noted herein , the subsets of wires that form the second shaped portion 220 addresses the frictional forces that act between the obstruction and the vessel wall . conventional devices that provide a bag attached to a wire ( such as a vascular filter or distal protection device ), are typically unable to remove the obstruction because they cannot overcome these frictional forces that lodge the clot against the vessel wall . typically , such conventional devices are only designed to “ catch ” free floating clots . providing low friction with respect to the clot and the vessel allows for positioning of the device without disrupting or further compacting the clot against the vessel wall . once the wires of the device surround or are spaced about the obstruction , they reduce the friction between the clot and vessel wall by reducing points of contact . once these wires surround the clot , they permit translation of the device to permit a basket shaped section 226 to surround the obstruction for removal . eventually , the device 200 is pulled so that the basket shaped section 226 captures the obstruction 2 allowing it to be removed . fig4 a illustrates a variation of a device 200 where the first shaped section is a loop shaped member 206 and the third shaped section 224 forms a closed end where the wires converge . as shown , subsets 212 , 214 , 216 , 218 diverge from the first shaped section 206 and extend substantially parallel to the loop . rather than converging to form another loop , the subsets converge to form a shaped section 224 having a closed end configuration . fig4 b illustrates the variation of fig4 a after it converts to a high friction mode over the obstruction 2 via rotation of the first shaped section 206 . as with other variations , the number of subsets may vary as needed . in addition , the subsets of wires 212 , 214 , 216 , 218 can further diverge to form a denser mesh pattern at or towards the third shaped section 224 . as shown , rotation of the shaped section 206 forms a twist point 116 proximal to the obstruction 2 . in some cases , the subsets of wires 212 , 214 , 216 , 218 can experience some twisting and may not remain parallel . the rotation of the shaped section 206 as well as the twist point 116 causes the subsets of wires 212 , 214 , 216 , 218 to exert a compressive force on the obstruction 2 without crossing one another over the length of the obstruction . accordingly , while the surface area in contact between the subsets of wires 212 , 214 , 216 , 218 and obstruction 2 remains relatively the same , the compressive action of the subsets of wires onto the obstruction converts the device 200 to a high friction mode on the obstruction . fig5 shows one example of a method for constructing devices according to the present invention . a main bundle of wires 202 is brought into a fixture ( not shown ). the fixture permits routing of the wires in the pattern as shown . in this particular variation , the main bundle comprises 8 wires . however , number of wires is intended for exemplary purposes only . clearly , any number of wires may be used . as shown the wires diverge in the region marked 232 to form four separate subsets of wires 212 , 214 , 216 , 218 . again , in this example , each subset of wire comprises 2 individual wires . this configuration is for illustrative purposes as the number of wires in each subset is not required to be the same for all . next , the wires converge in the region marked as 234 . it is noted that if the device is constructed on a planar fixture , the wires ( once oriented ) will be wrapped around a cylindrical structure and heat set to impart the shapes shown above . accordingly , the regions marked by 232 and 234 assume partial loop shapes as the planar wire assembly is wrapped around the cylindrical fixture . in alternate variations , the wires may be oriented on a cylindrical fixture and heat set into a final shape . doing so obviously eliminates the need to wrap the planar wire assembly about a cylindrical structure . as shown , once the wires form the region marked as 234 , they diverge once again to form a basket shaped section or filter 226 as discussed above . accordingly , upon wrapping the device wires , the region marked as 234 assumes a loop shaped section . the wires forming the basket shaped section or filter 226 can either terminate at the end of the basket or filter 226 . alternatively , the wires can be looped around such that they eventually extend back through the main bundle 202 or loop back and terminate in any portion of the device . the above described wire form construction allows for a number of configurations depending on the particular application . for example , the individual wires 204 may themselves comprise a bundle of smaller wires or filaments . in addition , the wires can be selected from materials such as stainless steel , titanium , platinum , gold , iridium , tantalum , nitinol , and / or polymeric strands . in addition , the wires used in a device may comprise a heterogeneous structure by using combinations of wires of different materials to produce a device having the particular desired properties . for example , one or more wires in the device may comprise a shape memory or superelastic alloy to impart predetermined shapes or resiliency to the device . in some variations , the mechanical properties of select wires can be altered . in such a case , the select wires can be treated to alter properties including : brittleness , ductility , elasticity , hardness , malleability , plasticity , strength , and toughness . in addition , the device may include a number of radiopaque wires , such as gold and platinum for improved visibility under fluoroscopic imaging . in other words , any combination of materials may be incorporated into the device . in addition to the materials , the size of the wires may vary as needed . for example , the diameters of the wires may be the same or may vary as needed . in addition , the individual wires may have cross - sectional shapes ranging from circular , oval , d - shaped , rectangular shape , etc . moreover , the device is not limited to having wires having the same cross - sectional shape . instead , the device can have wires having different cross - sectional shapes . to illustrate one such example , a device can have 8 - 12 wires made of 0 . 003 ″ round superelastic material ( e . g ., nitinol ). the device may additionally have 2 - 4 wires made from 0 . 002 ″ platinum for fluoroscopy . of the 8 - 12 nitinol wires , 1 - 4 of these wires can be made of a larger diameter or different cross - section to increase the overall strength of the device . finally , a couple of polymer fibers can be added where the fibers have a desired surface property for clot adherence , etc . such a combination of wires provides a composite device with properties not conventionally possible in view of other formation means ( such as laser cutting or etching the shape from a tube or joining materials with welds , etc .). clearly , any number of permutations is possible given the principles of the invention . in another example , the device may be fabricated from wires formed from a polymeric material or composite blend of polymeric materials . the polymeric composite can be selected such that it is very floppy until it is exposed to either the body fluids and or some other delivered activator that causes the polymer to further polymerize or stiffen for strength . various coatings could protect the polymer from further polymerizing before the device is properly placed . the coatings could provide a specific duration for placement ( e . g ., 5 minutes ) after which the covering degrades or is activated with an agent ( that doesn &# 39 ; t affect the surrounding tissues ) allowing the device to increase in stiffness so that it doesn &# 39 ; t stretch as the thrombus is pulled out . for example , shape memory polymers would allow the device to increase in stiffness . as discussed herein , the shaped section connectors may be other structures than loops . moreover , variations of the invention include connectors that may be drawn down to a smaller size to facilitate removal from the body after securing the obstruction . this may be accomplished by torquing the device or part thereof , by re - sheathing part or all of the device or by any mechanical means designed into the features of the device itself . any of these actions , or combination thereof , may also serve to compress or decrease the diameter of the obstruction itself to facilitate removal from the body . as with the above examples , the illustrated variation shown above , the shaped portions are formed in a loop or partial loop shape . however , as described herein , the connectors may also comprise various alternate shapes ( e . g ., a circle , an arcuate shape , a partial circular shape , a loop , an oval , a square , a rectangle , a polygon , an overlapping loop , a pair of semi - circles , a flower shape , and a fig8 , other shapes , etc .) fig6 a to 6d illustrate some possible shapes for use in the device . the various shapes may be heat set to be either self expanding ( i . e ., superelastic ) or the use of shape memory alloys can allow for the device to assume the particular shape upon reaching a desired transition temperature . in certain cases , such as where the shape is an overlapping loop , a pair of semi - circles , a flower shape , a fig8 , or other complex / discontinuous shape , such a shape may be formed by a single bundle or by one or more separate portions of wire that diverge from the main bundle . fig6 a illustrates a main bundle of wires 202 that diverge in three arcuate shaped portions 242 , 244 , 246 . naturally , the device may have more or less arcuate shaped sections . in this illustration , the segments forming the arcuate 242 , 244 , 246 shaped portions may simply bend to form segments that traverse across the device ( as shown above .) however , such traversing sections are omitted to illustrate the arcuate shape . fig6 b illustrates a main bundle 202 that ultimately diverges to form an overlapping loop shape 248 . as shown , the ends of the overlapping loop may then proceed to form the traversing subsets 212 , 214 discussed above . in addition , additional subsets of wires may diverge from a location other than the end of the overlapping loop shape 248 . fig6 c illustrates a main bundle that diverges to form two semi - circular or partial circular shapes 250 , 252 . in this variation , the two shapes are located along the same axial section of the device but the shapes are separate . again , the ends of the partial circular shapes 250 , 252 may diverge to form the traversing section of the device . alternatively , the traversing wires can come from other locations . fig6 d illustrates a main bundle 202 that diverges to form a “ figure - 8 ” shape . as with other variations , additional subsets ( not shown ) of wires may diverge from the “ figure - 8 ” shape to form the traversing subsets . in addition , flower shaped sections may be formed by the use of additional circular shapes that form the petals of the flower shape or via the use of multiple “ figure - 8 ” shapes . the exemplary shapes discussed above permit the shaped section to adjust in diameter in response to placement in varying diameters of body lumens . it is noted that a device may have different shaped sections on different ends of the device . while many different shapes are contemplated to be within the scope of this disclosure , the shapes will depend upon the ultimate application of the device . as noted herein , the illustrated examples have particular applicability in retrieving obstructions from the vasculature . accordingly , for these applications the shaped sections should form a shape so that they can expand against a vessel wall without causing trauma to the vessel . for example , upon release from the catheter , the shaped section can assume their resting shape and expand within the vessel . the resting shape can be constructed to have a size slightly greater than that of the vessel . sizing the device relative to the target vessel may assist in placing the parts of the device against a vessel . in an additional aspect , the shaped sections may be designed to have an unconstrained shape that is larger than the intended target vessel or simply different than a cross sectional profile of the intended vessel ( i . e ., not circular or tubular , but e . g ., linear or other different shape ). in such an example , as the shaped section is released from the delivery catheter , the shape section attempts to return to the unconstrained shape . in those variations where the unconstrained shape is different from the circular profile of the vessel , the leading wire assumes a shape that accommodates the vessel but is more rigid and stable since its unconstrained shape is entirely different from that of the vessel . in other words , the shaped section continually exerts an outward force on the vessel . in yet another aspect , the shaped sections shown herein may not necessarily lie in the same plane . instead , they can be axially spaced by an offset . one benefit of constructing the device to have non - planar shaped section is that the configuration might allow for delivery of the device delivered via a smaller microcatheter because the shaped sections do not interfere with one another when collapsed to fit within the microcatheter . another aspect applicable to all variations of the devices is to configure the devices ( whether the traversing filament or the surrounding portion ) for better adherence to the obstruction . one such mode includes the use of coatings that bond to certain clots ( or other materials causing the obstruction .) for example , the wires may be coated with a hydrogel or adhesive that bonds to a thrombus . accordingly , as the device secures about a clot , the combination of the additive and the mechanical structure of the device may improve the effectiveness of the device in removing the obstruction . such improvements may also be mechanical or structural . for example , as shown in fig6 e , the traversing members may have hooks , fibers , or barbs 154 that grip into the obstruction when the device converts to a high friction mode . the hooks , fibers , or barbs 154 incorporated into any portion of the device . however , it will be important that such features do not hinder the ability of the practitioner to remove the device from the body . in addition to additives , the device can be coupled to an rf or other power source ( such as 14 or 16 in fig1 ), to allow current , ultrasound or rf energy to transmit through the device and induce clotting or cause additional coagulation of a clot or other the obstruction . the methods described herein may also include treating the obstruction prior to attempting to remove the obstruction . such a treatment can include applying a chemical or pharmaceutical agent with the goal of making the occlusion shrink or to make it more rigid for easier removal . such agents include , but are not limited to chemotherapy drugs , or solutions , a mild formalin , or aldehyde solution . although not illustrated , the devices and methods described herein may also be useful in removing obstructions lodged within bifurcations in the anatomy . generally , bifurcations greatly increase the frictional forces on the obstructions since the obstruction tends to be lodged in both branching sections of the bifurcation . in such cases , the use of the presently described devices and methods may also include an additional “ puller ” device that advances beyond the portion of the obstruction partially located in the bifurcated vessel . as for other details of the present invention , materials and manufacturing techniques may be employed as within the level of those with skill in the relevant art . the same may hold true with respect to method - based aspects of the invention in terms of additional acts that are commonly or logically employed . in addition , though the invention has been described in reference to several examples , optionally incorporating various features , the invention is not to be limited to that which is described or indicated as contemplated with respect to each variation of the invention . fig7 a to 7c illustrate additional variations of obstruction removal devices . in these variations , the wires may diverge from the main wire bundle 202 to form any number of shapes and structures and specifically not form loop or the shaped sections discussed above . for example , in fig7 a to 7b the wires diverge to ultimately form a basket or filter shape 226 . fig8 a to 8f illustrate various additional configurations for construction of join - less devices 200 . as shown , the main bundle of wires 202 diverges so that one or more wires forms the illustrated shapes . fig9 a to 9c show another variation of a medical device according to the principles of the invention . as shown , the device 200 comprises a first and second main bundles 202 , where the main bundles comprise a plurality of wires . the devices further include a first shape and second shapes 206 formed by a divergence of the plurality of wires into a plurality of individual first subsets of wires . in these variations , the wires diverge to form a network of individual single wires as shown in region 226 . the shapes form a three dimensional structure that is useful for removal of obstruction from within the body . in fig9 b , each shape comprises a structure that forms a portion of the basket where a network of wires forms an end of the basket . in fig9 a and 9c the network of wires forms the entire basket . as noted above , the shapes 206 may range from a circle , an arcuate shape , a partial circular shape , a loop , an oval , a square , a rectangle , a polygon , an overlapping loop , a pair of semi - circles , a flower shape , and a fig8 ( as shown above ). various changes may be made to the invention described and equivalents ( whether recited herein or not included for the sake of some brevity ) may be substituted without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention . also , any optional feature of the inventive variations may be set forth and claimed independently , or in combination with any one or more of the features described herein . accordingly , the invention contemplates combinations of various aspects of the embodiments or combinations of the embodiments themselves , where possible . reference to a singular item , includes the possibility that there are plural of the same items present . more specifically , as used herein and in the appended claims , the singular forms “ a ,” “ and ,” “ said ,” and “ the ” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise .	0
with reference now to the figures and in particular with reference to fig1 , there is shown a front view of the disc packaging device 10 of the present invention . as illustrated , disc packaging device 10 includes a lower base component or container 12 and an upper cover component or lid 14 . lower base component 12 and upper cover component 14 are utilized to form a generally cylindrical packaging device of dimension slightly larger than the disc shaped recording media to be stored . end plates 16 and 18 cooperate with lower base component 12 and upper cover component 14 to fully enclose the cylindrical packaging space defined thereby . the lower base component 12 of the embodiment of this invention shown in fig1 and 2 includes a side wall 20 . the side wall can be constructed from either cardboard ( i . e ., natural fiber material ) or plastic ( i . e ., man - made synthetic material ) or other material suitably rigid for the base component to retain its shape , including metal , e . g ., as in a vacuum sealed , canned product . the base component 12 can be designed to threadably receive the bottom plate 16 which is of conventional design , made of stiff cardboard , plastic , metal or some similarly rigid material and used as a cover - all screw cap on a very wide variety of containers . alternatively the bottom plate 16 can nest inside the side wall 20 where it is held by friction , stapling , gluing or some other means . the side wall 20 has an upper section 22 and the upper section 22 can be threaded to accommodate the upper cover component 14 although in the embodiment shown in fig1 and 2 the cover is made of plastic and snaps on in a conventional manner . as best seen in fig2 , the upper section 22 is defined by an outer wall 24 , an inner wall 26 and a rim 28 . the cover component 14 has a side wall 30 defined by an outer wall 32 , an inner wall 34 and a rim 36 . the diameter of the inner wall 34 of the cover component is slightly greater than the diameter of the outer wall 24 of the base component . in the embodiment shown in fig1 and 2 , there is an inner structure 40 which provides circumferential support for a disc shaped media 42 stored within the packaging device 10 . the structure 40 comprises an annular collar 44 having an annular ring 46 and an annular lip 48 . the inner structure 40 nests within the lower base component 12 . the annular collar 44 has an outer diameter greater than the diameter of the inner wall 26 of the base component such that the annular collar extends beyond the inner wall 26 and sits on top of the base rim 28 . the annular ring 46 has an outer diameter less than the diameter of the inner wall 26 , such that the annular ring nests inside the inner wall 26 . the annular lip 48 has an inner diameter less than the outer diameter of the disc shaped media 42 . thus , the disc shaped media will rest on the annular lip , inside the annular ring . in this way , movement of the disc shaped media in the plane of the disc shaped media is precluded by the annular abutment 46 . movement of the disc shaped media perpendicular to its plane is prevented in one direction by the annular lip 48 . when the cover component 14 is affixed to the base component 12 , the cover plate 18 acts to preclude movement of the disc shaped media in the opposite perpendicular direction to the plane of the disc shaped media . in the embodiment disclosed in fig2 a , a protective member 50 is attached to the annular lip 48 . the protective member can be made of plastic film or any other conventional material to provide a barrier between the disc shaped media and other materials 52 which can be stored in the base component 12 of the packaging device 10 . the protective member can be permanently affixed to the annular lip or it can be affixed at the time of assembly and shipment and removed by the consumer after purchase , i . e ., at a time when further “ rough handling ” that would cause interaction between the disc shaped media and the other materials is less likely to occur . in an alternative embodiment disclosed in fig2 b , the protective element is removable and sized to seat on the annular lip 48 between the annular lip 48 and the disc shaped media . the protective element is round like the disc shaped media and has a central opening into which one &# 39 ; s finger can be inserted to engage , lift and remove the protective element and subsequently engage , lift and replace the protective element . in an alternative embodiment disclosed in fig2 c , the protective element 50 b is flexible and is removably inserted within the lower base component beneath the annular lip 48 and on top of the other materials 52 placed therein . the protective element is sized to correspond to the interior wall 26 and has a central opening into which one &# 39 ; s finger can be inserted to engage , lift and remove the protective element and subsequently engage , lift and replace the protective element . alternatively , the protective element can be provided with a lift tab or some other conventional means whereby it can be grabbed and removed . in the alternative embodiment shown in fig3 and 3a , the inner structure 40 is modified . the annular collar 44 with annular ring 46 and annular lip 48 is replaced by discrete abutments 54 and discrete protrusions 56 . collectively , the abutments 54 and protrusions 56 are positioned within the lower base component 12 around the circumference of the inner wall 26 spaced below the rim 28 , affixed to the inner wall 26 , so as to perform the same function as the annular ring 46 and annular lip 48 . specifically , the abutments 54 preclude movement of the disc shaped media in the plane of the disc shaped media i . e ., performing the same function as the annular ring 46 . similarly , the protrusions 56 are positioned about the inner wall 26 and collectively preclude movement of the disc shaped media in a direction perpendicular to plane of the disc shaped media i . e ., performing the same function as the annular lip 48 . fig3 b shows a further alternative embodiment wherein the disc shaped media is seated on the rim 28 and movement of the disc shaped media perpendicular to its plane is prevented in one direction by the rim 28 . when the cover 14 is affixed to the base component 12 , movement of the disc shaped media in the plane of the disc shaped media is precluded by the inner wall 34 of the cover 14 and inner surface 14 a of the cover 14 acts to preclude movement of the disc shaped media in the second , opposite perpendicular direction to the plane of the disc shaped media . fig3 c shows a further alternative embodiment wherein the disc shaped media is seated on the outside surface 14 b of the cover 14 and movement of the disc shaped media perpendicular to its plane is prevented in one direction by a supplementary cover 144 that snaps onto the cover 14 . when the supplementary cover 144 is affixed to the cover 14 , movement of the disc shaped media in the plane of the disc shaped media is precluded by the inner wall 144 a of the supplementary cover 144 and the inner wall 144 b of the supplementary cover 144 acts to preclude movement of the disc shaped media in the second , opposite perpendicular direction to the plane of the disc shaped media . the supplementary cover 144 can include a chamber 144 d and a protective element 50 b can be inserted to prevent contact between the disc shaped media and whatever materials 52 a are placed in the chamber 144 d . in the alternative embodiment seen in fig4 and 4a , the inner support structure 40 is replaced with an inner support structure 58 that provides center support for the disc shaped media as opposed to the circumferential support provided by inner structure 40 . in the embodiment shown in fig4 and 4a , the alternative inner structure 58 includes an annular ring 60 and spokes 62 extending therefrom . as seen in fig4 a , the annular ring 60 has a raised portion 64 on which the disc media 42 sits , the spokes 62 each have a finger portion 66 which extends upwardly and outwardly such that when the structure 58 is inserted into the base component 12 , the fingers 56 frictionally engage the inner wall 26 and sit on the upper rim 28 . the structure 58 can include webbing between the fencers 56 ( ala the webbing in a duck &# 39 ; s foot ) comprised of a thin material to provide protection for the disc shaped media 42 from the other materials 52 . inside the annular ring 60 would be left open to allow the consumer , after removing , the cover 14 , to insert their finger into the annular ring and to thereby remove both the disc shaped media 42 and the structure 58 . fig5 and 5a show a further alternative inner structure 68 comprising an annular collar 70 from which fingers 72 extend inwardly . at the ends of the fingers 72 are upstanding projections 74 . the annular collar 70 nests inside the inner wall 26 and sits on the rim 28 in the same manner as the inner structure 40 in the embodiment shown in fig1 and 2 . the upstanding projections 74 cooperate to provide a center support structure for the disc shaped media . as seen in fig6 a and 6b , the fingers 72 in the embodiment shown in fig5 and 5a do not necessarily need to be suspended from an annular collar . alternatively , the could be clipped to the side wall 20 as seen in fig6 a or they could be screwed into the side wall 20 as shown in fig6 b . in an alternative embodiment shown in fig7 , a center support structure is provided for the disc shaped media in the upper cover component 14 . specifically , projections 80 extend from the inside wall 82 of the end plate 18 . these projections 80 cooperate to provide secure support for the disc shaped media in the cover component 14 . a protective element 84 can be provided which is either removably nested within the cover as shown or which can be inserted at the time of manufacture and removed and discarded by the consumer after purchase . the cover 14 can engage the base component 12 in any variety of conventional ways , e . g ., snap on , telescope on , screw on , etc . in a further alternative embodiment shown in fig7 a , the disc shaped media is encased within an envelope 84 a made of plastic or some other suitable material and which is affixed to the inside wall 82 of the end plate 18 . the envelope is either removably or permanently affixed , e . g ., by gluing , with double - sided tape , or by other conventional means . the envelope can itself constitute a re - useable packaging container for the disc shaped media that either remains affixed to the plate 18 or can be removed from the plate 18 , e . g ., so that the cover 14 can be discarded . or the disc shaped media can be packaged within a packaging sleeve ( not shown ) ail of which can then be inserted into the envelope and then removed from the envelope once the envelope is opened . fig8 and 8a show further alternative embodiments of the present invention . in fig8 , the fact that the disc shaped media is stored within the cover component 14 allows for an alternative construction of the container 12 . in this alternative embodiment , the cover 14 serves as the “ base ”. the alternative base 90 , in which the other materials , in this case , a doll 92 , are stored , has an end wall structure 94 which frictionally encases the inner wall 96 and seals the chamber in the base 90 . alternatively , wall 94 can be provided with threads so that it will threadably engage corresponding threads on the inside wall 96 . the cover 14 and base 90 can be attached in the same manner as heretofore been discussed in connection with other embodiments . in the embodiment showing in fig8 a , the cover 14 once again carries the disc shaped media 42 and thereby allows the base 12 to be of a deformable construction 98 . the deformable member 98 has a rigid internal support structure 100 which is designed to frictionally or threadably engage the cover 14 . in the alternate embodiment shown in fig9 , the disc shaped media is stored in a first chamber 102 in the lid 14 defined by an annular support 40 similar in construction to the embodiment of fig7 , except that the lid includes a second chamber 104 defined by an outer wall 106 for other materials and the base 12 includes a third chamber 108 . in the alternate embodiment shown in fig1 , which is similar in construction to the embodiment of fig4 , there is provided an additional opening 110 in the container 22 and a cover 116 for closing the opening 110 . the cover 116 can be removed to gain access to the chamber 104 without removing the cover 14 . in the alternative embodiment shown in fig1 and 11a , an inner structure 40 a is provided that is a slightly modified version of the inner structure 40 shown in fig2 , in that it includes an annular wall 45 that extends around the entire circumference of the annular collar 44 and engages the outer surface of the wall of the base 12 , and the cover 14 is configured to engage not the base 12 , but rather , the annular wall 45 . an additional opening 110 is provided as in the embodiment of fig1 , and a cover 116 a is provided that is a slightly modified version of the cover 116 of fig1 , in that it includes not only an outer annular wall 116 b for engaging the outer surface of the wall of the base 12 , but also an inner annular wall 116 c for engaging the inner surface of the wall of the base 12 . the circumferential dimension of the outer surface 116 d of the wall 116 b of the cover 116 a is identical to the circumferential dimension of the outer surface 45 d of the wall 45 , such that the covers 14 and 116 a can be removed and the cover 14 which matingly engaged the wall 45 will matingly engage the outer wall 116 b of the cover 116 a , as shown in fig1 a . in this way , as also shown in fig1 a , the covers 14 and 116 a can be used together as a mini - packaging device for the disc shaped media 42 . in the embodiment shown , the inner wall 116 c helps to securely retain the disc shaped media against movement . however , it is understood that the benefits of the invention could be achieved without such inner wall , or utilizing one of the other retaining methods disclosed herein . in the alternative embodiment shown in fig1 , the disc shaped media seats on the rim 28 as in the embodiment shown in fig3 b , but the cover 14 x does not snap onto the base 12 , but rather , threadably engages it . furthermore , the bottom 12 x of the base 12 is flared outwardly and contains internal threads that are of the same dimension as the internal threads of the cover 14 x . the cover 116 x includes mating external threads such that the cover 116 x can be threaded into the flared bottom 12 x of base 12 . in this way , the covers 14 x and 116 x can be removed from the base 12 and threadably engaged to form a mini - packaging unit for the disc shaped media . in the alternative embodiments of fig1 a and 12b , the need to flare out the bottom of the base 12 is eliminated . in fig1 a , the base 12 y receives a bottom cover 116 y that includes an overlapping portion 117 y , the outer surface 118 y of which is of equal dimension to the outer surface 118 y of which is of equal dimension to the outer wall of the base 12 y , such that covers 14 y and 1 ly can be slidably engaged to form a mini - storage unit for the disc media . in fig1 b , the base 12 z has an external threaded portion 119 z and an internal threaded portion 120 z each of which extends beyond the center line “ c ” of the wall of the base 12 z . in this way , when the covers 14 z and 116 z are removed , they can be threadably engaged to form a mini - storage unit for the disc media . fig1 shows a further alternative embodiment , wherein the cover 244 nestingly seats within the base 12 and the disc shaped media 42 is placed within the concave recess 246 of the cover 244 . a seal 248 made of plastic or other suitable material is applied to the cover 244 to hold the disc shaped media within the cover 244 until the seal is removed by the user . the disc shaped media can be retained against movement within the cover 244 as a result of contact with the side walls 250 , bottom wall 252 and seal 248 , or by utilization of any of the other methods taught herein . fig1 shows a further alternative embodiment wherein the base 12 is a separately manufactured container of miscellaneous content , that includes a slightly concave end 251 , the depth 252 of which exceeds the combined thickness of a disc shaped media 42 and a protective element 50 which are seated within the concave end 251 and held there by cover 14 which snaps onto base 12 . in an alternate embodiment , a protective element is not used or the disc shaped media is packaged in an envelope ( not shown ). fig1 shows a further alternative embodiment wherein the disc shaped media is mounted and sealed within cover 14 , e . g ., as taught herein in connection with other embodiments , and cover 14 is attached to base 12 by paper packaging material skin 0 1 that binds the cover 14 and base 12 together . cover 14 is separated from base 12 by pulling string 302 which tears the skin 301 and brakes the circumferential attachment between cover 14 and base 12 . it would be understood that in each embodiment , a container device is provided in which disc shaped media can be packaged , distributed , displayed at retail and , if desired , restored with other materials and that , in effecting such usage , discrete chambers are provided for the disc media and for the other materials so as to prevent contact between the disc media and the other materials . in the embodiments shown in fig1 through 6b , the inner structure , whether it is the annular collar of fig1 , or the discretely positioned abutment / protrusion clips of fig3 , or the upstanding rim in fig3 b , or the lid and supplemental lid of fig3 c , or the “ spider ” structure of fig4 , or the “ trap ” structure of fig5 , in each case is located in and helps define a first chamber in the lower base component 12 . underneath this first chamber is a second chamber . the first chamber receives and securely holds , despite repeated removal and re - packaging , the disc shaped media . the second chamber receives the other materials and keeps these materials separate from the disc shaped media . the need for a separate “ jewel case ” for the disc shaped media is thus completely eliminated . it would be understood that the shape of the container can be varied without departing from the scope of the present invention , e . g ., the cylindrical base 12 can be square or rectangular so long as the outer wall of the collar 40 corresponds and the collar includes spacers from the outer wall of the collar to the annular ring and annular lip of the present invention . similar adjustments could be made to the other embodiments as would be apparent to those skilled in the an having reviewed this disclosure . the abutment / protrusions clips of fig3 could be mounted on a non - cylindrical shaped base , as could the spider structure of fig4 or the trap structure of fig5 . it would be understood by those skilled in the art that the function of the annular ring of fig1 or the abutments of fig2 could be performed by an appropriately dimensioned inner wall 26 of the container 12 . it would be further understood that while several methods of attaching the annular collar of fig1 , the abutment / protrusion clips of fig2 , the spider structure of fig3 and the trap structure of fig4 have been shown , those skilled in the alt after having reviewed this disclosure could devise other means of attachment without departing from the scope of the present invention . it would be further understood by those skilled in the art that the device and method of this invention can accommodate one or more disc shaped media , e . g ., through the insertion of protective elements therebetween .	1
the scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to any particular dimension of any particular component or any dimensional relationship between any particular components . any dimensions disclosed herein are merely provided by way of example . embodiments are envisioned , and the scope of the invention is intended to include other embodiments having other types or kinds of dimensions of components or dimensional relationships between any particular components , consistent with that disclosed herein , and within the spirit of the underlying invention . for example , one skilled in the art would appreciate and understand without undue experimentation how to configure and dimension the components herein to implement the present invention , consistent with that disclosed herein . fig1 illustrates a cross - sectional , conceptual view of a well with a heat harvesting component connected by a piping system 50 to an electricity generating component ( not shown ) that may be located above ground 180 . for example , a heat exchanging unit is shown in the first figure of the abovementioned co - pending application ser . no . 12 / 456 , 434 connected by a piping system to an electricity generating component via a pumping mechanism . the particular heat exchanging unit is shown in the aforementioned application situated in a heat nest , like a heat nest 140 in fig1 hereof , at the lower end of the well . several lateral holes are shown nest in the co - pending application , like holes 220 shown in fig1 , drilled into rock surrounding the heat . it is disclosed therein that the several lateral holes may be filled with additional heat conductive materials 100 and that the additional materials may include at least one of ball bearing , or at least one bead , or wire , or a meshed metallic material , pipes , or some combination thereof . the flow of geothermal heat from the surrounding rock into the heat exchanging element can be increased via the additional heat conductive material , according to the aforementioned co - pending application . according to the teachings of the present invention , several holes 220 are drilled in a well 110 by a process disclosed in detail below . besides the heat exchanging unit disclosed in the co - pending application , any other suitable heat exchanging unit , such as a pair of concentric pipes extending from the bottom of the well to a “ heat point ” 130 at the top end of the heat nest 140 may be used according to the teachings hereof . a lowest depth where a first appropriate heat is encountered may be referred to as a “ heat point ,” although it is understood that there is geothermal heat at many levels and this geothermal heat becomes greater as the depth of the well 110 increases . the area between the heat point 130 and the bottom ( not shown ) of the well 110 is called the heat nest 140 . the description that follows shows drilling multiple lateral holes from a vertical well shaft , and inserting a heat pipe assembly into each drilled hole . as known , a heat pipe is a heat - transfer device that combines the principles of both thermal conductivity and phase transition to efficiently manage the transfer of heat between two solid interfaces . a typical heat pipe consists of a sealed pipe or tube made of a material that is compatible with the working fluid . typically , a vacuum pump is used to remove the air from the empty heat pipe . the heat pipe is partially filled with a working fluid and then sealed . the working fluid mass is chosen so that the heat pipe contains both vapor and liquid over the operating temperature range . according to the process disclosed herein , work may be performed with a “ drilling rig ” or an adequately sized “ work - over rig ” with mud circulation capability in conjunction with a “ coiled tubing rig .” fig2 a and 2b show the major components of a system that implements the process is shown along with their positioning in the well bore . after the main well bore is complete , a two part whipstock 2 a - 230 ( stationary anchor and rotating guide ) is attached to an initial mounting ring and lowered into the well using a working string 2 a - 232 . once anchored in place , a lateral drilling apparatus ( several versions can be used including a drill bit 2 b - 233 ) lowered into the well by a coil string 2 a - 234 inside the working string 2 a - 232 and guided by the whipstock 2 a - 230 to drill a lateral hole 220 . once completed , the coil tubing 2 a - 234 is retracted far enough for the drill bit 2 b - 233 of the drilling apparatus to clear the stationary section of the whipstock 2 a - 230 , and the rotating portion is used to reposition the drill guide circumferentially to drill the next lateral hole . this is repeated until a desired number of lateral holes have been drilled at a given vertical location in the well bore 2 a - 235 . in fig2 a a pair of lateral holes may be drilled at each of four positions separated circumferentially by ninety degrees . during the drilling process ( or before moving to a next vertical level in the well ) a heat pipe assembly consisting of multiple heat pipes 2 a - 236 , thermal distribution fins , stabilizing rings , and a “ top ring ” apparatus 2 a - 237 that mounts to the stationary whipstock and guides the ends of the subsequent heat pipe assembly into position over the drilled lateral holes for insertion is lowered into the well on cables . this assembly surrounds the working string and whipstock in a tubular and ring configuration . upon completion of drilling the lateral holes at one vertical location , the whipstock disengages from the starting anchor and is raised up to reengage with the “ top ring ” apparatus on the heat pipe assembly that was just lowered into the well . the whipstock and weighted working string is then lowered to drive the heat pipes in the assembly into the drilled lateral holes . upon completion of the insertion , the drilling process is repeated , followed by the heat pipe insertion process . this is repeated until all of the heat pipe assemblies have been placed in the well . the steps in the following sequence are exemplary only ( refer to fig1 - 3 ) and , given the teachings hereof , variations in the sequence including changes in sequence , omissions , and additions depending on the circumstances of an individual well or class of well will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art . 1 . whipstock 2 a - 230 is positioned and anchored to heat pipe assembly “ starter ring ” a . whipstock 2 a - 230 may thus first be lowered using a working string 2 a - 232 to lowest desired heat pipe vertical location b . the “ starter ring ” ( not shown ) is anchored ( open hole or to slotted liner ) at desired vertical location 2 . the drill head assembly including a drill motor 3 - 250 and the drill bit 2 b - 233 is lowered on coil tubing 2 a - 234 into hole through the working string 2 a - 232 3 . a sloping guide 251 in a rotating section 2 a - 230 r of the two - part whipstock 2 a - 230 positions the drill bit 2 b - 233 to a drill guide path exit or hole in the rotating part 2 a - 230 r shown in fig3 above the stationary part 2 a - 230 s of the two - part whipstock ( could also be the abovementioned “ starter ring ” or a subsequent “ top ” ring 2 b - 237 positioned adjacent the stationary whipstock 2 a - 230 s at the illustrated vertical level or at another vertical level in the well ) and then guided by a beveled guide or comparable surface 252 of the heat pipe assembly top ring 2 b - 237 4 . individual hole ( appendage ) 220 drilled ( e . g . one hundred and twenty feet long so as to fit part of the length of a heat pipe ) 5 . drilling apparatus is raised until the drill bit clears the stationary whipstock 6 . upper part of the whip - stock rotates 90 ° ( or other appropriate angle ) to align with next drill path hole 7 . process is repeated until all appendage paths have been drilled at that vertical level 8 . heat pipe assembly 3 - 260 , 3 - 262 is lowered into the well on cables ( during appendage drilling process ) 9 . beveled guides 252 , 253 on the “ starter ring ” guide the heat pipes 3 - 260 , 3 - 262 into the start of the respective drilled appendage paths 220 10 . the drilling assembly is pulled via the coiled tube so that several sections of working string can be removed ( this may only need to occur every other level for a taller masted rig ) 11 . the whip - stock is disengaged from the “ starter ring ” and raised until it engages with the “ top ring ” on the lowered heat pipe assembly ( the “ top ring ” acts like the previously mentioned “ starter ring ”) 12 . weight is put on the whipstock assembly and the heat pipes are “ driven ” into the drilled appendage paths as far as possible a . until the lower heat pipe assembly contacts the “ starter ring ”, or b . insertion is stopped due to a blocked appendage path 13 . the drilling assembly is lowered by the coiled tube inside the working string 14 . the drilling and insertion process is repeated at each desired vertical location 15 . vertical spacing is set by the length of heat pipe left in the main well bore ( with a designed minimum ) and the designed length of heat pipe assembly “ top ring ” the appendages can be drilled by a number of mechanisms , but one such mechanism will be described here as an example . the appendages are drilled by a mud motor assembly with a predefined drilling arc . this assembly is fed through the working string into the guide path in the rotating whipstock . drilling mud is circulated through the mud motor causing rotation of the drill bit . drilling mud flows out the end of the drill bit and back up the annular region between the mud motor and drilled hole sweeping the cutting out of the drilled lateral hole . the vertical location of the drilling assembly is quickly and easily controlled by the coil tube drilling unit at the surface . the whipstock 2 a - 230 will enable the above described process for lateral appendage creation and heat pipe insertion , and if required final cementing . the stationary section 2 a - 230 s of the whipstock will set and hold its vertical and radial position for the entire process of drilling the appendages at one vertical location ( multiple lateral holes ), inserting the heat pipes , and , if required , cementing the heat pipe into the lateral hole . open hole whipstocks are available on the market , but a custom design is required for the process disclosed herein . as shown above in fig3 , the whipstock 2 a - 230 will include two parts or sections : ( 1 ) the fixed section 2 a - 230 s that will anchor to the tubing string 2 a - 232 and also contain locking mechanisms ( anchors ) 3 - 270 , 3 - 272 that are controllable from the surface , and ( 2 ) the rotating section 2 a - 230 r that aligns the drilling assembly with the desired drill path location on the stationary section 2 a - 230 s ( with locking mechanism 3 - 270 locked and locking mechanism 3 - 272 unlocked during alignment but both locked during drilling ) . a separate whipstock will be needed for each well and drill diameter set , and whether a slotted liner is required in the “ hot zone ” because of well bore stability issues . after the completion of an appendage drilling and heat pipe insertion sequence , the anchor 3 - 270 is released and the whipstock is raised to the next vertical location ( e . g . ≈ 45 feet ) by the working string . the process is then repeated until all of the appendages have been completed . originally developed for the aerospace industry ( transporting heat to a remote radiator outside of a spacecraft ), heat pipes have become a staple in the electronics cooling industry , where point sources of heat inside the unit need to be transported to external cooling fins . heat pipes operate by containing a fluid that evaporates at the warm end of the heat pipe and condenses at the cooler end . liquid return to the warm end can be either gravity or capillary driven . apparent thermal conductivities several orders of magnitude higher than the most conductive metals can be achieved at a fraction of the weight . the heat pipes envisioned for this invention are described below : 1¾ inch diameter heat pipe tube is typical ( size may vary from ½ to 4 inches in diameter ) preliminary results indicate up to 30 kwth may be transported along each 1¾ inch appendage heat pipe length of 120 ft or more is easily achieved water will work nicely as working fluid ( but other fluids can be used ) 5 to 45 degree angle from horizontal at the “ far end ” of the heat pipe significant wall thickness is used due to high external pressure at depth material selection considers both internal outgassing and external corrosive attack flexibility is sufficient for bending upon insertion the heat pipe assembly can be designed specifically for the drilling process used and the heat pipe diameter and clustering for a given well and geothermal resource . as shown in the example of fig4 , the assembly may have a top ring 4 - 400 ( which can be metal , ceramic , or plastic ) to which multiple heat pipes are connected and extend downward at a fixed radial and circumferential position . the top portion of the heat pipes may be connected ( welded ) to a thermal transfer fin 4 - 402 that is in a tubular configuration . this fin enables effective heat transfer to the central down - hole heat exchanger e . g . described in the afore - mentioned co - pending application ser . no . 12 / 456 , 434 ( that is inserted into the well after completion of the heat pipe assembly insertions ). several sliding stabilizing rings 4 - 406 will also be placed at intervals along the downwardly extending heat pipes to prevent buckling during the insertion process . these stabilizers slide up the heat pipes during the insertion process via contact with the top ring 4 - 408 of the lower heat pipe assembly . as mentioned , once positioned properly , the ring 4 - 400 stays permanently in place to stabilize the heat pipes . as described above , the top ring of the heat pipe assembly has slanted surfaces in both the circumferential and radial directions that guide the ends of the heat pipes from the next assembly into the lateral holes that have just been drilled . if a heat pipe cluster is to be inserted into a lateral hole , then a “ nose cone ” assembly 4 - 410 joins the cluster shown at the lower end of fig4 . this ring 4 - 408 also has the receptacle for the locking mechanism 3 - 270 ( see fig3 ) that engages with the stationary whipstock 2 a - 230 s . fig5 shows an elongated illustration of a heat pipe apparatus with the heat pipe insertion apparatus shown enlarged to the right . h . create appendages at two vertical levels with four heat pipe pairs fig6 is an exemplary plan view of the entire assembly after heat pipe insertion with four pairs of heat pipes at each of two exemplary vertical levels in the well with a forty - five degree rotation of the appendages between levels . as before , work is performed using , in combination , an adequately - sized work - over rig with mud circulation capability and a coiled - tubing feed rig . the dimensions can be any appropriate dimensions . for a particular example such as shown in fig6 , the well bore might be 17 . 5 inches in diameter and the pairs of heat pipes positioned in a circular pattern separated by ninety degrees around an inner diameter of 14 inches . whipstock is lowered using an anchoring pipe string to bottom of well fixed section of whipstock anchored to central pipe at vertical location and angular orientation inflatable anchoring system sets radial position flexible drive train lowered into hole guide in rotating section of whipstock positions drill bit on whipstock guide surface individual appendage drilled with top - driven , flexible drill apparatus drilling apparatus is raised until the drill bit clears the stationary whipstock upper part of the whip - stock rotates 180 ° to rotate drill string clear heat pipe are lowered down hole via coiled tubing ( during appendage drilling ) whipstock guides heat pipe into drilled appendage path and grout feed tube if heat pipe is grouted , the coiled tubing is used to feed grout using a tremie technique to fill voids in non - aqueous environments coil tubing is retracted to top of well whipstock inflatable anchor is released whipstock raised to next height ( ˜ 25 feet ) and rotated 90 ° as will be appreciated from the foregoing , it is contemplated that one or more heat pipes be inserted in corresponding appendages as an effective heat transfer mechanism to transfer heat from the rock surrounding the appendages to the heat exchanger in the heat nest . however , it should be realized that instead of or in addition to inserting heat pipes in the appendages drilled according to the two part whipstock method of the present invention , any heat or fluid conducting apparatus may inserted into a drilled hole . such materials may include at least one of ball bearing , or at least one bead , or wire , or a meshed metallic material , pipes , or some combination thereof . as said , such may be may be inserted instead of a heat pipe or in addition to a heat pipe .	4
referring to the drawings in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views thereof , fig1 illustrates the invention as employed in a straight rod form of feed arrangement for the obturator rod of the invention . in fig1 the main body 12 of the catheter arrangement is shown having a fluid passage 44 therethrough . the front end surface 18 of main body 12 is tapered to cooperate with the tapered surface 16 of the catheter body 10 . a locking knob 14 is rotatable on main body 12 for joining the parts 10 , 12 together along their cooperating tapered surfaces 16 , 18 , respectively . as a more secure connection , the rear end of the locking knob may have an edge as shown which moves into place over the abutment 20 on the outer surface of main body 12 . extending forwardly from the catheter body 10 is the catheter 22 having a front end point 24 for insertion into the vein of a patient so as to communicate through lumen 46 of catheter 22 fluids fed to the catheter from a female luer connection 52 for feeding through the adapter 50 fluids to the lumen 49 of supply tube 48 for delivery of fluid through passage 42 to the passage 44 in main body 12 . cap 54 closes off female luer connection 52 until such time as a fluid supply is connected at which time the cap 54 is removed for such delivery . positioned in passage 44 is an obturator rod 32 which extends rearwardly out through an o - ring cap 28 having a sealing o - ring 26 , to a snap cap 36 for manipulating and feeding the obturator rod 32 to and through the lumen 46 in catheter 22 in order to occlude completely lumen 46 , as desired . rod 32 is surrounded by a bellows type film sleeve 30 which collapses , as shown in fig2 when cap 36 is moved to the right , as shown in fig1 for moving the front end 34 of rod 32 forwardly into the lumen 46 of catheter 22 . that is , when it is desired to seal off the in - place opening 24 of catheter 22 , cap 36 is moved to the right as shown in fig1 until such time as the forward annular locking ring 38 of snap - cap 36 snaps into place in annular groove 40 in o - ring cap 28 . when this happens , the front end portion , including point 34 , of rod 32 , because of the polyetherurethane coating on outer surface thereof , as discussed above , swells in contact with the aqueous environment of the blood in the vein of the patient because of the fact that the front end 24 of catheter 22 is in place in the vein of the patient . also , because of the heparin incorporated into the polyetherurethane which is at this point swelling for cooperating in a sealing engagement with the inner diameter or inner walls of lumen 46 the heparin which is gradually and slowly released prevents any clot formation at the point 24 . this positioning is shown clearly in fig2 . of course , any anti - infective agent present in the coating will also be released . consequently , if a nurse or other technician desires to administer a fluid to the patient through catheter 22 , the operator releases locking ring 38 from groove 40 and moves cap 36 to the left to a position which allows passage of fluid from supply tube 48 around the forward end of rod 32 in passage 44 . at this time , cap 54 is removed and a male luer connection is inserted into female luer connection 52 with the male luer connection being connected to a supply of the fluid to be administered . fig4 and 5 show an additional embodiment of the invention here for feeding a coated obturator rod through lumen 46 of catheter 22 . in this embodiment , a reel drive is utilized for feeding the obturator rod 64 through passage 48 and into lumen 46 of catheter 22 . reel 60 rotates around a shaft 62 in reel casing 61 for this purpose . as can be seen in fig5 knob 68 , positioned on one end of shaft 62 , rotates reel 60 for feeding rod 64 through passage 48 into catheter 22 to the end 24 thereof . the front end 66 of rod 64 extends in the occluded position slightly out the front end 24 of catheter 22 , in the same manner as front end 34 shown in fig2 . fig6 and 7 show a further arrangement of reel drive device for feeding an obturator rod 74 through passage 48 for occluding lumen 46 of catheter 22 in the same manner as the previous embodiments . in this embodiment , reel 70 is rotated around a shaft 72 through the action of a knob 73 . obturator rod 74 moves , under this action , in either direction for either feeding the front end 78 of rod 74 to the right hand end of catheter 22 out and through lumen 46 of catheter 22 to a point where point 78 of rod 74 extends slightly out of the front end 24 of catheter 22 . as can be seen in this embodiment , and particularly in the end view shown in fig7 the axis of catheter 24 is at the same level as the feed portion of reel 70 . in this connection , as shown in fig6 reel casing 71 is supported and suspended from a support 80 for feeding rod 74 at the position 76 shown in fig6 . as will be understood , with rod 74 in the position shown in fig6 fluids may be fed through the catheter lumen 46 from supply tube 48 and from luer connection 52 . it should be understood by practitioners - in - the - art that in molding plastic parts of the kind discussed here that molding design techniques may make it appropriate to combine two parts into a single molded part such as , for example , reel casing 71 and support 80 , as shown in fig6 . as discussed previously , in the extended position of rod 74 with the front end 78 extending slightly out the front end 24 of catheter 22 , because of the coating of polyetherurethane , as discussed above , in contact with an aqueous environment , swelling takes place so that there is a cooperating seal between the internal walls of lumen 46 and the outer walls of swollen rod 74 . also , because of the anti - thrombogenic and / or anti - infective agent bulk distributed in the coating , there is a constant slow release of these agents in this environment in order to maintain patency of the in - dwelling catheter during several medication changeovers , while at the same time maintaining a sterile condition . it should be understood that with each of the embodiments shown above , the main body 12 together with the catheter structure 22 itself and the fluid delivery structure 48 , 50 are substantially the same with the only change being the actual feed mechanism for the obturator rod which may be selected among the several embodiments described . referring to fig8 , 10 and 11 , a further obturator feed device is shown . this arrangement is somewhat different from the other embodiments , in that the feed arrangement , in the form of a reel , is positioned in the fluid delivery line , and g spaced from the catheter feed device . in fig8 catheter 22 is shown with front end 24 and catheter feed body 10 . a male luer adapter generally designated 90 is positioned on the rear end of body 10 and includes a fluid line connection 94 held in place by lock - nut 92 . a connection fluid supply 50 with female luer adapter 52 is positioned on one end of fluid delivery line 100 for delivering fluid shown as 102 in fig8 . a reel support 108 is positioned on line 100 for supporting reel casing 106 and reel 107 . as shown in fig8 the reel 107 has wound the flexible obturator rod 104 into the reel sufficiently to withdraw the distal end 110 of rod 104 to a point allowing fluid to pass through the lumen 46 of catheter 22 . in the position shown in fig9 the distal end 110 of rod 104 is moved forward to prevent fluid from passing through lumen 46 . in the open position , as shown in fig8 fluid passes from female luer connection 52 through line 100 and around obturator rod 104 . in this connection , fluid line 100 is made of a diameter large enough to accommodate this dual passage . fig1 and 11 show top and end views of the reel feed arrangement of this embodiment . that is , knob 112 , mounted on shaft 114 turns reel 107 in casing 106 to allow moving the distal end 110 of rod 104 forward to occlude , or rearward to allow fluid passage . in considering generally the conditions for carrying out the most enhanced results in connection herewith , which conditions have already been specifically discussed above and in connection with the above referred to co - pending application , the dimension of the obturator rod of the invention depends upon the dimension of the catheter being used in combination therewith . for example , for a rod used in conjunction with a 20 gauge catheter the diameter of the rod will be within the range of between about 0 . 050 and 0 . 028 inches , preferably 0 . 022 and 0 . 026 inches . most preferably , the tip for the rod has a diameter of 0 . 023 and is about 0 . 25 inches long with the remaining portion of the rod being 0 . 026 inches in diameter . the coating on the swollen rod increases the rod dimensions described above within the range of between about 0 . 002 and 0 . 027 inches , and preferably within the range of between about 0 . 003 and 0 . 008 inches and most preferably 0 . 004 inches . obviously , when the rod swells , the dimension of the rod with the coating increases and this has been found to be approximately an increase of one - half the thickness of the coating in place prior to any swelling . with a 16 gauge catheter , the preferred rod dimension is within the range of between about 0 . 040 and 0 . 050 inches with a similar coating dimension as described above . as a further treatment of the obturator rod and associated feeding device of the invention , the device is sterilized by gamma irradiation or ethylene oxide . it is placed in position for use as a sterile device since it will only be exposed to body fluids . the only way that it may become non - sterile would be with an exposure to contaminated infusates or from exposure to bacteremic blood . representative materials which may be used for the reel body include rigid polyvinyl chloride as the preferred material . alternative materials include acrylonitrile - butadiene - styrene terpolymer , styrene , polycarbonate or polyacrylate . the reel body may be transparent for observing the feed movement of the rod . however , it may also be comprised of a colored or opaque material . the bellows film sleeve 30 shown in the embodiment of fig1 may be comprised of , for example , polyethylene , polypropylene , polyvinyl chloride or polyesters . as an alternative to the bellows form of sleeve , a telescoping sleeve ( not shown ) may be provided comprised of a rigid polymer such as polystyrene . whereas , as discussed above , specific embodiments of obturator rod feed devices and associated connections have been shown , it should be understood that it is within the purview of this invention to provide other forms of feed arrangements or positioning of a reel feed , for example , connected to or spaced from the main body of the catheter . that is , the axis of the reel body for feeding the obturator rod may be positioned in several different placements around the axis of the catheter itself . while the forms of apparatus herein described constitute preferred embodiments of the invention , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to these precise forms of apparatus , and that changes may ge made therein without departing from the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims .	0
a package for contact lenses and a method for manufacturing the contact lens packaging are described herein . more specifically , a package with a substrate is disclosed , wherein the substrate , whether a boat or a planar substrate , includes a color component to aid a patient in locating a contact lens and identifying contaminants that may be present in the package . according to one exemplary embodiment , the color component is provided to the substrate by the addition of a masterbatch additive to a homopolymer . alternatively , according to one exemplary embodiment , the color component is provided to the substrate by performing a two - shot mold operation . further details of the present exemplary substrates and their methods of formation will be provided in detail below . as used in the present specification and in the appended claims , the term “ barrier material ” refers generally to any material which may come into physical and fluid contact with a contact lens . although polypropylene is commonly used as a barrier material in contact lens packages , any other material that is capable of creating a barrier environment for contact lenses can be used in the present article and method as well . according to one exemplary embodiment , a barrier material may include any material accepted by the food and drug administration ( fda ) as suitable for the packaging of sterile medical devices . in the following description , for purposes of explanation , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present packaging and method for manufacturing the packaging . it will be apparent , however , to one skilled in the art that the present method may be practiced without these specific details . reference in the specification to “ one embodiment ” or “ an embodiment ” means that a particular feature , structure , or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment . the appearance of the phrase “ in one embodiment ” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment . in the accompanying drawings , some elements are not drawn to scale , in order to better illustrate the relationship between components . referring to fig1 and 2 , there is shown a typical prior art disposable blister contact lens package ( 1 ) which is formed in two parts . the package ( 1 ) comprises a blister pack member ( 2 ) which is sealed by a membrane ( 3 ) forming a lid on the package ( 1 ) and which may be peeled away to release a contact lens ( 4 ) therein . in fig3 , the package of fig2 is shown with the membrane ( 3 ) peeled away to expose the contact lens ( 4 ). typically , the member ( 2 ) will be a preformed blister pack and include a profiled recess ( 5 ) which provides a recess in which a lens may be placed . the member ( 2 ) is typically injection molded from homopolymer polypropylene and the package is completed with a sealing membrane ( 3 ) which mates with a flange ( 6 ) to create a sterile seal . the contact lens ( 4 ) is immersed in a solution ( 7 ) which keeps the lens hydrated until it is removed from the pack . as mentioned previously , the traditional method of forming blister packs using homopolymer polypropylene is effective in producing blister pack members ( 2 ) that are approved for providing the required sterility , however , the resulting color of the blister pack member ( 2 ) is a semi - transparent grey color . fig4 shows a stacking arrangement for two identical prior art contact lens packages ( 10 and 11 ). it can be seen from fig4 that although two packs conveniently inter - fit , they take up a thickness greater than the thickness ( or depth ) of one pack . ideally , a lens package should take up as little space as possible considering the relatively small size of a contact lens . in recent news , several outbreaks of such eye infecting bacteria such as fusarium keratitis has emphasized the need for sterile primary contact lens packaging and the ability to view and identify any foreign objects that may be present in the contact lens packaging . in some rare instances , contamination may originally be present in the primary contact lens packaging . however , a large portion of contaminants that make their way to a primary contact lens packaging originate from a finger of a patient attempting to retrieve and insert the contact lens . according to one exemplary embodiment of the present exemplary system and method , a color component is added to the blister pack member ( 2 ). the addition of the color component allows a patient or other user to readily identify any contamination or foreign object that may be present in the blister pack member . additionally , according to one exemplary embodiment , the present blister pack member ( 2 ) continues to provide the statutorily mandated levels of sterility . according to one exemplary embodiment , the color component of the blister pack member ( 2 ) that provides the contaminant identifying contrast includes , but is in no way limited to , a masterbatch component . according to this exemplary embodiment , the masterbatch component includes a carrier ; typically the carrier is the same polymer to be used in the final molding , but with a higher melt flow index . according to this exemplary embodiment the carrier is configured to be compatible with the final polymerized article . according to the present exemplary embodiment , the masterbatch component is essentially a color concentrate configured to impart a desired color to a polyolefin or polypropylene resin . in the present exemplary embodiment , the masterbatch may be blended with a resin using a loading of between approximately 0 . 5 % and 10 % homopolymer . once the masterbatch is blended with the homopolymer resin , a colored plastic part can be produced by conventional molding . any number of colors may be provided using the masterbatch color component . commercially available masterbatch materials may be provided by any number of suppliers including , but in no way limited to , ampacet and clariant . in addition to providing a broad pallet of colors via a masterbatch component , many masterbatch providers also offer color matching services in order to match the color of the present blister pack member ( 2 ) with a secondary packaging member or with other blister pack members ( 2 ). while any number of masterbatch color components may be used to provide a contaminant contrasting color to the blister pack members , according to one exemplary embodiment , the masterbatch color components include an fda approved colorant for food , drugs , medical devices and cosmetics . particularly , according to one exemplary embodiment , the masterbatch color component corresponds to an approved colorant listed in 21 cfr 73 and 21 cfr 74 . according to one exemplary embodiment , for purposes of example only , the masterbatch color component may include , but is in no way limited to , commercially available 110194 - k white 60 polypropylene masterbatch configured to generate a white blister pack member ( 2 ). according to this exemplary embodiment , the 110194 - k white 60 polypropylene masterbatch includes ingredients that are regulated as acceptable as indirect food additives under paragraphs 174 . 5 , 177 . 1520 ( c ) 3 . 2a and 178 . 3297 of title 21 of the code of federal regulations . according to one exemplary embodiment , the white polypropylene masterbatch includes titanium di - oxide configured to impart a white color to the base polymer . while the present example is described in the context of forming a white polypropylene blister pack member , any number of colors may be used including , but in no way limited to , white , grey , yellow , green , blue , red , purple , orange , brown , pink , black , gold , silver , and the like . additionally , while the present example is described in the context of forming a white polypropylene blister pack member , any polymer substrate used in a primary contact lens case may receive a color component from the addition of a masterbatch component . in addition to providing a contrasting color for the rapid identification of contaminants , the formation of a blister pack member ( 2 ) including a masterbatch component may be used to aid a patient in readily identifying the contact lens contained in the blister pack member . for example , the color combination of the blister pack member ( 2 ) and the color of the in - monomer tint included in the contact lens may produce a known color effect . for example , according to one exemplary embodiment , a yellow substrate may be formed using a masterbatch approach , as mentioned above , and used in combination with a contact lens having a blue in - monomer tint . the result will be an optically visible green dot where the yellow of the substrate combines with the blue in - monomer tint , thereby allowing the patient to readily identify the contact lens . additionally , any other color that is viewed by the patient will indicate a contaminant . while the addition of the masterbatch component to the substrate forming polymer is described for purposes of adding color to the substrate , additional beneficial effects may be performed by the masterbatch component including , but in no way limited to , providing a perfume or a biocide to the substrate . according to one exemplary embodiment , the masterbatch component may add a perfume component to the substrate . when a patient opens a primary contact lens case containing the perfumed component , a perfume sensation would be experienced . while any number of scents may be employed , according to one exemplary embodiment the scent includes an antiseptic or other scent configured to create a feeling of sterility for the patient . according to one exemplary embodiment , the antiseptic scent heightens the patient &# 39 ; s care to avoid contamination . other benefits may include protecting the primary contact lens package against the effects of ultra - violet ( uv ) radiation . traditional blister packs will allow uv to impinge on the lens , which could degrade the polymer on continued exposure . however , the use of a masterbatch component , such as titanium dioxide , would render the polypropylene substrate uv opaque . alternatively , the masterbatch component may be configured to release a biocide into the solution contained by the primary contact lens package . particularly , according to one exemplary embodiment , more and more plastic household items are now available that are biocidal in nature . according to one exemplary embodiment the biocidal element of the masterbatch component may include , but is in no way limited to , silver ions , triclosan , and / or trichlorocarban . according to this exemplary embodiment , placing a leaching silver layer into the primary lens package would reduce bacterial contamination of the lens from handling during insertion according to yet another exemplary embodiment , the masterbatch component may also be configured to release adjuncts for the saline . particularly , according to one exemplary embodiment , adjuncts such as hyaluronic acid ( ha ) or dexpanthenol may be configured to be released from the primary case substrate . according to this exemplary embodiment , the release of the adjunct may temporally diminish . however , heating the pack , such as during an autoclaving operation , may assist in release of the adjunct . while the above - mentioned examples are described in the context of a traditional blister pack ( 2 ), any number of contact lens packages may also incorporate the above - mentioned masterbatch components . fig6 is a top perspective view of a contact lens package , according to one alternative embodiment . as illustrated in fig6 , the present exemplary contact lens package ( 100 ) includes a center substrate ( 110 ) including a top sheet member ( 150 ) coupled to the top surface of the substrate . according to one exemplary embodiment , the top sheet member ( 150 ) is coupled to the top surface of the substrate ( 110 ) by an ez - peel connection such that the top sheet member ( 150 ) can be separated from the substrate ( 110 ) with a constant and relatively low pulling force . additionally , as will be described in further detail below , the top sheet member ( 150 ) is coupled to the top surface of the substrate ( 110 ) sufficient to allow the exemplary contact lens package ( 100 ) to be autoclaved . additionally , fig6 shows that the top sheet member ( 150 ) may contain various words and / or images including , but in no way limited to a brand name ( 300 ), a design ( 320 ), and / or information about the contact ( 310 ), for example , that it is for the left or right eye , and instructions for use . similarly , fig7 is a bottom perspective view of the present exemplary contact lens package ( 100 ), according to one exemplary embodiment . as illustrated , a bottom sheet member ( 160 ) is coupled to the bottom surface of the substrate ( 110 ), opposite the top sheet member ( 150 ). as shown , the bottom sheet member ( 160 ) may be permanently or securely coupled to the bottom surface of the substrate ( 110 ) without a non - coupled portion or other member for removal of the bottom sheet member ( 160 ) from the substrate . fig7 also illustrates a handle end ( 220 ) or gripping surface formed on the bottom surface of the substrate ( 110 ). according to one exemplary embodiment , the exemplary top sheet ( 150 ) and the exemplary bottom sheet ( 160 ) may include a laminate foil . the laminate foil may include , but is in no way limited to , a bottom or innermost layer comprising a homogeneous material such as polypropylene to ensure the sterility of the lens ( 220 ), which covers at least the region of the foil that may be in physical or fluid contact with the lens . above the inner layer may be , according to one exemplary embodiment , a layer of metal foil such as aluminum that provides strength and flexibility . above the aluminum layer , a top layer may be formed including a polymer , such as , but not limited to polyethylene , polyester or polyamide the exemplary bottom sheet ( 160 ) may also include a laminate foil according to one exemplary embodiment . as mentioned above , the top or innermost layer of the bottom sheet ( 160 ) which is in physical or fluid contact with the lens ( 200 ) includes a barrier material . the bottom sheet ( 160 ) is otherwise designed to maintain the integrity of the packaging during handling , and may comprise the same layers as the top sheet ( 150 ), as mentioned above . the bottom sheet ( 160 ) does not need to be separated from the substrate and thus may be permanently attached to the substrate ( 110 ), such as through a high temperature heat seal or other substantially permanent coupling . in an exemplary embodiment , the laminate foil is shorter in length than the substrate so that the bottom sheet covers and is attached to body end of the substrate , but not to the handle portion . words and images may also be printed on the bottom foil . fig8 illustrates an exemplary contact lens packaging system ( 100 ) including a spring disc ( 190 ) disposed in the orifice ( 180 ). according to one exemplary embodiment , the spring disc ( 190 ) may be positioned in the orifice ( 180 ) as an integrated portion of the substrate ( 110 ). alternatively , the spring disc ( 190 ) may be an independent member disposed in the orifice ( 180 ) without coupling structure , thereby allowing the spring disc ( 190 ) to float within the orifice . as shown by the bottom perspective view of fig9 , the bottom sheet member ( 160 ) is not removed during removal of a contact lens ( 200 ) from the present contact lens packaging system . rather , according to one exemplary embodiment , the bottom sheet member ( 160 ) is securely adhered to the bottom surface of the substrate ( 110 ) without access tabs or any other material that allows for the removal of the sheet member . also illustrated in fig9 , the ridged grip area ( 140 ) aids in the removal of the top sheet member ( 150 ). fig1 is a perspective view of the substrate , according to one exemplary embodiment . as illustrated in fig1 , the substrate ( 110 ) defines an orifice ( 180 ) sized to receive the contact lens ( 200 ) and other packing elements . for example , according to one exemplary embodiment , a shape restoration element ( 190 ), such as a spring disc or a sponge may be present below the lens ( 200 ). according to one exemplary embodiment illustrated in the cross - sectional view of fig1 , the substrate ( 110 ) may be formed from a plurality of materials including a barrier region having a barrier material coating ( 130 ) that may be exposed to the lens ( 200 ). this barrier region having a barrier material coating ( 130 ) may include , according to one exemplary embodiment , a homogeneous material such as natural or homopolymer polypropylene to ensure the sterility of the lens . alternatively , the barrier region having a barrier material coating ( 130 ) may be formed of any number of fda approved barrier materials . according to one exemplary embodiment , the barrier region having a barrier material coating ( 130 ) is sufficiently thick to provide the desired level of sterility , while simultaneously being sufficiently thin to be at least partially transparent . according to this exemplary embodiment , the remaining portion of the substrate ( 110 ) is composed of a bulk of core material ( 120 ). the core material ( 120 ) can comprise essentially any material , as the core material ( 120 ) does not contact and is in no way exposed to the lens ( 200 ), thereby providing the ability to include any number of colors , surface finishes , stiffness , and other desired material properties . according to the present exemplary configuration , the core material ( 120 ) does not contact and is in no way exposed to the lens ( 200 ) or hydration medium . consequently , medical device packaging requirements should not constrain the choice of core materials ( 120 ). for example , according to one exemplary embodiment , the core material ( 120 ) may include , but is in no way limited to , glass filled polypropylene , acrylonitrile butadiene styrene , polystyrene , polyethylene terepthalate , polypropylene copolymer , polymethylpentene , polycarbonate , polysulphone , polyethylene naphthalate , cyclic olefin copolymer , fluorinated ethylene propylene , etc ., to achieve desired coloring , finish , shape , etc . the packaging ( 100 ) including both a barrier material ( 130 ) and a core material ( 120 ) can be formed , according to one exemplary embodiment , though a two - shot molding process or overmold process and allows for significant design flexibility . as mentioned previously , the overmold process described below allows for the formation of a primary contact lens package that aids a patient in locating a contact lens as well as identifying potential contamination within the package . further details of the two - shot overmold process will be provided below . as mentioned previously , design flexibility , in terms of materials , colors , surface finishes , and mechanical properties , may be provided to the present exemplary contact lens package by forming both a barrier material ( 130 ) portion and a core material ( 120 ) portion , according to one exemplary embodiment , through a two - shot overmold process . fig1 illustrates a side cross - sectional view of a contact lens package substrate ( 110 ) formed by a two shot mold , according to one exemplary embodiment . as illustrated in fig1 , the substrate ( 110 ) includes both a core material ( 120 ) and a barrier material coating ( 130 ). according to one exemplary embodiment , the core material ( 120 ) may be formed of any number of materials including non fda approved materials . this flexibility provides for the ability to select materials based on color , texture , material properties , cost , and the like . as mentioned previously , the core material may include a masterbatch component to provide a desired color or other visual effect , such as pearlescence , opalescence , or illumination to the core material . according to this exemplary embodiment , the core material ( 120 ) may be formed by a first shot of a two - shot molding process . subsequent to the formation of the core material ( 120 ), the barrier material coating ( 130 ) may be formed by the second shot of the two - shot molding process . as shown , the above mentioned method forms a barrier layer of the barrier material coating ( 130 ) on the core material ( 120 ). while the formation of the two - shot molded substrate ( 110 ) illustrated in fig1 is described as forming the core material ( 120 ) first , followed by the forming of the barrier material coating ( 130 ), the order of operations and formation may be reversed . according to one exemplary embodiment , the thickness of the barrier material coating ( 130 ) on the top layer of the core material ( 120 ) may be approximately , but is in no way limited to , 0 . 01 mm and the core material may have a thickness of approximately , but is in no way limited to , 0 . 70 mm . while the present substrate structure is described in the context of forming a substrate ( 110 ) for use with a top sheet member ( 150 ) and a bottom sheet member ( 160 ), the same principles and practices of using a two - shot molding method to create a core material ( 120 ) and a barrier material coating ( 130 ) may also be applied to traditional boats such as those illustrated in fig1 - 5 , as will be described below with reference to fig1 . in addition to coating the top layer of the substrate ( 110 ) using the two - shot molding method , the orifice ( 180 ) configured to house the contact lens ( 200 ) is also coated with the barrier material coating ( 130 ) to assure that the contact lens is not exposed to the core material ( 120 ) during manufacture or storage . as illustrated , the inner wall of the orifice ( 180 ) is coated with the barrier material ( 130 ) in order to assure sterility of the contact lens . as shown , a contact lens will be hermetically sealed both from the outside atmosphere and the core material ( 120 ) on each side by the barrier material ( 130 ) and on the top and bottom surfaces by the top sheet member ( 150 ) and the bottom sheet member ( 160 ), respectively . according to one exemplary embodiment , the mold used to form the barrier material ( 130 ) on the inner wall of the orifice ( 180 ) may be configured to provide a thicker layer of barrier material , as compared to that formed on top of the core material ( 120 ), in order to assure sterility of the lens containing orifice ( 180 ). according to one exemplary embodiment , the barrier material ( 130 ) on the inner wall of the orifice ( 180 ) may vary in thickness , but is in no way limited to , a range of approximately 0 . 10 mm to 0 . 20 mm . according to one exemplary embodiment , the core material ( 130 ) comprises a majority of the substrate ( 110 ). the barrier material ( 130 ) is in a layer above core material ( 120 ) and surrounding the center orifice ( 180 ). the barrier material on the top of the substrate ( 110 ) may also serve to bind the top sheet member ( 150 ) to the substrate ( 110 ). for example , the top sheet member ( 150 ) may be attached to the substrate ( 110 ) by a removable heat seal between in what is commonly called an easy peel seal . the barrier material ( 130 ) may be polypropylene , and polypropylene coating the top of the substrate ( 110 ) may be bound to polypropylene on the bottom of the top sheet member ( 150 ) through a removable heat seal . the top sheet member may be attached to as large an area of the top surface of the substrate ( 110 ) as desired to form a seal that will not break or compromise the sterility of the contact lens ( 200 ). fig8 illustrates a seal mark ( 170 ) on the substrate ( 110 ) wider than used in edge seals in traditional packaging . the comparatively larger seal ensures a strong seal to protect sterility . according to one exemplary embodiment , the heat seal profile can also include a peak ( 175 ) toward the handle end ( 220 ) of the packaging , which helps the consumer to start a break in the seal and pull back the top sheet member ( 150 ). fig1 illustrates a traditional blister pack member ( 2 ) formed with the previously described overmold process , according to one exemplary embodiment . the above mentioned processes and features as discussed with respect to contact lens packages having a substrate and top and bottom sheet members are equally applicable to traditional blister pack packaging . as shown in fig1 , a core material ( 120 ) or substrate is first molded using a colored polymer . a second , uncoloured barrier polymer is then molded on top of the core material ( 120 ) to form the barrier material coating ( 130 ). overmolding technology is well known within the molding industry , and can be achieved with , for example , twin - barrel molders , tool turners , or by simply placing the pre - molded core material into the molding cavity of a second molder . as mentioned previously , overmolding has the advantage in that a layer of barrier polymer will be formed between the contact lens / packing saline and the colored core material ( 120 ). the assurance that the contact lens is surrounded by a layer of barrier polymer allows for more latitude in the choice of colorants used in the colored core material . overmolding also allows for the use of fillers within the core material such as glass fibre and other previously unavailable materials . in an exemplary method , the substrate ( 110 ) is manufactured to include a barrier material overlaying a core material in at least the areas that may come into physical or fluid contact with a lens stored in the substrate . the present exemplary method can be accomplished through a variety of manufacturing processes , such as the two - shot mold process . as illustrated in fig1 , two shot injection molding involves injecting a first core material ( 120 ) material into a single - cavity die ( step 1300 ). according to one exemplary embodiment , the core material ( 120 ) is formed in the shape of a desired substrate with a first shot . once the first material has started to cool , a second material is injected ( step 1310 ). since the materials can be kept separate throughout the process , the barrier material can be kept from contamination from the core material that would compromise the sterility of the package . overmold , inlay , or any other known coating processes can also be used to create the two material substrate , according to various embodiments . the flexibility available to design the packaging ( 100 ), is greatly increased , as the core material ( 120 ) can be selected for any number of characteristics such as color , finish , density , strength , other mechanical properties , etc ., without regard to how compatible the material is with a sterile lens environment . while the above - mentioned overmold examples were described in the context of providing a colored core material ( 120 ) for ready identification of contaminants within a primary contact lens package , the barrier material coating ( 130 ) may also be configured to impart any number of properties to the resulting package . according to one exemplary embodiment , the barrier material coating ( 130 ) may include a hydrophilic material in the locations in contact with the lens saline . this exemplary configuration will help retain the saline around the lens upon opening the primary package . alternatively , the barrier material coating ( 130 ) may be a polymer such as poly ( nvp ). this material is known to adsorb colored species and other contaminants , and so could assist control residual species . this would reduce the likelihood of any adverse reaction of the solution contained within the primary contact lens package as a result of the presence of said residual species . further , the overmold process described above can , according to one exemplary embodiment , provide for the use of fillers within the pp ( eg glass fibre ) which will strengthen and stiffen the substrate . the overmolding approach prevents contact with the saline . further , a deep masterbatch will improve cosmetic appearance and stiffen the substrate . an additional advantage provided by the above - mentioned overmolding method includes the ability to produce in - mold labelling . particularly , according to one exemplary embodiment , a holographic element ( s ) could be formed on the surface of the core material ( 120 ) and then covered by the barrier material coating ( 130 ). incorporation of a holographic element would act as a counterfeit deterrent , thereby enhancing the safety of the contact lens package ( 100 ). in conclusion , the present contact lens packaging systems and methods provide acceptable methods for producing a primary contact lens package having a colored substrate without sacrificing safety or efficacy . according to the exemplary embodiments illustrated above , the colored substrates aid a patient in identifying potential contaminants within the package , aid in the location and identification of the contact lens , may provide for secondary effects , and contamination absorption . the preceding description has been presented only to illustrate and describe exemplary embodiments of the system and process . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the system and process to any precise form disclosed . many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching . it is intended that the scope of the system and process be defined by the following claims .	1
the following description of the preferred embodiment is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention , its application , or uses . with reference to fig1 , a schematic view is provided of a fuel cell system 10 constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention . the fuel cell system 10 includes a plurality of fuel cells 12 , each having a membrane electrode assembly ( mea ) 14 , an anode gas distribution layer provided on an anode gas flow field 16 and a cathode gas distribution layer provided on a cathode gas - flow field 18 . the fuel cells 12 are arranged in a first stage 20 and a second stage 22 . an anode gas inlet manifold 24 provides an inlet for anode gas introduced to the fuel cell system 10 . an anode gas inlet / exhaust manifold 26 provides a connection for anode gas passing from the first stage 20 to the second stage 22 . an anode gas exhaust manifold 28 provides an outlet for anode gasses exiting the fuel cell system 10 . a cathode gas inlet manifold 30 provides an inlet for cathode gas introduced to the fuel cell system 10 . a cathode gas inlet / exhaust manifold 32 provides a connection for cathode gas passing from the second stage 22 to the first stage 20 . a cathode gas exhaust manifold 34 provides an outlet for cathode gasses exiting the fuel cell system 10 . the first stage 20 , by way of example , is comprised of four fuel cells 12 and the second stage 22 is comprised of two fuel cells 12 . the anode gas inlet manifold 24 is coupled to the first stage 20 and is in communication with the anode gas flow field 16 of each mea 14 . the anode gas flow field 16 of each mea 14 of the first stage 20 is coupled to the second stage 22 through the anode gas inlet / exhaust manifold 26 . the anode gas is then able to exit the second stage 22 through the anode gas exhaust manifold 28 which is in communication with the anode gas flow side 16 of each mea 14 in the second stage 22 . the cathode gas inlet manifold 30 is coupled to the second stage 22 and is in communication with the cathode gas flow field 18 . the cathode gas flow field 18 of each fuel cell 12 of the second stage 22 is coupled to the first stage 20 through the anode gas inlet / exhaust manifold 32 . the cathode gas is then able to exit the first stage 20 through a cathode gas exhaust manifold 34 which communicates with the cathode gas flow field 18 of each fuel cell 12 of the first stage 20 . it should be noted that the inlet and outlet at the cathode side may be reversed , allowing cathode flow in generally the same direction as anode flow . fig2 and 3 are simplified schematic views of the fuel cell system 10 with each figure illustrating the separate anode and cathode sections , respectively . in fig2 and 3 , the fuel cell system 10 includes a first stage 42 , a second stage 48 and a third stage 56 . fig2 depicts the anode section . the anode section includes an anode gas inlet valve 36 . one configuration of an anode gas inlet valve 36 would use a mechanical pressure regulator to reduce the fuel pressure from a fuel storage unit to control the fuel flow into the stack 10 . the regulator may be a dome - loaded design that will allow the pressure into the first stage to track the cathode inlet pressure entering the third stage 56 . the inlet valve 36 is in communication with the anode gas inlet manifold 38 , which is in communication with a series of anode flow field passages 44 , eight in the present example , in the first stage 42 . the anode flow field passages 44 are arranged in a parallel configuration , having an exit from the first stage 42 through a first anode gas inlet / exhaust manifold 46 . the first anode gas inlet / exhaust manifold 46 serves as an inlet to the second stage 48 in the fuel cell system 10 . the first anode gas inlet / exhaust manifold 46 feeds a plurality of anode flow field passages 52 , four in the present example , in the second stage 48 . the number of anode flow field passages 52 in the second stage 48 is fewer in number than the number of anode flow field passages 44 in the first stage 42 . the remaining anode gasses from the second stage 48 exit the second stage 48 and travel to the third stage 56 through a second anode gas inlet / exhaust manifold 54 . the remaining gasses then travel through a third plurality of anode flow field passages 58 , two in the present example , in the third stage 56 . the number of anode flow field passages 58 in the third stage 56 is fewer than the number of anode flow field passages 52 in the second stage 48 . the gasses passing through the anode flow field passages 58 of the third stage 56 may exit the system through an anode gas exhaust manifold 62 . an anode gas outlet valve 64 is in communication with the anode gas exhaust manifold 62 in order to assist in controlling system pressures . the anode gas outlet valve 64 may be an on / off solenoid or a proportional control valve . in the on / off configuration , the anode gas outlet valve 64 would be closed a majority of the time to allow inert gasses , which have diffused across the mea 14 from the cathode or byproducts of fuel reforming , to build up in the third stage 56 . the anode gas outlet valve 64 is opened periodically to purge inert gasses and water from the third stage 56 based on either the voltage in the third stage 56 or by predicted inert gas concentrations in the third stage 56 . the cascaded design will result in an overall lower anode stack stoichiometry , compared to the stoichiometry in each stage of the stack . the anode fuel gas is well humidified when it reaches the third stage 56 . through diffusion and electro - osmonic drag , water vapor will cross over to the air in the cathode gas distribution layer 18 of the stack , reducing or eliminating the need for inlet cathode humidification . using dry or partly humidified cathode gas , flowing counter flow in the third stage 56 will prevent the accumulation of water in the outlet of the anode gas distribution layer 16 of the stack due to water diffusion across the mea 14 and improve stack performance . with the decreasing number of fuel cells 12 in each successive stage 42 , 48 , 56 of the system , the anode gas velocity will stay the same or increase from stage to stage . the stoichiometry of the anode gas may increase or decrease from stage to stage , depending on the number of cells in each stage . fig3 depicts the cathode section . the cathode section includes an inlet valve 66 in communication with a cathode gas inlet manifold 68 provided in the third stage 56 . the cathode gas inlet manifold 68 is in communication with the cathode gas flow field passages 72 of the third stage 56 . the third stage 56 contains a plurality of cathode flow field passages 72 , two in the present example . these passages are arranged parallel to one another , allowing gas to exit the third stage through a cathode gas inlet / exhaust manifold 76 . the cathode gas inlet / exhaust manifold 76 is in communication with the second stage 48 . a second cathode gas inlet valve 84 is also in communication with the cathode gas inlet / exhaust manifold 76 . the second stage 48 includes a plurality of cathode flow field passages 82 , four in the present example , arranged in a parallel configuration . these cathode flow field passages 82 allow gasses to pass to the first stage 42 through a second cathode gas inlet / exhaust manifold 86 . the second cathode gas inlet / exhaust manifold 86 is in communication with the first stage 42 . a third cathode gas inlet valve 90 is in communication with the second cathode gas inlet / exhaust manifold 86 . the first stage 42 contains a plurality of cathode flow field passages 92 arranged in a parallel configuration . the cathode flow field passages 92 communicate with a cathode gas exhaust manifold 94 . the cathode gas exhaust manifold 94 is in communication with a cathode gas exhaust valve 96 . the cascaded design should result in an overall lower cathode stack stoichiometry , compared to the stoichiometry in each stage of the stack . the use of multiple cathode gas inlet valves 66 , 84 and 90 provides for a lower cathode stack pressure drop than that in a cascaded system where all cathode flow is supplied to the third stage 56 . this overall lower cathode stack pressure drop will result in a reduced energy requirement for the pump / compressor within the fuel cell system 10 . it will also reduce the difference in pressure between the gas in the anode gas flow field passages and the gas in the cathode gas flow field passages in each cell 12 of the fuel cell system 10 . referring back to fig1 , water is produced in the cathode gas distribution flow field passages 18 through an electrochemical reaction in the fuel cell 12 . a portion of this water will diffuse across the mea 14 to the anode , while the remaining water will exit each stage 20 and 22 in the cathode exhaust . the humidified exhaust oxidant gas of the upstream stage is mixed with the additional oxidant gas prior to entry into the downstream stage 20 thus humidifying the newly introduced cathode gas . carrying the inert gasses from the upstream 22 to downstream stage 20 will also allow for increased velocity in the flow field channels of the downstream stage 20 . an increase of velocity in the oxidant flow field has been shown to improve the removal of water droplets and improve stack performance , especially at low power . in the first stage 20 , the last stage of cathode flow , the water vapor in the cathode stream will diffuse across the mea 14 humidifying the anode inlet stream and eliminating the need for external humidification of the hydrogen stream . referring back to fig3 , the first valve 66 in communication with the cathode gas inlet manifold 68 may be removed and air may be used directly from the air delivery system . the cathode exhaust leaving the third stage 56 will mix with fresh oxidant , controlled by the second cathode gas inlet valve 84 , and enter the second stage 48 , thus humidifying the fresh oxidant . the second cathode gas inlet valve 84 is sized to allow for a large variation in cathode stoichiometry going into the second stage 48 and to have a pressure drop equal to the cathode pressure drop in the third stage 56 . the cathode flow leaving the second stage 48 will mix with the fresh oxidant controlled by the third cathode gas inlet valve 90 prior to entering the first stage 42 . the third cathode gas inlet valve 90 should also be capable of allowing a wide range of cathode stoichiometry entering the first stage 42 and should have a pressure drop equal to the cathode pressure drop across stages two 48 and three 56 . the cathode gas outlet valve 96 is used to control back pressure for the cathode stack . a further benefit of the multiple valve design is an increase in system control flexibility . for example , if a stage becomes unstable due to flooding , the cathode stoichiometry in the problem stage can be increased to remove liquid water and dry the problem stage out . with reference to fig2 and 3 , the anode and cathode flow field passages 44 , 52 , 58 , 72 , 82 and 92 are arranged such that the flow of the anode gasses in the anode flow field passages 44 , 52 , 58 are generally opposite the direction of flow of the cathode gasses in the cathode gas flow field passages 72 , 82 and 92 . these generally opposite flow directions facilitate the passage of excess water between the anode and cathode flow field passages . this results in the benefit of reduction or even elimination of the need for external humidification . it should be noted that it is sufficient that the flow direction of the anode and cathode gasses is in opposite directions relative to each stage and that the opposite flow direction across each mea , although beneficial , is not required to still obtain many of the benefits of the present invention . another advantage of the present system is cost savings . fig4 comprises a system to supply power to a secondary receiver 98 directly from the fuel cell system 10 at a voltage lower than that of the total system . an example of this would be supplying power directly to a 12 or 42 volt dc / dc converter 100 from a supply at a voltage lower than that of the total system voltage . to achieve this the cells in the smaller stages , stages two 48 and three 56 in the present example , can be used as a tap stack 102 to supply power at lower voltage to the 12 or 42 - volt converters 100 . to be able to sustain higher currents in the tap stack 102 , a higher cathode and anode flow would be required for these cells . the valves 66 , 84 and 90 at each of the cathode stages could be utilized to increase the flow of oxidant locally for the cells in the tapped region of the stack that is electrically producing higher current . using a greater number of cells to supply the low voltage power will also reduce the additional current being drawn from the tap stack 102 . as a result , the total flow needed locally for the tap stack 102 region is reduced . a fuel cell system 10 that incorporates a 12 or 42 - volt battery in addition to the tap stack 102 , and low voltage dcdc converter 100 will also have additional control flexibility through local load control . it has been shown that stable performance can be achieved in a cell by quickly dropping the load while maintaining the reactant flows . when a large voltage battery buffer 104 is utilized in combination with the tap stack 102 , and low voltage dcdc converter 100 , the current being drawn from the tap stack 102 can be quickly dropped using the battery buffer 104 to buffer the consumed power . the description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and , thus , variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention . such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention .	7
the following definitions apply to the terms as used throughout this specification , unless otherwise limited in specific instances . unless otherwise indicated , the term “ amino - alcohol ” as employed herein alone or as part of another group includes a natural or un - natural amino acid in which the carboxy group is replaced ( reduced ) to a methyl alcohol such as valinol , glycinol , alaninol , arylalaninol , heteroarylalaninol . unless otherwise indicated , the term “ alkyl ” as employed herein alone or as part of another group includes both straight and branched chain hydrocarbons , containing 1 to 40 carbons , preferably 1 to 20 carbons , more preferably 1 to 8 carbons , in the normal chain , such as methyl , ethyl , propyl , isopropyl , butyl , t - butyl , isobutyl , pentyl , hexyl , isohexyl , heptyl , 4 , 4 - dimethylpentyl , octyl , 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethylpentyl , nonyl , decyl , undecyl , dodecyl , the various branched chain isomers thereof , and the like . further , alkyl groups , as defined herein , may optionally be substituted on any available carbon atom with one or more functional groups commonly attached to such chains , such as , but not limited to alkyl , aryl , alkenyl , alkynyl , hydroxy , arylalkyl , cycloalkyl , cycloalkylalkyl , alkoxy , arylalkyloxy , heteroaryloxy , heteroarylalkyloxy , alkanoyl , halo , hydroxyl , thio , nitro , cyano , carboxyl , carbonyl carboxamido , amino , alkylamino , dialkylamino , amido , alkylamino , arylamido , heteroarylamino , azido , guanidino , amidino , phosphonic , phosphinic , sulfonic , sulfonamido , haloaryl , cf 3 , ocf 2 , ocf 3 , aryloxy , heteroaryl , cycloalkylalkoxyalkyl , cycloheteroalkyl and the like to form alkyl groups such as trifluoro methyl , 3 - hydroxyhexyl , 2 - carboxypropyl , 2 - fluoroethyl , carboxymethyl , cyanobutyl and the like . unless otherwise indicated , the term “ alkenyl ” as employed herein alone or as part of another group includes both straight and branched chain hydrocarbons , containing 2 to 40 carbons with one or more double bonds , preferably 2 to 20 carbons with one to three double bonds , more preferably 2 to 8 carbons with one to two double bonds , in the normal chain , such that any carbon may be optionally substituted as described above for “ alkyl ”. unless otherwise indicated , the term “ alkynyl ” as employed herein alone or as part of another group includes both straight and branched chain hydrocarbons , containing 2 to 40 carbons with one or more triple bonds , preferably 2 to 20 carbons with one to three triple bonds , more preferably 2 to 8 carbons with one to two triple bonds , in the normal chain , such that any carbon may be optionally substituted as described above for “ alkyl ”. unless otherwise indicated , the term “ cycloalkyl ” as employed herein alone or as part of another group includes saturated or partially unsaturated ( containing 1 or 2 double bonds ) cyclic hydrocarbon groups containing 1 to 3 rings , appended or fused , including monocyclic alkyl , bicyclic alkyl and tricyclic alkyl , containing a total of 3 to 20 carbons forming the rings , preferably 4 to 7 carbons , forming each ring ; which may be fused to 1 aromatic ring as described for aryl , which include cyclopropyl , cyclobutyl , cyclopentyl , cyclohexyl , cycloheptyl , cyclooctyl , cyclodecyl , cyclododecyl , cyclohexenyl , any of which groups may be optionally substituted through any available carbon atoms with 1 or more groups selected from hydrogen , halo , haloalkyl , alkyl , haloalkyl , alkoxy , haloalkoxy , alkenyl , trifluoromethyl , trifluoromethoxy , alkynyl , cycloalkylalkyl , fluorenyl , heterocycloalkyl , heterocycloalkylalkyl , aryl , heteroaryl , arylalkyl , aryloxy , aryloxyalkyl , arylalkoxy , arylthio , arylazo , heteroarylalkyl , heteroarylalkenyl , heteroarylheteroaryl , heteroaryloxy , hydroxy , nitro , oxo , cyano , carboxyl , carbonyl carboxamido , amino , substituted amino wherein the amino includes 1 or 2 substituents ( which are alkyl , aryl or any of the other aryl compounds mentioned in the definitions ), amido , azido , guanidino , amidino , phosphonic , phosphinic , sulfonic , sulfonamido , thiol , alkylthio , arylthio , heteroarylthio , arylthioalkyl , alkoxyarylthio , alkylcarbonyl , arylcarbonyl , alkylaminocarbonyl , arylaminocarbonyl , alkoxycarbonyl , aminocarbonyl , alkylcarbonyloxy , arylcarbonyloxy , alkylcarbonylamino , arylcarbonylamino , arylsulfinyl , arylsulfinylalkyl , arylsulfonylamino or arylsulfonaminocarbonyl , or any of alkyl substituents as set out above . the term “ aryl ” as employed herein alone or as part of another group refers to monocyclic and bicyclic aromatic groups containing 6 to 10 carbons in the ring portion ( such as phenyl or naphthyl ) and may optionally include one to three additional rings fused to “ aryl ” ( such as aryl , cycloalkyl , heteroaryl or heterocycloalkyl rings ) and may be optionally substituted through any available carbon atoms with 1 or more groups selected from hydrogen , alkyl , halo , haloalkyl , alkoxy , haloalkoxy , alkenyl , trifluoromethyl , trifluoromethoxy , alkynyl , cycloalkylalkyl , fluorenyl , heterocycloalkyl , heterocycloalkylalkyl , aryl , heteroaryl , arylalkyl , aryloxy , aryloxyalkyl , arylalkoxy , arylthio , arylazo , heteroarylalkyl , heteroarylalkenyl , heteroaryloxy , heteroarylalkyloxy , heteroarylalkyloxyalkyl , hydroxy , nitro , oxo , cyano , amino , substituted amino wherein the amino includes 1 or 2 substituents ( which are alkyl , cycloalkyl , heterocycloalkyl , heteroaryl , or aryl or any of the other aryl compounds mentioned in the definitions ), thiol , alkylthio , arylthio , heteroarylthio , arylthioalkyl , alkoxyarylthio , alkylcarbonyl , arylcarbonyl , alkylaminocarbonyl , cycloalkylaminocarbonyl , arylaminocarbonyl , heteroarylaminocarbonyl , heteroarylalkylaminocarbonyl alkoxycarbonyl , aminocarbonyl , alkylcarbonyloxy , arylcarbonyloxy , alkylcarbonylamino , arylcarbonylamino , arylsulfinyl , arylsulfinylalkyl , arylsulfonylamino or arylsulfonaminocarbonyl , or any of alkyl substituents as set out above . the term “ arylalkyl ” as used herein alone or as part of another group refers to alkyl groups as defined above having an aryl substituent , such as benzyl , phenethyl or naphthylpropyl , wherein said aryl and / or alkyl groups may optionally be substituted as defined above . the term “ alkoxy ”, “ aryloxy ”, “ heteroaryloxy ” “ arylalkyloxy ”, or “ heteroarylalkyloxy ” as employed herein alone or as part of another group includes an alkyl or aryl group as defined above linked through an oxygen atom . the term “ heterocyclo ”, “ heterocycle ” “ heterocyclyl ” or “ heterocyclic ”, as used herein , represents an unsubstituted or substituted stable 4 -, 5 -, 6 - or 7 - membered monocyclic ring system which may be saturated or unsaturated , and which consists of carbon atoms and from one to four heteroatoms selected from nitrogen , sulfur , oxygen and / or a so or so 2 group , wherein the nitrogen and sulfur heteroatoms may optionally be oxidized , and the nitrogen heteroatom may optionally be quaternized . the heterocyclic ring may be attached at any heteroatom or carbon atom which results in the creation of a stable structure . examples of such heterocyclic groups include , but are not limited to , tetrahydrofuranyl , tetrahydrothiophenyl pyrrolidinyl , piperidinyl , piperazinyl , oxopyrrolidinyl , oxopiperazinyl , oxopiperidinyl and oxadiazolyl . optionally a heterocyclo group may be substituted with one or more functional groups , such as those described for “ alkyl ” or “ aryl ”. the term “ heterocycloalkyl ” as used herein alone or as part of another group refers to alkyl groups as defined above having a heterocycloalkyl substituent , wherein said “ heterocyclo ” and / or alkyl groups may optionally be substituted as defined above . the term “ heteroaryl ” as used herein refers to a 5 -, 6 - or 7 - membered aromatic heterocyclic ring which contains one or more heteroatoms selected from nitrogen , sulfur , oxygen and / or a so or so 2 group . such rings may be fused to another aryl or heteroaryl ring and include possible n - oxides ; examples of such heteroaryl groups include , but are not limited to , furan , pyrrole , thiophene , pyridine , isoxazole , oxazole , imidazole and the like . optionally a heteroaryl group may be substituted with one or more functional groups commonly attached to such chains , such as those described for “ alkyl ” or “ aryl ”. the term “ heteroarylalkyl ” as used herein alone or as part of another group refers to alkyl groups as defined above having a heteroaryl substituent , wherein said heteroaryl and / or alkyl groups may optionally be substituted as defined above . the term “ diabetes and related diseases or related conditions ” refers to type ii diabetes , type i diabetes , impaired glucose tolerance , obesity , hyperglycemia , syndrome x , dysmetabolic syndrome , diabetic complications , and hyperinsulinemia . the term “ lipid - modulating ” or “ lipid lowering ” agent as employed herein refers to agents that lower ldl and / or raise hdl and / or lower triglycerides and / or lower total cholesterol and / or other known mechanisms for therapeutically treating lipid disorders . an administration of a therapeutic agent of the invention includes administration of a therapeutically effective amount of the agent of the invention . the term “ therapeutically effective amount ” as used herein refers to an amount of a therapeutic agent to treat or prevent a condition treatable by administration of a composition of the invention . that amount is the amount sufficient to exhibit a detectable therapeutic or preventative or ameliorative effect . the effect may include , for example , treatment or prevention of the conditions listed herein . the precise effective amount for a subject will depend upon the subject &# 39 ; s size and health , the nature and extent of the condition being treated , recommendations of the treating physician , and the therapeutics or combination of therapeutics selected for administration . thus , it is not useful to specify an exact effective amount in advance . the peptides and analogs thereof described herein may be produced by chemical synthesis using various solid - phase techniques such as those described in barany , g . et al ., the peptides : analysis , synthesis , biology , vol . 2 , “ special methods in peptide synthesis , part a ”, pp . 3 - 284 , gross , e . et al ., eds ., academic press , new york ( 1980 ); and in stewart , j . m . et al ., solid - phase peptide synthesis , 2nd edition , pierce chemical co ., rockford , ill . ( 1984 ). the preferred strategy for use in this invention is based on the fmoc ( 9 - fluorenylmethylmethyloxycarbonyl ) group for temporary protection of the α - amino group , in combination with the tert - butyl group for temporary protection of the amino acid side chains ( see for example atherton , e . et al ., “ the fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl amino protecting group ”, the peptides : analysis , synthesis , biology , vol . 9 , “ special methods in peptide synthesis , part c ”, pp . 1 - 38 , undenfriend , s . et al ., eds ., academic press , san diego ( 1987 ). the peptides can be synthesized in a stepwise manner on an insoluble polymer support ( also referred to as “ resin ”) starting from the c - terminus of the peptide . a synthesis is begun by appending the c - terminal amino acid of the peptide to the resin through formation of an amide or ester linkage . this allows the eventual release of the resulting peptide as a c - terminal amide or carboxylic acid , respectively . alternatively , in cases where a c - terminal amino alcohol is present , the c - terminal residue may be attached to 2 - methoxy - 4 - alkoxybenzyl alcohol resin ( sasrin , bachem bioscience , inc ., king of prussia , pa .) as described herein and , after completion of the peptide sequence assembly , the resulting peptide alcohol is released with libh 4 in thf ( see stewart , j . m . et al ., supra , p . 92 ). the c - terminal amino acid and all other amino acids used in the synthesis are required to have their α - amino groups and side chain functionalities ( if present ) differentially protected such that the α - amino protecting group may be selectively removed during the synthesis . the coupling of an amino acid is performed by activation of its carboxyl group as an active ester and reaction thereof with the unblocked α - amino group of the n - terminal amino acid appended to the resin . the sequence of α - amino group deprotection and coupling is repeated until the entire peptide sequence is assembled . the peptide is then released from the resin with concomitant deprotection of the side chain functionalities , usually in the presence of appropriate scavengers to limit side reactions . the resulting peptide is finally purified by reverse phase hplc . the synthesis of the peptidyl - resins required as precursors to the final peptides utilizes commercially available cross - linked polystyrene polymer resins ( novabiochem , san diego , calif .). preferred for use in this invention are 4 -( 2 ′, 4 ′- dimethoxyphenyl - fmoc - aminomethyl )- phenoxyacetyl - p - methyl benzhydrylamine resin ( rink amide mbha resin ) or p - benzyloxybenzyl alcohol resin ( hmp resin ) to which the c - terminal amino acid may or may not be already attached . if the c - terminal amino acid is not attached , its attachment may be achieved by dmap - catalyzed esterification with the o - acylisourea or the hoat active ester of the fmoc - protected amino acid formed by its reaction with dic or dic / hoat , respectively . coupling of the subsequent amino acids can be accomplished using hobt or hoat active esters produced from dic / hobt or dic / hoat , respectively . the syntheses of the 11 - mer peptide analogs described herein can be carried out by using a peptide synthesizer , such as an advanced chemtech multiple peptide synthesizer ( mps396 ) or an applied biosystems inc . peptide synthesizer ( abi 433a ). if the mps396 was used , up to 96 peptides were simultaneously synthesized . if the abi 433a synthesizer was used , individual peptides were synthesized sequentially . in both cases the stepwise solid phase peptide synthesis was carried out utilizing the fmoc / t - butyl protection strategy described herein . the non - natural non - commercial amino acids present at position 11 and at position 10 were incorporated into the peptide chain in one of two methods . in the first approach a boca or fmoc - protected non - natural amino acid was prepared in solution using appropriate organic synthetic procedures . the resulting derivative was then used in the step - wise synthesis of the peptide . alternatively the required nonnatural amino acid was built on the resin directly using synthetic organic chemistry procedures . when a nonnatural non - commercial amino acid was needed for incorporation at position x aa6 or at any other x aa position as needed , the required fmoc - protected nonnatural amino acid was synthesized in solution . such a derivative was then used in stepwise solid phase peptide synthesis . preferred for use in this invention are the fmoc amino acids derivatives shown below . the peptidyl - resin precursors for their respective peptides may be cleaved and deprotected using any of the standard procedures described in the literature ( see , for example , king , d . s . et al ., int . j . peptide protein res ., 36 : 255 - 266 ( 1990 )). a preferred method for use in this invention is the use of tfa in the presence of water and tis as scavengers . typically , the peptidyl - resin is stirred in tfa / water / tis ( 94 : 3 : 3 , v : v : v ; 1 ml / 100 mg of peptidyl resin ) for 1 . 5 - 2 hrs at room temperature . the spent resin is then filtered off and the tfa solution is concentrated or dried under reduced pressure . the resulting crude peptide is either precipitated and washed with et 2 o , or is redissolved directly into dmso or 50 % aqueous acetic acid for purification by preparative hplc . peptides with the desired purity can be obtained by purification using preparative hplc , for example , on a waters model 4000 or a shimadzu model lc - 8a liquid chromatograph . the solution of crude peptide is injected into a ymc s5 ods ( 20 × 100 mm ) column and eluted with a linear gradient of mecn in water , both buffered with 0 . 1 % tea , using a flow rate of 14 - 20 ml / min with effluent monitoring by uv absorbance at 220 nm . the structures of the purified peptides can be confirmed by electro - spray ms analysis . the following abbreviations are employed in the examples and elsewhere herein : ph = phenyl bn = benzyl i - bu = iso - butyl me = methyl et = ethyl pr = n - propyl bu = n - butyl tms = trimethylsilyl tis = triisopropylsilane et 2 o = diethyl ether hoac or acoh = acetic acid mecn = acetonitrile dmf = n , n - dimethylformamide etoac = ethyl acetate thf = tetrahydrofuran tfa = trifluoroacetic acid et 2 nh = diethylamine nmm = n - methyl morpholine nmp = n - methylpyrrolidone dcm = dichloromethane n - buli = n - butyllithium pd / c = palladium on carbon pto 2 = platinum oxide tea = triethylamine min = minute ( s ) h or hr = hour ( s ) l = liter ml = milliliter μl = microliter g = gram ( s ) mg = milligram ( s ) mol = mole ( s ) mmol = millimole ( s ) meq = milliequivalent rt = room temperature sat or sat &# 39 ; d = saturated aq .= aqueous mp = inciting point bip = biphenylalanine libh 4 = lithium borohydride pybop reagent = benzotriazol - 1 - yloxy - tripyrrolidino phosphonium hexafluorophosphate dmap = 4 -( dimethylamino ) pyridine edac = 3 - ethyl - 3 ′-( dimethylamino ) propyl - carbodiimide hydrochloride ( or 1 -[( 3 -( dimethyl ) amino ) propyl ])- 3 - ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride ) fmoc = fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl doe or boc = tert - butoxycarbonyl cbz = carbobenzyloxy or carbobenzoxy or benzyloxycarbonyl hobt or hobt ∩ h 2 o = 1 - hydroxybenzotriazole hydrate hoat = 1 - hydroxy - 7 - azabenzotriazole tlc = thin laser chromatography hplc = high performance liquid chromatography lc / ms = high performance liquid chromatography / mass spectrometry ms or mass sec = mass spectrometry nmr = nuclear magnetic resonance those skilled in the art of peptide chemistry are aware that amino acid residues occur as both d and l isomers , and that the instant invention contemplates the use of either or a mixture of isomers for amino acid residues incorporated in the synthesis of the peptides described herein . in one embodiment , the present invention provides a method of making a polypeptide of formula that mimics the activity of a polypeptide receptor agonist having a message sequence and an address sequence . in this embodiment , the address sequence of the polypeptide confers the ability of a polypeptide to bind to a receptor and the message sequence is capable of inducing receptor mediated signal transduction upon binding of the polypeptide to the receptor . the method of making the polypeptide comprises replacing the message sequence of a polypeptide receptor agonist with y and z wherein y and z are amino acid residues ; wherein one of the substitutions at the alpha - carbon atoms of y and z may each independently be substituted with a primary substituent group selected from the group consisting of hydrogen , alkyl , cycloalkyl , cycloalkylalkyl , heterocyclylalkyl , arylalkyl and heteroarylalkyl , heterocyclylalkyl said primary substituent optionally being substituted with a secondary substituent selected from a cycloalkyl , heterocyclyl , aryl or heteroaryl group ; any of said primary or secondary substituents may further be substituted with one or more of , hydrogen , alkyl , cycloalkyl , arylalkyl , aryl , heterocyclyl , heteroaryl , alkenyl , alkynyl , halo , hydroxy , mercapto , nitro , cyano , amino , acylamino , azido , guanidino , amidino , carboxyl , carboxamido , carboxamido alkyl , formyl , acyl , carboxyl alkyl , alkoxy , aryloxy , arylalkyloxy , heteroaryloxy , heterocyclooxy , acyloxy , mercapto , mercapto alkyl , mercaptoaryl , mercapto acyl , halo , cyano , nitro , azido , amino , guanidino alkyl , guanidino acyl , sulfonic , sulfonamido , alkyl sulfonyl , aryl sulfonyl or phosphonic group ; wherein , the primary or secondary substituents may optionally be bridged by covalent bonds to form one or more fused cyclic or heterocyclic systems with each other ; wherein , the other substitution at the alpha - carbon of y may be substituted with hydrogen , alkyl , aminoalkyl , hydroxyalkyl or carboxyalkyl ; wherein , the other substitution at the alpha - carbon of z may be substituted with hydrogen , alkyl , aminoalkyl , hydroxyalkyl or carboxyalkyl . in a preferred embodiment , the present invention provides a method of making a polypeptide that mimics the activity of an endogenous polypeptide receptor agonist . in another preferred embodiment , the polypeptide receptor agonist is glp - 1 . in another aspect , the method of making the polypeptide further comprises replacing the message sequence of the polypeptide with a variant message sequence capable of inducing receptor mediated signal transduction . variant message sequences can be made by replacing or modifying one or more amino acid residues of a polypeptide receptor agonist message sequence . dipeptidyl resin , containing non - natural non - commercial amino acid residues at positions 10 and 11 , was prepared using the following manual procedure in a batch - wise mode before continuing peptide chain elongation utilizing the automated simultaneous synthesis protocol on the mps - 396 peptide synthesizer . the synthesis of the nα - fmoc - protected biphenylalanine derivatives used in the manual couplings is described in examples 8 - 10 . an amount of 4 -( 2 ′, 4 ′- dimethoxyphenyl - fmoc - aminomethyl )- phenoxyacetyl - p - methyl benzhydrylamine resin ( rink amide mbha resin ; loading : 0 . 5 mmol / g ) sufficient to synthesize several 11 - mer analogs , was swelled by washing with dmf ( 4 × 10 ml / g , 5 minutes ). the fmoc group was then removed using two treatments , 3 and 18 minutes each respectively , with 20 % piperidine in dmf ( 10 ml / g ). the resin was washed with dmf ( 4 × 10 ml / g ) and nmp ( 4 × 10 ml / g ). a 0 . 5 m solution of fmoc - l - biphenylalanine - oh ( 2 . 0 eq . ), or analog thereof , and hoat ( 2 . 0 eq .) in nmp was added to the resin , followed by a 1 . 0 m solution of dic ( 2 . 05 eq .) in nmp . the resin was then shaken or vortexed for 16 - 24 hours . coupling completion was monitored using a qualitative ninhydrin test . the resin was drained , washed with nmp ( 3 × 10 ml / g ) and dmf ( 3 × 10 ml / g ), and treated twice , 5 and 20 minutes each respectively , with 20 % acetic anhydride in dmf ( 8 ml / g ). after dmf washes ( 4 × 10 ml / g ), a second manual coupling cycle was then performed as described above , starting from the removal of the fmoc group with 20 % piperidine in dmf , and using either the same or a different fmoc - protected biphenylalanine analog in the coupling step . this synthesis scheme produced the desired fmoc - protected dipeptidyl - rink amide mbha resin . similar dipeptidyl resins were also obtained by another procedure , described in examples 5 - 7 , using solid phase suzuki condensation reactions . such dipeptidyl - resins required for the synthesis of a set of designed analogs were then used in the automated mps synthesis of up to 96 peptides per run in the following manner . the dipeptidyl - resins were loaded as suspensions in dichloromethane / dmf ( 60 : 40 ) into the 96 - well reactor of an advanced chemtech mps 396 synthesizer in volumes corresponding to 0 . 01 - 0 . 025 mmol ( 20 - 50 mg ) of resin per reactor well . the reactor was placed on the instrument and drained . the wells were then washed with dmf ( 0 . 5 - 1 . 0 ml , 3 × 2 min ) and subjected to the number of automated coupling cycles required to assemble the respective peptide sequences as determined by the pre - programmed sequence synthesis table . the detailed stepwise synthesis protocol used for a typical 0 . 01 mmol / well simultaneous synthesis of 96 compounds is described below . this protocol was adapted for the simultaneous synthesis of arrays of analogs ranging from 12 to 96 per individual run . the general synthesis protocol is depicted in scheme i . prior to starting the synthesis , the following reagent solutions were prepared and placed on the instrument as required : 1 . 5 m ( 15 %) piperidine in dmf ; 0 . 5 m diea in nmp ; 0 . 36 m dic in nmp ; 1 m ( 10 %) acetic anhydride in dmf . the required fmoc - protected amino acids were prepared as 0 . 36 m solutions in 0 . 36 m hoat / nmp and placed into the appropriate positions in the 32 - position amino acid rack . the fmoc - protected dipeptidyl - resin prepared above was deprotected by treating with 1 . 5 m ( 15 %) piperidine in dmf ( 0 . 6 ml ; 1 × 3 minutes ; 1 × 18 minutes ). the resin was then washed with dmf ( 4 × 0 . 5 ml ), dmf / etoh ( 80 : 20 ) ( 1 × 0 . 5 ml ) and nmp ( 3 × 0 . 5 ml ). coupling of the next amino acid residue , typically fmoc - asp ( otbu )- oh or another fmoc - amino acid with appropriate orthogonal protection if required , was carried out by automated addition of a 0 . 36 m solution of the appropriate fmoc - amino acid ( 0 . 072 mmol , 7 . 2 eq .) and hoat ( 7 . 2 eq .) in nmp ( 0 . 2 ml ) to all 96 wells . this was followed by addition to all 96 wells of a 0 . 36 m solution of dic ( 0 . 072 mmol , 7 . 2 eq .) in nmp ( 0 . 2 ml ). the coupling was allowed to proceed for 2 hrs . after reactor draining by nitrogen pressure ( 3 - 5 psi ) and washing the wells with nmp ( 1 × 0 . 5 ml ), the coupling was repeated as described above . at the end of the coupling cycle , the wells were treated with 1 m acetic anhydride in dmf ( 1 × 0 . 5 ml , 30 min .) and finally washed with dmf ( 3 × 0 . 5 ml ). the next coupling cycle started with the removal of the fmoc group as described above , and involved the coupling of either fmoc - ser ( tbu )- oh or of a different fmoc - amino acid as required by the sequence substitutions desired at this position . the coupling was carried out in a manner identical to that described for fmoc - asp ( otbu )- oh . the next coupling step was carried out in the same way to incorporate either fmoc - thr ( tbu )- oh or any of the other selected fmoc - amino acids into this sequence position as required . the next fmoc - amino acid ( for example fmoc - phe - oh ) was coupled as described above . for sequences requiring incorporation of a novel non - commercially available aromatic or non - aromatic amino acid analog at this step , the coupling was modified as follows : after fmoc deprotection in the usual manner , the fmoc - amino acid ( 5 eq .) and hoat ( 5 eq .) were added manually as a 0 . 36 m solution in nmp ( 0 . 139 ml ). the 0 . 36 m solution of dic in nmp ( 0 . 139 ml ) was then added by the instrument and the coupling was allowed to proceed for 16 - 24 hrs . the coupling was not repeated in this case . after the usual post - coupling washes , the peptidyl - resins were capped with acetic anhydride as described . the next coupling step involved either fmoc - thr ( tbu )- oh or substitution analogs as required by sequence replacements at this position . the coupling was performed as described for the initial mps coupling of fmoc - asp ( otbu )- oh and its analogs . this identical coupling protocol was repeated four additional times in order to complete the sequence assembly of the desired 96 11 - mer peptide analogs . for the coupling of commercially and non - commercially available non - natural amino acids needed at a certain sequence position , a single coupling protocol similar to that described above for the novel amino acid at position 6 ( x aa6 ) was used . finally , the fmoc group was removed with 20 % piperidine in dmf as described above , and the peptidyl - resins were washed with dmf ( 4 × 0 . 5 ml ) and dcm ( 4 × 0 . 5 ml ). they were then dried on the reactor block by applying a constant pressure of nitrogen gas ( 5 psi ) for 10 - 15 min . the desired peptides were cleaved / deprotected from their respective peptidyl - resins by treatment with a tfa cleavage mixture as follows . a solution of tfa / water / tri - isopropylsilane ( 94 : 3 : 3 ) ( 1 . 0 ml ) was added to each well in the reactor block , which was then vortexed for 2 hrs . the tea solutions from the wells were collected by positive pressure into pre - tared vials located in a matching 96 - vial block on the bottom of the reactor . the resins in the wells were rinsed twice with an additional 0 . 5 ml of tfa cocktail and the rinses were combined with the solutions in the vials . these were dried in a speedvac ® ( savant ) to yield the crude peptides , typically in & gt ; 100 % yields ( 20 - 40 mgs ). the crude peptides were either washed with ether or more frequently re - dissolved directly in 2 ml of dmso or 50 % aqueous acetic acid for purification by preparative hplc as follows . preparative hplc was carried out either on a waters model 4000 or a shimadzu model lc - 8a liquid chromatograph . each solution of crude peptide was injected into a ymc s5 ods ( 20 × 100 mm ) column and eluted using a linear gradient of mecn in water , both buffered with 0 . 1 % tfa . a typical gradient used was from 20 % to 70 % 0 . 1 % tfa / mecn in 0 . 1 % tfa / water over 15 min . at a flow rate of 14 ml / min with effluent uv detection at 220 nm . the desired product eluted well separated from impurities , typically after 10 - 11 min ., and was usually collected in a single 10 - 15 ml fraction on a fraction collector . the desired peptides were obtained as amorphous white powders by lyophilization of their hplc fractions . after purification by preparative hplc as described above , each peptide was analyzed by analytical rp - hplc on a shimadzu lc - 10ad or lc - 10at analytical hplc system consisting of : a scl - 10a system controller , a sil - 10a auto - injector , a spd10av or spd - m6a uv / vis detector , or a spd - m10a diode array detector . a ymc ods s3 ( 4 . 6 × 50 mm ) column was used and elution was performed using one of the following gradients : 10 - 70 % b in a over 8 min , 2 . 5 ml / min . ( method a ); 5 - 80 % b in a over 8 min , 2 . 5 ml / min . ( method b ); 5 - 70 % b in a over 8 min ., 2 . 5 ml / min . ( method c ); 25 - 75 % b in a over 8 mm , 2 . 5 ml / min ( method d ); 20 - 75 % b in a over 8 min , 2 . 5 ml / min . ( method e ); 15 - 70 % b in a over 8 min , 2 . 5 ml / min . ( method f ); 10 - 90 % b in a over 8 min , 2 . 5 ml / min . ( method g ); 20 - 65 % b in a over 8 min , 2 . 5 ml / min . ( method h ); 5 - 90 % b in a over 8 min ., 2 . 0 ml / min . ( method i ); 5 - 90 % 13 in a over 8 min ., 2 . 5 ml / min . ( method j ); 20 - 80 % b in a over 8 mm ., 2 . 5 ml / min . ( method k ); 10 - 100 % b in a over 8 min ., 2 . 5 ml / min . ( method l ); 10 - 75 % b in a over 8 min ., 2 . 5 ml / min . ( method m ). mobile phase a : 0 . 1 % tfa / water ; mobile phase b : 0 . 1 % tfa / acetonitrile . the purity was typically & gt ; 90 %. each peptide was characterized by electrospray mass spectrometry ( es - ms ) either in flow injection or lc / ms mode . finnigan ssq7000 single quadrupole mass spectrometers ( thermofinnigan , san jose , calif .) were used in all analyses in positive and negative ion electrospray mode . full scan data was acquired over the mass range of 300 to 2200 amu for a scan time of 1 . 0 second . the quadrupole was operated at unit resolution . for flow injection analyses , the mass spectrometer was interfaced to a waters 616 hplc pump ( waters corp ., milford , mass .) and equipped with an hts pal autosampler ( ctc analytics , zwingen , switzerland ). samples were injected into a mobile phase containing 50 : 50 water : acetonitrile with 0 . 1 % ammonium hydroxide . the flow rate for the analyses was 0 . 42 ml / min . and the injection volume 6 μl . a thermoseparations constametric 3500 liquid chromatograph ( thermoseparation products , san jose , calif .) and hts pal autosampler were used for lc / ms analyses . chromatographic separations were achieved employing a luna c 18 , 5 micron column , 2 × 30 mm ( phenomenex , torrance , calif .). the flow rate for the analyses was 1 . 0 ml / min and column effluent was split , so that the flow into the electrospray interface was 400 μl / min . a linear gradient from 0 % to 100 % b in a over 4 minutes was run , where mobile phase a was 98 : 2 water : acetonitrile with 10 mm ammonium acetate and mobile phase b was 10 : 90 water : acetonitrile with 10 mm ammonium acetate . the uv response was monitored at 220 nm . the samples were dissolved in 200 μl 50 : 50 h 2 o : mecn ( 0 . 05 % tfa ). the injection volume was 5 μl . in all cases , the experimentally measured molecular weight was within 0 . 5 daltons of the calculated mono - isotopic molecular weight . ( a ) general procedure for the synthesis of n - alkylated 11 - mer peptide analogs by reductive alkylation the synthesis of n - alkylated 11 - mer peptide analogs was started from the protected intermediate 11 - mer peptidyl - resin ( 1 ) ( 0 . 025 mmol ), which was prepared by the general method described herein . the fmoc group was removed using the procedure described in that method , to yield the protected resin intermediate 2 . this was swollen in dmf , washed 3 times with 1 % acoh / dmf , and then treated with 2 - 20 eq . of aldehyde or n - boc - protected aminoaldehyde ( see synthesis below ), dissolved in 1 % acoh / dmf ( or ch 2 cl 2 ) ( 1 m ), and the same excess amount of na ( aco ) 3 bh as that of the aldehyde . after overnight reaction , the resin was drained , washed with dmf and dcm , 3 times each , and dried . the reductively alkylated peptide ( 4 ) was cleaved and deprotected by treatment with tfa / tri - isopropylsilane / water ( 90 : 5 : 5 , v : v : v ; 1 - 2 ml ) for 2 hrs . the resin was filtered off and rinsed with 1 ml of cleavage solution , which was combined with the filtrate and dried in a speedvac ® ( savant ) to yield the crude product . this was purified by preparative hplc as described in the general peptide synthesis method outlined herein . the purity and identity of the desired products were confirmed by analytical hplc and electrospray ms . n - boc - protected aminoaldehydes were synthesized using castro &# 39 ; s procedure ( fehrentz , j . a . et al ., synthesis , 676 - 678 ( 1983 )) as follows . the boc - protected amino acid ( 2 . 0 mmol ) was dissolved in 5 ml dcm . bop reagent ( 1 . 1 eq .) and diea ( 1 . 15 eq ) were added . after 5 minutes , a solution of n , o - dimethylhydroxylamine ( 1 . 2 eq ) and diea ( 1 . 3 eq ) in 5 ml dcm was added . the reaction mixture was stirred for 2 hrs , diluted with dcm ( 30 ml ), and washed with 2n hcl ( 3 ×), sat . nahco 3 ( 3 ×) and brine ( 1 ×). the organic extracts were dried over mgso 4 , filtered and evaporated to dryness to yield the weinreb amide . this was then dissolved in ether or thf ( 10 ml / mmol )) and reacted with a 1m solution of lialh 4 in thf ( 2 ml / mmol of hydroxamate ) for 30 minutes . the reaction mixture was quenched with 5 ml of 0 . 35 m khso 4 , and diluted with ether ( 20 ml ). the aqueous phase was separated and extracted with ether ( 3 × 20 ml ). the combined ether extracts were washed with 2n hcl ( 2 ×), sat . nahco 3 ( 2 ×) and brine ( 1 ×), dried over mgso 4 , filtered and evaporated to dryness to yield the boc - protected aldehyde in 20 - 30 % yield . the aldehyde was characterized by 1 h nmr and electrospray ms , and was used in the reductive alkylation step without further purification . ( b ) general procedure for the synthesis of n - acylated 11 - mer peptide analogs similarly , the synthesis of the n - acylated 11 - mer peptide analogs was started from the protected 11 - mer peptidyl - resin intermediate ( 1 ) ( 0 . 025 mmol ), prepared as described herein . the fmoc group was removed using the procedure described herein , and the resulting resin intermediate 2 was coupled with the relevant fmoc - protected amino acid or carboxylic acid using the coupling protocol described in the general method described herein . in cases where the appropriate anhydride was available , the n - acylation was performed using 10 eq . of the anhydride in nmp . the resulting 12 - mer analogs ( 3 ) were cleaved / deprotected and purified by prep . hplc by the general method described herein . ( c ) general procedure for the synthesis of n - carbamate derivatives of 11 - mer peptide analogs the synthesis of n - carbamate derivatives of 11 - mer peptide analogs may be started from the protected 11 - mer peptidyl - resin intermediate ( 1 ) ( 0 . 025 mmol ), prepared as described herein . the fmoc group is removed using the procedure described herein , and the resulting resin intermediate 2 is allowed to react with the relevant chloroformate in the presence of an appropriate base such as a tertiary amine , or with a di - carbonate or an activated carbonate such as p - nitrophenyl or phenyl carbonate . similarly , n - carbamate derivatives of 10 - mer peptide analogs may be prepared starting from a protected 10 - mer peptidyl - resin intermediate , fmoc removal and reaction of the resulting peptidyl - resin intermediate with the relevant chloroformate , di - carbonate or activated carbonate . ( d ) general procedure for the synthesis of n - urea derivatives of 11 - mer peptide analogs the synthesis of n - urea derivatives of 11 - mer peptide analogs may be started from the protected 11 - mer peptidyl - resin intermediate ( 1 ) ( 0 . 025 mmol ), prepared as described herein . the fmoc group is removed using the procedure described herein , and the resulting resin intermediate 2 is allowed to react with the relevant isocyanate prepared , for example , as in burgess , k . et al ., j . am . chem . soc ., 119 : 1556 - 1564 ( 1997 ); alternatively , the resin intermediate 2 may be allowed to react with the relevant carbamyl chloride . similarly , n - urea derivatives of 10 - mer peptide analogs may be prepared starting from a protected 10 - mer peptidyl - resin intermediate , fmoc removal and reaction of the resulting peptidyl - resin intermediate with the relevant isocyanate or carbamyl chloride . ( e ) general procedure for the synthesis of n - sulfonamides of 11 - mer peptide analogs the synthesis of n - sulfonamides of 1 ′- mer peptide analogs may be started from the protected 11 - mer peptidyl - resin intermediate ( 1 ) ( 0 . 025 mmol ), prepared as described herein . the fmoc group is removed using the procedure described herein , and the resulting resin intermediate 2 is allowed to react with the relevant sulfonyl chloride . similarly , n - sulfonamides of 10 - mer peptide analogs may be prepared starting from a protected 10 - mer peptidyl - resin intermediate , fmoc removal and reaction of the resulting peptidyl - resin intermediate with the relevant sulfonyl chloride . ( f ) general procedure for the synthesis of n - sulfonylurea derivatives of 11 - mer peptide analogs the synthesis of n - sulfonylurea derivatives of 11 - mer peptide analogs may be started from the protected 11 - mer peptidyl - resin intermediate ( 1 ) ( 0 . 025 mmol ), prepared as described herein . the fmoc group is removed using the procedure described herein , and the resulting resin intermediate 2 is allowed to react with the relevant sulfamoyl chloride r 4 r 5 n — so 2 — cl to yield a sulfonyl urea intermediate ( see , for example , davern , p . et al ., j . chem . soc ., perkin trans ., 2 ( 2 ): 381 - 387 ( 1994 )). similarly , n - sulfonyl urea derivatives of 10 - mer peptide analogs may be prepared starting from a protected 10 - mer peptidyl - resin intermediate , fmoc removal and reaction of the resulting peptidyl - resin intermediate with the relevant sulfamoyl chloride r 4 r 5 n — so 2 — cl . the synthesis of n - arylalkyl amides of 10 - mer peptide analogs was started with a reductive alkylation reaction of a relevant arylalkylamine with an alkoxybenzaldehyde resin as in the following example . 2 -( 3 , 5 - dimethoxy - 4 - formylphenoxy ) ethoxymethyl polystyrene resin ( novabiochem , 1 . 12 mmol / gram , 0 . 025 mmol , 27 . 3 mg ) was washed with 1 % acetic acid in dcm ( 5 × 3 ml ). a solution of 2 -( 2 - pentafluorophenyl ) ethyl amine ( 0 . 125 mmol , 26 . 4 mg ) in dcm ( 3 ml ) was added to the resin . after 5 minutes , solid nabh ( oac ) 3 ( 0 . 125 mmol , 26 . 5 mg ,) was added and the reaction was vortexed for 16 hours . the resin was rinsed with dmf ( 5 × 3 ml ) and dcm ( 5 × 3 ml ). a solution of fmoc -[ bip ( 2 - et )]- oh ( 0 . 05 mmol , 25 . 3 mg ) and hoat ( 0 . 05 mmol , 6 . 81 mg ) in nmp ( 0 . 5 ml ) was added to the resin followed by dic ( 0 . 05 mmol , 7 . 82 μl ). the reaction was vortexed for 16 hrs . the resin was rinsed with nmp ( 5 × 3 ml ). the remaining sequence of the desired 10 - mer n - arylalkyl amide analog was then assembled as described in example 1 . solid phase synthesis of 11 - mer peptide analogs using an applied biosystems model 433a peptide synthesizer following is the general description for the solid phase synthesis of typical 11 - mer peptide analogs , using an upgraded applied biosystems model 433a peptide synthesizer . the upgraded hardware and software of the synthesizer enabled conductivity monitoring of the fmoc deprotection step with feedback control of coupling . the protocols allowed a range of synthesis scale from 0 . 05 to 1 . 0 mmol . the incorporation of the two non - natural c - terminal amino acid residues was described earlier in connection with simultaneous synthesis of 11 - mer analogs . such a fmoc - protected dipeptidyl resin was used in this abi synthesis . the fmoc - protected dipeptidyl - resin ( 0 . 1 mmol ) was placed into a vessel of appropriate size on the instrument , washed 6 times with nmp and deprotected using two treatments with 22 % piperidine / nmp ( 2 and 8 min . each ). one or two additional monitored deprotection steps were performed until the conditions of the monitoring option were satisfied (& lt ; 10 % difference between the last two conductivity - based deprotection peaks ). the total deprotection time was 10 - 12 min . the deprotected dipeptidyl - resin was washed 6 times with nmp and then coupled with the next amino acid . the procedure is illustrated by the example used in the next step . thus , fmoc - asp ( otbu )— oh was coupled next using the following method : fmoc - asp ( otbu )- oh ( 1 mmol , 10 eq .) was dissolved in 2 ml of nmp and activated by subsequent addition of 0 . 45 m hbtu / hobt in dmf ( 2 . 2 ml ) and 2 m diea / nmp ( 1 ml ). the solution of the activated fmoc - protected amino acid was then transferred to the reaction vessel and the coupling was allowed to proceed for 30 to 60 min ., depending on the feedback from the deprotection steps . the resin was then washed 6 times with nmp , and subjected to 8 additional deprotection / coupling cycles as described above in order to complete the assembly of the desired sequence . the fmoc - amino acids sequentially used were : fmoc - ser ( tbu )- oh , fmoc - thr ( tbu )- oh , fmoc - phe - oh , fmoc - thr ( tbu )- oh , fmoc - gly - oh , fmoc - glu ( otbu )- oh , fmoc - ala - oh and fmoc - his ( trt )- oh . finally , the fmoc group was removed with 22 % piperidine in nmp as described above , and the peptidyl - resin was washed 6 times with nmp and dcm , and dried in vacuo . alternatively , a modified coupling protocol was used in which the fmoc - protected amino acid ( 1 mmol ) was activated by subsequent addition of 0 . 5 m hoat in nmp ( 2 ml ) and 1 m dic / nmp ( 1 ml ), transferred to the reaction vessel and allowed to couple for 1 - 2 hrs . the desired peptide was cleaved / deprotected from its respective peptidyl - resin ( 0 . 141 g ) by treatment with a solution of tfa / water / tri - isopropylsilane ( 94 : 3 : 3 ) ( 2 . 5 ml ) for 2 hrs . the resin was filtered off , rinsed with tfa cleavage solution ( 0 . 5 ml ), and the combined tfa filtrates were dried in vacuo . the resulting solid was triturated and washed with diethyl ether , and finally dried , to yield 35 . 6 mg ( 58 %) of crude peptide product as a white solid . this was purified by preparative hplc as described herein . the gradient used was from 20 % to 75 % 0 . 1 % tfa / mecn in 0 . 1 % tfa / water over 15 min . the fraction containing a pure product was lyophilized , to yield 7 . 2 mg ( 20 % recovery ) of pure product . for those analogs wherein position - 10 and position - 11 residues were represented by substituted phenylalanine analogs , i . e ., biphenylalanine analogs ( bip - analogs ), their incorporation into the peptide chain was carried out in one of two approaches . in approach a , solid phase suzuki condensation was practiced to prepare the required modified phenylalanine residue in a manner suitable for carrying out subsequent solid phase peptide synthesis to obtain the target peptides . when the amino acid at position - 11 in the target peptide was represented by a modified phenylalanine residue , it was prepared as shown in scheme 3 . after removal of the boc α - amine protecting group , chain elongation was continued using multiple peptide synthesis as described in the previous section to obtain the desired 11 - mer peptides or its derivatives thereof . when the modified phenylalanine analog was in position - 10 of the target peptides , the required amino acid was prepared using a suitable dipeptide resin as shown in scheme 4 . the resulting dipeptidyl resin containing the required modified phenylalanine derivative was then used to carry out the synthesis of the target 11 - mer peptide or its derivatives thereof . when both position - 10 and position - 11 required novel biphenylalanine residues , two sequential solid phase suzuki reactions were carried out as shown in scheme 5 . polystyrene ( 1 % dvb crosslinked ) resins ( 50 mg , 0 . 025 mmole ) derivatized with an nα - boc - 4 - iodophenylalanine residue either attached directly via a knorr linkage ( boc - amino acid - resin ) or via an amino acid - knorr linkage ( boc - dipeptide - resin ) were weighed into 13 × 100 mm glass culture tubes with screw caps . aryl - boronic acids ( 0 . 5 mmole ) were dissolved in 0 . 75 ml of 25 % by volume diisopropylethylamine in n - methylpyrrolidinone and added to the resins followed by 0 . 05 ml of an n - methylpyrrolidinone solution containing 1 . 0 mg of tetrakis ( triphenylphosphine ) palladium ( 0 ) catalyst ( ca . 3 . 5 mole %). the resulting mixtures were blanketed with a stream of nitrogen and the reaction vessels tightly capped and maintained at 85 - 90 ° c . for 17 - 20 hours with periodic shaking . the resins were washed with 5 × 1 ml of n - methylpyrrolidinone and 5 × 1 ml of dichloromethane prior to boc group cleavage ( see general procedure below ). the reactions were performed as in general procedure a except a different catalyst was employed . the catalyst solution was prepared by dissolving 9 . 0 mg of palladium ( ii ) acetate and 56 mg of 2 -( dicyclohexylphosphino ) biphenyl in 2 . 0 ml of n - methylpyrrolidinone . for 0 . 025 mmole scale reactions , 0 . 038 ml ( ca . 3 mole %) of catalyst solution was employed . method a : the boc - protected resins prepared as described in general procedures a or b were treated with 0 . 5 ml of reagent solution consisting of trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate , 2 , 6 - lutidine and dichloromethane ( 1 : 1 : 3 by volume ). after 3 such reagent treatments for 1 hour each with shaking , the resins were washed with 4 × 1 ml of dichloromethane , 3 × 1 ml of n , n - dimethylformamide , 3 × 1 ml of 20 % meoh in n , n - dimethylformamide and 4 × 1 ml dichloromethane prior to transfer to the automated peptide synthesizer . method b : the boc - protected resins prepared as described in general procedures a or b were treated with 1 . 0 ml of 1n hcl in anhydrous 1 , 4 - dioxane for 1 hour at room temperature with shaking . the resins were washed with 4 × 1 ml of dichloromethane , 3 × 1 ml of 5 % diisopropylethylamine in dichloromethane ( vol : vol ), 3 × 1 ml of dichloromethane , and 5 × 1 ml of n - methylpyrrolidinone to provide the free amino - resins ready for the next acylation ( coupling reaction ) step . general procedure for preparation of a resin containing a modified biphenylalanine residue at position - 10 the general procedures described above ( a or b ) for suzuki coupling were utilized to obtain the required dipeptidyl resin containing modified phe at position - 10 starting with the amino acid ( at position - 11 ) bound resin as shown in scheme 4 . general procedure for preparation of resin containing biphenylalanine residues at both positions 10 and 11 utilizing the procedures described for position 11 modified analogs ( scheme 1 ) and carrying out the suzuki coupling procedure two successive times produced dipeptidyl resins containing modified phenylalanine residues at both positions - 10 and - 11 as illustrated in scheme 5 . approach b : synthesis of fmoc - biphenylalanine derivatives using suzuki condensation in solution using this method , exemplified by the synthesis of fmoc - 2 - methyl - biphenylalanine , several n - α - fmoc protected biphenylalanine derivatives were prepared . they were utilized for the solid phase synthesis of 11 - mers and other peptide analogs as described herein . boc - l - tyrosine - o - triflate : to a solution of 37 g ( 126 mmol of boc - tyrosine methyl ester , and 25 . 4 ml ( 314 mmol , 2 . 5 eq .) of pyridine in 114 ml of dry dichloromethane , kept at − 15 ° c . under n 2 , was added slowly 25 . 4 ml ( 151 mmol , 1 . 2 eq .) of triflic anhydride . the solution was stirred at − 15 ° c . for 15 min . hplc analysis indicated that the reaction was complete . the reaction was quenched by addition of 150 ml of water . the layers were separated , and the organic layer washed with 2 × 150 ml of 0 . 5 m naoh , and 2 × 150 ml of 15 % citric acid solution . the organic layer was dried over magnesium sulfate , filtered concentrated and dried in vacuo to give the crude product as a red oil . ( crude yield varied between 90 % to quantitative ). boc -( 2 - me ) biphenylalanine methyl ester : the above red oil was dissolved in 70 ml of toluene , and added to a degassed suspension containing 19 . 0 g ( 140 mmol , 1 . 2 eq .) of o - tolylboronic acid , 24 . 1 g ( 175 mmol , 1 . 5 eq .) of potassium carbonate , and 4 . 6 g ( 4 . 0 mol , 0 . 034 eq .) of tetrakis ( triphenylphosphine ) palladium ( 0 ) in 580 ml of toluene preheated at 80 ° c . the mixture was heated at 80 ° c . under n 2 for 3 h , cooled to room temperature , and then filtered through celite ®. the reaction mixture was washed with 2 × 150 ml of 0 . 5 % of naoh , and 2 × 150 ml of 15 % citric acid solution , dried over magnesium sulfate and concentrated . the crude mixture thus obtained was purified by silica gel chromatography using ethyl acetate / heptane ( 1 : 9 ) as eluant , [ crude mixture was preabsorbed on silica gel ( 2 g silica gel / g crude mixture ), 1 : 35 :: mixture : silica gel used for the column ], yield varied from 50 to 80 %. boc -( 2 - me ) biphenylalanine : to a solution of 44 . 5 g ( 120 mmol ) of boc -( 2 - me ) biphenylalanine methyl ester in 147 ml of methanol and 442 ml of tetrahydrofuran , kept at room temperature , was added 147 . 4 ml of 1 n naoh ( 147 mmol , 1 . 2 eq .). hplc analysis indicated that the reaction was complete after 1 h . the reaction mixture was concentrated and partitioned between 500 ml of water and 300 ml of ether . the ethereal solution was discarded . aqueous layer was acidified with 160 ml of 1 n hcl solution , and then extracted with 2 × 250 ml of ethyl ether . the ethereal solutions were combined , and dried over magnesium sulfate . after filtration , concentration and drying 41 . 5 g of product was obtained . fmoc -( 2 - me ) biphenylalanine : to a solution of 41 . 5 g ( 117 mmol ) of boc -( 2 - me ) biphenylalanine in 1 l of dichloromethane , kept at room temperature , was bubbled in gaseous hcl . a white solid started to precipitate in approximately 5 min . hplc taken after 2 hours showed that the reaction was complete . the mixture was concentrated . the residue was redissolved in 600 ml of tetrahydrofuran and 150 ml of water , and solid nahco 3 was added slowly until the ph of the mixture was basic ( a white solid precipitated out ), followed by addition of 38 . 9 g ( 115 mmol , 1 eq .) of fmoc - osu . the mixture was then stirred at room temperature . a homogeneous biphasic solution was obtained within 1 h . the stirring was continued at room temperature under n 2 overnight . the layers were separated . the tetrahydrofuran layer was acidified with 58 ml 2 n hcl , and then diluted with 400 ml of ethyl acetate . the layers were separated , and the organic layer washed with 2 × 100 ml of water , dried over magnesium sulfate , and concentrated . the crude product was purified using silica gel column chromatography using dichloromethane as eluant until most of the impurities had been removed . the solvent was then changed to 25 % ethyl acetate in heptane containing 1 % acetic acid , [ approximately 23 g silica gel / g crude mixture used for the column ]. the yield was & gt ; 90 % for the three steps . synthesis of various biphenyl alanine derivatives were carried out using the above described procedure , starting with the commercially available phenol derivative ( e . g ., boc - tyrosine methyl ester ) to prepare the triflate and using the appropriate boronic acid to prepare the biphenylalanine analogs . when a required botanic acid was not available from commercial sources the synthesis of this intermediate was carried out as exemplified in the following example . 2 - ethylphenyl boronic acid : to a solution of 25 g ( 135 mmol ) of 1 - bromo - 2 - ethylbenzene in 280 ml of dry tetrahydrofuran , kept at − 78 ° c . in an oven - dried 3 neck flask , was added slowly ( keeping the temperature below − 68 ° c .) 67 . 5 ml of 2 . 5n n - butyl lithium in hexanes solution ( 169 mmol , 1 . 25 eq .). the reaction was stirred for an additional 1 h , and then 69 ml ( 405 mmol , 3 eq .) of triethylborate was added slowly , keeping the temperature below − 68 ° c . the reaction was stirred for an additional 40 minutes and then the dry ice bath was removed , the reaction was allowed to warm up to room temperature , and then was poured into 300 ml of ice cold saturated ammonium chloride solution . 200 ml of ice cold ethyl acetate was added , and the mixture stirred for another 30 min . the layers were separated . the organic layer was washed with water , and brine . it was then dried over magnesium sulfate , and concentrated to give 19 g ( 92 % yield ) of product . the boronic acid was used without purification in the next step . synthesis of fmoc - protected biphenylalanine analogs with substitution in the internal phenyl ring synthesis of the fmoc - protected biphenylalanine analogs with substitution in the phenyl ring directly attached to the β - carbon ( internal ring ) of the amino acid moiety was carried as depicted in the following scheme 7 . as a general method , initially a suitably protected tyrosine derivative was prepared by reaction of boc - β - iodo alanine with the required 4 - iodophenol derivative using a zinc mediated condensation . the product from this reaction was subjected to suzuki condensation reaction as described herein , to afford the required fmoc - protected biphenylalanine analogs with substitution in the phenyl ring directly attached to the β - carbon ( internal ring ) of the amino acid moiety . synthesis of a specific example , fmoc - 2 ′- methyl - 2 - methyl - biphenylalnine is given below . boc - 2 ′- methyl - tyrosine benzyl ether methyl ester : 2 . 2 g ( 33 mmol ) of oven - dried zinc dust was placed in an oven dried flask under nitrogen . 5 . 2 ml of dry tetrahydrofuran , and 140 μl ( 1 . 6 mmol ) of 1 , 2 - dibromoethane were added , and the mixture warmed briefly with a heat gun until the solvent began to boil , and then stirred vigorously for a few minutes . this procedure was repeated five times , and then the reaction mixture was cooled to 35 ° c . 40 μl ( 0 . 32 mmol ) of chlorotrimethylsilane was added , and the mixture stirred vigorously at 35 ° c . for 30 min . a solution of 3 ml of 1 . 04 g ( 3 . 17 mmol ) of boc - iodoalanine methyl ester in 1 : 1 tetrahydrofuran : dimethylacetamide was added slowly , and the reaction mixture stirred at 35 ° c . for 30 min . a solution of 3 ml of 1 : 1 tetrahydrofuran : dimethylacetamide containing 819 mg ( 2 . 5 mmol ) of 4 - iodo - 2 - methyl - 1 - benzyloxybenzene was added slowly , followed by 338 mg ( 1 . 11 mmol ) of tri - o - tolylphosphine , and 288 mg ( 0 . 31 mmol ) of pd 2 ( dba ) 3 . the reaction mixture was degassed , and then stirred at 60 ° c . for 4 h . the reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature , diluted with ethyl acetate , and filtered through celite ®. the filtrate was washed with 2 × 25 ml of 1n hcl , dried over magnesium sulfate , filtered and concentrated . the product was purified by silica gel chromatography ( 72 % yield ). boc - 2 ′- methyl - tyrosine methyl ester : a suspension of 7 . 5 g ( 18 . 7 mmol ) of the above compound ( boc - 2 ′- methyl - tyrosine benzyl ether methyl ester ) in 30 ml of tetrahydrofuran , and 2 . 25 g 10 % degussa type 10 % palladium on carbon was stirred under hydrogen atmosphere at room temperature and atmospheric pressure for 2 days . the reaction mixture was then filtered through celite ®, and concentrated . the product was purified by silica gel chromatography ( 74 % yield ). fmoc - 2 ′- methyl - 2 - methyl - biphenyl alanine : this compound was prepared using the suzuki condensation procedure described herein , using boc - 2 ′- methyl - tyrosine methyl ester as the starting material . the product obtained in the above suzuki condensation reaction , after removal of the boc - group and reprotection with fmoc - group using conditions described herein afforded the desired product . utilizing the synthetic methods described herein the following glp - 1 mimic peptides were prepared . the peptide sequences listed below contain a free amino group at the n - terminus and a carboxamide at the c - terminus . the amino acids shown in tables i - iv are contiguous . * all of the compounds in table iii were prepared as c - terminal carboxamides . * all of the compounds in table iv were prepared as c - terminal carboxamides , except for those compounds marked by an asterisk , which are carboxylic acids . synthesis and testing of a peptide corresponding to the “ message ” sequence of glp - 1 and of the same peptide to which an “ address ” biphenylalanine dipeptide unit is attached at the c - terminus . the peptide corresponding to the n - terminal 1 - 9 sequence of glp - 1 , his - ala - glu - gly - thr - phe - thr - ser - asp - nh 2 , which in this invention is referred to as the “ message ” sequence of glp - 1 , and the glp - 1 11 - mer peptide analog his - ala - glu - gly - thr - phe - thr - ser - asp - bip - bip - nh2 , which is comprised of the message sequence of glp - 1 and of a c - terminal biphenylalanine dipeptide unit , were prepared using the methods described herein and tested in the camp cell - based assay describe in example 13 . the glp - 1 11 - mer peptide analog stimulated camp production in a dose - response mariner corresponding to an ec 50 value of 1 . 1 micromolar , determined as in example 13 . in the same assay , the ec 50 value determined for the peptide corresponding to the “ message ” sequence of glp - 1 was greater than 1 millimolar . the ec 50 value for glp - 1 , used in the assay as a positive control , was less than 0 . 100 nanomolar . the glp - 1 receptor is a g - protein coupled receptor . glp - 1 ( 7 - 36 )- amide , the biologically active form , binds to the glp - 1 receptor and through signal transduction causes activation of adenylate cyclase and raises intracellular camp levels . to monitor agonism of peptide compounds in stimulating the glp - 1 receptor , adenyl cyclase activity was monitored by assaying for cellular camp levels . full - length human glucagon - like peptide 1 receptor was stably expressed in cho - k1 cells . the clones were screened for best expression of glp - 1r and cho - glp1r - 19 was selected . cells were cultured in ham &# 39 ; s f12 nutritional media ( gibco # 11765 - 054 ), 10 % fbs , 1 × l - glutamine , 1 × pen / strep , and 0 . 4 mg / ml g418 . cho - glp - 1r - 19 cells ( 2 , 500 in 100 μl of media ) were plated into each well of a 96 - well tissue culture microtiter plate and incubated in 5 % co 2 atmosphere at 37 ° c ., for 72 h . on the day of the assay , cells were washed once with 100 μl of pbs . to cells in each well , 10 μl of compound and 90 μl of reaction media ( phenol red free dmem media with low glucose ( gibco # 11054 - 020 ), 0 . 1 % bsa ( sigma # a7284 ), 0 . 3 mm ibmx ( 3 - isobutyl - 1 methylxanthine , sigma # i5879 ) were added and incubated at 37 ° c . for 1 h . the compounds were initially screened at 1 μm and 10 μm for stimulation of camp . dose dependence for compounds showing 50 % of maximal glp - 1 ( at 100 nm ) activity was determined at half - log concentrations in duplicate . after incubation , medium was removed and cells were washed once with 100 μl of pbs . fifty μl of lysis reagent - 1 from the cyclic amp spa kit ( amersham pharmacia biotech , rpa 559 ; reagents were reconstituted according to the kit instructions ) was added into each well . the plate was shaken at room temperature for 15 min . twenty μl of lysate was transferred into each well of a 96 - well optiplate ( packard # 6005190 ) and 60 μl of spa immunoreagent from the kit was added . after incubation at room temperature for 15 - 18 h , plates were counted 2 min each / well in a topcount ® nxt ( packard ). in each 96 - well plate , glp - 1 ( control ), and five compounds ( in duplicate ) were run at seven half - log doses . ten nm glp - 1 was plated into ten additional wells to serve as a reference standard for determination of maximal activity . the data obtained was processed in excel - fit database . from a cyclic amp standard curve , the amounts of released camp were determined and the % maximal activity was calculated and plotted against log compound concentration . the data was analyzed by nonlinear regression curve fit ( sigmoidal dose ) to determine the ec 50 of the compounds . the in - vivo glucose lowering properties for four representative 11 - mer peptides , compound a , compound b , compound c and compound d in a rat model is described below . continuous intravenous infusion of compound a and compound b significantly attenuated the postprandial glucose excursion curve in subcutaneous glucose tolerance test ( scgtt ) ( see fig1 and fig2 ). in addition , these two 11 - mer peptides administered by subcutaneous injection also produced a significant glucose lowering effect in this model ( see fig3 and fig4 ). a clear dose - response relationship was observed following both continuous intravenous infusion and subcutaneous bolus injection of the analogs for their glucose lowering effects . the significant glucose lowering effect for compound a and compound b was observed at 12 and 120 pmol / kg / min , respectively , when the compound was administered by continuous infusion . for the subcutaneous administration , the maximum effective doses for compound a and compound b were about 2 and 20 nmol / kg , respectively . for compounds c and d , studies using subcutaneous injection in a rat intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test ( ipgtt ) model showed that significant glucose excursion attenuation could be achieved for both compounds in a dose - related fashion ( see fig5 and fig6 ). fig7 shows the effects of native glp - 1 in this model . the present invention provides novel glp peptide mimics , with a preference for mimicking glp - 1 , such that the compounds of the present invention have agonist activity for the glp - 1 receptor . further , the glp peptide mimics of the present invention exhibit increased stability to proteolytic cleavage as compared to glp - 1 native sequences . accordingly , the compounds of the present invention can be administered to mammals , preferably humans , for the treatment of a variety of conditions and disorders , including , but not limited to , treating or delaying the progression or onset of diabetes ( preferably type ii , impaired glucose tolerance , insulin resistance , and diabetic complications , such as nephropathy , retinopathy , neuropathy and cataracts ), hyperglycemia , hyperinsulinemia , hypercholesterolemia , elevated blood levels of free fatty acids or glycerol , hyperlipidemia , hypertriglyceridemia , obesity , wound healing , tissue ischemia , atherosclerosis , hypertension , aids , intestinal diseases ( such as necrotizing enteritis , microvillus inclusion disease or celiac disease ), inflammatory bowel syndrome , chemotherapy - induced intestinal mucosal atrophy or injury , anorexia nervosa , osteoporosis , dysmetabolic syndrome , as well as inflammatory bowel disease ( such as crohn &# 39 ; s disease and ulcerative colitis ). the compounds of the present invention may also be utilized to increase the blood levels of high density lipoprotein ( hdl ). in addition , the conditions , diseases , and maladies collectively referenced to as “ syndrome x ” or metabolic syndrome as detailed in johansson , j ., clin . endocrinol . metab ., 82 : 727 - 734 ( 1997 ), may be treated employing the compounds of the invention . the present invention includes within its scope pharmaceutical compositions comprising , as an active ingredient , a therapeutically effective amount of at least one of the compounds of formula i , alone or in combination with a pharmaceutical carrier or diluent . optionally , compounds of the present invention can be used alone , in combination with other compounds of the invention , or in combination with one or more other therapeutic agent ( s ), e . g ., an antidiabetic agent or other pharmaceutically active material . the compounds of the present invention may be employed in combination with other glp - 1 peptide mimics or other suitable therapeutic agents useful in the treatment of the aforementioned disorders including : anti - diabetic agents ; anti - hyperglycemic agents ; hypolipidemic / lipid lowering agents ; anti - obesity agents ( including appetite suppressants / modulators ) and anti - hypertensive agents . in addition , the compounds of the present invention may be combined with one or more of the following therapeutic agents ; infertility agents , agents for treating polycystic ovary syndrome , agents for treating growth disorders , agents for treating frailty , agents for treating arthritis , agents for preventing allograft rejection in transplantation , agents for treating autoimmune diseases , anti - aids agents , anti - osteoporosis agents , agents for treating immunomodulatory diseases , antithrombotic agents , agents for the treatment of cardiovascular disease , antibiotic agents , anti - psychotic agents , agents for treating chronic inflammatory bowel disease or syndrome and / or agents for treating anorexia nervosa . examples of suitable anti - diabetic agents for use in combination with the compounds of the present invention include biguanides ( e . g ., metformin or phenformin ), glucosidase inhibitors ( e . g ., acarbose or miglitol ), insulins ( including insulin secretagogues or insulin sensitizers ), meglitinides ( e . g ., repaglinide ), sulfonylureas ( e . g ., glimepiride , glyburide , gliclazide , chlorpropamide and glipizide ), biguanide / glyburide combinations ( e . g ., glucovance ®), thiazolidinediones ( e . g ., troglitazone , rosiglitazone and pioglitazone ), ppar - alpha agonists , ppar - gamma agonists , ppar alpha / gamma dual agonists , glycogen phosphorylase inhibitors , inhibitors of fatty acid binding protein ( ap2 ), dpp - iv inhibitors , and sglt2 inhibitors . other suitable thiazolidinediones include mitsubishi &# 39 ; s mcc - 555 ( disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 594 , 016 ), glaxo - wellcome &# 39 ; s gl - 262570 , englitazone ( cp - 68722 , pfizer ) or darglitazone ( cp - 86325 , pfizer , isaglitazone ( mit / j & amp ; j ), jtt - 501 ( jpnt / p & amp ; u ), l - 895645 ( merck ), r - 119702 ( sankyo / wl ), n , n - 2344 ( dr . reddy / nn ), or ym - 440 ( yamanouchi ). suitable ppar alpha / gamma dual agonists include ar - ho39242 ( astra / zeneca ), gw - 409544 ( glaxo - wellcome ), krp297 ( kyorin merck ) as well as those disclosed by murakami et al ., “ a novel insulin sensitizer acts as a coligand for peroxisome proliferation — activated receptor alpha ( ppar alpha ) and ppar gamma . effect on ppar alpha activation on abnormal lipid metabolism in liver of zucker fatty rats ”, diabetes , 47 : 1841 - 1847 ( 1998 ), and in u . s . application ser . no . 09 / 644 , 598 , filed sep . 18 , 2000 , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference , employing dosages as set out therein , which compounds designated as preferred are preferred for use herein . suitable ap2 inhibitors include those disclosed in u . s . application ser . no . 09 / 391 , 053 , filed sep . 7 , 1999 , and in u . s . application ser . no . 09 / 519 , 079 , filed mar . 6 , 2000 , employing dosages as set out herein . suitable dpp4 inhibitors that may be used in combination with the compounds of the invention include those disclosed in wo 99 / 38501 , wo 99 / 46272 , wo 99 / 67279 ( probiodrug ), wo 99 / 67278 ( probiodrug ), wo 99 / 61431 ( probiodrug ), nvp - dpp728a ( 1 -[[[ 2 -[( 5 - cyanopyridin - 2 - yl ) amino ] ethyl ] amino ] acetyl ]- 2 - cyano -( s )- pyrrolidine ) ( novartis ) as disclosed by hughes et al ., biochemistry , 38 ( 36 ): 11597 - 11603 ( 1999 ), tsl - 225 ( tryptophyl - 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 - tetrahydroisoquinoline - 3 - carboxylic acid ( disclosed by yamada et al ., bioorg . & amp ; med . chem . lett ., 8 : 1537 - 1540 ( 1998 ), 2 - cyanopyrrolidides and 4 - cyanopyrrolidides , as disclosed by ashworth et al ., bioorg . & amp ; med . chem . lett ., 6 ( 22 ): 1163 - 1166 and 2745 - 2748 ( 1996 ) employing dosages as set out in the above references . examples of other suitable glucagon - like peptide - 1 ( glp - 1 ) compounds that may be used in combination with the glp - 1 mimics of the present invention include glp - 1 ( 1 - 36 ) amide , glp - 1 ( 7 - 36 ) amide , glp - 1 ( 7 - 37 ) ( as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 614 , 492 to habener ), as well as ac2993 ( amylin ), ly - 315902 ( lilly ) and nn - 2211 ( novonordisk ). examples of suitable hypolipidemic / lipid lowering agents for use in combination with the compounds of the present invention include one or more mtp inhibitors , hmg coa reductase inhibitors , squalene synthetase inhibitors , fibric acid derivatives , acat inhibitors , lipoxygenase inhibitors , cholesterol absorption inhibitors , ileal na + / bile acid cotransporter inhibitors , upregulators of ldl receptor activity , bile acid sequestrants , cholesterol ester transfer protein inhibitors ( e . g ., cp - 529414 ( pfizer )) and / or nicotinic acid and derivatives thereof . mtp inhibitors which may be employed as described above include those disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 595 , 872 , 5 , 739 , 135 , 5 , 712 , 279 , 5 , 760 , 246 , 5 , 827 , 875 , 5 , 885 , 983 and 5 , 962 , 440 . the hmg coa reductase inhibitors which may be employed in combination with one or more compounds of formula i include mevastatin and related compounds , as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 983 , 140 , lovastatin ( mevinolin ) and related compounds , as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 231 , 938 , pravastatin and related compounds , such as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 346 , 227 , simvastatin and related compounds , as disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 448 , 784 and 4 , 450 , 171 . other hmg coa reductase inhibitors which may be employed herein include , but are not limited to , fluvastatin , disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 354 , 772 , cerivastatin , as disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 006 , 530 and 5 , 177 , 080 , atorvastatin , as disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 681 , 893 , 5 , 273 , 995 , 5 , 385 , 929 and 5 , 686 , 104 , atavastatin ( nissan / sankyo &# 39 ; s nisvastatin ( nk - 104 )), as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 011 , 930 , visastatin ( shionogi - astra / zeneca ( zd - 4522 )), as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 260 , 440 , and related statin compounds disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 753 , 675 , pyrazole analogs of mevalonolactone derivatives , as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 613 , 610 , indene analogs of mevalonolactone derivatives , as disclosed in pct application wo 86 / 03488 , 6 -[ 2 -( substituted - pyrrol - 1 - yl )- alkyl ) pyran - 2 - ones and derivatives thereof , as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 647 , 576 , searle &# 39 ; s sc - 45355 ( a 3 - substituted pentanedioic acid derivative ) dichloroacetate , imidazole analogs of mevalonolactone , as disclosed in pct application wo 86 / 07054 , 3 - carboxy - 2 - hydroxy - propane - phosphonic acid derivatives , as disclosed in french patent no . 2 , 596 , 393 , 2 , 3 - disubstituted pyrrole , furan and thiophene derivatives , as disclosed in european patent application no . 0221025 , naphthyl analogs of mevalonolactone , as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 686 , 237 , octahydronaphthalenes , such as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 499 , 289 , keto analogs of mevinolin ( lovastatin ), as disclosed in european patent application no . 0142146 a2 , and quinoline and pyridine derivatives , as disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 506 , 219 and 5 , 691 , 322 . preferred hypolipidemic agents are pravastatin , lovastatin , simvastatin , atorvastatin , fluvastatin , cerivastatin , atavastatin and zd - 4522 . in addition , phosphinic acid compounds useful in inhibiting hmg coa reductase , such as those disclosed in gb 2205837 , are suitable for use in combination with the compounds of the present invention . the squalene synthetase inhibitors suitable for use herein include , but are not limited to , α - phosphono - sulfonates disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 712 , 396 , those disclosed by biller et al ., j . med . chem ., 31 ( 10 ): 1869 - 1871 ( 1988 ), including isoprenoid ( phosphinyl - methyl ) phosphonates , as well as other known squalene synthetase inhibitors , for example , as disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 871 , 721 and 4 , 924 , 024 and in biller , s . a ., et al ., current pharmaceutical design , 2 : 1 - 40 ( 1996 ). in addition , other squalene synthetase inhibitors suitable for use herein include the terpenoid pyrophosphates disclosed by ortiz de montellano , p . et al ., j . med . chem ., 20 : 243 - 249 ( 1977 ), the farnesyl diphosphate analog a and presqualene pyrophosphate ( psq - pp ) analogs as disclosed by corey et al ., j . am . chem . soc ., 98 : 1291 - 1293 ( 1976 ), phosphinylphosphonates reported by mcclard , r . w . et al ., j . a . c . s ., 109 : 5544 ( 1987 ) and cyclopropanes reported by capson , t . l ., ph . d ., dissertation , dept . med . chem ., univ . utah , abstract , table of contents , pp . 16 , 17 , 40 - 43 , 48 - 51 , summary ( june 1987 ). the fibric acid derivatives which may be employed in combination with one or more compounds of formula i include fenofibrate , gemfibrozil , clofibrate , bezafibrate , ciprofibrate , clinofibrate and the like , probucol , and related compounds , as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 674 , 836 , probucol and gemfibrozil being preferred , bile acid sequestrants , such as cholestyramine , colestipol and deae - sephadex ® ( secholex ®, policexide ), as well as lipostabil ® ( rhone - poulenc ), eisai ® e - 5050 ( an n - substituted ethanolamine derivative ), imanixil ( hoe - 402 ), tetrahydrolipstatin ( thl ), istigmastanylphos - phorylcholine ( spc , roche ), aminocyclodextrin ( tanabe seiyoku ), ajinomoto aj - 814 ( azulene derivative ), melinamide ( sumitomo ), sandoz 58 - 035 , american cyanamid cl - 277 , 082 and cl - 283 , 546 ( disubstituted urea derivatives ), nicotinic acid , acipimox , acifran , neomycin , p - aminosalicylic acid , aspirin , poly ( diallylmethylamine ) derivatives , such as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 759 , 923 , quaternary amine poly ( diallyldimethylammonium chloride ) and ionenes , such as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 027 , 009 , and other known serum cholesterol lowering agents . the acat inhibitor which may be employed in combination with one or more compounds of formula i include those disclosed in drugs of the future , 24 : 9 - 15 ( 1999 ), ( avasimibe ); nicolosi et al ., “ the acat inhibitor , ci - 1011 is effective in the prevention and regression of aortic fatty streak area in hamsters ”, atherosclerosis ( shannon , irel . ), 137 ( 1 ): 77 - 85 ( 1998 ); ghiselli , g ., “ the pharmacological profile of fce 27677 : a novel acat inhibitor with potent hypolipidemic activity mediated by selective suppression of the hepatic secretion of apob100 - containing lipoprotein ”, cardiovasc . drug rev ., 16 ( 1 ): 16 - 30 ( 1998 ); smith , c . et al ., “ rp 73163 : a bioavailable alkylsulfinyl - diphenylimidazole acat inhibitor ”, bioorg . med . chem . lett ., 6 ( 1 ): 47 - 50 ( 1996 ); krause , b . r . et al ., chapter 6 : “ acat inhibitors : physiologic mechanisms for hypolipidemic and anti - atherosclerotic activities in experimental animals ”, inflammation : mediators and pathways , pp . 173 - 198 , crc press , inc ., publ ., ruffolo , jr ., r . r . et al ., eds . ( 1995 ); sliskovic et al ., “ acat inhibitors : potential anti - atherosclerotic agents ”, curr . med . chem ., 1 ( 3 ): 204 - 225 ( 1994 ); stout et al ., “ inhibitors of acyl - coa : cholesterol o - acyl transferase ( acat ) as hypocholesterolemic agents . 6 . the first water - soluble acat inhibitor with lipid - regulating activity . inhibitors of acyl - coa : cholesterol acyltransferase ( acat ). 7 . development of a series of substituted n - phenyl - n ′-[( 1 - phenylcyclopentyl ) methyl ] ureas with enhanced hypocholesterolemic activity ”, chemtracts : org . chem ., 8 ( 6 ): 359 - 362 ( 1995 ), or ts - 962 ( taisho pharmaceutical co . ltd ). the hypolipidemic agent may be an upregulator of ld2 receptor activity , such as md - 700 ( taisho pharmaceutical co . ltd ) and ly295427 ( eli lilly ). examples of suitable cholesterol absorption inhibitor for use in combination with the compounds of the invention include sch48461 ( schering - plough ), as well as those disclosed in atherosclerosis , 115 : 45 - 63 ( 1995 ) and j . med . chem ., 41 : 973 ( 1998 ). examples of suitable ileal na + / bile acid cotransporter inhibitors for use in combination with the compounds of the invention include compounds as disclosed in drugs of the future , 24 : 425 - 430 ( 1999 ). the lipoxygenase inhibitors which may be employed in combination with one or more compounds of formula i include 15 - lipoxygenase ( 15 - lo ) inhibitors , such as benzimidazole derivatives , as disclosed in wo 97 / 12615 , 15 - lo inhibitors , as disclosed in wo 97 / 12613 , isothiazolones , as disclosed in wo 96 / 38144 , and 15 - lo inhibitors , as disclosed by sendobry et al ., “ attenuation of diet - induced atherosclerosis in rabbits with a highly selective 15 - lipoxygenase inhibitor lacking significant antioxidant properties ”, brit . j . pharmacology , 120 : 1199 - 1206 ( 1997 ), and cornicelli et al ., “ 15 - lipoxygenase and its inhibition : a novel therapeutic target for vascular disease ”, current pharmaceutical design , 5 : 11 - 20 ( 1999 ). examples of suitable anti - hypertensive agents for use in combination with the compounds of the present invention include beta adrenergic blockers , calcium channel blockers ( l - type and t - type ; e . g ., diltiazem , verapamil , nifedipine , amlodipine and mybefradil ), diuretics ( e . g ., chlorothiazide , hydrochlorothiazide , flumethiazide , hydroflumethiazide , bendroflumethiazide , methylchlorothiazide , trichloromethiazide , polythiazide , benzthiazide , ethacrynic acid tricrynafen , chlorthalidone , furosemide , musolimine , bumetanide , triamtrenene , amiloride , spironolactone ), renin inhibitors , ace inhibitors ( e . g ., captopril , zofenopril , fosinopril , enalapril , ceranopril , cilazopril , delapril , pentopril , quinapril , ramipril , lisinopril ), at - 1 receptor antagonists ( e . g ., losartan , irbesartan , valsartan ), et receptor antagonists ( e . g ., sitaxsentan , atrsentan and compounds disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 612 , 359 and 6 , 043 , 265 ), dual et / aii antagonist ( e . g ., compounds disclosed in wo 00 / 01389 ), neutral endopeptidase ( nep ) inhibitors , vasopepsidase inhibitors ( dual nep - ace inhibitors ) ( e . g ., omapatrilat and gemopatrilat ), and nitrates . examples of suitable anti - obesity agents for use in combination with the compounds of the present invention include a npy receptor antagonist , a mch antagonist , a ghsr antagonist , a crh antagonist , a beta 3 adrenergic agonist , a lipase inhibitor , a serotonin ( and dopamine ) reuptake inhibitor , a thyroid receptor beta drug and / or an anorectic agent . the beta 3 adrenergic agonists which may be optionally employed in combination with compounds of the present invention include aj9677 ( takeda / dainippon ), l750355 ( merck ), or cp331648 ( pfizer ,) or other known beta 3 agonists , as disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 541 , 204 , 5 , 770 , 615 , 5 , 491 , 134 , 5 , 776 , 983 and 5 , 488 , 064 , with aj9677 , l750 , 355 and cp331648 being preferred . examples of lipase inhibitors which may be optionally employed in combination with compounds of the present invention include orlistat or atl - 962 ( alizyme ), with orlistat being preferred . the serotonin ( and dopoamine ) reuptake inhibitor which may be optionally employed in combination with a compound of formula i may be sibutramine , topiramate ( johnson & amp ; johnson ) or axokine ® ( regeneron ), with sibutramine and topiramate being preferred . examples of thyroid receptor beta compounds which may be optionally employed in combination with compounds of the present invention include thyroid receptor ligands , such as those disclosed in wo 97 / 21993 ( u . cal sf ), wo 99 / 00353 ( karobio ) and wo 00 / 039077 ( karobio ), with compounds of the karobio applications being preferred . the anorectic agent which may be optionally employed in combination with compounds of the present invention include dexamphetamine , phentermine , phenylpropanolamine or mazindol , with dexamphetamine being preferred . examples of suitable anti - psychotic agents include clozapine , haloperidol , olanzapine ( zyprexa ®), prozac ® and aripiprazole ( abilify ®). the aforementioned patents and patent applications are incorporated herein by reference . the above other therapeutic agents , when employed in combination with the compounds of the present invention may be used , for example , in those amounts indicated in the physicians &# 39 ; desk reference , as in the patents set out above or as otherwise determined by one of ordinary skill in the art . a suitable glp - 1 peptide mimic can be administered to patients to treat diabetes and other related diseases as the compound alone and or mixed with an acceptable carrier in the form of pharmaceutical formulations . those skilled in the art of treating diabetes can easily determine the dosage and route of administration of the compound to mammals , including humans , in need of such treatment . the route of administration may include but is not limited to oral , intraoral , rectal , transdermal , buccal , intranasal , pulmonary , subcutaneous , intramuscular , intradermal , sublingual , intracolonic , intraocular , intravenous , or intestinal administration . the compound is formulated according to the route of administration based on acceptable pharmacy practice ( fingl et al ., chapter 1 : “ the pharmacological basis of therapeutics ”, p . 1 ( 1975 ); remington &# 39 ; s pharmaceutical sciences , 18th edition , mack publishing co ., easton , pa . ( 1990 )). the pharmaceutically acceptable glp - 1 peptide mimic composition of the present invention can be administered in multiple dosage forms such as tablets , capsules ( each of which includes sustained release or timed release formulations ), pills , powders , granules , elixirs , in situ gels , microspheres , crystalline complexes , liposomes , micro - emulsions , tinctures , suspensions , syrups , aerosol sprays and emulsions . the composition of the present invention can also be administered in oral , intravenous ( bolus or infusion ), intraperitoneal , subcutaneous , transdermally or intramuscular form , all using dosage forms well known to those of ordinary skill in the pharmaceutical arts . the composition may be administered alone , but generally will be administered with a pharmaceutical carrier selected on the basis of the chosen route of administration and standard pharmaceutical practice . the dosage regimen for the composition of the present invention will , of course , vary depending upon known factors , such as the pharmacodynamic characteristics of the particular agent and its mode and route of administration ; the species , age , sex , health , medical condition , and weight of the recipient ; the nature and extent of the symptoms ; the kind of concurrent treatment ; the frequency of treatment ; the route of administration , the renal and hepatic function of the patient , and the effect desired . a physician or veterinarian can determine and prescribe the effective amount of the drug required to prevent , counter , or arrest the progress of the disease state . by way of general guidance , the daily oral dosage of the active ingredient , when used for the indicated effects , will range between about 0 . 001 to 1000 mg / kg of body weight , preferably between about 0 . 01 to 100 mg / kg of body weight per day , and most preferably between about 0 . 6 to 20 mg / kg / day . intravenously , the daily dosage of the active ingredient when used for the indicated effects will range between 0 . 001 ng to 100 . 0 ng per min / per kg of body weight during a constant rate infusion . such constant intravenous infusion can be preferably administered at a rate of 0 . 01 ng to 50 ng per min per kg body weight and most preferably at 0 . 1 ng to 10 . 0 mg per min per kg body weight . the composition of this invention may be administered in a single daily dose , or the total daily dosage may be administered in divided doses of two , three , or four times daily . the composition of this invention may also be administered by a depot formulation that will allow sustained release of the drug over a period of days / weeks / months as desired . the composition of this invention can be administered in intranasal form via topical use of suitable intranasal vehicles , or via transdermal routes , using transdermal skin patches . when administered in the form of a transdermal delivery system , the dosage administration will , of course , be continuous rather than intermittent throughout the dosage regimen . the composition is typically administered in a mixture with suitable pharmaceutical diluents , excipients , or carriers ( collectively referred to herein as pharmaceutical carriers ) suitably selected with respect to the intended form of administration , that is , oral tablets , capsules , elixirs , aerosol sprays generated with or without propallant and syrups , and consistent with conventional pharmaceutical practices . for instance , for oral administration in the form of a tablet or capsule , the active drug component can be combined with an oral , non - toxic , pharmaceutically acceptable , inert carrier such as but not limited to , lactose , starch , sucrose , glucose , methyl cellulose , magnesium stearate , dicalcium phosphate , calcium sulfate , mannitol , and sorbitol ; for oral administration in liquid form , the oral drug components can be combined with any oral , non - toxic , pharmaceutically acceptable inert carrier such as , but not limited to , ethanol , glycerol , and water . moreover , when desired or necessary , suitable binders , lubricants , disintegrating agents , and coloring agents can also be incorporated into the mixture . suitable binders include , but not limited to , starch , gelatin , natural sugars such as , but not limited to , glucose or beta - lactose , corn sweeteners , natural and synthetic gums such as acacia , tragacanth , or sodium alginate , carboxymethylcellulose , polyethylene glycol , and waxes . lubricants used in these dosage forms include sodium oleate , sodium stearate , magnesium stearate , sodium benzoate , sodium acetate , and sodium chloride . disintegrants include , but are not limited to , starch , methyl cellulose , agar , bentonite , and xanthan gum . the composition of the present invention may also be administered in the form of mixed micellar or liposome delivery systems , such as small unilamellar vesicles , large unilamellar vesicles , and multilamellar vesicles . liposomes can be formed from a variety of phospholipids , such as cholesterol , stearylamine , or phosphatidylcholines . permeation enhancers may be added to enhance drug absorption . since prodrugs are known to enhance numerous desirable qualities of pharmaceuticals ( i . e ., solubility , bioavailability , manufacturing , etc .) the compounds of the present invention may be delivered in prodrug form . thus , the present invention is intended to cover prodrugs of the presently claimed compounds , methods of delivering the same and compositions containing the same . the compositions of the present invention may also be coupled with soluble polymers as targetable drug carriers . such polymers can include polyvinyl - pyrrolidone , pyran copolymer , polyhydroxypropyl - methacrylamide - phenol , polyhydroxyethylaspartamidephenol , or polyethyleneoxide - polylysine substituted with palmitoyl residues . furthermore , the composition of the present invention may be combined with a class of biodegradable polymers useful in achieving controlled release of a drug , for example , polylactic acid , polyglycolic acid , copolymers of polylactic and polyglycolic acid , polyepsilon caprolactone , polyhydroxy butyric acid , polyorthoesters , polyacetals , polydihydropyrans , polycyanoacylates , and crosslinked or amphipathic block copolymers of hydrogels . dosage forms ( pharmaceutical compositions ) suitable for administration may contain from about 0 . 1 milligram to about 500 milligrams of active ingredient per dosage unit . in these pharmaceutical compositions the active ingredient will ordinarily be present in an amount of about 0 . 5 - 95 % by weight based on the total weight of the composition . gelatin capsules may contain the active ingredient and powdered carriers , such as lactose , starch , cellulose derivative , magnesium stearate , and stearic acid . similar diluents can be used to make compressed tablets . both tablets and capsules can be manufactured as sustained release products to provide for continuous release of medication over a period of hours . compressed tablets can be sugar coated or film coated to mask any unpleasant taste and protect the tablet from the atmosphere , or enteric coated for selective disintegration in the gastrointestinal tract . liquid dosage forms for oral administration can contain coloring and flavoring to increase patient acceptance . in general , water , a suitable oil , saline , aqueous dextrose ( glucose ), and related sugar solutions and glycols such as propylene glycol or polyethylene glycols are suitable carriers for parenteral solutions . solution for parenteral administration preferably contains a water - soluble salt of the active ingredient , suitable stabilizing agents , and if necessary , buffer substances . antioxidizing agents such as sodium bisulfite , sodium sulfite , or ascorbic acid , either alone or combined , are suitable stabilizing agents . also used are citric acid and its salts and sodium edta . in addition , parenteral solutions can contain preservatives , such as benzalkonium chloride , methyl - or propyl - paraben , and chlorobutanol . suitable pharmaceutical carriers are described in remington : the science and practice of pharmacy , 19th edition , mack publishing company ( 1995 ), a standard reference text in this field representative useful pharmaceutical dosage forms for administration of the compound of this invention can be illustrated as follows : a large number of unit capsules can be prepared by filling standard two - piece hard gelatin capsules with 100 milligrams of powdered active ingredient , 150 milligrams of lactose , 50 milligrams of cellulose , and 6 milligrams magnesium stearate . a mixture of active ingredient in a digestible oil such as soybean oil , cottonseed oil or olive oil may be prepared and injected by means of a positive displacement pump into gelatin to form soft gelatin capsules containing 100 milligrams of the active ingredient . the capsules should be washed and dried . tablets may be prepared by conventional procedures so that the dosage unit , for example is 100 milligrams of active ingredient , 0 . 2 milligrams of colloidal silicon dioxide , 5 milligrams of magnesium stearate , 275 milligrams of microcrystalline cellulose , 11 milligrams of starch and 98 . 8 milligrams of lactose . appropriate coatings may be applied to increase palatability or delay absorption . a parenteral composition suitable for administration by injection may be prepared by stirring for example , 1 . 5 % by weight of active ingredient in 10 % by volume propylene glycol and water . the solution should be made isotonic with sodium chloride and sterilized . an aqueous suspension can be prepared for oral and / or parenteral administration so that , for example , each 5 ml contains 100 mg of finely divided active ingredient , 20 mg of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose , 5 mg of sodium benzoate , 1 . 0 g of sorbitol solution , u . s . p ., and 0 . 025 ml of vanillin or other palatable flavoring . a sustained - release parenteral composition suitable for administration by injection may be prepared , for example , by dissolving a suitable biodegradable polymer in a solvent , adding to the polymer solution the active agent to be incorporated , and removing the solvent from the matrix thereby forming the matrix of the polymer with the active agent distributed throughout the matrix . obviously , numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings . it is therefore understood that within the scope of the appended claims , the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein . the present invention is not to be limited in scope by the specific embodiments described that are intended as single illustrations of individual aspects of the invention . functionally equivalent methods and components in addition to those shown and described herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description and accompanying drawings . such modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims .	0
reference is now made in detail to specific embodiments of the present invention which illustrate the best mode presently contemplated by the inventors for practicing the invention . as shown in fig5 and 7 , a die pad 50 has tie bars 52 , 54 extending therefrom , and has epoxied thereon a silicon chip or die 56 . the embodiment of fig5 - 7 includes barrier structures 58 , 60 , 62 , 64 , one of which is shown in detail in fig8 and 9 . the barrier structure 58 is of very thin material , for example , cu ( be ) foil , and includes a rectangular barrier body 66 defining a plurality of apertures 67 therethrough and protrusions 68 , 70 extending therefrom . the barrier structure 58 may be formed by a stamping process to define the rectangular overall configuration and to punch the plurality of apertures 67 through the barrier body 66 , and also to form the protrusions 68 , 70 extending from the barrier body 66 . the barrier structure 58 may alternatively be fabricated of , for example , alloy 42 ( 42 % ni + 58 % fe ), or copper alloy . again with reference to fig5 - 7 , the barrier body 66 of the barrier structure 58 is positioned on the die side of the die 56 — die pad 50 assembly , with the protrusions 68 , 70 of the barrier structure 58 being secured to the tie bars 52 , 54 by welding or glue . in such state , the barrier body 66 generally overlies and is spaced from the die 56 — die pad 50 assembly , so as to be spaced from the die 56 and wire bonding 72 , which connects the die 56 to leads 73 . the barrier body 74 of the barrier structure 62 ( similar in configuration to barrier structure 58 ) is positioned on the die pad side of the die 58 — die pad 50 assembly , with the protrusions 78 , 80 of the barrier structure 62 likewise being secured to the tie bars 52 , 54 by welding or glue . the barrier body 74 generally overlies and is spaced from the die 56 — die pad 50 assembly , so as to be spaced from the die pad 50 . additional barrier structure 60 overlies the barrier structure 58 , and is spaced therefrom with the barrier body 66 of the barrier structure 58 positioned between the barrier body 82 of the barrier structure 60 and the die 58 — die pad 50 assembly . this barrier structure 60 includes protrusions 84 , 86 which are longer than the protrusions 68 , 70 of the barrier structure 58 , and is dimension so that the protrusions 84 , 86 lie outward of the ends of the barrier structure 58 . these protrusions 84 , 86 of the barrier structure 60 are also welded or glued to the tie bars 52 , 54 . a similar structure 64 is provided on the die pad 50 side of the die 58 — die pad 50 assembly . that is , additional barrier structure 64 has its body 88 overlying and spaced from the body 74 of the barrier structure 62 , and has protrusions 90 , 92 secured to the tie bars 52 , 54 . as will be seen from figures , the apertures 67 in the barrier body 66 are non - aligned with the apertures 94 in the barrier body 82 , i . e ., they are in staggered relationship . similarly , the apertures 96 in the barrier body 74 are non - aligned with the apertures 98 in the barrier body 88 . as shown in fig1 , as moisture 99 flows through the packaging material 100 and toward the barrier body 82 , this moisture 99 is blocked to a substantial extent by the barrier body 82 from passing into the area between the barrier bodies 82 , 66 . however , the moisture 99 which does pass through the apertures 94 of the barrier body 82 , it will be seen , diffuses downwardly and outwardly as shown . thus , a very limited amount of moisture passes through the apertures 94 of the barrier body 82 , from which it is spread and diffused . it is only this very limited amount of moisture which may reach the barrier body 66 . thus , a very minimal amount of moisture will pass through the aperture 67 of the barrier body 66 and toward the die 58 — die pad 50 assembly . the barrier structures 62 , 64 on the underside of the die 58 — die pad 50 assembly clearly limit moisture flow to that area in the same manner . the spacing of the barrier bodies from the die 58 — die pad 50 assembly and from each other is significant in achieving the proper limitation of moisture flow into the critical areas . this spacing between elements allows the moisture to diffuse into relatively large areas so as to aid in the protection of critical structures . while not essential , it is preferable that the barrier bodies not be continuous , but include such apertures shown and described providing such apertures avoids the possible problem of molding compound intruding during transfer molding to trap bubbles of gas , creating voids . if such voids were present , local tensile stresses could increase and thermal impedance could be degraded . the apertures provided in the barrier bodies avoid such a potential problem by allowing such air to be vented away from the critical areas of the die , die and wire bonding . the apertures in the barrier body may be spaced more widely in the least critical areas , those adjacent the junction of the die - die pad assembly , i . e ., near the center of the barrier body , so that venting would move progressively inward from the periphery due to molding compound ingression . the effect is to provide the greatest limitation to moisture flow where the need is greatest , where the differential cte ( coefficient of thermal expansion ) is greatest , far from the die center . the apertures in each barrier body may for example be 0 . 2 mm in diameter with a pitch of 1 mm . in furtherance of describing the assembly of a semiconductor device incorporating the present invention , with reference to fig1 , a typical lead frame 110 is shown therein . as is well - known , a pair of rails 112 , 114 are connected by dam bars 116 , 118 , with tie bars 120 , 122 extending outward from a die pad 124 between a pair of dam bars 116 , 118 , the tie bars 120 , 122 being connected to the rails 112 , 114 . leads 126 are connected to the dam bars 116 , 118 as is also well - known . a portion of this lead frame 10 is shown in sectional view of fig1 , with the barrier structure 62 and barrier structure 64 being mounted thereto as described above . the die pad 124 has a die 128 epoxied thereto , and the barrier structure 62 , 64 are secured to the tie bars 120 , 122 on the die pad side of the die 128 — die pad 114 assembly . the structure of fig1 is now placed in a wire bonding machine 130 with a cavity 132 sufficiently deep to receive the barrier structures 62 , 64 . then , wire bonding is undertaken , after which the barrier structures 58 , 60 are added , being secured to the tie bars 120 , 122 as described above , on the die side of the die 128 — die pad 124 assembly . then , transfer molding is undertaken to form the plastic package of the device , and the rails 112 , 114 and portions of the dam bars 116 , 118 are removed as is well known so that the leads 126 of the device are defined and extend from the package . it is to be noted that spot welding of the protrusions to the tie bars 120 , 122 takes place with the dam bars 116 , 118 , rails 112 , 114 and tie bars 120 , 122 in place , that is , prior to the removal of the rails 112 , 114 and portions on the dam bars 116 , 118 . thus , the entire structure is shorted out , and there will not be any voltage imposed on a pin of the device relative to any other pin due to the spot welding operation . fig1 shows an alternative embodiment of lead frame 150 , wherein each tie bar 152 , 154 is bifurcated in the respective area 152 a , 154 a where it extends to connect to a rail 156 , 158 . in this configuration , each barrier structure 160 has four protrusions 162 , 164 , 166 , 168 stamped therein ( fig1 ), a protrusion being welded to each extended leg of a tie bar . the mounting of the barrier structures 160 to the bifurcated ends 152 a , 154 a by welding or glue as described above is shown in fig1 . this embodiment can be used when increased mounting stability of the barrier structures is desired . as yet another embodiment , the barrier structures may have protrusions which match up with the four diagonal tie bars of a quad flat pack lead frame configuration . it will therefore be seen that the present invention provides for highly effective limitation of moisture flow through a package to the critical die - die pad area of a semiconductor device . this resistance to moisture in this critical areas avoids problems of delamination as described above , so that high device reliability is achieved . the foregoing description of the embodiment of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed . other modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings . the embodiments were chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill of the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . all such modifications and variations are within the scope of the invention as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly , legally and equitably entitled .	7
the isoforms of the protein kinase c (“ pkc ”) family are activated in response to various stimuli ( e . g ., mitogenic stimuli , to inflammatory stimuli , and to stress ) and play important roles in a variety of cellular functions including apoptosis . in particular , pkcδ a member of the novel pkc subfamily , is actively involved in cell apoptosis in a stimulus and tissue specific manner . it is believed that pkcδ both regulates the expression and function of apoptosis related proteins and is itself a target for caspases . in addition , it is believed phosphorylation of pkcδ on distinct tyrosine residues and its association with specific apoptotic related proteins such as c - abl , dna - pk , p73 and lamin b are pivotal to its function in cell apoptosis . in particular , as shown in fig1 , it is believed tyrosine phosphorylation and importin - α binding are key regulatory steps in apoptosis as they control nuclear import . moreover , caspase ( in particular caspase 3 ) cleavage of pkcδ is thought to amplify the apoptotic response . referring again to fig1 , it is believed that activation of c - abl - or src - family of kinases stimulates apoptosis . while apoptosis can be a part of natural process , in cancer treatment apoptosis of non - cancerous cells have been shown to be one of the main causes of cancer treatment side - effects . thus , it is believed that by reducing apoptosis of non - cancerous cells one can significantly reduce the side - effects of cancer treatment . as used herein , the term “ cancer treatment ” includes radiotherapy and chemotherapy to treat cancer . some aspects of the invention provide a method for reducing apoptosis of non - cancerous cells during a cancer treatment . typically , the method comprises administering a therapeutically effective amount of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (“ tki ”) prior to administering a cancer treatment to a cancer patient . as used herein , the term “ reducing apoptosis of non - cancerous cells ” refers to reducing at least 30 %, typically at least 60 %, and often at least 80 % of non - cancerous cell apoptosis using the method of the invention relative to cancer treatment that does not include administration of a tki prior to cancer treatment . typically , the tki is administered at least 30 min , typically at least 45 min , and often at least 60 min prior to administering cancer treatment to a cancer patient . in some embodiments , the method further comprises administering a second tki after administering said cancer treatment to said cancer patient . the second tki can be the same as the tki that is administered prior to cancer treatment or it can be a different tki . typically , the same tki is used pre - and post - cancer treatment . when a tki is administered after cancer treatment , typically it is administered within 60 min , often within 120 min , and most often within 180 min after cancer treatment . still in other embodiments , said steps of administering said tyrosine kinase inhibitor prior to said cancer treatment reduces apoptosis of non - cancerous cells by at least 30 %, typically by at least 60 %, and often by at least 80 %. yet in other embodiments , said cancer treatment consists of radiotherapy . in other embodiments , said cancer treatment consists of chemotherapy . still in other embodiments , said cancer treatment consists of combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy . in such embodiments , said tki can also be administered between chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions . exemplary tyrosine kinase inhibitors that are useful in methods of the invention include , but are not limited to , dasatinib , imatinib , ponatinib , saracatinib , lapatinb , gefitinib , sorafenib , erlotinib , sunitinib , nilotinib , vandetanib , bosutinib , afatinib and regorafenib . generally , methods of the invention can be used in preventing apoptosis of non - cancerous cells in cancer treatment for any type of cancer . exemplary cancers for which methods of the invention is useful include , but are not limited to , head and neck cancer , pancreatic cancer , stomach cancer , breast cancer , colon cancer , lung cancer , liver cancer , leukemia , bone cancer , ovarian cancer , cervical cancer , brain cancer , skin cancer , prostate cancer , thyroid cancer , etc . other aspects of the invention include methods for treating a cancer patient . such methods include administering a tyrosine kinase inhibitor to a cancer patient prior to administering a cancer treatment to protect non - cancerous cells from said cancer treatment , wherein administration of said tyrosine kinase inhibitor significantly reduces the amount of apoptosis of non - cancerous cells . typically , the tyrosine kinase is administered to the cancer patient prior to administering cancer treatment . in some cases , the tyrosine kinase inhibitor can also be administered post cancer treatment as discussed above . yet other aspects of the invention include methods for reducing a side - effect of a cancer treatment in a cancer patient . such methods include administering a therapeutically effective amount of tyrosine kinase inhibitor to said cancer patient prior to administering a cancer treatment . as used herein , the term “ therapeutically effective amount ” means the amount of a tki that , when administered to a cancer patient , is sufficient to reduce apoptosis of non - cancerous cells . the “ therapeutically effective amount ” will vary depending on the tki , the severity of cancer treatment and the age , weight , etc ., of the cancer patient . as shown in the examples section , the present inventors have discovered that tyrosine kinase inhibitors inhibit irradiation - induced and chemotherapy - induced ( e . g ., etoposide - induced ) apoptosis of cells in vivo as well as cultured rat salivary acinar cells ( cell line parc5 ). these inhibitors block tyrosine phosphorylation of pkcδ and its import into the nucleus . without being bound by any theory , since nuclear import of pkcδ is required for apoptosis , this is believed to be at least one of the mechanisms of action by which tkis inhibit apoptosis of non - cancerous cells . based on the magnitude of apoptosis inhibition ( e . g ., & gt ; 80 % in some instances ), additional targets or mechanisms are believed to be likely . typically , the tki is administered in formulations including those suitable for oral ( including buccal and sub - lingual ), rectal , nasal , topical , pulmonary , vaginal , or parenteral ( including intramuscular , intraarterial , intrathecal , subcutaneous and intravenous ) administration or in a form suitable for administration by inhalation or insufflation . in some embodiments , the tki is administered by direct injection at or near the site of radio - or chemo - therapy . additional objects , advantages , and novel features of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following examples thereof , which are not intended to be limiting . in the examples , procedures that are constructively reduced to practice are described in the present tense , and procedures that have been carried out in the laboratory are set forth in the past tense . parc5 cells were pre - treated with dasatinib or imatinib for 30 mins prior to addition of hydrogen peroxide to induce apoptosis . cell lysates were probed by immunoblot as indicated . hydrogen peroxide induced phosphorylation of pkcδ at tyrosine 64 ( y64 ), tyrosine 155 ( y155 ) and tyrosine 311 ( y311 ). pretreatment of cells with dasatinib ( panel a of fig2 , left ) inhibited phosphorylation of pkcδ at all sites , consistent with inhibition of both c - src and c - abl activation as assayed using antibodies to py412abl and py416src . pane a of fig2 , right , shows a similar experiment in which parc5 cells were pre - treated with imatinib . in this experiment imatinib inhibited phosphorylation of pkcδ at y155 only . 293t cells were transfected with pgfp - pkcδ . transfected cells were left untreated , or pre - treated with dasatinib prior to treatment with hydrogen peroxide . lysates were incubated with an anti - gfp to immunoprecipitate gfppkcδ and immunobloted for importin - α . the results are shown in panel b of fig2 . while importin - α immunoprecipitated with pkcδ in cells treated with hydrogen peroxide , this interaction did not occur in cells pre - treated with dasatinib . similar results were seen when cells were pretreated with imatinib ( data not shown ) parc5 cells were treated with dmso ( control ), imatinib , dasatinib , or 50 μm of etoposide or the combination of etoposide and tyrosine kinase inhibitors ( tkis ). tkis were added to cells 30 mins prior to addition of etoposide . relative caspase - 3 activity for each was measured , which is indicative of apoptosis . as shown in fig3 a , imatinib and dasatinib both significantly reduced apoptosis . parc5 cells were left untreated or pre - treated with 20 nm of dasatinib 30 mins prior to irradiation ( 5 , 7 . 5 or 10 gy ). relative caspase - 3 activity was measured and are shown in fig3 b . as can be seen , dasatinib significantly reduced apoptosis of cells . mice were treated with dmso or 20 mg / kg of dasatinib in dmso 1 hr prior and 3 hr post irradiation ( 25 gy ) by oral gavage . the mice were sacrificed 24 hrs later . parotid gland tissue was stained with anti - act caspase 3 and cells with active caspase - 3 were quantified . average of three mice (& gt ; 1000 cells per mouse ) are shown in fig3 c . in fig3 c , the data is expressed as % positive / total cells ( p & lt ; 0 . 01 ). parotid salivary acinar cells ( parc5 ) were pre - treated with dasatinib , imatinib , saracatinib or ponatinib 30 mins prior to 10 gy irradiation . cells were harvested after an additional 18 hrs and casapase 3 activity were measured . as can be seen in fig4 ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ), all tki treated cells showed a significant protection from apoptosis . the efficacy of three tyrosine kinase inhibitors was examined as radio - protectors in the salivary gland in vivo . briefly , mice were irradiated to the head and neck using a cesium - 137 source , with or without administration of dasatinib ( 20 mg / kg ), imatinib ( 50 mg / kg ), or bosutinib ( 100 mg / kg ) by oral gavage 1 hour before and 3 hours after irradiation ( see schematic in fig5 , panel a , which shows a schematic representation of the experiment outlining times of oral gavage , radiation and saliva collection ). the rest of the mouse body was protected by lead shielding . control mice were gavaged with vehicle alone for dasatinib ( 80 mm citric acid buffer , ph 2 . 1 ) imatinib ( water ) or bosutinib ( 0 . 5 % methocel and 0 . 4 % tween 80 ). mouse weight and saliva flow rates were measured prior to irradiation and every 30 days up to 90 days ). a minimum of 3 mice were used for each condition in each experiment . to stimulate salivation , mice were given an intraperitoneal injection of carbachol dissolved in saline ( 0 . 25 mg / kg ) two minutes prior to measuring salivary flow rate . saliva was collected for 3 min using a micropipette . salivary flow rates are expressed as ml / min . as shown in fig5 these tyrosine kinase inhibitors preserved salivary gland function following radiation . panels b and c in fig5 show the results of mice that were irradiated with 10 gy to the head and neck , with or without the administration of dasatinib ( panel b ) and imatinib ( panel c ). panel d in fig5 shows the results of mice that were irradiated with 15 gy to the head and neck , with or without the administration of bosutinib . a minimum of 3 mice were used for each condition ( n = 3 ) and the data represents the average saliva flow rate +/− the standard deviation ( asterisk indicates a p value & lt ; 0 . 01 ). the foregoing discussion of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description . the foregoing is not intended to limit the invention to the form or forms disclosed herein . although the description of the invention has included description of one or more embodiments and certain variations and modifications , other variations and modifications are within the scope of the invention , e . g ., as may be within the skill and knowledge of those in the art , after understanding the present disclosure . it is intended to obtain rights which include alternative embodiments to the extent permitted , including alternate , interchangeable and / or equivalent structures , functions , ranges or steps to those claimed , whether or not such alternate , interchangeable and / or equivalent structures , functions , ranges or steps are disclosed herein , and without intending to publicly dedicate any patentable subject matter .	0
referring to fig2 of the drawings , one preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated . a sinter or porous layer 10 is placed on top of the pot 6 to provide a further series resistance r pot2 to the pot i . e . an appropriate sinter 10 may have openings of microns in dimension and only be a few millimeters thick . this method may reduce the q b / q i by a factor of 10 . such an arrangement provides added benefits when used for membrane filter systems in a bio - reactor . the high solids feed in bio reactors leads to the sludge actually plugging the filter and self sealing the broken fibre totally . the may be extended to the general case by replacing the sinter with a membrane with the same pore size as the hollow fibre membrane and enabling achievement of this self plugging capability even with low solids feeds . it will be apparent the extra resistance of the sinter or membrane 10 will require an extra pressure to maintain the module filtrate flow , however , this is only an operating cost not a membrane process operating efficiency as it is operating over the pot assembly , not across the compressible dirt layer on the membrane . fouling of this membrane sinter can be reduced by a regular chemical cleaning backwash with chlorine or other suitable cleaners . the membrane / sinter 10 is desirably in intimate contact with the pot 6 to prevent sideways flow of filtrate / feed bypass . this may also be achieved with a replaceable sinter / membrane element . a highly asymmetric membrane 10 with the large pore side contacting the pot 6 ( so in normal filtrate flow the filtrate flows in the direction of reducing pore size ) is desirable . as shown in fig3 b - 3k a variety of methods may be used to increase the pot flow resistance . referring to fig3 a a normal pot 6 without modification is shown . fig3 b shows an increased length pot 6 which , while increasing pot flow resistance , has other disadvantages . fig3 c illustrates providing the fibre 5 with a non porous coating 7 adjacent the interface 8 between the fibre 5 and the pot 6 . this serves to increase pot flow resistance while also moving the fibre failure point away from the fibre - pot interface . fig3 d and 3e show a further method of reducing flow by reducing the inner diameter of the fibre lumen 8 using a layer of material 9 applied to part or whole of the inner surface 11 of the fibre lumen 8 in the region encompassed by the pot 6 . one method of providing such a layer 9 is to coat the inside of the lumen 8 near the end of the pot 6 with a thin layer of material that effectively reduces the diameter of the fibre lumen 8 at this point . this can be achieved by drawing up a material such as epoxy into the end of the fibre lumen 8 and then allowing it to run out again before it has time to set , leaving behind a thin coating 9 on the inner fibre lumen wall 12 that can then set over time . the embodiment shown in fig3 f illustrates smearing the surface of the pot with a suitable grout material 13 to reduce the diameter of the fibre lumen 8 adjacent its opening 14 from the pot 6 . fig3 g shows the insertion of hollow annulus 15 , for example , a hollow pin , into the end of the fibre lumen 8 in the region of the pot 6 to reduce the cross - sectional area of the lumen 8 in the region of the pot 6 . fig3 h shows the use of a porous layer of material 10 across the lumen opening 14 as also shown in the embodiment of fig2 . fig3 i shows an embodiment where a porous material is forced into the lumen opening 14 to form a plug 16 . this can be achieved by smearing a porous grout across and into the fibre lumen opening 14 . again this serves to reduce the flow resistance of the fibre lumen in the region of the pot 6 . fig3 j illustrates an embodiment of the invention where the fibre lumen 8 is narrowed within the region of the pot 6 by causing the potting material to swell or constricting the end of the fibre . fig3 k shows an embodiment where the fibre lumen end is narrowed prior to potting . fig4 shows the results of a test performed on two modules to illustrate the operation of the invention . two modules a and b were used in the test . for each module one hollow fibre membrane was potted . the end of the fibre which was not in the pot , was sealed . a stainless steel mesh was glued on the top of one of the pots in a way that prevented sideways flow of feed bypass during filtration in a similar manner to the embodiments shown in fig2 and 3h . the mesh had openings of 51 microns and was 56 microns thick . the characteristics of both of the modules are shown in table 1 . firstly , feed water was filtered through module a for 35 minutes . during this filtration , the transmembrane pressure ( tmp ) was measured . then the fibre of module a was cut as close to the pot as possible and module a filtered the same feed water for a further 35 minutes . during this filtration , the transmembrane pressure ( tmp ) was measured . the same test was repeated with the module b using the same feed water . the graph shown in fig4 compares the tmp of the modules a and b during the two filtrations before and after the fibre was cut . the first part of the graph shows that the two curves are very similar . in particular , it shows that tmp of both modules increased at the same rate . fibres of the modules were fouled at a similar rate . the small difference in tmp between the two modules is due to the mesh on module b which adds a small extra resistance to flow . the second part of the graph after the fibre of modules was cut shows that tmp of module a and b developed in a highly different way . the tmp of module a remained low and level whereas the tmp of module b increased sharply showing that the mesh was blocked by the feed contaminants . this test clearly shows the efficiency of a mesh as far as reduction of integrity loss is concerned . due to the addition of the mesh to the module , the cut fibre quickly sealed itself , preventing the feed from contaminating the filtrate . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that a wide variety and number of techniques can be used to reduce the flow within the fibre lumen in the region of the pot and that such techniques fall within the scope of the invention described . it will also be appreciated that further embodiments and exemplifications of the invention are possible without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention described .	1
in the present invention , the alkyl cellulose derivative serving as a starting material is carboxyalkyl cellulose ( a ), hydroxyalkyl cellulose ( b ), alkyl cellulose ( c ), a mixture of these celluloses , or a mixture of at least one of ( a ), ( b ) and ( c ) as a main component with an unmodified cellulose . each of these celluloses has at least one hydroxyl group or carboxyl group on average per glucose unit . carboxyalkyl cellulose ( a ) serving as a starting material in the present invention is produced by substituting the hydrogen atom of a hydroxyl group in a cellulose molecule by a carboxymethyl group , a carboxyethyl group , or a carboxypropyl group . carboxyalkyl cellulose ( a ) is preferably carboxymethyl cellulose or carboxyethyl cellulose . in the aforementioned carboxyalkyl cellulose , 20 % or more , preferably 40 % or more , of the entirety of carboxyl groups form an alkali metal salt , an ammonium salt , or an amine salt . examples of alkali metal salts include a sodium salt , a potassium salt , and a lithium salt . of these , a sodium salt is preferable . when the percentage of carboxyl groups which constitute the salt is less than 20 %, the cellulose is difficult to be uniformly mixed with water or solved in water . the upper limit for the percentage of carboxyl groups which form the salt is not particularly limited , and may be as high as 100 %. hydroxyalkyl cellulose ( b ) serving as a starting material in the present invention is produced by reacting the hydrogen atom of a hydroxyl group in a cellulose molecule with , for example , ethylene oxide or propylene oxide . therefore , the hydrogen atom is substituted by a hydroxyethyl group (— c 2 h 4 oh ), a hydroxyisopropyl group (— c 3 h 6 oh ), or a hydroxy - n - propyl group (— c 3 h 6 oh ); or by a polyoxyalkylene ether - substituted group which is formed by reacting thus obtained terminal hydroxyl group with 1 to 10 molecules of ethylene oxide or propylene oxide . hydroxyalkyl cellulose ( b ) is preferably hydroxyethyl cellulose ( hec ) or hydroxypropyl cellulose ( hpc ). taking hec as an example , hec is produced through the following process : cellulose is reacted with ethylene oxide ( eo ) in the presence of a hydrophilic organic solvent and sodium hydroxide ; and subsequently the resultant reaction mixture is subjected to neutralization , purification , drying , and pulverizing , to thereby produce hec . during the course of hydroxyethylation of cellulose , formed hydroxyethyl groups are further reacted with eo . when the amount of alkali and water during hydroxyethylation is appropriately selected hec which contains uniformly distributed substituents and exhibits resistance to enzymatic hydrolysis is produced . the amount by mole of eo added to cellulose is represented by “ molar substitution ” ( ms ). when ms is 1 , the degree of substitution ( ds ) of cellulose is 0 . 7 . in the case of a commercially available hec , ms is 1 . 5 – 3 . 0 , ds is 0 . 9 – 1 . 4 . hec having an ms of 1 or more ( ds : 0 . 7 or more ) is water - soluble . alkyl cellulose ( c ) serving as a starting material in the present invention is produced by partially substituting hydrogen atoms of hydroxyl groups in a cellulose molecule with a methyl group , an ethyl group , or a propyl group . alkyl cellulose ( c ) is preferably methyl cellulose . the degree of alkyletherification of the aforementioned alkyl cellulose is 66 % or less , preferably 50 % or less , more preferably 33 % or less . the average polymerization degree of the aforementioned alkyl cellulose derivative is not particularly limited , but in practice , the degree is about 10 – 2 , 000 , preferably about 50 – 1 , 000 , more preferably about 200 – 800 . the average etherification degree ( i . e ., the degree to which the hydrogen atom of a hydroxyl group on cellulose is substituted by a carboxyalkyl group , a hydroxyalkyl group , or an alkyl group ) of the alkyl cellulose derivative is 0 . 5 or more , preferably 0 . 8 or more , more preferably 1 . 1 or more . the upper limit is 3 . when the average etherification degree is less than 0 . 5 , satisfactory cross - linking does not result . the alkyl cellulose derivative serving as a starting material in the present invention may be a product produced through a known process , and particularly , commercially available products may be used . carboxyalkyl cellulose can be produced through a variety of processes , such as a slurry process ( high concentration solution process ) or a kneader process ( low concentration solution process ), which are conventionally employed . for example , carboxyalkyl cellulose can be produced through a process including a mercerization step and a carboxyalkylation step . in the mercerization step , cellulose is reacted with an alkali , to thereby form alkali cellulose . in the carboxyalkylation step , the alkali cellulose resulting from the mercerization step is reacted with monochloroacetic acid , to thereby produce carboxymethyl cellulose ; or the alkali cellulose is reacted with an acrylate , and then the resultant ester is subjected to hydrolysis , to thereby produce carboxyethyl cellulose . hydroxyalkyl cellulose is produced by reacting a hydroxyl group of cellulose with alkylene oxide . for example , hydroxyethyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl cellulose are produced by reacting hydroxyl groups of cellulose with ethylene oxide and propylene oxide , respectively . such hydroxyalkyl cellulose may further be reacted with alkylene oxide . for example , ethylhydroxyethyl cellulose is produced by reacting hydroxyethyl cellulose with ethylene oxide . alkyl cellulose can be produced through the reaction between alkali cellulose and alkyl chloride or dialkyl sulfate . for example , methyl cellulose is produced through the reaction between alkali cellulose and methyl chloride or dimethyl sulfate ; and ethyl cellulose is produced through the reaction between alkali cellulose and ethyl chloride or diethyl sulfate . cellulose obtained from a variety of materials such as wood pulp and linter pulp may be employed . the alkali may be an alkali metal such as lithium , potassium , or sodium ; ammonia ; or amine . of these , sodium is usually employed in the form of hydroxide or aqueous solution . the amount of alkali ( e . g ., sodium hydroxide ) which is employed in the mercerization step is usually about 30 – 80 parts by weight , preferably about 40 – 75 parts by weight , on the basis of 100 parts by weight of cellulose . the amount of alkali ( e . g ., sodium hydroxide ) which is employed in the slurry process is usually 35 – 70 parts by weight , preferably about 45 – 65 parts by weight , on the basis of 100 parts by weight of cellulose . in order to carry out mercerization , cellulose is employed usually in an amount of about 1 – 7 wt . % and about 10 – 25 wt . %, in the slurry process and the kneader process , respectively . the amount of alkali employed in the mercerization step in the slurry process differs from the amount of alkali employed in the mercerization step in the kneader process . in the slurry process , mercerization may be carried out in an aqueous medium containing an alkali in an amount of about 1 – 10 wt . %. in the kneader process , mercerization may be carried out in an aqueous medium containing an alkali in an amount of about 2 – 15 wt . %. mercerization may be carried out in the presence of an appropriate solvent . examples of such solvents include water ; alcohols such as ethanol and isopropanol ; ketones such as acetone ; and cellosolves such as methyl cellosolve and ethyl cellosolve . the thus - produced carboxyalkyl cellulose can be purified through moisture - evaporation , washing , and then drying . if necessary , after the reaction is complete , the carboxyalkyl cellulose may be treated with a peroxide such as hydrogen peroxide or peracetic acid to control the viscosity . in the present invention , a mixture of a starting alkyl cellulose derivative and water , in which the amount of water is 5 to 2 , 000 parts by weight on the basis of 100 parts by weight of the alkyl cellulose derivative , is irradiated with radioactive rays . as described above , when a starting alkyl cellulose derivative such as cmc is irradiated with radioactive rays , decomposition of the derivative precedes cross - linking thereof . however , in the presence of water , hydroxy radicals are generated through the irradiation , and cross - linking of the derivative proceeds through the intervention of the hydroxy radicals . a mixture of the alkyl cellulose derivative and water may assume a form such that the derivative contains water absorbed in its structure , giving rise to a paste or an aqueous solution . preferably , the alkyl cellulose derivative and water are uniformly mixed . when the amount of water falls below the above range , the degree of decomposition of the starting alkyl cellulose derivative increases , whereas when the amount of water is in excess of the above range , it is difficult for the derivative to undergo cross - linking . examples of water employed in the present invention include city water , industrial water , degassed water , deionized water , gel - filtered water , and distilled water . preferably , water not containing oxygen or ions is employed . examples of the types of radioactive rays employed for irradiation in the present invention include α - rays , β - rays , γ - rays , x - rays , electron beams , and uv - rays . of these , x - rays , electron beams , or γ - rays from cobalt 60 are preferable . particularly , irradiation with γ - rays or irradiation with electron beams by use of an electron accelerator can be effectively employed for the formation of a cross - linking structure . in the present invention , the dose of radioactive rays varies between whether enhancement of water absorbability is intended or enhancement of gel strength is intended . also , the dose varies in relation to the mixing ratio of the starting alkyl cellulose derivative and water . in order to enhance water absorbability , the dose of radioactive rays is 0 . 1 – 50 kgy , preferably 0 . 3 – 20 kgy , more preferably 0 . 5 – 10 kgy , as reduced to γ - rays . when the dose falls below the above range , cross - linking of the starting alkyl cellulose derivative does not proceed , and thus the water - absorbability of the resultant resin is unsatisfactory . in contrast , when the dose is in excess of the above range , cross - linking of the derivative is excessive , and thus the water - absorbability of the resultant resin is unsatisfactory . in order to obtain a high strength of the gel , the dose of radioactive rays is 20 – 300 kgy , preferably 30 – 200 kgy , and more preferably 50 – 100 kgy , as reduced to γ - rays . when the dose falls below the above range , the strength of the resultant gel , particularly compressive strength decreases . in contrast , when the dose is in excess of the above range , production costs increase . when the alkyl cellulose derivative is irradiated with radioactive rays in the absence of oxygen , the derivative can be cross - linked effectively ( i . e ., at a low irradiation dose ). this is because , when irradiation is carried out in the presence of oxygen , the extent of oxidative decomposition of the derivative increases . in order to enhance water absorbability , the gel fraction of the above - produced self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative is 0 . 1 – 50 %, preferably 0 . 5 – 40 %, more preferably 1 – 30 %. when the gel fraction of the self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative falls below the above range , cross - linking of the derivative is unsatisfactory . in contrast , when the gel fraction is in excess of the above range , cross - linking of the derivative is excessive , and thus the water - absorbability of the resultant resin is unsatisfactory . in order to obtain a high strength of the gel , the gel fraction of the self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative is 30 % or more , preferably 50 % or more , more preferably 60 % or more . the upper limit of the gel fraction is 100 %. when the gel fraction of the derivative falls below the above range , the strength of the resultant gel is unsatisfactory . the gel fraction is obtained through the following procedure : the self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative is soaked in a large amount of distilled water ( e . g ., the amount is 10 – 100 times that of the derivative ) for 48 hours ; the resultant derivative is subjected to filtration through use of a 20 - mesh stainless steel sieve ; and the ratio of the insoluble derivative remaining on the sieve is obtained as the gel fraction of the derivative . the gel fraction is obtained from the following formula : ( wherein w 1 represents the weight of the dried starting alkyl cellulose derivative employed , and w 2 represents the weight of the dried insoluble derivative after filtration of the cross - linked derivative ). the biodegradability of the above - produced self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative is measured through the following procedure . the self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative produced through irradiation with radioactive rays is dried , and the dried derivative ( 0 . 2 g ) is added to an aqueous acetic acid solution ( buffer having a ph of 4 . 5 ) ( 10 ml ) containing 0 . 5 wt . % of cellulase , which is an enzyme employed for testing biodegradability . the resultant solution is allowed to stand at 40 ° c . for 0 to 8 hours , to thereby permit biodegradation of the derivative . the elapsed time and the percentage of the remaining self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative are measured . the biodegradation (%) is obtained by subtracting the percentage of the remaining derivative from 100 %. in order to enhance water absorbability , the percent biodegradation of the self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative during the above - mentioned period of time is 50 % or more , preferably 70 % or more , more preferably 80 % or more , much more preferably 90 % or more . in terms of the time versus percent biodegradation , eight - hour biodegradation desirably attains a percent biodegradation of 50 % or more , preferably 70 % or more , more preferably 80 % or more , much more preferably 90 % or more ; preferably , five - hour biodegradation is required to attain a percent biodegradation of 50 % or more , preferably 70 % or more , more preferably 80 % or more , much more preferably 90 % or more ; more preferably , four - hour biodegradation desirably attains a percent biodegradation of 50 % or more , preferably 70 % or more , more preferably 80 % or more , much more preferably 90 % or more ; and more preferably , three - hour biodegradation desirably attains a percent biodegradation of 50 % or more , preferably 70 % or more , more preferably 80 % or more , much more preferably 90 % or more . the time necessary to biodegrade the derivative to 100 % is controlled by determining the degrees of etherification or cross - linking . in order to obtain a high strength of the gel , the percent biodegradation of the self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative at eight hours is 40 % or more , preferably 50 % or more , more preferably 60 % or more . the time necessary to biodegrade the derivative to 100 % is controlled by determining the degree of etherification or cross - linking . in the present invention , the self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative irradiated with radioactive rays may be dried , and employed in the form of a solid or powder . the method for drying the self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative is not particularly limited , and the derivative may be dried by means of a known method , for example , through heating or vacuuming , to thereby control the moisture in the derivative to a desired level . the water absorption ratio of the self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative of the present invention is represented by the amount of distilled water which 1 g of the dried self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative ( gel ) absorbs . the water absorption ratio varies with the degree of gelation of the derivative , and the ratio is 30 g – 1000 g / g - dried gel , preferably 100 g / g - dried gel or more , more preferably 200 g / g - dried gel or more . the self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative of the present invention exhibits water - absorbability , high gel strength , and / or biodegradability , in addition to the characteristics of the starting alkyl cellulose derivative . therefore , the derivative can be employed for a variety of uses described in general publications or publications described in the “ background art ” of the present specification . in addition , the aforementioned characteristics allow the derivative to be used in products that must demonstrate a higher level of performance . the self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative which absorbs water 30 times or more its own weight can be suitably employed in medical products , cosmetic products , sanitary products , or agricultural water retention agents . the derivative is particularly suitable for diapers or sanitary napkins . the self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative having a gel compressive strength of 100 g / cm 2 or more is suitably employed in chromatography carriers , industrial materials , ground - improving agents , or soil - improving agents . the present invention will next be described in more detail by way of examples , which should not be construed as limiting the invention thereto . starting carboxyalkyl celluloses ( product of daicel chem . ind ., ltd .) employed in the examples are as follows . a : cmc , viscosity of 10 wt . % aqueous solution : 73 ( mpa · s ) at 20 ° c ., average etherification degree : 1 . 27 , percentage of carboxyl groups forming sodium chloride salts : 100 % b : cmc , viscosity of 10 wt . % aqueous solution : 161 ( mpa · s ) at 20 ° c ., average etherification degree : 2 . 21 , percentage of carboxyl groups forming sodium chloride salts : 100 % c : cmc , viscosity of 10 wt . % aqueous solution : 168 ( mpa · s ) at 20 ° c ., average etherification degree : 0 . 86 , percentage of carboxyl groups forming sodium chloride salts : 100 % d : cmc , viscosity of 10 wt . % aqueous solution : 250 ( mpa · s ) at 20 ° c ., average etherification degree : 1 . 29 , percentage of carboxyl groups forming sodium chloride salts : 100 % e : cmc , viscosity of 10 wt . % aqueous solution : 3670 ( mpa · s ) at 20 ° c ., average etherification degree : 1 . 22 , percentage of carboxyl groups forming sodium chloride salts : 100 % f : cmc , viscosity of 10 wt . % aqueous solution : 244 ( mpa · s ) at 20 ° c ., average etherification degree : 1 . 32 , percentage of carboxyl groups forming sodium chloride salts : 100 % g : carboxyethyl cellulose , viscosity of 10 wt . % aqueous solution : 200 ( mpa · s ) at 20 ° c ., average etherification degree : 1 . 32 , percentage of carboxyl groups forming sodium chloride salts : 100 % hpc1 : hydroxypropyl cellulose , viscosity of 2 wt . % aqueous solution : 280 ( mpa · s ) at 20 ° c . hpc2 : hydroxypropyl cellulose , viscosity of 2 wt . % aqueous solution : 2 , 500 ( mpa · s ) at 20 ° c . mc5 : methyl cellulose , viscosity of 2 wt . % aqueous solution : 25 ( mpa · s ) at 20 ° c . mc6 : methyl cellulose , viscosity of 2 wt . % aqueous solution : 7 , 500 ( mpa · s ) at 20 ° c . aqueous solutions each containing starting material f in an amount of 5 , 10 , 20 , or 30 wt . % were irradiated with γ - rays . the results are shown in fig1 . the x - axis of the graph shown in fig1 represents the dose of γ - rays ( unit : kgy ), and the y - axis represents the gel fraction ( wt . %) of cmc after irradiation . aqueous solutions each containing one of starting materials a through e in an amount of 20 wt . % were irradiated with γ - rays . the results are shown in fig2 . the x - axis of the graph shown in fig2 represents the dose of γ - rays ( unit : kgy ), and the y - axis represents the gel fraction ( wt . %) of cmc after irradiation . aqueous solutions each containing starting material f in an amount of 5 , 10 , 20 , or 30 wt . % were irradiated with γ - rays . after completion of irradiation , the resultant cmc was dried , and the water absorption of the dried cmc was measured . the results are shown in fig3 . the x - axis of the graph shown in fig3 represents the dose of γ - rays ( unit : kgy ), and the y - axis represents the amount of water ( g ) absorbed in 1 g of the dried gel of the irradiated cmc . aqueous solutions each containing starting material f in an amount of 20 or 30 wt . % were irradiated with γ - rays of 20 kgy . after completion of irradiation , the respective cmc solutions were subjected to biodegradation by use of cellulase . the percent biodegradation of each of the cmc solutions is shown in fig4 . the x - axis of the graph shown in fig4 represents the biodegradation time ( hours ), and the y - axis represents the remaining cmc (%). the percent biodegradation is obtained by subtracting the remaining cmc (%) from 100 %. in the case in which an enzyme cellulase is employed , the percent biodegradation of cmc after irradiation is higher than that of the cmc before irradiation . also , in the case in which a compost is employed , the percent biodegradation of the cmc after irradiation is higher than that of the cmc before irradiation . an aqueous solution of starting material g in an amount of 20 wt . % was irradiated with γ - rays . similar to the case of example 1 , the gel fraction of the resultant product increases as the dose of γ - rays increases . aqueous solutions each containing hpc1 , hpc2 , mc5 , or mc6 in an amount of 30 wt . % were irradiated with γ - rays . the results are shown in fig5 . the x - axis of the graph shown in fig5 represents the dose of γ - rays ( unit : kgy ), and the y - axis represents the gel fraction ( wt . %) of hpc1 , hpc2 , mc5 , and mc6 after irradiation . as is apparent from fig5 , each of hpc1 and hpc2 exhibits a peak of the gel fraction when the dose of γ - rays is 10 – 40 kgy , demonstrating achievement of satisfactory cross - linking . in the meantime , mc6 is cross - linked when the dose of γ - rays is high , and mc5 , which has a low polymerization degree , is cross - linked when the dose is higher . aqueous solutions each containing hpc1 or hpc2 in an amount of 40 wt . % were irradiated with γ - rays . the results are shown in fig6 . the x - axis of the graph shown in fig6 represents the dose of γ - rays ( unit : kgy ), and the y - axis represents the gel fraction ( wt . %) of hpc1 and hpc2 after irradiation . as is apparent from fig6 , the degree of cross - linking of the aqueous solution containing hpc in an amount of 40 wt . % is higher than that of the aqueous solution containing each of hpc in an amount of 30 wt . %. according to the present invention , a self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative is produced . a water - absorbable resin or a gel of high strength can be produced depending on the type of starting alkyl cellulose derivative , the percentage of water during irradiation , or the dose of radioactive rays . in addition , by modifying such conditions , a biodegradable self - cross - linking alkyl cellulose derivative is produced .	0
lysosomal integral membrane protein - 2 is a novel component of intercalated discs and prevents cardiomyopathy from 10 - week - old ren - 2 and sprague - dawley ( sd ) rats ( mollegard , lille skensveld , denmark ), a biopsy of the lv was taken as described previously ( van haaften et al ., 2006 ). rats were followed by serial echocardiography at 10 , 12 , 15 , 16 , 18 , 19 and 21 weeks of age and sacrificed at 15 - 18 weeks upon clinical signs of heart failure ( heart failure - prone / hf - prone rats ) or at 21 weeks when clinical signs of failure had not appeared ( compensated / comp rats ). total rna was isolated from lv biopsies and amplified as previously described ( schroen et al ., 2004 ; heymans et al ., 2005 ), hybridized to affymetrix rat 230 2 . 0 genechips and analyzed with microarray analysis suite software 5 . 0 . lv protein extracts ( 50 μg ) were immunoblotted with polyclonal rabbit anti - limp - 2 ( novus biologicals , littleton , colo ., 1 : 500 ) and polyclonal rabbit anti - gapdh ( abcam , leusden , netherlands ; 1 : 10 , 000 ). ten - to twelve - week - old male limp - 2 ko and wt c57 / b16 mice weighing 20 - 25 grams were used . to study blood pressure effects of angii , arterial pressures were monitored during intravenous infusions at doses of 0 . 5 , 1 . 5 , 5 , 15 , and 50 ng per minute . to study development of lv hypertrophy , angii ( 1 . 5 μg / g / day ) was infused subcutaneously by osmotic minipump 2004 ( alzet osmotic pumps , cupertino , calif .) for 28 days . echocardiography was performed at day 0 , day 14 and day 28 . at day 28 , mice were hemodynamically monitored ( dp / dt ) using millar ® under basal and dobutamin - stimulated conditions ; afterward , lvs were removed . rna was isolated with rneasy mini kit ( qiagen , valencia , calif .) and sybr green quantitative pcr analysis was performed on a biorad icycler to determine bnp , anf and alpha - skeletal actin ( aska ) expression ( table 1 ). lv sections were stained with hematoxylin - eosin ( he ) and picro serious red ( sr ) as described before ( junqueira et al ., 1979 ), or were immunohistochemically stained with monoclonal mouse anti - pan - cadherin ( sigma , saint louis , usa ; 1 : 500 ) and monoclonal mouse anti - human desmin ( dako cytomation , denmark , 1 : 50 ). ultrastructural analysis was performed by transmission electron microscopy as described previously ( schroen et al ., 2004 ). rna was isolated from transmural biopsies obtained from 20 aortic stenosis patients and seven non - hypertrophic control patients as described before ( heymans et al ., 2005 ), and sybr green quantitative pcr analysis was performed to determine limp - 2 expression ( table 1 ). double immunofluorescent stainings with rabbit anti - limp - 2 ( 1 : 250 , cy2 ) and mouse anti - pan - cadherin ( 1 : 500 , cy3 ) were done on sections of one control subject and two patients that died of overt heart failure , as defined by an ejection fraction of less than 35 %. nuclear counterparts were stained with topro - 3 ( invitrogen , breda , the netherlands ). sections were imaged with a laser scanning confocal system ( leica , rijswijk , the netherlands ), digitized at a final magnification of × 126 and analyzed with leica confocal software . the ethics committees of the academic hospital maastricht and of university hospital leuven approved the study , and all patients gave informed consent . a rat - limp - 2 shrna expressing lentiviral vector was generated by annealing complementary shlimp - 2 oligonucleotides ( table 1 ) and ligating them into hpai xhoi digested pll3 . 7 puro vector dna ( modified from a kind donation by luk van parijs , massachusetts institute of technology , cambridge , usa ). lentiviral production was performed by co - transfection of 3 μg shlimp - 2 / pll3 . 7 puro or empty pll3 . 7puro and packaging vectors into 293ft cells by lipofectamine 2000 ( invitrogen ) and virus - containing supernatant was harvested after 48 hours . rat ventricular cardiac myocytes ( rcms ) were isolated by enzymatic disassociation of 1 - to 2 - day - old neonatal rats as described previously ( de windt et al ., 1997 ). for lentiviral infection , rcms were plated on gelatinized six - well plates with 5 * 10 5 cells per well , cultured overnight in dmem / m199 ( 4 : 1 ) media supplemented with 10 % horse serum , 5 % newborn calf serum , glucose , gentamycin and arac , and next day infected with shlimp - 2 or empty lentivirus , facilitated by polybrene ( sigma ). after puromycin selection ( 3 μg / ml ), infection efficiencies were above 80 %. after ten culture days , cellular protein was isolated for immunoprecipitation ( ip ) with anti - limp - 2 ( 1 : 100 ), monoclonal mouse anti - pan - cadherin ( sigma , 1 : 100 ) or igg . ip lysates were immunoblotted with monoclonal anti - pan - cadherin ( 1 : 5000 ), polyclonal anti - phospho - beta - catenin ( ser33 / 37 / thr41 ; cell signaling technology , danvers , mass ., usa , 1 : 1000 ) and monoclonal anti - beta - catenin ( bd transduction laboratories , franklin lakes , usa , 1 : 1000 ). for stretch experiments , rcms were cultured on a collagen type i - coated silastic membrane ( specialty manufacturing , inc ., usa ) and subjected to static , equibiaxial stretch during a six - hour period . rna was isolated with rneasy mini kit ( qiagen ) for limp - 2 sybr green quantitative rt - pcr ( table 1 ). all study protocols involving animal experiments were approved by the animal care and use committee of the universiteit maastricht , and were performed according to the official rules formulated in the dutch law on care and use of experimental animals , highly similar to those of the nih . data are presented as average ± sem . the data for each study group were compared using mann whitney or student &# 39 ; s t - test where appropriate . p & lt ; 0 . 05 was considered to be statistically significant . in table 2 , a list is presented of genes differentially expressed in failure - prone as compared to compensated ren - 2 rats . the differential expression of these genes precedes the development of heart failure in ren - 2 rats , because it is derived from cardiac biopsies taken at 10 weeks of age , when all rats still have compensatory hypertrophy . in table 3 , elaborate echocardiographic data are presented of limp - 2 wt and ko mice at baseline , and after 14 and 28 days of angii treatment . cardiac biopsies in ten homozygous ren - 2 rats were obtained at a stage of compensated lv hypertrophy at 10 weeks of age . four rats rapidly progressed toward heart failure within five weeks after the biopsy was taken , while the remaining six rats remained compensated for 11 weeks after biopsy ( fig1 a ). after linear t7 based amplification and subsequent affymetrix 230 2 . 0 gene expression analysis in these biopsies ( geo number gse4286 ), 143 differentially expressed genes that were up - or down - regulated only in the hypertrophied hearts that progressed towards heart failure were identified ( table 2 ). limp - 2 , a lysosomal membrane protein , was one of the up - regulated mrnas in heart failure - prone rats ( fig1 b ), and of particular interest given its ability to interact with thrombospondins ( tsp ) 1 ( crombie et al ., 1998 ) and 2 ( data not shown ), the latter has been shown earlier to be crucial in the transition from hypertrophy towards heart failure . fig1 c shows that limp - 2 protein also has a role in end - stage heart failure in ren - 2 rats . since loss - of - function mutations in lysosomal proteins have been linked to heart failure ( eskelinen et al ., 2003 ; nishino et al ., 2000 ; stypmann et al ., 2002 ), the role of limp - 2 in a mouse model of angiotensin ii - ( angii -) induced hypertension was further investigated . angii was given subcutaneously for four weeks to limp - 2 knockout and control mice . angii treatment resulted in a 30 % increase in lv mass index in wild - type mice , but the hypertrophic response was attenuated in the angii - treated limp - 2 knockout mice ( 14 % increase in lv mass index ; p & lt ; 0 . 01 ) ( fig2 a ). this was confirmed by measurement of individual cardiac myocyte area . lv myocyte area was significantly smaller in angii - treated knockout mice than in angii - treated wt controls ( myocyte area in arbitrary units : 264 ± 42 in angii - treated knockout mice , versus 308 ± 14 in angii - treated wild - types ; p & lt ; 0 . 01 ). in addition , while angii induced comparable increases in perivascular fibrosis in limp - 2 knockout and wild - type mice ( data not shown ), angii induced a massive interstitial fibrotic response in the lv of limp - 2 knockout mice as opposed to wild - type control littermates ( interstitial fibrosis : 15 . 0 ± 6 . 0 % in angii - treated knockout mice versus 1 . 8 ± 0 . 1 % in angii - treated controls ; p & lt ; 0 . 002 ) ( fig3 ). immunohistochemical staining for desmin showed myocyte disarray in angii - treated limp - 2 null mice ( fig4 ). it was confirmed that angii induced a similar blood pressure response in both wild - type and knockout mice ( fig2 b ). despite decreased lv hypertrophy , limp - 2 null mice demonstrated a normal response of the classical markers for hypertrophy brain natriuretic peptide ( bnp ) and atrial natriuretic factor ( anf ) ( fig2 c ), suggesting that the hypertrophic gene expression program was normally initiated upon angii treatment . in contrast , the structural cellular hypertrophy marker alpha - skeletal actin was induced to a significantly lesser extent in angii - treated limp - 2 knockouts as compared to angii - treated wild - types ( fig2 c ), reflecting the reduced hypertrophic response of cardiac myocytes ( stilli et al ., 2006 ). serial echocardiography revealed that angii induced significant cardiac dilatation in angii - treated limp - 2 null mice , whereas angii - treated wild - types showed concentric lv hypertrophy without dilatation ( fig2 d and table 3 ). in addition , angii induced loss of contractile reserve in limp - 2 null mice as demonstrated by a reduced contractile response to dobutamine infusion (+ dp / dt 79 . 8 / second ± 5 . 1 in angii - treated knockout mice versus 100 . 0 / second ± 4 . 0 in angii - treated controls ; p & lt ; 0 . 005 ) ( fig2 e ). taken together , in limp - 2 null mice hypertension did not induce the normal hypertrophic response but rather dilated cardiomyopathy with reactive interstitial fibrosis and loss of cardiac function . the finding that angii - treated limp - 2 null mice failed to mount a hypertrophic response , yet normally induced expression of bnp and anf suggested that limp - 2 is a crucial part of the normal response to mechanical loading . indeed , it was also shown that limp - 2 expression increased significantly after cardiac myocyte stretch in vitro ( p = 0 . 02 ) and also increased in exercise - induced physiological hypertrophy ( p = 0 . 04 ) ( fig5 a and 5b ). to ascertain that limp - 2 is also involved in the human adaptation to cardiac pressure loading , the expression of limp - 2 was analyzed by quantitative rt - pcr in cardiac biopsies of twenty aortic stenosis patients with overt cardiac hypertrophy and seven controls . this experiment showed a significant limp - 2 up - regulation in the hypertrophic hearts of aortic stenosis patients as compared to controls by mann - whitney test ( 1 . 23 - fold ; p = 2 . 3e − 4 ). next , the expression pattern of limp - 2 in pressure - overloaded murine myocardium was analyzed by immunohistochemistry . the protein is expressed , as expected , in intracellular vacuole - shaped compartments of cardiac myocytes and endothelial cells , but was also found to be atypically distributed on the plasma membrane of cardiac myocytes ( fig6 a ). immuno - electron microscopy confirmed this finding ( fig6 b ). strikingly , electron - microscopy of angii - treated limp - 2 knockout and control left ventricular sections revealed abnormal morphology of the id in limp - 2 null mice , suggesting that limp - 2 may be involved in normal id biology . at cell - cell contacts , the membrane at the angii - treated ko - id showed a higher degree of convolution with a higher concentration of adherens junction proteins ( fig6 c ), indicative of disturbed id architecture ( perriard et al ., 2003 ). since alterations in the id have been shown to cause dilated cardiomyopathy ( perriard et al ., 2003 ), it was surmised that limp - 2 may be crucial for proper functioning of the id . immunoprecipitation of neonatal rat cardiac myocytes protein showed that limp - 2 physically interacts with n - cadherin , a vital constituent of adherens junctions ( fig7 a ). this finding was translated to the human situation as confocal microscopy of control as well as failing human myocardium confirmed the interaction between cadherin and limp - 2 and showed that this interaction takes place at the site of the id , where cadherin and limp - 2 co - localize ( fig7 b ). this suggested that limp - 2 may be important for proper id function by mediating the role of cadherin . indeed , histochemical analysis of cadherin in hearts of limp - 2 null mice showed aberrant cadherin distribution ( fig7 c ), but normal distribution in angii - treated wild - types . angii - treated wild - type mice show cadherin expression at the contact sites between two longitudinal cardiac myocytes , while this expression is less organized and more diffuse in cardiac myocytes of angii - treated limp - 2 knockout mice . these data establish that limp - 2 is crucial for the proper structural organization of the intercalated disc . to identify which regulatory mechanism depends on limp - 2 , lentivirally introduced short - hairpin rna against limp - 2 ( shlimp - 2 ) was used to obtain a separate model of limp - 2 inactivation in neonatal rat cardiac myocytes . after ten days of culture , limp - 2 protein expression was diminished by 92 % in shlimp - 2 - treated cardiac myocytes as compared to control - treated cardiac myocytes ( fig8 a ). it has been reported that the functional integrity of the intercalated disc depends on the proper interaction between p ( ser37 )- β - catenin and cadherin . therefore , it was investigated whether the absence of limp - 2 affected the binding of p - β - catenin to cadherin . immunoprecipitation of cadherin in lysates of cardiac myocytes showed that knock - down of limp - 2 indeed diminished the interaction between p - β - catenin and cadherin ( fig8 b ). immunoprecipitation was specific for cadherin ( fig8 c ). it was demonstrated in this study that the lysosomal protein limp - 2 is an important and novel component of the cardiac myocyte intercalated disc , in particular , adherens junctions . according to the present invention , it has been shown that limp - 2 binds to n - cadherin , and that limp - 2 null mice develop dilated cardiomyopathy upon angii - induced hypertension , accompanied by disturbed localization of n - cadherin in the heart . confirming this in vitro , it was shown that knock - down of limp - 2 in cultured myocytes disturbs interactions between n - cadherin and β - catenin . this suggests that limp - 2 , which was initially known as a lysosomal protein , is an important part of the intercalated disc . limp - 2 stands out among id proteins . complete loss of other major constituents of the id ( cadherin , β - catenin , plakoglobin ) results in lethal developmental cardiac derangements , suggesting that these components of the id are essential for normal cardiac development . in contrast , according to the invention , it was found that limp - 2 null mice have normal cardiac development , but that its loss only affects postnatal cardiac remodeling . this suggests that limp - 2 represents a different type of id protein , whose role is essential mainly under increased loading conditions . this specific role for limp - 2 is underlined by the finding that expression of limp - 2 further rises in hypertrophied rat hearts that are on the brink to progress to failure , which suggests that limp - 2 expression particularly increases in cardiac myocytes that seem unable to normalize loading conditions . taken together , it was suggested that limp - 2 is a novel mediator of id function , and represents a hitherto unidentified class of mediators that are essential for the id and the myocyte to respond to increased loading conditions . limp - 2 increased particularly in those hypertrophied hearts that would later progress to failure , in comparison to the hypertrophied hearts that remained compensated . this indicates that cardiac limp - 2 expression may be an early molecular sign of excessive loading . that limp - 2 constitutes a defensive mechanism against excessive loading is suggested by the finding that when limp - 2 null mice were subjected to pressure loading by chronic angiotensin ii infusion , they developed cardiac dilatation and fibrosis , yet very little cardiac myocyte hypertrophy . natriuretic peptides were normally induced , which suggests that the cardiac myocytes of limp - 2 null mice do sense increased loading conditions , yet fail to mount an adequate hypertrophic response , as evidenced by the attenuated expression of alpha - skeletal actin . this suggests that limp - 2 is essential for a normal response to cardiac loading , and that limp - 2 expression is strongly increased when loading conditions exceed compensatory mechanisms . these findings were translated to the human situation , which showed that limp - 2 is also robustly increased in patients with clinically severe pressure loading . taken together , limp - 2 is a novel constituent of the id and seems to represent a novel type of id protein , essential for the response to loading rather than for normal cardiac function . intercalated disc abnormalities were documented in pressure - loaded limp - 2 null mice , characteristic of a disturbed cardiac intercalated disc , which normally acts to organize adjoining myocytes . remodeling of the intercalated disc has been shown previously during the transition from compensated lv hypertrophy towards heart failure , while structural perturbations of the intercalated disc have been linked to dilated cardiomyopathy in humans , hamsters and pigs . it was shown that limp - 2 binds n - cadherin , suggesting a role for limp - 2 via this id constituent . indeed , pressure - overloaded limp - 2 ko mice show abnormal intercalated discs on electron microscopy and their n - cadherin distribution is disturbed , suggesting a defect in the adherens junctions . the strength of adherens junctions is determined by the binding affinity between n - cadherin and β - catenin ( gumbiner et al ., 2000 ), which is regulated by phosphorylation of the latter . it was shown in vitro by knock down of limp - 2 in cultured myocytes , that loss of limp - 2 disturbs this n - cadherin / β - catenin complex . given the linkage of adherens junctions to myofibrils , a loss of limp - 2 is expected to lead to less efficient force transduction across the plasma membrane ( ferreira et al ., 2002 ). it has been suggested that limp - 2 is essential for the proper binding of n - cadherin to β - catenin , and that this role is particularly important under loading conditions . however , the precise way by which limp - 2 assures binding of n - cadherin to β - catenin remains to be elucidated . limp - 2 contains two transmembrane domains , a cytoplasmic loop and two luminal glycosylated domains . it is known that lysosomal membrane proteins can shuttle between lysosomal and plasma membranes , where limp - 2 can bind to tsp1 and tsp2 ( data not shown ). the latter is intriguing , as it has been documented earlier that tsp2 is also essential for the response to cardiac pressure loading and increases in failure - prone forms of lv hypertrophy ( schroen et al ., 2004 ). this suggests that both limp - 2 and tsp2 may be part of a complex that is needed for the cardiac myocyte to mount an adaptive response to loading . according to the present invention , a novel role for limp2 has been uncovered as an important mediator of the id when the myocardium faces increased loading conditions . apart from this novel biological insight , the finding that expression of limp - 2 rises in hypertrophied rat hearts that are on the brink to progress to failure , makes it tempting to speculate that increased limp - 2 expression by cardiac myocytes demonstrates their inability to normalize loading conditions . as such , increased limp - 2 expression may signify imminent failure . since it has been shown that limp - 2 expression is also robustly increased in patients with clinically severe pressure loading , and is located at the plasma membrane , limp - 2 may be an attractive target for molecular imaging to identify already in a very early stage , the myocardium that is about to succumb to the pressure . tgf - beta promotes cardiac hypertrophy by suppressing krüppel - like factor 15 , a novel inhibitor of cardiac hypertrophy eighteen male homozygous ren - 2 rats and five age - matched sprague - dawley ( sd ) ( mollegard breeding center , lille skensveld , denmark ) were studied . three ren - 2 rats were sacrificed at 10 to 12 weeks of age upon clinical signs of heart failure and excluded from the study . from the remaining healthy 15 ren - 2 rats and five sd controls , a biopsy of the left ventricle was taken at 10 weeks of age , as described previously . rats were followed by serial echocardiography at 10 , 12 , 15 , 16 , 18 , 19 and 21 weeks of age as described above . nine ren - 2 rats were sacrificed at 15 to 18 weeks of age upon clinical signs of heart failure and designated “ heart failure - prone ” rats . the remaining six ren - 2 rats were monitored and sacrificed at 21 weeks when clinical signs of failure had not appeared , and they were designated “ compensated ” rats . total rna was isolated and amplified as previously described from lv biopsies taken at 10 weeks of age of four sd controls , of six rats that remained compensated and of four heart failure - prone rats . amplified crna was then hybridized to affymetrix rat 230 2 . 0 genechips . gene transcript levels of sd controls , compensated and hf rats were determined with microarray analysis suite software version 5 . 0 ( mas5 . 0 ). lentiviral vectors were generated by annealing complementary shklf - 15 oligonucleotides ( sense 5 ′- gatgtacaccaagagcagc - 3 ′ ( seq id no : 1 ) and antisense 5 ′- gctgctcttggtgtacat - 3 ′ ( seq id no : 2 )) and cloning them into digested pll3 . 7 puro vector dna ( kindly donated by luk van parijs , department of biology , massachusetts institute of technology , cambridge , usa ) using e . coli dh5α - competent cells . constructs were purified using qiagen plasmid midi kit . 293ft cells were cultured in dmem with 10 % fcs , 2 mm l - glut , 10 mm non - essential amino acids , 1 mm sodium pyruvate and pen / strep antibiotics . lentiviral production was performed by co - transfection of 3 μg shklf15 or shtgfb1 / pll3 . 7 puro or empty pll3 . 7 puro and packaging vectors into 293ft cells by lipofectamine 2000 ( invitrogen life technology , breda , the netherlands ) and virus containing supernatant was harvested , filtrated and snap - frozen after 48 hours . neonatal rat ventricular myocytes ( nrvm ) were isolated by enzymatic disassociation of one - to three - day - old neonatal rat hearts as previously described ( schroen et al ., 2004 ). nrvms were cultured in dmem / m199 ( 4 : 1 ) media supplemented with 10 % horse serum ( hs ), 5 % newborn calf serum ( nbcs ), glucose , gentamycin and 2 % antibiotic / antimycotic on a gelatinized six - well plate with 5 * 10 5 cells per well . for shklf15 infection , nrvm were cultured overnight and the next day infected with shklf15 and an empty lentiviral control vector , facilitated by polybrene ( sigma ). after 48 hours , cells were washed free of vector and placed under puromycin selection for another 48 hours . then , cells were kept under quiescent conditions overnight in dmem / m199 ( 4 : 1 ), glucose , gentamycin and 10 % antibiotic / antimycotic . the next day , medium was replaced by medium containing dmem / m199 , glucose , gentamycin , 5 % antibiotic / antimycotic , insulin , l - carnitin and bsa . after one hour , tgf - b ( 10 ng / ml medium ) was added for 1 hour and whereafter rna was isolated using the rneasy mini protocol ( qiagen ) for sybr green quantitative pcr with klf15 or bnp primers ( f 5 ′- gct gct ttg ggc aga aga tag a - 3 ′ ( seq id no : 3 ) or r 5 ′- gcc agg agg tct tcc taa aac a - 3 ′ ( seq id no : 4 ). knock - down efficiency of shklf15 is about 80 % compared to levels in nrvm infected with an empty lentiviral vector . nrvm were isolated as described above . cells were cultured in dmem / m199 ( 4 : 1 ) media supplemented with 10 % horse serum ( hs ), 5 % newborn calf serum ( nbcs ), glucose , gentamycin and 2 % antibiotic / antimycotic on a gelatinized six - well plate with 5 * 10 5 cells per well . for shklf15 infection , nrvm were cultured overnight and the next day infected with shklf15 and an empty lentiviral control vector , facilitated by polybrene ( sigma ). after 48 hours , cells were washed free of vector and placed under puromycin selection for another 48 hours . a mef2 reporter plasmid ( pgl2 - 3 × mef2 - luciferase ) containing three mef2 binding sites cloned upstream of the tata - box and luciferase in the cells via transient transfection . cells were washed and per well , 1 . 6 μg of the mef2 construct was added together with opti - mem i media ( invitrogen ) and lipofectamine 2000 , and antibiotics free media . the next morning , cells were washed and placed under normal culture media for another two days . cells were kept overnight under low serum conditions ( see above ) and the next morning angii ( x grams / nil ) was added for 4 hours . the luciferase assay was performed using the luciferase assay protocol ( promega ). tgfβri f / f mice ( c57b1 / 6 background ) generated by flanking exon 3 of tgfβri with lox - p site ( sohal et al ., 2001 ) were crossed with mice ( c57b1 / 6 fvb background ) containing cre - recombinase under the control of α - mhc promoter ( mercremer cre / wt ( larsson et al .) to generate heterozygous double transgenic mice that contained tgfβri fl / wtcre genes . these mice were then back - crossed with tgfβri f / f mice resulting in a colony with tgfβri f / cre and tgfβri f / wcre in a mixed background of c57b1 / 6 fvb , and c57bl / 6 . dna was isolated from the mouse tail using genomic dna purification kit ( promega ) according to the manufacturer &# 39 ; s instruction . we used pcr to assess the genotype of tβri flox mice , using the three primers , 5 - atg agt tat tag aag ttg ttt ( seq id no : 5 ), 3 ′- acc ctc tca ctc ttc ctg agt ( seq id no : 6 ), and 3 ′- gga act ggg aaa gga gat aac ( seq id no : 7 ) as previously described ( sohal et al ., 2001 ). to induce α - mhc - coupled cre recombinase in cardiomyocytes , adult tgfβri f / fcre and tgfβri f / wtcre double transgenic mice were treated with tamoxifen ( sigma ) at a dose of 20 mg / kg per day for seven days by subcutaneous insertion of mini - osmotic pumps ( alzet , model 2001 ). a group of wild - type mice was treated with tamoxifen to check whether tamoxifen itself had any effects on cardiac morphology and function . tamoxifen was dissolved in 10 % ethanol and 90 % polyethyleneglycol - 400 followed by a brief sonification . mice were allowed to recover for two weeks prior to treatment with ang ii or vehicle . mice of either sex weighing 24 - 32 g were anesthetized with 2 . 5 % isofluorane . under sterile conditions , a midscapular incision was made , a pocket was created in the subcutaneous tissue by a blunt dissection and a mini - osmotic pump ( alzet model 2004 ; alza corp ., palo alto , calif ., usa ) filled with saline or ang ii ( 0 . 5 mg / kg / day ) was inserted . the contents of the mini - osmotic pump were delivered into the local subcutaneous space at a rate of 0 . 25 μl / hour for four weeks . in each group , seven to nine mice were recruited for experiments and at least five mice from each group completed the experiments . all the dropouts were due to death from anesthesia except three animals in which lv catheterization did not succeed . transthoracic echocardiography was performed preoperatively and after four weeks of angii infusion in wild - type tgfβri −/− and tgfβrl −/+ mice under 2 . 5 % isofluorane anesthesia . standard views were obtained in 2d - echocardiography , end - diastolic and end - systolic internal diameters were measured and ejection fraction and fractional shortening were calculated . mice were anesthetized with intraperitoneal injection of urethan . a millar ( 1 . 4 f ) catheter ( millar instruments inc ., houston , tex ., usa ) was placed in the right common carotid artery and advanced into the left ventricle for the measurement of left intraventricular pressure . body temperature was maintained at 37 ° c . using a thermally controlled surgical table and monitored with a rectal probe . the mice were then allowed to stabilize for 30 minutes prior to hemodynamic measurements . following hemodynamic measurements , hearts were rapidly excised , washed in 0 . 9 % sodium chloride solution , atria were removed and the ventricles were cut into pieces . for rna and protein isolation , samples were snap frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored in − 80 ° c . for histological analysis , left ventricles were fixed in paraformaldehyde ( 1 %) and embedded in paraffin . for the visualization of total collagen , picrosirius staining was performed as described previously . p38 was localized by immunostaining using anti - p38 antibody according to the manufacturer &# 39 ; s instruction ( cell signaling technology , leusden , the netherlands ). frozen ventricles were crushed and homogenized in radioimmunoassay buffer according to the standard protocol ( santacruz biotechnology , leiden , the netherlands ). western blotting was performed using specific antibodies against tβri ( 1 : 1000 ), total and phospho ( p )- smad2 , total and p - p38 ( 1 : 1000 , cell signaling technology , leusden , the netherlands ), p - smad3 ( 1 : 5000 , a kind gift from professor e . leof and dr . m . wilkes , mayo clinic cancer research , rochester , minn ., usa ), collagen i ( 1 : 3000 ) and iii ( 1 : 500 ) antibodies ( abeam , leusden , the netherlands ). cardiac tissue sections were deparaffinized and rehydrated and antigen retrieval tissue was incubated overnight with the primary antibody ( rabbit anti tgfβ receptor 1 ( santa cruz sc - 398 ) and subsequently the secondary antibody ( goat anti rabbit - biotine ( dakocytomation e0432 ), whereafter they were treated with streptavidin - horseradish peroxidase ( renaissance tsa ™ biotin system , perkin elmer precisely , tyramide signal amplification kit ). all study protocols described above involving animal experiments were approved by the animal care and use committee of the maastricht university , and were performed according to the official rules formulated in the dutch law on care and use of experimental animals , highly similar to those of the nih . data are shown as mean ± sem . unpaired t - test was performed to compare the difference between the means of ang ii / tgfβ / shklf15 and vehicle - treated animals and cells . p - values of ≦ 0 . 05 were considered statistically significant . it has previously been shown that the outbred homozygous hypertensive tgr ( mren2 ) 27 rat ( ren - 2 ) enables study of the transition from hypertrophy towards heart failure ( schroen et al ., 2004 ). myocardial biopsies obtained at the age of ten weeks were used to investigate whether altered gene expression can predict which rat later will later progress to heart failure . expression profiling of these biopsies revealed that suppression of the gene coding for krüppel - like factor 15 ( klf15 ) characterized the hypertrophied hearts that would quickly progress to failure . this was confirmed by real - time pcr , which showed that klf15 was down - regulated in compensated lvh , but that it was significantly further suppressed in the hypertrophied hearts that quickly progressed to failure ( fig9 a ). in situ hybridization showed that expression of klf15 was particularly down - regulated in cardiac myocytes ( fig9 b ). these findings extend earlier observations that klf15 is constitutively expressed in the heart , but down - regulated in hypertrophy . that more intense suppression of klf15 preceded the transition toward heart failure has led to the suggestion that klf15 has important protective properties . to explore the functional role of klf15 , a short hairpin rna ( shrna ) against klf15 was stably introduced . spontaneous expression of bnp , a molecular hallmark of the hypertrophy gene program , was induced more than ten - fold upon shrna - mediated suppression of klf15 in cultured cardiac myocytes ( fig9 c ). this suggests that the constitutive presence of klf15 is important to prevent the expression of the hypertrophy gene program . in a parallel study , it has been shown that klf15 null mice develop hypertrophy and cardiac function loss upon pressure loading , underlining that constitutively expressed klf15 is essential to protect against maladaptive forms of lvh . to explore the mechanism by which klf15 can repress the hypertrophy gene program , its role in activation of mef2 was studied . mef2 is a target for hypertrophic signaling conveyed by the calcineurin and the mapk pathway and is recognized as one of the crucial transcriptional activators of the hypertrophy gene program . a mef2 reporter construct was used to address whether altered levels of klf15 affect mef2 activity in cardiac myocytes . this reporter only weakly responds to stimulation by mef2 ( creemers , olson unpublished data ). indeed , only minor increases in mef2 activity were observed in response to angiotensin ii . however , knockdown of klf15 significantly increased mef2 activity ( fig9 d ), suggesting that klf15 acts as a repressor of mef2 . it was next sought to explore which mechanism suppresses klf15 in cardiac myocytes . therefore , known mediators of cardiac hypertrophy were screened for their ability to inhibit klf15 expression in cardiac myocytes . in cultured cardiac myocytes , tgfβ very robustly suppressed klf15 , so that expression of klf15 was almost completely abolished after addition of tgfβ . knockdown of the tgfβ type i receptor by inhibitory rna prevented the suppression of klf15 by tgfβ ( fig1 a ), demonstrating that classical tgfβ signaling involving its type i receptor is essential for this effect . therefore , to address the regulation of klf15 by the tgfβ type i receptor , in vivo mice carrying a floxed tgfβ receptor type i gene , combined with the mercremer allele , were generated , which allows activation of cre specifically in cardiac myocytes by administration of tamoxifen ( larsson et al ., sohal et al ., 2001 ). this allowed deletion of the tgfβ type i receptor specifically in cardiac myocytes in adult mice , avoiding the developmental effects of an embryonic loss of the tgfβ i receptor . hypertension was induced by chronic angiotensin ii infusion as described above in these mice to provoke hypertrophy and down - regulation of klf15 . western blotting of whole heart homogenate revealed a significant down - regulation of the tgfβ type i receptor ( fig1 b ). immunohistochemistry confirmed the myocyte - specific down - regulation of the tgfβ type i receptor , and showed the expression of this receptor in other cell types explaining the residual signal of the tgfβ type i receptor found in the whole heart homogenate ( fig1 c ). angiotensin ii induced lvh in wild - type mice , but the development of lvh was prevented in the mercremer - tgfβ type i mice . while in wt mice angiotensin ii decreased fractional shortening , fractional shortening remained preserved in the mercremer - tgfβ type i mice . this indicates that loss of the tgfβ type i receptor from cardiac myocytes can prevent hypertension - induced hypertrophy and function loss . as expected , the expression of klf15 was suppressed in the hypertrophied hearts from wt mice , but this suppression was absent in the hearts of mercremer - tgfβ type i mice ( fig1 f ). this shows that the tgfβ type i receptor on cardiac myocytes is important for the development of hypertensive hypertrophy , and at the same time for the suppression of klf15 . taken together , klf15 is the first krüppel - like factor to have a role in cardiac myocytes as a suppressor of cardiac hypertrophy . klf15 inhibits mef2 and parallel work shows it inhibits other prohypertrophic transcription factors like gat4 as well . consequently , it is conceivable that loss of klf15 very robustly induces hypertrophic gene expression and is related to an adverse outcome . suppression of klf15 may , therefore , be a novel and crucial step in the development of failure prone forms of hypertrophy . it has been shown that tgfβ very robustly can suppress klf15 . inhibitors of tgfβ , which are currently being developed in different fields , thus may have unexpected therapeutic potential as to prevent cardiac hypertrophy from progressing toward heart failure . the heart hypertrophies in response to loading and injury , which often progresses towards overt heart failure . according to the present invention , a novel mechanism in this process is unveiled , where the cytokine tgfβ suppresses a novel inhibitor of hypertrophy , krüppel - like factor 15 ( klf - 15 ). loss of the tgfβ type i receptor in vivo and in vitro prevents the suppression of klf - 15 and the development of cardiac hypertrophy and failure . the finding that tgfβ can hinder this novel mechanism that suppresses cardiac hypertrophy , opens exciting possibilities for inhibition of tgfβ signaling to prevent adverse forms of cardiac hypertrophy . according to the invention , it has been shown that the zinc - finger transcription factor , krüppel - like factor 15 ( klf - 15 ), is a potent transcriptional repressor of lv hypertrophy . gene - targeting studies showed that klf15 null mice develop normally , but in response to pressure overload , develop an exaggerated form of cardiac hypertrophy , characterized by increased heart weight , increased expression of hypertrophic genes , left ventricular cavity dilatation with increased myocyte size and reduced left ventricular systolic function . all together , these studies demonstrate a role for klf15 in lv hypertrophy , in vivo . interestingly , klf15 is down - regulated in several forms of pathological but not physiological hypertrophy , indicating that klf15 is a regulator of pathological hypertrophy , but not of physiological hypertrophy . the fact that klf15 counteracts hypertrophy and the additional observation that klf15 is significantly down - regulated in pathological hypertrophy and heart failure led to the exciting possibility that interventions aimed at preventing the decrease of klf15 levels could prevent or even reverse pathological growth . to test the intriguing possibility that preventing the loss of klf15 during pathological hypertrophy may limit pathological growth of the heart , klf15 was over - expressed specifically in the mouse heart using recombinant adeno - associated virus ( raav )- mediated gene delivery under the control of the cardiac troponin i promoter ( vandedriessche et al ., 2007 ). in particular , raav9 vectors have been shown to achieve a robust increase of transgene expression in cardiac tissue for several weeks following intravenous administration . mice were intravenously injected with 1 × 10 10 vg aav9 - klf15 or aav9 - gfp , after which hypertrophy was induced by angiotensin ii ( angii ) treatment ( four weeks , through osmotic mini - pumps ). as shown in fig1 ( upper panel ), klf15 was over - expressed in the heart . strikingly , mice allocated to aav9 - klf15 gene transfer developed significantly less hypertrophy upon angii stimulation , compared to angii - treated mice that received aav9 - gfp . ( see fig1 , lower panel .) together , these data show that forced expression of klf - 15 in cardiac myocytes suffices to reduce cardiac hypertrophy . loss of klf15 is a vital step in the development of hypertrophy and the transition toward heart failure . the observation that cardiac over - expression of klf15 inhibits the development of pathological hypertrophy opens exciting possibilities for strategies that prevent the down - regulation of klf15 in vivo to prevent hypertrophy and subsequent heart failure . a housekeeping genes : cyclophilin a ( ppia ), glyceraldehyde 3 - phosphate dehydrogenase ( gapdh ), phosphoglycerate kinase 1 ( pgk - 1 ) c fold - change , fold - change in gene expression of failure - prone ren - 2 rats as compared to compensated ren - 2 rats . for example , negative sign means down - regulated in failure - prone ren - 2 rats . d gene name , name of gene associated with the probe set id	0
persons of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following description of the present invention is illustrative only and not in any way limiting . other embodiments of the invention will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons . referring now to fig2 , a diagram depicting a 3 × 3 pixel neighborhood in a digital image , showing red , green , and blue pixel data and including defective pixels in each color channel can be utilized to illustrate methods for defective pixel correction in accordance with the present invention . in fig2 , red channel pixels r 1 and r 5 are assumed to be defective ; green channel pixel g 3 is assumed to be defective ; and blue channel pixels b 3 and b 8 are assumed to be defective as indicated by the “ x ” designations in the lower right - hand corners of those pixels . according to a first aspect of the present invention , the substitute value for pixel r 5 may be computed using available pixels in the red and green channels as : r 5 = g 5 +(( r 2 − g 2 )+( r 4 − g 4 )+( r 6 − g 6 )+( r 7 − g 7 )+( r 8 − g 8 )+( r 9 − g 9 ))/ 6 ( 3 ) alternately , the substitute value for pixel r 5 may be computed using available pixels in the red and blue channels as : r 5 = b 5 +(( r 2 − b 2 )+( r 4 − b 4 )+( r 6 − b 6 )+( r 7 − b 7 )+( r 9 ))/ 5 ( 4 ) from an examination of the two above examples using the green and blue channels for color correction , it may be seen that , when using the green channel , there are six available terms because the red and green channels both have good pixels in positions 2 , 4 , 6 , 7 , 8 , and 9 of the neighborhood . when using the blue channel , there are only five available terms because the red and blue channels both have good pixels in positions 2 , 4 , 6 , 7 , and 9 of the neighborhood . combining all the available information in all three color channels , the substitute value for r 5 may be computed as : r 5 =[( g 5 + σ ( ri − gi )/ 6 )+( b 5 + σ ( rj − bj )/ 5 ]/ 2 , for i = 2 , 4 , 6 , 7 , 9 and j = 2 , 4 , 6 , 7 , 9 ( 5 ) in a slightly less complicated version of this algorithm , good pixel data from both the green and blue channels may be used in computing the substitute value for pixel r 5 as follows : r 5 =[( g 5 + σ ( ri − gi )/ 5 )+( b 5 + σ ( ri − bi )/ 5 )]/ 2 , for i = 2 , 4 , 6 , 7 , 9 ( 6 ) in its simplest form , the color - correlation driven defective pixel correction operation of the present invention can be mathematically written in general as follows : where k denotes the color channel to be corrected ( e . g ., k = 1 for red ) and c denotes the non - defective reference channel ( e . g ., k = 2 for green in this example ). the term b ( i , j ) denotes the defective pixel flag set as b ( i , j ) = min ( b ( i , j ) k , b ( i , j ) c ) or b ( i , j ) = min ( b ( i , j ) 1 , b ( i , j ) 2 , b ( i , j ) 3 ) during sensor calibration . the data averaging operation is performed on color differences instead of directly on color components . since color difference signals are low - pass in their nature , averaging color differences usually produces smaller processing error than the equivalent operation performed on pixel intensities , which is particularly true in image areas with edges and details . the high frequency content of the kth color channel is restored by adding the non - defective component x ( r , s ) c from the reference color channel to the average color difference value . note that if two non - defective color components are available , then the final value of corrected color components can be obtained as the combination of two y ( r , s ) k values obtained using equation ( 7 ) for two difference values of c ( e . g ., c = 1 and c = 2 for good red and green channels used to correct blue channel , i . e ., k = 3 ). the defective pixel correction framework according to the present invention allows combining simultaneously the spatial , spectral , and structural image characteristics . similar to equations ( 2 ) and ( 7 ), the spatial characteristics are considered by operating on samples inside the neighborhood ζ whereas similar to equation ( 7 ) spectral characteristics are considered by making the use of color difference signals . structural characteristics reflect the presence of edges and details in the image and these characteristics can be addressed in the calculations through the use of edge - sensitive weights as follows : r 5 =[( g 5 + σwi ( ri − gi )/ σ wi )+( b 5 + σwi ( ri − bi )/ σ wi )]/ 2 , for i = 2 , 4 , 6 , 7 , 9 ( 8 ) in general , the algorithm of equation ( 8 ) may be generally expressed as follows : in a straightforward way , the weights w ( i , j ) can be estimated using any common edge detection algorithm applied to either one or two non - defective color channels . for example , in one possible implementation , the edge - sensitive weights will be fairly small if the pixels associated with these weights are too different from other pixels inside a 3 × 3 pixel neighborhood . note that all solutions constructed within the presented framework can be used in a recursive mode , that is , the actual pixel can be corrected using both non - defective and previously corrected pixels located inside ζ . a straightforward alternative to the solution in equation ( 9 ) is to replace the addition and subtraction operations with multiplication and division , respectively . such an alternative can be generally expressed as follows : more specifically , given the example depicted in equation ( 4 ), the substitute value of the defective pixel can be obtained using color ratios as follows : r 5 = b 5 ×(( r 2 / b 2 )+( r 4 / b 4 )+( r 4 / b 4 )+( r 6 / b 6 )+( r 7 / b 7 )+( r 9 / b 9 ))/ 5 ( 11 ) applying this concept to any above - presented color - difference formulation is straightforward . however , it should be noted that a color - ratio based solution may be more difficult to implement than its color - difference based variant . fig3 to 8 are flow charts that illustrate exemplary processes for replacing defective pixel data in accordance with the present invention . persons skilled in the art will appreciate that the following examples are exemplary only and do not represent all possible methods of replacing defective pixel data in accordance with the present invention . referring now to fig3 , a flow diagram illustrates the above - described exemplary method for defective pixel correction in accordance with the present invention . first , at reference numeral 10 a pixel and the data of one of the color channels in the pixel are selected . next , at reference numeral 12 , it is determined whether the selected pixel data in the selected color channel is defective . this may be done by examining the defective pixel map or list , or by other means known in the art . at reference numeral 14 , a group of neighboring pixels surrounding the selected pixel is defined . in a presently - preferred embodiment , this neighborhood may be defined as a 3 × 3 group of neighboring pixels with the selected pixel in the center . persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the pixel neighborhood could be defined in other ways using a fewer or greater number of pixels surrounding the selected pixel . such skilled persons will also appreciate that for pixels located at the edges of an image , there will not be adjacent available pixels to one side ( either top , bottom , left , or right ) or in the corner of the image to even two sides ( either top - left , top - right , bottom - left , or bottom right ) of the selected pixel that can be used for correction ., in such cases , the methods of the present invention can be implemented using the data available from the existing adjacent pixels or the edge pixels can be ignored . at reference numeral 16 it is determined whether there is a reference color channel for the pixel containing good pixel data . for example , if the red color channel of the selected pixel is being processed , it is determined whether the data in either of the blue or green color channels is good data . if it is determined that there is no good reference channel pixel , the process proceeds to reference numeral 18 , where a process , such as calculating the average value of the good pixels in the selected color channel defined neighborhood , is performed to generate substitute data for the defective pixel . the process proceeds to reference numeral 20 where the generated substitute data is used to replace the defective pixel data . if , at reference numeral 16 , it is determined that there is a reference color channel in the selected pixel having good data , the process proceeds to reference numeral 22 , where data in the selected color channel and the reference color channel from all of the available neighboring pixels ( i . e ., only pixels with good data ) is processed to compute the sum of the differences between the good data in the selected color channel and the data in the reference color channel . in general , there will be an integer m equal to the number of neighboring pixels that have good data in both the selected color channel and the reference color channel . at reference numeral 24 , the sum of the differences divided by m is added to the good data value from the reference color channel of the selected pixel to obtain a data substitution value . next , at reference numeral 20 , the defective pixel data value is replaced with the substitution data value . at reference numeral 26 , it is determined whether all pixels have been processed . if all pixels have been processed , the process ends at reference numeral 28 . if all pixels have not yet been processed , the process returns to reference numeral 10 , where another pixel is selected for review . referring now to fig4 , a flow diagram illustrates another exemplary method for defective pixel correction in accordance with the present invention . first , at reference numeral 30 a pixel and the data of one of the color channels in the pixel are selected . next , at reference numeral 32 , it is determined whether the selected pixel data in the selected color channel is defective . this may be done by examining the defective pixel map or list , or by other means known in the art . at reference numeral 34 , a group of neighboring pixels surrounding the selected pixel is defined . in a presently - preferred embodiment , this neighborhood may be defined as a 3 × 3 group of neighboring pixels with the selected pixel in the center . persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the pixel neighborhood could be defined in other ways using a fewer or greater number of pixels surrounding the selected pixel . at reference numeral 36 it is determined whether there is a reference color channel for the pixel containing good pixel data . for example , if the red color channel of the selected pixel is being processed , it is determined whether the data in either of the blue or green color channels is good data . if it is determined that there is no good reference channel pixel , the process proceeds to reference numeral 38 , where a process , such as calculating the average value of the good pixels in the selected color channel defined neighborhood , is performed to generate substitute data for the defective pixel . the process proceeds to reference numeral 40 where the generated substitute data is used to replace the defective pixel data . if , at reference numeral 36 , it is determined that there is a reference color channel in the selected pixel having good data , the process proceeds to reference numeral 42 , where data in the selected color channel and the reference color channel from all of the available neighboring pixels ( i . e ., only pixels with good data ) is processed to compute the weighted sum of the differences between the good data in the selected color channel and the data in the reference color channel . in general , there will be an integer m equal to the number of neighboring pixels that have good data in both the selected color channel and the reference color channel . at reference numeral 44 , the weighted sum of the differences divided by the sum of weights is added to the good data value from the reference color channel of the selected pixel to obtain a data substitution value . as will be appreciated by persons of ordinary skill in the art , various weighting factors may be employed in accordance with the instant invention . as non - limiting examples , weighting factor w i may be calculated as : as another non - limiting example , weighting factor w i may be calculated as : in these examples , k denotes a predetermined constant or scaling factor . the terms p 5 an pi can denote the available data in the reference color channel , for example . next , at reference numeral 40 , the defective pixel data value is replaced with the substitution data value . at reference numeral 46 , it is determined whether all pixels have been processed . if all pixels have been processed , the process ends at reference numeral 48 . if all pixels have not yet been processed , the process returns to reference numeral 30 , where another pixel is selected for review . referring now to fig5 , a flow diagram illustrates another exemplary method for defective pixel correction in accordance with the present invention . in the example of fig5 , data from two reference color channels is used if the data is available . first , at reference numeral 50 a pixel and the data of one of the color channels in the pixel are selected . next , at reference numeral 52 , it is determined whether the selected pixel data in the selected color channel is defective . this may be done by examining the defective pixel map or list , or by other means known in the art . at reference numeral 54 , a group of neighboring pixels surrounding the selected pixel is defined . in a presently - preferred embodiment , this neighborhood may be defined as a 3 × 3 group of neighboring pixels with the selected pixel in the center . persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the pixel neighborhood could be defined in other ways using a fewer or greater number of pixels surrounding the selected pixel . at reference numeral 56 it is determined whether there is a first reference color channel for the pixel containing good pixel data . for example , if the red color channel of the selected pixel is being processed , it is determined whether the data in either of the blue or green color channels is good data . if it is determined that there is no good reference channel pixel , the process proceeds to reference numeral 58 , where a process , such as calculating the average value of the good pixels in the selected color channel defined neighborhood , is performed to generate substitute data for the defective pixel . the process proceeds to reference numeral 60 where the generated substitute data is used to replace the defective pixel data . if , at reference numeral 56 , it is determined that there is a first reference color channel in the selected pixel having good data , the process proceeds to reference numeral 62 , where data in the selected color channel and the first reference color channel from all of the available neighboring pixels ( i . e ., only pixels with good data ) is processed to compute the sum of the differences between the good data in the selected color channel and the data in the first reference color channel . in general , there will be an integer m equal to the number of neighboring pixels that have good data in both the selected color channel and the first reference color channel . at reference numeral 64 , the sum of the differences divided by m is added to the good data value from the reference color channel of the selected pixel to obtain a first result . next , at reference numeral 66 , it is determined whether there is a second reference color channel for the pixel containing good pixel data . if it is determined that there is no good second reference color channel that contains good data for the selected pixel , the process proceeds to reference numeral 68 , where the first result from reference numeral 64 is used as the substitute data for the defective pixel . the process proceeds to reference numeral 60 where the substitute data is used to replace the defective pixel data . if , at reference numeral 66 , it is determined that there is a second reference color channel for the pixel containing good pixel data , the process proceeds to reference numeral the process proceeds to reference numeral 70 , where data in the selected color channel and the second reference color channel from all of the available neighboring pixels ( i . e ., only pixels with good data ) is processed to compute the sum of the differences between the good data in the selected color channel and the data in the second reference color channel . in general , there will be an integer n equal to the number of neighboring pixels that have good data in both the selected color channel and the first reference color channel . at reference numeral 72 , the sum of the differences divided by n is added to the good data value from the reference color channel of the selected pixel to obtain a second result . at reference numeral 74 , the sum of the first and second results is computed . the sum is then divided by two to obtain a substitution data value . next , at reference numeral 60 , the defective pixel data value is replaced with the substitution data value generated at reference numeral 74 . finally , at reference numeral 76 , it is determined whether all pixels have been processed . if all pixels have been processed , the process ends at reference numeral 78 . if all pixels have not yet been processed , the process returns to reference numeral 50 , where another pixel is selected for review . according to another aspect of the present invention illustrated with reference to fig6 , 7 , and 8 , either a sum or a weighted sum of color ratios of good neighboring pixels in the color channel containing the defective pixel and the good pixels in at least one other color channel is computed and used to provide the substitute value for the defective pixel . referring now to fig6 , a flow diagram illustrates the above - described exemplary method for defective pixel correction in accordance with the present invention . first , at reference numeral 80 a pixel and the data of one of the color channels in the pixel are selected . next , at reference numeral 82 , it is determined whether the selected pixel data in the selected color channel is defective . this may be done by examining the defective pixel map or list , or by other means known in the art . at reference numeral 84 , a group of neighboring pixels surrounding the selected pixel is defined . in a presently - preferred embodiment , this neighborhood may be defined as a 3 × 3 group of neighboring pixels with the selected pixel in the center . persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the pixel neighborhood could be defined in other ways using a fewer or greater number of pixels surrounding the selected pixel . such skilled persons will also appreciate that for pixels located at the edges of an image , there will not be adjacent available pixels to one side ( either top , bottom , left , or right ) or in the corner of the image to even two sides ( either top - left , top - right , bottom - left , or bottom right ) of the selected pixel that can be used for correction . in such cases , the methods of the present invention can be implemented using the data available from the existing adjacent pixels or the edge pixels can be ignored . at reference numeral 86 it is determined whether there is a reference color channel for the pixel containing good pixel data . for example , if the red color channel of the selected pixel is being processed , it is determined whether the data in either of the blue or green color channels is good data . if it is determined that there is no good reference channel pixel , the process proceeds to reference numeral 88 , where a process , such as calculating the average value of the good pixels in the selected color channel defined neighborhood , is performed to generate substitute data for the defective pixel . the process proceeds to reference numeral 90 where the generated substitute data is used to replace the defective pixel data . if , at reference numeral 86 , it is determined that there is a reference color channel in the selected pixel having good data , the process proceeds to reference numeral 92 , where data in the selected color channel and the reference color channel from all of the available neighboring pixels ( i . e ., only pixels with good data ) is processed to compute the sum of the ratios between the good data in the selected color channel and the data in the reference color channel . in general , there will be an integer m equal to the number of neighboring pixels that have good data in both the selected color channel and the reference color channel . at reference numeral 94 , the sum of the ratios divided by m is multiplied with the good data value from the reference color channel of the selected pixel to obtain a data substitution value . next , at reference numeral 90 , the defective pixel data value is replaced with the substitution data value . at reference numeral 96 , it is determined whether all pixels have been processed . if all pixels have been processed , the process ends at reference numeral 98 . if all pixels have not yet been processed , the process returns to reference numeral 80 , where another pixel is selected for review . referring now to fig7 , a flow diagram illustrates another exemplary method for defective pixel correction in accordance with the present invention . first , at reference numeral 100 a pixel and the data of one of the color channels in the pixel are selected . next , at reference numeral 102 , it is determined whether the selected pixel data in the selected color channel is defective . this may be done by examining the defective pixel map or list , or by other means known in the art . at reference numeral 104 , a group of neighboring pixels surrounding the selected pixel is defined . in a presently - preferred embodiment , this neighborhood may be defined as a 3 × 3 group of neighboring pixels with the selected pixel in the center . persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the pixel neighborhood could be defined in other ways using a fewer or greater number of pixels surrounding the selected pixel . at reference numeral 106 it is determined whether there is a reference color channel for the pixel containing good pixel data . for example , if the red color channel of the selected pixel is being processed , it is determined whether the data in either of the blue or green color channels is good data . if it is determined that there is no good reference channel pixel , the process proceeds to reference numeral 108 , where a process , such as calculating the average value of the good pixels in the selected color channel defined neighborhood , is performed to generate substitute data for the defective pixel . the process proceeds to reference numeral 110 where the generated substitute data is used to replace the defective pixel data . if , at reference numeral 106 , it is determined that there is a reference color channel in the selected pixel having good data , the process proceeds to reference numeral 112 , where data in the selected color channel and the reference color channel from all of the available neighboring pixels ( i . e ., only pixels with good data ) is processed to compute the weighted sum of the ratios between the good data in the selected color channel and the data in the reference color channel . in general , there will be an integer m equal to the number of neighboring pixels that have good data in both the selected color channel and the reference color channel . at reference numeral 114 , the weighted sum of the ratios divided by the sum of weights is multiplied with the good data value from the reference color channel of the selected pixel to obtain a data substitution value . as will be appreciated by persons of ordinary skill in the art , various weighting factors may also be employed in accordance with this aspect of the instant invention . as non - limiting examples , weighting factor w i may be calculated as in equation ( 12 ) or equation ( 13 ). next , at reference numeral 110 , the defective pixel data value is replaced with the substitution data value . at reference numeral 116 , it is determined whether all pixels have been processed . if all pixels have been processed , the process ends at reference numeral 118 . if all pixels have not yet been processed , the process returns to reference numeral 110 , where another pixel is selected for review . referring now to fig8 , a flow diagram illustrates another exemplary method for defective pixel correction in accordance with the present invention . as in the example of fig5 , data from two reference color channels is used in the example of fig8 if the data is available . first , at reference numeral 120 a pixel and the data of one of the color channels in the pixel are selected . next , at reference numeral 122 , it is determined whether the selected pixel data in the selected color channel is defective . this may be done by examining the defective pixel map or list , or by other means known in the art . at reference numeral 124 , a group of neighboring pixels surrounding the selected pixel is defined . in a presently - preferred embodiment , this neighborhood may be defined as a 3 × 3 group of neighboring pixels with the selected pixel in the center . persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the pixel neighborhood could be defined in other ways using a fewer or greater number of pixels surrounding the selected pixel . at reference numeral 126 it is determined whether there is a first reference color channel for the pixel containing good pixel data . for example , if the red color channel of the selected pixel is being processed , it is determined whether the data in either of the blue or green color channels is good data . if it is determined that there is no good reference channel pixel , the process proceeds to reference numeral 128 , where a process , such as calculating the average value of the good pixels in the selected color channel defined neighborhood , is performed to generate substitute data for the defective pixel . the process proceeds to reference numeral 130 where the generated substitute data is used to replace the defective pixel data . if , at reference numeral 126 , it is determined that there is a first reference color channel in the selected pixel having good data , the process proceeds to reference numeral 132 , where data in the selected color channel and the first reference color channel from all of the available neighboring pixels ( i . e ., only pixels with good data ) is processed to compute the sum of the ratios between the good data in the selected color channel and the data in the first reference color channel . in general , there will be an integer m equal to the number of neighboring pixels that have good data in both the selected color channel and the first reference color channel . at reference numeral 134 , the sum of the ratios divided by m is multiplied with the good data value from the reference color channel of the selected pixel to obtain a first result . next , at reference numeral 136 , it is determined whether there is a second reference color channel for the pixel containing good pixel data . if it is determined that there is no good second reference color channel that contains good data for the selected pixel , the process proceeds to reference numeral 138 , where the first result from reference numeral 134 is used as the substitute data for the defective pixel . the process proceeds to reference numeral 130 where the substitute data is used to replace the defective pixel data . if , at reference numeral 136 , it is determined that there is a second reference color channel for the pixel containing good pixel data , the process proceeds to reference numeral the process proceeds to reference numeral 140 , where data in the selected color channel and the second reference color channel from all of the available neighboring pixels ( i . e ., only pixels with good data ) is processed to compute the sum of the ratios between the good data in the selected color channel and the data in the second reference color channel . in general , there will be an integer n equal to the number of neighboring pixels that have good data in both the selected color channel and the first reference color channel . at reference numeral 142 , the sum of the ratios divided by n is multiplied with the good data value from the reference color channel of the selected pixel to obtain a second result . at reference numeral 144 , the sum of the first and second results is computed . the sum is then divided by two to obtain a substitution data value . next , at reference numeral 130 , the defective pixel data value is replaced with the substitution data value generated at reference numeral 144 . finally , at reference numeral 146 , it is determined whether all pixels have been processed . if all pixels have been processed , the process ends at reference numeral 148 . if all pixels have not yet been processed , the process returns to reference numeral 120 , where another pixel is selected for review . while embodiments and applications of this invention have been shown and described , it would be apparent to those skilled in the art that many more modifications than mentioned above are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein . the invention , therefore , is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims .	6
referring to the drawings there is shown a portion of a frame 10 of an envelope opening machine , said frame having two cylindrical bosses 11 and 12 integrally formed thereon . the first boss 11 rotatably supports a first shaft 13 that has a drive pulley 14 secured to one end thereof , said pulley being adapted to be driven by a belt 15 . a suitable axial thrust washer is provided as indicated at 16 . a first cutting disc 20 is secured to the other end of shaft 13 by any suitable means such as a machine screw 21 and opposed washer 22 and 22a . the disc 20 is formed with a conical periphery 23 which together with the radial inner face 24 of the disc forms a circular outer cutting edge 25 . the second frame boss 12 rotatably supports a second shaft 30 , the latter having a second cutting disc 31 , of smaller diameter than disc 20 , secured to one end thereof by any suitable means such as a screw 32 and a pair of opposed washers 33 , 34 . the disc 31 has a circular cutting edge 35 thereon which is formed in a manner similar to that described above for cutting edge 25 . the shaft 30 is axially and yieldably biased to the left , as is best seen in fig2 by means of spring 36 that surrounds shaft 30 and is disposed between said washer 34 and another washer 37 that abuts the adjacent end of the machine frame boss 12 . an axial retaining clip 40 is secured to the opposite end of shaft 30 . as will be apparent the spring 36 urges shaft 30 axially to the left as seen in fig2 so that the radially outer portion of the radial face 42 of disc 31 engages and cooperates with the corresponding portion of the radial face 24 of disc 20 . when the belt 15 is driven the shaft 13 and the disc 20 will be rotated as indicated by arrow 43 of fig1 and the said peripheral contact between the discs will result in the lower disc being simultaneously rotated whereby a sheet or envelope or the like that is fed between the discs will be cut by the cooperative slitting action of said driven cutting discs 20 and 31 . when the above described cutting apparatus is driven so as to cut sheet material at a relatively rapid rate substantial disc wear occurs and considerable vibrations are generated in the disc 31 and 20 . these conditions if not reduced or eliminated will cause rapid deterioration in the operational efficiency and the effective life of the apparatus . it has been found that both the wear and vibration problems may be eliminated by the use of a single element , namely a block member 50 , which is supported in cantilever fashion by a laterally flexible spring arm 51 that is secured by means of a screw 52 to a boss 53 , fig2 and 3 formed on the semi - circular safety guard flange 54 which surrounds the lower half of disc 31 and which is formed as an integral part of the frame 10 . the spring arm 51 serves to laterally and yieldably urge the block member 50 into engagement with the said radial face 42 of disc 31 in a region of the latter that is diametrically opposed to the region where said discs contact each other , which engagement serves to dampen any vibrations that are set up in the lower disc 31 , and thus in the upper disc 20 , during cutting operations . the spring arm 51 is formed with a bent off tab 55 that is adapted to limit the extent of radial inward position adjustment of the member 50 relative to the cutting disc 31 . by making the block member 50 or at least the surface thereof contacting said disc face 42 , out of a solid lubricant material , such as polytetrafluoroethalene , available at teflon r , ( a registered trademark of e . i . dupont de nemours co . ), the rubbing contact between the disc face 42 and the teflon material will cause the lubricant material to be metered onto said outer radial disc face 42 whereby the mutually engaging surfaces of discs 20 and 31 will be lubricated while the said vibrations are simultaneously being damped . the simple addition of essentially one element ( i . e . biased block member 50 ) thus substantially eliminates both the wear and vibration problems and hence the efficiency and life of the instant cutting device are inexpensively and greatly enhanced .	1
the present invention involves a poly ( aryl ether sulfones ) derived from 1 , 4 &# 34 ;-( bishalophenylsulfone ) terphenyl and a dihydric phenol . the monomer , 1 - 4 &# 34 ;-( bishalophenylsulfonyl ) terphenyl , is prepared from a reaction mixture of p - terphenyl and p - halobenzenesulfonyl halide using a metal halide catalyst . in general , the reaction appears as follows : ## str1 ## wherein x and x 1 are independently selected from halogens . preferably , x is selected from chlorine , bromine and fluorine . preferably , x 1 is selected from chlorine and bromine . more preferably , the monomer prepared is 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl and is derived from a reaction mixture of p - terphenyl and p - chlorobenzenesulfonyl chloride in the presence of an organic solvent and a metal chloride catalyst , preferably ferric chloride . the reaction may be represented as follows : ## str2 ## preferably the reaction rate is promoted by heating the reaction mixture to a temperature selected from between 110 ° c . and 170 ° c . and more preferably between 150 ° c . and 170 ° c . for a period of at least about 0 . 5 hours to obtain a substantial yield of the monomer . the organic solvent of the reaction mixture is 1 , 2 , 4 trichlorobenzene although other organic solvents which are suitable for dissolving terphenyl and the p - halobenzenesulfonyl halide may also be employed . the amounts of p - halobenzenesulfonyl - halide and terphenyl employed in the reaction mixture should be in mole ratios of about 2 : 1 and preferably a slight excess of p - halobenzenesulfonyl halide should be present , for example , a mole ratio of 2 . 1 to 1 . after the reaction mixture is heated and allowed to react to from the 1 , 4 &# 34 ;-( bishalophenylsulfone ) terphenyl monomer , the monomer can be isolated by filtration , washing and drying . the polymer of the present invention may be prepared under anhydrous conditions in a dipolar aprotic solvent by reacting a dihydric phenol with the 1 , 4 &# 34 ;-( bishalophenylsulfone ) terphenyl monomer in the presence of a base . the reaction can be represented as follows : ## str3 ## where r is a member of the class consisting of ( i ) ## str4 ## and ( ii ) divalent radicals of the general formula : ## str5 ## where y is a member selected from the class consisting of divalent radicals of the formulas : ## str6 ## where q is 0 or 1 , and z is a whole number from 1 to 5 . suitable dihydric phenols include the dihydric phenols such as , for example , 2 , 2 - bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) propane , bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) methane , 2 , 2 - bis ( 4 - hydroxy - 3 - methylphenyl ) propane , 4 , 4 - bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl )- heptane , 2 , 2 -( 3 , 5 , 3 &# 39 ;, 5 &# 39 ;- tetrachloro - 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxyphenyl ) propane , 2 , 2 -( 3 , 5 , 3 &# 39 ;, 5 &# 39 ;- tetrabromo - 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxyphenyl ) methane . other dihydric phenols which are also suitable for use in the preparation of the above polymers are disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 2 , 999 , 835 ; 3 , 038 , 365 ; 3 , 334 , 154 ; and 4 , 131 , 575 ; incorporated herein by reference . thus , when bisphenol - a is the dihydric phenol , r is ## str9 ## and when hydroquinone is the dihydric phenol , r is ## str10 ## preferably blends of dihydric phenols are not employed in that such blends generally reduce the tendencies of the polymer to crystallize from the melt . another preferred dihydric phenol is bisphenol sulfone , which can be represented by the formula : ## str11 ## suitable dihydric phenols may also be : ## str12 ## wherein r 1 and r 2 are the same or different and are alkyl of one to four carbon atoms , inclusive , preferably one to three , and halogen , preferably chloro or bromo . the letters a and b are the same or different and are an integer of 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 or 4 , preferably 0 , 1 or 2 . w is selected from alkylene of two to ten carbon atoms , inclusive , alkylidene of one to ten carbon atoms , inclusive , cycloalkylene off four to twelve carbon atoms , inclusive , cycloalkylidene of four to twelve carbon atoms , inclusive , -- s --, -- s -- s --, ## str13 ## c is 0 or 1 . the polymer may be produced by either a dmso process or a dmac process , similar suitable polymer forming processes are set forth in johnson , et . al ., u . s . pat . no . 4 , 175 , 175 , which is incorporated herein by reference . the dmso process involves the addition of a stoichometric amount of a base , preferably a metal hydroxide , e . g . naoh , at 2 mole equivalents to the dihydric phenol in a dipolar aprotic solvent to form an anhydrous disodium salt of the dihydric phenol . the 1 , 4 &# 34 ;-( bishalophenylsulfone ) terphenyl is then added to the solution containing the anhydrous disodium salt and heated to form the polymer . in more detail , the dmso process involves preparing the poly ( aryl ether sulfones ) involves converting the dihydric phenol to the alkali metal salt by reaction of the alkali metal with the dihydric phenol in the dipolar aprotic solvent . a suitable dipolar aprotic solvent is dimethylsulfoxide , although other solvents may also be suitable . the solvent preferably also contains amounts of a cosolvent such as toluene or chlorobenzene which are used to azeotropically remove the water of reaction . another suitable process for the preparation of the poly ( aryl ether sulfone ) is the dmac process which involves preparing a mixture of the 1 , 4 &# 34 ;-( bishalophenylsulfone ) terphenyl , dihydric phenol , an excess of a base ( i . e . k 2 co 3 at greater than 2 mole equivalents thereof ), a solvent comprising a dipolar aprotic solvent and a cosolvent to azeotropically remove the water of the reaction , heating the mixture and simultaneously removing water therefrom to form a reacted mixture comprising polymer and a metal halide salt . suitable dipolar aprotic solvents include dimethylacetamide , although other dipolar aprotic solvents such as diphenyl sulfone are suitable . the cosolvent employed is toluene , although other cosolvents , for instance , benzene , heptane , xylene , toluene , chlorobenzene , dichlorobenzene , and the like , are suitable . the cosolvent may be present at levels as high as 50 weight percent of the combined solvent and cosolvent present . it is desirable to exclude oxygen from the reaction mixture to avoid side reactions between diatomic oxygen and the reactants , solvents or polymers . a nitrogen atmosphere was employed to ensure the exclusion of diatomic oxygen from the presence of the reaction mixture . the reaction temperature is preferably above 110 ° c . in order to keep the polymer in solution and for improved reaction rates , more preferably the reaction temperature is between 150 ° c . and 170 ° c . the reaction temperature should be below 190 ° c . if dimethylsulfoxide is employed in order to avoid thermal decomposition thereof . reaction temperatures may be above the normal boiling point of the solvents if pressures in excess of atmosphere pressure are employed . the amount of solvent employed may vary , preferably the reaction mixture comprises 50 % to 85 % by weight solvent . following polymer formation , the polymer may be recovered from the solvent by conventional separation processes such as precipitation of the polymer in a non solvent such as methanol followed by washing and drying of the polymer . molecular weight of the polymer may be controlled by the addition of chain stoppers to the reaction mixture . the polymers prepared from dihydric phenols and 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl were rapidly crystallized from the melt and exhibited high heat distortion temperatures . suitable polymers also include copolymers obtained by reacting 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl and a dichlorodiphenylsulfone compound with the dihydric phenol . the dichlorodiphenylsulfone compound may be 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dichlorodiphenylsulfone which can be represented by the formula : ## str14 ## preferably , the 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl is present at a level o at least 25 mole percent based on the total moles of 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl and dichlorodiphenyl compound employed . the following examples are provided by way of illustration and not by way of limitation . 575 . 8 grams ( 2 . 5 moles ) of p - terphenyl ( m . w . 230 . 31 ) was added to 1500 milliliters of 1 , 2 , 4 - trichlorobenzene to form a slurry , this slurry was then swept with n 2 for about 30 minutes . the slurry was then heated to 70 ° c . without the terphenyl completely dissolving . the slurry was then further heated to 110 ° c . without the p - terphenyl completely dissolving . 1108 . 13 grams ( 97 %) of p - chlorobenzenesulfonylchloride ( 5 . 25 moles ) ( m . w . 211 . 07 ) was dissolved in 700 milliliters ( ml ) of 1 , 2 , 4 - trichlorobenzene and added to the terphenyl slurry and thereby formed a homogenous solution . 55 grams of ferric chloride ( fecl 3 , m . w . 162 . 2 , 0 . 25 moles ) was added to the solution to form a reaction mixture . the mixture was heated and maintained within a temperature range of 150 ° c . to 170 ° c . for 20 hours to obtain a reacted mixture . the monomer , 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl was then isolated from the reacted mixture by filtration of the reacted mixture , washing the resultant filtered solid with methanol , slurrying the washed solids with 3 liters of water and 60 grams of citric acid , heating and then filtering this slurry , washing these filtered solids with methanol and hot toluene , slurrying the solids in hot xylene and filtering off the xylene , slurrying the resultant solids in acetone followed by filtering off the solids therefrom . these solids were then dried at 100 ° c . under vacuum for 6 hours and then were further dried at 130 ° c . under vacuum for over 12 hours to yield 1160 grams of 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorosulfone ) terphenyl having a tm by differential scanning calorimetry of 351 ° c ., a heat of fusion of 25 . 5 cal / gm , and a molecular weight of 579 . 50 grams per mole . a poly ( aryl ether sulfone ) was prepared by reacting 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl and bisphenol - a . bisphenol - a , k 2 co 3 , diphenylsulfone , toluene and 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfonyl ) terphenyl were admixed to form a reaction mixture . the reaction mixture was heated to a reaction temperature of 170 ° c . with simultaneous removal of water from the mixture to form polymer in a reacted mixture . the reacted mixture was poured into methanol and then filtered . the filtered solids were then added to hot h 2 o to form a slurry , filtered , added to h 2 o , filtered , added to acetone , filtered , added to acetone , filtered , added to hot h 2 o , filtered , and then dried by vacuum in a vacuum oven at 175 ° c . the resultant polymer and an intrinsic viscosity of 0 . 52 dl / g as determined in phenol / 1 , 1 , 2 , 2 tetrachloroethane ( tce ) and had a tm of 338 ° c . as determined by differential scanning calorimetry . the polymer was rapidly crystallizable from the melt . a poly ( aryl ether sulfone ) was prepared by reacting 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl with hydroquinone . under a nitrogen atmosphere 15 . 9 grams of 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl ( 0 . 20 moles , m . w . 579 . 50 ), 22 . 02 grams of hydroquinone ( 0 . 20 moles , m . w . 110 . 10 ), 45 grams of k 2 co 3 ( m . w . 138 . 21 ), 350 grams of diphenylsulfone and 100 ml of toluene were mixed together and were heated while water was simultaneously being removed by distillation to form polymer in a reacted mixture . the reacted mixture was removed from the flask , poured into methanol . the solids were then filtered out , slurried in hot h 2 o , filtered out , slurried in hot h 2 o , filtered out , slurried in acetone , filtered out , slurried in acetone , filtered out , slurried in hot h 2 o , filtered , dried in a vacuum over at 175 ° c . the resultant polymer was insoluble in a phenol / tce solvent and had a melting temperature of 411 ° c . the polymer was rapidly crystallized from the melt . a poly ( aryl ether sulfone ) was prepared by reacting 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl with bisphenol sulfone . 6 . 1818 grams ( 0 . 0100 moles ) of 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl and 2 . 5033 grams ( 0 . 0100 moles ) of bisphenol sulfone were mixed together with 2 . 0040 grams of k 2 ( co 3 ) 30 . 0034 g of diphenyl sulfone and 3 milliliters of toluene . the reactants were placed in a 100 ml reaction flask and brought to a temperature of 160 ° c . with a n 2 blanket , another 3 milliliters of toluene was added , the reaction was run for over 12 hours , the reaction temperature was then raised to 260 ° c . and run for 1 hours and then allowed to cool for over 12 hours . the reactants were then heated to 260 ° c . again for 4 hours . the resulting polymer was then cooled and washed with methanol , then hot water , then hot water , then acetone , then acetone , and then hot water . the polymer was in the form of a fine powder and was then refluxed in acetone . the resultant polymer had an intrinsic viscosity of 0 . 12 dl / g in phenol / tetrachloroethane , a glass transition temperature of 196 ° c . via a differential scanning calorimeter , and a melting temperature of 240 ° c . via a differential scanning calorimeter . a poly ( aryl ether sulfone ) was prepared by reacting 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl with 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dichlorodiphenyl sulfone , represented by the formula : ## str15 ## and 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxydiphenyl ether , represented by the formula : ## str16 ## 4 . 6706 grams of 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ), 0 . 7180 grams of 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dichlorodiphenylsulfone and 2 . 0008 grams of 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxydiphenyl ether were mixed with 2 . 0008 grams of k 2 co 3 , 30 . 0001 grams of diphenylsulfone and 4 milliliters of toluene . the reactants were heated to 160 ° c . under a nitrogen blanket . the reactants were then heated to 200 ° c . and then to 260 ° c . for one hour total and then allowed the reactants to cool , then heated the reactants to 160 ° c . for 6 hours , then 200 ° c . for 0 . 5 hours , then 260 ° c . for 1 hour and 40 minutes . the resultant polymer was then washed with methanol , then hot water , then hot water , then acetone , then acetone and then hot water . the polymer was then refluxed in acetone for 3 days . the resulting polymer had an intrinsic viscosity of 0 . 54 dl / g as measured in phenol and tce ( tetrachloroethane ), a melting temperature of 245 ° c . as measured by a differential scanning calorimeter , and glass transition temperature of 226 ° c . as measured by a differential scanning calorimeter . a poly ( aryl ether sulfone ) was prepared by reacting 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis -( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl with bisphenol of acetophenone ( 1 - phenyl - 1 , 1 - bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl )) ethane which can be represented by the formula ## str17 ## 6 . 1818 grams of 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis -( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl and 2 . 9042 grams of bisphenol of acetophenone were mixed with 2 . 0115 grams of k 2 co 3 , 29 . 9942 grams of diphenylsulfone and 4 milliliters of toluene . the reactants were heated to 160 ° c . under a nitrogen blanket , increased temperature to 170 ° c . for about 7 hours , increased temperature to 200 ° c . for one hour , then to 22020 c . for 20 minutes then to 260 ° c . for 2 hours and 20 minutes . the resulting polymer washed with methanol , then hot water , then hot water , then acetone and then hot water . the polymer was then refluxed in acetone over 48 hours . the polymer had an intrinsic viscosity of 0 . 11 dl / g in phenol / tce and had a melting temperature of 229 ° c . as measured by differential scanning calorimetry . poly ( aryl ether sulfone ) from the reaction products of 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl and dihydroxy diphenyl ether which represented by the formula : ## str18 ## 6 . 1196 grams of 1 , 4 &# 34 ;- bis ( p - chlorophenylsulfone ) terphenyl and 2 . 0001 grams of dihydroxy diphenyl ether were mixed with 2 . 0010 grams of k 2 co 3 , 30 . 0225 grams of diphenyl sulfone and 10 milliliters of toluene . the reactants were heated under a nitrogen blanket . the reactants were eventually heated to 280 ° c . to complete the reaction . the resultant polymer was refluxed in n n dimethyl acetamide and then washed with methanol , hot water , hot water , acetone , acetone and then hot water . the resultant polymer was then dried and exhibited an intrinsic viscosity of 0 . 41 dl . g in phenol and tetrachloroethane , a melting temperature of 275 ° c . via differential scanning calorimetry and a glass transition temperature of 225 ° c . via differential scanning calorimetry .	2
the steroids of this invention can be prepared utilizing as starting materials δ 16 - pregnenes having the formula ## str4 ## in formula ii , and throughout the specification , r &# 39 ; 1 is hydrogen , acyloxy or halogen and r &# 39 ; 4 is carbonyl or β - hydroxymethylene . a steroid of formula ii wherein r &# 39 ; 4 is β - hydroxymethylene can be reacted with a mixture of acetic acid and acetic anhydride in the presence of an acid catalyst such as p - toluenesulfonic acid , followed by the addition of an acetate salt , to yield the corresponding 11β - acetyloxy steroid having the formula ## str5 ## reaction of a δ 16 - pregnene of formula ii or iii with an organic base and trimethylchlorosilane , an organic base and trimethylsilyltrifluoromethane sulfonate or bistrimethylsilyltrifluoroacetamide , yields a 20 - trimethylsilyl enol ether pregnene having the formula ## str6 ## when the δ 16 - pregnene reactant is an 11β - hydroxy steroid of formula ii , the reaction also yields ( as a minor product ) a steroid having the formula ## str7 ## reaction conditions are not critical , but the reaction proceeds more rapidly when the reactants are maintained at a temperature of about 110 °- 115 ° c . an intermediate of formula iv can be reacted with an o - benzoquinone having the formula ## str8 ## preferably at room temperature , and then treated with an aqueous acid to yield a steroid product having the formula ## str9 ## when preparing a steroid of formula vii wherein r 4 is β - hydroxymethylene , it is convenient to use the crude mixture of intermediates iv ( wherein r 4 is β - hydroxymethylene ) and v to react with the o - benzoquinone . this will result in a mixture of steroids comprising , in addition to a steroid of formula vii ( wherein r 4 is β - hydroxymethylene ), a steroid having the formula ## str10 ## the product of formula vii can be isolated from the mixture using conventional separation techniques . those steroids of formula i wherein r 1 is alkoxy of 1 to 10 carbon atoms can be prepared by reacting a corresponding 21 - halo steroid of formula vii with the appropriate lower alkanol having 1 to 10 carbon atoms and a base such as an alkali metal carbonate . modifications of the above - described processes for preparing the steroids of formula i will be apparent to the person of ordinary skill in the art . for example , the 11β - acetyloxy steroids of formula i can be prepared by acylating the corresponding 11β - hydroxy steroid of formula i . those steroids of formula i wherein r 1 is alkoxy can be prepared by converting a 21 - halo - δ 16 - pregnene of formula ii to a 21 - alkoxy - δ 16 - pregnene and then proceeding as described above . the by - products of formula viii can be converted to the corresponding 11β - hydroxy steroids of formula i . as such , they are valuable intermediates , and an integral part of this invention . the conversion is carried out in an organic solvent ( e . g ., tetrahydrofuran ) at a reduced temperature ( about - 78 ° c .) and comprises adding a quaternary fluoride base , such as tetrabutylammonium fluoride , to the 11β - trimethylsilyl ether of formula viii . the steroids of formula i can be used in lieu of known glucocorticoids in the treatment of inflammatory conditions ; e . g ., rheumatoid arthritis . they can be administered in the same manner as hydrocortisone , the dosage being adjusted for the relative potency of the particular steroid . additionally , the steroids of this invention can be used topically in lieu of known glucocorticoids in the treatment of skin conditions such as dermatitis , psoriasis , sunburn , neurodermatitis , eczema or anogenital pruritus . when given orally , the steroids of this invention may be used in a dosage range of 0 . 1 to 200 milligrams , preferably 0 . 3 to 100 milligrams , for a 70 kg . mammal . if administered topically , the steroids of this invention may be used in the range of 0 . 01 to 5 . 0 % by weight , preferably 0 . 05 to 2 . 0 % by weight , in a conventional cream , ointment , lotion or the like . a solution of 9 - fluoro - 11β - hydroxypregna - 1 , 4 , 16 - triene - 3 , 20 - dione ( 1 . 0g ) in a mixture of acetic acid ( 70 ml ) and acetic anhydride ( 70 ml ) containing p - toluenesulfonic acid hydrate ( 500 mg ) is stirred at room temperature for 60 hours . sodium acetate ( 2 . 0g ) is added and the mixture is concentrated in vacuo . the residue is mixed with water and washed with a dilute sodium bicarbonate solution and water , dried and the residue is crystallized from ethyl acetate - hexane to afford 0 . 9g of the title compound , melting point 202 °- 203 ° c . a solution of 11β - acetyloxy - 9 - fluoropregna - 1 , 4 , 16 - triene - 3 , 20 - dione ( 77 mg ) in dry acetonitrile ( 1 . 0 ml ) containing bis - trimethylsilyltrifluoroacetamide ( 0 . 3 ml ) and trimethylchlorosilane ( 0 . 05 ml ) is heated in a closed pressure vial in a bath at 110 ° c . for 17 hours . the mixture is evaporated in vacuo and the residue is crystallized from ethyl acetatehexane to afford 40 mg of the title compound as a solid . a solution of 11β -( acetyloxy )- 9 - fluoro - 20 - trimethylsilyloxypregna - 1 , 4 , 16 , 20 - tetraene - 3 - one ( 28 mg ) in dry toluene ( 4 . 0 ml ) is mixed with tetrachloro - o - benzoquinone ( 15 mg ) and let stand at room temperature . it is concentrated in vacuo and the residue is purified by preparative thin - layer chromatography on silica gel plates using chloroform - ethyl acetate ( 7 : 3 ) for development to afford 15 mg of the title compound as a solid , which is characterized by its nmr spectrum . a solution of 11β -( acetyloxy )- 20 - trimethylsilyloxy - 5 &# 39 ;, 6 &# 39 ;, 7 &# 39 ;, 8 &# 39 ;- tetrachloro - 9 - fluoro - 2 &# 39 ;, 3 &# 39 ;- dihydropregna - 1 , 4 , 20 - trieno [ 16α , 17 - b ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodioxin - 3 - one ( 14 mg ) in 90 % methanol ( 0 . 5 ml ) is mixed with 1 . 0n hydrochloric acid ( 0 . 05 ml ). after 1 . 0 hour , the solution is diluted with water , and the product is isolated by extraction with chloroform . the chloroform solution is dried , evaporated and the residue is crystallized from ethyl acetate - hexane to afford 9 . 0 mg of the title compound as a solid , which is characterized by its nmr spectrum . a suspension of 21 -( acetyloxy )- 9 - fluoro - 11β - hydroxypregna - 1 , 4 - diene - 3 , 20 - dione ( 25 g ) in a mixture of acetic acid ( 60 ml ) and acetic anhydride ( 60 ml ) containing p - toluenesulfonic acid hydrate ( 7 . 5 g ) is stirred at room temperature for 60 hours . sodium acetate ( 15 g ) is added and the mixture is concentrated in vacuo . the resulting solid is washed well with water and then dried , yielding 31 g of material . the solid is dissolved in dry dimethylformamide containing fused potassium acetate ( 17 g ), the mixture is stirred at 120 ° c . for 4 . 5 hours and poured into water . the separated solid is isolated by filtration , dried and crystallized from dichloromethane - methanol to yield 18 . 2g of the title compound , melting point 294 °- 296 ° c . a solution of 11β , 21 - bis ( acetyloxy )- 9 - fluoropregna - 1 , 4 , 16 - triene - 3 , 20 - dione ( 3 . 0g ) in dry dimethylformamide ( 20 ml ) containing bis - trimethylsilyltrifluoroacetamide ( 6 . 0 ml ) and trimethylchlorosilane ( 60 μ1 ) is heated in a pressure vial in a bath at 115 °- 120 ° c . for 12 hours . the mixture is cooled , poured into an excess of saturated sodium bicarbonate solution and extracted with dichloromethane . the dichloromethane solution is washed with cold water , dried , evaporated and the residue crystallized from ethyl acetate - hexane to afford 1 . 22 g of the title compound as a solid which is characterized by its nmr spectrum . to a solution of 11β , 21 - bis ( acetyloxy )- 9 - fluoro - 20 - trimethylsilyloxypregna - 1 , 4 , 16 , 20 - tetraene - 3 - one ( 696 mg ) in dry dichloromethane ( 15 ml ) is added a solution of tetrachloro - o - benzoquinone ( 302 mg ) in dry dichloromethane . an nmr analysis of the residue after evaporation of the solvent showed the reaction mixture to contain the title compound in an amount of about 45 %. this mixture is used in the next step without further purification . the impure 11 , 21 - bis ( acetyloxy )- 5 &# 39 ;, 6 &# 39 ;, 7 &# 39 ;, 8 &# 39 ;- tetrachloro - 9 - fluoro - 2 &# 39 ;, 3 &# 39 ;- dihydro - 20 - trimethylsilyloxypregna - 1 , 4 , 20 - trieno [ 16α , 17 - b ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodioxin - 3 - one ( 900 mg ) prepared as described above , is dissolved in a mixture of 1 , 2 - dimethoxyethane ( 10 ml ) and 75 % acetic acid ( 10 ml ) and is heated in a bath at 100 ° c . for 1 . 5 hours . the solution is then cooled , diluted with water and extracted with chloroform . the chloroform extracts are combined , washed with a dilute sodium bicarbonate solution and water , dried , evaporated and the residue subjected to preparative thin - layer chromatography on silica gel plates ( using chloroform - methanol , 97 : 3 , for development ) to isolate 260 mg of the title compound , melting point 273 °- 274 ° c . ( dec .) a solution of 16 grams of 9 - fluoro - 11β , 21 - dihydroxypregna - 1 , 4 , 16 - triene - 3 , 20 - dione in dry pyridine ( 200 ml ) is reacted with methanesulfonyl chloride ( 5 . 0 ml ) for 2 hours at 0 ° c . the mixture is poured into an excess of cold 2n - hydrochloric acid . the solid that separates from the resulting solution is isolated yielding 17 . 5g of the title compound , which is characterized by its nmr spectrum . to a solution of 17 . 5g of 9 - fluoro - 11β - hydroxy - 21 - methanesulfonyloxypregna - 1 , 4 , 16 - triene - 3 , 20 - dione in dry dimethylformamide ( 250 ml ) is added lithium chloride ( 30g ). the mixture is heated , with stirring , from 30 ° to 100 ° c . over a 30 - minute period . it is cooled and poured into cold water ( 1 . 51 ) and the precipitated solid is isolated and crystallized from methanol to afford 12g of the title compound , melting point 258 °- 260 ° c . ( dec .). a solution of 21 - chloro - 9 - fluoro - 11β - hydroxypregna - 1 , 4 , 16 - triene - 3 , 20 - dione ( 456 mg ) in dry dimethylformamide ( 9 . 0 ml ) containing 1 . 2 ml of bis ( trimethylsilyl ) trifluoroacetamide ( regisil ®, regis chemical company ; contains 1 % trimethylsilyl chloride ) is heated in a tightly stoppered flask for 1 . 0 hour in a bath at 110 °- 115 ° c . the solution is cooled , poured into dilute sodium bicarbonate solution and the steroid product is extracted into chloroform . the chloroform solution is washed several times with cold water , dried and evaporated to a gum that contains traces of dimethylformamide . ( by dissolving this gum in ethyl acetate and diluting the solution with hexane , it is possible to isolate homogeneous 21 - chloro - 9 - fluoro - 11β - hydroxy - 20 - trimethylsilyloxypregna - 1 , 4 , 16 , 20 - tetraene - 3 - one ). the nmr spectrum shows the gum to be essentially a mixture of the title compound , the 11β - trimethylsilyl derivative of the title compound and small amounts of other impurities . the impure 21 - chloro - 9 - fluoro - 11β - hydroxy - 20 - trimethylsilyloxypregna - 1 , 4 , 16 , 20 - tetraene - 3 - one prepared as described above is dissolved in dry dichloromethane ( 15 ml ) and a solution of tetrachloro - o - benzoquinone ( 312 mg ) in dry dichloromethane is added . after 24 hours at room temperature , the solution is diluted with methanol ( 10 ml ), 5 % hydrochloric acid ( 0 . 3 ml ) is added and the solution is kept at room temperature for 1 . 0 hour . the solution is then poured into water and the products are isolated by extraction with chloroform . the chloroform extract is washed with water , dried and the residue is subjected to preparative thin - layer chromatography on silica gel plates using chloroform - ethyl acetate ( 8 : 2 ) for development to isolate 460 mg of the title compound and 218 mg of the 11β - trimethylsilyl derivative of the title compound . two crystallizations of the 460 mg material from acetone - hexane yields 350 mg of the title compound , melting point 300 °- 302 ° c . ( dec ., discoloration starts long before melting ). a solution of 21 -( acetyloxy )- 9 - fluoro - 11β - hydroxypregna - 1 , 4 , 16 - triene - 3 , 20 - dione ( 2 . 1g ) in dry dimethylformamide and 7 . 0 ml of bis ( trimethylsilyl ) trifluoroacetamide ( regisil ®, regis chemical company ; contains 1 % trimethylsilyl chloride ) is heated in a tightly stoppered flask at 110 °- 115 ° c . for 3 . 0 hours . an additional 2 . 0 ml of regisil ® is added and heating is continued for an additional hour . the solution is cooled and is added into a vigorously stirred 15 % sodium bicarbonate solution ( 200 ml ). the steroid product is then isolated by extraction with chloroform , washed with cold water , dried and evaporated to yield 3 . 1g of a gum . on the basis of the nmr spectrum and thin - layer chromatography behavior , it is determined that this gum is mainly a mixture of the title compound and its 11β - trimethylsilyl derivative . the above gum ( 3 . 1 g ) is dissolved in dry dichloromethane ( 20 ml ) and a solution of tetrachloro - o - benzoquinone ( 1 . 06 g , 4 . 33 mmole ) in dry dichloromethane ( 7 ml ) is added . the solution is allowed to stand at room temperature for 20 hours . it is then evaporated in vacuo , mixed with dimethoxyethane ( 20 ml ) and 75 % acetic acid ( 10 ml ), and heated in a bath at 100 °- 105 ° c . for 1 . 0 hour . the solution is cooled , diluted with water and extracted with chloroform . the chloroform solution is washed with a dilute sodium bicarbonate solution and water , dried ( mgso 4 anh .) and evaporated to afford a gum . the gum is chromatographed over a column of silica gel ( 60 g ). elution of the column with chloroform - hexane ( 1 : 1 ) affords 708 mg of the 11β - trimethylsilyl ether of the title compound as a foam . further elution of the column with chloroform - hexane ( 3 : 1 ) and chloroform - ethyl acetate ( 3 : 1 ) affords 1 . 89g of a gum which is a mixture of four compounds . the gum ( 1 . 89g ) is exposed to acetic anhydridepyridine for 3 . 0 hours and the product , after work - up , is chromatographed over silica gel ( 40g ). elution of the column with chloroform gives 1 . 1g of a mixture of 21 -( acetyloxy )- 9 - fluoro - 11β - trimethylsilyloxypregna - 1 , 4 , 16 - triene - 3 , 20 - dione and 21 -( acetyloxy )- 5 &# 39 ;, 6 &# 39 ;, 7 &# 39 ;, 8 &# 39 ;- tetrachloro - 9 - fluoro - 2 &# 39 ;, 3 &# 39 ;- dihydro - 11β - trimethylsilyloxypregna - 1 , 4 - dieno [ 16α , 17 - b ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodioxin - 3 , 20 - dione . further elution with chloroform - ethyl acetate ( 9 : 1 ) gives 600 mg of a semi - solid which is essentially a mixture of the title compound and another compound . the mixture is subjected to preparative thin - layer chromatography on silica gel plates ( development with chloroform - ethyl acetate ( 2 : 8 )) to isolate 230 mg of the title compound . a solution of 415 mg of the 11β - trimethylsilyl ether of the title compound in 5 . 0 ml of dry tetrahydrofuran is cooled and stirred in a bath at - 78 ° c . to this solution is added a solution of freshly prepared and dried tetrabutylammonium fluoride ( 350 mg ) in dry tetrahydrofuran . after 15 minutes the solution is warmed to , and maintained , in a bath at - 35 ° to - 45 ° c . for 1 . 0 hour and is then quenched with acetic acid ( 0 . 5 ml ). the mixture is diluted with water and extracted with chloroform . the chloroform solution is washed with a dilute sodium bicarbonate solution and water , dried and evaporated . the residue is subjected to preparative thin - layer chromatography on silica gel plates to isolate 130 mg of the title compound . the two crops of the title compound are combined and crystallized from ethyl acetate to afford 216 mg of the title compound , melting point 196 °- 199 ° c . a suspension of 21 - chloro - 9 - fluoro - 11β - hydroxypregna - 1 , 4 , 16 - triene - 3 , 20 - dione ( 2 . 1g ) in a mixture of glacial acetic acid ( 30 ml ) and acetic anhydride ( 30 ml ) containing p - toluenesulfonic acid hydrate ( 2 . 1g ) is stirred at room temperature . after 30 hours the solution is mixed with sodium acetate hydrate ( 5 . 0g ) and evaporated in vacuo . the residue is dissolved in chloroform , washed with water , dried and evaporated to afford the title compound . one crystallization from acetone affords 1 . 85g of the title compound , melting point 222 °- 223 ° c . ( dec ). a solution of 11β -( acetyloxy )- 21 - chloro - 9 - fluoropregna - 1 , 4 , 16 - triene - 3 , 20 - dione ( 1 . 35g ) in dry acetonitrile ( 20 ml ) containing 3 . 5 ml of bis ( trimethylsilyl ) trifluoroacetamide ( regisil ®, regis chemical company ; contains 1 % trimethylsilyl chloride ) is heated in a pressure vial at about 150 ° c . for 1 . 0 hour . the solution is then cooled and evaporated in vacuo to leave 1 . 6g of the title compound contaminated with trace amounts of less polar impurities . this is used in the next step without further purification . the crude material from the previous experiment ( 1 . 6g ) is dissolved in dry dichloromethane ( 20 ml ), mixed with a dichloromethane solution of tetrachloro - o - benzoquinone ( 984 mg ), and the solution is left at room temperature for 18 hours . 10 % hydrochloric acid ( 10 ml ) is added and the solution is stirred for 10 minutes . the resultant organic layer is separated , washed with a dilute sodium bicarbonate solution and water , dried and evaporated to a residue . this is subjected to column chromatography on silica gel ( 30g ). elution with chloroform - hexane ( 1 : 1 ) removes first the non - steroidal impurities . further elution with the same solvent system and chloroform affords 2 . 05g of the title compound contaminated with a more polar impurity . this material is subjected to preparative thin - layer chromatography on silica gel plates ( development with chloroformethyl acetate , 9 : 1 ) to isolate 1 . 67g of the title compound which contains only traces of impurities . one crystallization of this from methanol affords 1 . 37g of the title compound , melting point 191 °- 193 ° c . to a solution of 11β -( acetyloxy )- 5 &# 39 ;, 6 &# 39 ;, 7 &# 39 ;, 8 &# 39 ;, 21 - pentachloro - 9 - fluoro - 2 &# 39 ;, 3 &# 39 ;- dihydropregna - 1 , 4 - dieno [ 16α , 17 - b ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodioxin - 3 , 20 - dione ( 1 . 07g ) in a mixture of methanol ( 20 ml ) and tetrahydrofuran ( 20 ml ) containing water ( 2 . 0 ml ) is added a solution of potassium carbonate ( 420 mg ) in water ( 4 . 0 ml ). the mixture is stirred at room temperature for 2 . 0 hours , acidified with 5 % hydrochloric acid and concentrated in vacuo . from the residue the steroid is isolated by extraction with a mixture of chloroform and ethyl acetate . the material thus obtained is subjected to preparative thin - layer chromatography on silica gel plates ( development with chloroform - ethyl acetate , 3 : 1 ) to isolate 410 mg of the title compound . this is crystallized from acetone - hexane to afford 280 mg of the title compound , melting point 203 °- 204 ° c . ( dec . ).	2
the invention is best illustrated by reference to the fig1 graph which shows the conductivity ( measured at 37 ° c .) of samples of p2vp . 3 . 3i 2 ( mole ratio ) mixture heated at various temperatures plotted versus time of heating to form a cathode material . heating is accomplished in a sealed container . it can be seen that heating at 175 ° c . will produce a conductivity no higher than about 4 × 10 - 3 reciprocal ohm - cm no matter how long the heating takes place . on the other hand , heating such a mixture at about 225 ° c . produces a complex having a conductivity ( at 37 ° c .) of about 7 × 10 - 3 reciprocal ohm - cm . heating at even higher temperatures produces cathode materials having even higher conductivities . it is also shown in fig1 that less heating time is required to obtain improved conductivity as the heating temperature is increased above about 225 ° c . for preparing cathode materials . thus , a predetermined minimum time of heating or reaction time is required depending on the heating or reaction temperature used in the preparation . the p2vp . 3 . 3i 2 materials produced by heating the components together in excess of about 225 ° c . are in and of themselves desirable cathode materials because of their high conductivities . other mole ratios of iodine mixed with p2vp donor behave in a similar manner ie ., heating above about 225 ° c . provides higher conductivity , as is illustrated by the graph of fig2 . however , the mole ratio should be at least 1 : 1 . in fig2 the conductivity ( measured at 37 ° c .) of cathode materials of various mole ratios [ n in ( p2vp . ni 2 )] are plotted for various preparation or reaction temperatures . it can been seen that , for any selected mole ratio , 3 . 3 for example , the conductivity thereof is higher as one proceeds to higher preparation temperatures . it is preferred that the cathode material have a conductivity higher than about 1 . 5 × 10 - 3 reciprocal ohm - cm and that the mole ratio be at least 12 : 1 . this can be readily accomplished at temperatures of about 225 ° c . or higher . p4vp donor material behaves similarly to p2vp donor material . this is illustrated in fig3 which shows the conductivities of 3 . 3 : 1 mole ratio cathode materials made up from p2vp and p4vp donor materials with four hours reaction time at 150 ° c . and 320 ° c . in this figure , the conductivities are plotted versus reciprocal temperature to show their relative activation energies . the upper 320 ° c . and upper 150 ° c . lines representing p2vp , the lower lines representing p4vp . the p2vp and p4vp complexes , prepared at 150 ° c . have similar slopes but different absolute conductivities . this indicates their conductivity mechanism is likely the same and the conductivity difference probably arises from these polymers inherent properties . however , when the cathode materials are prepared at 320 ° c . both the slopes and absolute conductivities are very similar . thus , this invention also provides conductivity enhancement in p4vp based cathode materials which are comparable to p2vp based counterparts . all of the data suggest p2vp and p4vp behave analogously with regard to this invention . mixtures of p2vp and p4vp donor material may also be used . for example , a mixture of equal parts p2vp and p4vp was used to prepare a 3 . 3 : 1 mole ratio cathode material . the material prepared at 320 ° c . for four hours had a conductivity of 1 . 15 × 10 - 2 reciprocal , ohm - cm . high conductivity in the cathode material is necessary because , as already pointed out , high additional amounts of iodine added to the material degrades its conductivity . by providing a high initial conductivity in the material , larger amounts of iodine can be added thereto without degrading the final conductivity of the resultant material to a low undesirable value . with higher ratios , one can expect to maintain a conductivity of about 10 - 3 reciprocal ohm - cm or better with the techniques of this invention while also obtaining a much improved deliverable energy density than has been heretofore possible . as can be seen in the graph of fig4 a p2vp . 20i 2 ( mole ratio ) cathode material prepared according to the invention and tested in a battery having a lithium anode provided about 90 % of stoichiometric capacity to a 2 . 0 volt cut - off . the cathode material was prepared by heating a mixture of p2vp . 3 . 3i 2 to 300 ° c . for about four hours in a sealed glass container . upon cooling , excess iodine was added to the material to provide a final mole ratio of p2vp . 20i 2 . cells made according to the invention at 20 : 1 mole ratio from p4vp based materials behave similar to the p2vp based material prepared according to the invention . for example , a p4vp cell had an initial open circuit voltage ( ocv ) of 2 . 74 volts as compared with 2 . 78 volts for a p2vp cell . at 10 k ohm load the p4vp cell had a voltage of 2 . 65 volts while a comparable p2vp cell had a voltage of 2 . 60 volts . the lack of substantial differences between these cells indicates that the p4vp based cathodes will enjoy performance enhancement similar to that for the p2vp cells when prepared according to the invention . the ability to include large quantities of excess iodine with more highly conductive materials , formed with the polyvinylpyridine polymer and iodine , is an important feature of this invention from the energy density standpoint as already indicated . there are two ways to incorporate the excess iodine with the material . in the first and presently most preferred form , the polyvinylpyridine polymer component is mixed with a relatively low amount of iodine , such as 3 . 3 mole ratio or less , ie ., enough to merely form a single phase cathode material with little or no excess iodine . as previously described , the mixture is heated in excess of about 225 ° c . for a predetermined period of time , dependent upon the temperature selected , to form material of improved conductivity . for example , as shown in fig1 heating a 3 . 3 mole ratio sample at about 225 ° c .- 320 ° c . for about one hour produces improved material . an 8 hour reaction time appears to be adequate to assure complete reaction . however , longer times may be used . an additional amount of iodine may then be added , at any convenient temperature ie ., room temperature or elevated , to provide any desired excess amount in the final cathode material resulting from this preparation . more specifically , in accordance with this first form of the invention , a highly conductive material is prepared from p2vp , p4vp or mixtures thereof ie ., p2vp . ni 2 and / or p4vp . ni 2 where n ( indicative of mole ratio ) may range from about 1 . 0 to 3 . 3 . a preferred value for n is 3 . 3 in the case of p2vp and iodine . such a preferred composition prepared in accordance with this invention will exhibit a conductivity on the order of 4 × 10 - 3 reciprocal ohm - cm or higher . optionally , additional iodine may then be added . the high conductivity obtained in the cathode materials prepared by the first method of the invention is illustrated by referring again to fig1 . the figure also demonstrates the practical parameters of time and temperature involved in the method of the invention . several samples of p2vp . 3 . 3i 2 cathode materials were prepared in sealed containers at various temperatures and times ranging over 150 ° c . to 320 ° c . and from one hour to twenty - four hours . the 3 . 3 : 1 mole ratio materials used in preparing this figure are illustrative . as already pointed out , various other ratios are possible as desired . as can be seen from fig1 samples heated at 250 ° c . for at least about 8 hours , upon cooling and measuring the conductivity thereof at 37 ° c ., exhibit a conductivity on the order of 10 - 2 reciprocal ohm - cm or greater . on the other hand , the time for heating at 320 ° c . can be shortened to on the order of an hour or so to attain or exceed a 37 ° c . conductivity of the order of 10 - 2 reciprocal ohm - cm . the 37 ° c . temperature at which conductivity is measured for samples discussed herein was selected arbitrarily . other temperatures may be used for measuring the conductivity of these materials so long as any selected temperature is used consistently for purposes of comparison between samples . heating temperatures in excess of 350 ° c . show no substantial increased benefit as to heating time in attaining the high conductivity levels of this invention . the graph of fig5 illustrates this aspect using the same samples as were used for fig1 . in fig5 the conductivity of the samples , in reciprocal ohm - cm at 37 ° c ., is plotted against temperature to show that there is an effective maximum temperature to which all of the samples converge . the maximum temperature is on the order of about 325 °- 350 ° c . from a practical standpoint , heating at temperatures in excess of this level appears to be of no benefit . as seen in fig3 p4vp based compounds can be prepared over the same temperature range as those of p2vp . upon cooling to room temperature , following the above preparation , the high conductivity p2vp , p4vp or mixed p2vp / p4vp cathode material will be more or less fluid depending on the amount of iodine included therein and the temperature to which it was heated . in order to prepare a high energy density cathode material it is only necessary to mix additional iodine with the above described materials . preferably , the iodine is ground into a convenient powder form for this purpose . elevated temperatures may be used but are not necessary . the amount of iodine may be selected to provide any desired final mole ratio relative to the p2vp and / or p4vp organic constituents . in the case of batteries for implantable medical devices , it is preferred that the final mole ratio be of at least the order of 12 : 1 . for example , using a p2vp . 3 . 3i 2 material prepared according to the invention , having a conductivity in excess of 10 - 2 reciprocal ohm - cm and being fluid in form , powdered iodine was added thereto in sufficient quantity to provide a material having a final mole ratio of about 20 : 1 . the resultant cathode material was of a wet sand - like consistency and dark appearance . it was pressed to a density of about 4 . 7 g / cc and used in a battery . in the second form of the invention , highly conductive cathode materials are prepared ranging over various iodine mole ratios by simply including the desired final amount of iodine in the heating container with the polyvinylpyridine polymer , sealing the container and heating it to a temperature greater than about 225 ° c . for a predetermined time dependent on the selected temperature . the table shows the conductivity of several samples of 20 : 1 mole ratio cathode material prepared according to one or the other of the two forms of the invention . the first four cathodes were prepared by the first form or the two - step method using initial mole ratios between 1 : 1 and 6 . 2 : 1 and diluting with additional iodine to provide the final 20 : 1 mole ratio . the table also shows a sample prepared according to the second form of the method of the invention ie ., sufficient iodine being added initially to result in a cathode material having a final 20 : 1 mole ratio . as can be seen , all samples had conductivities between 1 . 2 and 2 . 1 × 10 - 3 reciprocal ohm - cm . table______________________________________ conductivity ofreaction temperature composition * final p2vp . 20i . sub . 2 ( mole ratio i . sub . 2 : p2vp ) at 37 ° c . ( ohm - cm ). sup .- 1______________________________________ 1 : 1 1 . 25 × 10 . sup .- 32 . 1 : 1 1 . 39 × 10 . sup .- 33 . 3 : 1 1 . 75 × 10 . sup .- 36 . 2 : 1 2 . 05 × 10 . sup .- 3 20 : 1 1 . 56 × 10 . sup .- 3______________________________________ * reaction time 4 hours at 320 ° c . examples of pvp which may be used with this invention are shown below . pvp from other sources will also be satisfactory for use with the invention . benzoyl peroxide ( 2 . 0 grams ) is dissolved in freshly distilled 2 - vinylpyridine ( 200 grams ). water ( 400 ml ) is added and the mixture is purged with nitrogen for 1 hour . with continued purging , the mixture is heated at 85 ° c . with stirring and kept at that temperature for two hours . the organic phase will thicken and develop a brown color during this time . the mixture is cooled ; the aqueous phase is discarded and the organic phase is dried overnight at 60 ° c . in a vacuum oven . the residue is ground into fine granules and dried to a constant weight at 60 ° c . in the vacuum oven . yield 162 gm ( 81 %) poly - 2 - vinylpyridine . this product can be expected to provide the following results upon analysis by gel permeation chromotography : p2vp is manufactured by the ionac chemical co ., birmingham , alabama : typical weight -- average molecular weight -- 301 , 000 ; typical number -- average molecular weight -- 128 , 000 . freshly distilled 4 - vinylpyridine is purged with nitrogen for one hour . the 4 - vinylpyridine is heated with stirring under a continuing nitrogen purge to 160 ° c . and maintained at that temperature for 90 minutes . the contents of the reactor will darken and thicken during this time until agitation becomes very difficult to maintain . the reaction product is then poured warm into a container for storage and tightly sealed . the product can be expected to provide the following results upon analysis by gel permeation chromatography : p4vp may be obtained commercially from polysciences , inc ., identified as # 0112 .	2
fig1 is a block diagram depicting a partitioned index , index 1 , in a computing environment 100 , according to an embodiment of the invention . computing environment 100 may include a search cluster 110 that includes one or more search nodes 120 , for example , search nodes 1 - n . each search node 120 may be a computing device as described in connection with fig5 , below , and may store one or more shards 130 ( corresponding to a portion of index 1 ), for example , shards 1 - n . in one example , index 1 may be initiated as having one shard 130 , for example , shard 1 . as the size of index 1 grows , so may the size of shard 1 . over time , older data ( also referred as cold data ) may be moved into additional shards 130 , for example , shards 2 - n , to accommodate the additional data . in some circumstances index 1 may be partitioned into sub - indices each having a set of shards . partitioned sub - indices may be aggregated through aliases in an alias table . the aliases enable search cluster 110 to maintain a single view of index 1 irrespective of the number of partitions that the index contains . under some circumstances , it may be desirable to partition or repartition index 1 . for example , some or all of the data in index 1 may become old and no longer valid . in another example , index 1 may be partitioned or repartitioned according to a predefined partitioning schedule ( weekly , monthly , quarterly , etc .). in yet another example , index 1 may acquire a predefined specific state . the predefined specific state may be , for example , index 1 &# 39 ; s data size exceeding a predetermine threshold , or a search operation using index 1 failing to meet a predefined minimum performance standard . fig2 is a block diagram depicting partitioned sub - indices 220 , 230 and 240 , aggregated through aliases , according to an embodiment of the invention . the partitioned sub - indices 220 , 230 , and 240 are also labeled as sub - index a , sub - index b and sub - index c . each sub - index also identifies , in the depicted example , a long - name : mobile_data_20140413 , mobile_data_20140513 , and mobile_data_20140613 , respectively . each of sub - indices a - c may have one or more shards ( for example , shards 1 - 5 ). sub - indices a - c may be generated based on , for example , a monthly partitioning schedule , whereby each of sub - indices a - c corresponds to data collected in that partitioned index on a given date in a given month and year ; in this example , sub - index a may be from apr . 13 2014 ; sub - index b from may 13 , 2014 ; and sub - index c from jun . 13 , 2014 . sub - indices a - c may be generated and associated with index 1 , which may be a unified index 280 . index 1 may also be referred to as mobile_data , in this example . an alias table 210 includes a list of sub - indices 220 and their associations with index 1 , as well as other information about each index or sub - index , which may be stored as associated metadata . alias table 210 helps relate the existing partitions of index 1 to one another and gives a level of abstraction for a query module 290 used in big data - based search and analytics engines . while partitioning an index allows for maintaining different types of data sets , it is also useful to determine what type of partition is created when an index is partitioned . for example , there are many types of configurations that require an index to be created . in the prior art , in these circumstances , indices are created using a standard profile for creating a partitioned index . this prior art approach is not efficient , in part because the standard profile is not based on dynamically determined factors derived from changing properties of the index . rather , the standard profile is a one - size fits all solution that is not properly tailored to the index . fig3 a is a block diagram depicting an indexing system 300 for repartitioning an index 280 , also referred to as index 1 , according to an embodiment of the disclosure . indexing system 300 may include one or more computing devices as described in connection with fig5 , below . index 1 may include or be associated with a set of properties that define aspects of the index . in the depicted example , index 1 may also include one or more sub - indices a - c . according to an embodiment of the invention , properties of index 1 , may include , without limitation : data size ; creation date ; modification date ; number of sub - indices ; number of shards ; the total size of data in the index ; the total size of each shard ; the data in each shard ; a time value corresponding to time elapsed since a previous partitioning of the index ; a search timeout indication corresponding to the index ( where , for example , the index is searched but the search results in a timeout error ); a metric measuring uneven data distribution over shards in an index ( for example , measured as the difference between data size of the largest shard and the smallest shard ); shard / index size limits ; data retention metrics ; access details ; and event types . these are merely examples . other properties are possible . indexing system 300 may further include an indexing program 310 for execution by a processor ( not shown ) of indexing system 300 to perform a method , such as method 400 described in connection with fig4 , below . indexing system 300 may also include one or more databases 302 . database 302 may be distributed over one or more nodes ( for example , search nodes 120 described in connection with fig1 , above ). database 302 may store one or more indices and / or sub - indices , such as those described in connection with fig2 , above . as shown in fig3 a , these indices may include , for example , index 280 , also referred to as index 1 , containing the mobile_data index . index 1 may be associated with one or more sub - indices , such as sub - index a - c . the association between index 1 and sub - index a may be reflected in an alias table 210 . additional sub - indices of index 1 are omitted from fig3 a for clarity . indexing program 310 may include one or more programming modules including , for example , a monitoring module 311 , a fetching module 312 , an analytics engine 314 , and an indexing module 316 . functions of these modules are described in greater detail below , in connection with method 400 and fig3 a - b and fig4 . fig3 b is a block diagram depicting a repartitioned sub - index 320 generated by indexing system 300 of fig3 a , according to an embodiment of the disclosure . repartitioned sub - index 320 may be a modified version of sub - index 220 ( also labeled as sub - index a in fig3 a ), and is discussed in greater detail below , in connection with method 400 and fig3 a - b and fig4 . fig4 is a flowchart of a method 400 for partitioning / repartitioning an index , according to an embodiment of the disclosure . steps of method 400 may be implemented using one or more of the program modules of indexing program 310 executed by a processor of system 300 ( fig3 a ). referring now to fig3 a , 3b and 4 , at step 401 of method 400 , monitoring module 311 monitors properties of an index , such as index 280 , also referred to as index 1 , or a sub - index 220 , such as sub - index a , for a trigger event . index 280 or sub - index 220 may also be referred to as a monitored index . a trigger event may be defined as one or more conditions or states in which properties of the monitored index ( such as index 280 or sub - index 220 ) match one or more predefined triggers . trigger definitions may be stored in database 302 or on another database on another system . triggers may be defined based on one or more values or states that the properties can have ; they may include , for example : a data size threshold ( for example , data size of a shard , of an index , or a sub - index ); a number of documents stored threshold ( the threshold may apply to a shard , index , or sub - index ); a time threshold corresponding to time elapsed since a previous partition ( this may be based on a regular schedule such as weekly , monthly , quarterly , etc . ); a search timeout ( for example , a search engine attempts to search the index but experiences a timeout , which may indicate that the data in the index cannot be searched efficiently ); or data is old and needs a fresh partition ( for example , the data may no longer be valid , even though not much time has passed since a previous repartition ). the properties of the monitored index , such as index 280 or sub - index 220 , may be stored as metadata , as part of the monitored index itself or in an associated data store ( for example , a properties file ). monitoring functions by monitoring module 311 may include , in one embodiment , periodically querying properties of the monitored index and evaluating the state of the monitored index ( or the state of one or more properties ) to determine whether they correspond to a defined trigger event . for example , as shown in fig3 a , sub - index a includes five shards ( shards 1 - 5 ). each shard may include some data . in the depicted example , the data may be unevenly distributed among the various shards , where shard 2 , for example , includes a relatively large data set compared to shards 1 , 4 and 5 . this may constitute a trigger event based on predefined triggers : for example , the difference between the data size of the largest shard and the smallest shard exceeding 5 gb may be a trigger event . therefore , monitoring module 311 may detect this trigger event at step 402 , as is described further below . monitoring module 311 may monitor the monitored index ( for example , index 280 or sub - index 220 ) properties periodically to determine whether they correspond to a defined trigger . in one example , monitoring module 311 may compare the monitored index properties to the trigger definitions on a daily , weekly , monthly , or quarterly basis . additional or different monitoring schedules are also possible . at step 402 , monitoring module 311 may detect a trigger event based on the state of the monitored index matching a predefined state . for example , the size of shard 2 in sub - index a ( fig3 a ) may exceed the size of shards 1 and 3 - 5 by more than a predefined variance threshold . this may be undesirable because this trigger event indicates that data in sub - index a is not evenly distributed . uneven data distribution may be undesirable because it wastes resources and slows searching of index 1 and its sub - indices by query module 290 ( fig2 ). at step 404 , fetching module 312 fetches properties of the monitored index ( for example , index 1 or sub - index a ) from a memory device where they are stored ( such as database 302 ). the fetched properties may be used in other steps to generate one or more new partitions / repartitions . for example , fetching module 312 may fetch the properties of sub - index a ( sub - index 220 in fig3 a ); these properties may include identifying information of shards 1 - 5 , their size information , and additional related data , as well as other properties described above . at step 406 , analytics engine 314 receives the properties fetched by fetching module 312 and executes one or more analytic pipes to analyze and process the properties of the monitored index whose state causes the trigger detection at step 402 . analytics engine 314 analyzes these properties and determines how to reparation the received index according to a dynamically determined partitioning / repartitioning policy . prior to describing specific functions of analytics engine 314 , a detailed description is provided of a pipes programming model that may support various analytic functions of analytics engine 314 , according to an embodiment of the invention . according to an embodiment of the invention , analytics engine 314 may function as follows : analytics engine 314 may be based on a pipes programming model . the pipes programming model includes a concept termed herein as a “ pipe .” a pipe , as described herein , represents a logical construct that includes search and visualization instructions defined within a supporting programming / scripting language syntax ( e . g ., python ®, though many others are possible ). a pipes programming model provides an architecture that defines and executes a pipe with a sequential search , modification / cleansing of searched data , and visualization of the data using a single thread request / response paradigm . as such , the pipes programming model provides compartmentalized processing of several analytical operations on data and the return of results of the analytical operations using a single hypertext transfer protocol ( http ) request , a single http thread of operation at an http server , and a single http response from the server by the single server http thread . a “ piped http request ,” as described herein , represents an http request by analytics engine 314 that includes / encapsulates scripted code that is requested to be executed against a dataset by the http server under the single thread of operation . the execution of the scripting language may be performed in a native scripting language runtime associated with the scripted code by the single thread of operation . a “ piped http response ,” as described herein , represents an http request that includes / encapsulates the results of execution of scripted code returned by the single http thread that are created in response to receipt of the piped http request . the scripted code may include scripted syntax executable to perform search functions , data manipulation functions , and data visualization functions . as such , the pipes programming model described herein provides a comprehensive solution to data analytics that may improve data analysis for data sets , including large distributed data sets . in analytics engine 314 , a web application is one example of a source platform within which a pipes programming model may be implemented and where a user ( the user may be a program , automated process , or system ) may configure and initiate piped http requests for analytics , as described above and in more detail below . in one example , the user may be indexing program 310 or fetching module 312 . a middleware analytics platform is utilized herein as a target platform within which the pipes programming model may be implemented and where piped http requests may be executed . it is understood that other platform possibilities exist that may be utilized as a source and target platform for implementation of the pipes programming model and all such possibilities are considered within the scope of the present technology . the search may include a distributed , batch - oriented search that is requested to be performed within the piped http request using embedded scripted code within the piped http request . the distributed , batch - oriented search may be performed by the http server under a single thread of operation across distributed and local data nodes to query for the search results ( e . g ., search hits ). the result of this search may be manipulated under the same thread of operation as specified by the scripted code within the http request . the results of the search and / or data manipulation may be visualized through charting libraries , again under the same thread of operation and as also specified by the scripted code within the piped http request . the manipulated and / or visualized search results may be returned as the response to the piped http request , again under the same thread of operation . as such , a single http request may be processed by an http server to perform search , data manipulation , and data visualization operations on behalf of the user requesting the piped http request . the results of the piped http request may be rendered on a display device or other rendering output may be generated , and the rendered output may be presented to the user . accordingly , data analytics may be improved by use of the pipes programming model described herein . scripting languages , such as python ®, javascript ®, php : hypertext preprocessor ( php ), and perl scripting languages , may be used as the scripting language within which the scripted code within the piped http request is syntactically formulated / created . other scripting languages may also be used , as appropriate for a given implementation . as described above , and in more detail below , the scripted code is used in combination with the piped http request and distributed search technologies to provide descriptive analytics for search and visualization of complex data . as described above , a piped http request results in creation of a new thread within the target platform that implements the pipes programming model . the target platform may alternatively be referred to as a middleware analytics platform . the target platform executes the pipes that are requested . the newly - created thread interprets the instructions provided in the respective sequential scripting language that defines the pipe and executes the pipe in association with the target platform . some examples of instructions in a pipe may be as follows . a first type of instruction in a pipe includes a search function . a second type of instruction in a pipe includes a data manipulation function . a third type of instruction in a pipe includes a data visualization function . other instructions are possible . regarding possible search functions , search_hits ( e . g ., searches for raw results based on a search criteria ), search_termfacet ( e . g ., searches for facets or distribution of values across a specific field ), search_datetimehistogram ( e . g ., searches for distribution of events across a histogram defined by date and time of the documents ), and similar search specifications represent example search functions that may be utilized to implement a search of complex data using a single http thread within the target platform . regarding possible data manipulation functions , sort ( e . g ., sorting of received results based on value of fields ), filter ( e . g ., filtering out unwanted noise in the results obtained using search functions ), map ( e . g ., re - ordering different values in a way that may more - easily / understandably be visualized ), group ( e . g ., aggregating received results into groups based on a characteristic of the data ), and similar data manipulation specifications represent example data manipulation functions that may be utilized to implement data manipulation of search results of complex data using the single http thread within the target platform . regarding possible data visualization functions , chart_pie ( e . g ., visualizing as a pie chart to visualize value distribution ), chart_stats ( e . g ., visualizing minimum , maximum and mean values ), chart_chord ( e . g ., visualizing chord distribution of various data types to indicate relationships ), chart_heatmap ( e . g ., visualizing heat map distribution of the values represented in the search results , such as memory utilization across servers ), chart_timeline ( e . g ., visualizing a timeline chart showing a sequence of events in a timeline ), chart_horizon ( e . g ., visualizing variations of values shown in a timeline ), and similar data visualization specifications represent example data visualization functions that may be utilized to implement visualized output of manipulated search results of complex data using the single http thread within the target platform . it should also be noted that while the example functions described above are utilized for purposes of example , other search functions , data manipulation functions , and data visualization functions are possible and all such functions are considered within the scope of the present subject matter . the analytics based on a pipes programming model described herein may be performed in real time to allow prompt visualization of complex data searches , data manipulation , and analytical data visualization . for purposes of the present description , real time shall include any time frame of sufficiently short duration as to provide reasonable response time for information processing acceptable to a user of the subject matter described . additionally , the term “ real time ” shall include what is commonly termed “ near real time ” - generally meaning any time frame of sufficiently short duration as to provide reasonable response time for on - demand information processing acceptable to a user of the subject matter described ( e . g ., within a portion of a second or within a few seconds ). these terms are well understood by those skilled in the art . additional examples of analytics pipes and methods of using them are described by the disclosure of commonly - owned , co - pending united states patent application filed on mar . 29 , 2013 , the contents and disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in their entirety : u . s . patent application ser . no . ( 13 / 853 , 700 ), for “ analytics based on pipes programming model ”. with continued reference to fig3 a , 3b and 4 , based on the pipes programming model described above , analytics engine 314 may generate a new request ( for example , an http request ) including / encapsulating scripted code that is requested for execution against a dataset by the http server component of analytics engine 314 . the new request may be a partition / repartition request . the code specified by the request for execution may be code that implements a dynamic indexing / partitioning policy that takes into account current and evolving properties of the monitored index , rather than limiting itself to default indexing / partitioning policies in use in the prior art . according to an embodiment of the invention , the dynamic partitioning policy for the monitored index may be as follows , where the monitored index contains data generated by at least one or more mobile devices ( such as index 1 and / or sub - index a ). analytics engine 314 may execute the pipe to search for properties of the monitored index ; for example , its number of shards , data retention parameters , size limit , event types , access details , etc . analytics engine 314 may also search properties that indicate the number of unique devices generating the mobile data and pumping the data into the monitored index . based on this descriptive analytics , analytics engine 314 may create an optimized routing table and number of shards based on the dynamic partitioning policy . for example , analytics engine may determine that a percentage of queries by query module 290 ( fig2 ) higher than a predefined threshold value are more likely to result in search timeouts where the queried index contains data from more than 100 mobile devices . analytics engine 314 may therefore determine , as part of a dynamic partitioning policy , that each index / re - partitioned index that it generates should include data from no more than 100 distinct mobile devices . according to a further embodiment , analytics engine 314 may assess the existing data population in the monitored index over a prior time period ( for example , a month ), and determine , as part of a dynamic partitioning policy , an optimal number of shards based on a pre - defined limit on the data size of shards . for example , where the monitored index grows to more than 300 gb , and given a general policy to limit shard sizes to 20 gb , analytics engine 314 may determine that new or repartitioned indices should include at least 30 shards , instead of a default number of shards that may otherwise be created ( for example , 5 ) under a non - dynamic policy . according to a further embodiment of the invention , analytics engine 314 may determine the location ( for example , zip code or gps coordinates ) from where the mobile data is being generated and pumped into the monitored index . analytics engine 314 may determine , as part of a dynamic partitioning policy , to generate a partitioned index such that its search nodes are geographically nearer to that location . this may improve , for example , query speeds . the above embodiments are merely examples , and other dynamic partitioning policies are possible . at step 408 , indexing module 316 may create a new index , partition an existing index , or repartition the existing index based on the output of the analytics pipes , and / or based on the monitored index ( for example , index 1 or sub - index a ) and the dynamically generated repartitioning policy or policies of analytics engine 314 , determined at step 406 . in the example of sub - index 220 ( sub - index a in fig3 a ), analytics engine 314 may repartition it to generate sub - index 320 ( also labeled as sub - index a in fig3 b ) having six shards ( compared to the previous count of five shards ), wherein the sub - index 320 data is more evenly distributed among the six shards ( as compared to the density of data in one shard compared to one or more other shards ). indexing module 316 may , in an embodiment , cause re - fetching of the monitored index &# 39 ; s properties and / or re - execute functions of analytics engine 314 to determine a revised partitioning policy or partitioning plan , where an existing partitioning plan is determined not be optimal for any reason ( for example , where not enough information is available to assess the desirability of a proposed partition plan / configuration ). according to a further embodiment of the invention , monitoring module 311 may pause indexing operations and cause the partitioning / repartitioning functions of indexing program 310 to be performed atomically , such that possible new indexing operations do not interfere with the partitioning / repartitioning functions . a new partition / repartition may therefore be created atomically , and discarded if it is not successfully generated . at step 410 , indexing module 316 may update alias table 210 to reflect the new partitioning / repartitioning of the monitored index . the updating function may include , for example , generating a new alias and / or changing existing aliases and adding them to the alias table 210 . referring now to fig5 , a computing device 1000 ( e . g ., computer system 300 in fig3 ) may include respective sets of internal components 800 and external components 900 . each of the sets of internal components 800 includes one or more processors 820 ; one or more computer - readable rams 822 ; one or more computer - readable roms 824 on one or more buses 826 ; one or more operating systems 828 ; one or more software applications ( e . g ., device driver modules ) executing the program x 38 ; and one or more computer - readable tangible storage devices 830 . the one or more operating systems 828 and device driver modules are stored on one or more of the respective computer - readable tangible storage devices 830 for execution by one or more of the respective processors 820 via one or more of the respective rams 822 ( which typically include cache memory ). in the embodiment illustrated in fig5 , each of the computer - readable tangible storage devices 830 is a magnetic disk storage device of an internal hard drive . alternatively , each of the computer - readable tangible storage devices 830 is a semiconductor storage device such as rom 824 , eprom , flash memory or any other computer - readable tangible storage device that can store a computer program and digital information . each set of internal components 800 also includes a r / w drive or interface 832 to read from and write to one or more computer - readable tangible storage devices 936 such as a thin provisioning storage device , cd - rom , dvd , ssd , memory stick , magnetic tape , magnetic disk , optical disk or semiconductor storage device . the r / w drive or interface 832 may be used to load the device driver 840 firmware , software , or microcode to tangible storage device 936 to facilitate communication with components of computing device 1000 . each set of internal components 800 may also include network adapters ( or switch port cards ) or interfaces 836 such as a tcp / ip adapter cards , wireless wi - fi interface cards , or 3g or 4g wireless interface cards or other wired or wireless communication links . the operating system 828 that is associated with computing device 1000 , can be downloaded to computing device 1000 from an external computer ( e . g ., server ) via a network ( for example , the internet , a local area network or wide area network ) and respective network adapters or interfaces 836 . from the network adapters ( or switch port adapters ) or interfaces 836 and operating system 828 associated with computing device 1000 are loaded into the respective hard drive 830 and network adapter 836 . the network may comprise copper wires , optical fibers , wireless transmission , routers , firewalls , switches , gateway computers and / or edge servers . each of the sets of external components 900 can include a computer display monitor 920 , a keyboard 930 , and a computer mouse 934 . external components 900 can also include touch screens , virtual keyboards , touch pads , pointing devices , and other human interface devices . each of the sets of internal components 800 also includes device drivers 840 to interface to computer display monitor 920 , keyboard 930 and computer mouse 934 . the device drivers 840 , r / w drive or interface 832 and network adapter or interface 836 comprise hardware and software ( stored in storage device 830 and / or rom 824 ). referring now to fig6 , an illustrative cloud computing environment 600 is depicted . as shown , the cloud computing environment 600 comprises one or more cloud computing nodes , each of which may be a system 1000 with which local computing devices used by cloud consumers , such as , for example , a personal digital assistant ( pda ) or a cellular telephone 600 a , a desktop computer 600 b , a laptop computer 600 c , and / or an automobile computer system 600 n , may communicate . the nodes 1000 may communicate with one another . they may be grouped ( not shown ) physically or virtually , in one or more networks , such as private , community , public , or hybrid clouds as described hereinabove , or a combination thereof . this allows the cloud computing environment 600 to offer infrastructure , platforms and / or software as services for which a cloud consumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computing device . it is understood that the types of computing devices 600 a - n shown in fig6 are intended to be illustrative only and that the computing nodes 1000 and the cloud computing environment 600 can communicate with any type of computerized device over any type of network and / or network addressable connection ( e . g ., using a web browser ). referring now to fig7 , a set of functional abstraction layers 700 provided by the cloud computing environment 600 ( fig6 ) is shown . it should be understood in advance that the components , layers , and functions shown in fig7 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto . as depicted , the following layers and corresponding functions are provided . the hardware and software layer 710 includes hardware and software components . examples of hardware components include mainframes , in one example ibm ® zseries ® systems ; risc ( reduced instruction set computer ) architecture based servers , in one example ibm pseries ® systems ; ibm xseries ® systems ; ibm bladecenter ® systems ; storage devices ; networks and networking components . examples of software components include network application server software , in one example ibm websphere ® application server software ; and database software , in one example ibm db2 ® database software . ( ibm , zseries , pseries , xseries , bladecenter , websphere , and db2 are trademarks of international business machines corporation registered in many jurisdictions worldwide ). the virtualization layer 714 provides an abstraction layer from which the following examples of virtual entities may be provided : virtual servers ; virtual storage ; virtual networks , including virtual private networks ; virtual applications and operating systems ; and virtual clients . in one example , the management layer 718 may provide the functions described below . resource provisioning provides dynamic procurement of computing resources and other resources that are utilized to perform tasks within the cloud computing environment . metering and pricing provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloud computing environment , and billing or invoicing for consumption of these resources . in one example , these resources may comprise application software licenses . security provides identity verification for cloud consumers and tasks , as well as protection for data and other resources . user portal provides access to the cloud computing environment for consumers and system administrators . service level management provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such that required service levels are met . service level agreement ( sla ) planning and fulfillment provide pre - arrangement for , and procurement of , cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated in accordance with an sla . the workloads layer 722 provides examples of functionality for which the cloud computing environment may be utilized . examples of workloads and functions which may be provided from this layer include : mapping and navigation ; software development and lifecycle management ; virtual classroom education delivery ; data analytics processing ; transaction processing ; and a tool for partitioning an index , such as that provided for by embodiments of the present disclosure described in fig1 - 4 . while the present invention is particularly shown and described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in forms and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application . it is therefore intended that the present invention not be limited to the exact forms and details described and illustrated herein , but falls within the scope of the appended claims . the present invention may be a system , a method , and / or a computer program product . the computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium ( or media ) having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention . the computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device . the computer readable storage medium may be , for example , but is not limited to , an electronic storage device , a magnetic storage device , an optical storage device , an electromagnetic storage device , a semiconductor storage device , or any suitable combination of the foregoing . a non - exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following : a portable computer diskette , a hard disk , a random access memory ( ram ), a read - only memory ( rom ), an erasable programmable read - only memory ( eprom or flash memory ), a static random access memory ( sram ), a portable compact disc read - only memory ( cd - rom ), a digital versatile disk ( dvd ), a memory stick , a floppy disk , a mechanically encoded device such as punch - cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon , and any suitable combination of the foregoing . a computer readable storage medium , as used herein , is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se , such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves , electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media ( e . g ., light pulses passing through a fiber - optic cable ), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire . computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing / processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network , for example , the internet , a local area network , a wide area network and / or a wireless network . the network may comprise copper transmission cables , optical transmission fibers , wireless transmission , routers , firewalls , switches , gateway computers and / or edge servers . a network adapter card or network interface in each computing / processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing / processing device . computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present invention may be assembler instructions , instruction - set - architecture ( isa ) instructions , machine instructions , machine dependent instructions , microcode , firmware instructions , state - setting data , or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages , including an object oriented programming language such as smalltalk , c ++ or the like , and conventional procedural programming languages , such as the “ c ” programming language or similar programming languages . the computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user &# 39 ; s computer , partly on the user &# 39 ; s computer , as a stand - alone software package , partly on the user &# 39 ; s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server . in the latter scenario , the remote computer may be connected to the user &# 39 ; s computer through any type of network , including a local area network ( lan ) or a wide area network ( wan ), or the connection may be made to an external computer ( for example , through the internet using an internet service provider ). in some embodiments , electronic circuitry including , for example , programmable logic circuitry , field - programmable gate arrays ( fpga ), or programmable logic arrays ( pla ) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry , in order to perform aspects of the present invention . aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods , apparatus ( systems ), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention . it will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams , and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams , can be implemented by computer readable program instructions . these computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer , special purpose computer , or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine , such that the instructions , which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus , create means for implementing the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . these computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer , a programmable data processing apparatus , and / or other devices to function in a particular manner , such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function / act specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . the computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer , other programmable data processing apparatus , or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer , other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process , such that the instructions which execute on the computer , other programmable apparatus , or other device implement the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . the flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture , functionality , and operation of possible implementations of systems , methods , and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention . in this regard , each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module , segment , or portion of instructions , which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function ( s ). in some alternative implementations , the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures . for example , two blocks shown in succession may , in fact , be executed substantially concurrently , or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order , depending upon the functionality involved . it will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and / or flowchart illustration , and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flowchart illustration , can be implemented by special purpose hardware - based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions .	6
refer now to the drawings wherein depicted elements are , for the sake of clarity , not necessarily shown to scale and wherein like or similar elements are designated by the same reference numeral through the several views . referring to fig1 of the drawings , the reference numeral 100 generally designates an integrated circuit ( ic ) in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . ic 100 generally comprises transistors q 1 and q 2 ( which are preferably nmos transistors ), a controller 102 , a driver 104 , over - temperature circuit 106 , over - current circuit 108 , oscillator 110 , current source 112 , short - circuit detector 114 , input terminal vin , output terminal vout , control terminal cl , activation terminal on , ground terminal gnd , and over - current terminal o . in operation , ic 100 operates as a “ load switch ,” controlling whether current can flow from the input terminal vin to the output terminal vout . an example of a conventional load switch ic is the tps22945 by texas instruments incorporated . ic 100 is generally controlled by controller 102 , which is able to be activated through activation terminal on and controlled through control terminal cl . ic 100 , as with any other semiconductors , though , operates under certain specified conditions , such as a predetermined temperature range ; if ic 100 is operated outside the specified conditions , then failure of ic 100 can occur . in order to help ensure that the ic 100 does not operate outside of these specified conditions , protection circuitry is employed , namely over - current , over - temperature , and short - circuit protection . turning first to the over - current circuit 108 , it determines whether the current through transistor q 1 has exceeded a predetermined current . generally , ic 100 can carry a current of about 200 ma ( within about 3 μa ). when activated , the over - current circuit 108 receives a clock signal clk ( as shown in fig2 ) from the oscillator 110 and employs current source 112 to measure the current through transistor q 1 . if an over - current condition is detected ( i . e ., the current through transistor q 1 exceeds the predetermined current ), the over - current circuit 108 first limits the current through transistor q 1 , then provides an over - current signal to the controller 102 , which actuates ( or deactivates , as desired ) transistor q 2 to coupled ( or decouple ) the over - current terminal o and the ground terminal gnd . the controller 102 can also activate the over - temperature circuit 106 and short - circuit detector 114 to make other measurements . the over - temperature circuit 106 , which , for example , can be comprised of a diode and current comparator , measures whether the ic 100 has exceeded a predetermined temperature , and , if the temperature of the ic 100 is greater than the predetermined temperature ( such as 140 c ), the over - temperature circuit 106 can provide an over - temperature signal to controller 102 to “ shut down ” the ic 100 . the short - circuit detector 114 , which can be , for example , a comparator , can determine whether a short - circuit conditions is present . effectively , the short - current condition is an over - current condition , so the short - circuit detector 114 can provide a short - circuit signal to the over - current circuit 108 so that it may provide an over - current signal to the controller 102 . ideally , each protection circuit would continuously operate , but continuous operation can dramatically increase power consumption , so the controller 102 activates each of the protection circuits in sequence to both protect the ic 100 and to reduce power consumption , compared to conventional load switches . to do this , controller 102 provides timing signals to each of the over - current circuit 108 , the over - temperature circuit 106 , and the short - circuit detector 114 , which are generated from the clock signal clk ( as shown in fig2 ) from oscillator 110 . the clock signal clk generally has a period or cycle time of , for example , about 500 μs . as shown in fig2 , the largest relative current draw occurs in over - current mode oc ( which lasts , for example , about 1 clock cycle or about 500 μs ) when the over - current circuit 108 is operating , so the controller 102 limits consecutive activations of the over - current circuit 108 to a period tmin 1 . period tnim 1 is preferably about 63 . 5 ms , but can be chosen based on the specifics of the ic 100 . between consecutive activations of the over - current circuit 108 or consecutive pulses of its timing signal , the controller 102 can actuate over - temperature circuit 106 multiple times in an over - temperature mode ot ( which lasts , for example , about 1 clock cycle or about 500 μs ) at an interval tmin 2 , where the time between consecutive activations or time between consecutive pulses , for example , can be about 7 . 5 ms . the remainder of the time , the controller 102 alternates between a short - circuit mode s , where the short - circuit detector 114 is activated , and a low - power mode lp , where all of the protection circuits are deactivated . each of the short - circuit mode s and low - power mode lp have an operating interval of , for example , about 1 clock cycle or about 250 μs . operating in this manner , ic 100 is able to remain protected while reducing power consumption compared to other convention ics . having thus described the present invention by reference to certain of its preferred embodiments , it is noted that the embodiments disclosed are illustrative rather than limiting in nature and that a wide range of variations , modifications , changes , and substitutions are contemplated in the foregoing disclosure and , in some instances , some features of the present invention may be employed without a corresponding use of the other features . accordingly , it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of the invention .	7
ar 1 is phenyl or indanyl and is substituted with 0 - 3 substituents selected from cyano , halo , alkyl , haloalkyl , and haloalkoxy ; ar 2 is phenyl substituted with 1 or substituent and also substituted with 0 - 3 substituents selected from cyano , halo , alkyl , haloalkyl , and haloalkoxy ; r is a prodrug moiety selected from the group consisting of alkyl esters , amino acid esters , alkoxy esters , phosphonic acids , phosphonic alkyl esters , alkoxyphosphononate acid , alkoxyphosphonate alkyl esters , alkyl carabamates , amino acid carbamates , alkyl phosporamidates , aryl phosphoramidates , and sulfamates ; ring a is azetidinyl , pyrrolidinyl , piperidinyl , piperazinyl , homopiperidinyl , or homopiperazinyl and is substituted with 0 - 4 substituents selected from halo , alkyl , hydroxy , or alkoxy ; where r is a prodrug moiety selected from the group consisting of alkyl esters , amino acid esters , alkoxy esters , phosphonic acids , phosphonic alkyl esters , alkoxyphosphononate acid , alkoxyphosphonate alkyl esters , alkyl carabamates , amino acid carbamates , alkyl phosporamidates , aryl phosphoramidates , and sulfamates ; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof . compounds of formula i may be made by methods known in the art including those described below and including variations within the skill of the art . some reagents and intermediates are known in the art . other reagents and intermediates can be made by methods known in the art using readily available materials . the variables ( e . g . numbered “ r ” substituents ) used to describe the synthesis of the compounds are intended only to illustrate how to make the compounds and are not to be confused with variables used in the claims or in other sections of the specification . the following methods are for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention . the schemes encompass reasonable variations known in the art . scheme 1 shows an effective synthesis of example 1 , ( r )- 3 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) piperidin - 1 - yl )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one . hydroxylactam 1 is available commercially in optically pure form . it can be protected and n - alkylated to form lactam 4 . deprotection and activation of he hydroxyl group with methanesulfonylchloride leads to the lactam 5 . separately , compound 6 can be prepared by the suzuki coupling raction between commercial 4 - benzyloxybromobenzene and commercial tert - butyl 4 -( 4 , 4 , 5 , 5 - tetramethyl - 1 , 3 , 2 - dioxaborolan - 2 - yl )- 5 , 6 - dihydropyridine - 1 ( 2h )- carboxylate . treatment of 6 with in - situ prepared borane followed by oxidation results in formation of the trans racemic alcohol 7 . the alcohol 7 can be separated in to the individual enantiomers , and the phenol can be unmasked using hydrogenation under standard conditions to the prepare the substituted phenol 8 . fluorination with de - oxofluor reagent provides selectively the trans aryl fluoride 9 , and deprotection of the boc group with hydrochloric acid provides the piperidine as the hydrochloride salt . simple extraction under basic conditions provides the piperidine 10 as the freebase . careful reaction of the piperidine 10 with the lactam 5 under mildly basic conditions provides ( r )- 3 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) piperidin - 1 - yl )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one , the title compound of example 1 . the compound of example 1 can be transformed into a variety of prodrugs using methods known in the art . thus , according to scheme 2 , treatment of the phenol with pocl 3 , pyridine , and dmap followed by aqueous hydrolysis provides example 2 , the dihydrogen phosphate ester of example 1 . similarly , reaction of the compound of example 1 with a boc - protected amino acid using a variety of methods known in the art , but preferably using dicyclohexylcarbodiimide and 4 - dimethylaminopyridine provides the ester 11 . clevage of the boc group in acid , preferably hcl , provides the esters which include the compounds of examples 3 and 4 . in a similar manner , boc - protected aspartic acid tert - butyl ester ( 12 ) can be coupled through the unprotected sidechain to the compound of example 1 to provide the ester 13 . deprotection with hcl again provides the compound of example 5 . abbreviations used in the schemes generally follow conventions used in the art . chemical abbreviations used in the specification and examples are defined as follows : “ nahmds ” for sodium bis ( trimethylsilyl ) amide ; “ dmf ” for n , n - dimethylformamide ; “ meoh ” for methanol ; “ nbs ” for n - bromosuccinimide ; “ ar ” for aryl ; “ tfa ” for trifluoroacetic acid ; “ lah ” for lithium aluminum hydride ; “ boc ” for t - butoxycarbonyl , “ dmso ” for dimethylsulfoxide ; “ h ” for hours ; “ etoac ” for ethyl acetate ; “ thf ” for tetrahydrofuran ; “ edta ” for ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid ; “ et 2 o ” for diethyl ether ; “ dmap ” for 4 - dimethylaminopyridine ; “ dce ” for 1 , 2 - dichloroethane ; “ acn ” for acetonitrile ; “ dme ” for 1 , 2 - dimethoxyethane ; “ hobt ” for 1 - hydroxybenzotriazole hydrate ; “ diea ” for diisopropylethylamine , “ nf ” for cf 3 ( cf 2 ) 3 so 2 —; and “ tmof ” for trimethylorthoformate . abbreviations as used herein , are defined as follows : “ 1 ×” for once , “ 2 ×” for twice , “ 3 ×” for thrice , “° c .” for degrees celsius , “ eq ” for equivalent or equivalents , “ g ” for gram or grams , “ mg ” for milligram or milligrams , “ l ” for liter or liters , “ ml ” for milliliter or milliliters , “ μl ” for microliter or microliters , “ n ” for normal , “ m ” for molar , “ mmol ” for millimole or millimoles , “ min ” for minute or minutes , “ h ” for hour or hours , “ rt ” for room temperature , “ rt ” for retention time , “ atm ” for atmosphere , “ psi ” for pounds per square inch , “ conc .” for concentrate , “ sat ” or “ satd . “ for saturated , “ mw ” for molecular weight , “ mp ” for melting point , “ ee ” for enantiomeric excess , “ ms ” or “ mass spec ” for mass spectrometry , “ esi ” for electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy , “ hr ” for high resolution , “ hrms ” for high resolution mass spectrometry , “ lcms ” for liquid chromatography mass spectrometry , “ hplc ” for high pressure liquid chromatography , “ rp hplc ” for reverse phase hplc , “ dcm ” for dichloromethane , “ tlc ” or “ tlc ” for thin layer chromatography , “ sfc ” for supercritical fluid chromatography , “ nmr ” for nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , “ 1 h ” for proton , “□” for delta , “ s ” for singlet , “ d ” for doublet , “ t ” for triplet , “ q ” for quartet , “ m ” for multiplet , “ br ” for broad , “ hz ” for hertz , and “ r ”, “ s ”, “ e ”, and “ z ” are stereochemical designations familiar to one skilled in the art . lc / ms data were acquired using the following conditions : conditions a : ascentis c18 50 × 2 . 1 mm , 2 . 7 μm column using a 1 ml / min flowrate gradient of 0 - 100 % b over 1 . 7 minutes followed by 1 . 3 minutes at 100 % b . solvent a : 10 mm nh4cooh in water : acetonitrile ( 98 : 2 ); solvent b = 10 mm nh4cooh in water : acetonitrile ( 2 : 98 ). conditions b : phenomenex c18 2 . 0 × 50 mm , 5 μm column using a 0 . 8 ml / min flowrate gradient of 0 - 100 % b over 4 minutes . solvent a = 10 % meoh / 90 % water / 0 . 1 % tfa , solvent b = 90 % meoh / 10 % water / 0 . 1 % tfa . a solution of commercial 1 -( benzyloxy )- 4 - bromobenzene ( 104 g , 395 mmol ) and commercial tert - butyl 4 -( 4 , 4 , 5 , 5 - tetramethyl - 1 , 3 , 2 - dioxaborolan - 2 - yl )- 5 , 6 - dihydropyridine - 1 ( 2h )- carboxylate ( 147 g , 474 mmol ) in 1100 ml of acetonitrile was purged with nitrogen for 2 min . water ( 1100 ml ) was added , followed by sodium carbonate ( 126 g , 1186 mmol ) and tetrakis ( triphenylphosphine ) palladium ( 27 . 4 g , 23 . 7 mmol ). the reaction mixture was purged with nitrogen for 5 min , and then heated to 90 ° c . and stirred for 16 h . the reaction mixture was then allowed to cool to rt and diluted with 1 l of ethyl acetate . the layers were separated , and the aqueous layer was extracted with two additional 250 ml portions of ethyl acetate . the organic layers were combined , washed with 200 ml of brine , dried over sodium sulfate , and evaporated in vacuo to provide an off - white solid . the product was purified by silica gel chromatography eluting with 6 % ethyl acetate in petroleum ether to provide 129 g ( 88 %) of the desired product . lc / ms rt ( conditions a )= 2 . 732 min , ( m − h )+= 364 . 0 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , chloroform - d ) δ 7 . 49 - 7 . 30 ( m , 5h ), 7 . 27 ( d , j = 10 . 7 hz , 2h ), 6 . 99 - 6 . 87 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 03 - 5 . 87 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 07 ( s , 2h ), 4 . 05 ( d , j = 2 . 6 hz , 2h ), 3 . 62 ( t , j = 5 . 7 hz , 2h ), 2 . 49 ( br . s ., 2h ), 1 . 49 ( s , 9h ). sodium borohydride ( 15 . 5 g , 410 mmol ) was dissolved in thf , and the solution was chilled to 0 ° c . boron trifluoride etherate ( 52 . 3 ml , 424 mmol ) was added to the solution and the mixture was allowed to warm to rt and stirred for 30 min . then a solution of tert - butyl 4 -( 4 -( benzyloxy ) phenyl )- 5 , 6 - dihydropyridine - 1 ( 2h )- carboxylate ( 50 g , 137 mmol , intermediate a ) in 500 ml of thf was added and the reaction mixture was stirred for 2 h at rt . a 100 ml portion of water was then added slowly to the mixture ( caution : effervescence is observed ). the mixture was diluted with 100 ml of ethanol , and sodium hydroxide ( 228 ml , 10 % solution in water , 0 . 684 mol ) and hydrogen peroxide ( 20 . 5 ml , 0 . 684 mol ) were added . the reaction mixture was heated to reflux temperature and stirred for 16 h . the mixture was cooled to 10 ° c . and diluted with 1 l of dcm . then the ph was adjusted to 7 with 1 . 5 l of 1 . 5 n hcl . the layers were then separated , and the aqueous layer was extracted with an addition two 500 ml portions of dcm . the organic layers were combined , washed with 2 × 1 l of water and 200 ml of brine , dried over sodium sulfate , and evaporated in vacuo to provide an off - white solid . the solid was triturated with 500 ml of pet ether , and isolated by filtration to yield 46 . 5 grams of product ( 88 %, 99 . 0 % purity by hplc ). lc / ms rt ( conditions a )= 2 . 372 min , ( m + h ) \| = 382 . 0 . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , dmso - d 6 ) δ 7 . 47 - 7 . 42 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 42 - 7 . 36 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 36 - 7 . 28 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 14 ( d , j = 9 . 0 hz , 2h ), 6 . 92 ( d , j = 9 . 0 hz , 2h ), 5 . 07 ( s , 2h ), 4 . 74 ( d , j = 5 . 5 hz , 1h ), 4 . 10 ( br . s ., 1h ), 3 . 94 ( br . s ., 1h ), 3 . 46 - 3 . 35 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 47 - 2 . 31 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 70 - 1 . 61 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 55 - 1 . 45 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 42 ( s , 9h ). racemic rel -( 3s , 4s )- tert - butyl 4 -( 4 -( benzyloxy ) phenyl )- 3 - hydroxypiperidine - 1 - carboxylate ( 112 g , intermediate b ) was separated into the individual enantiomers using preparative supercritical fluid chromatography under the following conditions : a thar sfc - 250 instrument was utilized with a lux - cellulose - 2 ( 250 × 21 mm ), 5 μm column eluting with 60 % co 2 and 40 % of a solution of 0 . 3 % diethylamine in methanol at a flow rate of 100 . 0 g / min . sample was injected at 74 mg / ml . analytical sfc was carried out on lux - cellulose - 2 ( 250 × 4 . 6 mm ), 5 μm column eluting with 55 % co 2 and 45 % of a solution of 0 . 3 % diethylamine in methanol at a flow rate of 3 . 0 g / min . the recovery was 50 . 0 g of peak 1 with a retention time of 2 . 49 minutes , which corresponds to the desired ( 3s , 4s )- tert - butyl 4 -( 4 -( benzyloxy ) phenyl )- 3 - hydroxypiperidine - 1 - carboxylate . analytical data matched those from the racemate . a solution of ( 3s , 4s )- tert - butyl 4 -( 4 -( benzyloxy ) phenyl )- 3 - hydroxypiperidine - 1 - carboxylate ( 26 g , 67 . 8 mmol , intermediate c ) in 260 ml of methanol was treated with 1 . 6 grams of 10 % palladium on carbon ( 13 . 6 mmol ) in a pressure bottle . hydrogen at 50 psi was introduced , and the reaction mixture was stirred for 16 h . the mixture ws filtered through celite and concentrated to a crude product ( 18 . 9 g , 64 . 4 mmol ) which was sufficiently pure to carry forward without further purification . lc / ms rt ( conditions b )= 2 . 970 min , ( m + h with loss of t - butyl ) + = 238 . 0 . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , dmso - d 6 ) δ 9 . 10 ( br . s ., 1h ), 7 . 01 ( d , j = 8 . 5 hz , 2h ), 6 . 65 ( s , 2h ), 4 . 70 ( d , j = 5 . 0 hz , 1h ), 4 . 09 ( br . s ., 1h ), 3 . 93 ( br . s ., 1h ), 3 . 17 ( s , 2h ), 2 . 79 - 2 . 63 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 34 ( br . s ., 1h ), 1 . 68 - 1 . 57 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 44 ( br . s ., 1h ), 1 . 42 ( s , 9h ). a solution of ( 3s , 4s )- tert - butyl3 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) piperidine - 1 - carboxylate ( 15 . 5 g , 61 . 4 mmol , intermediate d ) in 270 ml of acteonitrile was chilled to 0 ° c . to the stirred solution was added bis ( 2 - methoxyethyl ) aminosulfur trifluoride 50 % solution in toluene ( deoxo - fluor , 58 . 4 ml , 159 mmol ) dropwise via addition funnel over 65 min . after the addition , the reaction mixture was stirred for 30 min at 0 ° c . and then allowed to come to rt and stirred for an additional 2 h . a saturated ammonium chloride solution ( 150 ml ) was then added , and the mixture was extracted with two 150 ml portions of dcm . the organic layers were combined , dried over sodium sulfate , and conentrated to afford the crude product . the product was purified by silic gel chromatography ( 1 . 5 kg of silica ) eluting with a gradient of 0 - 15 % acetone in hexanes to afford 11 . 9 g ( 75 %) of the desired ( 3s , 4s )- tert - butyl 3 - fluoro - 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) piperidine - 1 - carboxylate . lc / ms rt ( conditions b )= 3 . 295 min , ( m + h with loss of t - butyl and elimination of fluorine ) + = 220 . 0 . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , chloroform - d ) δ 7 . 15 ( d , j = 8 . 6 hz , 2h ), 6 . 83 ( dt , j = 8 . 6 , 2 . 0 hz , 2h ), 4 . 59 - 4 . 48 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 47 - 4 . 37 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 23 - 4 . 12 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 88 - 2 . 68 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 96 - 1 . 84 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 80 - 1 . 66 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 51 ( s , 9h ). a solution of ( 3s , 4s )- tert - butyl 3 - fluoro - 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) piperidine - 1 - carboxylate ( 12 . 0 g , 40 . 6 mmol , intermediate e ) in anhydrous dioxane ( 80 ml ) was treated with hcl ( 4 m in 1 , 4 - dioxane , 40 . 6 ml , 162 mmol ). the reaction mixture was allowed to stir at rt for 6 h and then evaporated in vacuo to provide the hcl salt of the desired product . without further isolation , the hcl salt was suspended in chcl 3 and 80 ml of a satd . nahco 3 solution was added . the organic layer was separated , and the aqueous layer was extracted with chcl 3 ( 2 x 100 ml ). the organic layers were combined , dried over na 2 so 4 and concentrated to give the title compound ( 7 . 1 g , 36 . 4 mmol , 90 %). lc / ms rt ( conditions b )= 1 . 008 min , lc / ms ( m + h ) + = 196 . 2 . a stirred solution of commercial ( s )- 3 - hydroxypyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 5 g , 49 . 5 mmol ) in dcm ( 198 ml ) was treated with dmap ( 0 . 199 g , 1 . 632 mmol ), imidazole ( 6 . 73 g , 99 mmol ), and tbdms - cl ( 8 . 94 g , 59 . 3 mmol ). the reaction mixture was stirred at rt for 16 h , and then was washed with a satd . nahco 3 solution . the organic layer was concentrated and the crude reaction product was purified by silica gel chromatogpraphy eluting with 50 % ethyl acetate in petroleum ether . the desired product was isolated as a white solid ( 8 . 1 g , 76 %). lc / ms ( m + h ) + = 216 . 2 . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , chloroform - d ) δ 6 . 40 ( br . s ., 1h ), 4 . 26 ( t , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 3 . 42 - 3 . 34 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 29 - 3 . 21 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 36 ( dtd , j = 12 . 7 , 7 . 3 , 3 . 3 hz , 1h ), 2 . 07 - 1 . 96 ( m , 1h ), 0 . 91 ( s , 9h ), 0 . 15 ( d , j = 7 . 0 hz , 6h ). ( s )- 3 -(( tert - butyldimethylsilyl ) oxy ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 5 g , 23 . 22 mmol , intermediate g ) was dissolved in anhydrous thf ( 46 . 4 ml ) and the reaction mixture was cooled to 0 ° c . under a nitrogen atmosphere . sodium hydride ( 1 . 393 g , 34 . 8 mmol ) was then added in one portion and the reaction mixture was allowed to stir for 5 min before the dropwise addition of 1 -( bromomethyl )- 4 - methylbenzene ( 5 . 37 g , 29 . 0 mmol ) in anhydrous thf ( 46 . 4 ml ). the reaction was allowed to stir at 0 ° c . for 5 min , then the cooling bath was removed and mixture was allowed to warm to rt overnight . the reaction was cautiously quenched with water ( 100 ml ) and then extracted with ethyl acetate ( 3 × 100 ml ). the combined organic layers were then washed with brine ( 200 ml ) and dried ( mgso 4 ). evaporation of the solvent in vacuo gave the crude product ( 9 . 6 g , oil ) which was then purified by silica gel chromatography ( 330 g of silica ) eluting with a gradient of 0 % to 20 % ethyl acetate in hexanes to provide 6 . 53 g ( 88 %) of the desired product . lc / ms ( conditions b ), rt = 4 . 320 min , ( m + h ) + = 320 . 3 . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , chloroform - d ) δ 7 . 15 ( s , 4h ), 4 . 42 ( s , 2h ), 4 . 37 ( t , j = 7 . 6 hz , 1h ), 3 . 32 - 3 . 18 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 10 ( dt , j = 9 . 7 , 7 . 5 hz , 1h ), 2 . 36 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 29 ( dtd , j = 12 . 6 , 7 . 6 , 3 . 1 hz , 1h ), 1 . 97 - 1 . 84 ( m , 1h ), 0 . 95 ( s , 9h ), 0 . 20 ( d , j = 10 . 3 hz , 6h ). hcl ( 4 m in 1 , 4 - dioxane , 25 . 5 ml , 102 mmol ) was added in one portion to a solution of ( s )- 3 -(( tert - butyldimethylsilyl ) oxy )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 6 . 53 g , 20 . 44 mmol , intermediate h ) in anyhdrous dcm ( 20 . 4 ml ) at rt . a slight exotherm was noted . the reaction mixture was allowed to stir at rt for 2 h and then evaporated in vacuo . the residue was taken up in dcm ( 100 ml ) and washed with a satd . sodium bicarbonate solution ( 100 ml ) and brine ( 50 ml ), and then the solution was dried over mgso 4 and concentrated to a residue . the crude product was purified by silica gel chromatography ( 120 g of silica ) eluting with a gradient of 40 % to 100 % ethyl acetate in hexanes to provide 3 . 73 g ( 89 %) of the desired product . lc / ms ( conditions b ), rt = 2 . 338 min , ( m + h ) + = 206 . 2 . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , chloroform - d ) δ 7 . 26 - 7 . 02 ( m , 4h ), 4 . 43 ( d , j = 3 . 5 hz , 2h ), 4 . 41 - 4 . 37 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 66 ( d , j = 2 . 6 hz , 1h ), 3 . 34 - 3 . 05 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 41 ( dddd , j = 12 . 8 , 8 . 4 , 6 . 6 , 2 . 2 hz , 1h ), 2 . 34 ( s , 3h ), 1 . 93 ( dq , j = 12 . 8 , 8 . 8 hz , 1h ). triethylamine ( 0 . 509 ml , 3 . 65 mmol ) was added to a cooled solution of ( s )- 3 - hydroxy - 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 0 . 5 g , 2 . 436 mmol , intermediate i ) in anhydrous dcm ( 12 . 18 ml ) at 0 ° c . under a nitrogen atmosphere . methanesulfonyl chloride ( 0 . 198 ml , 2 . 56 mmol ) was then added dropwise and the reaction was allowed to stir at 0 ° c . for 15 min before quenching with a satd . sodium bicarbonate solution ( 10 ml ). the mixture was allowed to warm to rt and the aqueous layer was separated and extracted with dcm ( 2 ×). the combined oranic layers were dried over mgso 4 and evaporated in vacuo to give a white solid ( 0 . 73 g ) which was then purified by silica gel chromatography ( 40 g of silica ) eluting with a gradient of 0 % to 50 % ethyl acetate in hexanes to provide 0 . 63 g ( 91 %) of the desired product as a white solid . a 60 % dispersion of sodium hydride in mineral oil ( 232 mg , 5 . 31 mmol ) was added to a stirred solution of ( s )- 3 -(( tert - butyldimethylsilyl ) oxy ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 762 mg , 3 . 54 mmol , intermediate g ) in thf ( 7 ml ) at 0 ° c . after 15 min , a solution of 1 -( bromomethyl )- 4 -( difluoromethyl ) benzene ( 980 mg , 4 . 43 mmol ) in thf ( 7 ml ) was added to the reaction mixture . the resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature for 6 h . the reaction was carefully quenched with several grams of ice pellets . the resulting mixture was extracted with etoac . the combined organic layers were washed with water , dried over sodium sulfate , filtered and concentrated in vacuo . the crude reaction mixture was purified using silica gel column chromatography ( 0 - 30 % etoac / hexanes ) to afford the desired product ( 440 mg , 35 % yield ) as a white solid : lcms ( m + h ) + 356 . 3 ; 1 h nmr ( 500 mhz , chloroform - d ) δ 7 . 49 ( d , j = 8 . 1 hz , 2h ), 7 . 35 ( d , j = 7 . 9 hz , 2h ), 6 . 65 ( br . t , j = 1 . 0 hz , 1h ), 4 . 56 - 4 . 44 ( m , 2h ), 4 . 38 ( t , j = 7 . 5 hz , 1h ), 3 . 27 ( ddd , j = 9 . 7 , 8 . 7 , 3 . 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 13 ( dt , j = 9 . 7 , 7 . 4 hz , 1h ), 2 . 36 - 2 . 27 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 98 - 1 . 90 ( m , 1h ), 0 . 96 ( br . s ., 9h ), 0 . 22 - 0 . 20 ( m , 3h ), 0 . 20 - 0 . 18 ( m , 3h ). a solution of 4 m hcl in dioxane ( 0 . 62 ml , 2 . 5 mmol ) was added to a stirred solution of ( s )- 3 -(( tert - butyldimethylsilyl ) oxy )- 1 -( 4 -( difluoromethyl ) benzyl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 440 mg , 1 . 24 mmol , intermediate k ) in dichloromethane ( 1 . 24 ml ) at rt . the reaction mixture was stirred for 2 h . the reaction mixture was concentrated in vacuo to afford the desired product ( 368 mg , quantitative yield ): lc - ms ( m + h ) + 242 . 1 . triethylamine ( 0 . 319 ml , 2 . 29 mmol ) and methansulfonyl chloride ( 0 . 131 ml , 1 . 68 mmol ) was added to a stirred solution of ( s )- 1 -( 4 -( difluoromethyl ) benzyl )- 3 - hydroxypyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 368 mg , 1 . 53 mmol , intermediate l ) in dichloromethane ( 7 . 63 ml ) at 0 ° c . the reaction mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . for 1 h . the resulting mixture was diluted with water and the aqueous mixture was extracted with dichloromethane . the combined organic layers were washed with 10 % sodium bicarbonate solution , dried over sodium sulfate , filtered , and concentrated in vacuo . the crude material was purified using silica gel column chromatography ( 0 - 100 % etoac ). the pure fractions were combined and concentrated in vacuo to afford the desired product ( 322 mg , 66 % yield ) as a white solid : lc - ms ( m + h ) + 320 . 1 ; 1 h nmr ( 500 mhz , chloroform - d ) δ 7 . 53 ( d , j = 7 . 9 hz , 2h ), 7 . 38 - 7 . 33 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 67 ( br . t , j = 1 . 0 hz , 1h ), 5 . 27 ( dd , j = 8 . 2 , 7 . 5 hz , 1h ), 4 . 60 - 4 . 49 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 41 - 3 . 35 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 33 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 27 ( dt , j = 9 . 9 , 7 . 3 hz , 1h ), 2 . 64 - 2 . 55 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 27 ( ddt , j = 13 . 9 , 8 . 9 , 7 . 1 hz , 1h ). a mixture of commercial tert - butyl 4 - oxopiperidine - 1 - carboxylate ( 2 . 0 g , 10 . 0 mmol ) and diethyl ether ( 30 ml ) was cooled to 0 ° c . to this mixture was added dropwise a solution of ( 4 - methoxyphenyl ) magnesium bromide ( 0 . 5 m in diethyl ether , 30 ml , 15 mmol ). after complete addition , the reaction mixture was allowed to warm to rt and stirred for 2 h . it was then slowly quenched with 150 ml of ice cold water and then the resulting mixture was extracted with 3 × 150 ml of dcm . the organic layers were combined , dried , filtered , and concentrated under vacuum . the crude product was purified by silica gel column chromatography ( 30 : 70 ethyl acetate : hexane ) to provide the desired product ( 3 . 0 g , 100 % yield ): lc - ms ( es - api ): m / z 305 . 5 ( m − h ) + ; 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , dmso - d 6 ) δ 7 . 37 ( q , j = 1 . 0 hz , 2h ), 6 . 86 ( q , j = 1 . 0 hz , 2h ), 4 . 94 ( s , 1h ), 3 . 82 ( d , j = 11 . 5 hz , 2h ), 3 . 73 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 13 ( br . s , 2h ), 1 . 75 ( td , j = 12 . 9 , 4 . 8 hz , 2h ), 1 . 56 ( d , j = 12 . 3 hz , 2h ), 1 . 41 ( s , 9h ). a mixture of tert - butyl 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl ) piperidine - 1 - carboxylate ( 700 mg , 2 . 27 mmol , intermediate n ) and hcl in dioxane ( 4 . 0 ml , 16 mmol ) was stirred at rt for 3 h . the crude mass was concentrated under vacuum and the solid residue was washed with 3 × 10 ml of dcm to remove non - polar impurities . the desired salt was collected as a fine solid ( 480 mg , 93 %). lcms ( es - api ) m / z 190 . 2 ( m + h ) + ; 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , dmso - d 6 ) δ 7 . 37 ( d , j = 9 . 0 hz , 2h ), 6 . 98 ( d , j = 9 . 0 hz , 2h ), 6 . 08 - 5 . 98 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 11 ( s , 1h ), 3 . 97 ( br . s ., 1h ), 3 . 52 ( s , 1h ), 3 . 32 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 47 - 2 . 37 ( m , 1h ). to a stirred solution of 4 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl )- 1 , 2 , 3 , 6 - tetrahydropyridine , hcl ( 3 . 00 g , 13 . 3 mmol , intermediate o ) in methanol ( 20 ml ) was added 10 % palladium on carbon ( 1 . 4 g ) and the reaction mixture was stirred at 20 psi of hydrogen for 12 h . the reaction mixture was filtered through a pad of celite , which was washed with ethyl acetate , and the combined organic fractions were concentrated to obtain a white solid ( 2 . 0 g , 70 % yield ): lcms ( es - api ), m / z 192 . 1 ( m + h ) + ; 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d 6 ) δ 9 . 13 - 8 . 36 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 14 ( d , j = 8 . 7 hz , 2h ), 6 . 90 ( d , j = 8 . 7 hz , 2h ), 3 . 73 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 07 - 2 . 87 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 87 - 2 . 65 ( m , 4h ). tea ( 8 . 91 ml , 63 . 9 mmol ) and 2 , 4 - dibromobutanoyl chloride ( 5 . 07 ml , 38 . 4 mmol ) were sequentially added to solution of commercial ( 4 - fluorophenyl ) methanamine ( 4 . 0 g , 32 . 0 mmol ) in diethyl ether ( 15 ml ) at 0 ° c . the reaction mixture was allowed to warm to rt and stir for an additional 24 h . the reaction mixture was filtered . the solids were washed with diethyl ether . the filtrate was concentrated in vacuo to afford a crude mixture containing 2 , 4 - dibromo - n -( 4 - fluorobenzyl ) butanamide ( 8 . 0 g , 71 % yield ): lcms ( es - api ), m / z 354 , 356 ( m + h ) + . a 60 % dispersion of nah in mineral oil ( 1 . 70 g , 42 . 5 mmol ) was added to a stirred solution of 2 , 4 - dibromo - n -( 4 - fluorobenzyl ) butanamide ( 10 . 0 g , 28 . 3 mmol , intermediate q ) in thf ( 25 ml ) at 0 ° c . the reaction mixture was allowed to warm to rt and stir for and additional 2 h . the reaction mixture was carefully quenched with ice and diluted with water . the resulting mixture was extracted with etoac . the combined organic layers were washed with water and then brine solution . the organic layer was over sodium sulfate , filtered , and concentrated in vacuo . the crude product was purified using silica gel column chromatography ( 10 % etoac / hexanes ) to afford the desired product ( 5 . 90 g , 64 % yield ): lcms ( es - api ), m / z 272 . 4 , 274 . 3 ( m + h ) + ; 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , dmso - d 6 ) δ ppm 2 . 12 - 2 . 27 ( m , 1 h ) 2 . 56 - 2 . 68 ( m , 1 h ) 3 . 27 ( dd , j = 7 . 78 , 3 . 26 hz , 2 h ) 4 . 29 - 4 . 38 ( m , 1 h ) 4 . 40 - 4 . 57 ( m , 1 h ) 4 . 73 ( dd , j = 7 . 03 , 3 . 01 hz , 1 h ) 7 . 04 - 7 . 35 ( m , 4 h ). tea ( 0 . 768 ml , 5 . 51 mmol ) was added to a stirred solution of 3 - bromo - 1 -( 4 - fluorobenzyl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 0 . 3 g , 1 . 10 mmol , intermediate r ) and 4 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl ) piperidine hydrochloride ( 0 . 276 g , 1 . 213 mmol , intermediate p ) in acetonitrile ( 10 ml ). the reaction mixture was sealed and heated in a chemistry microwave at 100 ° c . for 1 h . the reaction mixture was cooled to rt and concentrated in vacuo . the residue was diluted with etoac . the organic mixture was washed with water and brine solution . the organic layer was dried over sodium sulfate , filtered and concentrated in vacuo to afford a crude mixture containing 1 -( 4 - fluorobenzyl )- 3 -( 4 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl ) piperidin - 1 - yl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 0 . 35 g , 83 % yield ): lcms ( es - api ), m / z 383 . 2 ( m + h ) + . a solution of 4 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoropiperidin - 4 - yl ) phenol ( 7 . 10 g , 36 . 4 mmol , intermediate f ) and diea ( 16 ml , 92 mmol ) in 100 ml of acetonitrile was heated to 80 ° c . this solution was treated dropwise with a solution of ( s )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl )- 2 - oxopyrrolidin - 3 - yl methanesulfonate ( 10 . 5 g , 37 . 0 mmol , intermediate j ) in acetonitrile ( 80 ml ) over a period of 4 hours . after the addition was completed , the reaction mixture was stirred at 80 ° c . for 16 h . the reaction mixture was then allowed to cool to rt , and the volume was reduced by rotary evaporation to 80 ml . a satd . nh 4 cl solution ( 100 ml ) was then added , and the layers were separated . the aqueous layer was extracted with dcm ( 2 × 100 ml ) and the organic layers were combined , dried over na 2 so 4 and concentrated in vacuo to give a crude product . the crude product was purified by silica gel chromatography ( 750 g of silica gel ) eluting with a gradient of 0 % to 20 % of solvent b in solvent a , where solvent b = 20 % methanol / dcm and solvent a = dcm . fractions containing the product were combined . evaporation of the solvents gave 9 . 3 grams of the desired product with 97 % purity by lc / ms analysis ( conditions b ). the product thus obtained ( 8 . 5 g ) was slurried in acetone : hexane ( 1 : 5 , 200 ml ) and the solid product was isolated by filtration and air dried . careful sfc analysis showed the presence of a 2 . 1 % impurity in the product . using a cell4 0 . 46 × 25 cm 5 μm column and eluting with 45 % methanol in co 2 at 3 ml / min , the desired product eluted at 3 . 800 minutes and the undesired impurity eluted at 4 . 848 minutes . the product was then further purified by sfc chromatography using a cell4 3 × 25 cm 5 μm column at 150 ml / min injecting 1 . 5 ml of a 80 mg / ml solution . concentration of the active fractions provided 7 . 82 grams ( 20 . 4 mmol , 56 %) of & gt ; 99 . 7 % pure example 1 as a white powder . lc / ms ( conditions b ), rt = 2 . 512 min , ( m + h ) + = 383 . 3 . 19 f nmr δ − 182 . 83 . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , chloroform - d ) δ 7 . 20 - 7 . 08 ( m , 6h ), 6 . 98 - 6 . 78 ( m , 2h ), 5 . 68 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 77 - 4 . 54 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 53 - 4 . 34 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 68 ( t , j = 8 . 8 hz , 1h ), 3 . 41 - 3 . 29 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 28 - 3 . 09 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 82 ( d , j = 10 . 8 hz , 1h ), 2 . 74 - 2 . 54 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 47 ( td , j = 9 . 9 , 3 . 6 hz , 1h ), 2 . 34 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 19 - 1 . 94 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 92 - 1 . 80 ( m , 2h ). 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , chloroform - d ) δ 172 . 4 , 154 . 9 , 137 . 5 , 133 . 3 , 133 . 0 , 129 . 5 , 128 . 7 , 128 . 3 , 115 . 5 , 92 . 6 , 90 . 8 , 65 . 0 , 54 . 4 , 54 . 2 , 48 . 7 , 48 . 0 , 47 . 8 , 46 . 8 , 43 . 7 , 31 . 7 , 31 . 6 , 21 . 1 , 19 . 6 . to a suspension of ( r )- 3 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) piperidin - 1 - yl )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 100 mg , 0 . 261 mmol , example 1 ) in 10 ml of dichloromethane was added pyridine ( 0 . 106 ml , 1 . 31 mmol ) and dmap ( 160 mg , 1 . 31 mmol ). the reaction mixture was chilled to − 20 ° c . to the chilled solution was added pocl 3 ( 0 . 122 ml , 1 . 31 mmol ) dropwise , and then the reaction mixture was allowed to warm to rt and stirred for 1 h . water ( 10 ml ) was added and the mixture was stirred for 1 . 5 h . the layers were then separated and the organic layer was dried over na 2 so 4 and evaporated to dryness . the crude product was purified by hplc on a symmetry c8 ( 300 × 17 mm ) 7 mm column eluting with a gradient of 20 % b to 50 % b over 7 minutes at 15 ml / min where solvent a = 10 mm ammonium acetate in water ph 4 . 5 and solvent b = acetonitrile . the product rt = 2 . 2 min . the desired product ( 5 . 8 mg , 4 . 7 %) was isolated from the appropriate fractions by lyophilization as a white solid . lcms ( conditions a ) rt = 1 . 720 min , ( m + h ) + = 463 . 2 . 1 h nmr ( 400mhz , methanol - d4 ) δ 7 . 29 - 7 . 16 ( m , 8h ), 4 . 74 ( br . s ., 1h ), 4 . 61 - 4 . 34 ( m , 2h ), 4 . 01 ( t , j = 8 . 3 hz , 1h ), 3 . 82 - 3 . 62 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 35 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 05 ( br . s ., 2h ), 2 . 79 ( br . s ., 2h ), 2 . 34 ( s , 4h ), 2 . 18 ( br . s ., 1h ), 2 . 02 - 1 . 87 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 83 ( br . s ., 1h ). 19 f nmr ( 376 mhz , methanol - d4 ) δ − 185 . 143 . 31 p nmr ( 162 mhz , methanol - d4 ) δ − 4 . 260 . to a solution of ( r )- 3 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) piperidin - 1 - yl )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 0 . 02 g , 0 . 052 mmol , example 1 ) in dcm ( 3 ml ) was added ( s )- 2 -(( tert - butoxycarbonyl ) amino )- 3 - methylbutanoic acid ( 0 . 059 g , 0 . 272 mmol ) followed by dcc ( 0 . 032 g , 0 . 157 mmol ) and dmap ( 6 . 39 mg , 0 . 052 mmol ). the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 18 h . water ( 10 ml ) was then added , and the layers were separated . the aqueous layer was extracted with dcm ( 3 × 10 ml ) and the organic layers were combined , dried over na 2 so 4 , and concentrated to a crude product . the crude product was purified by preparative tlc eluting with 35 % ethyl acetate in petroleum ether to provide the purified product ( s )- 4 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 1 -(( r )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl )- 2 - oxopyrrolidin - 3 - yl ) piperidin - 4 - yl ) phenyl 2 -(( tert - butoxycarbonyl ) amino )- 3 - methylbutanoate ( 27 mg , 79 %). lc / ms ( conditions a ) rt = 2 . 523 min , ( m + h ) + = 582 . 2 . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , methanol - d 4 ) δ 7 . 36 ( d , j = 8 . 5 hz , 2h ), 7 . 18 ( s , 4h ), 7 . 08 ( d , j = 8 . 5 hz , 2h ), 4 . 80 - 4 . 59 ( m , j = 10 . 0 , 10 . 0 , 5 . 0 hz , 1h ), 4 . 51 ( d , j = 15 . 0 hz , 1h ), 4 . 39 ( d , j = 15 . 0 hz , 1h ), 4 . 23 ( dd , j = 8 . 3 , 6 . 3 hz , 1h ), 3 . 72 ( t , j = 8 . 8 hz , 1h ), 3 . 56 - 3 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 32 - 3 . 22 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 86 - 2 . 61 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 47 ( td , j = 10 . 0 , 5 . 0 hz , 1h ), 2 . 34 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 32 - 2 . 23 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 22 - 2 . 01 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 88 ( dd , j = 9 . 5 , 4 . 0 hz , 2h ), 1 . 74 ( dt , j = 13 . 4 , 3 . 8 hz , 1h ), 1 . 50 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 42 - 1 . 30 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 09 ( dd , j = 10 . 0 , 7 . 0 hz , 6h ). 19 f nmr ( 376 mhz , methanol - d4 ) δ − 184 . 32 . to a solution of ( s )- 4 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 1 -(( r )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl )- 2 - oxopyrrolidin - 3 - yl ) piperidin - 4 - yl ) phenyl 2 -(( tert - butoxycarbonyl ) amino )- 3 - methylbutanoate ( 0 . 025 g , 0 . 043 mmol ) in dcm ( 1 . 5 ml ) at − 20 ° c . was added hcl in diethyl ether ( 2 . 5 ml , 2 . 50 mmol , 1 . 0 m ). the reaction mixture was slowly warmed to rt over 10 min and then allowed to stir at rt for 19 h . the solvent was then removed in vacuo to provide a pale yellow semisolid . the crude product was then purified by rp - hplc on a sunfire c18 ( 250 × 20 mm ) 5 μm column using a gradient of 10 % solvent b to 75 % solvent b over 12 minutes at 15 ml / min where solvent a = 0 . 05 % hcl in water and solvent b = acetonitrile . active fractions were concentrated by lyophilization to provide 10 . 2 mg ( 44 %) of ( s )- 4 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 1 -(( r )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl )- 2 - oxopyrrolidin - 3 - yl ) piperidin - 4 - yl ) phenyl 2 - amino - 3 - methylbutanoate hydrochloride , the titled compound of example 2 as an off - white solid . lc - ms ( method a ) rt = 2 . 20 min , ( m + h ) + = 482 . 2 . 1 h nmr : ( 400 mhz , dmso - d6 ) δ ppm 8 . 64 - 8 . 78 ( m , 3 h ) 7 . 38 - 7 . 46 ( m , 2 h ) 7 . 23 ( d , j = 8 . 53 hz , 2 h ) 7 . 18 ( s , 4 h ) 5 . 04 - 5 . 26 ( m , 1 h ) 4 . 42 ( d , j = 9 . 54 hz , 3 h ) 4 . 17 - 4 . 23 ( m , 2 h ) 3 . 29 - 3 . 40 ( m , 4 h ) 3 . 19 - 3 . 28 ( m , 2 h ) 2 . 30 ( s , 6 h ) 2 . 04 - 2 . 19 ( m , 2 h ) 1 . 11 ( dd , j = 12 . 55 , 7 . 03 hz , 6 h ). 19 f nmr ( 376 mhz , dmso - d6 ) δ − 183 . 904 . to a solution of ( r )- 3 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) piperidin - l - yl )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 0 . 03 g , 0 . 078 mmol , example 1 ) in dcm ( 5 ml ) was added ( s )- 2 -(( tert - butoxycarbonyl ) amino ) propanoic acid ( 0 . 077 g , 0 . 408 mmol ) followed by dcc ( 0 . 049 g , 0 . 235 mmol ) and dmap ( 9 . 58 mg , 0 . 078 mmol ). the reaction mixture was stirred at rt for 18 h . water ( 15 ml ) was then added , and the layers were separated . the aqueous layer was extracted with dcm ( 3 × 15 ml ) and the organic layers were combined , dried over na 2 so 4 , and concentrated to a crude product . the crude product was purified by preparative tlc eluting with 20 % ethyl acetate in petroleum ether to provide the purified product ( s )- 4 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 1 -(( r )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl )- 2 - oxopyrrolidin - 3 - yl ) piperidin - 4 - yl ) phenyl 2 -(( tert - butoxycarbonyl ) amino ) propanoate ( 0 . 032 g , 0 . 058 mmol , 74 % yield ) as off - white semi solid . lc - ms ( method a ) rt = 2 . 40 min , ( m + h ) + = 554 . 2 . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , dmso - d 6 ) δ 7 . 51 ( d , j = 7 . 0 hz , 1h ), 7 . 44 - 7 . 32 ( m , j = 8 . 5 hz , 2h ), 7 . 21 - 7 . 09 ( m , 4h ), 7 . 07 - 6 . 98 ( m , j = 8 . 5 hz , 2h ), 4 . 62 ( d , j = 4 . 5 hz , 1h ), 4 . 39 ( d , j = 15 . 1 hz , 1h ), 4 . 30 ( d , j = 15 . 1 hz , 1h ), 4 . 27 - 4 . 17 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 58 ( t , j = 8 . 5 hz , 1h ), 3 . 50 - 3 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 22 - 3 . 07 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 81 - 2 . 64 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 39 - 2 . 31 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 29 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 17 - 2 . 04 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 93 ( dd , j = 12 . 8 , 8 . 3 hz , 1h ), 1 . 78 ( br . s ., 1h ), 1 . 74 - 1 . 59 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 41 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 39 ( d , j = 2 . 5 hz , 3h ). 19 f nmr ( 376 mhz , dmso - d6 ) δ − 180 . 172 . to a solution of ( s )- 4 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 1 -(( r )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl )- 2 - oxopyrrolidin - 3 - yl ) piperidin - 4 - yl ) phenyl 2 -(( tert - butoxycarbonyl ) amino ) propanoate ( 0 . 032 g , 0 . 058 mmol ) in dcm ( 2 ml ) at − 20 ° c . was added hcl in diethyl ether ( 2 . 0 ml , 2 . 0 mmol , 1 . 0 m ). the reaction mixture was slowly warmed to rt over 10 min and then allowed to stir at rt for 19 h . the solvent was then removed in vacuo to provide a pale yellow semisolid . the crude product was then purified by rp - hplc on a kinetex c18 ( 250 × 20 mm ) 5 μm column using a gradient of 10 % solvent b to 40 % solvent b over 7 minutes at 15 ml / min where solvent a = 0 . 05 % hcl in water and solvent b = acetonitrile . active fractions were concentrated by lyophilization to provide 4 . 7 mg ( 16 %) of ( s )- 4 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 1 -(( r )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl )- 2 - oxopyrrolidin - 3 - yl ) piperidin - 4 - yl ) phenyl 2 - aminopropanoate hydrochloride , the titled compound of example 4 as an off - white solid . lc - ms ( method a ) rt = 1 . 762 min , ( m + h ) + = 454 . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , dmso - d 6 ) δ 7 . 41 ( d , j = 9 . 0 hz , 2h ), 7 . 24 - 7 . 10 ( m , 6h ), 5 . 10 - 4 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 45 - 4 . 22 ( m , 4h ), 4 . 04 - 3 . 94 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 34 - 3 . 18 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 06 ( d , j = 12 . 0 hz , 2h ), 2 . 43 - 2 . 31 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 27 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 24 - 2 . 14 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 13 - 2 . 01 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 01 - 1 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 58 ( d , j = 7 . 0 hz , 3h ). 19 f nmr ( 376 mhz , dmso - d6 ) δ − 183 . 778 . to a solution of ( r )- 3 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) piperidin - 1 - yl )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 0 . 03 g , 0 . 078 mmol ) in dcm ( 5 ml ) was added ( s )- 4 -( tert - butoxy )- 3 -(( tert - butoxycarbonyl ) amino )- 4 - oxobutanoic acid ( 0 . 118 g , 0 . 408 mmol ) followed by dcc ( 0 . 049 g , 0 . 235 mmol ) and dmap ( 9 . 58 mg , 0 . 078 mmol ). the reaction was stirred at rt for 18 hours . water ( 15 ml ) was then added , and the layers were separated . the aqueous layer was extracted with dcm ( 3 × 15 ml ) and the organic layers were combined , dried over na 2 so 4 , and concentrated to a crude product . the crude product was purified by preparative tlc eluting with 25 % ethyl acetate in petroleum ether to provide the purified product ( 37 mg , 68 %) as an off - white semi solid . lc - ms ( method a ) rt = 2 . 55 min , ( m + h ) + = 654 . 4 . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , dmso - d 6 ) δ 7 . 46 - 7 . 34 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 20 - 6 . 98 ( m , 6h ), 4 . 82 - 4 . 53 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 43 - 4 . 24 ( m , 2h ), 4 . 11 ( d , j = 14 . 1 hz , 1h ), 3 . 58 ( t , j = 8 . 8 hz , 1h ), 3 . 48 - 3 . 39 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 22 - 3 . 07 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 02 ( dd , j = 16 . 1 , 6 . 5 hz , 1h ), 2 . 87 ( dd , j = 15 . 8 , 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 2 . 78 - 2 . 63 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 38 - 2 . 31 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 29 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 17 - 2 . 03 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 98 - 1 . 86 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 78 ( br . s ., 1h ), 1 . 74 - 1 . 58 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 42 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 39 ( s , 9h ). 19 f nmr ( 376 mhz , dmso - d6 ) δ − 180 . 707 . to a solution of ( s )- 1 - tert - butyl 4 -( 4 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 1 -(( r )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl )- 2 - oxopyrrolidin - 3 - yl ) piperidin - 4 - yl ) phenyl ) 2 -(( tert - butoxycarbonyl ) amino ) succinate ( 0 . 032 g , 0 . 049 mmol ) in dcm ( 2 ml ) at − 20 ° c . was added hcl in diethyl ether ( 2 . 0 ml , 2 . 0 mmol , 1 . 0 m ). the reaction mixture was slowly warmed to rt over 10 min and then allowed to stir at rt for 19 h . the solvent was then removed in vacuo to provide a pale yellow semisolid . the crude product was then purified by rp - hplc on a ymc triart c18 ( 150 × 19 mm ) 5 μm column using a gradient of 10 % solvent b to 40 % solvent b over 7 minutes at 15 ml / min where solvent a = 0 . 05 % hcl in water and solvent b = acetonitrile . active fractions were concentrated by lyophilization to provide 17 mg ( 57 %) of ( s )- 2 - amino - 4 -( 4 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 1 -(( r )- 1 -( 4 - methylbenzyl )- 2 - oxopyrrolidin - 3 - yl ) piperidin - 4 - yl ) phenoxy )- 4 - oxobutanoic acid hydrochloride , the titled compound of example 5 as an off - white solid . lc - ms ( method a ) rt = 1 . 808 min , ( m + h ) + = 498 . 2 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , dmso - d 6 ) δ 7 . 36 ( d , j = 8 . 5 hz , 2h ), 7 . 21 - 7 . 03 ( m , 8h ), 6 . 75 ( d , j = 8 . 5 hz , 1h ), 4 . 95 - 4 . 72 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 42 - 4 . 24 ( m , 3h ), 4 . 10 ( t , j = 5 . 3 hz , 1h ), 4 . 07 - 4 . 01 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 93 - 3 . 84 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 83 - 3 . 68 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 33 - 3 . 10 ( m , 5h ), 3 . 04 ( br . s ., 1h ), 2 . 93 ( br . s ., 1h ), 2 . 89 - 2 . 71 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 26 ( s , 3h ), 1 . 96 ( br . s ., 1h ), 1 . 82 ( br . s ., 1h ). 19 f nmr ( 376 mhz , dmso - d6 ) δ − 180 . 707 . a solution of ( s )- 1 -( 4 -( difluoromethyl ) benzyl )- 2 - oxopyrrolidin - 3 - yl methanesulfonate ( 500 mg , 1 . 57 mmol , intermediate m ) in 5 . 0 ml of acetonitrile was added dropwise over 1 . 5 h to a stirred mixture of 4 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoropiperidin - 4 - yl ) phenol , hydrochloride ( 363 mg , 1 . 57 mmol , intermediate f ) and n , n - diisopropylethylamine ( 1 . 09 ml , 6 . 26 mmol ) in 5 . 0 ml of acetonitrile maintained at 85 ° c . after complete addition , the reaction mixture was stirred at 85 ° c . for 16 h . the reaction mixture was concentrated in vacuo . the residue was purified using silica gel column chromatography ( 0 - 100 % etoac / hexanes ) to afford a diasteromeric mixture ( partial epimerization of the lactam stereocenter ) of 1 -( 4 -( difluoromethyl ) benzyl )- 3 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) piperidin - 1 - yl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 235 mg , 35 % yield ). a sample of the diastereomeric mixture ( 780 mg ) was separated by preparative chiral sfc ( column = lux cellulose - 2 ( 21 × 250 mm , 5 μm ); isocratic solvent = 20 % methanol ( with 15 mm ammonia )/ 80 % co 2 ; temp = 35 ° c . ; flow rate = 60 ml / min ; injection volumn = 1 . 0 ml (˜ 20 mg / ml in meoh ) stacked @ 13 min intervals ; λ = 210 nm ; peak 1 = 19 . 6 min , peak 2 = 24 . 5 min ) to afford the titled compounds of example 6 ( peak - 1 , 389 mg ) and ( s )- 1 -( 4 -( difluoromethyl ) benzyl )- 3 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) piperidin - 1 - yl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( peak 2 , 242 mg ). data for example 6 : lc - ms m / z 419 . 3 ( m + h + ); 1 h nmr ( 500 mhz , chloroform - d ) δ 7 . 50 ( d , j = 7 . 9 hz , 2h ), 7 . 34 ( d , j = 7 . 9 hz , 2h ), 7 . 15 ( d , j = 8 . 5 hz , 2h ), 6 . 91 - 6 . 80 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 65 ( t , j = 56 . 4 hz , 1h ), 4 . 96 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 77 - 4 . 43 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 68 ( t , j = 8 . 8 hz , 1h ), 3 . 42 - 3 . 33 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 29 - 3 . 14 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 85 ( d , j = 10 . 4 hz , 1h ), 2 . 78 - 2 . 69 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 69 - 2 . 57 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 48 ( td , j = 9 . 9 , 4 . 9 hz , 1h ), 2 . 21 - 2 . 11 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 04 ( dq , j = 13 . 0 , 8 . 6 hz , 1h ), 1 . 94 - 1 . 82 ( m , 2h )). the relative and absolute configuration of example 114 , p - 1 was confirmed by single crystal x - ray analysis . to a suspension of ( r )- 1 -( 4 -( difluoromethyl ) benzyl )- 3 -(( 3s , 4s )- 3 - fluoro - 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) piperidin - 1 - yl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 100 mg , 0 . 239 mmol , from example 6 ) in dichloromethane ( 10 ml ) was added triethylamine ( 0 . 233 ml , 1 . 67 mmol ) at - 20 ° c . to the chilled solution was added pocl 3 ( 0 . 111 ml , 1 . 20 mmol ) at − 20 ° c ., and then the reaction mixture was stirred for 2 - 3 hours at − 20 ° c . water ( 10 ml ) was added and the mixture was stirred for 1 . 5 h . the mixture was extracted with dichloromethane . the organic layers was dried over sodium sulfate , filtered , and concentrated in vacuo . the crude product was purified by reverse phase preparatory hplc on a luna c8 ( 250 mm × 19 mm id ) 5 μm column eluting with a gradient of solvent a = 10 mm ammonium acetate in water ph 4 . 5 and solvent b = acetonitrile . the titled compound of example 7 ( 21 mg , 18 %) was isolated from the appropriate fractions by lyophilization as a white solid . lcms ( m + h ) + = 499 . 2 ; 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , methanol - d4 ) δ ppm 7 . 55 ( d , j = 8 . 03 hz , 2 h ) 7 . 41 ( d , j = 8 . 03 hz , 2 h ) 7 . 21 ( s , 4 h ) 6 . 62 - 6 . 92 ( m , 1 h ) 4 . 51 - 4 . 64 ( m , 3 h ) 3 . 76 ( t , j = 8 . 78 hz , 1 h ) 3 . 43 - 3 . 51 ( m , 1 h ) 3 . 36 ( d , j = 6 . 02 hz , 1 h ) 3 . 26 - 3 . 30 ( m , 1 h ) 2 . 81 ( br . s ., 1 h ) 2 . 70 - 2 . 78 ( m , 1 h ) 2 . 59 - 2 . 69 ( m , 1 h ) 2 . 48 ( td , j = 9 . 91 , 4 . 77 hz , 1 h ) 2 . 17 - 2 . 27 ( m , 1 h ) 2 . 06 - 2 . 15 ( m , 1 h ) 1 . 80 - 1 . 89 ( m , 2 h ). to a solution of 1 -( 4 - fluorobenzyl )- 3 -( 4 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl ) piperidin - 1 - yl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 3 g , 7 . 9 mmol , intermediate s ) in dry dichloromethane ( 100 ml ) under a n 2 atmosphere at − 78 ° c . was added 1 m borontribromide in dichloromethane ( 39 ml , 39 mmol ) and the resulting mixture was allowed to warm up to room temperature over 3 h , with stirring . the reaction was quenched with water ( 30 ml ) and the organic layer was separated , washed with water and brine , and concentrated . the crude product was purified by flash chromatography on silica gel using 15 % etoac in petroleum ether to yield racemic 1 -( 4 - fluorobenzyl )- 3 -( 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) piperidin - 1 - yl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 2 . 1g , 73 % yield ); 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , dmso - d 6 ) δ ppm 1 . 49 - 1 . 74 ( m , 4 h ) 1 . 90 - 2 . 11 ( m , 2 h ) 2 . 24 - 2 . 42 ( m , 2 h ) 2 . 65 - 2 . 80 ( m , 2 h ) 2 . 99 - 3 . 23 ( m , 3 h ) 3 . 40 - 3 . 54 ( m , 1 h ) 4 . 27 - 4 . 46 ( m , 2 h ) 6 . 61 - 6 . 70 ( m , 2 h ) 6 . 95 - 7 . 04 ( m , 2 h ) 7 . 17 - 7 . 31 ( m , 4 h ) 9 . 10 - 9 . 16 ( m , 1 h ). lcms ( es - api ) 369 . 2 m / z ( m + h ) \| . a portion of the racemate ( 40 mg ) was separated via sfc on a chiralpak - ia 250 mm × 4 . 6 mm , 5 μm column eluting with 35 % solvent b , where solvent a = co 2 and solvent b = 0 . 3 % dea in methanol at a total flow of 3 ml / min . peak 1 showed a rt of 4 . 35 min ( 11 mg ) and peak 2 showed a rt of 6 . 29 min ( 13 mg ). data for example 8 ( peak 2 ): lc / ms ( m + h ) + = 369 . 2 ; 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , dmso - d 6 ) δ ppm 1 . 47 - 1 . 59 ( m , 1 h ) 1 . 65 - 1 . 75 ( m , 1 h ) 1 . 84 - 1 . 96 ( m , 1 h ) 2 . 03 - 2 . 12 ( m , 1 h ) 2 . 24 - 2 . 43 ( m , 1 h ) 2 . 63 - 2 . 72 ( m , 2 h ) 2 . 72 - 2 . 85 ( m , 2h ) 2 . 96 - 3 . 05 ( m , 2 h ) 3 . 09 - 3 . 23 ( m , 2 h ) 3 . 41 - 3 . 54 ( m , 1 h ) 4 . 23 - 4 . 50 ( m , 2 h ) 6 . 58 - 6 . 71 ( m , 2 h ) 6 . 96 - 7 . 10 ( m , 2 h ) 7 . 15 - 7 . 21 ( m , 2 h ) 7 . 26 - 7 . 34 ( m , 2 h ) 9 . 06 - 9 . 19 ( m , 1 h ). phosphorus oxychloride ( 1 . 27 ml , 13 . 6 mmol ) was added to a round bottom flask charged with thf ( 10 ml ). the solution was cooled below 0 ° c . using an ice / methanol bath . a suspension of ( r )- 1 -( 4 - fluorobenzyl )- 3 -( 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) piperidin - 1 - yl ) pyrrolidin - 2 - one ( 1 . 00 g , 2 . 71 mmol , example 8 ) in thf ( 18 ml ) was added . after 5 min , triethylamine ( 0 . 946 ml , 6 . 79 mmol ) was added slowly at a bath temperature below 5 ° c . the reaction mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . for 90 min . a solution of 1 n aqueous sodium hydroxide ( 8 . 69 ml , 8 . 69 mmol ) was added dropwise . the ph was measured to be ˜ 0 . the mixture was allowed to warm to rt and stir for 3 h . the crude reaction mixture was concentrated in vacuo at & lt ; 30 ° c . to afford a clear solution . the solution was triturated with 1 n aqueous naoh to ph ˜ 1 . the mixture was cooled in an ice bath . a semi - solid crashed out . all liquid was decanted off . the semi - solid was suspended in 90 % ethanol and then a collected by vacuum filtration . the product was presumed to be the hcl salt of ( r )- 4 -( 1 -( 1 -( 4 - fluorobenzyl )- 2 - oxopyrrolidin - 3 - yl ) piperidin - 4 - yl ) phenyl dihydrogen phosphate ( 560 mg , 42 %). a solution of 25 % sodium methoxide in methanol ( 250 mg , 1 . 16 mmol ) was added to a slurry of ( r )- 4 -( 1 -( 1 -( 4 - fluorobenzyl )- 2 - oxopyrrolidin - 3 - yl ) piperidin - 4 - yl ) phenyl dihydrogen phosphate , hcl ( 560 mg , 1 . 16 mmol ) in methanol . the mixture was stirred until clear and then concentrated in vacuo . the residue was dissolved in 90 % ethanol / water and chilled in the freezer . the solid precipitate was collected using vacuum filtration . the solid was dried under high vacuum to afford the titled compound of example 9 ( 230 mg , 19 % yield ): lc / ms ( m + h ) + = 449 . 2 ; 1 h nmr ( 500 mhz , methanol - d 4 ) δ 7 . 35 - 7 . 25 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 21 - 7 . 11 ( m , 4h ), 7 . 11 - 7 . 03 ( m , 2h ), 4 . 55 - 4 . 35 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 61 ( t , j = 8 . 8 hz , 1h ), 3 . 30 - 3 . 20 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 19 - 3 . 11 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 92 - 2 . 84 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 75 ( td , j = 11 . 1 , 3 . 5 hz , 1h ), 2 . 55 - 2 . 41 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 23 - 2 . 13 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 12 - 2 . 00 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 84 - 1 . 70 ( m , 4h ); 31 p nmr ( 202 mhz , methanol - d 4 ) δ ppm - 3 . 38 . radioligand binding assay . binding experiments to determine binding to nr2b - subtype nmda receptors were performed on forebrains of 8 - 10 weeks old male sprague dawley rats ( harlan , netherlands ) using 3 h ro 25 - 6981 ( mutel v ; buchy d ; klingelschmidt a ; messer j ; bleuel z ; kemp j a ; richards j g . journal of neurochemistry , 1998 , 70 ( 5 ): 2147 - 2155 . rats were decapitated without anesthesia using a guillotine ( approved by animal ethics committee ) and the harvested brains were snap - frozen and stored at − 80 ° c . for 3 - 6 months for membrane preparation . for membrane preparation , rat forebrains were thawed on ice for 20 minutes in homogenization buffer composed of 50 mm kh 2 po 4 ( ph adjusted to 7 . 4 with koh ), 1 mm edta , 0 . 005 % triton x 100 and protease inhibitor cocktail ( sigma aldrich ). thawed brains were homogenized using a dounce homogenizer and centrifuged at 48000 × g for 20 min . the pellet was resuspended in cold buffer and homogenized again using a dounce homogenizer . subsequently , the homogenate was aliquoted , snap - frozen and stored at − 80 ° c . for not more than 3 - 4 months . to perform the competition binding assay , thawed membrane homogenate was added to each well of a 96 - well plate ( 20 μg / well ). the experimental compounds were serially diluted in 100 % dmso and added to each row of the assay plate to achieve desired compound concentrations , keeping the dmso concentration in the assay plate at 1 . 33 % of the final reaction volume . next , 3 h ro 25 - 6981 ( 4 nm ) was added to the assay plate . after incubation for 1 hr at room temperature , the membrane bound radioligand was harvested on to gf / b filter plates ( treated with 0 . 5 % pei for 1 hr at room temperature ). the filter plates were dried at 50 ° c . for 20 mins , incubated with microscint 20 for 10 minutes and finally , the counts were read on topcount ( perkin elmer ). non - specific binding was determined using mk - 0657 ( the preparation of this compound is described as example 1 in wo 2004 108705 ( 40 μm ). cpm values were converted to % inhibition and the concentration response curves were plotted using custom made software . each experiment was repeated at least twice to obtain the final binding k i values for experimental compounds . using this assay , the compound of example 1 showed a binding ki of 4 nm , the compound of example 6 showed a binding ki of 4 nm , the compound of example 8 showed a binding ki of 1 . 4 nm . ex vivo occupancy assay . this assay demonstrates that the compound of example 1 occupies brain - resident nr2b - subtype receptors in animals after dosing . 7 - 9 weeks old male cd - 1 mice were dosed intravenously in a vehicle consisting of 10 % dimethylacetamide , 40 % peg - 400 , 30 % hydroxypropyl betacyclodextrin , and 30 % water with experimental compounds and the forebrains were harvested 15 minutes post - dosing by decapitation . the brain samples were immediately snap - frozen and stored at − 80 ° c . on the following day , the dosed brain samples were thawed on ice for 15 - 20 minutes followed by homogenization using polytron for 10 seconds in cold homogenization buffer composed of 50 mm kh 2 po 4 ( ph adjusted to 7 . 4 with koh ), 1 mm edta , 0 . 005 % triton x 100 and protease inhibitor cocktail ( sigma aldrich ). the crude homogenates were further homogenized using a dounce homogenizer and the homogenized membrane aliquots from all animals were flash - frozen and stored at − 80 ° c . until further use . the whole homogenization process was performed on ice . for determining occupancy , the membrane homogenates were first thawed on ice and then needle - homogenized using a 25 gauge needle . the homogenized membrane ( 6 . 4 mg / ml ) was added to a 96 - well plate followed by addition of 3 h ro 25 - 6981 ( 6 nm ). the reaction mixture was incubated for 5 minutes on a shaker at 4 ° c . and then harvested onto gf / b filter plates ( treated with 0 . 5 % pei for 1 hr at room temperature ). the filter plates were dried at 50 ° c . for 20 mins , incubated with microscint 20 for 10 minutes and read on topcount ( perkin elmer ). each dose or compound group consisted of 4 - 5 animals . the control group of animals was dosed with vehicle alone . membrane from each animal was added in triplicates to the assay plate . non - specific binding was determined using 10 μm ro 25 - 6981 added to the wells containing membrane homogenates from vehicle - dosed animals . specific counts / minute was converted to % occupancy at each dose of a compound for each animal using the following equation : using this procedure , the compound of example 1 showed 95 % nr2b receptor occupancy after a 3 mg / kg i . v . dose . drug levels were determined by mass spectroscopy in the usual manner . drug levels in the blood plasma were 1106 nm in at this dose , and drug levels in the homogonized brain tissue were 1984 nm . the compound of example 6 showed 97 % nr2b receptor occupancy after a 3 mg / kg i . v . dose . drug levels in the blood plasma were 1800 nm in at this dose , and drug levels in the homogonized brain tissue were 2200 nm . the compound of example 8 showed 96 % nr2b receptor occupancy after a 3 mg / kg i . v . dose . drug levels in the blood plasma were 570 nm at this dose , and drug levels in the homogonized brain tissue were 900 nm . herg electrophysiology assay . the experimental compounds were assessed for herg activity on hek 293 cells stably expressing herg channels using patch clamp technique . coverslips plated with herg expressing cells were placed in the experimental chamber and were perfused with a solution composed of ( in mm ): 140 nacl , 4 kcl , 1 . 8 cacl 2 , 1 mgcl 2 , 10 glucose , 10 hepes ( ph 7 . 4 , naoh ) at room temperature . borosilicate patch pipettes had tip resistances of 2 - 4 mohms when filled with an internal solution containing : 130 kcl , 1 mgcl 2 , 1 cacl 2 , 10 egta , 10 hepes , 5 atp - k 2 ( ph 7 . 2 , koh ). the cells were clamped at − 80 mv in whole cell configuration using an axopatch 200b ( axon instruments , union city , calif .) patch clamp amplifier controlled by pclamp ( axon instruments ) software . upon formation of a gigaseal , the following voltage protocol was repeatedly ( 0 . 05 hz ) applied to record tail currents : depolarization step from − 80 mv to + 20 mv for 2 seconds followed by a hyperpolarization step to − 65 mv ( 3 seconds ) to elicit tail currents and then , back to the holding potential . compounds were applied after stabilization of tail current . first , tail currents were recorded in presence of extracellular solution alone ( control ) and subsequently , in extracellular solution containing increasing compound concentrations . each compound concentration was applied for 2 - 5 minutes . the percentage inhibition at each concentration was calculated as reduction in peak tail current with respect to the peak tail current recorded in the presence of control solution . data analysis was performed in custom made software . the percent inhibitions at different concentrations were plotted to obtain a concentration response curve , which was subsequently fitted with a four parameter equation to calculate the herg ic 50 value . using this procedure , the compound of example 1 is a poor inhibitor of the herg channel , with an ic 50 = 28 μm . the compound of example 6 is a poor inhibitor of the herg channel , with an ic 50 = 13 . 5 μm . mouse forced swim test ( mfst ). forced swim test ( fst ) is an animal model used to assess antidepressant compounds in preclinical studies . the fst was performed similar to the method of porsolt et al . with modifications ( porsolt rd , bertin a , jalfre m . behavioral despair in mice : a primary screening test for antidepressants . arch int pharmacodyn thër 1977 ; 229 : 327 - 36 ). in this paradigm , mice are forced to swim in an inescapable cylinder filled with water . under these conditions , mice will initially try to escape and eventually develop immobility behavior ; this behavior is interpreted as a passive stress - coping strategy or depression - like behavior . swim tanks were positioned inside a box made of plastic . each tank was separated from each other by opaque plastic sheets to the height of cylinders . three mice were subjected to test at a time . swim sessions were conducted for 6 min by placing mice in individual glass cylinders ( 46 cm height × 20 cm diameter ) containing water ( 20 - cm deep , maintained at 24 - 25 ° c .). at this water level , the mouse tail does not touch the bottom of the container . the mouse was judged to be immobile whenever it remained floating passively without struggling in the water and only making those movements necessary to keep its nose / head above the water and to keep it afloat . the duration of immobility was evaluated during the total 6 min of the test and expressed as duration ( sec ) of immobility . each mouse was tested only once . at the end of each session , mice were dried with a dry cloth and returned to their home cage placed on a thermal blanket to prevent hypothermia . water was replaced after each trial . all testing sessions were recorded with a video camera ( sony handicam , model : dcr - hc38e ; pal ) and scoring was done using the forced swim scan , version 2 . 0 software ( clever systems inc ., reston , va ., usa ; see hayashi e , shimamura m , kuratani k , kinoshita m , hara h . automated experimental system capturing three behavioral components during murine forced swim test . life sci . 2011 feb . 28 ; 88 ( 9 - 10 ): 411 - 7 and yuan p , tragon t , xia m , leclair c a , skoumbourdis a p , zheng w , thomas c j , huang r , austin c p , chen g , guitart x . phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitors enhance sexual pleasure - seeking activity in rodents . pharmacol biochem . behav . 2011 ; 98 ( 3 ): 349 - 55 ). for nce testing : test compound was administered in mice 15 min before swim session by i . v . route and immobility time was recorded for next 6 min . at the end of fst , the mouse were euthanized by rapid decapitation method and plasma and brain samples were collected and stored under − 80 ° c . till further analysis . in the mouse forced swim assay , the compound of example 1 was dosed intraveneously in a vehicle of 30 % hydroxypropyl betacyclodextrin / 70 % citrate buffer ph 4 at a 5 ml / kg dosing volume . the compound of example 1 demonstrated a statistically significant decrease in immobility time at 1 mg / kg under these conditions . drug levels were 268 +/− 128 nm in the plasma and 749 +/− 215 nm in the brain at this dose . the nr2b receptor occupancy was determined as reported above and was determined to be 73 %. the compound of example 6 demonstrated a statistically significant decrease in immobility time at 1 mg / kg under these same conditions . drug levels were 360 nm in the plasma . the nr2b receptor occupancy was determined to be 79 %.	2
the following disclosure will describe an improved method and apparatus for air inverting and steam curing a cipp tube in compliance with astm f1216 standard practice for rehabilitation of existing pipelines and conduits by the inversion and curing of a resin - impregnated tube . the method and apparatus as described are well suited for working from the surface through structures , such as manholes to rehabilitate existing buried pipelines and conduits . referring now to fig1 , an air inversion and steam cure unit 11 constructed and arranged in accordance with the invention is shown in elevation . unit 11 is constructed of a rigid material , typically a metal such as a steel or aluminum , and the like . composite materials or plastics are also suitable so long as they can withstand the internal pressures and temperatures to be generated during use . unit 11 includes a substantially cylindrical hollow pressure chamber 12 having an upper flange 13 and a bottom flange 14 . a hollow inversion inversion boot 16 is mounted to bottom flange 14 . inversion boot 16 includes an upper frusto - conical section 17 with a larger opening 17 a and a smaller opening 17 b and an annular flange 18 for securing boot 16 to bottom flange 14 . this allows different diameter boots to be readily installed in unit 11 . smaller opening 17 b of frusto - conical section 17 includes a substantially cylindrical banding boot 19 with external ribs 21 for securing a folded back portion of a cured in place liner 20 to be fed therethrough . inversion boot 17 is also fitted with an air / steam inlet fitting 25 . the top of pressure chamber 12 is closed by a top cover 22 formed of a first semi - circular section 23 and a second semi - circular section 24 . both semi - circular top sections 23 and 24 are secured to upper flange 13 and facing cut - out regions 23 a and 24 a to form a gap 26 therebetween to allow passing liner 27 into unit 11 . the details of construction of gap 26 to form a gland 28 so that sufficient inversion pressure can be generated in pressure chamber 12 and inversion boot 16 will be described below . semi - circular portions 23 and 24 with cut - outs 23 a and 24 a are secured to upper flange 13 to form a gap 26 along the centerline between them . semi - circular portion 23 includes a horizontal portion 37 of stationary gland bracket 31 with a horizontal mounting portion 32 , a substantially vertical section 33 across the diameter of pressure chamber 12 and a flared section 34 . semi - circular section 23 includes cut - out region facing semi - circular portion 24 . matching adjustable semi - circular portion 24 also includes an adjusting bracket 36 with a horizontal mounting section 37 , a substantially vertical section 38 and a flared portion 39 . adjustment bracket 36 also presents cut - out region 24 a to ???????. here , moveable adjustment bracket 36 includes a cut - out or drawer region 41 for mounting at least one substantially rigid shaped block 42 . block 42 includes a tube inlet cut - out 43 facing the vertical section 33 of stationary bracket 31 . tube cut - out 43 is formed by an indentation in shaped block 42 . three gap adjustment screws 44 are mounted behind shaped block 42 for adjusting the position of block 42 to vary the size of gap 26 so as to engage liner 26 in use . two sheets of a compressible compressible member 46 are positioned between both sections of top cover 22 and upper flange 13 . compressible material 46 is pulled up along the facing surfaces of gland brackets 31 and 36 and secured to bracket flared sections 34 and 39 . this provides a smooth compressible and resilient path for liner 27 to be engaged in gland 28 as it passes through . in addition to compressible material 46 , an absorbent layer 47 is positioned to the outside of compressible material 46 facing gland 28 . this material may be an absorbent material such as a layer of felt 47 that can be oiled to provide lubricating for inverting liner 27 . alternatively , a layer of low friction material such as fep , pfa or ptfe can be used to facilitate passage of liner 27 through gland 28 . use of compressible material 46 helps gland 28 conform to the cross - section and profile of liner 27 . gap adjustment screws 44 are mounted on adjustable bracket 36 to displace shaped block 42 towards opposed vertical section 33 to adjust the opening of gland 28 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig3 a , shaped block 51 is formed in three individual segments , including two outer sections 52 and 53 with curved cut outs 52 a and 53 a and a straight mid - section 54 . here , bracket 36 includes individual pockets to hold blocks 52 , 53 and 54 with opening in bracket vertical section 38 to allow movement towards stationary bracket 31 in response to tightening adjustment gap screws 44 . block mid - section 54 presents a straight edge , whereas outer sections , 52 and 53 form curved openings to conform to the layflat shape of liner 27 . unit 11 includes three leg mounting brackets 56 welded to the sidewall of pressure chamber 12 for fixing legs 57 for supporting unit 11 over an installation access opening . unit 11 is constructed of a rigid metallic material , such as steel or aluminum . once assembled , semi - circular sections 31 and 36 with shaped block 42 and compressible material 46 form adjustable gland 28 for allowing liner 27 to pass therethrough when air pressure is introduced into air steam inlet 20 . shaped block 42 may be a single member as shown in the embodiment of fig2 or included three sections , 52 , 53 and 54 as shown in the embodiment in fig3 . additional sections can also be formed which provide greater flexibility in adjusting gap for dealing with location of folds and variations in cross - sectional dimensions of liner 27 as it passes therethrough . compressible material 46 is a temperature resistant ˜ 3 to 20 mm , resilient layer of material , such as silicone rubber . a thin absorbent layer ( 2 to 8 mm ) polyester felt to apply lubricant to the surface of cipp liner 27 is placed on the outer surface of compressible layer 46 . as noted above , a low friction material such as a ptfe scrim can be use in place of oiled felt . gland 28 formed by gap 26 in top sections 23 and 24 may be infinitely variable by utilizing an embodiment having a plurality of hydraulic fingers such as shown in fig4 and 5 . unit 11 is particularly well suited to install a small diameter cipp liner in an existing conduit utilizing air to invert the liner and steam to cure . small diameter liners are those having a diameter between about 6 and 12 inches ( 15 to 30 mm ). the following procedures are followed to install a cured in place liner by air inversion and steam cure using unit 11 . 1 . adjustment screws 44 on adjustable bracket 36 of gland 28 are opened and a wet out cipp liner 27 is threaded through gland 28 into pressure chamber 12 and banding boot 19 . liner 27 is cuffed back over the end of banding boot 19 and secured with two stainless steel bands . an air / steam hose is attached to steam air inlet 20 on inversion boot 16 . a hold back rope or cable is attached to the other end of cipp liner 27 . a suitable lubricant is placed on absorbent felt layers 47 at the inlet to air inverter unit 11 . gland 28 is adjusted with adjustment screws 44 to uniformly close gland 28 about cipp liner 27 . 2 . the other end of the air steam line is connected to the air steam manifold . a steam supply line and air supply line are connected to the air steam manifold . all air and steam connections are checked for safety pins or whip checks installed . once the air valve on the manifold is closed and the air regulator has been backed off to prevent air flow through it , the air supply line is connected to an air compressor . the air discharge line at the compressor is closed and the air compressor is then started . 3 . when the air / steam operator has been checked to make sure that everything is safe and ready to proceed to send air to the air / steam manifold . the air / steam manifold operator then opens the air / steam supply line to the air inverter and slowly screws down the adjustment screw on the air regulator to increase the air supply to the desired air inversion pressure . the air inverter operator will simultaneously pull cipp liner from the refrigerated storage truck or bin to feed into air inverter 11 . the inversion is continued until the trailing end of the liner is near air inverter unit 11 . at this time the hold back rope up is threaded over rollers above the air inverter . just prior to the end of the liner going into the air inverter , the hold back rope is wound around a capstan so that there is tension on the rope leading into air inverter 11 . once the end of the liner goes through the gland in the top of the air inverter , the gland is adjusted to reduce air leakage . the hold back rope and inversion air pressure are controlled to maintain the same inversion speed and pressure used on the first half of the inversion . as shown in fig7 ( a ) and 7 ( b ) a pvc or rigid pipe sample mold of metal with an exhaust pipe assembly 61 with a mold 62 and steel pipe 63 in the far manhole and align it to receive an inverting tube . as the inverting nose nears the far manhole , the inversion is slowed to allow the liner to enter sample mold 62 and steel pipe 63 . the inversion is stopped when the nose of the inverting liner is about one diameter past the end of sample mold 62 . the hold back rope is tied off and the inverted liner is ported by inserting a steel - porting pipe 64 with a piercing point 66 at the lower end and a valve 67 at upper end . a flange or o - ring 68 is provided a point on porting pipe 64 to prevent pipe 64 from piercing the opposite side of the liner . a crewmember who is responsible for porting notifies the inverting end that he is preparing to port the inverted liner so that they will be prepared to adjust the supply air to maintain pressure on the inverted liner once it has been ported . once the liner has been successfully ported , porting pipe valve 67 is closed and an exhaust hose with a valve at the far end is attached to porting pipe valve 67 . control of the exhaust is now at the far end of the exhaust hose . 5 . the exhaust valve and air inlet regulator is adjusted to maintain good flow and recommended heat up and cure pressure . the boiler is blown down and the steam supply hose is attached to the air steam manifold . the manifold operator is notified that steam is being sent to the air steam manifold . the air steam manifold operator notifies the far end that warm - up is starting . the interface temperature at the 6 o &# 39 ; clock position in the far manhole is recorded . the warm - up steam air mixture should be about 180 ° f . the warm - up is continued until there is a 3 ° f . increase at the inner - face in the far manhole . once warm - up is completed , air flow is slowly reduced and full steam is used to maintain the recommended cure pressure . full steam cure is continued for about 1 hour recording inner - face temperatures at 15 minute intervals . and there is an inner - face temperature of 130 ° f . for at least 30 minutes of the 1 hour cure , cure is complete . if not , cure is extended until there is 130 ° f . for at least 30 minutes . 7 . once the cure cycle is completed , steam is slowly shut off while simultaneously adding air . cure pressure should not be exceeded during cool down . the liner is cooled down for a minimum of 15 minutes or until interface is 130 ° f . at the far end , whichever is longer . steam supply at boiler is then shut off . when the boiler supply hose pressure reaches zero , the steam supply hose is disconnected at the manifold . when cool down is complete , the air compressor is shut off and pressure in air hose is released prior to disconnecting air supply hose from manifold . depending upon the particular resin and tube thickness , once the cure is complete , steam flow is turned off while simultaneously adjusting the air flow to maintain cure pressured . the exhaust valve is adjusted while cooling to about 130 ° f . at the six o &# 39 ; clock position for at least one hour . once the temperature has cooled to the desired level , air flow pressure is reduced to zero , the exhaust valve is fully opened . any condensate that may have accumulated in the bladder is removed by condensate drain on the exhaust assembly . at this time , the confined space entry procedures are followed to remove ends from the lined pipe and reinstate services using standard procedures . the flexible cured in place liner is of the type generally well known in the art . it is formed from at least one layer of a flexible resin impregnable material , such as a felt layer having an outer impermeable polymer film layer . the felt layer and film layer are stitched along a seam line to form a tubular liner . a compatible thermoplastic film in a form of a tape or extruded material is placed on or extruded over seam line in order to ensure the impermeability of the liner . for larger liner diameters , several layers of felt material may be used . the felt layers may be natural or synthetic flexible resin absorbable materials , such as polyester or acrylic fibers . the impermeable film in the outer layer may be a polyolefin , such as polyethylene or polypropylene , a vinyl polymer , such as polyvinyl chloride , or a polyurethane as is well known in the art . in the initial step in all trenchless rehabilitation installations , the existing pipeline is prepared by cleaning and videotaping . prior to commencing installation pursuant to the method in accordance with the invention , a curable thermosetting resin is impregnated into the felt of a liner by a process referred to as “ wet - out .” the wet - out process generally involves injecting resin into the felt layer through the end or an opening formed in the impermeable film layer , drawing a vacuum and passing the impregnated liner through nip rollers as is well known in the lining art . one such procedure of this vacuum impregnation is described in insituform u . s . pat . no . 4 , 366 , 012 , the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference . a wide variety of resins may be used , such as polyester , vinyl esters , epoxy resins and the like , which may be modified as desired . it is preferable to utilize a resin that is relatively stable at room temperature , but which cures readily when heated . it can readily be seen that the process in accordance with the invention readily allows one to attain the advantage of curing a resin liner with flow through steam . by practicing the process , a tubular member can be easily everted through an existing pipeline . by providing a low friction gland on an eversion chamber , eversion pressure can be increased without increasing the friction on the moving liner . steam is then passed through the curing liner to utilize the higher energy available in the steam to cure the resin significantly more efficiently than one can cure utilizing circulating hot water . an air inverting unit 110 constructed and arranged in accordance with another embodiment of the invention is shown in fig4 . unit 110 includes a rectangular trough or box 111 mounted on a frame 112 to be positioned over the inverting access to the conduit to be lined . a roller 113 is positioned at the top of frame 112 over box 111 to facilitate feeding resin impregnated liner 116 into box 111 . the top of box 111 is partially closed by a pair of opposed plates 121 and 122 forming an opening 123 between the sidewalls of box 111 . the bottom of box 111 is sealed and has an inversion nipple or boot 131 for securing inverted liner 116 thereabout . an air and steam inlet 132 is provided on a sidewall of box 111 to inject air / steam from an air supply line 133 and a steam line 134 . the size of box 111 is selected so that flattened liner 116 does not occupy the full width of opening 123 . this insures that air and steam can flow freely about the full perimeter of the liner to force the liner through inversion boot 131 . an elastomeric sheet 136 is folded across the top opening and a plurality of fingers 133 are positioned behind and in the fold of elastomeric sheet 136 to close opening 123 partially as shown in schematic in fig5 ( a ) and 5 ( b ). this allows flattened liner 116 to pass through opening 123 and for fingers 137 to close opening 123 at the edges of liner as shown in schematic in fig5 ( b ). fingers 137 are rigid rods seated in individual cylinders 138 connected to an air manifold 139 as shown in the cross - section in fig7 . manifold 139 has an air bleeder valve and gauge 141 and pressure relief valve 142 . a rigid donut 146 about 1 to 3 cm . in diameter is mounted at the end of each rod and contacts the back surface of 146 folded elastomeric sheet 136 . each finger 137 is positioned so that the ends of donuts 146 form a continuously variable profile about liner 116 and close the unoccupied portion of opening 123 in box 111 . elastomeric sheet 136 is a temperature resistant ˜ 3 to 20 mm . thick compressible layer of material such as silicone rubber with a thin absorbent layer ( 2 to 8 mm .) such as polyester felt to apply lubricant to the surface of cipp liner 116 . extending fingers 137 are positioned behind both sides of elastomeric sheet 136 to urge elastomeric sheet 136 and felt into the opposite sides of cipp liner 116 . typically , cipp liners intended for inversion are manufactured with the layers sized for final position . this means that prior to inversion the biggest circumference layer is on the inside and the smallest circumference coated layer is on the outside . this results in the inner layer having a folded area or thick spot in the tube cross - section . variable fingers 137 on each side of gland opening 123 accommodate for this and any other cross - section irregularities of liner 116 . the folded area may also move back and forth across the surface of cipp liner 116 and variably extending fingers 137 accommodate for this change in spot thickness . in the illustrated embodiment , apparatus 110 includes 64 fingers 137 , with 32 on each side of gland opening 123 . it is contemplated that any number of fingers , such as from 32 to 128 can be used with donuts that are anywhere from 1 to 5 cm . in diameter . obviously , the smaller the size of the donut the more fingers that can be included and the finer the variations in the shape or profile of the opening are possible . however , one must be careful that the donuts do not pierce the impermeable coating of the liner . the donuts should not be too large so as to form gaps at the edges of the flattened liner or at regions of changes in thickness . inversion boot 131 or nipple is elongated to accommodate flattened liner 116 passing through box 111 and has ribs or ridges to receive steel bands to secure liner 116 . clamping plates are provided to secure liner 116 against the elongated sides of the inversion boot 131 . the installation procedure utilizing inverter unit 110 is identical to that described for the earlier described embodiment using air inverter unit 11 . it will thus be seen that the objects set fort above , among those made apparent from the preceding description , are efficiently attained and , since certain changes may be made and carrying out the above method and in the construction set forth without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention , it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense . it is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which , as a matter of language , might be said to fall there between .	8
a detailed description of the present invention is described herein with reference to the accompanying drawing figures . terms of reference such as “ top ,” “ bottom ,” “ front ,” “ back ,” or “ side ” are used to facilitate an understanding of the present invention in view of the accompanying figures . the identified reference terms or other similar terms are not intended to be limiting , and one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the present invention may be practiced in a variety of spatial orientations without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . with reference to fig1 and 2 a of the drawings , a steering column tilt adjusting system constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention is generally indicated by reference numeral 100 . the steering column tilt adjusting system 100 is illustrated in operative association with a portion of a steering column assembly 10 having a steering wheel 16 coupled to the steering column shaft 12 using known techniques . for example , with reference to fig1 and 2 a of the drawings , the steering column tilt adjusting system constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention is generally indicated by reference numeral 100 . the steering column tilt adjusting system 100 is illustrated in operative association with a steering column assembly 10 having a steering column shaft 12 mounted in a housing 14 , with a steering wheel 16 on the upper end of the steering column shaft 12 . as shown in fig2 b , the steering column housing 14 extends between a pair of trunnions 18 that are formed on a support structure 20 and is pivoted to the trunnions 18 by horizontal pivots 22 for vertical adjustment about an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal center line of the vehicle and of the steering column shaft 12 . the pivotal support for the housing 14 permits the steering column 12 to be adjusted vertically to a position desired by the vehicle operator , but within a range in which the steering column extends at an angle generally upwardly and downwardly from the motor vehicle . a coil spring 24 is secured at its ends to the support structure 20 and to the housing 14 and urges the housing 14 to swing upwardly to a limiting position making ingress to and egress from the vehicle easier for the vehicle operator . u . s . pat . no . 6 , 591 , 709 describes a similar method for coupling a steering column tilt lock apparatus to a vehicle , the discussion of which is incorporated herein by reference . fig3 shows an exploded view of the steering column tilt adjusting system 100 built in accordance with the teachings of this invention . as best seen in fig3 , the steering column tilt adjusting system 100 includes a rack 102 , a pawl 104 , an offset slide 106 and a flat slide 108 . as best seen in fig3 , the rack 102 includes a first trunnion 110 , a plurality of teeth 112 and a locking cam 114 . the first trunnion 110 defines a first pivot aperture 116 . in the particular example provided , the rack 102 has a gooseneck configuration , wherein the teeth 112 are spaced axially apart from the first trunnion 110 . the locking cam 114 is defined by a portion of the rack 102 . as illustrated , the locking cam 114 defines slots 122 and 124 , as best seen in fig3 . rack 102 also includes a slot 120 that supports a mounting pin 143 such that the mounting pin 143 couples the steering column tilt adjusting system 100 to the steering column assembly 10 . as best seen in fig3 , the pawl 104 includes a body 126 , and the body 126 is illustrated to include a u - shaped portion 128 . as best seen in fig3 , the u - shaped portion 128 defines a pair of trunnions 130 , 132 that are positioned on opposite sides 134 , 136 of the body 126 . the trunnions 130 , 132 include an aperture 138 that is configured to receive a bushing 140 , 142 , respectively . when assembled , the bushings 140 , 142 will receive and support a mounting pin 143 , as best seen in fig1 and 2 . the mounting pin 143 couples the pawl 104 to the rack 102 in a manner that permits pivotal and sliding motion between the pawl 104 and the rack 102 . the body 126 also includes an elongated member 144 that extends outwardly in a direction opposite the trunnions 130 , 132 . the elongated member 144 supports a plurality of teeth 146 . the body 126 also defines a slot 148 , as best seen in fig3 , 4 and 8 - 11 , that is offset from and below the teeth 146 . as best seen in fig3 and 4 , the offset slide 106 includes a body portion 152 that includes a flat plate portion 154 and an offset flanged - shaped portion 156 joined to the flat shaped portion by an outwardly projecting wall 158 . as illustrated , the body portion 152 may be integrally formed . the flat plate portion 154 defines openings 160 , 162 , and 164 , which receive , respectively , coupling pins 150 , 153 and 155 , as best seen in fig6 . the offset flanged - shaped portion 156 also defines an opening 166 . as best seen in fig3 , 4 and 8 - 11 , this arrangement slidably couples the pawl 104 and the rack 102 . as best seen in fig3 and 5 , the flat slide 108 includes a body 176 . as illustrated the body 176 is a rectangular plate . the body 176 defines three openings 178 , 180 and 182 , wherein openings 178 and 182 align , respectively , with the openings 122 and 124 defined by the rack 102 . as best seen in fig6 , the openings 178 , 180 and 182 receive mounting pins 153 , 155 and 150 such that the joined parts are permitted sliding and pivotal movement relative to one another . the components of the steering column tilt adjusting system 100 can be formed for example of plastic , powered metal , stamped or machine steel materials . non - ferrous or plastic materials can be used for low load applications . however , it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the material requirements may vary depending on the application and the environment in which the steering column tilt adjusting system 100 may be used . the steering column tilt adjusting apparatus 100 may be installed in a steering column using two pivot pins or bolts or pivot sockets that support tensile and compressive loads . as best seen in fig1 , 2 a and 2 b , the steering column tilt adjusting apparatus 100 may be coupled to the steering column assembly 10 by inserting a mounting pin 145 in the first coupling aperture 116 ( fig3 ) defined by the rack 102 so as to couple the rack 102 to the steering column assembly 10 . as previously discussed , the mounting pin 143 couples the pawl 104 to the rack 102 in a manner that permits pivotal and sliding motion between the pawl 104 and the rack 102 . the mounting pin 143 also couples the steering column tilt adjusting apparatus 100 to the steering column assembly 10 . turning to fig3 , the steering column tilt adjusting apparatus 100 may be operated by coupling an actuation lever ( not shown ), cable or other known actuation means or device to the offset slide 106 . more specifically , the actuation lever may be supported in an aperture 166 formed in the offset slide 106 using techniques known to one of ordinary skill in the art . the actuation lever pushes against the inner surface of aperture 166 , causing movement of the offset side plate 106 and the flat slide plate 108 along the axis of the rack 102 and pawl 104 . in one embodiment , the connection point for the actuation lever is concentric with the pivot point in the tilt head . in one embodiment , titling of the steering column may be achieved by pushing or pulling the actuation lever . the lever is held in the unlock position , which drives the offset slide and the flat slide to move and disengage meshed rack and pawl teeth 146 , 112 , respectively . the steering wheel 16 is then free to be repositioned . for example , the steering wheel 16 may be repositioned in either the tilt - up or tilt - down positions shown in fig1 and 13 or any desirable position therebetween . the travel of the steering column assembly 10 may be limited by the configuration of the slot 120 defined by the rack 102 and the size of a mounting pin 143 . for example , when the steering column assembly 10 is repositioned , the pin 143 will strike against the end of the slot 120 , thus acting as a stop in either direction of travel along the slot 120 . the steering column assembly 10 is then relocked by releasing the tilt lever and allowing a spring 24 ( fig2 a , 2 b ) to slide the offset slide plate 106 so as to re - engage the teeth 146 , 112 . fig1 illustrates another embodiment of a steering column tilt adjusting system 200 formed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention . the function and operation of the steering column tilt adjusting system 200 are identical to that described for the steering column tilt adjusting system 100 . however , the physical configuration of the components comprising the steering column tilt adjusting system 200 is slightly different . as best seen in fig1 , the steering column tilt adjusting system 200 includes a pawl 202 , a rack 204 and a pair of side slide plates 230 , 232 . as best seen in fig1 , the pawl 202 includes an elongated body 220 . the pawl body 220 defines a trunnion mount 222 , a plurality of pawl teeth 212 , and a slot 218 . the trunnion 222 defines an opening 225 for receiving a bushing . in one embodiment , the trunnion 222 may be coupled to the steering column so as to permit rotation of the pawl relative to the steering column . as shown in fig1 , the rack 204 includes an elongated body 210 . the rack body 210 includes a distal end that defines a trunnion mount 224 , a slot 226 and a c - shaped end 216 formed at the distal end of the body 210 . the trunnion mount 224 defines an opening 227 for receiving a bushing . the c - shaped end defines an inner surface 228 . the steering column tilt adjusting system 200 also include side slide plates 230 , 232 , as best seen in fig1 and 15 . the side slide plates 230 , 232 are virtually mirror images , except , as best seen in fig1 , that the plate 230 includes an opening 248 for receiving an end of an actuation lever ( not shown ). each plate 230 , 232 defines openings 234 , 236 , 238 . when the side slide plates 230 , 232 are assembled , the openings 234 , 236 , 238 in each plate are aligned axially . each opening 234 , 236 , 238 supports a pin 240 , 242 , 244 , respectively , for coupling the respective side slide plate 230 , 232 to the pawl 202 and rack 204 as best seen in fig1 . for example , in one embodiment , the pins 240 and 242 are received in openings 234 and 236 formed in plate 230 , the slot 226 , 231 , respectively , formed in the rack 204 and finally the respective openings 234 and 236 of the plate 232 . the pin 244 is received in opening 238 formed in plate 230 , the slot 218 formed in the pawl 202 and in the opening 238 of the plate 232 . the pins 240 , 244 , 246 are received in the respective slots 218 , 226 and the openings 234 , 236 , 238 so as to permit the plates 230 , 232 to slide along the slots 218 , 226 . in the illustrated embodiment , when the side slide plates 230 , 232 are assembled as described , the pawl teeth 212 releasably engage the rack teeth 214 . the trunnion mount 222 also nests in the c - shaped end 216 at the inner surface 228 . the steering column tilt adjusting system 200 is coupled to the steering column assembly 10 in the manner previously described herein and as described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 591 , 709 , incorporated herein by reference , and using techniques known to one of ordinary skill in the art . with reference to fig1 , 2 a , 2 b and 14 for example , in an alternative method of coupling the steering column tilt adjusting system 200 to a steering column , the pawl trunnion mount 222 may receive a pin 143 through opening 225 that couples the pawl trunnion mount 222 to the steering column assembly 10 . the rack trunnion mount 224 may receive a pin 145 through opening 227 that pivotably couples the rack trunnion mount 224 to the steering column assembly 10 . one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the pawl 202 and rack 204 may be assembled in the steering column such that the pawl 202 is pivotably coupled to the steering column assembly 10 , and the rack 204 is coupled to the fixed portion of the steering column assembly 10 . in the embodiment shown in fig1 and 15 , the steering column tilt adjusting system 200 is operated by applying a force to the actuation lever ( not shown ). one of skill in the art will appreciate that the actuation lever ( not shown ) may be replaced by an actuation cable , hydraulic piston assembly or other devices for applying a forces on the side slide plates 230 , 232 so as to permit movement of the side slide plates 230 , 232 to slide along the axis of the slots 218 , 226 . the actuation lever may be supported in an aperture 248 formed in the side slide plate 230 using techniques known to one of ordinary skill in the art . the actuation lever pushes against the inner surface of 248 , causing the side slide plates 230 , 232 to move along the axis of the rack 204 and pawl 202 . by applying pressure to the actuation lever , the side slide plates 230 , 232 are permitted to slide along the axis of slots 218 and 226 to the unlocked position . this action permits the pawl teeth 212 and the rack teeth 214 to disengage ( unlock ). once the side slide plates 230 , 232 are slid to the unlocked position , the rack 204 may slide along the axis of the pawl 202 . once the steering column assembly 10 is in the desired position , a force is applied the lever causing the side slide plates 230 , 232 to be slid to the locked position . this action results in the meshing engagement of the pawl and rack teeth , 212 , 214 . finally , the steering column tilt adjusting system 200 may be shipped with a shipping pin 246 inserted in opening 250 to prevent movement of the side slide plates 230 , 232 during shipping . the present invention as illustrated herein as exemplary embodiments 100 and 200 provides several advantages over prior art steering column tilt adjusting systems . for example , one advantage is that the opposing pawl and rack teeth geometry is set up such that the teeth surfaces that support the high deceleration loads created in a crash event are adjusted towards or are perpendicular to the load path in the rack and pawl . another illustrative advantage is that the rack and pawl teeth surfaces may be designed such that the deceleration loads are intended to force the steering column tilt adjusting system into locking engagement during a crash event . a further illustrative advantage is that the locking loads applied to lock the rack and pawl teeth may be tunable by adjusting the angle and / or configuration of the slots 122 , 124 , 148 ( fig3 ) in the first embodiment and 218 , 226 , 231 ( fig1 ) in the second embodiment . an additional advantage is that the profiled slots ( 122 , 124 , 148 in the first embodiment ( fig3 ) and 218 , 226 , 321 in the second embodiment ( fig1 )) in the pawl and rack may be tunable to allow the locking and unlocking lever efforts to be adjusted . as shown in fig1 , another advantage is that the rack and pawl teeth , 214 , 212 may be configured to account for wear between contact points 252 . as the contact points 252 wear , the root 254 of the teeth moves closer to the tip 256 of opposing teeth . therefore the teeth 214 , 212 further engage to compensate for wear . in addition to self correcting for tooth wear , the present invention also permits the slots 226 , 231 ( fig1 ) to be configured to allow additional travel of the slide plates 230 , 232 to accommodate wear in the teeth 212 , 214 , pins 240 , 242 , 244 , and slots 218 , 226 , 231 . one of skill in the art will appreciate that the disclosed invention includes additional advantages that are not set forth above . although a detailed description of the present invention has been disclosed , a person of ordinary skill in the art would realize , however , that certain modifications would come within the teachings of this invention . therefore , the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of the invention .	1
a method for identifying face expressions of an image object is described hereinafter for addressing the foregoing problems . for purposes of brevity and clarity , the description of the invention is limited hereinafter to applications related to face expressions identification . this however does not preclude various embodiments of the invention from other applications of similar nature . the fundamental inventive principles of the embodiments of the invention are common throughout the various embodiments . exemplary embodiments of the invention described hereinafter are in accordance with fig1 to 8 of the drawings , in which like elements are numbered with like reference numerals . fig1 shows a two - dimensional ( 2d ) image 100 representation of a human subject to be inspected using face recognition . the 2d image 100 preferably captures a frontal view of the face of the human subject in which the majority of the facial features of the human subject are clearly visible . the facial features include one or more of the eyes , the nose and the mouth of the human subject . by clearly showing the facial features of the human subject in the 2d image 100 , the synthesizing of an accurate representation of a three - dimensional ( 3d ) head object of the human subject can then be performed subsequently . in addition , the 2d image 100 is preferably acquired using a device installed with either a charge - coupled device ( ccd ) or a complementary metal - oxide - semiconductor ( cmos ) sensor . examples of the device include digital cameras , webcams and camcorders . fig2 shows a 3d mesh 200 representing the face of a human subject . the 3d mesh 200 is a generic face model constructed from sampled data obtained from faces of human subjects representing a population cross - section . in addition , the 3d mesh 200 is provided with a plurality of predefined mesh reference points 202 . the plurality of mesh reference points 202 is then further separated into two sets : a first plurality of mesh reference points and a second plurality of mesh reference points . the first plurality of mesh reference points comprises markings such as on the left and upper contours , and the left and right lower contours , in which the markings are subsequently adjusted for performing global deformation of the 3d mesh 200 . separately , the second plurality of mesh reference points comprises markings around key facial features such as on the left and right eye center , the left and right nose lobe , and the left and right lip ends , in which the markings are also subsequently adjusted for performing local deformation of the 3d mesh 200 . the markings 302 of the first plurality of mesh reference points and the second plurality of mesh reference points are as shown in fig3 . the 3d mesh 200 is then later adapted to the face of the human subject to be inspected using face recognition . from the 2d image 100 of fig1 , a plurality of feature portions of the face of the human subject is then identified as shown in fig4 . the plurality of feature portions preferably comprises the eyes , the mouth and the nose of the face of the human subject . in addition , the plurality of feature portions is identified by locating the face of the human subject in the 2d image 100 . the face of the human subject is locatable in the 2d image 100 using methods well known in the art such as knowledge - based methods , feature invariant approaches , template matching methods and appearance - based methods . after the face is located in the 2d image 100 , a region of the face 402 is next identified in order to locate important facial features of the human subject . notably , the facial features correspond to the plurality of feature portions . the identified facial features contained in the region of the face 402 are then detected using edge detection techniques well known in the art . the identified plurality of feature portions is then marked with a plurality of image reference points 404 using a feature extractor as shown in fig4 . specifically , each of the plurality of image reference points 404 has 3d coordinates . in order to obtain substantially accurate 3d coordinates of each of the plurality of image reference points 404 , the feature extractor requires prior training in which the feature extractor is taught how to identify and mark image reference points using training images that are manually labelled and are normalized at a fixed ocular distance . for example , by using an image in which there is a plurality of image feature points , each image feature point ( x , y ) is first extracted using multi - resolution 2d gabor wavelets that are taken in eight different scale resolution and from six different orientations to thereby produce a forty - eight dimensional feature vector . next , in order to improve the extraction resolution of the feature extractor around an image feature point ( x , y ), counter solutions around the region of the image feature point ( x , y ) are collected and the feature extractor is trained to reject the counter solutions . all extracted feature vectors ( also known as positive samples ) of a image feature point are then stored in a stack “ a ” while the feature vectors of counter solutions ( also known as negative samples ) are then stored in a corresponding stack “ b ”. this then provides a forty - eight dimensional feature vector and dimensionality reduction using principal component analysis ( pca ) is then required . thus , dimensionality reduction is performed for both the positive samples ( pca_a ) and the negative samples ( pca_b ). the separability between the positive samples and the negative samples is optimized using linear discriminant analysis ( lda ). the lda computation of the positive samples is performed by using the positive samples and negative samples as training sets . two different sets , pca_a ( a ) and pca_a ( b ), are then created from the projection of the positive samples . the set pca_a ( a ) is assigned as class “ 0 ” and the set pca_a ( b ) is assigned as class “ 1 ”. the best linear discriminant is then defined using the fisher linear discriminant analysis on the basis of a two - class problem . the linear discriminant analysis of the set pca_a ( a ) is obtained by computing lda_a ( pca_a ( a )) since a “ 0 ” value must be generated . similarly , the linear discriminant analysis of the set pca_a ( b ) is obtained by computing lda_a ( pca_a ( b )) since a “ 1 ” value must be generated . the separability threshold present between the two classes is then estimated . separately , lda_b undergoes the same process as explained afore for lda_a . however , instead of using the sets , pca_a ( a ) and pca_a ( b ), the sets pca_b ( a ) and pca_b ( b ) are used . two scores are then obtained by subjecting an unknown feature vector , x , through the following two processes : the feature vector , x , is preferably accepted by the process lda_a ( pca_a ( x )) and is preferably rejected by the process lda_b ( pca_b ( x )). the proposition is that two discriminant functions are defined for each class using a decision rule being based on the statistical distribution of the projected data : set “ a ” and set “ b ” are defined as the “ feature ” and “ non - feature ” training sets respectively . further , four one - dimensional clusters are also defined : ga = g ( a ), fb = f ( b ), fa = f ( a ) and gb = f ( b ). the derivation of the mean , x , and standard deviation , σ , of each of the four one - dimensional clusters , fa , fb , ga and gb , are then computed . the mean and standard deviation of fa , fb , ga and gb are respectively expressed as ( x fa , σ fa ), ( x fb , σ fb ), ( x ga , σ ga ), and ( x gb , σ gb ). additionally , for a given vector y , the projections of the vector y using the two discriminant functions are obtained : the vector y is then classified as class “ a ” or “ b ” according to the pseudo - code , which is expressed as : preferably , the plurality of image reference points 404 in 3d are correlated with and estimated from the feature portions of the face in 2d space by a pre - determined function . in addition , as shown in fig4 , the plurality of image reference points 404 being marked on the 2d image 100 are preferably the left and right eyes center , nose tip , the left and right nose lobes , the left and upper contours , the left and right lower contours , the left and right lip ends and the chin tip contour . the head pose of the human subject in the 2d image 100 needs to be estimated before the 3d mesh 200 can be deformed . first , the 3d mesh 200 is rotated at an azimuth angle , and edges are extracted using an edge detection algorithm such as the canny edge detector . 3d mesh - edge maps are then computed for the 3d mesh 200 for azimuth angles ranging from − 90 degrees to + 90 degrees , in increments of 5 degrees . preferably , the 3d mesh - edge maps are computed only once and stored off - line in an image array . to estimate the head pose in the 2d image 100 , the edges of the 2d image 100 are extracted using the edge detection algorithm to obtain an image edge map ( not shown ) of the 2d image 100 . each of the 3d mesh - edge maps is compared to the image edge map to determine which pose results in the best overlap of the 3d mesh - edge maps . to compute the disparity between the 3d mesh - edge maps , the euclidean distance - transform ( dt ) of the image edge map is computed . for each pixel in the image edge map , the dt process assigns a number that represents the distance between that pixel and the nearest non - zero pixel of the image edge map . the value of the cost function , f , of each of the 3d mesh - edge maps is then computed . the cost function , f , which measures the disparity between the 3d mesh - edge maps and the image edge map is expressed as : f = ∑ ( i , j ) ∈ a em ⁢ dt ⁡ ( i , j ) n ( 7 ) where a em ≅{( i , j ): em ( i , j )= 1 } and n is the cardinality of set a em ( total number of nonzero pixels in the 3d mesh - edge map em ). f is the average distance - transform value at the nonzero pixels of the image edge map . the pose for which the corresponding 3d mesh - edge map results in the lowest value of f is the estimated head - pose for the 2d image 100 . once the pose of the human subject in the 2d image 100 is known , the 3d mesh 200 undergoes global deformation for registering the 3d mesh 200 to the 2d image 100 . the deformation of the 3d mesh 200 is shown in fig5 . typically , an affine deformation model for the global deformation of the 3d mesh 200 is used and the plurality of image reference points 404 is used to determine a solution for the affine parameters . a typical affine model used for the global deformation is expressed as : [ x gb y gb z gb ] = [ a 11 a 12 0 a 21 a 22 0 0 0 1 2 ⁢ a 11 + 1 2 ⁢ a 22 ] ⁡ [ x y z ] + [ b 1 b 2 0 ] ( 8 ) where ( x , y , z ) are the 3d coordinates of the vertices of the 3d mesh 200 , and subscript “ gb ” denotes global deformation . the affine model appropriately stretches or shrinks the 3d mesh 200 along the x and y axes and also takes into account the shearing occurring in the x - y plane . the affine deformation parameters are obtained by minimizing the re - projection error of the first plurality of mesh reference points on the rotated deformed 3d mesh 200 and the corresponding 2d locations in the 2d image 100 . the 2d projection ( x f , y f ) of the 3d feature points ( x f , y f , z f ) on the deformed 3d mesh 200 is expressed as : [ x f y f ] = [ r 11 r 12 r 13 r 21 r 22 r 23 ] ︸ r 12 ⁡ [ a 11 ⁢ x f + a 12 ⁢ y f + b 1 a 12 ⁢ x f + a 22 ⁢ y f + b 2 1 2 ⁢ ( a 11 + a 22 ) ⁢ z f ] ( 9 ) where r 12 is the matrix containing the top two rows of the rotation matrix corresponding to the estimated head pose for the 2d image 100 . by using the 3d coordinates of the plurality of image reference points 404 , equation ( 9 ) can then be reformulated into a linear system of equations . the affine deformation parameters p =[ a 11 , a 12 , a 21 , a 22 , b 1 , b 2 ] t are then determinable by obtaining a least - squares ( ls ) solution of the linear system of equations . the 3d mesh 200 is globally deformed according to these parameters , thus ensuring that the 3d head object 600 created conforms with the approximate shape of the face of the human subject and the significant features are properly aligned . the 3d head object 600 is shown in fig6 . in addition , to more accurately adapt the 3d mesh 200 to the human subject &# 39 ; s face from the 2d image 100 , local deformations are introducible in the globally deformed 3d mesh 200 . local deformations of the 3d mesh 200 are performed using the second plurality of mesh reference points , in which the vertices of the 3d mesh 200 are displaced via perturbations . once the 3d mesh 200 is adapted and deformed according to the 2d image 100 , the 3d head object 600 is then custom fitted , as shown in fig7 , to an image object being representative of the face of the human subject in the 2d image of fig1 . the custom fitting ensures that the synthesized 3d head object 600 is an approximate representation of the face expression as depicted by the human subject in the 2d image 100 . in addition , the face expression is measured by identifying the difference between the displaced second plurality of mesh reference points and the second plurality of image reference points for obtaining a first profile . the second plurality of mesh reference points is displaced when the 3d mesh is adapted and deformed in accordance to the 2d image 100 . the difference is obtained by comparing the inter - configuration of the displaced second plurality of mesh reference points with the inter - configuration of the second plurality of image reference points . the first profile is then compared against a database that contains reference profiles for obtaining a statistical match . the reference profiles are pre - computed and correspond to representation of different facial expressions of human subjects from the population cross - section . hence , by obtaining the statistical match of the first profile against the reference profiles stored in the database , the face expression of the human subject in the 2d image 100 of fig1 is identifiable . fig8 shows the correct identification of the face expression depicted by the human subject in the 2d image 100 . alternatively , the face expression depicted by the human subject in the 2d image 100 is measurable using inter - configuration between the different facial muscle groups . typical facial muscle groups are defined together with the 3d mesh 200 . each muscle of each muscle group has a reference state and can be deformed away from the reference state , for example by muscle contraction , to provide the 3d mesh 200 with an expression . preferably , the 3d mesh 200 is expressionless when each muscle of the muscle group is in the reference state . thus when the 3d mesh 200 undergoes global and local deformation as shown in fig5 , the respective muscles groups and the reference state of each respective muscle of the muscle groups are deformed and redefined accordingly . the degree of deformation of the respective muscle groups are then obtained by comparing with the same muscle groups in the expressionless state . the degree of deformation of the respective muscle groups is also known as the normalized difference . hence , in this manner , an expression profile corresponding to an inter - configuration of the interactions between the different muscle groups , which represent the face expression of the human subject in the 2d image 100 is obtained . the expression profile is then compared against a database that contains reference expression profiles for obtaining a statistical match . each of the reference expression profiles is pre - computed and corresponds to an inter - configuration of the muscle groups for a particular face expression . together , the reference expression profiles comprise all possible face expressions displayable by human subjects in a population cross - section . the face expression of the human subject in the 2d image 100 is then correctly identified as shown in fig8 when a statistical match is obtained . in the foregoing manner , a method for identifying face expressions of image objects is described according to embodiments of the invention for addressing at least one of the foregoing disadvantages . although a few embodiments of the invention are disclosed , it will be apparent to one skilled in the art in view of this disclosure that numerous changes and / or modification can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	6
in some embodiments , the present invention includes an approach of using embedded software to control the accelerated test environment with an interface to allow a more complex , verification environment , such as a cdv environment , to control the embedded software from a connected workstation . this arrangement brings verification back under the control of a complex verification mechanism . an advantage of this embodiment is to reduce data traffic and to allow more complexity by splitting the verification environment so that high speed sections are provided to the acceleration engine while lower frequency , more complex elements stay on the workstation . the acceleration engine may increase the speed of the emulation of the dut . the acceleration engine running with an emulator may function as an accelerator . other accelerators known to one skilled in the art may also be used in the emulator environment . fig1 illustrates a diagram of an approach for implementing a communication strategy between a verification environment of a workstation and an emulator environment coupled to the workstation having a design under test ( dut ). the verification system 100 includes a verification environment 110 and an emulator 160 . the verification environment 110 includes a transaction based acceleration ( tba ) universal verification component ( uvc ) 120 having a generator 130 for generating testing data for the dut , transaction level model ( tlm ) 140 for providing the data in the proper format , and a monitor 150 for monitoring the progress of the testing . the emulator portion 160 includes the dut 170 and a tlm 180 which allows for communication with the verification environment . for example , the tba uvc 120 may be a component within the workstation . the generator 130 of the tba uvc 120 generates verification data and algorithms for testing the dut . a protocol and / or format may be applied to verification data and algorithms in order to communicate with the emulator . tlm 140 and tlm 180 are designed to provide transmission of the verification data and algorithms in the proper format or protocol at a transaction level in order to allow communication between the verification environment and of the emulator . the tlm may be any number of format as desired by the tester . the tlm 140 is designed to be compatible with a corresponding tlm 180 that recognizes the protocol of the signal being sent . the monitor 150 may monitor the communication that is received at the emulator . fig2 depicts a flow diagram of a process for accelerating an emulator via an interface between a verification environment and a hardware acceleration engine according to an embodiment of the invention . in some embodiments , a dut may be verified without requiring complex processing being performed in the verification environment . most of the verification test generation and processing are being performed in the emulator . in one embodiment , the cpu is a dedicated cpu . in another embodiment , cpu is located in the dut . the cpu may be located and shared in any combination in the emulator . in other embodiments , the cpu may be instantiated within the emulator , such that the embedded software or other portions of the emulator may be configured to function as the cpu . in one embodiment , an interface is provided to an embedded software ( 310 ). the interface allows the verification environment to keep control of the verification testing while reducing the amount of processing the data transmission performed by the verification environment . the interface may be coupled to a monitor , which allows the uvc to monitor data points of functional design activities in the dut within the emulator during verification testing . in another embodiment , the interface does not monitor design changes . the interface communicates directly with the embedded software of the emulator ( 320 ). in some embodiments , the interface may use a dedicated i / o data port and connection to access a “ backdoor ” to be able to communicate with the memory in the dut . in other embodiments , it also is able to directly monitor the verification tests . in further embodiments , it is able to call any subsystems coupled to the emulator &# 39 ; s environment . in 330 , verification of the dut is performed using stimuli communicated directly by the interface . the stimuli may be simple commands that allow the embedded software or other portions of the emulator to generate verification data and testing programs for the dut . the interface provides a conduit for directly communicating with the embedded software and not the design of the dut . in some embodiments , the dut receives the verification tests from the embedded software . using the generated data and / or programs , verification of the dut may be performed . fig3 depicts a flow diagram of a process for providing an interface according to an embodiment of the invention . the interface is provided for the embedded software of the emulator . in one embodiment , 310 of fig2 may be implemented using the process of fig3 . the interface may include the bus functional model ( bfm ) component as part of uvc for controlling the embedded software ( 410 ) directly . the bfm is configured with the desired protocol and format in order to transmit the data ( i . e ., stimuli ) to the embedded software that is understandable by the embedded software . the protocol and format may be of usb , ethernet , etc . the desired protocol and format is based on what one of skilled in the art deems desirable and proper . the bfm of the interface allows for direct function calls inside the embedded software from the verification environment . in one embodiment , the function calls are performed by the uvc . in other embodiments , other portions of the verification environment may perform the function calls . the interface allows the uvc to control the timing , tests , etc . of the emulator in the verification environment and let the emulator perform the heavy processing and high frequency or occurrences of test generation , verification processing , etc . that is costly with respect to bandwidth and cpu usage . the interface may include a monitor as part of an uvc for monitoring the subsystems via embedded software ( 420 ). the monitor is configured to recognize the signals and protocols provided by the embedded software in order to observe any desired information of the dut . in some embodiments , interrupts may be observed and recorded for future analysis . after the bfm and monitor are configured , they are connected to the emulator via a dedicated data i / o ( 430 ). the data i / o port may act as a “ backdoor ” to the emulator . the data i / o provides the required pathway for the uvc to transmit and monitor directly to the embedded software without transmitting to the bfm &# 39 ; s or tlm &# 39 ; s of the emulator . in some embodiments , interrupts that occur during the verification tests are monitored via the data i / o , and this information may assist the further verification of the design . after the direct interface and its components are configured and connected , direct interfacing and communication may occur as depicted in fig4 of the flow diagram 500 . in one embodiment , 320 of fig2 may be implemented using the process of fig4 . multiple unification interfaces may be simultaneously controlled . in one embodiment , a multi - channel sequence for verification is generated ( 510 ). this generation may be generated in the uvc . in other embodiments , this generation may occur in other components in the verification environment . the sequence may include a plurality of stimuli for generating verification tests within the emulator . these stimuli are low frequency when compared to the communication of the verification tests between bfm &# 39 ; s of the verification environment and the emulator . after the sequence is generated , the stimuli of the sequence are sent to the embedded software via the dedicated data i / o ( 520 ). in some embodiments , stimuli include information for the embedded software to generate verification tests in the compatible protocol formatting and to provide to the peripheral bfm where verification testing may occur for the dut . in other embodiments , other type of information , such as video frames or test signal information , may be sent to the embedded software to assist in the generation of verification tests . any type of information may be used as stimuli in order to facilitate the generation of verification test at the embedded software . when the embedded software receives the stimuli , the embedded software utilizing the resources within the emulator will perform the necessary processes to generate the verification tests . in 530 , the function calls are called from the embedded software and not provided to the dut . in other embodiments , the function calls will utilize dedicated processors in the emulator to generate verification tests . in other embodiments , the function calls utilize processors within the dut to assist in generating the verification tests . other function calls may be performed . because the function calls and processing are performed in the emulator , all communications between the function calls and processing occur within the emulator . therefore , the bandwidth required for communications between the verification environment and the emulator is reduced . in 540 , during verification testing of the dut , information regarding the verification tests is recorded and provided back to the uvc via the data i / o for monitoring by the uvc . this information may include interrupts , functional coverage , functional checks and error information . this information may be used to gain a better understanding of the dut and may be used to improve the design . fig5 shows an illustrated embodiment of a diagram of a communication strategy 200 between a verification environment 210 and an emulator 260 . the verification environment 210 includes a software ( sw ) universal verification component ( uvc ) 220 having a generator 230 for generating the stimuli , bfm 240 , and a monitor 250 . the emulator portion 260 includes a design under test ( dut ) 270 , bus bfm , peripheral bfm 283 and a tlm / bfm 280 . the dut 270 includes verification algorithms 265 , a cpu , memory and processors . in one embodiment , the verification environment is located on a host workstation , and the design and test bench is running on the emulator . in other embodiments , the verification environment may be located on a host remote to the dut . in general the verification environment and the emulator may be located in any location as desired . the bfm 240 of the uvc 220 is configured to communicate with the programs and algorithms located in the dut 270 . an i / o data connection is created between the verification environment and the dut such that the dut is used to perform at least a portion of the verification of the design . instead of generating verification programs , verification stimuli may be generated by the generator 230 . for example , verification stimuli may provide instructions for the verification program to provide test vectors to the dut . in some embodiment , the verification stimuli are commands sent by the uvc 220 to the emulator where verification programs are generated in the emulator environment instead of at the workstation . in other embodiments , these stimuli may be sent to the dut where the cpu , memory and other components of the dut are used to generate the verification processes called upon by the stimuli . these verification processes are then sent to the peripheral bfm 283 , which may call and / or be combined with information such as images stored in the data memory 295 to be sent into the dut for verification . in other words , process intensive operations are being performed in the emulator ; thereby , avoiding the bandwidth limitations of communication between the verification environment and the emulator . the frequency and amount of information being transmitted between the verification environment and emulator is less because the stimuli takes less bandwidth and does not need to be transmitted as often compared to verification tests . the programs and algorithms 265 may be stored in the memory of the dut 270 . the stimuli from the bfm 240 are transmitted to the memory where verification test are generated using the stimuli from the uvc 220 . in some embodiments , the majority of the generating and processing of the verification tests are done by the cpu and other components of the dut . the resulting verification test is sent to the peripheral bfm . in other embodiments , the verification test is sent to the bus bfm 286 or any other bfm 280 as required to perform the desired verification test . the bfm 283 and bfm 286 are connected to an interface layer 290 in order to communicate with data memory 295 . the interface layer 290 is a layer of the emulator that allows the information in the data memory to be communicated to the dut . in some embodiments , during verification testing , additional information such as testing data patterns or images may be provided by the information stored in the data memory 295 to the dut via the interface layer 290 . in other embodiments , the verification test with the testing information from the data memory 295 may then be sent to the dut for verification testing via the interface layer 290 . fig6 illustrates another embodiment where the strategy includes communicating with the embedded software in the emulator that is located outside of the dut . for example , this embodiment may include a diagram 600 of a communication between a verification environment 610 and an emulator 660 . dedicated memory 695 and cpu 690 may be utilized by the emulator 660 to perform verification test . the communication strategy 600 includes the verification environment 610 and the emulator 660 . the verification environment 610 includes an uvc 620 , which includes a generator 630 , bfm 640 , monitor 650 . the emulator 660 includes a dut 670 , a first peripheral bfm and a second peripheral bfm 685 , cpu 690 , memory 695 and embedded software 665 . in one embodiment , the uvc 620 functions as the interface for access to the emulator 660 . the generator 630 of the uvc 620 generates stimuli for the embedded software . in some embodiments , the stimuli are simple commands for instructing the embedded software to generate verification vectors and / or other tests . the bfm 640 formats the stimuli in the proper format and protocol for communicating with the embedded software 665 . the embedded software 665 , which may be located in dedicated memory 695 , processes the stimuli using the assistance of the dedicated cpu 690 . in some embodiments , a stimulus for sending a verification test to the first peripheral bfm 680 is sent to the embedded software 665 . after the cpu 695 generates the verification tests , the first peripheral bfm 680 properly formats the test signal in the proper protocol and is provided to the dut 670 . in other embodiments , a stimulus for sending a verification test to the second peripheral bfm 685 is sent to the embedded software 665 . after the cpu 695 generates the verification tests , the second peripheral bfm 685 properly formats the test signal in the proper protocol and is then provided to the dut 670 . in some embodiments , verification test information , such as interrupts , may be observed and recorded by the monitor 650 . in some embodiments , the monitor may be monitoring a general - purpose input / output ( gpio ) bfm . the information monitored at the gpio bfm may be interrupts and other verification information that passes through this bfm . in some embodiments , if the verification is being performed to test the ethernet mac , the bfm may be an ethernet bfm . the packets transmitted to and from the dut may be ethernet packets . in some embodiments , the bfm may be an universal serial bus ( usb ) bfm . usb protocol will be used for this situation . other formats and protocols of bfm &# 39 ; s may be used to ensure compatibility of the test signals . in other embodiments , the dut may be a cell phone design . blocks in the dut may include designs for the camera , modulator , demodulator , etc . the stimuli may cause the embedded software to generate a signal to perform verification testing on the simulated design of possible real world signals . a design , like a cell phone , may include a large number of i / o buses . in some embodiments , multiple processors may be used . the plurality of processors may be connected in parallel and / or in series . the embodiments may be used for any type of design activities , including hardware design , software design , and designs including both hardware and software such as hardware / software co - design activities . for example , some embodiments of the invention may be applied to the design of embedded software and systems , which includes graphical processors , central processing units , computers , as well as any other systems that include embedded software . the execution of the sequences of instructions required to practice the embodiments may be performed by a computer system 1000 as shown in fig7 . in an embodiment , execution of the sequences of instructions is performed by a single computer system 1000 . according to other embodiments , two or more computer systems 1000 coupled by a communication link 1015 may perform the sequence of instructions in coordination with one another . although a description of only one computer system 1000 will be presented below , however , it should be understood that any number of computer systems 1000 may be employed to practice the embodiments . fig7 depicts a computerized system on which a method for verification of the dut based on using the direct interface between the verification environment and emulator can be implemented . the execution of the sequences of instructions required to practice the embodiments may be performed by a computer system 1000 as shown in fig7 . in an embodiment , execution of the sequences of instructions is performed by a single computer system 1000 . according to other embodiments , two or more computer systems 1000 coupled by a communication link 1015 may perform the sequence of instructions in coordination with one another . although a description of only one computer system 1000 will be presented below , however , it should be understood that any number of computer systems 1000 may be employed to practice the embodiments . a computer system 1000 according to an embodiment will now be described with reference to fig7 , which is a block diagram of the functional components of a computer system 1000 . as used herein , the term computer system 1000 is broadly used to describe any computing device that can store and independently run one or more programs . the computer system 1000 includes a bus 1006 or other communication mechanism for communicating instructions , messages and data , collectively , information , and one or more processors 1007 coupled with the bus 1006 for processing information . computer system 1000 also includes a main memory 1008 , such as a random access memory ( ram ) or other dynamic storage device , coupled to the bus 1006 for storing dynamic data and instructions to be executed by the processor ( s ) 1007 . the main memory 1008 also may be used for storing temporary data , i . e ., variables , or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by the processor ( s ) 1007 . the computer system 1000 may further include a read only memory ( rom ) 1009 or other static storage device coupled to the bus 1006 for storing static data and instructions for the processor ( s ) 1007 . a storage device 1010 , such as a magnetic disk or optical disk , may also be provided and coupled to the bus 1006 for storing data and instructions for the processor ( s ) 1007 . the computer system 1000 may be coupled via the bus 1006 to a display device 1011 , such as , but not limited to , a cathode ray tube ( crt ), for displaying information to a user . an input device 1012 , e . g ., alphanumeric and other keys , is coupled to the bus 1006 for communicating information and command selections to the processor ( s ) 1007 . each computer system 1000 may include a communication interface 1014 coupled to the bus 1006 . the communication interface 1014 provides two - way communication between computer systems 1000 . the communication interface 1014 of a respective computer system 1000 transmits and receives electrical , electromagnetic or optical signals , which include data streams representing various types of signal information , e . g ., instructions , messages and data . a communication link 1015 links one computer system 1000 with another computer system 1000 . for example , the communication link 1015 may be a lan , in which case the communication interface 1014 may be a lan card , or the communication link 1015 may be a pstn , in which case the communication interface 1014 may be an integrated services digital network ( isdn ) card or a modem , or the communication link 1015 may be the internet , in which case the communication interface 1014 may be a dial - up , cable or wireless modem . a computer system 1000 may transmit and receive messages , data , and instructions , including program ( i . e ., application or code ) through its respective communication link 1015 and communication interface 1014 , received program code may be executed by the respective processor ( s ) 1007 as it is received , and / or stored in the storage device 1010 , or other associated non - volatile media , for later execution . in an embodiment , the computer system 1000 operates in conjunction with a data storage system 1031 , e . g ., a data storage system 1031 that contains a database 1032 that is readily accessible by the computer system 1000 . the computer system 1000 communicates with the data storage system 1031 through a data interface 1033 . a data interface 1033 , which is coupled to the bus 1006 , transmits and receives electrical , electromagnetic or optical signals that include data streams representing various types of signal information , e . g ., instructions , messages and data . in other embodiments , the functions of the data interface 1033 may be performed by the communication interface 1014 . according to one embodiment , an individual computer system 1000 performs specific operations by their respective processor ( s ) 1007 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in the main memory 1008 . such instructions may be read into the main memory 1008 from another computer - usable medium , such as the rom 1009 or the storage device 1010 . execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the main memory 1008 causes the processor ( s ) 1007 to perform the processes described herein . in alternative embodiments , hard - wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions . thus , embodiments are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and / or software . the term “ computer - usable medium ,” as used herein , refers to any medium that provides information or is usable by the processor ( s ) 1007 . such a medium may take many forms , including , but not limited to , non - volatile and volatile . non - volatile media , i . e ., media that can retain information in the absence of power , includes the rom 1009 , cd rom , magnetic tape , and magnetic discs . volatile media , i . e ., media that cannot retain information in the absence of power , includes the main memory 1008 . in the foregoing specification , the embodiments have been described with reference to specific elements thereof . it will , however , be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the embodiments . for example , the reader is to understand that the specific ordering and combination of process actions shown in the process flow diagrams described herein is merely illustrative , and that using different or additional process actions , or a different combination or ordering of process actions can be used to enact the embodiments . the specification and drawings are , accordingly , to be regarded in an illustrative rather than restrictive sense .	6
in the following discussion of an illustrative embodiment , the words “ signal ” and “ image ” are used interchangeably to refer to both one , two , and even beyond two dimensions of digital signal . examples will routinely switch back and forth between a one dimensional audio - type digital signal and a two dimensional image - type digital signal . in order to fully describe the details of an illustrative embodiment of the invention , it is necessary first to describe the basic properties of a digital signal . fig1 shows a classic representation of a one dimensional digital signal . the x - axis defines the index numbers of sequence of digital “ samples ,” and the y - axis is the instantaneous value of the signal at that sample , being constrained to exist only at a finite number of levels defined as the “ binary depth ” of a digital sample . the example depicted in fig1 has the value of 2 to the fourth power , or “ 4 bits ,” giving 16 allowed states of the sample value . for audio information such as sound waves , it is commonly accepted that the digitization process discretizes a continuous phenomena both in the time domain and in the signal level domain . as such , the process of digitization itself introduces a fundamental error source , in that it cannot record detail smaller than the discretization interval in either domain . the industry has referred to this , among other ways , as “ aliasing ” in the time domain , and “ quantization noise ” in the signal level domain . thus , there will always be a basic error floor of a digital signal . pure quantization noise , measured in a root mean square sense , is theoretically known to have the value of one over the square root of twelve , or about 0 . 29 dn , where dn stands for ‘ digital number ’ or the finest unit increment of the signal level . for example , a perfect 12 - bit digitizer will have 4096 allowed dn with an innate root mean square noise floor of ˜ 0 . 29 dn . all known physical measurement processes add additional noise to the transformation of a continuous signal into the digital form . the quantization noise typically adds in quadrature ( square root of the mean squares ) to the “ analog noise ” of the measurement process , as it is sometimes referred to . with almost all commercial and technical processes , the use of the decibel scale is used as a measure of signal and noise in a given recording medium . the expression “ signal - to - noise ratio ” is generally used , as it will be in this disclosure . as an example , this disclosure refers to signal to noise ratios in terms of signal power and noise power , thus 20 db represents a 10 times increase in signal amplitude . in summary , the presently preferred embodiments of the invention embed an n - bit value onto an entire signal through the addition of a very low amplitude encodation signal which has the look of pure noise . n is usually at least 8 and is capped on the higher end by ultimate signal - to - noise considerations and “ bit error ” in retrieving and decoding the n - bit value . as a practical matter , n is chosen based on application specific considerations , such as the number of unique different “ signatures ” that are desired . to illustrate , if n = 128 , then the number of unique digital signatures is in excess of 10 { circumflex over ( )}{ circumflex over ( )} 38 ( 2 { circumflex over ( )}{ circumflex over ( )} 128 ). this number is believed to be more than adequate to both identify the material with sufficient statistical certainty and to index exact sale and distribution information . the amplitude or power of this added signal is determined by the aesthetic and informational considerations of each and every application using the present methodology . for instance , non - professional video can stand to have a higher embedded signal level without becoming noticeable to the average human eye , while high precision audio may only be able to accept a relatively small signal level lest the human ear perceive an objectionable increase in “ hiss .” these statements are generalities and each application has its own set of criteria in choosing the signal level of the embedded identification signal . the higher the level of embedded signal , the more corrupted a copy can be and still be identified . on the other hand , the higher the level of embedded signal , the more objectionable the perceived noise might be , potentially impacting the value of the distributed material . to illustrate the range of different applications to which the principles of the present invention can be applied , the present specification details two different systems . the first ( termed , for lack of a better name , a “ batch encoding ” system ), applies identification coding to an existing data signal . the second ( termed , for lack of a better name , a “ real time encoding ” system ), applies identification coding to a signal as it is produced . those skilled in the art will recognize that the principles of the present invention can be applied in a number of other contexts in addition to these particularly described . the discussions of these two systems can be read in either order . some readers may find the latter more intuitive than the former ; for others the contrary may be true . the following discussion of a first class of embodiments is best prefaced by a section defining relevant terms : the original signal refers to either the original digital signal or the high quality digitized copy of a non - digital original . the n - bit identification word refers to a unique identification binary value , typically having n range anywhere from 8 to 128 , which is the identification code ultimately placed onto the original signal via the disclosed transformation process . in the illustrated embodiment , each n - bit identification word begins with the sequence of values ‘ 0101 ,’ which is used to determine an optimization of the signal - to - noise ratio in the identification procedure of a suspect signal ( see definition below ). the m &# 39 ; th bit value of the n - bit identification word is either a zero or one corresponding to the value of the m &# 39 ; th place , reading left to right , of the n - bit word . e . g ., the first ( m = 1 ) bit value of the n = 8 identification word 01110100 is the value ‘ 0 ;’ the second bit value of this identification word is ‘ 1 ’, etc . the m &# 39 ; th individual embedded code signal refers to a signal which has dimensions and extent precisely equal to the original signal ( e . g . both are a 512 by 512 digital image ), and which is ( in the illustrated embodiment ) an independent pseudo - random sequence of digital values . “ pseudo ” pays homage to the difficulty in philosophically defining pure randomness , and also indicates that there are various acceptable ways of generating the “ random ” signal . there will be exactly n individual embedded code signals associated with any given original signal . the acceptable perceived noise level refers to an application - specific determination of how much “ extra noise ,” i . e . amplitude of the composite embedded code signal described next , can be added to the original signal and still have an acceptable signal to sell or otherwise distribute . this disclosure uses a 1 db increase in noise as a typical value which might be acceptable , but this is quite arbitrary . the composite embedded code signal refers to the signal which has dimensions and extent precisely equal to the original signal , ( e . g . both are a 512 by 512 digital image ), and which contains the addition and appropriate attenuation of the n individual embedded code signals . the individual embedded signals are generated on an arbitrary scale , whereas the amplitude of the composite signal must not exceed the pre - set acceptable perceived noise level , hence the need for “ attenuation ” of the n added individual code signals . the distributable signal refers to the nearly similar copy of the original signal , consisting of the original signal plus the composite embedded code signal . this is the signal which is distributed to the outside community , having only slightly higher but acceptable “ noise properties ” than the original . a suspect signal refers to a signal which has the general appearance of the original and distributed signal and whose potential identification match to the original is being questioned . the suspect signal is then analyzed to see if it matches the n - bit identification word . the detailed methodology of this first embodiment begins by stating that the n - bit identification word is encoded onto the original signal by having each of the m bit values multiply their corresponding individual embedded code signals , the resultant being accumulated in the composite signal , the fully summed composite signal then being attenuated down to the acceptable perceived noise amplitude , and the resultant composite signal added to the original to become the distributable signal . the original signal , the n - bit identification word , and all n individual embedded code signals are then stored away in a secured place . a suspect signal is then found . this signal may have undergone multiple copies , compressions and decompressions , resamplings onto different spaced digital signals , transfers from digital to analog back to digital media , or any combination of these items . if the signal still appears similar to the original , i . e . its innate quality is not thoroughly destroyed by all of these transformations and noise additions , then depending on the signal to noise properties of the embedded signal , the identification process should function to some objective degree of statistical confidence . the extent of corruption of the suspect signal and the original acceptable perceived noise level are two key parameters in determining an expected confidence level of identification . the identification process on the suspected signal begins by resampling and aligning the suspected signal onto the digital format and extent of the original signal . thus , if an image has been reduced by a factor of two , it needs to be digitally enlarged by that same factor . likewise , if a piece of music has been “ cut out ,” but may still have the same sampling rate as the original , it is necessary to register this cut - out piece to the original , typically done by performing a local digital cross - correlation of the two signals ( a common digital operation ), finding at what delay value the correlation peaks , then using this found delay value to register the cut piece to a segment of the original . once the suspect signal has been sample - spacing matched and registered to the original , the signal levels of the suspect signal should be matched in an rms sense to the signal level of the original . this can be done via a search on the parameters of offset , amplification , and gamma being optimized by using the minimum of the mean squared error between the two signals as a function of the three parameters . we can call the suspect signal normalized and registered at this point , or just normalized for convenience . the newly matched pair then has the original signal subtracted from the normalized suspect signal to produce a difference signal . the difference signal is then cross - correlated with each of the n individual embedded code signals and the peak cross - correlation value recorded . the first four bit code (‘ 0101 ’) is used as a calibrator both on the mean values of the zero value and the one value , and on further registration of the two signals if a fmer signal to noise ratio is desired ( i . e ., the optimal separation of the 0101 signal will indicate an optimal registration of the two signals and will also indicate the probable existence of the n - bit identification signal being present .) the resulting peak cross - correlation values will form a noisy series of floating point numbers which can be transformed into 0 &# 39 ; s and 1 &# 39 ; s by their proximity to the mean values of 0 and 1 found by the 0101 calibration sequence . if the suspect signal has indeed been derived from the original , the identification number resulting from the above process will match the n - bit identification word of the original , bearing in mind either predicted or unknown “ bit error ” statistics . signal - to - noise considerations will determine if there will be some kind of “ bit error ” in the identification process , leading to a form of x % probability of identification where x might be desired to be 99 . 9 % or whatever . if the suspect copy is indeed not a copy of the original , an essentially random sequence of 0 &# 39 ; s and 1 &# 39 ; s will be produced , as well as an apparent lack of separation of the resultant values . this is to say , if the resultant values are plotted on a histogram , the existence of the n - bit identification signal will exhibit strong bi - level characteristics , whereas the non - existence of the code , or the existence of a different code of a different original , will exhibit a type of random gaussian - like distribution . this histogram separation alone should be sufficient for an identification , but it is even stronger proof of identification when an exact binary sequence can be objectively reproduced . imagine that we have taken a valuable picture of two heads of state at a cocktail party , pictures which are sure to earn some reasonable fee in the commercial market . we desire to sell this picture and ensure that it is not used in an unauthorized or uncompensated manner . this and the following steps are summarized in fig2 . assume the picture is transformed into a positive color print . we first scan this into a digitized form via a normal high quality black and white scanner with a typical photometric spectral response curve . ( it is possible to get better ultimate signal to noise ratios by scanning in each of the three primary colors of the color image , but this nuance is not central to describing the basic process .). let us assume that the scanned image now becomes a 4000 by 4000 pixel monochrome digital image with a grey scale accuracy defined by 12 - bit grey values or 4096 allowed levels . we will call this the “ original digital image ” realizing that this is the same as our “ original signal ” in the above definitions . during the scanning process we have arbitrarily set absolute black to correspond to digital value ‘ 30 ’. we estimate that there is a basic 2 digital number root mean square noise existing on the original digital image , plus a theoretical noise ( known in the industry as “ shot noise ”) of the square root of the brightness value of any given pixel . in formula , we have : here , n and m are simple indexing values on rows and columns of the image ranging from 0 to 3999 . sqrt is the square root . v is the dn of a given indexed pixel on the original digital image . the & lt ; & gt ; brackets around the rms noise merely indicates that this is an expected average value , where it is clear that each and every pixel will have a random error individually . thus , for a pixel value having 1200 as a digital number or “ brightness value ”, we find that its expected rms noise value is sqrt ( 1204 )= 34 . 70 , which is quite close to 34 . 64 , the square root of 1200 . we furthermore realize that the square root of the innate brightness value of a pixel is not precisely what the eye perceives as a minimum objectionable noise , thus we come up with the formula : & lt ; rms addable noise n , m & gt ;= x * sqrt ( 4 +( v n , m − 30 ){ circumflex over ( )} y ) ( 2 ) where x and y have been added as empirical parameters which we will adjust , and “ addable ” noise refers to our acceptable perceived noise level from the definitions above . we now intend to experiment with what exact value of x and y we can choose , but we will do so at the same time that we are performing the next steps in the process . the next step in our process is to choose n of our n - bit identification word . we decide that a 16 bit main identification value with its 65536 possible values will be sufficiently large to identify the image as ours , and that we will be directly selling no more than 128 copies of the image which we wish to track , giving 7 bits plus an eighth bit for an odd / even adding of the first 7 bits ( i . e . an error checking bit on the first seven ). the total bits required now are at 4 bits for the 0101 calibration sequence , 16 for the main identification , 8 for the version , and we now throw in another 4 as a further error checking value on the first 28 bits , giving 32 bits as n . the final 4 bits can use one of many industry standard error checking methods to choose its four values . we now randomly determine the 16 bit main identification number , finding for example , 1101 0001 1001 1110 ; our first versions of the original sold will have all 0 &# 39 ; s as the version identifier , and the error checking bits will fall out where they may . we now have our unique 32 bit identification word which we will embed on the original digital image . to do this , we generate 32 independent random 4000 by 4000 encoding images for each bit of our 32 bit identification word . the manner of generating these random images is revealing . there are numerous ways to generate these . by far the simplest is to turn up the gain on the same scanner that was used to scan in the original photograph , only this time placing a pure black image as the input , then scanning this 32 times . the only drawback to this technique is that it does require a large amount of memory and that “ fixed pattern ” noise will be part of each independent “ noise image .” but , the fixed pattern noise can be removed via normal “ dark frame ” subtraction techniques . assume that we set the absolute black average value at digital number ‘ 100 ,’ and that rather than finding a 2 dn rms noise as we did in the normal gain setting , we now find an rms noise of 10 dn about each and every pixel &# 39 ; s mean value . we next apply a mid - spatial - frequency bandpass filter ( spatial convolution ) to each and every independent random image , essentially removing the very high and the very low spatial frequencies from them . we remove the very low frequencies because simple real - world error sources like geometrical warping , splotches on scanners , mis - registrations , and the like will exhibit themselves most at lower frequencies also , and so we want to concentrate our identification signal at higher spatial frequencies in order to avoid these types of corruptions . likewise , we remove the higher frequencies because multiple generation copies of a given image , as well as compression - decompression transformations , tend to wipe out higher frequencies anyway , so there is no point in placing too much identification signal into these frequencies if they will be the ones most prone to being attenuated . therefore , our new filtered independent noise images will be dominated by mid - spatial frequencies . on a practical note , since we are using 12 - bit values on our scanner and we have removed the dc value effectively and our new rms noise will be slightly less than 10 digital numbers , it is useful to boil this down to a 6 - bit value ranging from − 32 through 0 to 31 as the resultant random image . next we add all of the random images together which have a ‘ 1 ’ in their corresponding bit value of the 32 - bit identification word , accumulating the result in a 16 - bit signed integer image . this is the unattenuated and un - scaled version of the composite embedded signal . next we experiment visually with adding the composite embedded signal to the original digital image , through varying the x and y parameters of equation 2 . in formula , we visually iterate to both maximize x and to find the appropriate y in the following : v dist ; n , m = v orig ; n , m + v comp ; n , m * x * sqrt ( 4 + v orig ; n , m { circumflex over ( )} y ) ( 3 ) where dist refers to the candidate distributable image , i . e . we are visually iterating to find what x and y will give us an acceptable image ; orig refers to the pixel value of the original image ; and comp refers to the pixel value of the composite image . the n &# 39 ; s and m &# 39 ; s still index rows and columns of the image and indicate that this operation is done on all 4000 by 4000 pixels . the symbol v is the dn of a given pixel and a given image . as an arbitrary assumption , now , we assume that our visual experimentation has found that the value of x = 0 . 025 and y = 0 . 6 are acceptable values when comparing the original image with the candidate distributable image . this is to say , the distributable image with the “ extra noise ” is acceptably close to the original in an aesthetic sense . note that since our individual random images had a random rms noise value around 10 dn , and that adding approximately 16 of these images together will increase the composite noise to around 40 dn , the x multiplication value of 0 . 025 will bring the added rms noise back to around 1 dn , or half the amplitude of our innate noise on the original . this is roughly a 1 db gain in noise at the dark pixel values and correspondingly more at the brighter values modified by the y value of 0 . 6 . so with these two values of x and y , we now have constructed our first versions of a distributable copy of the original . other versions will merely create a new composite signal and possibly change the x slightly if deemed necessary . we now lock up the original digital image along with the 32 - bit identification word for each version , and the 32 independent random 4 - bit images , waiting for our first case of a suspected piracy of our original . storage wise , this is about 14 megabytes for the original image and 32 * 0 . 5 bytes * 16 million =˜ 256 megabytes for the random individual encoded images . this is quite acceptable for a single valuable image . some storage economy can be gained by simple lossless compression . we sell our image and several months later find our two heads of state in the exact poses we sold them in , seemingly cut and lifted out of our image and placed into another stylized background scene . this new “ suspect ” image is being printed in 100 , 000 copies of a given magazine issue , let us say . we now go about determining if a portion of our original image has indeed been used in an unauthorized manner . fig3 summarizes the details . the first step is to take an issue of the magazine , cut out the page with the image on it , then carefully but not too carefully cut out the two figures from the background image using ordinary scissors . if possible , we will cut out only one connected piece rather than the two figures separately . we paste this onto a black background and scan this into a digital form . next we electronically flag or mask out the black background , which is easy to do by visual inspection . we now procure the original digital image from our secured place along with the 32 - bit identification word and the 32 individual embedded images . we place the original digital image onto our computer screen using standard image manipulation software , and we roughly cut along the same borders as our masked area of the suspect image , masking this image at the same time in roughly the same manner . the word ‘ roughly ’ is used since an exact cutting is not needed , it merely aids the identification statistics to get it reasonably close . next we rescale the masked suspect image to roughly match the size of our masked original digital image , that is , we digitally scale up or down the suspect image and roughly overlay it on the original image . once we have performed this rough registration , we then throw the two images into an automated scaling and registration program . the program performs a search on the three parameters of x position , y position , and spatial scale , with the figure of merit being the mean squared error between the two images given any given scale variable and x and y offset . this is a fairly standard image processing methodology . typically this would be done using generally smooth interpolation techniques and done to sub - pixel accuracy . the search method can be one of many , where the simplex method is a typical one . once the optimal scaling and x - y position variables are found , next comes another search on optimizing the black level , brightness gain , and gamma of the two images . again , the figure of merit to be used is mean squared error , and again the simplex or other search methodologies can be used to optimize the three variables . after these three variables are optimized , we apply their corrections to the suspect image and align it to exactly the pixel spacing and masking of the original digital image and its mask . we can now call this the standard mask . the next step is to subtract the original digital image from the newly normalized suspect image only within the standard mask region . this new image is called the difference image . then we step through all 32 individual random embedded images , doing a local cross - correlation between the masked difference image and the masked individual embedded image . ‘ local ’ refers to the idea that one need only start correlating over an offset region of +/− 1 pixels of offset between the nominal registration points of the two images found during the search procedures above . the peak correlation should be very close to the nominal registration point of 0 , 0 offset , and we can add the 3 by 3 correlation values together to give one grand correlation value for each of the 32 individual bits of our 32 - bit identification word . after doing this for all 32 bit places and their corresponding random images , we have a quasi - floating point sequence of 32 values . the first four values represent our calibration signal of 0101 . we now take the mean of the first and third floating point value and call this floating point value ‘ 0 ,’ and we take the mean of the second and the fourth value and call this floating point value ‘ 1 .’ we then step through all remaining 28 bit values and assign either a ‘ 0 ’ or a ‘ 1 ’ based simply on which mean value they are closer to . stated simply , if the suspect image is indeed a copy of our original , the embedded 32 - bit resulting code should match that of our records , and if it is not a copy , we should get general randomness . the third and the fourth possibilities of 3 ) is a copy but doesn &# 39 ; t match identification number and 4 ) isn &# 39 ; t a copy but does match are , in the case of 3 ), possible if the signal to noise ratio of the process has plummeted , i . e . the ‘ suspect image ’ is truly a very poor copy of the original , and in the case of 4 ) is basically one chance in four billion since we were using a 32 - bit identification number . if we are truly worried about 4 ), we can just have a second independent lab perform their own tests on a different issue of the same magazine . finally , checking the error - check bits against what the values give is one final and possibly overkill check on the whole process . in situations where signal to noise is a possible problem , these error checking bits might be eliminated without too much harm . now that a full description of the first embodiment has been described via a detailed example , it is appropriate to point out the rationale of some of the process steps and their benefits . the ultimate benefits of the foregoing process are that obtaining an identification number is fully independent of the manners and methods of preparing the difference image . that is to say , the manners of preparing the difference image , such as cutting , registering , scaling , etcetera , cannot increase the odds of finding an identification number when none exists ; it only helps the signal - to - noise ratio of the identification process when a true identification number is present . methods of preparing images for identification can be different from each other even , providing the possibility for multiple independent methodologies for making a match . the ability to obtain a match even on sub - sets of the original signal or image is a key point in today &# 39 ; s information - rich world . cutting and pasting both images and sound clips is becoming more common , allowing such an embodiment to be used in detecting a copy even when original material has been thus corrupted . finally , the signal to noise ratio of matching should begin to become difficult only when the copy material itself has been significantly altered either by noise or by significant distortion ; both of these also will affect that copy &# 39 ; s commercial value , so that trying to thwart the system can only be done at the expense of a huge decrease in commercial value . an early conception of this invention was the case where only a single “ snowy image ” or random signal was added to an original image , i . e . the case where n = 1 . “ decoding ” this signal would involve a subsequent mathematical analysis using ( generally statistical ) algorithms to make a judgment on the presence or absence of this signal . the reason this approach was abandoned as the preferred embodiment was that there was an inherent gray area in the certainty of detecting the presence or absence of the signal . by moving onward to a multitude of bit planes , i . e . n & gt ; 1 , combined with simple pre - defined algorithms prescribing the manner of choosing between a “ 0 ” and a “ 1 ”, the invention moved the certainty question from the realm of expert statistical analysis into the realm of guessing a random binary event such as a coin flip . this is seen as a powerful feature relative to the intuitive acceptance of this invention in both the courtroom and the marketplace . the analogy which summarizes the inventor &# 39 ; s thoughts on this whole question is as follows : the search for a single identification signal amounts to calling a coin flip only once , and relying on arcane experts to make the call ; whereas the n & gt ; 1 preferred embodiment of this invention relies on the broadly intuitive principle of correctly calling a coin flip n times in a row . this situation is greatly exacerbated , i . e . the problems of “ interpretation ” of the presence of a single signal , when images and sound clips get smaller and smaller in extent . another important reason that the n & gt ; 1 case is the preferred embodiment over the n = 1 embodiment is that in the n = 1 case , the manner in which a suspect image is prepared and manipulated has a direct bearing on the likelihood of making a positive identification . thus , the manner with which an expert makes an identification determination becomes an integral part of that determination . the existence of a multitude of mathematical and statistical approaches to making this determination leave open the possibility that some tests might make positive identifications while others might make negative determinations , inviting further arcane debate about the relative merits of the various identification approaches . the n & gt ; 1 preferred embodiment of this invention avoids this further gray area by presenting a method where no amount of pre - processing of a signal — other than pre - processing which surreptitiously uses knowledge of the private code signals — can increase the likelihood of “ calling the coin flip n times in a row .” the fullest expression of the present system will come when it becomes an industry standard and numerous independent groups set up with their own means or ‘ in - house ’ brand of applying embedded identification numbers and in their decipherment . numerous independent group identification will further enhance the ultimate objectivity of the method , thereby enhancing its appeal as an industry standard . use of true polarity in creating the composite embedded code signal the foregoing discussion made use of the 0 and 1 formalism of binary technology to accomplish its ends . specifically , the 0 &# 39 ; s and 1 &# 39 ; s of the n - bit identification word directly multiplied their corresponding individual embedded code signal to form the composite embedded code signal ( step 8 , fig2 ). this approach certainly has its conceptual simplicity , but the multiplication of an embedded code signal by 0 along with the storage of that embedded code contains a kind of inefficiency . it is preferred to maintain the formalism of the 0 and 1 nature of the n - bit identification word , but to have the 0 &# 39 ; s of the word induce a subtraction of their corresponding embedded code signal . thus , in step 8 of fig2 rather than only ‘ adding ’ the individual embedded code signals which correspond to a ‘ 1 ’ in the n - bit identification word , we will also ‘ subtract ’ the individual embedded code signals which correspond to a ‘ 0 ’ in the n - bit identification word . at first glance this seems to add more apparent noise to the final composite signal . but it also increases the energy - wise separation of the 0 &# 39 ; s from the 1 &# 39 ; s , and thus the ‘ gain ’ which is applied in step 10 , fig2 can be correspondingly lower . we can refer to this improvement as the use of true polarity . the main advantage of this improvement can largely be summarized as ‘ informational efficiency .’ the foregoing discussion contemplates the use of generally random noise - like signals as the individual embedded code signals . this is perhaps the simplest form of signal to generate . however , there is a form of informational optimization which can be applied to the set of the individual embedded signals , which the applicant describes under the rubric ‘ perceptual orthogonality .’ this term is loosely based on the mathematical concept of the orthogonality of vectors , with the current additional requirement that this orthogonality should maximize the signal energy of the identification information while maintaining it below some perceptibility threshold . put another way , the embedded code signals need not necessarily be random in nature . use and improvements of the first embodiment in the field of emulsion - based photography the foregoing discussion outlined techniques that are applicable to photographic materials . the following section explores the details of this area further and discloses certain improvements which lend themselves to a broad range of applications . the first area to be discussed involves the pre - application or pre - exposing of a serial number onto traditional photographic products , such as negative film , print paper , transparencies , etc . in general , this is a way to embed a priori unique serial numbers ( and by implication , ownership and tracking information ) into photographic material . the serial numbers themselves would be a permanent part of the normally exposed picture , as opposed to being relegated to the margins or stamped on the back of a printed photograph , which all require separate locations and separate methods of copying . the ‘ serial number ’ as it is called here is generally synonymous with the n - bit identification word , only now we are using a more common industrial terminology . in fig2 step 11 , the disclosure calls for the storage of the “ original [ image ]” along with code images . then in fig3 step 9 , it directs that the original be subtracted from the suspect image , thereby leaving the possible identification codes plus whatever noise and corruption has accumulated . therefore , the previous disclosure made the tacit assumption that there exists an original without the composite embedded signals . now in the case of selling print paper and other duplication film products , this will still be the case , i . e ., an “ original ” without the embedded codes will indeed exist and the basic methodology of the first embodiment can be employed . the original film serves perfectly well as an ‘ unencoded original .’ however , in the case where pre - exposed negative film is used , the composite embedded signal pre - exists on the original film and thus there will never be an “ original ” separate from the pre - embedded signal . it is this latter case , therefore , which will be examined a bit more closely , along with observations on how to best use the principles discussed above ( the former cases adhering to the previously outlined methods ). the clearest point of departure for the case of pre - numbered negative film , i . e . negative film which has had each and every frame pre - exposed with a very faint and unique composite embedded signal , comes at step 9 of fig3 as previously noted . there are certainly other differences as well , but they are mostly logistical in nature , such as how and when to embed the signals on the film , how to store the code numbers and serial number , etc . obviously the pre - exposing of film would involve a major change to the general mass production process of creating and packaging film . fig4 has a schematic outlining one potential post - hoc mechanism for pre - exposing film . ‘ post - hoc ’ refers to applying a process after the full common manufacturing process of film has already taken place . eventually , economies of scale may dictate placing this pre - exposing process directly into the chain of manufacturing film . depicted in fig4 is what is commonly known as a film writing system . the computer , 106 , displays the composite signal produced in step 8 , fig2 on its phosphor screen . a given frame of film is then exposed by imaging this phosphor screen , where the exposure level is generally very faint , i . e . generally imperceptible . clearly , the marketplace will set its own demands on how faint this should be , that is , the level of added ‘ graininess ’ as practitioners would put it . each frame of film is sequentially exposed , where in general the composite image displayed on the crt 102 is changed for each and every frame , thereby giving each frame of film a different serial number . the transfer lens 104 highlights the focal conjugate planes of a film frame and the crt face . getting back to the applying the principles of the foregoing embodiment in the case of pre - exposed negative film . . . at step 9 , fig3 if we were to subtract the “ original ” with its embedded code , we would obviously be “ erasing ” the code as well since the code is an integral part of the original . fortunately , remedies do exist and identifications can still be made . however , it will be a challenge to artisans who refine this embodiment to have the signal to noise ratio of the identification process in the pre - exposed negative case approach the signal to noise ratio of the case where the un - encoded original exists . a succinct definition of the problem is in order at this point . given a suspect picture ( signal ), find the embedded identification code if a code exists at al . the problem reduces to one of finding the amplitude of each and every individual embedded code signal within the suspect picture , not only within the context of noise and corruption as was previously explained , but now also within the context of the coupling between a captured image and the codes . ‘ coupling ’ here refers to the idea that the captured image “ randomly biases ” the cross - correlation . so , bearing in mind this additional item of signal coupling , the identification process now estimates the signal amplitude of each and every individual embedded code signal ( as opposed to taking the cross - correlation result of step 12 , fig3 ). if our identification signal exists in the suspect picture , the amplitudes thus found will split into a polarity with positive amplitudes being assigned a ‘ 1 ’ and negative amplitudes being assigned a ‘ 0 ’. our unique identification code manifests itself . if , on the other hand , no such identification code exists or it is someone else &# 39 ; s code , then a random gaussian - like distribution of amplitudes is found with a random hash of values . it remains to provide a few more details on how the amplitudes of the individual embedded codes are found . again , fortunately , this exact problem has been treated in other technological applications . besides , throw this problem and a little food into a crowded room of mathematicians and statisticians and surely a half dozen optimized methodologies will pop out after some reasonable period of time . it is a rather cleanly defined problem . one specific example solution comes from the field of astronomical imaging . here , it is a mature prior art to subtract out a “ thermal noise frame ” from a given ccd image of an object . often , however , it is not precisely known what scaling factor to use in subtracting the thermal frame , and a search for the correct scaling factor is performed . this is precisely the task of this step of the present embodiment . general practice merely performs a common search algorithm on the scaling factor , where a scaling factor is chosen and a new image is created according to : the new image is applied to the fast fourier transform routine and a scale factor is eventually found which minimizes the integrated high frequency content of the new image . this general type of search operation with its minimization of a particular quantity is exceedingly common . the scale factor thus found is the sought - for “ amplitude .” refinements which are contemplated but not yet implemented are where the coupling of the higher derivatives of the acquired image and the embedded codes are estimated and removed from the calculated scale factor . in other words , certain bias effects from the coupling mentioned earlier are present and should be eventually accounted for and removed both through theoretical and empirical experimentation . use and improvements in the detection of signal or image alteration apart from the basic need of identifying a signal or image as a whole , there is also a rather ubiquitous need to detect possible alterations to a signal or image . the following section describes how the foregoing embodiment , with certain modifications and improvements , can be used as a powerful tool in this area . the potential scenarios and applications of detecting alterations are innumerable . to first summarize , assume that we have a given signal or image which has been positively identified using the basic methods outlined above . in other words , we know its n - bit identification word , its individual embedded code signals , and its composite embedded code . we can then fairly simply create a spatial map of the composite code &# 39 ; s amplitude within our given signal or image . furthermore , we can divide this amplitude map by the known composite code &# 39 ; s spatial amplitude , giving a normalized map , i . e . a map which should fluctuate about some global mean value . by simple examination of this map , we can visually detect any areas which have been significantly altered wherein the value of the normalized amplitude dips below some statistically set threshold based purely on typical noise and corruption ( error ). the details of implementing the creation of the amplitude map have a variety of choices . one is to perform the same procedure which is used to determine the signal amplitude as described above , only now we step and repeat the multiplication of any given area of the signal / image with a gaussian weight function centered about the area we are investigating . the disclosure thus far has outlined how each and every source signal has its own unique set of individual embedded code signals . this entails the storage of a significant amount of additional code information above and beyond the original , and many applications may merit some form of economizing . one such approach to economizing is to have a given set of individual embedded code signals be common to a batch of source materials . for example , one thousand images can all utilize the same basic set of individual embedded code signals . the storage requirements of these codes then become a small fraction of the overall storage requirements of the source material . furthermore , some applications can utilize a universal set of individual embedded code signals , i . e ., codes which remain the same for all instances of distributed material . this type of requirement would be seen by systems which wish to hide the n - bit identification word itself , yet have standardized equipment be able to read that word . this can be used in systems which make go / no go decisions at point - of - read locations . the potential drawback to this set - up is that the universal codes are more prone to be sleuthed or stolen ; therefore they will not be as secure as the apparatus and methodology of the previously disclosed arrangement . perhaps this is just the difference between ‘ high security ’ and ‘ air - tight security ,’ a distinction carrying little weight with the bulk of potential applications . use in printing , paper , documents , plastic coated identification cards , and other material where global embedded codes can be imprinted the term ‘ signal ’ is often used narrowly to refer to digital data information , audio signals , images , etc . a broader interpretation of ‘ signal ,’ and the one more generally intended , includes any form of modulation of any material whatsoever . thus , the micro - topology of a piece of common paper becomes a ‘ signal ’ ( e . g . it height as a function of x - y coordinates ). the reflective properties of a flat piece of plastic ( as a function of space also ) becomes a signal . the point is that photographic emulsions , audio signals , and digitized information are not the only types of signals capable of utilizing the principles of the present invention . as a case in point , a machine very much resembling a braille printing machine can be designed so as to imprint unique ‘ noise - like ’ indentations as outlined above . these indentations can be applied with a pressure which is much smaller than is typically applied in creating braille , to the point where the patterns are not noticed by a normal user of the paper . but by following the steps of the present disclosure and applying them via the mechanism of micro - indentations , a unique identification code can be placed onto any given sheet of paper , be it intended for everyday stationary purposes , or be it for important documents , legal tender , or other secured material . the reading of the identification material in such an embodiment generally proceeds by merely reading the document optically at a variety of angles . this would become an inexpensive method for deducing the micro - topology of the paper surface . certainly other forms of reading the topology of the paper are possible as well . in the case of plastic encased material such as identification cards , e . g . driver &# 39 ; s licenses , a similar braille - like impressions machine can be utilized to imprint unique identification codes . subtle layers of photoreactive materials can also be embedded inside the plastic and ‘ exposed .’ it is clear that wherever a material exists which is capable of being modulated by ‘ noise - like ’ signals , that material is an appropriate carrier for unique identification codes and utilization of the principles of the invention . all that remains is the matter of economically applying the identification information and maintaining the signal level below an acceptability threshold which each and every application will define for itself . while the first class of embodiments most commonly employs a standard microprocessor or computer to perform the encodation of an image or signal , it is possible to utilize a custom encodation device which may be faster than a typical von neuman - type processor . such a system can be utilized with all manner of serial data streams . music and videotape recordings are examples of serial data streams — data streams which are often pirated . it would assist enforcement efforts if authorized recordings were encoded with identification data so that pirated knock - offs could be traced to the original from which they were made . piracy is but one concern driving the need for the present invention . another is authentication . often it is important to confirm that a given set of data is really what it is purported to be ( often several years after its generation ). to address these and other needs , the system 200 of fig5 can be employed . system 200 can be thought of as an identification coding black box 202 . the system 200 receives an input signal ( sometimes termed the “ master ” or “ unencoded ” signal ) and a code word , and produces ( generally in real time ) an identification - coded output signal . ( usually , the system provides key data for use in later decoding .) the contents of the “ black box ” 202 can take various forms . an exemplary black box system is shown in fig6 and includes a look - up table 204 , a digital noise source 206 , first and second scalers 208 , 210 , an adder / subtracter 212 , a memory 214 , and a register 216 . the input signal ( which in the illustrated embodiment is an 8 - 20 bit data signal provided at a rate of one million samples per second , but which in other embodiments could be an analog signal if appropriate a / d and d / a conversion is provided ) is applied from an input 218 to the address input 220 of the look - up table 204 . for each input sample ( i . e . look - up table address ), the table provides a corresponding 8 - bit digital output word . this output word is used as a scaling factor that is applied to one input of the first scaler 208 . the first scaler 208 has a second input , to which is applied an 8 - bit digital noise signal from source 206 . ( in the illustrated embodiment , the noise source 206 comprises an analog noise source 222 and an analog - to - digital converter 224 although , again , other implementations can be used .) the noise source in the illustrated embodiment has a zero mean output value , with a full width half maximum ( fwhm ) of 50 - 100 digital numbers ( e . g . from − 75 to + 75 ). the first scaler 208 multiplies the two 8 - bit words at its inputs ( scale factor and noise ) to produce — for each sample of the system input signal — a 16 - bit output word . since the noise signal has a zero mean value , the output of the first scaler likewise has a zero mean value . the output of the first scaler 208 is applied to the input of the second scaler 210 . the second scaler serves a global scaling function , establishing the absolute magnitude of the identification signal that will ultimately be embedded into the input data signal . the scaling factor is set through a scale control device 226 ( which may take a number of forms , from a simple rheostat to a graphically implemented control in a graphical user interface ), permitting this factor to be changed in accordance with the requirements of different applications . the second scaler 210 provides on its output line 228 a scaled noise signal . each sample of this scaled noise signal is successively stored in the memory 214 . ( in the illustrated embodiment , the output from the first scaler 208 may range between − 1500 and + 1500 ( decimal ), while the output from the second scaler 210 is in the low single digits , ( such as between − 2 and + 2 ).) register 216 stores a multi - bit identification code word . in the illustrated embodiment this code word consists of 8 bits , although larger code words ( up to hundreds of bits ) are commonly used . these bits are referenced , one at a time , to control how the input signal is modulated with the scaled noise signal . in particular , a pointer 230 is cycled sequentially through the bit positions of the code word in register 216 to provide a control bit of “ 0 ” or “ 1 ” to a control input 232 of the adder / subtracter 212 . if , for a particular input signal sample , the control bit is a “ 1 ”, the scaled noise signal sample on line 232 is added to the input signal sample . if the control bit is a “ 0 ”, the scaled noise signal sample is subtracted from the input signal sample . the output 234 from the adder / subtracter 212 provides the black box &# 39 ; s output signal . the addition or subtraction of the scaled noise signal in accordance with the bits of the code word effects a modulation of the input signal that is generally imperceptible . however , with knowledge of the contents of the memory 214 , a user can later decode the encoding , determining the code number used in the original encoding process . ( actually , use of memory 214 is optional , as explained below .) it will be recognized that the encoded signal can be distributed in well known ways , including converted to printed image form , stored on magnetic media ( floppy diskette , analog or dat tape , etc . ), cd - rom , etc . etc . a variety of techniques can be used to determine the identification code with which a suspect signal has been encoded . two are discussed below . the first is less preferable than the latter for most applications , but is discussed herein so that the reader may have a fuller context within which to understand the invention . more particularly , the first decoding method is a difference method , relying on subtraction of corresponding samples of the original signal from the suspect signal to obtain difference samples , which are then examined ( typically individually ) for deterministic coding indicia ( i . e . the stored noise data ). this approach may thus be termed a “ sample - based , deterministic ” decoding technique . the second decoding method does not make use of the original signal . nor does it examine particular samples looking for predetermined noise characteristics . rather , the statistics of the suspect signal ( or a portion thereof ) are considered in the aggregate and analyzed to discern the presence of identification coding that permeates the entire signal . the reference to permeation means the entire identification code can be discerned from a small fragment of the suspect signal . this latter approach may thus be termed a “ holographic , statistical ” decoding technique . both of these methods begin by registering the suspect signal to match the original . this entails scaling ( e . g . in amplitude , duration , color balance , etc . ), and sampling ( or resampling ) to restore the original sample rate . as in the earlier described embodiment , there are a variety of well understood techniques by which the operations associated with this registration function can be performed . as noted , the first decoding approach proceeds by subtracting the original signal from the registered , suspect signal , leaving a difference signal . the polarity of successive difference signal samples can then be compared with the polarities of the corresponding stored noise signal samples to determine the identification code . that is , if the polarity of the first difference signal sample matches that of the first noise signal sample , then the first bit of the identification code is a “ 1 .” ( in such case , the polarity of the 9th , 17th , 25th , etc . samples should also all be positive .) if the polarity of the first difference signal sample is opposite that of the corresponding noise signal sample , then the first bit of the identification code is a “ 0 .” by conducting the foregoing analysis with eight successive samples of the difference signal , the sequence of bits that comprise the original code word can be determined . if , as in the preferred embodiment , pointer 230 stepped through the code word one bit at a time , beginning with the first bit , during encoding , then the first 8 samples of the difference signal can be analyzed to uniquely determine the value of the 8 - bit code word . in a noise - free world ( speaking here of noise independent of that with which the identification coding is effected ), the foregoing analysis would always yield the correct identification code . but a process that is only applicable in a noise - free world is of limited utility indeed . ( further , accurate identification of signals in noise - free contexts can be handled in a variety of other , simpler ways : e . g . checksums ; statistically improbable correspondence between suspect and original signals ; etc .) while noise - induced aberrations in decoding can be dealt with — to some degree — by analyzing large portions of the signal , such aberrations still place a practical ceiling on the confidence of the process . further , the villain that must be confronted is not always as benign as random noise . rather , it increasingly takes the form of human - caused corruption , distortion , manipulation , etc . in such cases , the desired degree of identification confidence can only be achieved by other approaches . the presently preferred approach ( the “ holographic , statistical ” decoding technique ) relies on recombining the suspect signal with certain noise data ( typically the data stored in memory 214 ), and analyzing the entropy of the resulting signal . “ entropy ” need not be understood in its most strict mathematical definition , it being merely the most concise word to describe randomness ( noise , smoothness , snowiness , etc .). most serial data signals are not random . that is , one sample usually correlates — to some degree — with the adjacent samples . noise , in contrast , typically is random . if a random signal ( e . g . noise ) is added to ( or subtracted from ) a non - random signal , the entropy of the resulting signal generally increases . that is , the resulting signal has more random variations than the original signal . this is the case with the encoded output signal produced by the present encoding process ; it has more entropy than the original , unencoded signal . if , in contrast , the addition of a random signal to ( or subtraction from ) a non - random signal reduces entropy , then something unusual is happening . it is this anomaly that the preferred decoding process uses to detect embedded identification coding . to fully understand this entropy - based decoding method , it is first helpful to highlight a characteristic of the original encoding process : the similar treatment of every eighth sample . in the encoding process discussed above , the pointer 230 increments through the code word , one bit for each successive sample of the input signal . if the code word is eight bits in length , then the pointer returns to the same bit position in the code word every eighth signal sample . if this bit is a “ 1 ”, noise is added to the input signal ; if this bit is a “ 0 ”, noise is subtracted from the input signal . due to the cyclic progression of the pointer 230 , every eighth sample of an encoded signal thus shares a characteristic : they are all either augmented by the corresponding noise data ( which may be negative ), or they are all diminished , depending on whether the bit of the code word then being addressed by pointer 230 is a “ 1 ” or a “ 0 ”. to exploit this characteristic , the entropy - based decoding process treats every eighth sample of the suspect signal in like fashion . in particular , the process begins by adding to the 1st , 9th , 17th , 25th , etc . samples of the suspect signal the corresponding scaled noise signal values stored in the memory 214 ( i . e . those stored in the 1st , 9th , 17th , 25th , etc ., memory locations , respectively ). the entropy of the resulting signal ( i . e . the suspect signal with every 8th sample modified ) is then computed . ( computation of a signal &# 39 ; s entropy or randomness is well understood by artisans in this field . one generally accepted technique is to take the derivative of the signal at each sample point , square these values , and then sum over the entire signal . however , a variety of other well known techniques can alternatively be used .) the foregoing step is then repeated , this time subtracting the stored noise values from the 1st , 9th , 17th , 25 etc . suspect signal samples . one of these two operations will undo the encoding process and reduce the resulting signal &# 39 ; s entropy ; the other will aggravate it . if adding the noise data in memory 214 to the suspect signal reduces its entropy , then this data must earlier have been subtracted from the original signal . this indicates that pointer 230 was pointing to a “ 0 ” bit when these samples were encoded . ( a “ 0 ” at the control input of adder / subtracter 212 caused it to subtract the scaled noise from the input signal .) conversely , if subtracting the noise data from every eighth sample of the suspect signal reduces its entropy , then the encoding process must have earlier added this noise . this indicates that pointer 230 was pointing to a “ 1 ” bit when samples 1 , 9 , 17 , 25 , etc ., were encoded . by noting whether entropy decreases by ( a ) adding or ( b ) subtracting the stored noise data to / from the suspect signal , it can be determined that the first bit of the code word is ( a ) a “ 0 ”, or ( b ) a “ 1 ”. the foregoing operations are then conducted for the group of spaced samples of the suspect signal beginning with the second sample ( i . e . 2 , 10 , 18 , 26 . . . ). the entropy of the resulting signals indicate whether the second bit of the code word is a “ 0 ” or a “ 1 ”. likewise with the following 6 groups of spaced samples in the suspect signal , until all 8 bits of the code word have been discerned . it will be appreciated that the foregoing approach is not sensitive to corruption mechanisms that alter the values of individual samples ; instead , the process considers the entropy of the signal as a whole , yielding a high degree of confidence in the results . further , even small excerpts of the signal can be analyzed in this manner , permitting piracy of even small details of an original work to be detected . the results are thus statistically robust , both in the face of natural and human corruption of the suspect signal . it will further be appreciated that the use of an n - bit code word in this real time embodiment provides benefits analogous to those discussed above in connection with the batch encoding system . ( indeed , the present embodiment may be conceptualized as making use of n different noise signals , just as in the batch encoding system . the first noise signal is a signal having the same extent as the input signal , and comprising the scaled noise signal at the 1st , 9th , 17th , 25th , etc ., samples ( assuming n = 8 ), with zeroes at the intervening samples . the second noise signal is a similar one comprising the scaled noise signal at the 2d , 10th , 18th , 26th , etc ., samples , with zeroes at the intervening samples . etc . these signals are all combined to provide a composite noise signal .) one of the important advantages inherent in such a system is the high degree of statistical confidence ( confidence which doubles with each successive bit of the identification code ) that a match is really a match . the system does not rely on subjective evaluation of a suspect signal for a single , deterministic embedded code signal . from the foregoing description , it will be recognized that numerous modifications can be made to the illustrated systems without changing the fundamental principles . a few of these variations are described below . the above - described decoding process tries both adding and subtracting stored noise data to / from the suspect signal in order to find which operation reduces entropy . in other embodiments , only one of these operations needs to be conducted . for example , in one alternative decoding process the stored noise data corresponding to every eighth sample of the suspect signal is only added to said samples . if the entropy of the resulting signal is thereby increased , then the corresponding bit of the code word is a “ 1 ” ( i . e . this noise was added earlier , during the encoding process , so adding it again only compounds the signal &# 39 ; s randomness ). if the entropy of the resulting signal is thereby decreased , then the corresponding bit of the code word is a “ 0 ”. a further test of entropy if the stored noise samples are subtracted is not required . the statistical reliability of the identification process ( coding and decoding ) can be designed to exceed virtually any confidence threshold ( e . g . 99 . 9 %, 99 . 99 %, 99 . 999 %, etc . confidence ) by appropriate selection of the global scaling factors , etc . additional confidence in any given application ( unnecessary in most applications ) can be achieved by rechecking the decoding process . one way to recheck the decoding process is to remove the stored noise data from the suspect signal in accordance with the bits of the discerned code word , yielding a “ restored ” signal ( e . g . if the first bit of the code word is found to be “ 1 ,” then the noise samples stored in the 1st , 9th , 17th , etc . locations of the memory 214 are subtracted from the corresponding samples of the suspect signal ). the entropy of the restored signal is measured and used as a baseline in further measurements . next , the process is repeated , this time removing the stored noise data from the suspect signal in accordance with a modified code word . the modified code word is the same as the discerned code word , except 1 bit is toggled ( e . g . the first ). the entropy of the resulting signal is determined , and compared with the baseline . if the toggling of the bit in the discerned code word resulted in increased entropy , then the accuracy of that bit of the discerned code word is confirmed . the process repeats , each time with a different bit of the discerned code word toggled , until all bits of the code word have been so checked . each change should result in an increase in entropy compared to the baseline value . the data stored in memory 214 is subject to a variety of alternatives . in the foregoing discussion , memory 214 contains the scaled noise data . in other embodiments , the unscaled noise data can be stored instead . in still other embodiments , it can be desirable to store at least part of the input signal itself in memory 214 . for example , the memory can allocate 8 signed bits to the noise sample , and 16 bits to store the most significant bits of an 18 - or 20 - bit audio signal sample . this has several benefits . one is that it simplifies registration of a “ suspect ” signal . another is that , in the case of encoding an input signal which was already encoded , the data in memory 214 can be used to discern which of the encoding processes was performed first . that is , from the input signal data in memory 214 ( albeit incomplete ), it is generally possible to determine with which of two code words it has been encoded . yet another alternative for memory 214 is that is can be omitted altogether . one way this can be achieved is to use a deterministic noise source in the encoding process , such as an algorithmic noise generator seeded with a known key number . the same deterministic noise source , seeded with the same key number , can be used in the decoding process . in such an arrangement , only the key number needs be stored for later use in decoding , instead of the large data set usually stored in memory 214 . alternatively , if the noise signal added during encoding does not have a zero mean value , and the length n of the code word is known to the decoder , then a universal decoding process can be implemented . this process uses the same entropy test as the foregoing procedures , but cycles through possible code words , adding / subtracting a small dummy noise value ( e . g . less than the expected mean noise value ) to every nth sample of the suspect signal , in accordance with the bits of the code word being tested , until a reduction in entropy is noted . such an approach is not favored for most applications , however , because it offers less security than the other embodiments ( e . g . it is subject to cracking by brute force ). many applications are well served by the embodiment illustrated in fig7 in which different code words are used to produce several differently encoded versions of an input signal , each making use of the same noise data . more particularly , the embodiment 240 of fig7 includes a noise store 242 into which noise from source 206 is written during the identification - coding of the input signal with a first code word . ( the noise source of fig7 is shown outside of the real time encoder 202 for convenience of illustration .) thereafter , additional identification - coded versions of the input signal can be produced by reading the stored noise data from the store and using it in conjunction with second through nth code words to encode the signal . ( while binary - sequential code words are illustrated in fig7 in other embodiments arbitrary sequences of code words can be employed .) with such an arrangement , a great number of differently - encoded signals can be produced , without requiring a proportionally - sized long term noise memory . instead , a fixed amount of noise data is stored , whether encoding an original once or a thousand times . ( if desired , several differently - coded output signals can be produced at the same time , rather than seriatim . one such implementation includes a plurality of adder / subtracter circuits 212 , each driven with the same input signal and with the same scaled noise signal , but with different code words . each , then , produces a differently encoded output signal .) in applications having a great number of differently - encoded versions of the same original , it will be recognized that the decoding process need not always discern every bit of the code word . sometimes , for example , the application may require identifying only a group of codes to which the suspect signal belongs . ( e . g ., high order bits of the code word might indicate an organization to which several differently coded versions of the same source material were provided , with low - order bits identifying specific copies . to identify the organization with which a suspect signal is associated , it may not be necessary to examine the low order bits , since the organization can be identified by the high order bits alone .) if the identification requirements can be met by discerning a subset of the code word bits in the suspect signal , the decoding process can be shortened . some applications may be best served by restarting the encoding process — sometimes with a different code word — several times within an integral work . consider , as an example , videotaped productions ( e . g . television programming ). each frame of a videotaped production can be identification - coded with a unique code number , processed in real - time with an arrangement 248 like that shown in fig8 . each time a vertical retrace is detected by sync detector 250 , the noise source 206 resets ( e . g . to repeat the sequence just produced ) and an identification code increments to the next value . each frame of the videotape is thereby uniquely identification - coded . typically , the encoded signal is stored on a videotape for long term storage ( although other storage media , including laser disks , can be used ). returning to the encoding apparatus , the look - up table 204 in the illustrated embodiment exploits the fact that high amplitude samples of the input data signal can tolerate ( without objectionable degradation of the output signal ) a higher level of encoded identification coding than can low amplitude input samples . thus , for example , input data samples having decimal values of 0 , 1 or 2 may be correspond ( in the look - up table 204 ) to scale factors of unity ( or even zero ), whereas input data samples having values in excess of 200 may correspond to scale factors of 15 . generally speaking , the scale factors and the input sample values correspond by a square root relation . that is , a four - fold increase in a value of the sampled input signal corresponds to approximately a two - fold increase in a value of the scaling factor associated therewith . ( the parenthetical reference to zero as a scaling factor alludes to cases , e . g ., in which the source signal is temporally or spatially devoid of information content . in an image , for example , a region characterized by several contiguous sample values of zero may correspond to a jet black region of the frame . a scaling value of zero may be appropriate here since there is essentially no image data to be pirated .) continuing with the encoding process , those skilled in the art will recognized the potential for “ rail errors ” in the illustrated embodiment . for example , if the input signal consists of 8 - bit samples , and the samples span the entire range from 0 to 255 ( decimal ), then the addition or subtraction of scaled noise to / from the input signal may produce output signals that cannot be represented by 8 bits ( e . g . − 2 , or 257 ). a number of well - understood techniques exist to rectify this situation , some of them proactive and some of them reactive . ( among these known techniques are : specifying that the input signal shall not have samples in the range of 0 - 4 or 251 - 255 , thereby safely permitting modulation by the noise signal ; or including provision for detecting and adaptively modifying input signal samples that would otherwise cause rail errors .) while the illustrated embodiment describes stepping through the code word sequentially , one bit at a time , to control modulation of successive bits of the input signal , it will be appreciated that the bits of the code word can be used other than sequentially for this purpose . indeed , bits of the code word can be selected in accordance with any predetermined algorithm . the dynamic scaling of the noise signal based on the instantaneous value of the input signal is an optimization that can be omitted in many embodiments . that is , the look - up table 204 and the first scaler 208 can be omitted entirely , and the signal from the digital noise source 206 applied directly ( or through the second , global scaler 210 ) to the adder / subtracter 212 . it will be further recognized that the use of a zero - mean noise source simplifies the illustrated embodiment , but is not necessary to the invention . a noise signal with another mean value can readily be used , and d . c . compensation ( if needed ) can be effected elsewhere in the system . the use of a noise source 206 is also optional . a variety of other signal sources can be used , depending on application - dependent constraints ( e . g . the threshold at which the encoded identification signal becomes perceptible ). in many instances , the level of the embedded identification signal is low enough that the identification signal needn &# 39 ; t have a random aspect ; it is imperceptible regardless of its nature . a pseudo random source 206 , however , is usually desired because it provides the greatest identification code signal s / n ratio ( a somewhat awkward term in this instance ) for a level of imperceptibility of the embedded identification signal . it will be recognized that identification coding need not occur after a signal has been reduced to stored form as data ( i . e . “ fixed in tangible form ,” in the words of the u . s . copyright act ). consider , for example , the case of popular musicians whose performances are often recorded illicitly . by identification coding the audio before it drives concert hall speakers , unauthorized recordings of the concert can be traced to a particular place and time . likewise , live audio sources such as 911 emergency calls can be encoded prior to recording so as to facilitate their later authentication . while the black box embodiment has been described as a stand alone unit , it will be recognized that it can be integrated into a number of different tools / instruments as a component . one is a scanner , which can embed identification codes in the scanned output data . ( the codes can simply serve to memorialize that the data was generated by a particular scanner ). another is in creativity software , such as popular drawing / graphics / animation / paint programs offered by adobe , macromedia , corel , and the like . finally , while the real - time encoder 202 has been illustrated with reference to a particular hardware implementation , it will be recognized that a variety of other implementations can alternatively be employed . some utilize other hardware configurations . others make use of software routines for some or all of the illustrated functional blocks . ( the software routines can be executed on any number of different general purpose programmable computers , such as 80 × 86 pc - compatible computers , risc - based workstations , etc .) heretofore this disclosure postulated gaussian noise , “ white noise ,” and noise generated directly from application instrumentation as a few of the many examples of the kind of carrier signal appropriate to carry a single bit of information throughout an image or signal . it is possible to be even more proactive in “ designing ” characteristics of noise in order to achieve certain goals . the “ design ” of using gaussian or instrumental noise was aimed somewhat toward “ absolute ” security . this section of the disclosure takes a look at other considerations for the design of the noise signals which may be considered the ultimate carriers of the identification information . for some applications it might be advantageous to design the noise carrier signal ( e . g . the nth embedded code signal in the first embodiment ; the scaled noise data in the second embodiment ), so as to provide more absolute signal strength to the identification signal relative to the perceptibility of that signal . one example is the following . it is recognized that a true gaussian noise signal has the value ‘ 0 ’ occur most frequently , followed by 1 and − 1 at equal probabilities to each other but lower than ‘ 0 ’, 2 and − 2 next , and so on . clearly , the value zero carries no information as it is used in the service of this invention . thus , one simple adjustment , or design , would be that any time a zero occurs in the generation of the embedded code signal , a new process takes over , whereby the value is converted “ randomly ” to either a 1 or a − 1 . in logical terms , a decision would be made : if ‘ 0 ’, then random ( 1 ,− 1 ). the histogram of such a process would appear as a gaussian / poissonian type distribution , except that the 0 bin would be empty and the 1 and − 1 bin would be increased by half the usual histogram value of the 0 bin . in this case , identification signal energy would always be applied at all parts of the signal . a few of the trade - offs include : there is a ( probably negligible ) lowering of security of the codes in that a “ deterministic component ” is a part of generating the noise signal . the reason this might be completely negligible is that we still wind up with a coin flip type situation on randomly choosing the 1 or the − 1 . another trade - off is that this type of designed noise will have a higher threshold of perceptibility , and will only be applicable to applications where the least significant bit of a data stream or image is already negligible relative to the commercial value of the material , i . e . if the least significant bit were stripped from the signal ( for all signal samples ), no one would know the difference and the value of the material would not suffer . this blocking of the zero value in the example above is but one of many ways to “ optimize ” the noise properties of the signal carrier , as anyone in the art can realize . we refer to this also as “ quasi - noise ” in the sense that natural noise can be transformed in a pre - determined way into signals which for all intents and purposes will read as noise . also , cryptographic methods and algorithms can easily , and often by definition , create signals which are perceived as completely random . thus the word “ noise ” can have different connotations , primarily between that as defined subjectively by an observer or listener , and that defined mathematically . the difference of the latter is that mathematical noise has different properties of security and the simplicity with which it can either be “ sleuthed ” or the simplicity with which instruments can “ automatically recognize ” the existence of this noise . the bulk of this disclosure teaches that for absolute security , the noise - like embedded code signals which carry the bits of information of the identification signal should be unique to each and every encoded signal , or , slightly less restrictive , that embedded code signals should be generated sparingly , such as using the same embedded codes for a batch of 1000 pieces of film , for example . be this as it may , there is a whole other approach to this issue wherein the use of what we will call “ universal ” embedded code signals can open up large new applications for this technology . the economics of these uses would be such that the de facto lowered security of these universal codes ( e . g . they would be analyzable by time honored cryptographic decoding methods , and thus potentially thwarted or reversed ) would be economically negligible relative to the economic gains that the intended uses would provide . piracy and illegitimate uses would become merely a predictable “ cost ” and a source of uncollected revenue only ; a simple line item in an economic analysis of the whole . a good analogy of this is in the cable industry and the scrambling of video signals . everybody seems to know that crafty , skilled technical individuals , who may be generally law abiding citizens , can climb a ladder and flip a few wires in their cable junction box in order to get all the pay channels for free . the cable industry knows this and takes active measures to stop it and prosecute those caught , but the “ lost revenue ” derived from this practice remains prevalent but almost negligible as a percentage of profits gained from the scrambling system as a whole . the scrambling system as a whole is an economic success despite its lack of “ absolute security .” the same holds true for applications of this technology wherein , for the price of lowering security by some amount , large economic opportunity presents itself . this section first describes what is meant by universal codes , then moves on to some of the interesting uses to which these codes can be applied . universal embedded codes generally refer to the idea that knowledge of the exact codes can be distributed . the embedded codes won &# 39 ; t be put into a dark safe never to be touched until litigation arises ( as alluded to in other parts of this disclosure ), but instead will be distributed to various locations where on - the - spot analysis can take place . generally this distribution will still take place within a security controlled environment , meaning that steps will be taken to limit the knowledge of the codes to those with a need to know . instrumentation which attempts to automatically detect copyrighted material is a non - human example of “ something ” with a need to know the codes . there are many ways to implement the idea of universal codes , each with their own merits regarding any given application . for the purposes of teaching this art , we separate these approaches into three broad categories : universal codes based on libraries , universal codes based on deterministic formula , and universal codes based on pre - defined industry standard patterns . a rough rule of thumb is that the first is more secure than the latter two , but that the latter two are possibly more economical to implement than the first . the use of libraries of universal codes simply means that the techniques of this invention are employed as described , except for the fact that only a limited set of the individual embedded code signals are generated and that any given encoded material will make use of some sub - set of this limited “ universal set .” an example is in order here . a photographic print paper manufacturer may wish to pre - expose every piece of 8 by 10 inch print paper which they sell with a unique identification code . they also wish to sell identification code recognition software to their large customers , service bureaus , stock agencies , and individual photographers , so that all these people can not only verify that their own material is correctly marked , but so that they can also determine if third party material which they are about to acquire has been identified by this technology as being copyrighted . this latter information will help them verify copyright holders and avoid litigation , among many other benefits . in order to “ economically ” institute this plan , they realize that generating unique individual embedded codes for each and every piece of print paper would generate terabytes of independent information , which would need storing and to which recognition software would need access . instead , they decide to embed their print paper with 16 bit identification codes derived from a set of only 50 independent “ universal ” embedded code signals . the details of how this is done are in the next paragraph , but the point is that now their recognition software only needs to contain a limited set of embedded codes in their library of codes , typically on the order of 1 megabyte to 10 megabytes of information for 50 × 16 individual embedded codes splayed out onto an 8 × 10 photographic print ( allowing for digital compression ). the reason for picking 50 instead of just 16 is one of a little more added security , where if it were the same 16 embedded codes for all photographic sheets , not only would the serial number capability be limited to 2 to the 16th power , but lesser and lesser sophisticated pirates could crack the codes and remove them using software tools . there are many different ways to implement this scheme , where the following is but one exemplary method . it is determined by the wisdom of company management that a 300 pixels per inch criteria for the embedded code signals is sufficient resolution for most applications . this means that a composite embedded code image will contain 3000 pixels by 2400 pixels to be exposed at a very low level onto each 8 × 10 sheet . this gives 7 . 2 million pixels . using our staggered coding system such as described in the black box implementation of fig5 and 6 , each individual embedded code signal will contain only 7 . 2 million divided by 16 , or approximately 450k true information carrying pixels , i . e . every 16th pixel along a given raster line . these values will typically be in the range of 2 to − 2 in digital numbers , or adequately described by a signed 3 bit number . the raw information content of an embedded code is then approximately ⅜th &# 39 ; s bytes times 450k or about 170 kilobytes . digital compression can reduce this further . all of these decisions are subject to standard engineering optimization principles as defined by any given application at hand , as is well known in the art . thus we find that 50 of these independent embedded codes will amount to a few megabytes . this is quite reasonable level to distribute as a “ library ” of universal codes within the recognition software . advanced standard encryption devices could be employed to mask the exact nature of these codes if one were concerned that would - be pirates would buy the recognition software merely to reverse engineer the universal embedded codes . the recognition software could simply unencrypt the codes prior to applying the recognition techniques taught in this disclosure . the recognition software itself would certainly have a variety of features , but the core task it would perform is determining if there is some universal copyright code within a given image . the key questions become which 16 of the total 50 universal codes it might contain , if any , and if there are 16 found , what are their bit values . the key variables in determining the answers to these questions are : registration , rotation , magnification ( scale ), and extent . in the most general case with no helpful hints whatsoever , all variables must be independently varied across all mutual combinations , and each of the 50 universal codes must then be checked by adding and subtracting to see if an entropy decrease occurs . strictly speaking , this is an enormous job , but many helpful hints will be found which make the job much simpler , such as having an original image to compare to the suspected copy , or knowing the general orientation and extent of the image relative to an 8 × 10 print paper , which then through simple registration techniques can determine all of the variables to some acceptable degree . then it merely requires cycling through the 50 universal codes to find any decrease in entropy . if one does , then 15 others should as well . a protocol needs to be set up whereby a given order of the 50 translates into a sequence of most significant bit through least significant bit of the id code word . thus if we find that universal code number “ 4 ” is present , and we find its bit value to be “ 0 ”, and that universal codes “ 1 ” through “ 3 ” are definitely not present , then our most significant bit of our n - bit id code number is a “ 0 ”. likewise , we find that the next lowest universal code present is number “ 7 ” and it turns out to be a “ 1 ”, then our next most significant bit is a “ 1 ”. done properly , this system can cleanly trace back to the copyright owner so long as they registered their photographic paper stock serial number with some registry or with the manufacturer of the paper itself . that is , we look up in the registry that a paper using universal embedded codes 4 , 7 , 11 , 12 , 15 , 19 , 21 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 34 , 35 , 37 , 38 , 40 , and 48 , and having the embedded code 0110 0101 0111 0100 belongs to leonardo de boticelli , an unknown wildlife photographer and glacier cinematographer whose address is in northern canada . we know this because he dutifully registered his film and paper stock , a few minutes of work when he bought the stock , which he plopped into the “ no postage necessary ” envelope that the manufacturing company kindly provided to make the process ridiculously simple . somebody owes leonardo a royalty check it would appear , and certainly the registry has automated this royalty payment process as part of its services . one final point is that truly sophisticated pirates and others with illicit intentions can indeed employ a variety of cryptographic and not so cryptographic methods to crack these universal codes , sell them , and make software and hardware tools which can assist in the removing or distorting of codes . we shall not teach these methods as part of this disclosure , however . in any event , this is one of the prices which must be paid for the ease of universal codes and the applications they open up . the libraries of universal codes require the storage and transmittal of megabytes of independent , generally random data as the keys with which to unlock the existence and identity of signals and imagery that have been marked with universal codes . alternatively , various deterministic formulas can be used which “ generate ” what appear to be random data / image frames , thereby obviating the need to store all of these codes in memory and interrogate each and of the “ 50 ” universal codes . deterministic formulas can also assist in speeding up the process of determining the id code once one is known to exist in a given signal or image . on the other hand , deterministic formulas lend themselves to sleuthing by less sophisticated pirates . and once sleuthed , they lend themselves to easier communication , such as posting on the internet to a hundred newsgroups . there may well be many applications which do not care about sleuthing and publishing , and deterministic formulas for generating the individual universal embedded codes might be just the ticket . this category is a bit of a hybrid of the first two , and is most directed at truly large scale implementations of the principles of this technology . the applications employing this class are of the type where staunch security is much less important than low cost , large scale implementation and the vastly larger economic benefits that this enables . one exemplary application is placement of identification recognition units directly within modestly priced home audio and video instrumentation ( such as a tv ). such recognition units would typically monitor audio and / or video looking for these copyright identification codes , and thence triggering simple decisions based on the findings , such as disabling or enabling recording capabilities , or incrementing program specific billing meters which are transmitted back to a central audio / video service provider and placed onto monthly invoices . likewise , it can be foreseen that “ black boxes ” in bars and other public places can monitor ( listen with a microphone ) for copyrighted materials and generate detailed reports , for use by ascap , bmi , and the like . a core principle of simple universal codes is that some basic industry standard “ noiselike ” and seamlessly repetitive patterns are injected into signals , images , and image sequences so that inexpensive recognition units can either a ) determine the mere existence of a copyright “ flag ”, and b ) additionally to a , determine precise identification information which can facilitate more complex decision making and actions . in order to implement this particular embodiment of the present invention , the basic principles of generating the individual embedded noise signals need to be simplified in order to accommodate inexpensive recognition signal processing circuitry , while maintaining the properties of effective randomness and holographic permeation . with large scale industry adoption of these simple codes , the codes themselves would border on public domain information ( much as cable scrambling boxes are almost de facto public domain ), leaving the door open for determined pirates to develop black market countermeasures , but this situation would be quite analogous to the scrambling of cable video and the objective economic analysis of such illegal activity . one prior art known to the applicant in this general area of pro - active copyright detection is the serial copy management system adopted by many firms in the audio industry . to the best of applicant &# 39 ; s knowledge , this system employs a non - audio “ flag ” signal which is not part of the audio data stream , but which is nevertheless grafted onto the audio stream and can indicate whether the associated audio data should or should not be duplicated . one problem with this system is that it is restricted to media and instrumentation which can support this extra “ flag ” signal . another deficiency is that the flagging system carries no identity information which would be useful in making more complex decisions . yet another difficulty is that high quality audio sampling of an analog signal can come arbitrarily close to making a perfect digital copy of some digital master and there seems to be no provision for inhibiting this possibility . the principles of this invention can be brought to bear on these and other problems , in audio applications , video , and all of the other applications previously discussed . an exemplary application of simple universal codes is the following . a single industry standard “ 1 . 000000 second of noise ” would be defined as the most basic indicator of the presence or absence of the copyright marking of any given audio signal . fig9 has an example of what the waveform of an industry standard noise second might look like , both in the time domain 400 and the frequency domain 402 . it is by definition a continuous function and would adapt to any combination of sampling rates and bit quanitizations . it has a normalized amplitude and can be scaled arbitrarily to any digital signal amplitude . the signal level and the first m &# 39 ; th derivatives of the signal are continuous at the two boundaries 404 ( fig9 c ), such that when it is repeated , the “ break ” in the signal would not be visible ( as a waveform ) or audible when played through a high end audio system . the choice of 1 second is arbitrary in this example , where the precise length of the interval will be derived from considerations such as audibility , quasi - white noise status , seamless repeatability , simplicity of recognition processing , and speed with which a copyright marking determination can be made . the injection of this repeated noise signal onto a signal or image ( again , at levels below human perception ) would indicate the presence of copyright material . this is essentially a one bit identification code , and the embedding of further identification information will be discussed later on in this section . the use of this identification technique can extend far beyond the low cost home implementations discussed here , where studios could use the technique , and monitoring stations could be set up which literally monitor hundreds of channels of information simultaneously , searching for marked data streams , and furthermore searching for the associated identity codes which could be tied in with billing networks and royalty tracking systems . this basic , standardized noise signature is seamlessly repeated over and over again and added to audio signals which are to be marked with the base copyright identification . part of the reason for the word “ simple ” is seen here : clearly pirates will know about this industry standard signal , but their illicit uses derived from this knowledge , such as erasure or corruption , will be economically minuscule relative to the economic value of the overall technique to the mass market . for most high end audio this signal will be some 80 to 100 db down from full scale , or even much further ; each situation can choose its own levels though certainly there will be recommendations . the amplitude of the signal can be modulated according to the audio signal levels to which the noise signature is being applied , i . e . the amplitude can increase significantly when a drum beats , but not so dramatically as to become audible or objectionable . these measures merely assist the recognition circuitry to be described . recognition of the presence of this noise signature by low cost instrumentation can be effected in a variety of ways . one rests on basic modifications to the simple principles of audio signal power metering . software recognition programs can also be written , and more sophisticated mathematical detection algorithms can be applied to audio in order to make higher confidence detection identifications . in such embodiments , detection of the copyright noise signature involves comparing the time averaged power level of an audio signal with the time averaged power level of that same audio signal which has had the noise signature subtracted from it . if the audio signal with the noise signature subtracted has a lower power level that the unchanged audio signal , then the copyright signature is present and some status flag to that effect needs to be set . the main engineering subtleties involved in making this comparison include : dealing with audio speed playback discrepancies ( e . g . an instrument might be 0 . 5 % “ slow ” relative to exactly one second intervals ); and , dealing with the unknown phase of the one second noise signature within any given audio ( basically , its “ phase ” can be anywhere from 0 to 1 seconds ). another subtlety , not so central as the above two but which nonetheless should be addressed , is that the recognition circuits should not subtract a higher amplitude of the noise signature than was originally embedded onto the audio signal . fortunately this can be accomplished by merely subtracting only a small amplitude of the noise signal , and if the power level goes down , this is an indication of “ heading toward a trough ” in the power levels . yet another related subtlety is that the power level changes will be very small relative to the overall power levels , and calculations generally will need to be done with appropriate bit precision , e . g . 32 bit value operations and accumulations on 16 - 20 bit audio in the calculations of time averaged power levels . clearly , designing and packaging this power level comparison processing circuitry for low cost applications is an engineering optimization task . one trade - off will be the accuracy of making an identification relative to the “ short - cuts ” which can be made to the circuitry in order to lower its cost and complexity . a preferred embodiment for the placement of this recognition circuitry inside of instrumentation is through a single programmable integrated circuit which is custom made for the task . fig1 shows one such integrated circuit 506 . here the audio signal comes in , 500 , either as a digital signal or as an analog signal to be digitized inside the ic 500 , and the output is a flag 502 which is set to one level if the copyright noise signature is found , and to another level if it is not found . also depicted is the fact that the standardized noise signature waveform is stored in read only memory , 504 , inside the ic 506 . there will be a slight time delay between the application of an audio signal to the ic 506 and the output of a valid flag 502 , due to the need to monitor some finite portion of the audio before a recognition can place . in this case , there may need to be a “ flag valid ” output 508 where the ic informs the external world if it has had enough time to make a proper determination of the presence or absence of the copyright noise signature . there are a wide variety of specific designs and philosophies of designs applied to accomplishing the basic function of the ic 506 of fig1 . audio engineers and digital signal processing engineers are able to generate several fundamentally different designs . one such design is depicted in fig1 by a process 599 , which itself is subject to further engineering optimization as will be discussed . fig1 depicts a flow chart for any of : an analog signal processing network , a digital signal processing network , or programming steps in a software program . we find an input signal 600 which along one path is applied to a time averaged power meter 602 , and the resulting power output itself treated as a signal p sig . to the upper right we find the standard noise signature 504 which will be read out at 125 % of normal speed , 604 , thus changing its pitch , giving the “ pitch changed noise signal ” 606 . then the input signal has this pitch changed noise signal subtracted in step 608 , and this new signal is applied to the same form of time averaged power meter as in 602 , here labelled 610 . the output of this operation is also a time based signal here labelled as p pcn , 610 . step 612 then subtracts the power signal 602 from the power signal 610 , giving an output difference signal p out , 613 . if the universal standard noise signature does indeed exist on the input audio signal 600 , then case 2 , 616 , will be created wherein a beat signal 618 of approximately 4 second period will show up on the output signal 613 , and it remains to detect this beat signal with a step such as in fig1 , 622 . case 1 , 614 , is a steady noisy signal which exhibits no periodic beating . 125 % at step 604 is chosen arbitrarily here , where engineering considerations would determine an optimal value , leading to different beat signal frequencies 618 . whereas waiting 4 seconds in this example would be quite a while , especially is you would want to detect at least two or three beats , fig1 outlines how the basic design of fig1 could be repeated and operated upon various delayed versions of the input signal , delayed by something like { fraction ( 1 / 20 )} th of a second , with 20 parallel circuits working in concert each on a segment of the audio delayed by 0 . 05 seconds from their neighbors . in this way , a beat signal will show up approximately every ⅕th of a second and will look like a travelling wave down the columns of beat detection circuits . the existence or absence of this travelling beat wave triggers the detection flag 502 . meanwhile , there would be an audio signal monitor 624 which would ensure that , for example , at least two seconds of audio has been heard before setting the flag valid signal 508 . though the audio example was described above , it should be clear to anyone in the art that the same type of definition of some repetitive universal noise signal or image could be applied to the many other signals , images , pictures , and physical media already discussed . the above case deals only with a single bit plane of information , i . e ., the noise signature signal is either there ( 1 ) or it isn &# 39 ; t ( 0 ). for many applications , it would be nice to detect serial number information as well , which could then be used for more complex decisions , or for logging information on billing statements or whatnot . the same principles as the above would apply , but now there would be n independent noise signatures as depicted in fig9 instead one single such signature . typically , one such signature would be the master upon which the mere existence of a copyright marking is detected , and this would have generally higher power than the others , and then the other lower power “ identification ” noise signatures would be embedded into audio . recognition circuits , once having found the existence of the primary noise signature , would then step through the other n noise signatures applying the same steps as described above . where a beat signal is detected , this indicates the bit value of ‘ 1 ’, and where no beat signal is detected , this indicates a bit value of ‘ 0 ’. it might be typical that n will equal 32 , that way 2 32 number of identification codes are available to any given industry employing this invention . use of this technology when the length of the identification code is 1 the principles of this invention can obviously be applied in the case where only a single presence or absence of an identification signal — a fingerprint if you will — is used to provide confidence that some signal or image is copyrighted . the example above of the industry standard noise signature is one case in point . we no longer have the added confidence of the coin flip analogy , we no longer have tracking code capabilities or basic serial number capabilities , but many applications may not require these attributes and the added simplicity of a single fingerprint might outweigh these other attributes in any event . the term “ holographic ” has been used in this disclosure to describe how an identification code number is distributed in a largely integral form throughout an encoded signal or image . this also refers to the idea that any given fragment of the signal or image contains the entire unique identification code number . as with physical implementations of holography , there are limitations on how small a fragment can become before one begins to lose this property , where the resolution limits of the holographic media are the main factor in this regard for holography itself . in the case of an uncorrupted distribution signal which has used the encoding device of fig5 and which furthermore has used our “ designed noise ” of above wherein the zero &# 39 ; s were randomly changed to a 1 or − 1 , then the extent of the fragment required is merely n contiguous samples in a signal or image raster line , where n is as defined previously being the length of our identification code number . this is an informational extreme ; practical situations where noise and corruption are operative will require generally one , two or higher orders of magnitude more samples than this simple number n . those skilled in the art will recognize that there are many variables involved in pinning down precise statistics on the size of the smallest fragment with which an identification can be made . for tutorial purposes , the applicant also uses the analogy that the unique identification code number is “ wallpapered ” across and image ( or signal ). that is , it is repeated over and over again all throughout an image . this repetition of the id code number can be regular , as in the use of the encoder of fig5 or random itself , where the bits in the id code 216 of fig6 are not stepped through in a normal repetitive fashion but rather are randomly selected on each sample , and the random selection stored along with the value of the output 228 itself , in any event , the information carrier of the id code , the individual embedded code signal , does change across the image or signal . thus as the wallpaper analogy summarizes : the id code repeats itself over and over , but the patterns that each repetition imprints change randomly accordingly to a generally unsleuthable key . as earlier mentioned , the identification coding of the preferred embodiment withstands lossy data compression , and subsequent decompression . such compression is finding increasing use , particularly in contexts such as the mass distribution of digitized entertainment programming ( movies , etc .). while data encoded according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention can withstand all types of lossy compression known to applicant , those expected to be most commercially important are the ccitt g3 , ccitt g4 , jpeg , mpeg and jbig compression / decompression standards . the ccitt standards are widely used in black - and - white document compression ( e . g . facsimile and document - storage ). jpeg is most widely used with still images . mpeg is most widely used with moving images . jbig is a likely successor to the ccitt standards for use with black - and - white imagery . such techniques are well known to those in the lossy data compression field ; a good overview can be found in pennebaker et al , jpeg , still image data compression standard , van nostrand reinhold , n . y ., 1993 . towards steganography proper and the use of this technology in passing more complex messages or information this disclosure concentrates on what above was called wallpapering a single identification code across an entire signal . this appears to be a desirable feature for many applications . however , there are other applications where it might be desirable to pass messages or to embed very long strings of pertinent identification information in signals and images . one of many such possible applications would be where a given signal or image is meant to be manipulated by several different groups , and that certain regions of an image are reserved for each group &# 39 ; s identification and insertion of pertinent manipulation information . in these cases , the code word 216 in fig6 can actually change in some pre - defined manner as a function of signal or image position . for example , in an image , the code could change for each and every raster line of the digital image . it might be a 16 bit code word , 216 , but each scan line would have a new code word , and thus a 480 scan line image could pass a 980 ( 480 × 2 bytes ) byte message . a receiver of the message would need to have access to either the noise signal stored in memory 214 , or would have to know the universal code structure of the noise codes if that method of coding was being used . to the best of applicant &# 39 ; s knowledge , this is a novel approach to the mature field of steganography . in all three of the foregoing applications of universal codes , it will often be desirable to append a short ( perhaps 8 - or 16 - bit ) private code , which users would keep in their own secured places , in addition to the universal code . this affords the user a further modicum of security against potential erasure of the universal codes by sophisticated pirates . one master code signal as a distinction from n independent embedded code signals in certain sections of this disclosure , perhaps exemplified in the section on the realtime encoder , an economizing step was taken whereby the n independent and source - signal - coextensive embedded code signals were so designed that the non - zero elements of any given embedded code signal were unique to just that embedded code signal and no others . said more carefully , certain pixels / sample points of a given signal were “ assigned ” to some pre - determined m &# 39 ; th bit location in our n - bit identification word . furthermore , and as another basic optimization of implementation , the aggregate of these assigned pixels / samples across all n embedded code signals is precisely the extent of the source signal , meaning each and every pixel / sample location in a source signal is assigned one and only one m &# 39 ; th bit place in our n - bit identification word . ( this is not to say , however , that each and every pixel must be modified ). as a matter of simplification we can then talk about a single master code signal ( or “ snowy image ”) rather than n independent signals , realizing that pre - defined locations in this master signal correspond to unique bit locations in our n - bit identification word . we therefore construct , via this circuitous route , this rather simple concept on the single master noise signal . beyond mere economization and simplification , there are also performance reasons for this shift , primarily derived from the idea that individual bit places in our n - bit identification word are no longer “ competing ” for the information carrying capacity of a single pixel / sample . with this single master more clearly understood , we can gain new insights into other sections of this disclosure and explore further details within the given application areas . one case in point is to further explore the use of deterministic universal codes , labelled as item “ 2 ” in the sections devoted to universal codes . a given user of this technology may opt for the following variant use of the principles of this invention . the user in question might be a mass distributor of home videos , but clearly the principles would extend to all other potential users of this invention . fig1 pictorially represents the steps involved . in the example the user is one “ alien productions .” they first create an image canvas which is coextensive to the size of the video frames of their movie “ bud &# 39 ; s adventures .” on this canvas they print the name of the movie , they place their logo and company name . furthermore , they have specific information at the bottom , such as the distribution lot for the mass copying that they are currently cranking out , and as indicated , they actually have a unique frame number indicated . thus we find the example of a standard image 700 which forms the initial basis for the creation of a master snowy image ( master code signal ) which will be added into the original movie frame , creating an output distributable frame . this image 700 can be either black & amp ; white or color . the process of turning this image 700 into a pseudo random master code signal is alluded to by the encryption / scrambling routine 702 , wherein the original image 700 is passed through any of dozens of well known scrambling methods . the depiction of the number “ 28 ” alludes to the idea that there can actually be a library of scrambling methods , and the particular method used for this particular movie , or even for this particular frame , can change . the result is our classic master code signal or snowy image . in general , its brightness values are large and it would look very much like the snowy image on a television set tuned to a blank channel , but clearly it has been derived from an informative image 700 , transformed through a scrambling 702 . ( note : the splotchiness of the example picture is actually a rather poor depiction ; it was a function of the crude tools available to the inventor ). this master snowy image 704 is then the signal which is modulated by our n - bit identification word as outlined in other sections of the disclosure , the resulting modulated signal is then scaled down in brightness to the acceptable perceived noise level , and then added to the original frame to produce the distributable frame . there are a variety of advantages and features that the method depicted in fig1 affords . there are also variations of theme within this overall variation . clearly , one advantage is that users can now use more intuitive and personalized methods for stamping and signing their work . provided that the encryption / scrambling routines , 702 , are indeed of a high security and not published or leaked , then even if a would - be pirate has knowledge of the logo image 700 , they should not be able to use this knowledge to be able to sleuth the master snowy image 704 , and thus they should not be able to crack the system , as it were . on the other hand , simple encryption routines 702 may open the door for cracking the system . another clear advantage of the method of fig1 is the ability to place further information into the overall protective process . strictly speaking , the information contained in the logo image 700 is not directly carried in the final distributable frame . said another way , and provided that the encryption / scrambling routine 702 has a straightforward and known decryption / descrambling method which tolerates bit truncation errors , it is generally impossible to fully re - create the image 700 based upon having the distributable frame , the n - bit identification code word , the brightness scaling factor used , and the number of the decryption routine to be used . the reason that an exact recreation of the image 700 is impossible is due to the scaling operation itself and the concomitant bit truncation . for the present discussion , this whole issue is somewhat academic , however . a variation on the theme of fig1 is to actually place the n - bit identification code word directly into the logo image 700 . in some sense this would be self - referential . thus when we pull out our stored logo image 700 it already contains visually what our identification word is , then we apply encryption routine # 28 to this image , scale it down , then use this version to decode a suspect image using the techniques of this disclosure . the n bit word thus found should match the one contained in our logo image 700 . one desirable feature of the encryption / scrambling routine 702 might be ( but is certainly not required to be ) that even given a small change in the input image 700 , such as a single digit change of the frame number , there would be a huge visual change in the output scrambled master snowy image 704 . likewise , the actual scrambling routine may change as a function of frame numbers , or certain “ seed ” numbers typically used within pseudo - randomizing functions could change as a function of frame number . all manner of variations are thus possible , all helping to maintain high levels of security . eventually , engineering optimization considerations will begin to investigate the relationship between some of these randomizing methods , and how they all relate to maintaining acceptable signal strength levels through the process of transforming an uncompressed video stream into a compressed video stream such as with the mpeg compression methodologies . another desired feature of the encryption process 702 is that it should be informationally efficient , i . e ., that given any random input , it should be able to output an essentially spatially uniform noisy image with little to no residual spatial patterns beyond pure randomness . any residual correlated patterns will contribute to inefficiency of encoding the n - bit identification word , as well as opening up further tools to would - be pirates to break the system . another feature of the method of fig1 is that there is more intuitional appeal to using recognizable symbols as part of a decoding system , which should then translate favorably in the essentially lay environment of a courtroom . it strengthens the simplicity of the coin flip vernacular mentioned elsewhere . jury members or judges will better relate to an owner &# 39 ; s logo as being a piece of the key of recognizing a suspect copy as being a knock - off . it should also be mentioned that , strictly speaking , the logo image 700 does not need to be randomized . the steps of the invention could equally apply straight to the logo image 700 directly . it is not entirely clear to the inventor what practical goal this might have . a trivial extension of this concept to the case where n = 1 is where , simply and easily , the logo image 700 is merely added to an original image at a very low brightness level . the inventor does not presume this trivial case to be at all a novelty . in many ways this is similar to the age old issue of subliminal advertising , where the low light level patterns added to an image are recognizable to the human eye / brain system and — supposedly — operating on the human brain at an unconscious level . by pointing out these trivial extensions of the current invention , hopefully there can arise further clarity which distinguishes the novel principles of this invention in relation to such well known prior art techniques . it is desirable in some applications for the n - bit identification word to actually signify names , companies , strange words , messages , and the like . most of this disclosure focuses on using the n - bit identification word merely for high statistical security , indexed tracking codes , and other index based message carrying . the information carrying capacity of “ invisible signatures ” inside imagery and audio is somewhat limited , however , and thus it would be wise to use our n bits efficiently if we actually want to “ spell out ” alphanumeric items in the n - bit identification word . one way to do this is to define , or to use an already existing , reduced bit ( e . g . less than 8 - bit ascii ) standardized codes for passing alphanumeric messages . this can help to satisfy this need on the part of some applications . for example , a simple alphanumeric code could be built on a 5 - bit index table , where for example the letters v , x , q , and z are not included , but the digits 0 through 9 are included . in this way , a 100 bit identification word could carry with it 20 alphanumeric symbols . another alternative is to use variable bit length codes such as the ones used in text compression routines ( e . g . huffman ) whereby more frequently used symbols have shorter bit length codes and less frequently used symbols have longer bit lengths . more on detecting and recognizing the n - bit identification word in suspect signals classically speaking , the detection of the n - bit identification word fits nicely into the old art of detecting known signals in noise . noise in this last statement can be interpreted very broadly , even to the point where an image or audio track itself can be considered noise , relative to the need to detect the underlying signature signals . one of many references to this older art is the book kassam , saleem a ., “ signal detection in non - guassian noise ,” springer - verlag , 1988 ( available at the library of congress by catalog number tk5102 . 5 . k357 1988 ). to the best of this inventor &# 39 ; s current understanding , none of the material in this book is directly applicable to the issue of discovering the polarity of embedded signals of this invention , but the broader principles are indeed applicable . in particular , section 1 . 2 “ basic concepts of hypothesis testing ” of kassam &# 39 ; s book lays out the basic concept of a binary hypothesis , assigning the value “ 1 ” to one hypothesis and the value “ 0 ” to the other hypothesis . the last paragraph of that section is also on point regarding the initial preferred embodiment of this invention , i . e ., that the “ 0 ” hypothesis corresponds to “ noise only ” case , whereas the “ 1 ” corresponds to the presence of a signal in the observations . the current preferred embodiment of using true polarity is not like this however , where now the “ 0 ” corresponds to the presence of an inverted signal rather than to “ noise - only .” also in the current preferred embodiment , the case of “ noise - only ” is effectively ignored , and that an identification process will either come up with our n - bit identification word or it will come up with “ garbage .” the continued and inevitable engineering improvement in the detection of embedded code signals will undoubtedly borrow heavily from this generic field of known signal detection . a common and well - known technique in this field is the so - called “ matched filter ,” which is incidentally discussed early in section 2 of the kassam book . many basic texts on signal processing include discussions on this method of signal detection . this is also known in some fields as correlation detection . furthermore , when the phase or location of a known signal is known a priori , such as is often the case in applications of this invention , then the matched filter can often be reduced to a simple vector dot product between a suspect image and the embedded signal associated with an m &# 39 ; th bit plane in our n - bit identification word . this then represents yet another simple “ detection algorithm ” for taking a suspect image and producing a sequence of 1s and 0s with the intention of determining if that series corresponds to a pre - embedded n - bit identification word . in words , and with reference to fig3 we run through the process steps up through and including the subtracting of the original image from the suspect , but the next step is merely to step through all n random independent signals and perform a simple vector dot product between these signals and the difference signal , and if that dot product is negative , assign a ‘ 0 ’ and if that dot product is positive , assign a ‘ 1 .’ careful analysis of this “ one of many ” algorithms will show its similarity to the traditional matched filter . there are also some immediate improvements to the “ matched filter ” and “ correlation - type ” that can provide enhanced ability to properly detect very low level embedded code signals . some of these improvements are derived from principles set forth in the kassam book , others are generated by the inventor and the inventor has no knowledge of their being developed in other papers or works , but neither has the inventor done fully extensive searching for advanced signal detection techniques . one such technique is perhaps best exemplified by fig3 . 5 in kassam on page 79 , wherein there are certain plots of the various locally optimum weighting coefficients which can apply to a general dot - product algorithmic approach to detection . in other words , rather than performing a simple dot product , each elemental multiplication operation in an overall dot product can be weighted based upon known a priori statistical information about the difference signal itself , i . e ., the signal within which the low level known signals are being sought . the interested reader who is not already familiar with these topics is encouraged to read chapter 3 of kassam to gain a fuller understanding . one principle which did not seem to be explicitly present in the kassam book and which was developed rudimentarily by the inventor involves the exploitation of the magnitudes of the statistical properties of the known signal being sought relative to the magnitude of the statistical properties of the suspect signal as a whole . in particular , the problematic case seems to be where the embedded signals we are looking for are of much lower level than the noise and corruption present on a difference signal . fig1 attempts to set the stage for the reasoning behind this approach . the top figure 720 contains a generic look at the differences in the histograms between a typical “ problematic ” difference signal , i . e ., a difference signal which has a much higher overall energy than the embedded signals that may or may not be within it . the term “ mean - removed ” simply means that the means of both the difference signal and the embedded code signal have been removed , a common operation prior to performing a normalized dot product . the lower figure 722 then has a generally similar histogram plot of the derivatives of the two signals , or in the case of an image , the scalar gradients . from pure inspection it can be seen that a simple thresholding operation in the derivative transform domain , with a subsequent conversion back into the signal domain , will go a long way toward removing certain innate biases on the dot product “ recognition algorithm ” of a few paragraphs back . thresholding here refers to the idea that if the absolute value of a difference signal derivative value exceeds some threshold , then it is replaced simply by that threshold value . the threshold value can be so chosen to contain most of the histogram of the embedded signal . another operation which can be of minor assistance in “ alleviating ” some of the bias effects in the dot product algorithm is the removal of the low order frequencies in the difference signal , i . e ., running the difference signal through a high pass filter , where the cutoff frequency for the high pass filter is relatively near the origin ( or dc ) frequency . special considerations for recognizing embedded codes on signals which have been compressed and decompressed , or alternatively , for recognizing embedded codes within any signal which has undergone some known process which creates non - uniform error sources long title for a basic concept . some signal processing operations , such as compressing and decompressing an image , as with the jpeg / mpeg formats of image / video compression , create errors in some given transform domain which have certain correlations and structure . using jpeg as an example , if a given image is compressed then decompressed at some high compression ratio , and that resulting image is then fourier transformed and compared to the fourier transform of the original uncompressed image , a definite pattern is clearly visible . this patterning is indicative of correlated error , i . e . error which can be to some extent quantified and predicted . the prediction of the grosser properties of this correlated error can then be used to advantage in the heretofore - discussed methods of recognizing the embedded code signals within some suspect image which may have undergone either jpeg compression or any other operation which leaves these telltale correlated error signatures . the basic idea is that in areas where there are known higher levels of error , the value of the recognition methods is diminished relative to the areas with known lower levels of correlated errors . it is often possible to quantify the expected levels of error and use this quantification to appropriately weight the retransformed signal values . using jpeg compression again as an example , a suspect signal can be fourier transformed , and the fourier space representation may clearly show the telltale box grid pattern . the fourier space signal can then be “ spatially filtered ” near the grid points , and this filtered representation can then be transformed back into its regular time or space domain to then be run through the recognition methods presented in this disclosure . likewise , any signal processing method which creates non - uniform error sources can be transformed into the domain in which these error sources are non - uniform , the values at the high points of the error sources can be attenuated , and the thusly “ filtered ” signal can be transformed back into the time / space domain for standard recognition . often this whole process will include the lengthy and arduous step of “ characterizing ” the typical correlated error behavior in order to “ design ” the appropriate filtering profiles . briefly and for the sake of clarity , the phrases and terms “ signatures ,” “ invisible signatures ,” and “ signature codes ” have been and will continue to be used to refer to the general techniques of this invention and often refer specifically to the composite embedded code signal as defined early on in this disclosure . just as there is a distinction made between the jpeg standards for compressing still images and the mpeg standards for compressed motion images , so too should there be distinctions made between placing invisible signatures into still images and placing signatures into motion images . as with the jpeg / mpeg distinction , it is not a matter of different foundations , it is the fact that with motion images a new dimension of engineering optimization opens up by the inclusion of time as a parameter . any textbook dealing with mpeg will surely contain a section on how mpeg is ( generally ) not merely applying jpeg on a frame by frame basis . it will be the same with the application of the principles of this invention : generally speaking , the placement of invisible signatures into motion image sequences will not be simply independently placing invisible signatures into one frame after the next . a variety of time - based considerations come into play , some dealing with the psychophysics of motion image perception , others driven by simple cost engineering considerations . one preferred embodiment is the following . this example actually uses the mpeg compression standard as a piece of a solution . other motion image compression schemes could equally well be used , be they already invented or yet to be invented . this example also utilizes the scrambled logo image approach to generating the master snowy image as depicted in fig1 and discussed in the disclosure . a “ compressed master snowy image ” is independently rendered as depicted in fig1 . “ rendered ” refers to the generally well known technique in video , movie and animation production whereby an image or sequence of images is created by constructive techniques such as computer instructions or the drawing of animation cells by hand . thus , “ to render ” a signature movie in this example is essentially to let either a computer create it as a digital file or to design some custom digital electronic circuitry to create it . the overall goal of the procedure outlined in fig1 is to apply the invisible signatures to the original movie 762 in such a way that the signatures do not degrade the commercial value of the movie , memorialized by the side - by - side viewing , 768 , and in such a way that the signature optimally survives through the mpeg compression and decompression process . as noted earlier , the use of the mpeg process in particular is an example of the generic process of compression . also it should be noted that the example presented here has definite room for engineering variations . in particular , those practiced in the art of motion picture compression will appreciate the fact if we start out with two video streams a and b , and we compress a and b separately and combine their results , then the resultant video stream c will not generally be the same as if we pre - added the video streams a and b and compressed this resultant . thus we have in general , e . g . : where =\= is not equal to . this is somewhat an abstract notion to introduce at this point in the disclosure and will become more clear as fig1 is discussed . the general idea , however , is that there will be a variety of algebras that can be used to optimize the pass - through of “ invisible ” signatures through compression procedures . clearly , the same principles as depicted in fig1 also work on still images and the jpeg or any other still image compression standard . turning now to the details of fig1 , we begin with the simple stepping through of all z frames of a movie or video . for a two hour movie played at 30 frames per second , z turns out to be ( 30 * 2 * 60 * 60 ) or 216 , 000 . the inner loop of 700 , 702 and 704 merely mimics fig1 &# 39 ; s steps . the logo frame optionally can change during the stepping through frames . the two arrows emanating from the box 704 represent both the continuation of the loop 750 and the depositing of output frames into the rendered master snowy image 752 . to take a brief but potentially appropriate digression at this point , the use of the concept of a markov process brings certain clarity to the discussion of optimizing the engineering implementation of the methods of fig1 . briefly , a markov process is one in which a sequence of events takes place and in general there is no memory between one step in the sequence and the next . in the context of fig1 and a sequence of images , a markovian sequence of images would be one in which there is no apparent or appreciable correlation between a given frame and the next . imagine taking the set of all movies ever produced , stepping one frame at a time and selecting a random frame from a random movie to be inserted into an output movie , and then stepping through , say , one minute or 1800 of these frames . the resulting “ movie ” would be a fine example of a markovian movie . one point of this discussion is that depending on how the logo frames are rendered and depending on how the encryption / scrambling step 702 is performed , the master snowy movie 752 will exhibit some generally quantifiable degree of markovian characteristics . the point of this point is that the compression procedure itself will be affected by this degree of markovian nature and thus needs to be accounted for in designing the process of fig1 . likewise , and only in general , even if a fully markovian movie is created in the high brightness master snowy movie , 752 , then the processing of compressing and decompressing that movie 752 , represented as the mpeg box 754 , will break down some of the markovian nature of 752 and create at least a marginally non - markovian compressed master snowy movie 756 . this point will be utilized when the disclosure briefly discusses the idea of using multiple frames of a video stream in order to find a single n - bit identification word , that is , the same n - bit identification word may be embedded into several frames of a movie , and it is quite reasonable to use the information derived from those multiple frames to find that single n - bit identification word . the non - markovian nature of 756 thus adds certain tools to reading and recognizing the invisible signatures . enough of this tangent . with the intent of pre - conditioning the ultimately utilized master snowy movie 756 , we now send the rendered high brightness master snowy movie 752 through both the mpeg compression and decompression procedure 754 . with the caveat previously discussed where it is acknowledged that the mpeg compression process is generally not distributive , the idea of the step 754 is to crudely segregate the initially rendered snowy movie 752 into two components , the component which survives the compression process 754 which is 756 , and the component which does not survive , also crudely estimated using the difference operation 758 to produce the “ cheap master snowy movie ” 760 . the reason use is made of the deliberately loose term “ cheap ” is that we can later add this signature signal as well to a distributable movie , knowing that it probably won &# 39 ; t survive common compression processes but that nevertheless it can provide “ cheap ” extra signature signal energy for applications or situations which will never experience compression . [ thus it is at least noted in fig1 ]. back to fig1 proper , we now have a rough cut at signatures which we know have a higher likelihood of surviving intact through the compression process , and we use this “ compressed master snowy movie ” 756 to then go through this invention &# 39 ; s procedure of being scaled down 764 , added to the original movie 766 , producing a candidate distributable movie 770 , then compared to the original movie ( 768 ) to ensure that it meets whatever commercially viable criteria which have been set up ( i . e . the acceptable perceived noise level ). the arrow from the side - by - side step 768 back to the scale down step 764 corresponds quite directly to the “ experiment visually . . . ” step of fig2 and the gain control 226 of fig6 . those practiced in the art of image and audio information theory can recognize that the whole of fig1 can be summarized as attempting to pre - condition the invisible signature signals in such a way that they are better able to withstand even quite appreciable compression . to reiterate a previously mentioned item as well , this idea equally applies to any such pre - identifiable process to which an image , and image sequence , or audio track might be subjected . this clearly includes the jpeg process on still images . fig2 shows an illustrative video method according to an embodiment of the present invention . it should be noted that the method steps represented in fig1 , generally following from box 750 up through the creation of the compressed master snowy movie 756 , could with certain modification be implemented in hardware . in particular , the overall analog noise source 206 in fig6 could be replaced by such a hardware circuit . likewise the steps and associated procedures depicted in fig1 could be implemented in hardware and replace the analog noise source 206 . as noted in the digression on markov and non - markov sequences of images , it is pointed out once again that in such circumstances where the embedded invisible signature signals are non - markovian in nature , i . e ., that there is some correlation between the master snowy image of one frame to that of the next , and furthermore that a single n - bit identification word is used across a range of frames and that the sequence of n - bit identification words associated with the sequence of frames is not markovian in nature , then it is possible to utilize the data from several frames of a movie or video in order to recognize a single n - bit identification word . all of this is a fancy way of saying that the process of recognizing the invisible signatures should use as much information as is available , in this case translating to multiple frames of a motion image sequence . the concept of the “ header ” on a digital image or audio file is a well established practice in the art . the top of fig1 has a simplified look at the concept of the header , wherein a data file begins with generally a comprehensive set of information about the file as a whole , often including information about who the author or copyright holder of the data is , if there is a copyright holder at all . this header 800 is then typically followed by the data itself 802 , such as an audio stream , a digital image , a video stream , or compressed versions of any of these items . this is all exceedingly known and common in the industry . one way in which the principles of this invention can be employed in the service of information integrity is generically depicted in the lower diagram of fig1 . in general , the n - bit identification word can be used to essentially “ wallpaper ” a given simple message throughout an image ( as depicted ) or audio data stream , thereby reinforcing some message already contained in a traditional header . this is referred to as “ header verification ” in the title of this section . the thinking here is that less sophisticated would - be pirates and abusers can alter the information content of header information , and the more secure techniques of this inventions can thus be used as checks on the veracity of header information . provided that the code message , such as “ joe &# 39 ; s image ” in the header , matches the repeated message throughout an image , then a user obtaining the image can have some higher degree of confidence that no alteration of the header has taken place . likewise , the header can actually carry the n - bit identification word so that the fact that a given data set has been coded via the methods of this invention can be highlighted and the verification code built right into the header . naturally , this data file format has not been created yet since the principles of this invention are currently not being employed . although all of the possible applications of the following aspect of the invention are not fully developed , it is nevertheless presented as a design alternative that may be important some day . the title of this section contains the silly phrase used to describe this possibility : the “ bodier .” whereas the previous section outlined how the n - bit identification word could “ verify ” information contained within the header of a digital file , there is also the prospect that the methods of this invention could completely replace the very concept of the header and place the information which is traditionally stored in the header directly into the digital signal and empirical data itself . this could be as simple as standardizing on , purely for example , a 96 - bit ( 12 bytes ) leader string on an otherwise entirely empirical data stream . this leader string would plain and simple contain the numeric length , in elemental data units , of the entire data file not including the leader string , and the number of bits of depth of a single data element ( e . g . its number of grey levels or the number of discrete signal levels of an audio signal ). from there , universal codes as described in this specification would be used to read the n - bit identification word written directly within the empirical data . the length of the empirical data would need to be long enough to contain the full n bits . the n - bit word would effectively transmit what would otherwise be contained in a traditional header . fig1 depicts such a data format and calls it the “ universal empirical data format .” the leader string 820 is comprised of the 64 bit string length 822 and the 32 bit data word size 824 . the data stream 826 then immediately follows , and the information traditionally contained in the header but now contained directly in the data stream is represented as the attached dotted line 828 . another term used for this attached information is a “ shadow channel ” as also depicted in fig1 . yet another element that may need to be included in the leader string is some sort of complex check sum bits which can verify that the whole of the data file is intact and unaltered . this is not included in fig1 . one intriguing variation on the theme of universal codes is the possibility of the n - bit identification word actually containing instructions which vary the operations of the universal code system itself . one of many examples is immediately in order : a data transmission is begun wherein a given block of audio data is fully transmitted , an n - bit identification word is read knowing that the first block of data used universal codes # 145 out of a set of 500 , say , and that part of the n - bit identification word thus found is the instructions that the next block of data should be “ analyzed ” using the universal code set # 411 rather than # 145 . in general , this invention can thus be used as a method for changing on the fly the actual decoding instructions themselves . also in general , this ability to utilize “ dynamic codes ” should greatly increase the sophistication level of the data verification procedures and increase the economic viability of systems which are prone to less sophisticated thwarting by hackers and would - be pirates . the inventor does not believe that the concept of dynamically changing decoding / decrypting instructions is novel per se , but the carrying of those instructions on the “ shadow channel ” of empirical data does appear to be novel to the best of the inventor &# 39 ; s understanding . [ shadow channel was previously defined as yet another vernacular phrase encapsulating the more steganographic proper elements of this invention ]. a variant on the theme of dynamic codes is the use of universal codes on systems which have a priori assigned knowledge of which codes to use when . one way to summarize this possibility is the idea of “ the daily password .” the password in this example represents knowledge of which set of universal codes is currently operative , and these change depending on some set of application - specific circumstances . presumably many applications would be continually updating the universal codes to ones which had never before been used , which is often the case with the traditional concept of the daily password . part of a currently transmitted n - bit identification word could be the passing on of the next day &# 39 ; s password , for example . though time might be the most common trigger events for the changing of passwords , there could be event based triggers as well . symmetric patterns and noise patterns : toward a robust universal coding system the placement of identification patterns into images is certainly not new . logos stamped into comers of images , subtle patterns such as true signatures or the wallpapering of the copyright circle - c symbol , and the watermark proper are all examples of placing patterns into images in order to signify ownership or to try to prevent illicit uses of the creative material . what does appear to be novel is the approach of placing independent “ carrier ” patterns , which themselves are capable of being modulated with certain information , directly into images and audio for the purposes of transmission and discernment of said information , while effectively being imperceptible and / or unintelligible to a perceiving human . steganographic solutions currently known to the inventor all place this information “ directly ” into empirical data ( possibly first encrypted , then directly ), whereas the methods of this disclosure posit the creation of these ( most - often ) coextensive carrier signals , the modulation of those carrier signals with the information proper , then the direct application to the empirical data . in extending these concepts one step further into the application arena of universal code systems , where a sending site transmits empirical data with a certain universal coding scheme employed and a receiving site analyzes said empirical data using the universal coding scheme , it would be advantageous to take a closer look at the engineering considerations of such a system designed for the transmission of images or motion images , as opposed to audio . said more clearly , the same type of analysis of a specific implementation such as is contained in fig9 and its accompanying discussion on the universal codes in audio applications should as well be done on imagery ( or two dimensional signals ). this section is such an analysis and outline of a specific implementation of universal codes and it attempts to anticipate various hurdles that such a method should clear . the unifying theme of one implementation of a universal coding system for imagery and motion imagery is “ symmetry .” the idea driving this couldn &# 39 ; t be more simple : a prophylactic against the use of image rotation as a means for less sophisticated pirates to bypass any given universal coding system . the guiding principle is that the universal coding system should easily be read no matter what rotational orientation the subject imagery is in . these issues are quite common in the fields of optical character recognition and object recognition , and these fields should be consulted for further tools and tricks in furthering the engineering implementation of this invention . as usual , an immediate example is in order . digital video and internet company xyz has developed a delivery system of its product which relies on a non - symmetric universal coding which double checks incoming video to see if the individual frames of video itself , the visual data , contain xyz &# 39 ; s own relatively high security internal signature codes using the methods of this invention . this works well and fine for many delivery situations , including their internet tollgate which does not pass any material unless both the header information is verified and the in - frame universal codes are found . however , another piece of their commercial network performs mundane routine monitoring on internet channels to look for unauthorized transmission of their proprietary creative property . they control the encryption procedures used , thus it is no problem for them to unencrypt creative property , including headers , and perform straightforward checks . a pirate group that wants to traffic material on xyz &# 39 ; s network has determined how to modify the security features in xyz &# 39 ; s header information system , and they have furthermore discovered that by simply rotating imagery by 10 or 20 degrees , and transmitting it over xyz &# 39 ; s network , the network doesn &# 39 ; t recognize the codes and therefore does not flag illicit uses of their material , and the receiver of the pirate &# 39 ; s rotated material simply unrotates it . summarizing this last example via logical categories , the non - symmetric universal codes are quite acceptable for the “ enablement of authorized action based on the finding of the codes ,” whereas it can be somewhat easily by - passed in the case of “ random monitoring ( policing ) for the presence of codes .” [ bear in mind that the non - symmetric universal codes may very well catch 90 % of illicit uses , i . e . 90 % of the illicit users wouldn &# 39 ; t bother even going to the simple by - pass of rotation .] to address this latter category , the use of quasi - rotationally symmetric universal codes is called for . “ quasi ” derives from the age old squaring the circle issue , in this instance translating into not quite being able to represent a full incrementally rotational symmetric 2 - d object on a square grid of pixels . furthermore , basic considerations must be made for scale / magnification changes of the universal codes . it is understood that the monitoring process must be performed when the monitored visual material is in the “ perceptual ” domain , i . e . when it has been unencrypted or unscrambled and in the form with which it is ( or would be ) presented to a human viewer . would - be pirates could attempt to use other simple visual scrambling and unscrambling techniques , and tools could be developed to monitor for these telltale scrambled signals . said another way , would - be pirates would then look to transform visual material out of the perceptual domain , pass by a monitoring point , and then transform the material back into the perceptual domain ; tools other than the monitoring for universal codes would need to be used in such scenarios . the monitoring discussed here therefore applies to applications where monitoring can be performed in the perceptual domain , such as when it is actually sent to viewing equipment . the “ ring ” is the only full rotationally symmetric two dimensional object . the “ disk ” can be seen as a simple finite series of concentric and perfectly abutted rings having width along their radial axis . thus , the “ ring ” needs to be the starting point from which a more robust universal code standard for images is found . the ring also will fit nicely into the issue of scale / magnification changes , where the radius of a ring is a single parameter to keep track of and account for . another property of the ring is that even the case where differential scale changes are made to different spatial axes in an image , and the ring turns into an oval , many of the smooth and quasi - symmetric properties that any automated monitoring system will be looking for are generally maintained . likewise , appreciable geometric distortion of any image will clearly distort rings but they can still maintain gross symmetric properties . hopefully , more pedestrian methods such as simply “ viewing ” imagery will be able to detect attempted illicit piracy in these regards , especially when such lengths are taken to by - pass the universal coding system . having discovered the ring as the only ideal symmetric pattern upon whose foundation a full rotationally robust universal coding system can be built , we must turn this basic pattern into something functional , something which can carry information , can be read by computers and other instrumentation , can survive simple transformations and corruptions , and can give rise to reasonably high levels of security ( probably not unbreakable , as the section on universal codes explained ) in order to keep the economics of subversion as a simple incremental cost item . one current preferred embodiment of the “ ring - based ” universal codes is what the inventor refers to as “ knot patterns ” or simply “ knots ,” in deference to woven celtic knot patterns which were later refined and exalted in the works of leonardo da vinci ( e . g . mona lisa , or his knot engravings ). some rumors have it that these drawings of knots were indeed steganographic in nature , i . e . conveying messages and signatures ; all the more appropriate . fig1 and 19 explore some of the fundamental properties of these knots . two simple examples of knot patterns are depicted by the supra - radial knots , 850 and the radial knots 852 . the names of these types are based on the central symmetry point of the splayed rings and whether the constituent rings intersect this point , are fully outside it , or in the case of sub - radial knots the central point would be inside a constituent circle . the examples of 850 and 852 clearly show a symmetrical arrangement of 8 rings or circles . “ rings ” is the more appropriate term , as discussed above , in that this term explicitly acknowledges the width of the rings along the radial axis of the ring . it is each of the individual rings in the knot patterns 850 and 852 which will be the carrier signal for a single associated bit plane in our n - bit identification word . thus , the knot patterns 850 and 852 each are an 8 - bit carrier of information . specifically , assuming now that the knot patterns 850 and 852 are luminous rings on a black background , then the “ addition ” of a luminous ring to an independent source image could represent a “ 1 ” and the “ subtraction ” of a luminous ring from an independent source image could represent a “ 0 .” the application of this simple encoding scheme could then be replicated over and over as in fig1 and its mosaic of knot patterns , with the ultimate step of adding a scaled down version of this encoded ( modulated ) knot mosaic directly and coextensively to the original image , with the resultant being the distributable image which has been encoded via this universal symmetric coding method . it remains to communicate to a decoding system which ring is the least significant bit in our n - bit identification word and which is the most significant . one such method is to make a slightly ascending scale of radii values ( of the individual rings ) from the lsb to the msb . another is to merely make the msb , say , 10 % larger radius than all the others and to pre - assign counterclockwise as the order with which the remaining bits fall out . yet another is to put some simple hash mark inside one and only one circle . in other words , there are a variety of ways with which the bit order of the rings can be encoded in these knot patterns . the preferred embodiment for the decoding of , first of all checking for the mere existence of these knot patterns , and second , for the reading of the n - bit identification word , is as follows . a suspect image is first fourier transformed via the extremely common 2d fft computer procedure . assuming that we don &# 39 ; t know the exact scale of the knot patterns , i . e ., we don &# 39 ; t know the radius of an elemental ring of the knot pattern in the units of pixels , and that we don &# 39 ; t know the exact rotational state of a knot pattern , we merely inspect ( via basic automated pattern recognition methods ) the resulting magnitude of the fourier transform of the original image for telltale ripple patterns ( concentric low amplitude sinusoidal rings on top of the spatial frequency profile of a source image ). the periodicity of these rings , along with the spacing of the rings , will inform us that the universal knot patterns are or are not likely present , and their scale in pixels . classical small signal detection methods can be applied to this problem just as they can to the other detection methodologies of this disclosure . common spatial filtering can then be applied to the fourier transformed suspect image , where the spatial filter to be used would pass all spatial frequencies which are on the crests of the concentric circles and block all other spatial frequencies . the resulting filtered image would be fourier transformed out of the spatial frequency domain back into the image space domain , and almost by visual inspection the inversion or non - inversion of the luminous rings could be detected , along with identification of the msb or lsb ring , and the ( in this case 8 ) n - bit identification code word could be found . clearly , a pattern recognition procedure could perform this decoding step as well . the preceding discussion and the method it describes has certain practical disadvantages and shortcomings which will now be discussed and improved upon . the basic method was presented in a simpleminded fashion in order to communicate the basic principles involved . let &# 39 ; s enumerate a few of the practical difficulties of the above described universal coding system using the knot patterns . for one ( 1 ), the ring patterns are somewhat inefficient in their “ covering ” of the full image space and in using all of the information carrying capacity of an image extent . second ( 2 ), the ring patterns themselves will almost need to be more visible to the eye if they are applied , say , in a straightforward additive way to an 8 - bit black and white image . next ( 3 ), the “ 8 ” rings of fig1 , 850 and 852 , is a rather low number , and moreover , there is a 22 and one half degree rotation which could be applied to the figures which the recognition methods would need to contend with ( 360 divided by 8 divided by 2 ). next ( 4 ), strict overlapping of rings would produce highly condensed areas where the added and subtracted brightness could become quite appreciable . next ( 5 ), the 2d fft routine used in the decoding is notoriously computationally cumbersome as well as some of the pattern recognition methods alluded to . finally ( 6 ), though this heretofore described form of universal coding does not pretend to have ultra - high security in the classical sense of top security communications systems , it would nevertheless be advantageous to add certain security features which would be inexpensive to implement in hardware and software systems which at the same time would increase the cost of would - be pirates attempting to thwart the system , and increase the necessary sophistication level of those pirates , to the point that a would - be pirate would have to go so far out of their way to thwart the system that willfulness would be easily proven and hopefully subject to stiff criminal liability and penalty ( such as the creation and distribution of tools which strip creative property of these knot pattern codes ). all of these items can be addressed and should continue to be refined upon in any engineering implementation of the principles of the invention . this disclosure addresses these items with the following current preferred embodiments . beginning with item number 3 , that there are only 8 rings represented in fig1 is simply remedied by increasing the number of rings . the number of rings that any given application will utilize is clearly a function of the application . the trade - offs include but are not limited to : on the side which argues to limit the number of rings utilized , there will ultimately be more signal energy per ring ( per visibility ) if there are less rings ; the rings will be less crowded so that there discernment via automated recognition methods will be facilitated ; and in general since they are less crowded , the full knot pattern can be contained using a smaller overall pixel extent , e . g . a 30 pixel diameter region of image rather than a 100 pixel diameter region . the arguments to increase the number of rings include : the desire to transmit more information , such as ascii information , serial numbers , access codes , allowed use codes and index numbers , history information , etc . ; another key advantage of having more rings is that the rotation of the knot pattern back into itself is reduced , thereby allowing the recognition methods to deal with a smaller range of rotation angles ( e . g ., 64 rings will have a maximum rotational displacement of just under 3 degrees , i . e . maximally dissimilar to its original pattern , where a rotation of about 5 and one half degrees brings the knot pattern back into its initial alignment ; the need to distinguish the msb / lsb and the bit plane order is better seen in this example as well ). it is anticipated that most practical applications will choose between 16 and 128 rings , corresponding to n = 16 to n = 128 for the choice of the number of bits in the n - bit identification code word . the range of this choice would somewhat correlate to the overall radius , in pixels , allotted to an elemental knot pattern such as 850 or 852 . addressing the practical difficulty item number 4 , that of the condensation of rings patterns at some points in the image and lack of ring patterns in others ( which is very similar , but still distinct from , item 1 , the inefficient covering ), the following improvement can be applied . fig1 shows an example of a key feature of a “ knot ” ( as opposed to a pattern of rings ) in that where patterns would supposedly intersect , a virtual third dimension is posited whereby one strand of the knot takes precedence over another strand in some predefined way ; see item 854 . in the terms of imagery , the brightness or dimness of a given intersection point in the knot patterns would be “ assigned ” to one and only one strand , even in areas where more than two strands overlap . the idea here is then extended , 864 , to how rules about this assignment should be carried out in some rotationally symmetric manner . for example , a rule would be that , travelling clockwise , an incoming strand to a loop would be “ behind ” an outgoing strand . clearly there are a multitude of variations which could be applied to these rules , many which would critically depend on the geometry of the knot patterns chosen . other issues involved will probably be that the finite width , and moreover the brightness profile of the width along the normal axis to the direction of a strand , will all play a role in the rules of brightness assignment to any given pixel underlying the knot patterns . a major improvement to the nominal knot pattern system previously described directly addresses practical difficulties ( 1 ), the inefficient covering , ( 2 ) the unwanted visibility of the rings , and ( 6 ) the need for higher levels of security . this improvement also indirectly address item ( 4 ) the overlapping issue , which has been discussed in the last paragraph . this major improvement is the following : just prior to the step where the mosaic of the encoded knot patterns is added to an original image to produce a distributable image , the mosaic of encoded knot patterns , 866 , is spatially filtered ( using common 2d fft techniques ) by a standardized and ( generally smoothly ) random phase - only spatial filter . it is very important to note that this phase - only filter is itself fully rotationally symmetric within the spatial frequency domain , i . e . its filtering effects are fully rotationally symmetric . the effect of this phase - only filter on an individual luminous ring is to transform it into a smoothly varying pattern of concentric rings , not totally dissimilar to the pattern on water several instances after a pebble is dropped in , only that the wave patterns are somewhat random in the case of this phase - only filter rather than the uniform periodicity of a pebble wave pattern . fig2 attempts to give a rough ( i . e . non - greyscale ) depiction of these phase - only filtered ring patterns . the top figure of fig2 is a cross section of a typical brightness contour / profile 874 of one of these phase - only filtered ring patterns . referenced in the figure is the nominal location of the pre - filtered outer ring center , 870 . the center of an individual ring , 872 , is referenced as the point around which the brightness profile is rotated in order to fully describe the two dimensional brightness distribution of one of these filtered patterns . yet another rough attempt to communicate the characteristics of the filtered ring is depicted as 876 , a crude greyscale image of the filtered ring . this phase - only filtered ring , 876 will can be referred to as a random ripple pattern . not depicted in fig2 is the composite effects of phase - only filtering on the knot patterns of fig1 , or on the mosaic of knot patterns 866 in fig1 . each of the individual rings in the knot patterns 850 or 852 will give rise to a 2d brightness pattern of the type 876 , and together they form a rather complicated brightness pattern . realizing that the encoding of the rings is done by making it luminous ( 1 ) or “ anti - luminous ” ( 0 ), the resulting phase - only filtered knot patterns begin to take on subtle characteristics which no longer make direct sense to the human eye , but which are still readily discernable to a computer especially after the phase - only filtering is inverse filtered reproducing the original rings patterns . returning now to fig1 , we can imagine that an 8 - bit identification word has been encoded on the knot patterns and the knot patterns phase - only filtered . the resulting brightness distribution would be a rich tapestry of overlapping wave patterns which would have a certain beauty , but would not be readily intelligible to the eye / brain . [ an exception to this might draw from the lore of the south pacific island communities , where it is said that sea travellers have learned the subtle art of reading small and multiply complex ocean wave patterns , generated by diffracted and reflected ocean waves off of intervening islands , as a primary navigational tool .] for want of a better term , the resulting mosaic of filtered knot patterns ( derived from 866 ) can be called the encoded knot tapestry or just the knot tapestry . some basic properties of this knot tapestry are that it retains the basic rotational symmetry of its generator mosaic , it is generally unintelligible to the eye / brain , thus raising it a notch on the sophistication level of reverse engineering , it is more efficient at using the available information content of a grid of pixels ( more on this in the next section ), and if the basic knot concepts 854 and 864 are utilized , it will not give rise to local “ hot spots ” where the signal level becomes unduly condensed and hence objectionably visible to a viewer . the basic decoding process previously described would now need the additional step of inverse filtering the phase - only filter used in the encoding process . this inverse filtering is quite well known in the image processing industry . provided that the scale of the knot patterns are known a priori , the inverse filtering is straightforward . if on the other hand the scale of the knot patterns is not known , then an additional step of discovering this scale is in order . one such method of discovering the scale of the knot patterns is to iteratively apply the inverse phase - only filter to variously scaled version of an image being decoded , searching for which scale - version begins to exhibit noticeable knot patterning . a common search algorithm such as the simplex method could be used in order to accurately discover the scale of the patterns . the field of object recognition should also be consulted , under the general topic of unknown - scale object detection . an additional point about the efficiency with which the knot tapestry covers the image pixel grid is in order . most applications of the knot tapestry method of universal image coding will posit the application of the fully encoded tapestry ( i . e . the tapestry which has the n - bit identification word embedded ) at a relative low brightness level into the source image . in real terms , the brightness scale of the encoded tapestry will vary from , for example , − 5 grey scale values to 5 grey scale values in a typical 256 grey scale image , where the preponderance of values will be within − 2 and 2 . this brings up the purely practical matter that the knot tapestry will be subject to appreciable bit truncation error . put as an example , imagine a constructed knot tapestry nicely utilizing a full 256 grey level image , then scaling this down by a factor of 20 in brightness including the bit truncation step , then rescaling this truncated version back up in brightness by the same factor of 20 , then inverse phase - only filtering the resultant . the resulting knot pattern mosaic will be a noticeably degraded version of the original knot pattern mosaic . the point of bringing all of this up is the following : it will be a simply defined , but indeed challenging , engineering task to select the various free parameters of design in the implementation of the knot tapestry method , the end goal being to pass a maximum amount of information about the n - bit identification word within some pre - defined visibility tolerance of the knot tapestry . the free parameters include but would not be fully limited to : the radius of the elemental ring in pixels , n or the number of rings , the distance in pixels from the center of a knot pattern to the center of an elemental ring , the packing criteria and distances of one knot pattern with the others , the rules for strand weaving , and the forms and types of phase - only filters to be used on the knot mosaics . it would be desirable to feed such parameters into a computer optimization routine which could assist in their selection . even this would begin surely as more of an art than a science due to the many non - linear free parameters involved . a side note on the use of phase - only filtering is that it can assist in the detection of the ring patterns . it does so in that the inverse filtering of the decoding process tends to “ blur ” the underlying source image upon which the knot tapestry is added , while at the same time “ bringing into focus ” the ring patterns . without the blurring of the source image , the emerging ring patterns would have a harder time “ competing ” with the sharp features of typical images . the decoding procedure should also utilize the gradient thresholding method described in another section . briefly , this is the method where if it is known that a source signal is much larger in brightness than our signature signals , then an image being decoded can have higher gradient areas thresholded in the service of increasing the signal level of the signature signals relative to the source signal . as for the other practical difficulty mentioned earlier , item ( 5 ) which deals with the relative computational overhead of the 2d fft routine and of typical pattern recognition routines , the first remedy here posited but not filled is to find a simpler way of quickly recognizing and decoding the polarity of the ring brightnesses than that of using the 2d fft . barring this , it can be seen that if the pixel extent of an individual knot pattern ( 850 or 852 ) is , for example , 50 pixels in diameter , than a simple 64 by 64 pixel 2d fft on some section of an image may be more than sufficient to discern the n - bit identification word as previously described . the idea would be to use the smallest image region necessary , as opposed to being required to utilize an entire image , to discern the n - bit identification word . another note is that those practitioners in the science of image processing will recognize that instead of beginning the discussion on the knot tapestry with the utilization of rings , we could have instead jumped right to the use of 2d brightness distribution patterns 876 , qua bases functions . the use of the “ ring ” terminology as the baseline invention is partly didactic , as is appropriate for patent disclosures in any event . what is more important , perhaps , is that the use of true “ rings ” in the decoding process , post - inverse filtering , is probably the simplest form to input into typical pattern recognition routines . those skilled in the signal processing art will recognize that computers employing neural network architectures are well suited to the pattern recognition and detection - of - small - signal - in - noise issues posed by the present invention . while a completed is course on these topics is beyond the scope of this specification , the interested reader is referred to , e . g ., cherkassky , v ., “ from statistics to neural networks : theory & amp ; pattern recognition applications ,” springer - verlag , 1994 ; masters , t ., “ signal & amp ; image processing with neural networks : c sourcebook ,” wiley , 1994 ; guyon , i , “ advances in pattern recognition systems using neural networks ,” world scientific publishers , 1994 ; nigrin , a ., “ neural networks for pattern recognition ,” mit press , 1993 ; cichoki , a ., “ neural networks for optimization & amp ; signal processing ,” wiley , 1993 ; and chen , c ., “ neural networks for pattern recognition & amp ; their applications ,” world scientic publishers , 1991 . 2d universal codes ii : simple scan line implementation of the one dimensional case the above section on rings , knots and tapestries certainly has its beauty , but some of the steps involved may have enough complexity that practical implementations may be too costly for certain applications . a poor cousin the concept of rings and well - designed symmetry is to simply utilize the basic concepts presented in connection with fig9 and the audio signal , and apply them to two dimensional signals such as images , but to do so in a manner where , for example , each scan line in an image has a random starting point on , for example , a 1000 pixel long universal noise signal . it would then be incumbent upon recognition software and hardware to interrogate imagery across the full range of rotational state s and scale factors to “ find ” the existence of these universal codes . the universal commercial copyright ( ucc ) image , audio , and video file formats it is as well known as it is regretted that there exist a plethora of file format standards ( and not - so - standards ) for digital images , digital audio , and digital video . these standards have generally been formed within specific industries and applications , and as the usage and exchange of creative digital material proliferated , the various file formats slugged it out in cross - disciplinary arenas , where today we find a de facto histogram of devotees and users of the various favorite formats . the jpeg , mpeg standards for formatting and compression are only slight exceptions it would seem , where some concerted cross - industry collaboration came into play . the cry for a simple universal standard file format for audio / visual data is as old as the hills . the cry for the protection of such material is older still . with all due respect to the innate difficulties attendant upon the creation of a universal format , and with all due respect to the pretentiousness of outlining such a plan within a patent disclosure , the inventor does believe that the methods of this invention can serve perhaps as well as anything for being the foundation upon which an accepted world - wide “ universal commercial copyright ” format is built . practitioners know that such animals are not built by proclamation , but through the efficient meeting of broad needs , tenacity , and luck . more germane to the purposes of this disclosure is the fact that the application of this invention would benefit if it could become a central piece within an industry standard file format . the use of universal codes in particular could be specified within such a standard . the fullest expression of the commercial usage of this invention comes from the knowledge that the invisible signing is taking place and the confidence that instills in copyright holders . the following is a list of reasons that the principles of this invention could serve as the catalyst for such a standard : ( 1 ) few if any technical developments have so isolated and so pointedly addressed the issue of broad - brush protection of empirical data and audio / visual material ; ( 2 ) all previous file formats have treated the information about the data , and the data itself , as two separate and physically distinct entities , whereas the methods of this invention can combine the two into one physical entity ; ( 3 ) the mass scale application of the principles of this invention will require substantial standardization work in the first place , including integration with the years - to - come improvements in compression technologies , so the standards infrastructure will exist by default ; ( 4 ) the growth of multimedia has created a generic class of data called “ content ,” which includes text , images , sound , and graphics , arguing for higher and higher levels of “ content standards ”; and ( 5 ) marrying copyright protection technology and security features directly into a file format standard is long overdue . elements of a universal standard would certainly include the mirroring aspects of the header verification methods , where header information is verified by signature codes directly within data . also , a universal standard would outline how hybrid uses of fully private codes and public codes would commingle . thus , if the public codes were “ stripped ” by sophisticated pirates , the private codes would remain intact . a universal standard would specify how invisible signatures would evolve as digital images and audio evolve . thus , when a given image is created based on several source images , the standard would specify how and when the old signatures would be removed and replaced by new signatures , and if the header would keep track of these evolutions and if the signatures themselves would keep some kind of record . most of the disclosure focuses on pixels being the basic carriers of the n - bit identification word . the section discussing the use of a single “ master code signal ” went so far as to essentially “ assign ” each and every pixel to a unique bit plane in the n - bit identification word . for many applications , with one exemplar being that of ink based printing at 300 dots per inch resolution , what was once a pixel in a pristine digital image file becomes effectively a blob ( e . g . of dithered ink on a piece of paper ). often the isolated information carrying capacity of the original pixel becomes compromised by neighboring pixels spilling over into the geometrically defined space of the original pixel . those practiced in the art will recognize this as simple spatial filtering and various forms of blurring . in such circumstances it may be more advantageous to assign a certain highly local group of pixels to a unique bit plane in the n - bit identification word , rather than merely a single pixel . the end goal is simply to pre - concentrate more of the signature signal energy into the lower frequencies , realizing that most practical implementations quickly strip or mitigate higher frequencies . a simple - minded approach would be to assign a 2 by 2 block of pixels all to be modulated with the same ultimate signature grey value , rather than modulating a single assigned pixel . a more fancy approach is depicted in fig2 , where an array of pixel groups is depicted . this is a specific example of a large class of configurations . the idea is that now a certain small region of pixels is associated with a given unique bit plane in the n - bit identification word , and that this grouping actually shares pixels between bit planes ( though it doesn &# 39 ; t necessary have to share pixels , as in the case of a 2 × 2 block of pixels above ). depicted in fig2 is a 3 × 3 array of pixels with an example normalized weighting ( normalized → the weights add up to 1 ). the methods of this invention now operate on this elementary “ bump ,” as a unit , rather than on a single pixel . it can be seen that in this example there is a fourfold decrease in the number of master code values that need to be stored , due to the spreading out of the signature signal . applications of this “ bump approach ” to placing in invisible signatures include any application which will experience a priori known high amounts of blurring , where proper identification is still desired even after this heavy blurring . as mentioned in the initial sections of the disclosure , steganography as an art and as a science is a generic prior art to this invention . putting the shoe on the other foot now , and as already doubtless apparent to the reader who has ventured thus far , the methods of this invention can be used as a novel method for performing steganography . ( indeed , all of the discussion thus far may be regarded as exploring various forms and implementations of steganography .) in the present section , we shall consider steganography as the need to pass a message from point a to point b , where that message is essentially hidden within generally independent empirical data . as anyone in the industry of telecommunications can attest to , the range of purposes for passing messages is quite broad . presumably there would be some extra need , beyond pure hobby , to place messages into empirical data and empirical signals , rather than sending those messages via any number of conventional and straightforward channels . past literature and product propaganda within steganography posits that such an extra need , among others , might be the desire to hide the fact that a message is even being sent . another possible need is that a conventional communications channel is not available directly or is cost prohibitive , assuming , that is , that a sender of messages can “ transmit ” their encoded empirical data somehow . this disclosure includes by reference all previous discussions on the myriad uses to which steganography might apply , while adding the following uses which the inventor has not previously seen described . the first such use is very simple . it is the need to carry messages about the empirical data within which the message is carried . the little joke is that now the media is truly the message , though it would be next to impossible that some previous steganographer hasn &# 39 ; t already exploited this joke . some of the discussion on placing information about the empirical data directly inside that empirical data was already covered in the section on replacing the header and the concept of the “ bodier .” this section expands upon that section somewhat . the advantages of placing a message about empirical data directly in that data is that now only one class of data object is present rather than the previous two classes . in any two class system , there is the risk of the two classes becoming disassociated , or one class corrupted without the other knowing about it . a concrete example here is what the inventor refers to as “ device independent instructions .” there exist zillions of machine data formats and data file formats . this plethora of formats has been notorious in its power to impede progress toward universal data exchange and having one machine do the same thing that another machine can do . the instructions that an originator might put into a second class of data ( say the header ) may not at all be compatible with a machine which is intended to recognize these instructions . if format conversions have taken place , it is also possible that critical instructions have been stripped along the way , or garbled . the improvements disclosed here can be used as a way to “ seal in ” certain instructions directly into empirical data in such a way that all that is needed by a reading machine to recognize instructions and messages is to perform a standardized “ recognition algorithm ” on the empirical data ( providing of course that the machine can at the very least “ read ” the empirical data properly ). all machines could implement this algorithm any old way they choose , using any compilers or internal data formats that they want . implementation of this device independent instruction method would generally not be concerned over the issue of piracy or illicit removal of the sealed in messages . presumably , the embedded messages and instructions would be a central valuable component in the basic value and functioning of the material . another example of a kind of steganographic use of the invention is the embedding of universal use codes for the benefit of a user community . the “ message ” being passed could be simply a registered serial number identifying ownership to users who wish to legitimately use and pay for the empirical information . the serial number could index into a vast registry of creative property , containing the name or names of the owners , pricing information , billing information , and the like . the “ message ” could also be the clearance of free and public use for some given material . similar ownership identification and use indexing can be achieved in two class data structure methods such as a header , but the use of the single class system of this invention may offer certain advantages over the two class system in that the single class system does not care about file format conversion , header compatibilities , internal data format issues , header / body archiving issues , and media transformations . prior art steganographic methods currently known to the inventor generally involve fully deterministic or “ exact ” prescriptions for passing a message . another way to say this is that it is a basic assumption that for a given message to be passed correctly in its entirety , the receiver of the information needs to receive the exact digital data file sent by the sender , tolerating no bit errors or “ loss ” of data . by definition , “ lossy ” compression and decompression on empirical signals defeat such steganographic methods . ( prior art , such as the previously noted komatsu work , are the exceptions here .) the principles of this invention can also be utilized as an exact form of steganography proper . it is suggested that such exact forms of steganography , whether those of prior art or those of this invention , be combined with the relatively recent art of the “ digital signature ” and / or the dss ( digital signature standard ) in such a way that a receiver of a given empirical data file can first verify that not one single bit of information has been altered in the received file , and thus verify that the contained exact steganographic message has not been altered . the simplest way to use the principles of this invention in an exact steganographic system is to utilize the previously discussed “ designed ” master noise scheme wherein the master snowy code is not allowed to contain zeros . both a sender and a receiver of information would need access to both the master snowy code signal and the original unencoded original signal . the receiver of the encoded signal merely subtracts the original signal giving the difference signal and the techniques of simple polarity checking between the difference signal and the master snowy code signal , data sample to data sample , producing a the passed message a single bit at a time . presumably data samples with values near the “ rails ” of the grey value range would be skipped ( such as the values 0 , 1 , 254 and 255 in 8 - bit depth empirical data ). the need for the receiver of a steganographic embedded data file to have access to the original signal can be removed by turning to what the inventor refers to as “ statistical steganography .” in this approach , the methods of this invention are applied as simple a priori rules governing the reading of an empirical data set searching for an embedded message . this method also could make good use of it combination with prior art methods of verifying the integrity of a data file , such as with the dss . ( see , e . g ., walton , “ image authentication for a slippery new age ,” dr . dobb &# 39 ; s journal , april , 1995 , p . 18 for methods of verifying the sample - by - sample , bit - by - bit , integrity of a digital image .) statistical steganography posits that a sender and receiver both have access to the same master snowy code signal . this signal can be entirely random and securely transmitted to both parties , or generated by a shared and securely transmitted lower order key which generates a larger quasi - random master snowy code signal . it is a priori defined that 16 bit chunks of a message will be passed within contiguous 1024 sample blocks of empirical data , and that the receiver will use dot product decoding methods as outlined in this disclosure . the sender of the information pre - checks that the dot product approach indeed produces the accurate 16 bit values ( that is , the sender pre - checks that the cross - talk between the carrier image and the message signal is not such that the dot product operation will produce an unwanted inversion of any of the 16 bits ). some fixed number of 1024 sample blocks are transmitted and the same number times 16 bits of message is therefore transmitted . dss techniques can be used to verify the integrity of a message when the transmitted data is known to only exist in digital form , whereas internal checksum and error correcting codes can be transmitted in situations where the data may be subject to change and transformation in its transmission . in this latter case , it is best to have longer blocks of samples for any given message content size ( such as 10k samples for a 16 bit message chunk , purely as an example ). the methods of this disclosure generally posit the existence of “ empirical signals ,” which is another way of saying signals which have noise contained within them almost by definition . there are two classes of 2 dimensional graphics which are not generally considered to have noise inherent in them : vector graphics and certain indexed bit - mapped graphics . vector graphics and vector graphic files are generally files which contain exact instructions for how a computer or printer draws lines , curves and shapes . a change of even one bit value in such a file might change a circle to a square , as a very crude example . in other words , there is generally no “ inherent noise ” to exploit within these files . indexed bit - mapped graphics refers to images which are composed of generally a small number of colors or grey values , such as 16 in the early cga displays on pc computers . such “ very - low - order ” bit - mapped images usually display graphics and cartoons , rather than being used in the attempted display of a digital image taken with a camera of the natural world . these types of very - low - order bit - mapped graphics also are generally not considered to contain “ noise ” in the classic sense of that term . the exception is where indexed graphic files do indeed attempt to depict natural imagery , such as with the gif ( graphic interchange format of compuserve ), where the concept of “ noise ” is still quite valid and the principles of this invention still quite valid . these latter forms often use dithering ( similar to pointillist paintings and color newspaper print ) to achieve near lifelike imagery . this section concerns this class of 2 dimensional graphics which traditionally do not contain “ noise .” this section takes a brief look at how the principles of this invention can still be applied in some fashion to such creative material . the easiest way to apply the principles of this invention to these “ noiseless ” graphics is to convert them into a form which is amenable to the application of the principles of this invention . many terms have been used in the industry for this conversion , including “ ripping ” a vector graphic ( raster image processing ) such that a vector graphic file is converted to a greyscale pixel - based raster image . programs such as photoshop by adobe have such internal tools to convert vector graphic files into rgb or greyscale digital images . once these files are in such a form , the principles of this invention can be applied in a straightforward manner . likewise , very - low - indexed bitmaps can be converted to an rgb digital image or an equivalent . in the rgb domain , the signatures can be applied to the three color channels in appropriate ratios , or the rgb image can be simply converted into a greyscale / chroma format such as “ lab ” in photoshop , and the signatures can be applied to the “ lightness channel ” therein . since most of the distribution media , such as videotapes , cd - roms , mpeg video , digital images , and print are all in forms which are amenable to the application of the principles of this invention , this conversion from vector graphic form and very - low - order graphic form is often done in any event . another way to apply the principles of this invention to vector graphics and very - low - order bitmapped graphics is to recognize that , indeed , there are certain properties to these inherent graphic formats which — to the eye — appear as noise . the primary example is the borders and contours between where a given line or figure is drawn or not drawn , or exactly where a bit - map changes from green to blue . in most cases , a human viewer of such graphics will be keenly aware of any attempts to “ modulate signature signals ” via the detailed and methodical changing of the precise contours of a graphic object . nevertheless , such encoding of the signatures is indeed possible . the distinction between this approach and that disclosed in the bulk of this disclosure is that now the signatures must ultimately derive from what already exists in a given graphic , rather than being purely and separately created and added into a signal . this disclosure points out the possibilities here nonetheless . the basic idea is to modulate a contour , a touch right or a touch left , a touch up or a touch down , in such a way as to communicate an n - bit identification word . the locations of the changes contours would be contained in a an analogous master noise image , though now the noise would be a record of random spatial shifts one direction or another , perpendicular to a given contour . bit values of the n - bit identification word would be encoded , and read , using the same polarity checking method between the applied change and the change recorded in the master noise image . plastic credit and debit card systems based on the principles of the invention growth in the use of plastic credit cards , and more recently debit cards and atm cash cards , needs little introduction . nor does there need to be much discussion here about the long history of fraud and illicit uses of these financial instruments . the development of the credit card hologram , and its subsequent forgery development , nicely serves as a historic example of the give and take of plastic card security measures and fraudulent countermeasures . this section will concern itself with how the principles of this invention can be realized in an alternative , highly fraud - proof yet cost effective plastic card - based financial network . a basic list of desired features for an ubiquitous plastic economy might be as follows : 1 ) a given plastic financial card is completely impossible to forge ; 2 ) an attempted forged card ( a “ look - alike ”) cannot even function within a transaction setting ; 3 ) intercepted electronic transactions by a would - be thief would not in any way be useful or re - useable ; 4 ) in the event of physical theft of an actual valid card , there are still formidable obstacles to a thief using that card ; and 5 ) the overall economic cost of implementation of the financial card network is equal to or less than that of the current international credit card networks , i . e ., the fully loaded cost per transaction is equal to or less than the current norm , allowing for higher profit margins to the implementors of the networks . apart from item 5 , which would require a detailed analysis of the engineering and social issues involved with an all out implementation strategy , the following use of the principles of this invention may well achieve the above list , even item 5 . fig2 through 26 , along with the ensuing written material , collectively outline what is referred to in fig2 as “ the negligible - fraud cash card system .” the reason that the fraud - prevention aspects of the system are highlighted in the title is that fraud , and the concomitant lost revenue therefrom , is apparently a central problem in today &# 39 ; s plastic card based economies . the differential advantages and disadvantages of this system relative to current systems will be discussed after a preferred embodiment is presented . fig2 illustrates the basic unforgeable plastic card which is quite unique to each and every user . a digital image 940 is taken of the user of the card . a computer , which is hooked into the central accounting network , 980 , depicted in fig2 , receives the digital image 940 , and after processing it ( as will be described surrounding fig2 ) produces a final rendered image which is then printed out onto the personal cash card 950 . also depicted in fig2 is a straightforward identification marking , in this case a bar code 952 , and optional position fiducials which may assist in simplifying the scanning tolerances on the reader 958 depicted in fig2 . the short story is that the personal cash card 950 actually contains a very large amount of information unique to that particular card . there are no magnetic strips involved , though the same principles can certainly be applied to magnetic strips , such as an implanted magnetic noise signal ( see earlier discussion on the “ fingerprinting ” of magnetic strips in credit cards ; here , the fingerprinting would be prominent and proactive as opposed to passive ). in any event , the unique information within the image on the personal cash card 950 is stored along with the basic account information in a central accounting network , 980 , fig2 . the basis for unbreakable security is that during transactions , the central network need only query a small fraction of the total information contained on the card , and never needs to query the same precise information on any two transactions . hundreds if not thousands or even tens of thousands of unique and secure “ transaction tokens ” are contained within a single personal cash card . would - be pirates who went so far as to pick off transmissions of either encrypted or even unencrypted transactions would find the information useless thereafter . this is in marked distinction to systems which have a single complex and complete “ key ” ( generally encrypted ) which needs to be accessed , in its entirety , over and over again . the personal cash card on the other hand contains thousands of separate and secure keys which can be used once , within milliseconds of time , then forever thrown away ( as it were ). the central network 980 keeps track of the keys and knows which have been used and which haven &# 39 ; t . fig2 depicts what a typical point - of - sale reading device , 958 , might look like . clearly , such a device would need to be manufacturable at costs well in line with , or cheaper than , current cash register systems , atm systems , and credit card swipers . not depicted in fig2 are the innards of the optical scanning , image processing , and data communications components , which would simply follow normal engineering design methods carrying out the functions that are to be described henceforth and are well within the capability of artisans in these fields . the reader 958 has a numeric punch pad 962 on it , showing that a normal personal identification number system can be combined with the overall design of this system adding one more conventional layer of security ( generally after a theft of the physical card has occurred ). it should also be pointed out that the use of the picture of the user is another strong ( and increasingly common ) security feature intended to thwart after - theft and illicit use . functional elements such as the optical window , 960 , are shown , mimicking the shape of the card , doubling as a centering mechanism for the scanning . also shown is the data line cable 966 presumably connected either to a proprietor &# 39 ; s central merchant computer system or possibly directly to the central network 980 . such a reader may also be attached directly to a cash register which performs the usual tallying of purchased items . perhaps overkill on security would be the construction of the reader , 958 , as a type of faraday cage such that no electronic signals , such as the raw scan of the card , can emanate from the unit . the reader 958 does need to contain , preferably , digital signal processing units which will assist in swiftly calculating the dot product operations described henceforth . it also should contain local read - only memory which stores a multitude of spatial patterns ( the orthogonal patterns ) which will be utilized in the “ recognition ” steps outlined in fig2 and its discussion . as related in fig2 , a consumer using the plastic card merely places their card on the window to pay for a transaction . a user could choose for themselves if they want to use a pin number or not . approval of the purchase would presumably happen within seconds , provided that the signal processing steps of fig2 are properly implemented with effectively parallel digital processing hardware . fig2 takes a brief look at one way to process the raw digital image , 940 , of a user into an image with more useful information content and uniqueness . it should be clearly pointed out that the raw digital image itself could in fact be used in the following methods , but that placing in additional orthogonal patterns into the image can significantly increase the overall system . ( orthogonal means that , if a given pattern is multiplied by another orthogonal pattern , the resulting number is zero , where “ multiplication of patterns ” is meant in the sense of vector dot products ; these are all familiar terms and concepts in the art of digital image processing ). fig2 shows that the computer 942 can , after interrogating the raw image 970 , generate a master snowy image 972 which can be added to the raw image 970 to produce a yet - more unique image which is the image that is printed onto the actual personal cash card , 950 . the overall effect on the image is to “ texturize ” the image . in the case of a cash card , invisibility of the master snowy pattern is not as much of a requirement as with commercial imagery , and one of the only criteria for keeping the master snowy image somewhat lighter is to not obscure the image of the user . the central network , 980 , stores the final processed image in the record of the account of the user , and it is this unique and securely kept image which is the carrier of the highly secure “ throw - away transaction keys .” this image will therefore be “ made available ” to all duly connected point - of - sale locations in the overall network . as will be seen , none of the point - of - sale locations ever has knowledge of this image , they merely answer queries from the central network . fig2 steps through a typical transaction sequence . the figure is laid out via indentations , where the first column are steps performed by the point - of - sale reading device 958 , the second column has information transmission steps communicated over the data line 966 , and the third column has steps taken by the central network 980 which has the secured information about the user &# 39 ; s account and the user &# 39 ; s unique personal cash card 950 . though there is some parallelism possible in the implementation of the steps , as is normally practiced in the engineering implementation of such systems , the steps are nevertheless laid out according to a general linear sequence of events . step one of fig2 is the standard “ scanning ” of a personal cash card 950 within the optical window 960 . this can be performed using linear optical sensors which scan the window , or via a two dimensional optical detector array such as a ccd . the resulting scan is digitized into a grey scale image and stored in an image frame memory buffer such as a “ framegrabber ,” as is now common in the designs of optical imaging systems . once the card is scanned , a first image processing step would probably be locating the four fiducial center points , 954 , and using these four points to guide all further image processing operations ( i . e . the four fiducials “ register ” the corresponding patterns and barcodes on the personal cash card ). next , the barcode id number would be extracted using common barcode reading image processing methods . generally , the user &# 39 ; s account number would be determined in this step . step two of fig2 is the optional typing in of the pin number . presumably most users would opt to have this feature , except those users who have a hard time remembering such things and who are convinced that no one will ever steal their cash card . step three of fig2 entails connecting through a data line to the central accounting network and doing the usual communications handshaking as is common in modem - based communications systems . the preferred embodiment of this system would obviate the need for standard phone lines , such as the use of optical fiber data links , but for now we can assume it is a garden variety belltone phone line and that the reader 958 hasn &# 39 ; t forgotten the phone number of the central network . after basic communications are established , step four shows that the point - of - sale location transmits the id number found in step 1 , along with probably an encrypted version of the pin number ( for added security , such as using the ever more ubiquitous rsa encryption methods ), and appends the basic information on the merchant who operates the point - of - sale reader 958 , and the amount of the requested transaction in monetary units . step five has the central network reading the id number , routing the information accordingly to the actual memory location of that user &# 39 ; s account , thereafter verifying the pin number and checking that the account balance is sufficient to cover the transaction . along the way , the central network also accesses the merchant &# 39 ; s account , checks that it is valid , and readies it for an anticipated credit . step six begins with the assumption that step five passed all counts . if step five didn &# 39 ; t , the exit step of sending a not ok back to the merchant is not depicted . so , if everything checks out , the central network generates twenty four sets of sixteen numbers , where all numbers are mutually exclusive , and in general , there will be a large but quite definitely finite range of numbers to choose from . fig2 posits the range being 64k or 65536 numbers . it can be any practical number , actually . thus , set one of the twenty four sets might have the numbers 23199 , 54142 , 11007 , 2854 , 61932 , 32879 , 38128 , 48107 , 65192 , 522 , 55723 , 27833 , 19284 , 39970 , 19307 , and 41090 , for example . the next set would be similarly random , but the numbers of set one would be off limits now , and so on through the twenty four sets . thus , the central network would send ( 16 × 24 × 2 bytes ) of numbers or 768 bytes . the actual amount of numbers can be determined by engineering optimization of security versus transmission speed issues . these random numbers are actually indexes to a set of 64k universally a priori defined orthogonal patterns which are well known to both the central network and are permanently stored in memory in all of the point - of - sale readers . as will be seen , a would - be thief &# 39 ; s knowledge of these patterns is of no use . step seven then transmits the basic “ ok to proceed ” message to the reader , 958 , and also sends the 24 sets of 16 random index numbers . step eight has the reader receiving and storing all these numbers . then the reader , using its local microprocessor and custom designed high speed digital signal processing circuitry , steps through all twenty four sets of numbers with the intention of deriving 24 distinct floating point numbers which it will send back to the central network as a “ one time key ” against which the central network will check the veracity of the card &# 39 ; s image . the reader does this by first adding together the sixteen patterns indexed by the sixteen random numbers of a given set , and then performing a common dot product operation between the resulting composite pattern and the scanned image of the card . the dot product generates a single number ( which for simplicity we can call a floating point number ). the reader steps through all twenty four sets in like fashion , generating a unique string of twenty four floating point numbers . step nine then has the reader transmitting these results back to the central network . step ten then has the central network performing a check on these returned twenty four numbers , presumably doing its own exact same calculations on the stored image of the card that the central network has in its own memory . the numbers sent by the reader can be “ normalized ,” meaning that the highest absolute value of the collective twenty four dot products can divided by itself ( its unsigned value ), so that brightness scale issues are removed . the resulting match between the returned values and the central network &# 39 ; s calculated values will either be well within given tolerances if the card is valid , and way off if the card is a phony or if the card is a crude reproduction . step eleven then has the central network sending word whether or not the transaction was ok , and letting the customer know that they can go home with their purchased goods . step twelve then explicitly shows how the merchant &# 39 ; s account is credited with the transaction amount . as already stated , the primary advantage of this plastic card invention is to significantly reduce fraud , which apparently is a large cost to current systems . this system reduces the possibility of fraud only to those cases where the physical card is either stolen or very carefully copied . in both of these cases , there still remains the pin security and the user picture security ( a known higher security than low wage clerks analyzing signatures ). attempts to copy the card must be performed through “ temporary theft ” of the card , and require photo - quality copying devices , not simple magnetic card swipers . the system is founded upon a modern 24 hour highly linked data network . illicit monitoring of transactions does the monitoring party no use whether the transmissions are encrypted or not . potential use of the invention in the protection and control of software programs the illicit use , copying , and reselling of software programs represents a huge loss of revenues to the software industry at large . the prior art methods for attempting to mitigate this problem are very broad and will not be discussed here . what will be discussed is how the principles of this invention might be brought to bear on this huge problem . it is entirely unclear whether the tools provided by this invention will have any economic advantage ( all things considered ) over the existing countermeasures both in place and contemplated . the state of technology over the last decade or more has made it a general necessity to deliver a full and complete copy of a software program in order for that program to function on a user &# 39 ; s computer . in effect , $ x were invested in creating a software program where x is large , and the entire fruits of that development must be delivered in its entirety to a user in order for that user to gain value from the software product . fortunately this is generally compiled code , but the point is that this is a shaky distribution situation looked at in the abstract . the most mundane ( and harmless in the minds of most perpetrators ) illicit copying and use of the program can be performed rather easily . this disclosure offers , at first , an abstract approach which may or may not prove to be economical in the broadest sense ( where the recovered revenue to cost ratio would exceed that of most competing methods , for example ). the approach expands upon the methods and approaches already laid out in the section on plastic credit and debit cards . the abstract concept begins by positing a “ large set of unique patterns ,” unique among themselves , unique to a given product , and unique to a given purchaser of that product . this set of patterns effectively contains thousands and even millions of absolutely unique “ secret keys ” to use the cryptology vernacular . importantly and distinctly , these keys are non - deterministic , that is , they do not arise from singular sub - 1000 or sub - 2000 bit keys such as with the rsa key based systems . this large set of patterns is measured in kilobytes and megabytes , and as mentioned , is non - deterministic in nature . furthermore , still at the most abstract level , these patterns are fully capable of being encrypted via standard techniques and analyzed within the encrypted domain , where the analysis is made on only a small portion of the large set of patterns , and that even in the worst case scenario where a would - be pirate is monitoring the step - by - step microcode instructions of a microprocessor , this gathered information would provide no useful information to the would - be pirate . this latter point is an important one when it comes to “ implementation security ” as opposed to “ innate security ” as will be briefly discussed below . so what could be the differential properties of this type of key based system as opposed to , for example , the rsa cryptology methods which are already well respected , relatively simple , etc . etc ? as mentioned earlier , this discussion is not going to attempt a commercial side - by - side analysis . instead , we &# 39 ; ll just focus on the differing properties . the main distinguishing features fall out in the implementation realm ( the implementation security ). one example is that in single low - bit - number private key systems , the mere local use and re - use of a single private key is an inherently weak link in an encrypted transmission system . [“ encrypted transmission systems ” are discussed here in the sense that securing the paid - for use of software programs will in this discussion require de facto encrypted communication between a user of the software and the “ bank ” which allows the user to use the program ; it is encryption in the service of electronic financial transactions looked at in another light .] would - be hackers wishing to defeat so - called secure systems never attack the fundamental hard - wired security ( the innate security ) of the pristine usage of the methods , they attack the implementation of those methods , centered around human nature and human oversights . it is here , still in the abstract , that the creation of a much larger key base , which is itself non - deterministic in nature , and which is more geared toward effectively throw - away keys , begins to “ idiot proof ” the more historically vulnerable implementation of a given secure system . the huge set of keys is not even comprehensible to the average holder of those keys , and their use of those keys ( i . e ., the “ implementation ” of those keys ) can randomly select keys , easily throw them out after a time , and can use them in a way that no “ eavesdropper ” will gain any useful information in the eavesdropping , especially when well within a millionth of the amount of time that an eavesdropper could “ decipher ” a key , its usefulness in the system would be long past . turning the abstract to the semi - concrete , one possible new approach to securely delivering a software product to only the bonafide purchasers of that product is the following . in a mass economic sense , this new method is entirely founded upon a modest rate realtime digital connectivity ( often , but not necessarily standard encrypted ) between a user &# 39 ; s computer network and the selling company &# 39 ; s network . at first glance this smells like trouble to any good marketing person , and indeed , this may throw the baby out with the bathwater if by trying to recover lost revenues , you lose more legitimate revenue along the way ( all part of the bottom line analysis ). this new method dictates that a company selling a piece of software supplies to anyone who is willing to take it about 99 . 8 % of its functional software for local storage on a user &# 39 ; s network ( for speed and minimizing transmission needs ). this “ free core program ” is entirely unfunctional and designed so that even the craftiest hackers can &# 39 ; t make use of it or “ decompile it ” in some sense . legitimate activation and use of this program is performed purely on a instruction - cycle - count basis and purely in a simple very low overhead communications basis between the user &# 39 ; s network and the company &# 39 ; s network . a customer who wishes to use the product sends payment to the company via any of the dozens of good ways to do so . the customer is sent , via common shipment methods , or via commonly secured encrypted data channels , their “ huge set of unique secret keys .” if we were to look at this large set as if it were an image , it would look just like the snowy images discussed over and over again in other parts of this disclosure . ( here , the “ signature ” is the image , rather than being imperceptibly placed onto another image ). the special nature of this large set is that it is what we might call “ ridiculously unique ” and contains a large number of secret keys . ( the “ ridiculous ” comes from the simple math on the number of combinations that are possible with , say 1 megabyte of random bit values , equaling exactly the number that “ all ones ” would give , thus 1 megabyte being approximately 10 raised to the ˜ 2 , 400 , 000 power , plenty of room for many people having many throwaway secret keys ). it is important to re - emphasize that the purchased entity is literally : productive use of the tool . the marketing of this would need to be very liberal in its allotment of this productivity , since per - use payment schemes notoriously turn off users and can lower overall revenues significantly . this large set of secret keys is itself encrypted using standard encryption techniques . the basis for relatively higher “ implementation security ” can now begin to manifest itself . assume that the user now wishes to use the software product . they fire up the free core , and the free core program finds that the user has installed their large set of unique encrypted keys . the core program calls the company network and does the usual handshaking . the company network , knowing the large set of keys belonging to that bonafide user , sends out a query on some simple set of patterns , almost exactly the same way as described in the section on the debit and credit cards . the query is such a small set of the whole , that the inner workings of the core program do not even need to decrypt the whole set of keys , only certain parts of the keys , thus no decrypted version of the keys ever exist , even within the machine cycles on the local computer itself . as can be seen , this does not require the “ signatures within a picture ” methods of the main disclosure , instead , the many unique keys are the picture . the core program interrogates the keys by performing certain dot products , then sends the dot products back to the company &# 39 ; s network for verification . see fig2 and the accompanying discussion for typical details on a verification transaction . generally encrypted verification is sent , and the core program now “ enables ” itself to perform a certain amount of instructions , for example , allowing 100 , 000 characters being typed into a word processing program ( before another unique key needs to be transmitted to enable another 100 , 000 ). in this example , a purchaser may have bought the number of instructions which are typically used within a one year period by a single user of the word processor program . the purchaser of this product now has no incentive to “ copy ” the program and give it to their friends and relatives . all of the above is well and fine except for two simple problems . the first problem can be called “ the cloning problem ” and the second “ the big brother problem .” the solutions to these two problems are intimately linked . the latter problem will ultimately become a purely social problem , with certain technical solutions as mere tools not ends . the cloning problem is the following . it generally applies to a more sophisticated pirate of software rather than the currently common “ friend gives their distribution cd to a friend ” kind of piracy . crafty - hacker “ a ” knows that if she performs a system - state clone of the “ enabled ” program in its entirety and installs this clone on another machine , then this second machine effectively doubles the value received for the same money . keeping this clone in digital storage , hacker “ a ” only needs to recall it and reinstall the clone after the first period is run out , thus indefinitely using the program for a single payment , or she can give the clone to their hacker friend “ b ” for a six - pack of beer . one good solution to this problem requires , again , a rather well developed and low cost real time digital connectivity between user site and company enabling network . this ubiquitous connectivity generally does not exist today but is fast growing through the internet and the basic growth in digital bandwidth . part and parcel of the “ enabling ” is a negligible communications cost random auditing function wherein the functioning program routinely and irregularly performs handshakes and verifications with the company network . it does so , on average , during a cycle which includes a rather small amount of productivity cycles of the program . the resulting average productivity cycle is in general much less than the raw total cost of the cloning process of the overall enabled program . thus , even if an enabled program is cloned , the usefulness of that instantaneous clone is highly limited , and it would be much more cost effective to pay the asking price of the selling company than to repeat the cloning process on such short time periods . hackers could break this system for fun , but certainly not for profit . the flip side to this arrangement is that if a program “ calls up ” the company &# 39 ; s network for a random audit , the allotted productivity count for that user on that program is accounted for , and that in cases where bonafide payment has not been received , the company network simply withholds its verification and the program no longer functions . we &# 39 ; re back to where users have no incentive to “ give this away ” to friends unless it is an explicit gift ( which probably is quite appropriate if they have indeed paid for it : “ do anything you like with it , you paid for it ”). the second problem of “ big brother ” and the intuitively mysterious “ enabling ” communications between a user &# 39 ; s network and a company &# 39 ; s network would as mentioned be a social and perceptual problem that should have all manner of potential real and imagined solutions . even with the best and objectively unbeatable anti - big - brother solutions , there will still be a hard - core conspiracy theory crowd claiming it just ain &# 39 ; t so . with this in mind , one potential solution is to set up a single program registry which is largely a public or non - profit institution to handling and coordinating the realtime verification networks . such an entity would then have company clients as well as user clients . an organization such as the software publishers association , for example , may choose to lead such an effort . concluding this section , it should be re - emphasized that the methods here outlined require a highly connected distributed system , in other words , a more ubiquitous and inexpensive internet than exists in mid 1995 . simple trend extrapolation would argue that this is not too far off from 1995 . the growth rate in raw digital communications bandwidth also argues that the above system might be more practical , sooner , than it might first appear . ( the prospect of interactive tv brings with it the promise of a fast network linking millions of sites around the world .) it should be briefly noted that certain implementations of the principles of this invention probably can make good use of current cryptographic technologies . one case in point might be a system whereby graphic artists and digital photographers perform realtime registration of their photographs with the copyright office . it might be advantageous to send the master code signals , or some representative portion thereof , directly to a third party registry . in this case , a photographer would want to know that their codes were being transmitted securely and not stolen along the way . in this case , certain common cryptographic transmission might be employed . also , photographers or musicians , or any users of this invention , may want to have reliable time stamping services which are becoming more common . such a service could be advantageously used in conjunction with the principles of this invention . details on the legitimate and illegitimate detection and removal of invisible signatures in general , if a given entity can recognize the signatures hidden within a given set of empirical data , that same entity can take steps to remove those signatures . in practice , the degree of difficulty between the former condition and the latter condition can be made quite large , fortunately . on one extreme , one could posit a software program which is generally very difficult to “ decompile ” and which does recognition functions on empirical data . this same bit of software could not generally be used to “ strip ” the signatures ( without going to extreme lengths ). on the other hand , if a hacker goes to the trouble of discovering and understanding the “ public codes ” used within some system of data interchange , and that hacker knows how to recognize the signatures , it would not be a large step for that hacker to read in a given set of signed data and create a data set with the signatures effectively removed . in this latter example , interestingly enough , there would often be telltale statistics that signatures had been removed , statistics which will not be discussed here . these and other such attempts to remove the signatures we can refer to as illicit attempts . current and past evolution of the copyright laws have generally targeted such activity as coming under criminal activity and have usually placed such language , along with penalties and enforcement language , into the standing laws . presumably any and all practitioners of this signature technology will go to lengths to make sure that the same kind of a ) creation , b ) distribution , and c ) use of these kinds of illicit removal of copyright protection mechanisms are criminal offenses subject to enforcement and penalty . on the other hand , it is an object of this invention to point out that through the recognition steps outlined in this disclosure , software programs can be made such that the recognition of signatures can simply lead to their removal by inverting the known signatures by the amount equal to their found signal energy in the recognition process ( i . e ., remove the size of the given code signal by exact amount found ). by pointing this out in this disclosure , it is clear that such software or hardware which performs this signature removal operation will not only ( presumably ) be criminal , but it will also be liable to infringement to the extent that it is not properly licensed by the holders of the ( presumably ) patented technology . the case of legitimate and normal recognition of the signatures is straightforward . in one example , the public signatures could deliberately be made marginally visible ( i . e . their intensity would be deliberately high ), and in this way a form of sending out “ proof comps ” can be accomplished . “ comps ” and “ proofs ” have been used in the photographic industry for quite some time , where a degraded image is purposely sent out to prospective customers so that they might evaluate it but not be able to use it in a commercially meaningful way . in the case of this invention , increasing the intensity of the public codes can serve as a way to “ degrade ” the commercial value intentionally , then through hardware or software activated by paying a purchase price for the material , the public signatures can be removed ( and possibly replaced by a new invisible tracking code or signature , public and / or private . ubiquitous and cost effective recognition of signatures is a central issue to the broadest proliferation of the principles of this invention . several sections of this disclosure deal with this topic in various ways . this section focuses on the idea that entities such as monitoring nodes , monitoring stations , and monitoring agencies can be created as part of a systematic enforcement of the principles of the invention . in order for such entities to operate , they require knowledge of the master codes , and they may require access to empirical data in its raw ( unencrypted and untransformed ) form . ( having access to original unsigned empirical data helps in finer analyses but is not necessary .) three basic forms of monitoring stations fall out directly from the admittedly arbitrarily defined classes of master codes : a private monitoring station , a semi - public , and a public . the distinctions are simply based on the knowledge of the master codes . an example of the fully private monitoring station might be a large photographic stock house which decides to place certain basic patterns into its distributed material which it knows that a truly crafty pirate could decipher and remove , but it thinks this likelihood is ridiculously small on an economic scale . this stock house hires a part - time person to come in and randomly check high value ads and other photography in the public domain to search for these relatively easy to find base patterns , as well as checking photographs that stock house staff members have “ spotted ” and think it might be infringement material . the part time person cranks through a large stack of these potential infringement cases in a few hours , and where the base patterns are found , now a more thorough analysis takes place to locate the original image and go through the full process of unique identification as outlined in this disclosure . two core economic values accrue to the stock house in doing this , values which by definition will outweigh the costs of the monitoring service and the cost of the signing process itself . the first value is in letting their customers and the world know that they are signing their material and that the monitoring service is in place , backed up by whatever statistics on the ability to catch infringers . this is the deterrent value , which probably will be the largest value eventually . a general prerequisite to this first value is the actual recovered royalties derived from the monitoring effort and its building of a track record for being formidable ( enhancing the first value ). the semi - public monitoring stations and the public monitoring stations largely follow the same pattern , although in these systems it is possible to actually set up third party services which are given knowledge of the master codes by clients , and the services merely fish through thousands and millions of “ creative property ” hunting for the codes and reporting the results to the clients . ascap and bmi have “ lower tech ” approaches to this basic service . a large coordinated monitoring service using the principles of this invention would classify its creative property supplier clients into two basic categories , those that provide master codes themselves and wish the codes to remain secure and unpublished , and those that use generally public domain master codes ( and hybrids of the two , of course ). the monitoring service would perform daily samplings ( checks ) of publicly available imagery , video , audio , etc ., doing high level pattern checks with a bank of supercomputers . magazine ads and images would be scanned in for analysis , video grabbed off of commercial channels would be digitized , audio would be sampled , public internet sites randomly downloaded , etc . these basic data streams would then be fed into an ever - churning monitoring program which randomly looks for pattern matches between its large bank of public and private codes , and the data material it is checking . a small sub - set , which itself will probably be a large set , will be flagged as potential match candidates , and these will be fed into a more refined checking system which begins to attempt to identify which exact signatures may be present and to perform a more fine analysis on the given flagged material . presumably a small set would then fall out as flagged match material , owners of that material would be positively identified and a monitoring report would be sent to the client so that they can verify that it was a legitimate sale of their material . the same two values of the private monitoring service outlined above apply in this case as well . the monitoring service could also serve as a formal bully in cases of a found and proven infringement , sending out letters to infringing parties witnessing the found infringement and seeking inflated royalties so that the infringing party might avoid the more costly alternative of going to court . submitted with parent application ser . no . 08 / 436 , 134 as appendices b - d were listings of different software programs embodying aspects of the present invention . these programs were written for an indigo workstation manufactured by silicon graphics , inc . appendix b is a program (‘ sign_it ’) that encodes a bit - mapped image file with an identification code according to the present invention . appendices c and d are programs (‘ recognize . 3 ’ and ‘ recognize . 2 ’) that analyze encoded bit - mapped files and extract the identification code therefrom . in view of the great number of different embodiments to which the principles of my invention can be put , it should be recognized that the detailed embodiments are illustrative only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of my invention . rather , i claim as my invention all such embodiments as may come within the scope and spirit of the following claims , and equivalents thereto .	6
fig1 depicts a vehicle 10 equipped with an antenna 18 . the vehicle 10 includes a body structure 12 configured to at least partially support one or more exterior body panels 14 of the vehicle 10 . the exemplary antenna 18 is shown as a mast type antenna oriented substantially vertically to extend from the body panel 14 along an axis 20 . as shown in fig1 , the body panel 14 is a fender configured for framing a wheel well 16 of the vehicle 10 . however , it will be understood that the illustrated body panel 14 is given as a non - limiting example , and that the inventive aspects disclosed herein are applicable in principle to other body panels of the vehicle 10 . as explained in greater detail below , an antenna mounting assembly 40 is configured for supporting the antenna 18 with respect to the body panel 14 . due to design or other criteria for the vehicle 10 and / or the antenna 18 , an outer surface 22 of the body panel 14 may be shaped in such a way that the body panel 14 is not substantially perpendicular to the axis 20 at a position from which the antenna 18 extends . as shown , the antenna 18 extends from an oblique portion of the body panel 14 that is oriented with a predominantly vertical slope , while the antenna 18 extends from the body panel 14 in a substantially vertical orientation at an angle from a surface normal to the axis 20 . in such a design , it is desirable , for example , for the antenna mounting assembly 40 to include features for managing lateral forces acting on the antenna 18 that arise during normal operation of the vehicle 10 . these forces may arise , for instance , through contact with strong winds , precipitation and car wash elements . with further reference to fig2 a , 2 b and 8 , the antenna mounting assembly 40 can comprise an antenna mounting base 42 . the antenna mounting base 42 is generally configured to support the antenna 18 with respect to the body panel 14 , and optionally , with respect to the vehicle body structure 12 . the antenna mounting assembly 40 is suitable for supporting the antenna 18 where , as depicted in the figures , the antenna 18 extends along the axis 20 , and the body panel 14 is disposed at an angle θ from a surface normal to the axis 20 at a position from which the antenna 18 extends . as explained below , the antenna mounting base 42 includes features for managing different loads resulting from lateral or other forces acting on the antenna 18 . as shown , the antenna mounting base 42 may be coupled between the vehicle body structure 12 and the body panel 14 , and is configured to provide a sturdy mounting point for the vehicle antenna 18 . in the embodiments incorporated herein , the antenna mounting base 42 extends at least partially through an aperture 24 defined by the body panel 14 . as depicted in fig2 a and 2b , the antenna mounting base 42 includes an antenna mounting portion 43 and a vehicle body structure connecting portion 41 . the vehicle body structure connecting portion 41 is generally configured for connection to the body structure 12 . as shown , the vehicle body structure connecting portion 41 is configured to occupy a space 70 between the vehicle body structure 12 and an underside 23 of the body panel 14 . in one non - limiting example , the vehicle body structure connection portion 41 may be coupled directly to the vehicle body structure 12 . the vehicle body structure connection portion 41 may be welded , fastened , or adhered to the vehicle body structure 12 , for example , although other techniques may be used as desired . alternatively , as shown , the antenna mounting assembly 40 can include an attachment bracket 56 configured for connecting the vehicle body structure connection portion 41 to the vehicle body structure 12 , and additionally can provide a grounding connection to the body structure 12 . the illustrated attachment bracket 56 can be connected at one end to the vehicle body structure connection portion 41 , and to one or more areas of the body structure 12 at a second end , for example , using the techniques set forth above . the antenna mounting portion 43 is configured to provide a mounting point for the vehicle antenna 18 . in the illustrated example , the antenna mounting portion 43 defines a longitudinally extending threaded aperture 74 configured to receive external threads formed on a distal end 72 of the antenna 18 . in this example , the antenna mounting base 42 at least partially extends through the panel aperture 24 such that the antenna mounting portion 43 is accessible from an exterior side 22 of the body panel 14 , to permit selective installation or removal of the antenna 18 with respect to the antenna mounting base 42 by a user of the vehicle . it will be understood that this is provided as a non - limiting example , and that the antenna mounting portion 43 can include any other attachment mechanism to secure the illustrated or other antennas 18 to the antenna mounting base 42 . as depicted in the embodiments in the figures herein , the antenna mounting base 42 is generally configured as a longitudinally extending tubular shaft . as shown , the vehicle body structure connecting portion 41 is disposed on a first distal end of the antenna mounting base 42 , the antenna mounting portion 43 is disposed on an opposing second distal end , and the antenna mounting base 42 includes an intermediate portion 45 between the vehicle body structure connecting portion 41 and the antenna mounting portion 43 . the antenna mounting base 42 can extend coaxially with the antenna 18 , in the same substantially vertical orientation , as the axis 20 . the intermediate portion 45 is circumscribed by a portion 80 of the body panel 14 that borders the aperture 24 when the antenna mounting base 42 is in its final assembled position , as described in further detail below . as shown in fig2 a and 2b , the antenna mounting base 42 includes features for securing the antenna mounting base 42 to the body panel 14 when the antenna mounting assembly 40 is fully assembled to the vehicle 10 . the illustrated antenna mounting base 42 includes a retaining structure 90 located at the intermediate portion 45 of the antenna mounting base 42 . as shown , the retaining structure 90 comprises a flange 44 and one or more tabs 46 supported by the antenna mounting base 42 . the flange 44 extends radially from at least a partial circumferential portion of a surface of the antenna mounting base 42 at the intermediate portion 45 . as depicted in fig2 a and fig8 , the flange 44 can be oriented at the angle θ with respect to a plane normal to the axis 20 of the antenna 18 , so that the flange 44 extends at an angle from the surface of the antenna mounting base 42 to generally lie parallel to a plane of the body panel 14 . the flange 44 is generally u - shaped and extends around approximately half the circumference , or 180 degrees , of the antenna mounting base 42 , although the flange 44 may be alternatively shaped and / or configured to support the one or more tabs 46 . as shown , the flange 44 is longitudinally disposed with respect to the antenna mounting base 42 for positioning in the space 70 between the vehicle body structure 12 and the body panel 14 in abutment with the underside 23 of body panel 14 . furthermore , the flange 44 may be shaped to approximate a contour of the underside 23 of the body panel 14 to which the flange 44 abuts . turning now to fig3 and 4 , each tab 46 is explained in further detail . each of the one or more tabs 46 is supported by the antenna mounting base 42 adjacent the intermediate portion 45 to define a recess 48 at least partially with the flange 44 . in one illustrated example , the tabs 46 may include a first wall 50 extending generally normally from the flange 44 from a position proximate to the antenna mounting base 42 , and a second wall 52 extending from a distal portion of the first wall 50 and substantially parallel to the flange 44 . as shown , the second wall 52 can additionally extend to , and optionally attach to , a surface of the intermediate portion 45 of the antenna mounting base 45 . in this example , the tabs 46 are supported by the antenna mounting base 42 via the flange 44 , and for each tab 46 , a recess 48 is defined between the flange 44 and the first and second walls 50 and 52 of the tab 46 . in another illustrated example , a tab 46 may include only a second wall 52 extending from the intermediate portion 45 of the antenna mounting base 42 to define a recess 48 between the flange 44 , the second wall 52 and the intermediate portion 45 of the antenna mounting base 42 . as explained below with reference to fig5 a , 5 b , 6 a and 6 b , the recesses 48 open towards one or more portions of a perimeter edge 30 of the panel aperture 24 , and may be sized and configured for receiving a portion 80 of the body panel 14 that borders the panel aperture 24 when the antenna mounting base 42 is in its final assembled position . fig5 a and 5b illustrate the panel aperture 24 that may be utilized by embodiments of the antenna mounting assembly 40 as described herein . the panel aperture 24 is defined by the body panel 14 and can be stamped , drilled , cut , or formed therein in any way known to those in the art . in general , the panel aperture 24 may be sized and shaped so that a portion 80 of the body panel 14 bordering the panel aperture 24 seats within the recesses 48 in mateable engagement to couple the antenna mounting base 42 to the body panel 14 . in addition , the size and shape of the panel aperture 24 can accommodate installation of the antenna mounting base 42 during assembly of the vehicle 10 , as explained below . a profile of the illustrated panel aperture 24 is generally defined by a perimeter edge 30 of the body panel 14 to include both a small area portion 27 and a large area portion 29 . the perimeter edge 30 includes first and second opposing concentric half circular segments 32 and 34 , which have different diameters and are interconnected by a pair of generally diametrically opposed radial segments 36 and 38 , as can be seen in fig5 b . the small area portion 27 of the panel aperture 24 is defined by a first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 . the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 includes the first half circular segment 32 and the pair of opposed radial segments 36 and 38 , and is configured for positioning into the recesses 48 of the one or more tabs 46 . the large area portion 29 is defined by a second portion 28 of the perimeter edge 30 that includes the second half circular segment 34 , which , as shown , has a relatively larger diameter than the first half circular segment 32 . with additional reference to fig6 a and 6b , it can be seen that the panel aperture 24 is sized and shaped to permit receipt of the antenna mounting portion 43 from the underside 23 of the body panel 14 , and to allow clearance for the tabs 46 to receive the portion 80 of the body panel 14 bordering the panel aperture 24 . as shown in fig6 a , the illustrated antenna mounting base 42 can be installed and attached to the body panel 14 by first inserting the antenna mounting portion 43 of the antenna mounting base 42 primarily through the large area portion 29 of the panel aperture 24 , from the underside 23 of the body panel 14 . the antenna mounting base 42 can be inserted until the second walls 52 of the tabs 46 rise through the panel aperture 24 and the recesses 48 formed by the tabs 46 and flange 44 are aligned with the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 . the large area portion 29 is therefore sized to allow clearance for the antenna mounting base 42 and the one or more tabs 46 to pass through the panel aperture 24 during installation so that the antenna mounting base 42 can be moved toward the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 until the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 is positioned within the recesses 48 of the one or more tabs 46 . additionally , the flange 44 can be sized to contact the underside 23 of the body panel 14 while the antenna mounting base 42 and the one or more tabs 46 are passing through the panel aperture 24 to provide an indication that the one or more tabs 46 are in the correct positioning with respect to the panel aperture 24 to receive the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 within the recesses 48 of the one or more tabs 46 , and to prevent the antenna mounting base 42 from moving past the correct position . it can be seen from fig6 b that the antenna mounting base 42 can then be moved translationally in a plane of the body panel 14 in a direction toward the small area portion 27 of the panel aperture 24 to move the recesses 48 towards the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 . in the illustrated installed position , the antenna mounting base 42 is positioned such that the intermediate portion 45 of the antenna mounting base 42 seats against the first half circular segment 32 of the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 , and such that the portion 80 of the body panel 14 bordering the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 is received within the recesses 48 . each of the tabs 46 are generally configured to receive the portion 80 of the body panel 14 bordering the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 of the panel aperture 24 in mateable engagement within the respective recesses 48 . the one or more tabs 46 are thus configured to provide one or more points of contact with the body panel 14 to couple the antenna mounting base 42 to the body panel 14 . in general , these contact points collectively restrict movement of antenna mounting base 42 with respect to the body panel 14 and the panel aperture 24 . additionally , these contact points may be configured so that the tabs 46 restrict rotation of the antenna mounting base 42 about the axis 20 within the panel aperture 24 . in the embodiment shown throughout the figures , the antenna mounting base 42 supports three tabs 46 , each providing a point of contact with the body panel 14 . the three tabs 46 are substantially equally spaced circumferentially with respect to each other along the flange 44 . a first tab 46 can be positioned at an apex of the flange 44 , to define with the flange 44 a first recess 48 configured for receiving a first part 82 of the portion 80 of the body panel 14 that borders the panel aperture 24 . in particular , the part 82 borders an apex of the first half circular segment 32 partially defining the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 of the panel aperture 24 . a second tab 46 can be positioned proximate to a first distal end of the flange 44 to define with the flange 44 a second recess 48 configured for receiving a second part 84 of the portion 80 of the body panel 14 that borders the panel aperture 24 . specifically , the second part 84 borders the radial segment 36 that partially defines the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 of the panel aperture 24 . a third tab 46 can be positioned proximate to a second distal end of the flange 44 opposite the first end to define with the flange 44 a third recess 48 configured for receiving a third part 86 of the portion 80 of the body panel 14 that borders the panel aperture 24 . as shown , the third part 86 borders the radial segment 38 that partially defines the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 of the panel aperture 24 . as explained above , the tabs 46 can be differently supported by the antenna mounting base 42 depending , for example , on the position of a particular tab 46 with respect to the flange 44 . the first tab 46 , for instance , extends from the intermediate portion 45 of the antenna mounting base 42 , while the second and third tabs are supported by the antenna mounting base 42 via the flange 44 . while three tabs 46 are described in embodiments herein , it is also contemplated that a variety of numbers of tabs 46 may be formed , depending , for instance , on the amount and spacing of contact points to the body panel 14 that are desired . in addition , it will be understood that a single tab 46 could be configured to produce multiple contact points with the body panel 14 , if desired . also , it will be understood that the antenna mounting base 42 and / or flange 44 could have a single tab 46 in a shape corresponding to a shape of the first portion 26 of the peripheral edge 30 . the antenna mounting base 42 can be installed as directed above subsequent to attaching the antenna 18 to the antenna mounting portion 43 , or the antenna 18 can be attached after the antenna mounting base 42 is installed . similarly , the antenna mounting base 42 can be installed with the attachment bracket 56 attached , or the two may be attached after the antenna mounting base 42 is installed . as shown in fig7 a and 7b , the antenna mounting assembly 40 can include a finisher 60 . the finisher 60 is generally configured to be positioned adjacent the exterior surface 22 of the body panel 14 . as shown , the finisher 60 defines an interior channel 68 configured to substantially receive and enclose the intermediate portion 45 and the antenna mounting portion 43 of the antenna mounting base 42 . the finisher 60 is generally frustoconical in shape and extends longitudinally substantially along the axis 20 . the finisher 60 can include a finisher base 64 tapered at the angle 0 to generally correspond with the slope of the oblique portion of the body panel 14 , such that the finisher 60 can sit flush against the exterior surface 22 of the body panel 14 and substantially enclose the panel aperture 24 once installed . the finisher 60 may be attached and retained to the antenna mounting base 42 through any reasonable means . as shown in fig8 , the finisher 60 is attached to the antenna mounting base 42 at or near the antenna mounting portion 43 . in the illustrated example , the finisher 60 defines a pocket 66 in communication with the interior channel 68 that is sized and configured to receive a projection 58 positioned on the antenna mounting portion 43 . optional ridges 57 extend radially outward from the antenna mounting portion 43 to contact the finisher 60 in the interior channel 68 to provide a weather - proof seal between the finisher 60 and the antenna mounting base 42 , as well as additional retention of the finisher 60 . during installation of the antenna mounting base 42 as described above , the large area portion 29 of the panel aperture 24 is partially vacated as the antenna mounting base 42 is moved toward the small area portion 27 to position the tabs 46 into engagement with the portion 80 of the body panel 14 bordering the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 of the panel aperture 24 . the illustrated finisher 60 includes a projection 62 that is configured to extend beyond the base 64 through the panel aperture 24 to occupy at least a portion of the vacated large area portion 29 following installation of the antenna mounting base 42 . in particular , as shown in fig8 , the projection 62 is configured to occupy at least a portion of a space between the antenna mounting base 42 and the second portion 28 of the perimeter edge 30 of the panel aperture 24 . as shown in fig8 , the projection 62 is configured to inhibit movement of the antenna mounting base 42 away from the small area portion 27 of the panel aperture and into the large area portion 29 , so that engagement of the portion 80 of the body panel 14 bordering the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 of panel aperture 24 within the recesses 48 is maintained . to do so , the projection 62 can be configured to extend between and contact the perimeter edge 30 of the panel aperture 24 and at least one of the antenna mounting base 42 and one or more portions of the flange 44 . the illustrated projection 62 , for example , is contoured such that the projection 62 can be “ sandwiched ” between the antenna mounting base 42 , the first and second distal ends of the flange 44 , and the second portion 28 of the perimeter edge 30 defining the large area portion 29 of the panel aperture 24 . projection 62 can also be tapered , to aid insertion between the body panel 14 and antenna mounting base 42 and / or the flange 44 . in fig8 , the projection 62 is shown to be tapered toward a distal end that is opposite the base 64 in a direction normal to the taper of the base 64 . a surface extending along the taper of the projection 62 can contact the flange 44 as shown in fig8 , and slide along the flange 44 while the finisher 60 is installed onto the antenna mounting base 42 , which pushes the projection 62 toward the second portion 28 of the perimeter edge 30 while also pushing the one or more tabs 46 of the flange 44 toward the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 to provide a snug fit from the first portion 26 of the perimeter edge 30 through the flange 44 , the antenna mounting base 42 , and the projection 62 to the second portion 28 of the perimeter edge 30 . the finisher 60 as disclosed herein can be created as a single piece having the base 64 , the projection 62 , and the interior channel 68 , otherwise the finisher may be composed of multiple components attached to one another . furthermore , the base 64 or the whole finisher 60 can be composed of an elastomeric material sized to allow slight deformation during fitment within the panel aperture 24 . the first portion 26 of the peripheral edge 30 can form the small area portion 27 in any orientation within the panel aperture 24 . however , it may be preferred to have the first portion 26 of the peripheral edge 30 form the small diameter portion 27 at the bottom of the panel aperture 24 such that the first walls 50 of the tabs 46 are oriented substantially above and over the first portion 26 of the peripheral edge 30 . that way , the antenna mounting base 42 may be temporarily held in place through engagement of the tabs 46 to the portion 80 of the body panel 14 via gravity prior to installation of the finisher 60 onto the antenna mounting base 42 . while recited characteristics and conditions of the invention have been described in connection with certain embodiments , it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments but , on the contrary , is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims , which scope is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures as is permitted under the law .	7
referring now to fig1 in a typical situation , a ball 10 has been hit by a golfer 12 into a water hazard 13 , where it resides until it is plucked out either by the golfer or by a company which retrieves golf balls from water hazards . it will be appreciated that , as mentioned before , such balls when immersed for a long period of time loose their flight characteristics , and regardless of their being washed and resold , will not regain these characteristics due to the immersion . in order to provide an indicator of golf balls that have been immersed in water for some time , and referring now to fig2 it can be seen that golf ball 10 is provided with a mottled appearance 15 , which serves as an indicator that the ball has been immersed in water . it is this or some other indicator which is water activated that provides a convenient method for the purchaser of a golf ball to ascertain that the ball is in fact a used ball and one which has been immersed in water for some time or has been subjected to some other predetermined condition . as will be described , in one embodiment this distinctive discoloration or indication is provided through the utilization of water soluble inks or dyes which are activated through the infusion of water into encapsulated dye particles in one embodiment . the result of the infusion of water is that the dye particles emit their dyes to mark the golf ball in some distinctive manner . whether it is with dyes or inks which are water soluble or are released upon water activation , it is immaterial as to what type of indication is given so long as the golfer purchasing the golf ball can ascertain that it is in fact one that has been immersed in water or is otherwise unsuitable for play . it is noted that controlled release technology , is a well - proven means of slowly delivering a small amount of a compound over a given time period or at a specific time based on a desired stimulus . in the subject invention controlled release technology is used as an approach to the slow color change of a golf ball in water . the subject invention , in one embodiment , involves the use of inks or dyes which are micro - encapsulated with a thin polymer coating to form small particles or beads . these micro - capsules , which may vary in size from tens of microns to millimeters , can be incorporated into a hard , glassy polymer coating material such as polymethyl methacrylate or polyvinyl acrylate ester , which can act as a gloss coat for the ball , or the encapsulant can be incorporated into the rubber or ionomer cover of the ball itself . a microencapsulant is a polymer coating used to enclose a liquid or solid material within a small particle . micro - encapsultants are generally in the range of tens to hundreds of microns in diameter . encapsulation approaches have been used for a number of applications in which a compound must be slowly but systematically released to an environment under the desired conditions . examples include microcapsules in drug delivery , vitalizing nutrients or proteins in time release cosmetic products and fertilizers or pesticides for agricultural products . the polymer coating may consist of a broad range of potential polymeric materials and polymer blends . the basis for most controlled release technology is the slow diffusion of the encapsulated product through the polymer coating or matrix and into the surrounding environs . the driving force for diffusion is mass transfer from the highly concentrated interior to the dilute exterior regions . the diffusion process is often accelerated or activated by the presence of a solvent that swells or partially solvates the polymer film , thus plasticizing the polymer film and increasing the effective diffusivity of the polymer matrix . the result is a faster rate of transport of the encapsulated material out of the microcapsule . a second route to controlled release systems is the slow dissolution of an uncrosslinked or linear polymer coating in a good solvent , resulting in the release of the encapsulated compound as the coating walls become thinner and ultimately dissolve completely . in this case , the dissolution rate of the polymer , rather than the diffusion rate alone , is the rate determining step in the release of the encapsulant . a third approach to the controlled release of a material is macro - encapsulation . in this case , the material is slowly released from a continuous polymer matrix , which may be molded into any number of shapes or objects . the primary difference between this approach and that of micro encapsulation is that in the latter , the material is enclosed in well defined microspheres on the order of magnitude of several microns , whereas in macroencapsulation , the material of interest is directly enclosed in an object of the order of magnitude of centimeters and greater . both of these approaches involve the slow diffusion of the material out of the matrix or the encapsulant shell . referring now to fig3 in one embodiment of the subject invention a conventional two piece ball 10 with a solid rubber core 12 is illustrated having a hard molded shell 14 of an ionomer blend such as surlyn , or a similar polymer resin . as can be seen , a conformal overcoat polymer dispersion 16 contains encapsulated dye particles 18 , with the dispersion going over the shell or mantle of the ball . this overcoat is then covered with a final gloss coat 20 containing no dye particles to maintain a high gloss finish and provides an additional diffusion barrier on the ball to prevent dye release in humid or moist environments . likewise , for a three piece ball as illustrated in fig4 the three piece ball 30 is provided with a solid , liquid or gel inner core 32 , a wound rubber band or molded rubber outer core 34 and a shell 36 of glossy rubber material such as balata rubber , polybutadyne blends or low shore hardness ionomer . note that an additional overcoat layer 36 of polymer / encapsulated dye is formed underneath the final gloss coat 38 . referring to fig5 and as will be described , a schematic diagram depicts the diffusion of water 50 into ball 10 when it is immersed in a body of water for a long period of time . water molecules slowly diffuse as illustrated at 51 into the ball through gloss overcoat 52 . in some cases , dye capsules 54 in layer 56 will exist close to the gloss overcoat and away from the shell here illustrated at 58 . water will permeate these capsules first and will then take longer to diffuse to capsules in the bulk of the layer 56 . the water will slowly seep into or solvate the microencapsulant allowing controlled diffusion of a water soluble dye out of the polymer microcapsule and gloss overcoat 52 , staining the overcoat . over time , water will diffuse across the layer into the ionomer shell 58 where the ionomer resin will permanently absorb the dye resulting in a deep color change . a number of different polymers and blends of polymers may be used for microencapsulation coating , including polymethyl methacrylate , polymethacrylic acid , polyacrylic acid , polyacrylates , polyacrylamide , polyacryldextran , polyalkyl cyanoacrylate , cellulose acetate , cellulos acetate butyrate , cellulos nitrate , methyl cellulose and other cellulose derivatives , nylon 6 , 10 , nylon 6 , 6 , nylon 6 , polyterephthalamide and other polyamides , polycaprolactones , polydimethylsiloxanes and other siloxanes , aliphatic and aromatic polyesters , polyethylene oxide , polyethylene - vinyl acetate , polyglycolic acid , polylactic acid and copolymers , poly ( methyl vinyl ether / maleic anhydride ), polystyrene , polyvinyl acetate phthalate , polyvinyl alcohol ) polyvinylpyrollidone , shellac , starch and waxes such as paraffin , beeswax , carnauba wax . polymers used should have a near zero diffusivity of the ink through the polymer matrix in the absence of water . upon the introduction of water in the surrounding matrix and the subsequent diffusion of water through the polymer film , the diffusivity of the polymer coating for the dye molecules increases , allowing transport of the dye across the polymer film . the ideal polymer systems for this application are those which have a limited permeability to water and thus provide a longer range of difussion times before releasing the water soluble dye . such polymers could be crosslinked or uncrosslinked blends of a hydrophobic and a hydrophilic polymer , segmented or block copolymer films with a hydrophilic block or polymers which are not soluble in water , but have a small but finite affinity for water . such polymers include nylons such as nylon 6 , 10 or nylon 6 , polyacrylonitrile , polyethylene terephthalate ( pet ), polyvinyl chloride . more water permeable polymers which may be blended with hydrophobic polymers to adjust the dye and water permeability coefficients of the film include cellulose derivates , polyacrylates , polyethylene oxides , polydimethyl siloxane and polyvinylalcohol . dyes that may be used should be water - soluble and may vary from a broad range of industrial dye materials . ideally , the dye should be compatible with the polymer used for the shell or mantle underneath the dye - encapsulant coating . ionic and a number of water soluble dyes would be particularly compatible with ionomer materials commonly used in such mantles due to the presence of carboxylate and carboxylic acid groups in the polymer . some dye systems change color in the presence of more polar solvents . this effect may be useful if the dye has very little color until exposed to water . some potential dyes for this application might include merocyanine dyes and pyridinium - n - phenoxide dyes . examples may include napthalene orange g , crystal violet , ci disperse red and a number of other common industrial dyes . dyes of larger molecular weight may be desirable as higher molecular weight dyes diffuse more slowly through a polymer matrix . prior to water exposure , the water - soluble dye is enclosed by a rigid solid polymer film , which is immersed in a nonaqueous medium , with a very low driving force and a high resistance to diffusion through the coating . as shown in fig5 on exposure to water for long time periods , water will slowly diffuse into polymer layer 56 and thence , through microcapsule 60 to dye particle 62 as shown in fig6 . the diffusion of the dye out of layer 56 can be modeled using basic mass transfer laws . note , the rate at which dye diffuses out of the capsule is shown in fig6 to be related to r out and r in for a dye capsule 60 which encapsulates a dye particle 62 . fick &# 39 ; s first law is commonly used to model the diffusion process . at steady state , the mass transfer of dye from the microcapsule can be modeled using the equation below : ## equ1 ## where dm / dt is the rate of transfer of dye with time , d is the diffusivity of the dye in the polymer layer , k is the solubility of the dye in the layer , c is the concentration difference of the dye in the microcapsule versus the exterior capsule , ro is the outer diameter and ri is the inner diameter of the capsule . for a microcapsule that is 50 microns in diameter , with an inner diameter of 45 microns , and thus a wall thickness of 5 microns , the time for diffusion of half of the dye through a polymer film such as nylon could range from ten to one hundred hours , depending on the relative solubility of the dye in the matrix . the diffusion times can be tailored using various polymers or polymer blends , as well as different materials . processing the techniques , including the use of a thin secondary top coating layer of pure polymer containing no particles , can control the distribution of ink microparticles to prevent the immediate release of ink from microparticles that may be located at the surface of the ball . the formation of microcapsules may be done using a number of technologies . these technologies include polymer coacervation / phase separation using the agitation of colloidal suspensions of insoluble polymer and subsequent isolation of microparticles in a nonaqueous medium . polyamide and some polyester and polyurethane coatings may be formed using interfacial polymerization , using stabilizers to form stabilized microemulsions . bead suspension polymerization techniques , again using nonaqueous nonsolvent medium , may be used for a number of polymers achieved through free radical polymerization of vinyl polymers such as pglyacrylates or acetates , or copolymers . it may be necessary to &# 34 ; hide &# 34 ; the color of the dye in the microehcapsulant if the polymer coating is very transparent . in this case , the incorporation of white pigment in the polymer coating wall can be introduced during the encapsulation process . after the dye microcapsules are prepared at the desired size and film thickness , the particles may be stored under a desicator , and dried under a vacuum with desiccant at least 24 hours prior to formulation with a polymer film to form an overcoat . the polymer medium for the overcoat can be a traditional gloss coating material such as a polyurethane or polyacrylate . diffusion limitations of water to the particles will vary with the choice of polymer medium for both the overcoat and gloss coat . preferred materials may include polyurethanes , polymethyl methacrylate , polyethlyl methacrylate , polybutadiene and various polyvinyls . the particles must be blended in the polymer overcoat film under dry conditions with a humidity of 50 % or lower , at loadings of 1 to 30 %. the conditions of dispersion may be at temperatures below the flow temperature of microsphere polymer coating , or in an overcoat polymer - solvent mixture with a solvent that cannot dissolve the microsphere polymer coating . alternatives include the use of crosslinkced microspheres , which cannot dissolve or flow under heat , or the use of a crosslinkable liquid monomer or prepolymer . the overcoating can be dip coated or spraycoated onto the ball and cured . a second gloss coating containing no particles may then be applied to the ball . the coating thicknesses of the overcoat and gloss should approximate the thickness of traditional gloss coatings used on conventional golf balls . in one configuration , the golf ball can be a two piece golf ball consisting of a wound rubber core and a thick surlyn ionomer cover containing tio2 powder and blue as a brightener . then a translucent coating containing dye particles can be applied . this coating will consist of a soluble nylon , polyester , pet or other barrier coating blended with 5 % of dye encapsulant material . if the encapsulated form of the dye is colored , some ti02 may be added to this layer to ensure whiteness is preserved . finally , a final gloss coating will be added to the outer layer . the layers important to color change in the ball are the two outermost layers , which should be approximately 100 microns , or 0 . 1 mm , in thickness . in the first embodiment , the dye used is a common water soluble dye , nile blue . this dye is a crystalline material at room temperature and is available as a granular powder containing crystals that are 20 to 40 microns in size . these solid crystals are hard and non - porous and small enough that when dispersed in a matrix at low concentrations , there will be no detected color change . the individual dye particles would be encapsulated with a gelatin coating using gelatin coacervatior in an organic solvent to prevent water solubilization of the dye molecules ; procedures for coacervation are well - known , and have been used in drug encapsulation and in the cosmetics and agricultural industries for many years . the encapsulated dye would then be isolated and added in a 1 % by mass concentration to a polymeric gloss coating such as a polyurethane or polyester gloss coat . the two piece surlyn coated ball would be dip - coated with the gloss coat resin which would then be dried during a solvent removal process using heat and / or air flow ; the overcoat layer should be approximately 100 - 200 microns thick . a second layer of gloss coating such as polyurethane could then be added using a spray - coating method . this second layer would be added to provide one additional barrier to moisture and to ensure an even gloss coating . the thickness of the gloss coating should be approximately 100 microns thick . the resulting ball would thus contain a water - soluble dye encapsulated in thin film barrier . permeation of water through a 100 micron thick polymer film such as a polyurethane with a dk or diffusivity times solubility of 60 m2 / sec - pa would result in a diffusion half time for water of approximately 10 to 12 hours . the water would then be able to access the dye particles in the second layer containing dye encapsulant . the time for permeation of water through the gel encapsulant , assuming an inner radius of 40 microns and an outer radius of 50 microns , for a typical gelatin . encapsulant , would be on the order of 5 to 6 hours , resulting in a color change after exposure to water of 16 to 18 hours , or essentially overnight . the time for permeation may be increased by using encapsulants or gloss barrier coatings with lower permeabilities . a nylon based overcoating would result in difussion half - times approximately 100 times longer and the color change would then take place over the period of 100 to 160 hours or several days . a second embodiment involves the use of a dye particle encapsulated in a water - soluble polymer such as polyethylene oxide or poly acrylic acid , by formation of a mixture of hard dye particles in a fluid prepolymer . the prepolymer could be , for example , a water soluble polyacrylamide resin with a temperature activated initiator and bisacrylamide crosslinker agent . the mixture would be added dropwise to an incompatible organic solvent such as toluene with an emulsifying agent such as polyvinyl alcohol with stirring at high speeds . the emulsified drops are polymerized when the emulsion is heated , and the resulting beads contain dye particles . this process can be adjusted to produce dye beads in varying sizes . 100 micron sized beads would be produced for this application . the resulting beads should not be colored because the bead formation process is done in the absence of water under controlled conditions . the resulting beads are then isolated , and added in 1 % by weight to a polyurethane gloss coating followed by a second barrier gloss coating . in this case , dye diffusionr would be dependent solely on the thickness of the outer barrier coating . once water reaches the dye particles , the polyacrylamide beads would swell , and dye diffusion through the polyacrylamide beads would be very rapid , resulting in the release of a very strong dye in the golf ball overcoating . as described in the first embodiment , diffusion through a barrier gloss coat could range from 10 to 100 hours depending on the polymer chosen for the coating . polymers of choice include polyurethanes and nylons such as nylon 6 , 6 , nylon 6 and nylon 6 , 10 . in a third embodiment , a colorless compound called a color former is used . color formers are converted to strong dyes when exposed to a developer . the developer is a slightly acidic clay or resin which absorbs or dissolves the color former and results in a colored dye . this technology is extremely well developed and has been used for thermal printing , electrochromic printing , pressure sensitive ( carbonless copy paper ) industries . colors achieved with these dyes include very deep black and blue shades that would be easily recognized against a white golf ball . in this invention , the developer would be mixed in the gloss resin along with encapsulated particles containing the color former . water diffusion would activate the developer , and water and developer would diffuse into the microparticle containing the color former . the resulting dye would then be released from the microparticle . in this example , a common color former known as crystal violet lactone , which goes from colorless to blue in the presence of the developer , is encapsulated in a nylon microcapsule using interfacial polymerization . in the polymerization process , the color former , which is organic and non - water soluble , is contained in an organic phase with a diacid chloride which is then contacted with a diamine in aqueous solution containing a weak base . the resulting emulsified droplets become microparticles for the carbonless copy paper industry and is well documented . a gloss resin can then be formulated to contain a commercially available color developer . a common developer is bisphenol a , which is , cheap and fairly easy to process . a second choice which is a more effective developer and thus requires smaller quantities ; but is more expensive , is zinc salicylate . both compounds can be added to the encapsulant containing inner coating in small quantities - 1 to 5 wgt . %. the water diffusion process will involve the solubilization of the water soluble developer . the water then acts as a carrier of the developer and delivers it via diffusion to the colorformer in the microparticles . the dye is then coverted to a colored water soluble dye , which can diffuse out of the microparticle to produce a colored ball . for this example , the diffusion rates are dependent on the thickness of a second , barrier coating of polyurethane or nylon , which regulates the speed with which water reaches the first color former microparticles which again can be adjusted from 10 to 100 hours . the intensity or effectiveness of the system may be improved by putting the developer in this outer coating , while the encapsulated color former remains in the inner coating . all of the above examples involve the formation of a two layer gloss coating on the golf ball . the resulting release of dye from the inner layer will result in the coloration of the gloss coat and the underlying golf ball cover . the described invention may be used for detection of water absorption in two or three piece golf balls . the processing steps required to manufacture golf balls are varied depending on the manufacturer and the final properties of the ball desired . this invention involves modification of the final finishing process steps in the manufacture of the golf ball . the application of the primer , label and the gloss coat are replaced by : spinning or air flow may be used to dry the first coat and ensure a uniform coating . the thickness of the second coat should be fairly well controlled to ensure the appropriate amount of time before color change is activated . a golf ball has thus been described which contains dye particles which are activated by the presence of water , resulting in a color change marker which effectively destroys the appearance of the ball , alerting the consumer to balls which have been exposed to water for inordinate amounts of time , and the potential for poor ball performance . the above describes the incorporation of dyes into an intermediate coating between the gloss coat and the golf ball cover . a different approach would involve the incorporation of dye into the golf ball cover itself . in this embodiment , illustrated in fig7 dye 60 may be incorporated into the ionomer ball cover of a two piece golf ball 62 as a solid particle or as an encapsulated dye . here the ball has a core 64 and a shell 66 which acts as a cover . dyes which exist as solid , crystalline dye particles that are 10 to 40 microns in diameter . if such dyes can be compounded with the ionomer at temperatures below the dye melt point , the dye particles should remain suspended in the polymer matrix without adversely coloring the ball . upon absorption of water into the ionomer cover , the dye would immediately begin to dissolve , producing a splotchy , colored appearance in the ball cover . in this case , the golf ball gloss coating 68 is the primary barrier to water , and as water permeates the gloss coating and begins to diffuse into the ball shell or cover 66 , color change will occur . the use of an encapsulated dye could be used to obtain better control of the discoloration process . the dye encapsulant used would have to be chosen to withstand the compounding conditions of the ionomer ball . in a further embodiment , as shown in fig8 the dye or ink as the case may be can be provided in pelletized form as illustrated by pellets 70 for ease of manufacture . for instance , the dye can be compounded with polybutadiene or an ionomer resin respectively for a golf ball core or mantle / cover . the dye is compounded with surfactants or other additives to produce pellets which are then provided to the golf ball manufacturer to alleviate the need to handle otherwise volatile materials . the use of pellets also assures mixing in correct proportions for reliable dye release . having now described a few embodiments of the invention , and some modifications and variations thereto , it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the foregoing is merely illustrative and not limiting , having been presented by the way of example only . numerous modifications and other embodiments are within the scope of one of ordinary skill in the art and are contemplated as falling within the scope of the invention as limited only by the appended claims and equivalents thereto .	0
in one embodiment , the present invention is a method for preparing oil seeds for ruminant feed . the principal oil seeds of interest are canola , flax , soy , safflower or sunflower seeds , including mixtures thereof . however , use of other oil seeds , like , for example , rape seed , peanuts , and / or cotton seed may also be utilized , including mixtures thereof . some oil seeds may need other pre - and / or post - treatment ( s ) to remove bad - taste or toxic components , or excessive lint or shell hull residue . the preferred oil seeds are canola and flax . first , the oil seeds are subjected to heat and aqueous alkaline solution . the seeds may be heated first , and then subjected to the alkaline solution , or vice - versa . or , the seeds and the alkaline solution may be mixed together and then subjected to the heat . in any event , the seeds , alkaline solution and heat are present together , preferably for between about 20 and 100 minutes . preferably , water and soda ash are mixed and heated , and the solution is applied to the seed at steaming temperature or slightly boiling . the heat applied may be conductive , convective , or radiant . preferably , the heat is applied until the treated mix is between about 160 - 220 ° f . preferably , the alkaline solution contains between about 30 - 130 pounds of soda ash ( na 2 co 3 — sodium carbonate ) per ton of seeds . however , other alkaline components , including mixtures thereof , may be used . for example , other preferred alkaline components include sodium sesqui - carbonate , and washed trona ore . after treatment , the seeds contain an elevated sodium level , compared to naturally - occurring seeds . other contemplated alkaline components within the scope of the invention are , for example , sodium hydroxide ( naoh ), potassium hydroxide ( koh ), potassium carbonate ( k 2 co 3 ), magnesium oxide ( mgo ), and magnesium hydroxide ( mgoh ), including mixtures thereof . when utilizing these other alkaline components , the preferred amount of them is generally stoichiometrically equivalent to the amount of sodium carbonate recited above . the amount and / or concentration of the alkaline solution preferably results in a finished noodle product of between about 9 and 11 ph . more preferably , the ph range for the finished noodle product is between about 9 . 5 - 10 . 5 ph . the amount of water used to treat the seeds may vary . generally , enough water is used to thoroughly wet , even slurry , the seeds . this feature aids in distributing the alkaline component over the seeds , and aids in the handling and processing of the treated seeds . on an industrial scale , the amount of water may be minimized in order to minimize the energy seeds for drying the finished product . the heat and alkaline solution treatment is continued until the seeds are thoroughly “ cooked .” this means that a substantial portion of the treated seed coats are split , cracked , wrinkled or deformed . these are “ good ” seeds for the method of the present invention , in contrast to the teachings of the kennelly patent , wherein these types of treated seeds were considered “ bad ” seeds to be avoided . in fact , after the present heat and alkaline solution treatment , a substantial amount of the seeds are “ good ”; at least 25 %, preferably more than 50 %, and even up to 90 % and 95 % by weight of the seed coats are split , cracked , wrinkled , or deformed , relative to the untreated seeds . after the heat and alkaline solution treatment , preferably the treated seeds are farther processed in order to change their shape , and to improve their handling by workers and digestibility by ruminants . in one preferred embodiment , the treated seeds are subjected to a screw extruder and formed into a damp , thin noodle . however , other similar processing may also be done , for example , grinding , rolling , mashing , and / or macerating . it is thought by the inventor of the present invention that the heat and alkaline solution treatment at least partially “ encapsulates ” the oil / fat globules in the seed with a layer of denatured or “ fixed ” protein . this aids in increased pass - through capability in the rumen . therefore , in the method of the present invention , aggressive treatment of the seed after the heat and alkaline solution treatment is not a bad thing — in fact , later aggressive treatment like extrusion , grinding , rolling or macerating , for example , of the treated seed may even aid digestibility of the “ encapsulated ” oil / fat in the abomasum and small intestine of the ruminant . again , this is in stark contrast to the teachings of the kennelly patent . further , even the relatively aggressive drying step of the present invention may further aid in both pass - through capability and abomasum and small intestine digestibility . for example , the application of drying heat to raise the temperature of the final product to 225 ° f . will further denature and “ fix ” protein capsules around the seed interior oil / fat globules , providing for more “ pass - through ” capability . also , this last “ heat - treat ” in effect will further split , crack , wrinkle , and deform even seed coat fragments , making the interior matter of the seed more available for digestive juices in the abomasum and small intestine . following are worked examples illustrating some , but not all , embodiments of the invented methods and products . to determine the effect of sodium carbonate ( soda ash ) and moist cooking time on the seed coat of canola , a study was set up to test the interaction of moist cooking time at 190 ° f . and soda ash at varying levels . the response surface included untreated whole canola as a control and eight treated cells . the treated cells ranged across three time points ( 20 , 40 and 60 minutes ) and soda ash ranged across five levels ( 0 , 30 , 60 , 90 and 120 pounds per ton of seed ). visual observations of the seed coats were made by four individuals . the observations were made by counting the number of intact , split coat , wrinkled and deformed seeds in a sub sample following drying . seeds which had split coats , or were wrinkled or deformed were considered damaged . an equation and response surface graph was generated from the observations using statsoft , inc . ( 2003 ). statistica ( data analysis software system ), version 6 . www . statsoft . com . the data indicated a treatment dose of 80 pounds soda ash and 40 minutes cooking time produced acceptable swelling and cracking of the seed coat . see fig1 : 3d surface plot ( new statistica spreadsheet 10v * 9c ) damaged seed = 0 . 1016 + 0 . 0029 * x + 0 . 0126 * y + 0 . 0001 * x * x − 0 . 0001 * x * y − 4 . 7878e − 5 * y * y to determine the rumen digestible dry matter at 16 and 96 hours and protein and fat escape rates at 16 hours of whole canola seed subjected to moist cooking and treatment with varying levels of sodium carbonate ( soda ash ) and sucrose the following response surface study was conducted . the treatment levels to be tested were based on the results found in example 1 : the samples were prepared by mixing the soda ash and sucrose in steaming water . the solution was thoroughly mixed with the whole seed and allowed to moist cook at 190 - 200 ° f . with gentle mixing every 10 - 15 minutes in a 20 quart capacity rival programmable oven roaster . after cooking for 60 minutes the material was processed through a meat grinder with a # 12 plate with ⅛ ″ die . the noodles from the grinder were placed on a screen and heated forced air ( 240 - 250 ° f .) was passed through the noodles for 20 - 30 minutes to dry . the product temperatures at end of drying were 225 ° f . unheated air was passed through the noodles for 5 minutes to cool to room temperature . the samples were stored in plastic containers . the ground subsamples were analyzed by standard wet chemistry methods for dry matter , crude protein , ash , sodium and ph . crude fat was determined by double extraction using pet ether on double ground subsamples . eight subsamples of each batch were weighed into standard rumen digestion bags . two bag were used to determine bag wash out and three bags were placed in a standard digestion tube ( bar diamond , inc ., parma , id .) and three bags were place in a second digestion tube . one tube was place in the rumen of a fistulated steer of sixteen hours and the second tube was in the animal for ninety - six hours . when the digestion tubes were removed from the animal , the bags were washed until the rinse was clear . the bags were dried and weighted . the bags were extracted with pet ether for five hours into a beaker on a labconco 6 bank fat extractor . then the bag was dried to remove residual ether and the bag was opened and the contents recovered and fine ground . a sample of the ground material was weighed into a filter paper and placed on the fat extractor for a second 5 hour extraction into a second beaker . the residual content in the filter paper was dried to remove residual ether and sample was weighed for standard wet chemistry crude protein analysis . the test treatments and least squared means results determined using the glm method in statsoft , inc . ( 2003 ). statistica ( data analysis software system ), version 6 . www . statsoft . com . sugar and soda ash levels are pounds per 2000 pounds of whole canola seed . see fig3 : rumen digestible dry matter at 96 hours , rumen digestible dry matter at 96 hours , weak response to sucrose and strong sodium carbonate response . 3d surface plot ( bypass fat summary data # 6 15v * 27c ). rddm 96 hr = 0 . 5685 − 0 . 0042 * x −+ 0 . 0042 * y − 1 . 7734e − 5 * x * x + 1 . 6875e − 5 * x * y − 3 . 662e − 5 * y * y see tables 2 , 3 , and 4 : ls means for soda ash effect on 16 hour rumen digestible dry matter ( rddm 16 hr ). sugar effect was removed as a covariant . all the cells which received soda ash had improved rddm 16 hr . see tables 5 and 6 : ls means for sugar effect on 16 hour rumen digestible dry matter ( rddm 16 hr ). soda ash effect was removed as a covariant . sugar did not have an effect on rddm 16 hr . rumen digestible dry matter ( rddm 16 ) at 16 hours averaged 34 . 9 % for all soda ash treatments v 17 . 1 % for untreated canola , 2 . 27 fold increase . at 96 hours the average rumen digestible dry matter ( rddm 96 ) was 54 . 0 % for all soda ash treatments v 30 . 6 % for untreated canola , 1 . 76 fold increase . based on the observation that sugar has a weak response on improving the amount of the canola digested in the rumen at 16 and 96 hours , analysis of protein and fat escape was done by soda ash level only . in inspecting the data at 30 pounds soda ash per 2000 pounds canola it was not clear how much of the protein and fat escape from the rumen was due to the action of soda ash level or due to the lack of digestion as occurs with the untreated seed . the analysis of protein and fat escape only include cell with more than 30 pounds soda ash per 2000 pounds . see table 7 : crude protein escape at 16 hours : no significant differences were observed between protein escape rates at 60 , 90 , 120 lbs soda ash per 2000 lbs canola . see tables 8 and 9 : crude fat escape at 16 hours : fat escape at the 90 lb soda ash level was significantly better than the 60 lb soda ash level and not different from the 120 lb level of soda ash . see fig4 : rumen escape fat at 16 hours ( equation : y =− 0 . 0001x 2 + 0 . 0226x − 0 . 2341 , r 2 = 0 . 7943 ) based on this data the optimum rumen escape fat occurs between 75 to nearly 100 lbs of soda ash per ton . this agrees quite well with the predicted optimum dose from example 1 . from this data rumen escape of fat at 16 hours is 75 to 85 % at optimum soda ash levels . a single cell of flax seed treated at the levels and manner of cells 4 and 5 in example 2 was included in the rumen digestion test used in example 3 . the data from cells 4 and 5 ( canola ) was compared to this flax cell . the data was tested using statsoft , inc . ( 2003 ). statistica ( data analysis software system ), version 6 . www . statsoft . com . see table 10 : comparison of cannola and flax seeds processed using 60 lbs soda ash per 2000 lbs . flax had a significantly lower rumen digestible dry matter at 16 hours than canola seed at the same treatment level . previous studies with processing canola seed have confirmed the amount of soda ash , temperature , water and steep time required to optimize the escape of lipid ( fat ) and protein from the rumen at 16 hours . these studies have indicated that fat escape is directly related to protein escape . in one study it was found if the fat is free and the protein is not properly mixed with the fat in a manner allowing the protein to “ wrap ” around the fat , the improvement in protein escape did not result in the improvement in fat escape . in previous work we have determined that extrusion through a grinding plate will “ break ” open the seed coat previously expanded and softened by steeping with hot water and soda ash . by breaking or splitting the seed coat it is general knowledge that the overall digestion of both fat and protein are improved . what is needed is method of processing canola seed to produce uniform improvement in rumen escape of fat and protein while insuring the seed coat does not reduce the overall digestion of fat and protein . this study was conducted to evaluate canola seed processing on fat and protein escape using previously determined optimum steep time , temperature and soda ash added at the proper relationship to the protein . the treatments were added protein from soybean meal , single versus double grinding , and small plate ( 5 / 64 inch ) versus large plate ( ⅛ ). the interactions and main effects were tested using the glm module of statsoft , inc . ( 2002 ). statistica ( data analysis software system ), version 6 . www . statsoft . com . the following treatments were formulated where the targeted fat to protein ratios varied from 2 to 1 , 1 . 5 to 1 , 1 . 25 to 1 and to 1 . the protein ratio was varied by the addition of soybean meal . soda ash additions were equal to the targeted amount of the protein . the canola seed only treatments received 75 lb of soda ash per 2000 lb . the soda ash level was increased with the additions of soybean meal to maintain a uniform protein to soda ash ratio . ganola with soda ash only ( 2 . 00 : 1 ) 5 / 64 die plate , single grind ganola with soda ash only ( 2 . 00 : 1 ) 5 / 64 die plate , double grind ganola with soda ash only ( 2 . 00 : 1 ) ⅛ die plate . single grind canola with soda ash only ( 2 . 00 : 1 ) ⅛ die plate . double grind canola with added soybean meal ( 1 . 50 : 1 ) 5 / 64 die plate , single grind canola with added soybean meal ( 1 - 50 : 1 ) 5 / 64 die plate , double grind canola with added soybean meal ( 1 . 50 : 1 ) ⅛ die plate , single grind canola with added soybean meal ( 1 . 50 : 1 ) ⅛ die plate , double grind canola with added soybean meal ( 1 . 25 : 1 ) 5 / 64 die plate , single grind canola with added soybean meal ( 125 : 1 ) 5 / 64 die plale , double grind canola with added soybean meal ( 1 . 25 : 1 ) ⅛ die plate , single grind canola with added soybean meal ( 125 : 1 ) ⅛ die plate , double grind canola with added soybean meal ( 1 . 00 : 1 ) 5 / 64 die plate , single grind canola with added soybean meal ( 1 . 00 : 1 ) 5 / 64 die plate , double grind canola with added soybean meal ( 1 . 00 : 1 ) ⅛ die plate , single grind canola with added soybean meal ( 1 . 00 : 1 ) ⅛ die plate , double grind see tables 13 - 16 : analysis of rumen fat escape at 16 hours as modified by single versus double grind and small ( 5 / 64 inch ) plate versus large ( ⅛ inch ) plate with digestion tube and fat to protein ratio equalized as covariates . double grinding improved fat escape over single grinding . the difference approached significance ( p = 0 . 06959 ). using a small plate ( ⅚ inch ) improved fat escape over using a large plate ( ⅛ inch ). the difference is significant ( p = 0 . 04889 ). the number of grindings and plate size effect are independent ; no interaction between number of grindings and plate size exists . see tables 17 - 19 : analysis of rumen protein escape at 16 hours as modified by single versus double grind and small ( 5 / 64 inch ) plate versus large ( ⅛ inch ) plate with digestion tube and fat to protein ratio equalized as covariates . double grinding is significantly ( p = 0 . 03573 ) better in increasing 16 hour protein escape than single grinding . plate size did not affect protein escape . fat to protein ratio has a significant effect on protein escape . relationship of protein escape to fat to protein ratio with grind affect equalized . double grinding improved fat escape over single grinding by 8 . 5 %. the difference approached significance . using a small plate ( 5 / 64 inch ) improved fat escape over using a large plate ( ⅛ inch ) by 9 . 3 %. the difference is significant . the number of grindings and plate size effect are independent ; no interaction between number of grindings and plate size exists . the combined improvement in fat escape by using small plate and double grinding may be as much as 17 . 8 % over using large plate and single grinding . double grinding is significantly better in increasing 16 hour protein escape than single grinding . plate size did not affect protein escape . fat to protein ratio has a significant effect on protein escape . double grinding may improve protein escape by 11 . 4 % although this invention has been described above and in appendix i with reference to particular means , materials and embodiments , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to these disclosed particulars , but extends instead to all equivalents within the broad scope of the following claims .	0
the present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown . this invention may , however , be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein ; rather , these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete , and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art . like numbers refer to like elements throughout . fig1 is a block diagram of a merged memory and logic ( mml ) integrated circuit according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig1 the mml integrated circuit 5 includes pads 7 , 8 , 9 and 10 , a memory test control circuit 13 , a logic block 15 ( also referred to herein as a logic or a logic circuit ) and first and second memory blocks ( also referred to herein as memories ). the memory test control circuit 13 is connected to the pads 7 , 8 , 9 and 10 , and the logic 15 . the first and second memories 17 and 19 , e . g ., dram banks , are also connected to the memory test control circuit 13 . a memory control signal pc for controlling the first and second memories 17 and 19 is applied to the first pad 8 , and test control signals testmd 0 and testmd 1 for controlling the memory test control circuit 13 are applied to the pads 9 and 10 . also , a memory data signal dqi is input / output to the first and second memories 17 and 19 is applied to the second pad 7 . the pads 7 and 8 preferably are existing pads for using the first and second memories 17 and 19 , and the pads 9 and 10 may be added pads to control the memory test control circuit 13 . a memory tester is connected to the pads 7 , 8 , 9 and 10 to test functions of the first and second memories 17 and 19 of the mml device 5 . the memory tester inputs the memory control signal pc and the memory data signal dqi to the memory test control circuit 13 through the pads 7 and 8 . also , the memory test control circuit 13 is controlled by a combination of the test control signals testmd 0 and testmd 1 . accordingly , in the testing of the first and second memories 17 and 19 , the memory test control circuit 13 applies the memory control signal pc and the memory data signal dqi to the first and second memories 17 and 19 . the first and second memories 17 and 19 operate by the memory control signal pc and the memory data signal dqi , and then the result is transmitted to the memory test control circuit 13 . the memory test control circuit 13 transmits signals from the first and second memories 17 and 19 to the memory tester through the pads 7 and 8 . accordingly , the memory tester can analyze signals transmitted through the pads 7 and 8 to evaluate the functions of the first and second memories 17 and 19 . when the mml 5 operates normally without testing the first and second memories 17 and 19 , the memory test control circuit 13 is partially disabled due to the combination of test control signals testmd 0 and testmd 1 . when the memory control signal pc and the memory data signals dqis are applied externally to perform normal operation of the mml 5 , the applied signals are input to the logic 15 , which controls the first and second memories 17 and 19 through the memory test control circuit 13 . the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in fig1 is employed for a merged memory logic device having two memories , however , the invention may be employed for a merged memory logic semiconductor device having one or more memories . moreover , the number of pads that are used can vary . as described above , a merged memory logic semiconductor device 5 according to an embodiment of the present invention may test the first and second memories 17 and 19 using the conventional pads 7 and 8 . fig2 is a block diagram of a memory test control circuit 13 of fig1 according to a first embodiment . referring to fig2 the memory test control circuit 13 according to the first embodiment includes a main control signal generator 23 , a memory control signal controller 25 and a memory data controller 27 . in the main control signal generator 23 , the test control signals testmd 0 and testmd 1 are applied to an input terminal , and an output terminal is connected to the memory control signal controller 25 and the memory data controller 27 . the main control signal generator 23 generates main control signals memtest 1 , memtest 2 and normal , in response to the test control signals testmd 0 and testmd 1 . for example , the main control signal generator 23 has truth values as shown in table 1 . as shown in table 1 , when the test control signals testmd 0 and testmd 1 are logic low ‘ l ’, the main control signal memtest 1 is made active to test the first memory 17 of fig1 and when the test control signal testmd 0 is activated to logic high ‘ h ’ and the test control signal testmd 1 is logic low ‘ l ’, the main control signal memtest 2 is active to test the second memory 19 of fig1 . also , when the test control signal testmd 0 is logic low ‘ l ’ and the test control signal testmd 1 is logic high ‘ h ’, a signal normal is active to normally operate the logic 15 of fig1 . when the test control signals testmd 0 and testmd 1 are logic high ‘ h ’, the previous state is maintained . the memory control signal controller 25 receives the memory control signal pc applied through the pad 8 , and is controlled by the main control signals memtest 1 , memtest 2 and normal to transmit the memory control signal pc to the first and second memories 17 and 19 of fig1 and to the logic 15 of fig1 . the memory control signal pc includes a row address strobe signal rasb , a column address strobe signal casb , a write enable signal web , an output enable signal oeb , and an address signal ai . the memory data controller 27 receives the memory data signal dqi applied through the pad 7 , and is controlled by the main control signals memtest 1 , memtest 2 and normal to transmit the memory data signal dqi input externally to the first and second memories 17 and 19 of fig1 or the logic 15 of fig1 and to transmit the memory data signal dqi generated from the first and second memories 17 and 19 of fig1 or the logic 15 of fig1 to the pad 7 . as described above , the memory test control circuit 13 according to the first embodiment of the present invention may test the first and second memories 17 and 19 of fig1 using the conventional pads 7 and 8 of fig1 without the logic 15 . fig3 is a circuit diagram of a memory control signal controller 25 of fig2 . referring to fig3 the memory control signal controller 25 includes a buffer 31 , a logic gate 33 and a memory controller 35 . the buffer 31 receives a memory control signal pc , and transmits the output to the logic gate 33 . the buffer 31 changes the voltage level of the memory control signal pc . for example , a voltage of a transistor transistor logic ( ttl ) level is converted into a voltage of a complementary metal oxide semiconductor ( cmos ) level . the logic gate 33 receives an output of the buffer 31 , and transmits the output to the memory controller 35 . the logic gate 33 includes first through third and gates 33 a , 33 b and 33 c . the first and gate 33 a receives the output of the buffer 31 and the main control signal memtest 1 . when the output of the buffer 31 or the main control signal memtest 1 is logic low , the first and gate 33 a generates a logic low signal , and when the output of the buffer 31 and the main control signal memtest 1 are logic high , the first and gate 33 a generates a logic high signal . the second and gate 33 b receives the output of the buffer 31 and the main control signal normal and transmits the output to the logic 15 of fig1 . when the output of the buffer 31 or the main control signal normal is logic low , the second and gate 33 b generates a logic low signal , and when the output of the buffer 31 and the main control signal normal are logic high , the second and gate 33 b generates a logic high signal . the third and gate 33 c receives the output of the buffer 31 and the main control signal memtest 2 . when the output of the buffer 31 or the main control signal memtest 2 is logic low , the third and gate 33 b generates a logic low signal , and when the output of the buffer 31 and the main control signal memtest 2 are logic low , the third and gate 33 c generates a logic high signal . the memory controller 35 includes first and second multiplexers 35 a and 35 b . a 2 - input , 1 - output multiplexer is used as the first multiplexer 35 a . the first multiplexer 35 a receives the output of the first and gate 33 a and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 and is controlled by the main control signals normal and memtest 1 , to transmit the output of the first and gate 33 a and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 to the first memory 17 of fig1 . that is , when the main control signal normal is active , the first multiplexer 35 a transmits signals generated from the logic 15 of fig1 to the first memory 17 of fig1 and when the main control signal memtest 1 is active , the first multiplexer 35 a transmits the signals generated from the first and gate 33 a to the first memory 17 of fig1 . a 2 - input , 1 - output multiplexer is used as the second multiplexer 35 b . the second multiplexer 35 b receives the output of the third and gate 33 c and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 and is controlled by the main control signals normal and memtest 2 , to transmit the output of the third and gate 33 c and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 to the second memory 19 of fig1 . that is , when the main control signal normal is active , the second multiplexer 35 b transmits the signals generated from the logic 15 of fig1 to the second memory 19 of fig1 and when the main control signal memtest 2 is active , the second multiplexer 35 b transmits the signal generated from the third and gate 33 c to the second memory 19 of fig1 . fig4 is a circuit diagram of the memory data controller 27 of fig2 . referring to fig4 the memory data controller 27 includes an input / output buffer 41 , a logic gate 43 , a memory controller 45 , an output controller 47 and an output buffer controller 49 . the input / output buffer 41 includes an input buffer 41 a and an output buffer 41 b . the input buffer 41 a receives the memory data signal dqi , and transmits the output to the logic gate 43 . the input buffer 41 a changes the voltage level of the memory data signal dqi . for example , a voltage of a ttl level is converted to a voltage of a cmos level . the output buffer 41 b is controlled by the output buffer controller 49 to transmit the output of the output controller 47 externally . that is , when output of the output buffer controller 49 is active , the output buffer 41 b is activated to transmit the output of the output controller 47 externally , and when the output of the output buffer controller 49 is inactive , the output buffer 41 b is inactive to prevent transmission of the output of the output controller 47 externally . the logic gate 43 receives the output of the input buffer 41 a and signals memtest 1 , normal and memtest 2 , and transmits the output to the memory controller 45 . the logic gate 43 includes first through third and gates 43 a , 43 b and 43 c . the first and gate 43 a receives the output of the input buffer 41 a and the main control signal memtest 1 , and transmits the output to the memory controller 45 . when the output of the input buffer 41 a or the main control signal memtest 1 is logic low , the first and gate 43 a generates a logic low signal , and when the output of the input buffer 41 a and the main control signal memtest 1 are logic high , the first and gate 43 a generates a logic high signal . the second and gate 43 b receives the output of the input buffer 41 a and the main control signal normal , and transmits the output to the logic 15 of fig1 . when the output of the input buffer 41 a or the main control signal normal is logic low , the second and gate 43 b generates signals of logic low , and when the output of the input buffer 41 a and the main control signal normal are logic high , the second and gate 43 b generates a logic high signal . the third and gate 43 c receives the output of the input buffer 41 a and the main control signal memtest 2 , and transmits the output to the memory controller 45 . when the output of the input buffer 41 a or the main control signal memtest 2 is logic low , the third and gate 43 c generates a logic low signal , and when the output of the input buffer 41 a and the main control signal memtest 2 are logic high , the third and gate 43 c generates a logic high signal . the memory controller 45 includes first and second multiplexers 45 a and 45 b . a 2 - input , 1 - output multiplexer is used as the first multiplexer 45 a . the first multiplexer 45 a receives the output of the first and gate 43 a and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 and is controlled by the main control signals normal and memtest 1 , to transmit the output of the first and gate 43 a and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 to the first memory 17 of fig1 . that is , when the main control signal normal is active , the first multiplexer 45 a transmits signals generated from the logic 15 of fig1 to the first memory 17 of fig1 and when the main control signal memtest 1 is active , the first multiplexer 45 a transmits signals generated from the first and gate 43 a to the first memory 17 of fig1 . a 2 - input , 1 - output multiplexer is used as the second multiplexer 45 b . the second multiplexer 45 b receives the output of the third and gate 43 c and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 and is controlled by the main control signals normal and memtest 2 , to transmit the output of the third and gate 43 c and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 to the second memory 19 of fig1 . that is , when the main control signal normal is active , the second multiplexer 45 b transmits signals generated from the logic 15 of fig1 to the second memory 19 of fig1 and when the main control signal memtest 2 is active , the second multiplexer 45 b transmits signals generated from the third and gate 43 c to the second memory 19 of fig1 . the output controller 47 receives signals generated from the logic 15 of fig1 and the first and second memories 17 and 19 of fig1 and transmits the output to the output buffer 41 b . a 3 - input , 1 - output multiplexer is used as the output controller 47 . the output controller 47 is controlled by the main control signals normal , memtest 1 and memtest 2 . that is , when the main control signal normal is active , the output controller 47 transmits signals generated from the logic 15 of fig1 output controller 47 transmits signals from the first memory 17 of fig1 to the output buffer 41 b , and when the main control signal memtest 2 is active , the output controller 47 transmits signals generated from the second memory 19 of fig1 to the output buffer 41 b . the output buffer controller 49 includes first through third logic gates 49 a , 49 b and 49 d , a fourth and gate 49 c and a nand gate 49 e . the first logic gate 49 a receives the main control signals memtest 1 and memtest 2 . when one of the main control signals memtest 1 and memtest 2 is logic high , the first logic gate 49 a generates a logic high signal , and when all of the main control signals memtest 1 and memtest 2 are logic low , the first logic gate 49 a generates a logic low signal . the second logic gate 49 b receives a first output buffer enable signal trst 1 generated from the first memory 17 of fig1 and a second output buffer enable signal trst 2 generated from the second memory 19 of fig1 . when the first output buffer enable signal trst 1 or the second output buffer enable signal trst 2 is logic high , the second logic gate 49 b generates a logic high signal , and when both the first output buffer enable signal trst 1 and the second output buffer enable signal trst 2 are logic low , the second logic gate 49 b generates a logic low signal . the fourth and gate 49 c receives the output of the first logic gate 49 a and the output of the second logic gate 49 b . when the output of the first logic gate 49 a or the output of the second logic gate 49 b is logic low , the fourth and gate generates a logic low signal , and both the output of the first logic gate 49 a and the output of the second logic gate 49 b are logic high , the fourth and gate generates a logic high signal . the third logic gate 49 d receives the output of the fourth and gate 49 c and the main control signal normal . when the output of the fourth and gate 49 c or the main control signal is logic high , the third logic gate 49 d generates a logic high signal , and both the output of the fourth and gate 49 c and the main control signal are logic low , the third logic gate 49 d generates a logic low signal . the nand gate 49 e receives the output of the third logic gate 49 d and a power supply voltage vcc , and transmits the output to a control terminal of the output buffer 41 b . the nand gate 49 e transmits the output of the third logic gate 49 d to the control terminal of the output buffer 41 b . that is , when the output of the third logic gate 49 d is logic high , the nand gate 49 e generates a logic low signal , and when the output of the third logic gate 49 d is logic low , the nand gate 49 e generates a logic high signal . when the output of the nand gate 49 e is logic low , i . e ., active , the output buffer 41 b is activated , and when the output of the nand gate 49 e is logic high , i . e ., inactive , the output buffer 41 b is deactivated . fig5 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the memory test control circuit of fig1 . referring to fig5 the memory test control circuit 13 according to the second embodiment includes a main control signal generator 51 , a memory control signal controller 53 , a first memory data controller 55 and a second memory data controller 57 . the main control signal generator 51 receives a test control signal testmd 0 applied through the pad 9 , and transmits the output to the memory control signal controller 53 , the first memory data controller 55 and the second memory data controller 57 . the main control signal generator 51 generates main control signals , i . e ., a main control signal memtest and a main control signal normal , in response to the test control signal testmd 0 . for example , the main control signal generator 51 has truth values as shown in table 2 . as shown in table 2 , when the test control signal testmd 0 is logic low , the main control signal memtest is active , to test the first and second memories 17 and 19 of fig1 and when the test control signal testmd 0 is logic high ‘ h ’, the main control signal normal is activated , to normally operate the logic 15 of fig1 . the memory control signal controller 53 receives a memory control signal pc applied through the pad 8 , and is controlled by the main control signals memtest and normal , to transmit the memory control signal pc to the first and second memories 17 and 19 of fig1 or the logic 15 of fig1 . the memory control signal pc includes a row address strobe signal rasb , a column address strobe signal casb , a write enable signal web , an output enable signal oeb and an address signal ai . the first memory data controller 55 receives memory data signals dq 1 i applied through the pad 7 , and is controlled by the main control signals memtest and normal to transmit the memory data signal dq 1 i to the first memory 17 of fig1 or the logic 15 of fig1 and the memory data signal dq 1 i generated from the first memory 17 of fig1 or the logic 15 of fig1 to outside the pad 7 . the second memory data controller 57 receives a memory data signal dq 2 i applied through the pad 7 ′, and is controlled by the main control signals memtest and normal , to transmit the memory data signal dq 2 i to the second memory 19 of fig1 or the logic 15 of fig1 and the memory data signal dq 2 i generated from the second memory 19 of fig1 or the logic 15 of fig1 to the pad 7 ′. as described above , the memory test control circuit 13 according to the second embodiment of the present invention can test the first and second memories 17 and 19 of fig1 using conventional pads 7 , 8 and 7 ′ without the logic 15 of fig1 . fig6 is a circuit diagram of the memory control signal controller 53 of fig5 . referring to fig6 the memory control signal controller 53 includes a buffer 61 , a logic gate 63 and a memory controller 65 . the buffer 61 receives a memory control signal pc , and transmits the output to the logic gate 63 . the buffer 61 changes the voltage level of the memory control signal pc . for example , a voltage of a ttl level is converted to a voltage of a cmos level . the logic gate 63 receives the output of the buffer 61 , and transmits the output to the memory controller 65 . the logic gate 63 includes first through third and gates 63 a , 63 b and 63 c . the first and gate 63 a receives the output of the buffer 61 and the main control signal memtest . when the output of the buffer 61 or the main control signal memtest is logic low , the first and gate 63 a generates a logic low signal , and when the output of the buffer 61 and the main control signal memtest are logic high , the first and gate 63 a generates a logic high signal . the second and gate 63 b receives the output of the buffer 61 and the main control signal normal and transmits the output to the logic 15 of fig1 . when the output of the buffer 61 or the main control signal normal is logic low , the second and gate 63 b generates a logic low signal , and when the output of the buffer 61 and the main control signal normal are logic high , the second and gate 63 b generates a logic high signal . the third and gate 63 c receives the output of the buffer 61 and the main control signal memtest . when the output of the buffer 61 or the main control signal memtest are logic high , the third and gate 63 c generates a logic high signal . the memory controller 65 includes first and second multiplexers 65 a and 65 b . a 2 - input , 1 - output multiplexer is used as the first multiplexer 65 a . the first multiplexer 65 a receives the output of the first and gate 63 a and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 and is controlled by the main control signals normal and memtest to transmit the output of the first and gate 63 a and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 to the first memory 17 of fig1 . that is , when the main control signal normal is active , the first multiplexer 65 a transmits the signal generated from the logic 15 of fig1 to the first memory 17 of fig1 and when the main control signal memtest is active , the first multiplexer 65 a transmits the signal generated from the first and gate 63 a to the first memory 17 of fig1 . a 2 - input , 1 - output multiplexer is used as the second multiplexer 65 b . the second multiplexer 65 b receives the output of the third and gate 63 c and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 and is controlled by the main control signals normal and memtest , to transmit the output of the third and gate 63 c and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 to the second memory 19 of fig1 . that is , when the main control signal normal is active , the second multiplexer 65 b transmits a signal generated from the logic to the second memory 19 of fig1 and when the main control signal memtest is active , the second multiplexer 65 b transmits the signal generated from the third and gate 63 c to the second memory 19 of fig1 . fig7 is a circuit diagram of the first memory data controller 55 of fig5 . referring to fig7 the first memory data controller 55 includes a first input / output buffer 71 , a first logic gate 73 , a first memory controller 75 , a first output controller 77 and a first output buffer controller 79 . the first input / output buffer 71 includes the first input buffer 71 a and the first output buffer 71 b . the first input buffer 71 a receives the memory data signal dq 1 i and transmits the output to the first logic gate 73 . the first input buffer 71 a changes the voltage level of the memory data signal dq 1 i . for example , a voltage of the ttl level is converted to a voltage of the cmos level . the first output buffer 71 b is controlled by the first output buffer controller 79 to transmit the output of the first output controller 77 externally . that is , when the output of the first output buffer controller 77 is active , the first output buffer 71 b is activated to transmit the output of the first output controller 77 externally , and when the output of the first output buffer controller 79 is inactive , the first output buffer 71 b is inactive to transmit the output of the first output controller 77 externally . the first logic gate 73 receives the output of the first input buffer 71 a and transmits the output to the first memory controller 75 . the first logic gate 73 includes first and second and gates 73 a and 73 c . the first and gate 73 a receives the output of the first input buffer 71 a and the main control signal memtest . when the output of the first input buffer 71 a or the main control signal memtest is logic low , the first and gate 73 a generates a logic low signal , and when the output of the first input buffer 71 a and the main control signal memtest are logic high , the first and gate 73 a generates a logic high signal . the second and gate 73 c receives the output of the first input buffer 71 a and the main control signal normal and transmits the output to the logic 15 of fig1 . when the output of the first input buffer 71 a or the main control signal normal is logic low , the second and gate 73 c generates a logic low signal , and when the output of the first input buffer 71 a and the main control signal normal are logic high , the second and gate 73 c generates a logic high signal . the first memory controller 75 includes a 2 - input , 1 - output multiplexer . the first memory controller 75 receives the output of the first and gate 73 a and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 and is controlled by the main control signals normal and memtest to transmit the output of the first and gate 73 a and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 to the first memory 17 of fig1 . that is , when the main control signal normal is active , the first memory controller 75 transmits signals generated from the logic 15 of fig1 to the first memory 17 of fig1 and when the main control signal memtest is active , the first memory controller 75 transmits signals generated from the first and gate 73 a to the first memory 17 of fig1 . the first output controller 77 includes a 2 - input , 1 - output multiplexer . the second output controller 77 receives signals generated from the logic 15 of fig1 and the first memory 17 of fig1 and transmits the output to the first output buffer 71 b . the first output controller 77 is controlled by the main control signals normal and memtest . that is , when the main control signal normal is active , the first output controller 77 transmits signals generated from the logic 15 of fig1 to the first output buffer 71 b , and when the main control signal memtest is active , the first output controller 77 transmits signals generated from the first memory 17 of fig1 to the first output buffer 71 b . the first output buffer controller 79 includes a third and gate 79 a , a first logic gate 79 c and a first nand gate 79 d . the third and gate 79 a receives the main control signal memtest and the first output buffer enable signal trst 1 . when the main control signal memtest or the first output buffer enable signal trst 1 is logic low , the third and gate 79 a generates a logic low signal , and when both the main control signal memtest and the first output buffer enable signal trst 1 are logic high , the third and gate 79 a generates a logic high signal . the first logic gate 79 c receives output of the third and gate 79 a and the main control signal normal . when output of the third and gate 79 a or the main control signal normal is logic high , the first logic gate 79 c generates a logic high signal , and when the output of the third and gate 79 a and the main control signal normal are logic low , the first logic gate 79 a generates a logic low signal . the first nand gate 79 d receives the output of the first logic gate 79 a and a power supply voltage vcc and transmits the output to a control terminal of the first output buffer 71 b . the first nand gate 79 d transmits the output of the first logic gate to the control terminal of the first output buffer 71 b . that is , when output of the first logic gate 79 c is logic low , the first nand gate 79 d generates signals of logic high , and when the output of the first logic gate 79 c is logic high , the first nand gate 79 d generates signals of logic low . when the output of the first nand gate 79 d is logic low , i . e ., active , the first output buffer 71 d is activated , and when the output of the nand gate 79 d is logic high , i . e ., inactive , the first output buffer 71 b is inactive . fig8 is a circuit diagram of the second memory data controller 57 of fig5 . referring to fig8 the second memory data controller 57 includes a second input / output buffer 81 , a second logic gate 83 , a second memory controller 85 , a second output controller 87 and a second output buffer controller 89 . the second input / output buffer 81 includes a second input buffer 81 a and a second output buffer 81 b . the second input buffer 81 a receives the memory data signal dq 2 i and transmits the output to the second logic gate 83 . the second input buffer 81 a changes the voltage level of the memory data signal dq 1 i . for example , a voltage of the ttl level is converted to a voltage of the cmos level . the second output buffer 81 b is controlled by the second buffer controller 89 and transmits the output of the second output controller 87 externally . that is , when the output of the second output buffer controller 89 is active , the second output buffer 81 b transmits the output of the second output controller 87 externally , and when the output of the second output buffer controller 89 is inactive , the second output buffer 81 b is inactive , and thus the output of the second output controller 87 is not transmitted externally . the second logic gate 83 receives the output of the second input buffer 81 a and transmits the output to the second memory controller 85 . the second logic gate 83 includes fourth and fifth and gates 83 a and 83 c . the fourth and gate 83 a receives the output of the second input buffer 81 a and the main control signal memtest . when the output of the second input buffer 81 a or the main control signal memtest is logic low , the fourth and gate 83 a generates a logic low signal , and when the output of the second input buffer 81 a and the main control signal memtest are logic high , the fourth and gate 83 a generates a logic high signal . the fifth and gate 83 c receives the output of the second input buffer 81 a and the main control signal normal and transmits the output to the logic 15 of fig1 . when the output of the second input buffer 81 a or the main control signal normal is logic low , the fifth and gate 83 c generates a logic low signal , and when the output of the second input buffer 81 a and the main control signal normal are logic high , the fifth and gate 83 c generates a logic high signal . the second memory controller 85 includes a 2 - input , 1 - output multiplexer . the second memory controller 85 receives the output of the fourth and gate 83 a and the output of the logic 15 of fig1 and is controlled by the main control signals normal and memtest to transmit the output of the fourth and gate 83 a or the output of the logic 15 of fig1 to the second memory 19 of fig1 . that is , when the main control signal normal is active , the second memory controller 85 transmits signals generated from the logic 15 of fig1 to the second memory 19 of fig1 and when the main control signal memtest is active , the second memory controller 85 transmits signals generated from the fourth and gate 83 a to the second memory 19 of fig1 . the second output controller 87 includes a 2 - input , 1 - output multiplexer . the second output controller 87 receives signals generated from the logic 15 of fig1 and the second memory 19 of fig1 and transmits the output to the second output buffer 81 b . the second output controller 87 is controlled by the main control signals normal and memtest . that is , when the main control signal normal is active , the second output controller 87 transmits signals generated from the logic 15 of fig1 to the second output buffer 81 b , and when the main control signal memtest is active , the second output controller 87 transmits signals generated from the second memory 19 of fig1 to the second output buffer 81 b . the second output buffer controller 89 includes a sixth and gate 89 a , a second logic gate 89 c and a second nand gate 89 d . the sixth and gate 89 a receives the main control signal memtest and the output buffer enable signal trst 1 generated from the second memory 19 of fig1 . when the main control signal memtest or the output buffer enable signal trst 2 is logic low , the sixth and gate 89 a generates a logic low signal , and when both the main control signal memtest and the output buffer enable signal trst 1 are logic high , the sixth and gate 89 a generates a logic high signal . the second logic gate 89 c receives the output of the sixth and gate 89 a and the main control signal normal . when the output of the sixth and gate 89 a or the main control signal normal is logic high , the second logic gate 89 c generates a logic high signal , and when both the output of the sixth and gate 89 a and the main control signal normal are logic low , the second logic gate 89 c generates a logic low signal . the second nand gate 89 d receives the output of the second logic gate 89 c and a power supply voltage vcc and transmits the output to a control terminal of the second output buffer 81 b . the second nand gate 89 d transmits the output of the second logic gate to the control terminal of the second output buffer 81 b . that is , when the output of the second logic gate 89 c is logic low , the second nand gate 89 d generates signals of logic high , and when the output of the second logic gate 89 c is logic high , the second nand gate 89 d generates a logic low signal . when the output of the second nand gate 89 d is logic low , i . e ., active , the second output buffer 81 b is activated , and when the output of the nand gate 89 d is logic high , i . e ., inactive , the second output buffer 81 b is inactive . in the drawings and specification , there have been disclosed typical preferred embodiments of the invention and , although specific terms are employed , they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation , the scope of the invention being set forth in the following claims .	6
in the following , embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to accompanying drawings . however , the invention can be implemented in different forms , and the invention cannot be interpreted as being limited to concrete embodiments of the invention illustrated herein . on the contrary , those embodiments provided are to explain the principle and practical application of the invention , so as to make other skills in the art understand various embodiments of the invention and various modifications suitable for specific intended applications . fig1 is a block diagram of a display device according to an embodiment of the invention . fig2 is a structural view of a display panel according to an embodiment of the invention . referring to fig1 and fig2 , a display device according to an embodiment of the invention is an organic light emitting diode ( oled ) display device and includes : a display panel 1 , a scan driver 2 , a data driver 3 , and a conversion system of three - color data to four - color data 4 . the display panel 1 includes : scan lines g 1 to g n extending along a row direction ( n is a natural number ) and data lines s 1 to s n extending along a column direction ( m is a natural number ). the scan lines g 1 to g n are all connected to the scan driver 2 , the data lines s 1 to s n are all connected to the data driver 3 . a sub - pixel l ij ( red ( r ) sub - pixel , or green ( g ) sub - pixel , or blue ( b ) sub - pixel , or white ( w ) sub - pixel ) is disposed in a region defined by the scan line g i , g i + 1 ( i is any one natural number of 1 to n ) and the data line s j , s j + 1 ( j is any one natural number of 1 to n ). one red ( r ) sub - pixel , one green ( g ) sub - pixel , one blue ( b ) sub - pixel and one white ( w ) sub - pixel together constitute one pixel . a thin film transistor ( tft ) q ij is disposed in the vicinity of an intersection of the scan line g i and the data line s j . furthermore , the scan line g i is connected with a gate of the thin film transistor q ij , the data line s j is connected with the source of the thin film transistor q ij , and the sub - pixel l ij ( red ( r ) sub - pixel , or green ( g ) sub - pixel , or blue ( b ) sub - pixel , or white ( w ) sub - pixel ) is connected with the drain of the thin film transistor q ij . the scan driver 2 and the data driver 3 are disposed at the periphery of the display panel 1 . the conversion system of three - color to four - color 4 converts input rgb data to output rgbw data and further provides the output rgbw data to the data driver 3 . herein , the input rgb data can be provided by such as an external host or a graphics controller ( not shown in the drawing ). the data driver 3 receives and processes the output rgbw data provided by the conversion system of three - color data to four - color data 4 to produce analog - type data signals and further provide the analog - type data signals to the data lines s 1 to s m . the scan driver 2 sequentially provides multiple scan signals to the scan lines g 1 to g n . the display panel 1 displays an image according to the analog - type data signals provided by the data driver 3 and the scan signals provided by the scan driver 2 . fig3 is a principle block diagram of a conversion system of three - color data to four - color data according to an embodiment of the invention . referring to fig3 , a conversion system of three - color data to four - color data 4 according to an embodiment of the invention includes : a first data converting unit 41 , a saturation comparison unit 42 , a parameter adjustment unit 43 , a second data converting unit 44 and a storage unit 45 . it is understood that , the first data converting unit 41 , the saturation comparison unit 42 , the parameter adjustment unit 43 and the second data converting unit 44 may be software modules stored in a memory and executable by one or more processors . according to other embodiment of the invention , the conversion system 4 can include other additional and / or different units . similarly , the functions of the above - mentioned units can be combined into a single component . concretely , the first data converting unit 41 is configured to convert input rgb data to intermediate rgbw data according to a first predetermined saturation parameter , a second predetermined saturation parameter and a third predetermined saturation parameter received from the storage unit 45 . it is indicated that , the first predetermined saturation parameter is a previous first predetermined saturation parameter stored by the storage unit 45 , that is , the first predetermined saturation parameter is a first predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted during the last boot to display of a display device and then stored by the storage unit 45 . the second predetermined saturation parameter is a previous second predetermined saturation parameter stored by the storage unit 45 , that is , the second predetermined saturation parameter is a second predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted during the last boot to display of the display device and then stored by the storage unit 45 . the third predetermined saturation parameter is a previous third predetermined saturation parameter stored by the storage unit 45 , that is , the third predetermined saturation parameter is a third predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted during the last boot to display of the display device and then stored by the storage unit 45 . specifically , the first data converting unit 41 is configured to convert the input rgb data to the intermediate rgbw data by use of the following formula 1 according to the first predetermined saturation parameter , the second predetermined saturation parameter and the third predetermined saturation parameter . where r i represents the input r data , g i represents the input g data , b i represents the input b data , min ( r i , g i , b i ) represents the minimum value among r i , g i and b i , w m represents the intermediate w data , r m represents the intermediate r data , g m represents the intermediate g data , b m represents the intermediate b data , β 1 represents the first predetermined saturation parameter , β 2 represents the second predetermined saturation parameter , β 3 represents the third predetermined saturation parameter . the saturation comparison unit 42 is configured to obtain a first saturation adjust parameter , a second saturation adjust parameter and a third saturation adjust parameter according to the intermediate rgbw data and standard rgbw data . concretely , the saturation comparison unit 42 uses the intermediate rgbw data to calculate an actual saturation value of hsv color space , for example , the saturation comparison unit 42 uses the following formula 2 to calculate the actual saturation value . where r represents the intermediate r data , g represents the intermediate g data , b represents the intermediate b data , max represents the maximum value among r , g and b , min represents the minimum value among r , g and b , h represents a hue value of hsv color space , s represents a saturation value of hsv color space , v represents a brightness value of hsv color space . the saturation comparison unit 42 further compares the actual saturation value with a predetermined saturation value , and then the saturation comparison unit 42 obtains the first saturation adjust parameter , the second saturation adjust parameter and the third saturation adjust parameter according to the comparison result . the predetermined saturation parameter can be obtained by the above - mentioned formula 2 according to the standard rgbw data . the parameter adjustment unit 43 is configured to use the first saturation adjust parameter , the second saturation adjust parameter and the third saturation adjust parameter to respectively adjust the first predetermined saturation parameter , the second predetermined saturation parameter and the third predetermined saturation parameter . in particular , the parameter adjustment unit 43 is configured to use the first saturation adjust parameter , the second saturation adjust parameter and the third saturation adjust parameter to respectively adjust the first predetermined saturation parameter , the second predetermined saturation parameter and the third predetermined saturation parameter according to the following formula 2 . where β 1 ′ represents the first predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted , β 2 ′ represents the second predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted , β 3 ′ represents the third predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted , β 1 represents the first predetermined saturation parameter , β 2 represents the second predetermined saturation parameter , β 3 represents the third predetermined saturation parameter , δβ 1 represents the first saturation adjust parameter , δβ 2 represents the second saturation adjust parameter , δβ 3 represents the third saturation adjust parameter . herein , it is indicated that , if the saturation comparison unit 42 determines that the actual saturation value is not less than the predetermined saturation value , the first saturation adjust parameter , the second saturation adjust parameter and the third saturation adjust parameter are zero . if the saturation comparison unit 42 determines that the actual saturation value is less than the predetermined saturation value , the saturation comparison unit 42 will reduce / decrease the first predetermined saturation parameter and the third predetermined saturation parameter and increase the second predetermined saturation parameter until the actual saturation value is not less than the predetermined saturation value , and then uses reductions ( amounts of decrease ) of the first predetermined saturation parameter and the third predetermined saturation parameter respectively as the first saturation adjust parameter and the third saturation adjust parameter and uses the amount of increase of the second predetermined saturation parameter as the second saturation adjust parameter . it should be understood that δβ 1 and δβ 3 are negative values and δβ 2 is a positive value at this time . the second data converting unit 44 is configured to use the first predetermined saturation parameter , the second predetermined saturation parameter and the third predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted to convert the input rgb data to output rgbw data . concretely , the second data converting unit 44 is configured to use the first predetermined saturation parameter , the second predetermined saturation parameter and the third predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted to convert the input rgb data to output rgbw data according to the following formula 3 . where r i represents the input r data , g i represents the input g data , b i represents the input b data , min ( r i , g i , b i ) represents the minimum value among r i , g i and b i , w o represents the output w data , r o represents the output r data , g o represents the output g data , b o represents the output b data , β 1 ′ represents the first predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted , β 2 ′ represents the second predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted , β 3 ′ represents the third predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted . the storage unit 45 stores the first predetermined saturation parameter , the second predetermined saturation parameter and the third predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted , as the first predetermined saturation parameter , the second predetermined saturation parameter and the third predetermined saturation parameter during the next boot to display of the display device according to an embodiment of the invention . fig4 is a flowchart of a conversion method of three - color data to four - color data according to an embodiment of the invention . referring to fig4 , in an operation 410 , a conversion system of three - color data to four - color data used for converting input rgb data to output rgbw data converts input rgb data to intermediate rgbw data according to a first predetermined saturation parameter , a second predetermined saturation parameter and a third predetermined saturation parameter . furthermore , the conversion system of three - color data to four - color data can use the above - mentioned formula 1 to convert the input rgb data to the intermediate rgbw data according to the first predetermined saturation parameter , the second predetermined saturation parameter and the third predetermined saturation parameter . it should be noted that , the first predetermined saturation parameter is a previous first predetermined saturation parameter stored by the conversion system , that is , the first predetermined saturation parameter is a first predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted during the last boot to display of a display device and then stored by the conversion system . the second predetermined saturation parameter is a previous second predetermined saturation parameter stored by the conversion system , that is , the second predetermined saturation parameter is a second predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted during the last boot to display of the display device and then stored by the conversion system . the third predetermined saturation parameter is a previous third predetermined saturation parameter stored by the conversion system , that is , the third predetermined saturation parameter is a third predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted during the last boot to display of the display device and then stored by the conversion system . in an operation 420 , the conversion system of three - color data to four - color data obtains a first saturation adjust parameter , a second saturation adjust parameter and a third saturation adjust parameter according to the intermediate rgbw data and standard rgbw data . in an operation 430 , the conversion system of three - color data to four - color data uses the first saturation adjust parameter , the second saturation adjust parameter and the third saturation adjust parameter to respectively adjust the first predetermined saturation parameter , the second predetermined saturation parameter and the third predetermined saturation parameter . furthermore , the conversion system of three - color data to four - color data uses the first saturation adjust parameter , the second saturation adjust parameter and the third saturation adjust parameter to respectively adjust the first predetermined saturation parameter , the second predetermined saturation parameter and the third predetermined saturation parameter according to the above - mentioned formula 2 . in an operation 440 , the conversion system of three - color data to four - color data uses the first predetermined saturation parameter , the second predetermined saturation parameter and the third predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted to convert the input rgb data to output rgbw data . furthermore , the conversion system of three - color data to four - color data uses the first predetermined saturation parameter , the second predetermined saturation parameter and the third predetermined saturation parameter after being adjusted to convert the input rgb data to the output rgbw data according to the above - mentioned formula 3 . in summary , the conversion system and the conversion method of three - color data to four - color data according to embodiments of the invention can effectively increase the lifetimes of respective sub - pixels and meanwhile can improve the color saturation of picture displayed by a display device . although the invention has been shown and described with reference to specific embodiments , it should be understood for the skill in the art that without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention defined by claims and equivalents thereof , various changes of forms and details can be made .	6
the coupling agent of formula i can be used to conjugate enzymes to antibodies , haptens to hapten carriers , or virtually any protein to another protein . using a coupling agent of formula i in such conjugates produces a conjugate where the normal activity of the antibody , enzyme or protein is retained . it is believed that prior coupling agents , by virtue of their short overall length in comparison with the size of the proteins being conjugated produce conjugates in which the conformational freedom of the individual proteins is compromised . this loss of conformational freedom can lead to diminished activity of either or both proteins in the conjugate resulting in poorer performance in eias or poorer stability of the reagent . thus , many prior coupling agents have limited usefulness . the long hydrophylic chain of amino acids in the coupling agents of the present invention not only provide better physical separation of the conjugated proteins , but also are solvated well by water in the solution , in contrast to often used hydrophobic spacer groups in previous coupling reagents . the coupling agents of this invention are thus well suited for use in aqueous solutions . the following examples illustrate the synthesis and uses of conjugates of the present invention . the designation r , x and n have the meanings previously assigned . the term &# 34 ; alkyl - cycloaklyl &# 34 ; as used herein for &# 34 ; r &# 34 ; includes alkyl groups linked to cycloalkyl ring structures where the alkyl group links the cycloalkyl to the maleimide or the carbonyl groups . the term &# 34 ; alkyl &# 34 ; includes straight or branched alkyl groups , preferably lower groups having from one to six carbon atoms . trans - 4 -( aminomethyl )- cyclohexanecarboxylic acid ( aldrich chemical co .) is converted to n -( 4 - carboxycyclohexylmethyl ) maleimide by the method of yoshitake et al . ( j . biochem ., 101 : 395 - 399 ( 1979 )). this material ( 100 mg ) is then dissolved in dry dimethylformamide ( dmf ) ( 1 . 0 ml ), 6 - aminocaproic acid ( 39 . 23 mg ; 1 . 0 eq ) is added , and the resulting mixture is stirred overnight at room temperature under nitrogen atmosphere . the following morning , dicyclohexylcarbodiimide ( dcci ) ( 67 . 8 mg ; 1 . 1 eq ) and n - hydroxysuccinimide ( 37 . 8 mg ; 21 eq ) are added , and the reaction mixture is stirred for an additional six hours . precipitated dicyclohexylurea ( dcu ) is removed by filtration , and the resulting dmf solution is evaporated under reduced pressure to give a tacky solid , which is purified by flash chromatography upon silica gel ( 5 % methanol / chloroform ) to give compound 1 ( 71 mg ) as a white solid in 53 % overall yield . ( formula i ; r = cyclohexylmethyl ; n = 1 ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ). compound 1 ( 100 mg ; synthesis described in example 1 ) is dissolved in dry dmf ( 1 . 0 ml ), 6 - aminocaproic acid ( 29 . 3 mg ; 1 . 0 eq ) is then added , and the resulting mixture is stirred overnight at room temperature under nitrogen atmosphere . the following morning , dcci ( 50 . 7 mg ; 1 . 1 eq ) is added , and the reaction mixture is stirred for an additional six hours . solid precipitate ( dcu ) is removed by filtration , and the resulting dmf solution is evaporated under reduced pressure to give a tacky solid , which is purified by flash chromatography upon silica gel ( 10 % methanol / chloroform ) to give compound 2 ( 60 mg ) as a white solid in 48 % overall yield . ( formula i ; r = cyclohexylmethyl ; n = 2 ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ). compound 2 ( 100 mg ; synthesis described in example 2 ) is dissolved in dry dmf ( 2 . 0 ml ), 6 - aminocaproic acid ( 23 . 4 mg ; 1 . 0 eq ) is then added and the resulting mixture is stirred overnight at room temperature under nitrogen atmosphere . the following morning , dcci ( 40 . 5 mg ; 1 . 1 eq ) is added , and the reaction mixture is stirred for an additional six hours . solid precipitate ( dcu ) is removed by filtration , and the resulting dmf solution is evaporated under reduced pressure to give a tacky solid , which is purified by flash chromatography upon silica gel ( 10 % methanol / chloroform ) to give compound 3 ( 60 . 0 mg ) as a white solid in 50 % overall yield . ( formula i ; r = cyclohexylmethyl ; n = 3 ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ). compound 3 ( 100 mg ; synthesis described in example 3 ) is dissolved in dry dmf ( 10 . 0 ml ), 6 - aminocaproic acid ( 19 . 5 mg ; 1 . 0 eq ) is then added , and the resulting mixture is stirred overnight at room temperature under nitrogen atmosphere . the following morning dcci ( 33 . 7 mg ; 1 . 1 eq ) is added , and the reaction mixture is stirred for an additional six hours . solid precipitate ( dcu ) is removed by filtration , and the resulting dmf solution is evaporated under reduced pressure to give a tacky solid , which is purified by flash chromatography upon silica gel ( 10 % methanol / chloroform ) to give compound 4 ( 53 mg ) as a white solid in 45 % overall yield . ( formula i , r = cyclohexylmethyl ; n = 4 ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ). conjugation of monoclonal anti - alpha fetoprotein igg with calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase using compound 3 a solution of calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase ( 250 ul ; 10 mg / ml ; boehringer - mannheim ) is placed in a vial . a solution of compound 3 in dmf ( 100 ul ; 5 . 0 mm ) is added , and the resulting mixture is stirred on a rotary agitator for thirty minutes at room temperature . the crude reaction mixture is purified by chromatography upon a pre - equilibrated sephadex g - 25 ( coarse ) column with ph 7 . 0 phosphate buffer ( 0 . 1m phosphate , 0 . 1m nacl , 1 mm mgcl 2 , 0 . 1 mm zncl 2 ) as eluent . fractions from the column are collected , enzyme containing fractions are pooled , and protein concentration of the pooled fractions is estimated by measuring absorbance at 280 nm . in our hands the absorbance at 280 nm was found to be approximately equal to protein concentration in mg / ml . monoclonal anti - afp igg solution at 6 . 4 mg / ml is incubated at room temperature with dtt ( dithiothreotol ; 25 mm concentration in the final reaction solution ) for twenty minutes with stirring on a rotary agitator . the solution of partially reduced antibody is then purified by chromatography upon a pre - equilibrated sephadex g - 25 ( coarse ) column with ph 7 . 0 phosphate buffer ( 0 . 1m phosphate , 0 . 1m nacl , 5 mm erdta ) as eluent . fractions from the column are collected , protein containing fractions are pooled , and protein concentration of the pooled solution is estimated by measuring absorbance at 280 nm . in this instance absorbance at 280 nm divided by a factor of 1 . 39 is approximately equal to antibody concentration in mg / ml . the derivatized alkaline phosphatase from part a ) is combined with the partially reduced antibody from part b ) in a molar ratio of 1 . 5 : 1 enzyme to antibody . the mixture is stirred overnight at 2 °- 8 ° c . on a rotary agitator . the following morning , unreacted thiol groups are capped by treatment with an n ethylmaleimide ( nem ) solution ( 100 ul ; 5 . 0 mm ) for a period of one hour at room temperature . the conjugate concentrate thus obtained can be diluted as necessary for use in a sandwich assay or any other assay where a labeled antibody is to be used . ( formula ii ; b = calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase ; r = cyclohexylmethyl ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ; n = 3 ; q = monoclonal anti - afp igg ; and r is from one to five ). conjugation of β - galactosidase to goat anti - rabbit igg using compounds 1 , 2 , or 3 goat anti - rabbit igg ( 1 . 0 mg ) is suspended with ph 7 . 0 phosphate buffer ( 1 . 0 ml ; 15 mm phosphate ; 150 mm nacl ; 1 . 0 mm edta ). an aliquot of this solution ( 425 ul ) is then added to a solution of compound 1 in dmf ( 12 . 75 ul ; 6 . 0 mm ). the mixture is incubated in the dark for sixty minutes at room temperature with occasional mixing . the crude reaction mixture is then dialyzed overnight in the dark at 4 ° c . against ph 7 . 0 phosphate buffer ( 2 . 01 ; 15 mm phosphate ; 150 mm nacl ; 1 mm edta ). the dialyzed material is recovered by centrifugation , and antibody concentration is estimated by measuring absorbance at 280 nm . in our hands a 280 divided by a factor of 1 . 38 is approximately equal to antibody concentration in mg / ml . the derivatized antibody from part a ) and native e . coli β - galactosidase ( 25 mg / ml in ph 7 0 phosphate buffer ) are combined in a molar ratio of 0 . 6 : 1 enzyme to antibody . the mixture is allowed to react overnight at room temperature without stirring to yield a concentrated solution of conjugate for use in an immunoassay . ( formula ii ; b = goat anti - rabbit igg ; r = cyclohexylmethyl ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ; n = 1 ; q = β - galactosidase and r = from one to five ). goat anti - rabbit igg ( 1 . 0 mg ) is suspended with ph 7 . 0 phosphate buffer ( 1 . 0 ml ; 15 mm phosphate ; 150 mm nacl ; 1 . 0 mm edta ). an aliquot of this solution ( 425 ul ) is then added to a solution of compound 2 in dmf ( 12 . 75 ul ; 6 . 0 mm ). the mixture is incubated in the dark for sixty minutes at room temperature with occasional mixing . the crude reaction mixture is then dialyzed overnight in the dark at 4 ° c . against ph 7 . 0 phosphate buffer ( 2 . 0 l ; 15 mm phosphate ; 150 mm nacl ; 1 mm edta ). the dialyzed material is recovered by centrifugation , and antibody concentration is estimated by measuring absorbance at 280 nm . in our hands a 280 divided by a factor of 1 . 38 is approximately equal to antibody concentration in mg / ml . antibody derivatized with compound 2 can be coupled to native β - galactosidase as described in part b ) above . ( formula ii ; b = goat anti - rabbit igg ; r = cyclohexylmethyl ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ; n = 2 ; q = β - galactosidase and r = from one to five ). goat anti - rabbit igg ( 1 . 0 mg ) is suspended in ph 7 . 0 phosphate buffer ( 1 . 0 ml ; 15 mm phosphate ; 150 mm nacl ; 1 . 0 mm edta ). an aliquot of this solution ( 425 ul ) is then added to a solution of compound 3 in dmf ( 12 . 75 ul ; 6 . 0 mm ). the mixture is incubated in the dark for sixty minutes at room temperature with occasional mixing . the crude reaction mixture is then dialyzed overnight in the dark at 4 ° c . against ph 7 . 0 phosphate buffer ( 2 . 0 l ; 15 mm phosphate ; 150 mm nacl ; 1 mm edta ). the dialyzed material is recovered by centrifugation , and antibody concentration is estimated by measuring absorbance at 280 nm . in our hands a 280 divided by a factor of 1 . 38 is approximately equal to antibody concentration in mg / ml . antibody derivatized with compound 3 can be coupled to native β - galactosidase as described in part b ) above . ( formula ii ; b = goat anti - rabbit igg ; r = cyclohexylmethyl ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ; n = 3 ; q = β - galactosidase and r = from one to five ). preparation of polyclonal anti - tsh ( thyroid stimulating hormone )- alkaline phosphatase conjugate using compound 1 calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase ( 25 ul ; 10 mg / ml ) is combined with a solution of compound 1 in dmf ( 10 ul ; 7 . 8 mm ) and allowed to react for thirty minutes at room temperature . the crude reaction mixture is purified by passage through a mini gel filtration ( g - 25 sephadex ) column while centrifuging , the column being equilibrated with 0 . 05m phosphate buffer at ph 7 . 0 . a purified solution of a linker - derivatized enzyme is obtained . a polyclonal anti - tsh igg solution ( 25 ul ; 5 . 3 mg / ml ) is mixed with a solution of dtt ( 25 ul ; 0 . 1m ) in ph 7 . 0 phosphate buffer ( 0 . 5m phosphate ). the mixture is allowed to react for thirty minutes at room temperature , then purified in the same manner as the derivatized enzyme in part ( a ). the products of part a ) and part b ) are combined , incubated overnight at 2 °- 8 ° c ., and a conjugate of anti - tsh with alkaline phosphatase is obtained . this conjugate can be used in sandwich assays for tsh . ( formula ii ; b = alkaline phosphatase ; r = cyclohexylmethyl ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ; n = 1 ; q = polyclonal anti - tshg igg ; and r = from one to five ). conjugation of horseradish peroxidase to fab &# 39 ; anti - hepatitis b core antibody using compound 3 a horseradish peroxidase solution ( 400 ul ; 10 mg / ml ) in ph 7 . 0 phosphate buffer ( 0 . 1m phosphate ; 0 . 1m nacl ) is added to a solution of compound 3 ( 3 . 3 mg ) in dmf ( 236 ul ). the mixture is stirred for 30 minutes at room temperature , then desalted on a sephadex g - 25 ( coarse ) column using the above described buffer . fractions are collected , enzyme containing fractions pooled , and concentration of pooled enzyme is estimated by measuring absorbance at 280 nm . in our hands a 280 divided by a factor of 0 . 61 is approximately equal to enzyme concentration in mg / ml . a solution of fab &# 39 ; anti - hepatitis b core igg fragment ( 3 . 1 ml ; 3 . 2 mg / ml ) is placed in a vial . phosphate buffer ( ph 7 . 0 ; 0 . 5m phosphate ; 0 . 5m nacl ; 25 mm edta ) is added . dtt ( 23 . 1 mg ) is then added , and the mixture is incubated at room temperature for twenty minutes while stirring . the crude product is then placed on a g - 25 sephadex column ( coarse ) and eluted with the above described ph 7 . 0 phosphate buffer . fractions are collected , protein containing fractions are pooled , and concentration of the pool is estimated by measuring absorbance at 280 nm . in our hands a 280 divided by a factor of 1 . 38 is approximately equal to antibody fragment concentration in mg / ml . derivatized enzyme from part ( a ) is combined with antibody fragment from part ( b ) in a 1 : 1 enzyme to antibody ratio . the mixture is incubated overnight on a rotary agitator at 2 °- 8 ° c . the following morning the crude conjugate mixture is passed over a con a - sepharose column . unconjugated antibody fragments are washed away , and then conjugate is eluted with a 0 . 1m alpha - methyl glucoside solution . recovered conjugate is dialyzed against buffer , diluted , and use in a sandwich assay for hepatitis b viral particles . ( formula ii ; b = alkaline phosphatase ; r = cyclohexylmethyl ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ; n = 3 ; q = fab &# 39 ; anti - hepatitis b core antibody ; and r is from one to five ). conjugation of calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase to bovine gamma globulin specific for e . coli cell wall antigens using compound 2 to a solution of calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase ( 2 . 0 ml ; 12 . 3 mg / ml ) in ph 8 . 0 tris buffer ( 0 . 05m triethanolamine ( tris ); 10 mm mgcl 2 ; 0 . 1 mm zncl 2 ) is added iminothiolane hcl such that final iminothiolane concentration in the reaction mixture is 4 . 0 mm . the reaction mixture is stirred for one hour at 4 ° c . excess glycinamide is then added to quench unreacted iminothiolane . the crude reaction mixture is placed on a tsk 40 column and eluted with the ph 8 . 0 tris buffer described above . column fractions are collected , enzyme containing fractions are pooled , and protein concentration of the pool is estimated by measuring absorbance at 280 nm . in our hands a 280 divided by a factor of 0 . 76 is approximately equal to enzyme concentration in mg / ml . a solution of bovine gamma globulin ( 2 . 0 ml ; 8 . 4 mg / ml ; raised against cell wall antigens of e . coli ) in ph 8 . 0 tris buffer ( 0 . 5m tris ; 0 . 16m nacl ; 1 . 0 mm mgcl 2 ; 0 . 1 mm zncl 2 ) is treated with a solution of compound 2 ( 3 . 36 mg ) dissolved in dmf ( 859 ul ) and incubated for one hour at 4 ° c . while stirring . the crude reaction mixture is then placed on a tsk 40 column and eluted with the ph 8 . 0 tris buffer described above . column fractions are collected , protein containing fractions are pooled , and protein concentration of the pool is estimated by measuring absorbance at 280 nm . in our hands a 280 divided by a factor of 1 . 40 is approximately equal to enzyme concentration in mg / ml . derivatized enzyme from part a ) is combined with derivatized antibody from part b ) in a 1 . 1 : 1 ( enzyme : antibody ) ratio , and stirred at 4 ° c . overnight . the following morning , the crude reaction mixture is added to an equal volume of ph 8 . 0 tris buffer ( 0 . 05m tris ; 1 . 0 mm mgcl 2 ; 0 . 1 mm zncl 2 ; 0 . 16m nacl ; 2 % bovine serum albumin ( bsa ); 0 . 2 % sodium azide ). β - mercaptoethanol ( 10 ul ) is then added , and the crude conjugate concentrate is stored in this form until needed . a 1 : 1000 dilution of this conjugate concentrate with an appropriate diluent gives about a 0 . 5 ug / ml solution of conjugate which can be used in a sandwich - type assay for various microorganisms . ( formula ii ; b = bovine gamma globulin ; r = cyclohexylmethyl ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ; n = 2 ; q = calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase ; and r is from one to five ). a 0 . 15m solution of m - maleimidobenzoyl n - hydroxysuccinimide ester ( mbs ) ( prepared according to the procedure of kitagawa , et al ., j . biochem ., 79 : 233 - 236 ( 1976 )) in dry dmf is treated with one equivalent of 6 - aminocaproic acid and allowed to stir at room temperature overnight under nitrogen atmosphere . the following morning , 1 . 0 equivalent of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide ( dcci ) is added , and the reaction mixture is stirred for an additional six hours at room temperature . precipitated dicyclohexylurea ( dcu ) is then removed by filtration , and dmf is evaporated under high vacuum to give a crude product 5 which is purified by flash chromatography upon a silica gel column . ( formula i ; r = a 3 , 5 - disubstituted benzene ring ; n = 1 ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ). to synthesize even longer linker arms based on mbs , or any active ester , a dmf solution of a compound containing a n - hydroxysuccinimidyl ester ( e . g ., compound 5 from part a ) is treated with 1 . 0 equivalent of 6 - aminocaproic acid and allowed to stir at room temperature under nitrogen atmosphere until no more active ester is visible by tlc . 1 . 1 equivalent dcci is then added , and the reaction mixture is stirred until n - hydroxysuccinimide is no longer visible by tlc . precipitated dcu is then removed by filtration , dmf is evaporated under reduced atmosphere to yield a crude residue which is purified by flash chromatography on silica . this procedure inserts a 6 - aminocaproic acid residue into an active ester , and re - synthesizes the active ester . this insertion procedure can be repeated to yield a reagent of desired length , using 6 - aminocaproic acid , or other amino acids . a 0 . 15m solution of 6 - maleimidocaproic acid n - hydroxysuccinimide ester ( mcs ) ( prepared according to the procedure described by keller and rudinger ; helv . chim acta , 58 : 531 - 541 ( 1975 )) in dry dmf is treated with one equivalent of 6 - aminocaproic acid , and allowed to stir overnight at room temperature under a nitrogen atmosphere . the following morning , 1 . 1 equivalent dcci is added , and the reaction mixture is stirred for an additional six hours . precipitated dcu is then removed by filtration , dmf is evaporated under high vacuum to give a crude product 6 which is purified by flash chromatography on silica . longer analogs of 6 can be made by following the general homologation sequence described in example 10 , part b . ( formula i ; r = a 1 , 5 - disubstituted pentyl group , n = 1 ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ). conjugation of monoclonal anti - carcinoembryonic antigen ( cea ) igg to calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase using compound 3 a solution of calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase ( 500 ul ; 10 . 7 mg / ml ) is mixed with a solution of compound 3 in dry dmf ( 200 ul ; 5 . 0 mm ) and stirred at room temperature for 30 minutes . the crude reaction mixture is then placed on a pre - equillibrated sephadex g - 25 column , and eluted with ph 7 . 0 phosphate buffer ( 0 . 1m phosphate ; 0 . 1m nacl 1 mm mgcl 2 ; 0 . 1 mm zncl 2 ). fractions from the column are collected , enzyme containing fractions are pooled , and enzyme concentration of the pooled fractions is estimated by measuring absorbance at 280 nm . in our hands the absorbance at 280 nm was found to be approximately equal to protein concentration in mg / ml . a solution of monoclonal anti - cea igg at ( 315 ul ; 9 . 5 mg / ml ) is treated with 500 molar equivalents of a solution of iminothiolane hydrochloride in ph 8 . 0 phosphate buffer ( 0 . 033 mg / ml iminothiolane ; 0 . 1m phosphate ; 0 . 1m nacl ; 5 mm edta ). the reaction mixture is stirred at room temperature for 30 minutes , then placed on a pre - equillibrated sephadex g - 25 column , and eluted with the ph 8 . 0 phosphate buffer described above . fractions from the column are collected , antibody containing fractions are pooled , and protein concentration of the antibody pool is estimated by measuring absorbance at 280 nm . in our hands a 280 divided by a factor of 1 . 39 is approximately equal to antibody concentration in mg / ml . derivatized enzyme from part a ) and derivatized antibody from part b ) are combined in a 1 : 1 molar ratio , and allowed to stir overnight at 2 °- 8 ° c . the following morning , the conjugate is diluted to approximately 1 ug / ml concentration with an appropriate diluent , and used directly in a sandwich - type assay for carcinoembryonic antigen ( cea ). ( formula 2 ; b = calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase ; r = cyclohexylmethyl ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ; n = 3 ; q = monoclonal anti - cea igg ; and r is from one to five ). bsa ( 50 . 0 mg ) is dissolved in 5 . 0 ml ph 6 . 6 phosphate buffer ( 0 . 1m phosphate ). to this solution is added a solution of compound 1 ( 5 . 0 mg ) in dmf ( 500 ul ). the reaction mixture is stirred overnight at room temperature . the following morning , the crude reaction mixture is applied to a sephadex g - 25 column and eluted with water . fractions from the column are collected , protein containing fractions are pooled and lyophilized to give 56 mg of derivatized bsa . titration of maleimide groups indicated incorporation of about nine maleimide groups per bsa . a synthetic peptide ( 10 mg ) ( mw 3 , 300 ) corresponding to amino acids 38 through 71 of the beta subunit of thyroid stimulating hormone ( tsh ) is dissolved in a mixture of dmf ( 1 . 0 ml ) and ph 6 . 6 phosphate buffer ( 1 . 0 ml ; 0 . 1m phosphate ). this material shows the presence of one sulfyhdryl group per peptide as determined by ellman &# 39 ; s reagent titration . to the solution of β - tsh peptide was added modified bsa ( 1 . 5 mg ) from part a ). the solution was stirred overnight at room temperature in a capped vial . purification of the crude reaction mixture by chromatography on a sephadex g - 25 column with water as eluent , followed by lyophilization of the recovered conjugate yields 18 mg of material which after analysis showed incorporation of four β - tsh peptides per bsa . ( formula 2 ; b = bsa ; r = cyclohexylmethyl ; x = 6 - aminocaproyl ; n = 1 ; q = tsh subunit peptide ; and r = 4 ). cbz - triglycine ( 4 . 0 g ; bachem chem . co .) is dissolved in 50 . 0 ml dry dmf . n - hydroxysuccinimide ( 1 . 42 g ; 1 . 0 eq ), and dcci ( 2 . 55 g ; 1 . 0 eq ) are added , and the resulting mixture is stirred overnight at room temperature under a nitrogen atmosphere . the following morning , precipitated dcu is removed by filtration , and the resulting dmf solution is evaporated under reduced pressure to give a yellow oil . recrystallization from ethyl acetate / chloroform gives the intermediate compound 7 ( 3 . 0 g ) in 57 % yield . glycine t - butyl ester hydrochloride ( 0 . 54 g ; sigma chem . co .) is suspended in dry dmf ( 25 . 0 ml ). compound 7 ( 1 . 35 g ; 1 . 0 eq ) from part a ) is then added , along with triethylamine ( 1 . 62 g ; 5 . 0 eq ). the resulting solution is allowed to stir overnight at room temperature under nitrogen atmosphere . the following morning , solvent is removed under reduced pressure to give a crude product . recrystallization from ethyl acetate / chloroform gives intermediate compound 8 ( 0 . 95 g ) in 68 % yield . compound 8 ( 0 . 95 g ) from part b ) is dissolved in dry methanol ( 300 ml ). glacial acetic acid ( 0 . 45 ml ) is then added , and the solution is purged with nitrogen for 15 minutes . palladium on carbon ( 1 . 5 g ; palladium content 10 %) is then carefully added , with stirring . a stream of hydrogen gas is bubbled through the stirring solution for three hours at room temperature . the solution is carefully purged with nitrogen for 15 minutes , then filtered . the filtrate solution is concentrated under reduced pressure to give intermediate compound 9 ( 700 mg ) as the acetate salt . compound 9 ( 700 mg ; acetate salt ) from part c ) is dissolved in dry dmf ( 25 ml ). n -( 4 - carboxycyclohexylmethyl ) maleimide ( 697 mg ) from example 1 is then added , and the mixture is allowed to stir overnight at room temperature under nitrogen atmosphere . the following morning dmf is evaporated under reduced pressure to afford a crude product . recrystallization from ethyl acetate / hexane affords intermediate compound 10 in 22 % yield . compound 10 ( 225 mg ) from part d ) is suspended in chloroform ( 1 . 5 ml ). dry trifluoroacetic acid ( 1 . 5 ml ) is then added , and the mixture is stirred at room temperature under a nitrogen atmosphere for a period of three hours . solvent is evaporated under reduced atmosphere to give a crude product . trituration with ethyl acetate gives intermediate compound 11 ( 127 mg ) in 61 % yield . compound 11 ( 100 mg ) from part e ) is dissolved in dry dmf ( 7 . 0 ml ) along with n - hydroxysuccinimide ( 37 . 1 mg ; 1 . 5 eq ) and dcci ( 221 . 5 mg ; 5 . 0 eq ). the reaction mixture is stirred overnight at room temperature under a nitrogen atmosphere . the following morning , precipitated dcu is removed by filtration , and dmf is evaporated under reduced pressure to give a crude solid . trituration with chloroform gives compound 12 ( 86 mg ) in 60 % yield . ( formula 1 ; r = cyclohexylmethyl ; n - 4 ; x = glycine ). a round bottom flask equipped with a magnetic stirrer is charged with m - maleimidobenzoyl - n - hydroxysuccinimide ester ( 0 . 314 g ; 0 . 001 mole ) obtained from pierce corporation dissolved in dmf ( 5 . 0 ml ). 6 - aminocaproic acid ( 0 . 131 g ; 1 equiv .) is added , and the resulting solution is stirred overnight at room temperature under nitrogen . after 18 hours , olicyclohexylcarbodiimide ( dcci ; 0 . 206 g ; 1 . 1 equiv .) is added followed by n - hydroxysuccinimide ( 0 . 115 g , 1 equiv .). the reaction solution is stirred for additional eight hours at room temperature under nitrogen . precipitated dicyclohexylurea ( dcu ) is removed by filtration , and the resulting dmf solution is evaporated under reduced pressure . the resulting solid is purified by silica gel chromatography ( 5 % methanol in chloroform ) to give compound 13 in 50 % yield . this compound is treated with aminocaproic acid in a manner identical to the method described in examples 2 , 3 and 4 of this application to produce compounds of formula i where n is up to ten , and r = phenyl ). the examples above are not intended to restrict the scope of this invention , which is defined in the claims which follow .	2
referring now more particularly to fig1 the monitor is designated by reference numeral 10 and has an electrical connection 32 to thermostat 12 which in turn has an electrical connection 33 to damper assembly or governor 14 . the details of the monitor 10 have been fully disclosed in our prior copending application ser . no . 454 , 483 , and the details of the thermostat 12 and the damper 14 have been fully disclosed in our prior copending application ser . no . 434 , 259 . it is to be understood that thermostat 12 and damper 14 are representative and usually a plurality of thermostats 12 and dampers 14 are provided in or associated with each room or zone 30 . the damper 14 is located in a branch air duct 28 which communicates between zone 30 and the main air supply duct 26 connected to the outlet 25 of the hvac unit 22 . the monitor 10 includes an electrical connection 24 to the heating coil 21 of the hvac unit 22 . a monitor sensor probe 34 associated with the cooling coil 19 of the hvac unit 22 is coupled to monitor 10 via electrical connection 20 . as explained in the aforementioned application ser . no . 454 , 483 , the monitor sensor probe 34 is shown in position to sense the refrigeration circuit only without sensing the resistance heater 21 in a heat pump installation . in other installations the monitor sensor probe 34 is located where it will sense the temperature of both the heating and cooling circuits . also , monitor 10 is provided with an electrical connection 18 to condensing unit 17 of the hvac unit 22 . the bypass system 36 in accord with this invention includes a bypass damper 40 communicating with the air outlet 25 from the hvac unit 22 by branch duct 41 and communicating with the air return 42 of the hvac unit 22 by branch duct 43 . bypass damper 40 may be substantially identical to governor or damper 14 fully disclosed in the aforementioned application ser . no . 434 , 259 . the size of the bypass damper 40 together with the size of branch ducts 41 and 43 depend on many variables known to a person skilled in the art , but typically the sizes include 8 , 10 , 12 and 16 inches . a bypass monitor and controller 45 is coupled to the bypass damper 40 by elecrtrical connection 46 and is coupled to the fan motor 47 by electrical connection 48 and sensor 49 , sensor 49 preferably being an amperage sensor looped around the common electrical connection 50 of the fan motor 47 . if the fan motor 47 is a two speed motor , another current sensor 51 is required looped about the high speed electrical lead 55 of such two speed motor ( not shown ) and current sensor 51 has an electrical connection 52 back to bypass monitor and controller 45 . the above circuit arrangement is illustrated in the block diagram fig2 which also shows the 24 vac transformer 53 coupled by electrical connection 54 to bypass damper 40 . fig3 discloses a control panel 60 of a cabinet or the like which is shown as part of the monitor and controller 45 including designated connection 46 to bypass damper 40 , connection 48 to sensor 49 and the alternate broken line connection 52 to sensor 51 . the controller 45 is electrically connected for external communication , as to a remote computer or the like , through lines 56 . the light array 61 includes a power light 62 indicating that power is being received by the bypass monitor and controller 45 and three bypass damper position lights 63 , 64 and 65 respectively indicating open , partially opened ( or closed ) and closed positions of the bypass damper 40 . the panel 60 is also provided with set ( and reset ) button switch 66 which will be explained hereinafter with respect to setting the memory u2 of monitor and controller 45 . when lights 63 or 65 flashes , this indicates that the damper blade is being moved , i . e ., if light 63 is flashing this indicates that the damper 40 is opening ; and if light 65 is flashing , this indicates that the damper 40 is closing . when lights 63 , 64 or 65 is on constantly , this indicates no movement of the damper blade 40 &# 39 ; and only one of these lights should be on constantly at any one time . however , if all four lights 61 , 63 , 64 and 65 are on constantly , this indicates that the current set - point has not been entered into the memory u2 , hereinafter described , or memory failure and would require setting of the memory u2 , as set forth hereinafter . if all lights 63 , 64 and 65 flash simultaneously , this is indicative of one or more of the following : ( a ) reduced air flow caused by dirty filters , belt slippage , etc . ( b ) attempting to enter set - point into memory u2 with fan motor 47 not operating or ( c ) defective bypass damper 40 . as set forth previously , the bypass control system 36 utilizes a computerized monitor and controller 45 to change the position of a bypass damper 40 in a bypass duct between the air outlet and return air intake of a hvac unit 22 . such a bypass control system is effective to inhibit the hvac duct system from excessive static air pressures . when the dampers 14 are used to control multiple zones 30 of a single zone hvac unit ; excessive static air pressure in the duct system will occur as the zone dampers modulate closed . to compensate for excessive static air pressure from occurring , the bypass control system 36 , herein disclosed will alleviate such problem . the bypass control system 36 is to be used on hvac unit 22 which is equipped with forward curved fans . as the zone control dampers 14 modulate closed , the amount of air which the hvac fan is moving will drop due to the increased static air resistance in the duct system . as the fan does less work , the amount of current drawn by the fan motor 47 will be less and the monitor and controller 45 senses the drop in amperage and modulates the bypass damper 40 open until the fan amperage returns to its original setting . thus , a predetermined amount of supply air from the hvac unit 22 , is bypassed through bypass damper 40 to the hvac return air intake without passing into the main air supply duct 26 . as the zone control dampers 14 modulate closed , an increase in the main air supply duct 26 air pressure will result . consequently , the bypass damper should be selected to bypass the quantity of air which is being closed off by the dampers 14 and to maintain a reasonable supply duct air pressure when most of the zone dampers are closed . while most low pressure duct systems are designed about 0 . 1 &# 34 ; wc static air pressure , a good bypass system design dictates that the bypass damper 40 will be selected to increase the static air pressure to 0 . 4 &# 34 ; wc - 0 . 6 &# 34 ; wc . accordingly , one needs to 1 . determine the maximum cfm to be bypassed through the bypass damper 40 . 2 . determine the maximum allowable static air pressure in the main supply duct 26 . 3 . locate the &# 34 ; max . system static pressure &# 34 ; column in table i . 4 . under the column in step # 3 , locate the &# 34 ; cfm &# 34 ; closest to that determined in step # 1 . 5 . find the recommended damper size by reading horizontally to the left under &# 34 ; bypass size &# 34 ;. a 10 ton 4000 cfm hvac unit 22 , including monitor 10 and eight 500 cfm dampers 14 for eight zones , similar to zone 30 . one zone 30 may call for conditioning of the air while the other seven zones are satisfied causing seven dampers 14 to close . thus , taking the above steps in order : table i______________________________________1 . 4000 cfm - 500 cfm = 3500 cfm to be bypassed . 2 . select . 5 &# 34 ; wc . 3 . see below . 4 . see below . steps indicated within a circle . 5 . see below . max . system static pressure &# 34 ; w . c . sizebypass . 3 . 4 ## str1 ## . 6 . 7 . 8 . 9______________________________________ ## str2 ## ______________________________________ the monitor and controller 45 employs electronic circuits described hereinabelow in conjunction with monitor and controller firmware which is set forth in the appendix hereto . as seen in fig4 the electronic circuitry contained in the controller 45 operates under the control of set ( and reset ) switch 66 which is disclosed on the front face panel of the controller 45 in the preferred embodiment . the circuitry includes a microprocessor device u1 and a program memory u2 which stores the programmed memory therein in the form of instruction codes to be executed by the microprocessor u1 . in the preferred embodiment , the program stored in the memory u2 is machine language . prior to further describing the circuit of fig4 the memory u2 is initially set as follows : 4 . balance the hvac air distribution system making certain that the bypass damper 40 is fully closed ; the filters of the hvac unit 22 are clean ; and all dampers 14 are open fully or set to their maximum open limit . 6 . press the set button 66 on the controller 45 only once . this will drive the bypass damper closed , if it is not already in this position , and bring the closed light 65 on constantly . 7 . with the closed light 65 on constantly , press the set button 66 a second time . the desired fan current is now recorded in the memory u2 and corresponds to the static duct air pressure the bypass damper 40 will attempt to maintain in the system . it is to be noted that each time the set button 66 is activated with the bypass damper 40 in the fully closed position and the closed light on constantly , the memory u2 will be reset , and thus button 66 should not be activated unless resetting is desired . after resetting the memory u2 , the system can be tested as follows : 1 . with the hvac fan on , set several of the thermostats 12 to closed positions . this will drive the dampers 14 to the closed positions . 2 . as the dampers 14 close , the bypass damper 40 should start opening . 3 . reset the thermostats 12 to open positions . this will drive the dampers 14 to the open positions . 4 . when the dampers are in the fully open positions , the bypass damper 40 should be in the fully closed position . it is to be noted that when the fan motor 47 of hvac unit 22 cycles off , the bypass damper 40 will drive to the closed position . the bypass monitor and controller 45 activates and deactivates the motorized bypass damper 40 , in accord with changes in the amperage drawn by the fan motor 47 . thus , the bypass damper 40 correspondingly moves in accord with the hvac unit 22 fan current which is monitored by the bypass monitor and controller 45 . upon a drop in the monitored fan current , the bypass damper 40 opens until the monitored fan current returns to its original setting . when the fan current is 0 amps , indicating no fan operation , the bypass damper returns to the fully closed position . as previously set forth the bypass monitor and controller 45 is designed to monitor one or two fan speeds and each fan speed monitored requires a sensor ( 49 or 51 ) in the form of a current transformer . the bypass monitor and controller 45 includes the power on , fully open , fully closed , and in - between indicator lights 61 - 65 . fully open and fully closed lights 63 and 65 will flash to indicate damper movement in those respective directions . the pushbutton switch 66 is depressed to set the controller memory u2 and is used to reset same . upon a power failure , the bypass monitor and controller 45 will maintain memory for a minimum of 72 hours , so that resetting is not required . referring again to fig4 the electronic circuitry for the bypass monitor and controller 45 includes a metal oxide varistor mov - 1 that shunts the electrical connection 48 , leading to sensor 49 in the form of a current transformer clamped around the common lead of the fan motor 47 , and provides protection of the electronic circuity from suprious and / or transient excessive voltages which may be caused by the fan motor start up current . dc blocking and impedance matching between sensor 49 and the ac to dc converter 70 is provided by resistors r30 and r31 , and capacitor c6 . the converter 70 includes a voltage divider formed by resistors r19 and r20 for providing a bias voltage to the dual operational amplifiers u4 , such amplifiers u4 , resistors r32 , r35 and r36 , diodes d7 and d8 and amplifier q1 provide a precision ac rectifier circuit with a current pump output at the collector 71 of q1 . the value of the bias voltage on amplifiers u4 does not effect the current pump output provided that the bias voltage is greater than an emitter - base drop across the amplifiers u4 plus the highest anticipated voltage output ( or 5 . 0 + 0 . 6 - 5 . 6 v ) and less than the maximum output voltage ( or 10 . 4 v ) of the amplifiers u4 . an acceptable bias voltage for the amplifiers u4 was selected at 8 . 6 v (± 10 %). capacitor c7 is connected between the base and collector of amplifier q1 and integrates the dc output to provide a more uniform or smoother dc current output , which is further enhanced and smoothed by capacitor c8 . conversion of the dc current output to a voltage output is provided by a switchable load resistance provided by amplifier q2 , resistors r8 , r29 , r33 and r34 . microprocessor u1 pin 24 controls the operation of amplifier q2 and when it is rendered inoperative , voltage is developed across resistors r33 and r34 and corresponds to 10 amps full scale . when q4 is operative , resistor r33 is bypassed and the full voltage is developed across resistor r34 and correspond to 20 amps full scale . the voltage developed across resistor r34 ( or resistors r33 and r34 ) is provided to the input of the analog to digital converter u3 pin 6 and clamped by diode d4 so that the voltage input cannot rise to a level to be destructive to a - d converter u3 or the microprocessor u1 , etc . the a - d converter u3 includes an internal clock and employs external timing components of capacitor c9 and resistor r18 across pins 4 and 19 . pins 11 through 18 of the a - d converter u3 constitute the tri - state outputs therefrom which are respectively connected to the data bus pins 19 through 12 of microprocessor u1 . to initiate a conversion by a - d converter u3 , microprocessor u1 enables a - d converter u3 by dropping u1 pin 21 low and u3 pin 1 low and then performing a write operation which pulses u1 pin 10 and u3 pin 3 low . the microprocessor u1 determines when the conversion is accomplished by testing its t1 input ( u1 pin 39 ) which is coupled to u3 pin 5 . to read the data , the microprocessor u1 again enables a - d converter u3 by dropping u3 pin 1 low and then performs a read opertion which pulses u1 pin 8 and u3 pin 2 low . the a - d converter u3 provides the converted data from the sensor 49 to the microprocessor u1 for the entire duration of the read pulse through u3 pins 11 through 18 and u1 pins 19 through 12 . as previously briefly discussed hereinabove , the memory of the bypass monitor and controller 45 must be set in accord with the previous instructions . the memory u2 stores the reference fan motor current from the common of the fan motor 47 and , if a two speed motor , from the high speed fan motor lead , in separate sections of u2 corresponding to the low and high speed readings . also , u2 includes a section to store error detection codes which are used in the final testing of the monitor 45 during manufacture and the storage of various errors detected by the monitor system during operation thereof , for example , spurious or garbled signals which may be received from either current sensors 49 or 51 , and this section of the memory u2 may be addressed and the information transmitted via lines 56 to the external computer . rechargeable battery b - 1 provides auxiliary power for the memory u2 which operates during a power failure or the like for up to approximately 72 hours so that the data within memory u2 is not erased . diodes d2 and d3 isolate battery b - 1 from the power supply while resistor r16 provides a trickle charge current for battery b - 1 . the data input lines of memory u2 pins 4 , 6 , 10 and 12 and output lines of memory u2 pins 5 , 7 , 9 and 11 are respectively coupled to microprocessor u1 pins 12 , 13 , 14 and 15 which are also coupled to a - d converter u3 pins 18 , 17 , 16 and 15 . to write data to the memory u2 , the microprocessor u1 provides the address instructions on u1 pins 35 through 38 which are respectively connected to memory u2 pins 1 , 15 , 14 and 13 . the microprocessor u1 then brings u1 pin 22 low and pin 23 high to enable the memory u2 , and thereafter a write operation is performed which pulses memory u2 pin 3 low while placing the data to be stored on the bus of the microprocessor u1 pins 12 , 13 , 14 and 15 . data is read from the memory u2 by the microprocessor u1 placing the desired address on u1 pins 35 through 38 and selects the memory by bringing u1 pin 22 low and pin 23 high . the data in the memory u2 is thus placed on the bus of the microprocessor u1 pins 12 , 13 , 14 and 15 , and this data can be utilized by the microprocessor u1 . to protect the memory darlingtons u5 are connected between microprocessor u1 pin 22 and memory u2 pin 2 and provide a safety lock - out of the memory u2 enable functiqn during low power conditions since microprocessor u1 pin 22 must be low and u1 pin 23 high in order to enable the memory . when there is a loss of power or a sufficiently low power condition , the microprocessor u1 is in a reset mode and is incapable of making u1 pin 22 low and u1 pin 23 high . resistor r17 is connected between u5 pin 12 and u2 pin 16 to insure that an adequate power supply exists at u2 pin 16 before u2 memory can be enabled . this also enhances the noise immunity of the memory u2 . resistor r28 provides an additional drive for darlington u5 pin 5 to make certain that u5 pin 12 can pull down well into the guaranteed logic . 0 . voltage range of memory u2 , but only if the power source is sufficient as determined by the reset circuit or power glitch detector 72 connected to u1 pin 4 . the reset circuit 71 includes an operational amplifier u6 , resistors r22 - r25 functioning as a voltage divider and hysteresis resistor r26 comprise a power failure detection circuit . when the incoming + 12 vdc supply through resistor r22 drops below approximately + 10 vdc , then u6 pin 1 switches low which deactivates darlingtons u5 pins 13 and 15 , thus causing gate q3 to turn off and removing the additional drive hereinabove set forth , to the memory lock - out circuit u5 pin 5 . also darlington u5 pin 14 is turned on which discharges reset capacitor c10 and causes microprocessor u1 to be and stay in the reset mode until such time as the power is restored to + 12 vdc and capacitor c10 recharges . when a two speed fan motor 47 is to be monitored , another sensor 51 is looped around the high speed winding lead of the fan motor 47 and coupled to the bypass monitor and controller 45 by electrical connections 52 which are shunted by varistor mov - 2 for transient protection . a diode d6 rectifies the ac voltage emanating from sensor 51 to the input of darlington u5 pin 7 . if darlington u5 is in its off or on state , capacitor c11 will respectively be discharged to ground or be charged to + 5v through resistor r9 . capacitor c11 is connected by lead 73 to microprocessor u1 pin 32 and thus microprocessor u1 can determine the speed state of the fan motor 47 by reading whether capacitor c11 is charged or discharged , i . e . a charged capacitor is indicative of low speed and a discharged capacitor indicates high speed . the microprocessor u1 still employs the information received from sensor 49 to determine whether bypass damper 40 should be manipulated , but uses different criteria , if a two speed fan motor 47 is present in the hvac unit 22 and sensor 51 is employed as hereinaboved described . the interface between the bypass damper 40 and bypass monitor and controller 45 is included therein and is provided by darlingtons u7 pins 5 and 6 which respectively connect to microprocessor u1 pins 28 and 27 . the outputs of darlingtons u7 pins 11 and 12 connect to terminal strip ts - 1 pins 2 and 3 which are coupled to the motorized bypass damper 40 , as indicated in fig3 for controlling the direction of rotation of the motor thereof and the movement of the damper blade thereof , as fully disclosed in the aforementioned application ser . no . 434 , 259 . terminal strip pin 4 is employed to indicate the bypass damper status and a load resistor r1 converts the current output of the bypass damper motor to a voltage and if a low voltage of 0 to 1 / 2 v is present , this indicates that the damper blade is closed and a high voltage indicates that the damper blade is not closed . darlington u7 pins 7 and 10 inverts and buffers this voltage and couples same to the microprocessor u1 pin 33 . the microprocessor pins 29 , 30 and 31 are respectively connected to darlingtons u7 pins 4 , 3 and 2 which respectively drive the led &# 39 ; s forming lights 63 , 64 and 65 , shown in fig3 so that the microprocessor u1 indentifies its operational status , damper blade position , etc . the &# 34 ; power on &# 34 ; led 62 is enabled directly from the 5 voltage regular vr1 . terminal strips ts - 1 pins 1 and 5 are the power source and return of this monitor circuit board with the power + 12 vdc being supplied hereto by the bypass damper circuit board through terminal strips ts - 1 pins 1 and 5 . as previously noted in connection with fig3 lines 56 may lead to external communication , for example , a remote computer , and this connection is made through terminal strip ts - 1 pins 6 , 7 and 8 , pin 6 being connected to a + 12 vdc supplied by the computer , pin 8 being the return to the computer , and pin 7 being the signal line to and from the computer . when a signal is received at ts - 1 pin 7 it is passed to opto isolator u9 which inverts the signal and sends it to microprocessor u1 pin 1 . the response from the microprocessor u1 , equivalent to the indication of the status of led lights 62 - 65 individually , is transmitted from microprocessor u1 pin 34 through transistor q4 which drives opto isolator u8 which drives transistor q5 and transmits the signal from the collector 74 via ts - 1 pin 7 to the computer . the signal originating at microprocessor u1 pin 34 is inverted when it appears on ts - 1 pin 7 . the microprocessor u1 provides a clock frequency of 3 . 57 mhz , this being determined by crystal y1 and the capacitors c13 and 14 which are connected to microprocessor u1 pins 2 and 3 . as previously described , microprocessor u1 pin 6 is connected to set and reset switch 66 , u1 pin 6 being the interrupt input of the microprocessor u1 . operation of switch 66 permits one to initially set the bypass monitor and controller 45 as previously described , and to reset when required , as after a sustained power failure , a desire to reset , for example , when a fan motor 47 is repaired or replaced or has had its drives adjusted . while the invention has been described with respect to a certain specific embodiment , it will be appreciated that many modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention . it is intended , therefore , by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention .	6
hereinafter , preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings . fig1 is a block diagram showing an example of an underwater detecting apparatus of the present invention . in the drawing , reference numeral 1 designates a transducer provided on a ship &# 39 ; s hull and for receiving and transmitting an ultrasonic wave , which is constituted by a transducer 1 a for a high frequency and a transducer 1 b for a low frequency . reference numeral 2 designates a switching portion for switching the operation of the transducer 1 between a wave transmitting unit and a wave receiving unit and between a high frequency signal and a low frequency signal ; reference numeral 3 , a transmitting circuit for sending a transmission signal to the transducer 1 through the switching portion 2 ; reference numeral 4 , a receiving circuit for receiving an echo signal from the seabed received by the transducer 1 through the switching portion 2 ; and reference numeral 5 , an a / d converter for converting an analog signal received by the receiving circuit 4 into a digital signal . a transmitter and receiver block 15 is constituted by the switching portion 2 , the transmitting circuit 3 , the receiving circuit 4 , and the a / d converter 5 . reference numeral 6 designates a cpu for calculating fish school information on the basis of the output from the a / d converter 5 ; reference numeral 7 , a memory constituted by a rom storing a program for the cpu 6 and a ram storing various data ; and reference numeral 8 , a display control portion for making the fish school information displayed on a display instrument 9 , and a fish detection block 16 is comprised with the cpu 6 , the memory 7 , and the display control portion 8 . reference numeral 10 designates a cpu for calculating water depth information on the basis of the output from the a / d converter 5 ; 11 , a memory constituted by a rom storing a program for the cpu 10 and a ram storing various data ; and 12 , a display control portion for making the water depth information displayed on the display instrument 9 , and a depth measurement control block 17 is constituted by the cpu 10 , the memory 11 , and the display control portion 12 . the display instrument 9 is made of a liquid crystal display , and displays the fish school information obtained by the cpu 6 and the water depth information obtained by the cpu 10 . the details will be described later . reference numeral 13 designates an operation portion provided with keys for performing various settings or the like ; and 14 , an external storage device for extracting data of the water depth information and storing . next , the operation of the underwater detecting apparatus of the above structure will be described in brief . when a transmission instruction is given to the transmission circuit 3 from the cpu 6 , the transmission circuit 3 outputs a transmission signal , and an ultrasonic signal is emitted from the transducer 1 into the water through the switching portion 2 which is switched to the wave transmission side . here , the ultrasonic wave of a high frequency of , for example , 200 khz is transmitted from the transducer 1 a as described later , and the ultrasonic wave of a low frequency of , for example , 50 khz is transmitted from the transducer 1 b . switching of these frequencies is performed by the switching portion 2 . the ultrasonic wave emitted from the transducer 1 is reflected by a school of fish or the seabed , and its echo signal is received by the transducer 1 . this echo signal is received by the receiving circuit 4 through the switching portion 2 which is switched to the wave reception side , and is converted into the digital signal by the a / d converter 5 and is given to the cpu 6 . the cpu 6 discriminates the school of fish on the basis of the echo signal , calculates the fish school detection information , and stores the result in the memory 7 . the display control portion 8 outputs the data read out from the memory 7 to the display instrument 9 , and the fish school information is displayed on the display instrument 9 . on the other hand , the output of the a / d converter 5 is also given to the cpu 10 , and the cpu 10 calculates the water depth to the seabed on the basis of the echo signal and stores the result in the memory 11 . the display control portion 12 outputs the water depth data read out from the memory 11 to the display instrument 9 , and the water depth information is displayed on the display instrument 9 . the external storage device 14 takes in the water depth data obtained by the cpu 10 and stores this . this external storage device 14 is constituted by , for example , a card reader writer , in which a not - shown memory card is inserted , and the water depth data for the past 24 hours are stored in this memory card . alternatively , the external storage device 14 may be constituted by a personal computer , and in this case as well , the downloaded water depth data for the past 24 hours are recorded in the memory device of the personal computer . as described above , the underwater detecting apparatus of fig1 has both functions of the fish school detecting apparatus and the depth measuring apparatus . since the ultrasonic detection signals of two frequencies of 200 khz and 50 khz used for fish school detection are also used for measurement of the water depth , the transducer 1 and the transmitter and receiver block 15 can be used jointly , and the circuits are simplified . incidentally , in the case where the fish school is displayed on the display instrument 9 , since it is demanded to display the fish school in detail by increasing the amount of information , the number of detection pulse signals emitted from the transducer 1 becomes large . for example , the number of pulses in the case where the water depth scale is displayed in a 20 m range is 1000 pulses / minute or more , and in the case of a 200 m range , it becomes 100 pulses / minute or more . on the other hand , in the case where the water depth is displayed , since the undulations of the seabed does not change very much in a short time , the number of emitted detection pulses will be small . for example , in the case where it is displayed in the 20 m range , the number of pulses is 36 pulses / minute or more , and in the case of the 200 m range , it becomes 12 pulses / minutes or more . actually , based on partial signals of the detection pulse signals emitted for fish school detection and their echo signals , the water depth information is displayed . thus , by peak holding the echo signals for the fish school display or performing an averaging process , the water depth information can be displayed . incidentally , in the case where the fish school information is displayed , there is a case where the seabed is not displayed by switching of the range . but , in the case where the water depth information is displayed , the seabed must be displayed without fail . fig2 shows an example of a display unit 20 of the underwater detecting apparatus . in the display unit 20 , the operation portion 13 is provided at a right side of the display instrument 9 . the display instrument 9 is made of a tft ( thin film transistor ) color liquid crystal display , and is a small display with a display area of , for example , 133 × 97 mm . fig3 shows an example of a display screen 41 of the display instrument 9 . in fig3 , two independent screens 41 a and 41 b are displayed side by side on the display screen 41 . the screen 41 a is a screen on which the water depth information obtained by the depth measurement control block 17 of fig1 is displayed , and the screen 41 b is a screen on which the fish school detection information obtained in the fish detection block 16 of fig1 is displayed . on the screen 41 a , reference numeral 42 designates a water depth scale provided at intervals of 50 meters ; reference numeral 43 , a seabed line displayed on the basis of measured water depth values , and the seabed line 43 is continuously displayed as a history on the basis of the data for a definite period . that is , the seabed line 43 at the position of a right end 46 of the screen 41 a is the latest seabed line measured presently , and toward the left from this position , the seabed line for at least the past 15 minutes is displayed . reference numeral 44 designates a measured present water depth indication , and the water depth value of 81 . 3 m of the seabed line 43 at the end 46 is displayed . reference numeral 45 designates an alarm water depth line as the reference to give the alarm . the alarm water depth line 45 can be arbitrarily set , and here , it is set to 15 m , and when the water depth is at this one or less , the alarm will be produced . reference numeral 47 designates a display portion for displaying the set alarm water depth value . besides , on the screen 41 b , reference numeral 48 designates a water depth scale provided at intervals of 25 meters ; 49 , a seabed line ; and 50 , an image of a school of fish displayed on the basis of echo signals , and the display contents are similar to a display screen of a conventional fish detector . incidentally , reference numeral 51 designates an oscillation line indicating the position of the transducer 1 fixed to the ship &# 39 ; s hull . in this way , the screen 41 a displaying the water depth information and the screen 41 b displaying the fish school detection information are displayed side by side , so that a large amount of information can be displayed on the limited display screen 41 , and an efficient display can be made . in fig3 , although the screen 41 a and the screen 41 b are respectively displayed on half of the display screen 41 , for example , the screen 41 a of the water depth information may be display on ⅕ of the display screen 41 , and the screen 41 b of the fish school detection information may be displayed on the remaining ⅘ , and the ratio can be arbitrarily selected . incidentally , since the latest image is always displayed at the position of the right end 46 on the display screen 41 a of the water depth information , it is necessary to make renewal by sending the image at regular intervals . the time interval of the image feed is set to , for example , 15 minutes in a normal mode . besides , by making a mode a fast - forwarding mode , it can be sent at high speed corresponding to the range . for example , it can be sent at 10 second intervals for the 10 m range , 15 second intervals for the 20 m range , 1 minute intervals for the 60 m range , 1 . 5 minute intervals for the 100 m range , and 2 minute intervals for the 200 m range . however , even in this case , a measurement value is displayed at 1 second intervals on the water depth data value indication 44 . the display screens of the water depth information in the following embodiments are also the same . on the other hand , in the operation portion 13 of fig2 , reference numeral 21 designates a draft key for setting a draft value ; 22 , an alarm key for setting the foregoing alarm water depth line 45 ; 23 , an illumination adjusting key for adjusting the panel illumination of the operation portion 13 ; 24 , a brilliance adjusting key for adjusting the screen brilliance of the display instrument 9 ; 25 , an automatic key for changing the automatic / manual operation of range , sensitivity or the like ; 26 , a color key for adjusting the color tone of the display instrument 9 ; 27 , a minus key for scrolling the display of the water depth history displayed on the display instrument 9 in a reverse direction ( left direction ) or for decreasing set values ; and 28 , a plus key for scrolling the display of the water depth history displayed on the display instrument 9 in a positive direction ( right direction ) or for increasing set values . reference numeral 29 designates a range switch for changing the display range of the display instrument 9 ; 30 , a gain switch for adjusting sensitivity ; 31 , a mode switch for switching a mode ; and 32 , a power switch of the display unit 20 . the mode of the mode switch includes a nav mode displaying a basic screen , a dbs ( depth below surface ) mode displaying a screen by draft correction , a history mode displaying past water depth history in a graph form , a logbook mode displaying the past water depth history in a table form in which a time is made to correspond to a water depth value , an osdata mode displaying the position and speed of a ship , a water depth , or the like , a help mode displaying an explanation of operation and function , and a menu mode for selecting a menu of various functions . in fig3 , although the two display screens 41 a and 41 b are displayed side by side at the same time , it is also possible to display either one by switching the display screens 41 a and 41 b . fig4 shows a circuit for that purpose , and the same portions as those of fig1 are designated by the same symbols . in fig4 , a selector switch 18 is provided between a display control portion 8 and a display instrument 9 and between a display control portion 12 and the display instrument 9 . this selector switch 18 may be provided at a suitable place of the display unit . since the other constructions are the same as fig1 , the explanation is omitted . in fig4 , in the case where the selector switch 18 is switched to a side “ a ”, the display instrument 9 is connected to the side of the fish detection control block 16 , and a screen 41 b of fish school detection information as shown in fig5 is displayed on the display instrument 9 . since this screen 41 b is the same as the screen 41 b of fig3 , the same portions are designated by the same symbols and the explanation is omitted . however , in fig5 , since the fish school detection information can be displayed on the whole area of the screen , the display area is naturally wider than that of fig3 , and a larger amount of fish school information can be displayed . besides , in fig4 , in the case where the selector switch 18 is switched to a side “ b ”, the display instrument 9 is connected to the side of the depth measurement control block 17 , and a screen 41 a of water depth information as shown in fig6 is displayed on the display instrument 9 . since this screen 41 a is also the same as the screen 41 a of fig3 , the same portions are designated by the same symbols and the explanation is omitted . besides , also in this case , since the water depth information can be displayed on the whole area of the screen , the display area becomes wide and the water depth history for a longer time can be displayed . in this way , by switching the screen 41 a of the water depth information and the screen 41 b of the fish school detection information to display one of them on the display instrument 9 , it is possible to select necessary information and to display it in detail , and it is possible to display a large amount of information efficiently on the limited screen . by the way , in fig2 , when the mode switch 31 is set to the history mode , a screen as shown in fig7 a is displayed . in the history mode , the display screen 41 a is divided in two , and a screen 61 on which water depth information over the past 24 hours is historically displayed and a screen 62 on which water depth information for the latest 5 minutes including the present measured depth ( in this example , 47 . 5 m ) is historically displayed are displayed . reference numerals 43 a and 43 b designate seabed lines , and with respect to the seabed line 43 a of the screen 61 , only the contour line is displayed . on the other hand , with respect to the seabed line 43 b of the screen 62 , a geological portion is displayed in , for example , a form painted by red . incidentally , reference numeral 42 designates a water depth scale ; and 44 , a present water depth value . the screen 61 can be scrolled in the right and left directions , and by this , the change of the seabed line 43 a for the past 24 hours can be traced . that is , when the plus key 28 of fig2 is pressed , the screen 61 is scrolled forward ( direction of arrow a ), and when the minus key 27 is pressed , the screen 61 is scrolled backward . in this case , when the screen is renewed by the scroll operation , if data is renewed one by one , it takes a very long time to renew . on the other hand , when one page of the screen 61 is renewed , although a time for renewal can be shortened , there is a problem that the connection of data is hard to understand and the history of change of the seabed line 43 a can not be accurately grasped , since data before the renewal disappears from the screen 61 . then , in this embodiment , display contents are renewed by scroll in an area unit of ½ of all display area . that is , in fig7 a , in the case where the width of all display area is made w , by pressing the plus key 28 once , the screen 61 is scrolled in the direction of the arrow a , and a display area 63 of a width of w / 2 on the right half of the screen 61 is moved to the left half of the screen 61 as shown in fig7 b . then , a new seabed line 64 is displayed on the right half of the screen 61 . the case where scroll is made in the direction reverse to the arrow a by the minus key 27 is also the same , and when the key 27 is pressed once , the left half of the screen 61 is moved to the right half and renewal is made . incidentally , reference numeral 66 designates a time indication , and the time positioned in the direction of the arrow a is new . like this , by renewing the screen 61 every ½ screen , since the half of the screen before the renewal is displayed on the screen after the renewal , the connection of data becomes easy to understand , and the history of the change of the seabed line 43 a can be easily grasped . besides , as compared with the case where data is renewed one by one , the renewal speed can be raised . incidentally , in this example , although renewal is made in a unit of ½ of all display area , restriction is not made to this , but in general , renewal can be made in a unit of 1 / n , and renewal can be made in an arbitrary unit of ⅓ , ¼ or the like . the foregoing scroll system can also be adopted in the water depth display screen in the case where the screen of the fish school and the screen of the water depth as in fig3 are displayed side by side . fig8 shows an example of this case , and the same portions as those of fig3 are designated by the same symbols . the screen 41 a on which the water depth information is displayed is renewed in an area unit of 1 / n of all display area by pressing the plus key 28 or the minus key 27 once . the scroll system can be applied to not only the case where the screen of the fish school and the screen of the water depth as in fig3 are displayed side by side , but also the case where the water depth display screen 41 a as in fig6 is displayed alone . fig9 shows still another embodiment of the scroll system . here , in the two screens 41 a and 41 b in fig8 , the display screen 41 a of the water depth information is divided in two similarly to fig7 a and 7b , so that three screens 411 , 412 and 41 b are displayed on the screen 41 . the water depth information for the past 24 hours is displayed on the screen 411 , and the water depth information for the latest 5 minutes including the present measurement water depth ( in this example , 81 . 3 m ) is historically displayed on the screen 412 . the screen 411 is designed such that the display contents are renewed by scroll in an area unit of 1 / n of all display area similarly to the above . as described above , even in the case where the display screen 41 is divided in two or three so that the display region becomes narrow , since the display contents are renewed in a unit of 1 / n of a display area , the connection of data can be maintained , so that the screen becomes easy to see . next , switching of a frequency of an ultrasonic signal will be described . in a conventional depth measuring apparatus , one of a transducer for a high frequency and a transducer for a low frequency is used to measure the depth . however , since the high frequency has a short wavelength and a large amount of attenuation , it is hard to reach a deep place in the water and the depth of deep waters can not be measured . on the other hand , since the low frequency has a long wavelength and a small amount of attenuation , it reaches a deep place in the water , but shallow waters can not be measured with accuracy . besides , when the low frequency is used , ultrasonic transmission is obstructed by bubbles near the water surface generated after a ship has passed , that is , a so - called bubble cut phenomenon is apt to occur , so that there is a case where accurate depth measurement becomes impossible . in order to solve such a disadvantage , in this embodiment , as described above , the transducer 1 of fig1 is constituted by the transducer 1 a for the high frequency and the transducer 1 b for the low frequency . then , the frequency of an ultrasonic wave is automatically changed in accordance with the depth , so that in shallow waters where the water depth is less than , for example , 30 m , an ultrasonic signal of the high frequency ( 200 khz ) is emitted from the transducer 1 a , and in deep waters where the water depth is 30 m or more , an ultrasonic signal of the low frequency ( 50 khz ) is emitted from the transducer 1 b . this switching is performed by the switching portion 2 . incidentally , the range where depth measurement can be made is , for example , 2 m to 200 m . in this way , when the two frequencies are used so that the shallow waters are measured with the high frequency and the deep waters are measured with the low frequency . for the shallow waters , the depth measurement can be accurately made without receiving the influence of the bubble cut , and for the deep waters , the depth measurement can be made to a deeper place with the low frequency . thus , in either event , measurement results are clearly displayed on the display screen 41 . fig1 a and 10b show the water depth information display screen 41 a of the display instrument 9 in the case where the frequency is changed in the manner as described above . fig1 a shows a screen in the case where depth measurement is made with the high frequency ( 200 khz ), and fig1 b shows a screen in the case where depth measurement is made with the low frequency ( 50 khz ). in the drawings , the same portions as those of fig6 are designated by the same symbols and the explanation is omitted . incidentally , reference numeral 65 designates a frequency indication . fig1 a shows the screen of shallow waters , and the range of the water depth scale 42 is in a unit of 10 m . fig1 b shows the screen of deep waters , and the range of the water depth scale 42 is in a unit of 50 m . in the case where the frequency is switched from the high frequency to the low frequency , with the screen 41 a being also switched from fig1 a to fig1 b , when the automatic key 25 ( fig2 ) is operated to set the auto mode , the range of the water depth scale 42 is automatically switched so that the seabed line 43 is displayed on the screen 41 a without fail . on the other hand , in the case where the manual mode is set , the range of the water depth scale 42 is switched by the range switch 29 . fig1 is a flowchart in the case where shallow waters and deep waters are measured through the foregoing frequency switching . first , the transducer 1 sends the ultrasonic wave to measure the water depth ( step s 1 ). the high frequency is used as the frequency of the ultrasonic wave at this time . incidentally , the high frequency or the low frequency can be selected as the ultrasonic wave sent from the transducer 1 with the screen ( not shown ) of the menu mode . next , it is judged whether the measured depth is 30 m or more ( step s 2 ). this value of 30 m can be changed to an arbitrary value by setting . if it is less than 30 m ( no at step s 2 ), a measurement place is shallow waters , so that the transducer 1 a sends the ultrasonic wave of the high frequency ( 200 khz ) to measure the depth ( step s 3 ), and displays the results on the display instrument 9 as in fig1 a described before ( step s 5 ). if the depth is 30 m or more ( yes at step s 2 ), the measurement place is deep waters , so that the transducer 1 b sends the ultrasonic wave of the low frequency ( 50 khz ) to measure the depth ( step s 4 ), and the results are displayed on the display instrument 9 as in fig1 b ( step s 5 ). then it is judged whether the measurement is ended ( step s 6 ), and if the measurement is not ended ( no at step s 6 ), the procedure returns to step s 1 and the foregoing operation is repeated , and if the measurement is ended ( yes at step s 6 ), the operation is ended . fig1 is a flowchart showing another embodiment in the case where shallow waters and deep waters are measured through frequency switching . in this embodiment , priority is given to the high frequency when depth measurement is made , and at the point when the measurement with the high frequency becomes impossible , switching is automatically made to the low frequency . first , the transducer 1 a sends the high frequency ( 200 khz ) to measure the water depth ( step s 11 ). then it is judged whether an echo signal is received by the receiving circuit 4 ( step s 12 ). if the echo signal is received ( yes at step s 12 ), measurement data based on that are displayed on the display instrument 9 as in fig1 a ( step s 14 ). then it is judged whether the measurement is ended ( step s 15 ). if the measurement is not ended ( no at step s 15 ), the procedure returns to step s 12 and the depth measurement with the high frequency is continued . if the echo signal with the high frequency carrier comes not to be received ( no at step s 12 ), the transducer 1 b sends the low frequency ( 50 khz ) to measure the water depth ( step s 13 ), and measurement data based on that are displayed on the display instrument 9 as in fig1 b ( step s 14 ). then it is judged whether the measurement is ended or not ( step s 15 ). if the measurement is not ended ( no at step s 15 ), the procedure returns to step 12 and the depth measurement with the low frequency is continued , and if the measurement is ended ( yes at step s 15 ), the operation is ended . fig1 a and 13b show an embodiment in which a mark 70 indicating the trend of an inclination of the seabed is displayed on the display screen 41 a in addition to the water depth information . whether the mark 70 is displayed or not can be selected through the screen of the menu mode . in fig1 a and 13b , the same portions as those of fig6 are designated by the same symbols and the explanation is omitted . the mark 70 is constituted by a semicircle 71 and an arrow 72 indicated in its inside , and the degree of the inclination of the arrow 72 from the horizontal indicates the trend of the average inclination of the seabed for a past time period . in the case of fig1 a , since the inclination of the seabed is gentle on average , the inclination of the arrow 72 is small . however , in the case of fig1 b , since the inclination of the seabed is steep on average , the inclination of the arrow 72 is large . fig1 a through 14g are views showing display patterns of the mark 70 . fig1 a shows an indication of a case where an average inclination angle θ is − 90 °≦ θ & lt ;− 60 °; fig1 b shows an indication of a case of − 60 °≦ θ & lt ;− 30 °; fig1 c shows an indication of a case of − 30 °≦ θ & lt ;− 1 °; fig1 d shows an indication of a case of − 1 °≦ θ ≦ 1 °; fig1 e shows an indication of a case of 1 °& lt ; θ ≦ 30 °; fig1 f shows an indication of a case of 30 °& lt ; θ ≦ 60 °; and fig1 g shows an indication of a case of 60 °& lt ; θ ≦ 90 °. the average inclination angle θ of the seabed is obtained by calculating the changes in the water depth up to now on the basis of the past water depth data . fig1 shows this principle . in fig1 , t 1 , t 2 , . . . tn are timings of ultrasonic detection pulses emitted from the transducer 1 for the past t minutes ( for example , one minute ). water depths at respective points of time measured by the ultrasonic detection pulses are made d 1 , d 2 , . . . dn , respectively . here , when the speed of a ship is v per minute , a distance l in which the ship moves for t minutes becomes l = v × t . on the other hand , an average value d of the water depth measured for t minutes becomes d =( d 1 + d 2 . . . + dn )/ n , and an average value d ′ of the water depth measured similarly at the point t minutes before becomes d ′=( d 1 ′+ d 2 ′ . . . + dn ′)/ n , and a difference between the present average water depth d and the average water depth d ′ t minutes before becomes δd = d − d ′. thus , the average inclination angle θ of the seabed for t minutes can be obtained from the following expression . by the value of the average inclination angle θ , the patterns of the mark 70 of fig1 a through 14g are determined . incidentally , the value of t can be determined by parameters such as a speed or steering time ( time from steering to a point when a ship is actually rotated ). incidentally , in the above example , although the difference between the present average water depth d and the average water depth d ′ t minutes before is obtained , the water depth value dn at the point t minutes before may be used in place of the average water depth d ′ t minutes before . besides , in the above example , although the existence of display of the mark 70 is selected on the screen of the menu mode , instead of this , the mark 70 may be automatically displayed when the measured water depth becomes a definite value or less . besides , as the mark 70 , various shapes made of symbols or figures can be used , and restriction is not made to the above example . thus , by displaying the mark 70 indicating the trend of the inclination of the seabed on the display screen 41 a in addition to the water depth information , the change of the seabed can be easily predicted on the screen . that is , in the case of the seabed with many undulations , it is difficult to judge by only using the display of the seabed line 43 whether the seabed becomes shallow on average or becomes deep , and is also difficult even at a place where the inclination of the seabed is gentle . however , in this embodiment , since the average change of the water depth is graphically displayed by the mark 70 on the basis of the past depth measurement data , the change of the seabed can be easily predicted . besides , a slight inclination of the seabed can also be grasped by the mark 70 . thus , an accident such as stranding can be prevented in advance . next , screen display in the case where a draft correction is made will be described . the draft correction is a correction which is necessary since a fixed position of the transducer 1 is lower than the actual water surface . fig1 is a view showing the principle of the draft correction . the transducer 1 is fixed on the lower surface of a ship &# 39 ; s hull 80 , and the ship &# 39 ; hull 80 sinks in the water by z 2 from the water surface 82 . thus , the water depth measured with an ultrasonic wave 83 emitted from the transducer 1 is a water depth value z 1 from the bottom of the ship to the seabed , and is not an actual water depth value z . thus , in the case where the actual water depth value z should be displayed in the foregoing dbs mode , it is necessary to add the draft value z 2 to the measured water depth value z 1 . this correction is the draft correction . by the way , when such draft correction is carried out by a conventional apparatus , there occurs a disadvantage that an oscillation line is shifted downward on the display screen and the display region of data will be narrower . this will be explained with reference to fig1 a and 16b . fig1 a shows a screen in the case where a draft value is 0 and an oscillation line 51 is positioned at 0 of the water depth scale 42 . in this case , the water depth information is displayed on the whole region of the screen 41 a . on the other hand , fig1 b is a screen in the case where the draft value is set to 5 m , and the oscillation line 51 is shifted by x to the position of 5 m of the water depth scale 42 . thus , a display region y of the water depth information will be narrower . as the draft value becomes large , the oscillation line 51 shifts downward and the display region y becomes further narrow . while , in imo ( international maritime organization ) standards as international standards , in the case of a 20 m range , it is obliged to display a screen with 5 mm or more per a water depth of 1 m , in other words , it is required to secure 5 mm × 20 = 100 mm for a vertical size of the display region y . however , since the screen 41 a is a small screen as described above and the size is limited , when the oscillation line 51 is shifted downward and the display region y becomes narrow as set forth above , it becomes impossible to satisfy the imo standards . especially in the case of a shallow range , since the amount of shift of the oscillation line 51 is large , the display region y is greatly decreased , and a part of the seabed line 43 disappears from the screen and becomes hard to see . on the other hand , since anything is not displayed on a portion above the oscillation line 51 , this portion results in a useless region . then , in this embodiment , when the draft value is set , the oscillation line is not moved but the water depth scale is shifted upward , so that the above disadvantage will be overcome . fig1 a and 17b show a screen for explaining this case . fig1 a shows the screen for the case where the draft value is 0 , and the oscillation line 51 is positioned at 0 of the water depth scale 42 . this screen is the same as the screen of fig1 a , and the water depth information is displayed on the whole region of the screen 41 a . on the other hand , fig1 b shows the screen in the case where the draft value is set to 5 m , and the position of the oscillation line 51 is not changed as compared with fig1 a . the water depth scale 42 is shifted upward by 5 m . thus , the display region y does not become narrow , and the same display region as the case of fig1 a is secured . incidentally , in order to perform the draft correction , the mode switch 31 in fig2 is made the dbs mode , and the draft key 21 is operated . when the draft key 21 is pressed , a not - shown draft value set screen is displayed . the draft value is initialized on this screen , and the plus key 28 or the minus key 27 is pressed to renew the set value , so that setting of the draft value is performed on the screen . the draft value setting can be made also on the fish school display screen 41 b . in this way , by shifting the water depth scale upward , the size of the display region y will be constant and broad , and it will become possible to satisfy the imo standards . besides , since a wasteful region is not produced on the screen and the display region y does not change even in the case of a shallow range , it does not become hard to see . thus , information can be efficiently displayed on the small display screen 41 a . fig1 is a block diagram of an underwater detecting apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention , which is a modified example of the embodiment of fig1 . in fig1 , the same portions as those of fig1 are designated by the same symbols and the explanation is omitted . in fig1 , the fish detection control block 16 and the depth measurement control block 17 in fig1 are integrated to make a fish detection and depth measurement control block 84 . that is , the cpu 6 is made to have the function of the cpu 10 in the depth measurement control block 17 as well , the memory 7 is made to have the function of the memory 11 as well , and the display control portion 8 is made to have the function of the display control portion 12 as well . as a result , the circuits can be simplified . the operation of fig1 is basically the same as that of fig1 . a transmission signal is outputted from the transmitting circuit 3 on the basis of a transmission instruction from the cpu 6 , and an ultrasonic wave is sent from the transducer 1 . an echo signal reflected by a school of fish or the seabed is received by the transducer 1 , and is supplied to the cpu 6 through the receiving circuit 4 and the a / d converter 5 . the cpu 6 calculates fish school detection information based on the echo signal , and at the same time , the cpu holds the peak of the echo signal or performs an averaging processing to calculate a water depth to the seabed , and stores the respective calculation results in the memory 7 . the display control portion 8 outputs data read out from the memory 7 to the display instrument 9 , and the fish school detection information and the water depth information are displayed side by side on the display instrument 9 as shown in fig3 . fig2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of an underwater detecting apparatus of the present invention , which is a modified example of the embodiment of fig4 . in fig2 , the same portions as those of fig4 are designated by the same symbols and the explanation is omitted . also in fig2 , similar to fig1 , the fish detection control block 16 and the depth measurement control block 17 in fig4 are integrated to make a fish detection and depth measurement control block 84 . the cpu 6 is made to have the function of the cpu 10 in the depth measurement control block 17 as well , the memory 7 is made to have the function of the memory 11 as well , and the display control portion 8 is made to have the function of the display control portion 12 as well . with this construction , the circuits can be simplified . the operation of fig2 is basically the same as with fig4 . a transmission signal is outputted from the transmitting circuit 3 based on a transmission instruction from the cpu 6 , and an ultrasonic wave is sent from the transducer 1 . an echo signal reflected by a school of fish or the seabed is received by the transducer 1 , and is provided to the cpu 6 through the receiving circuit 4 and the a / d converter 5 . the cpu 6 calculates fish school detection information on the basis of the echo signal , and at the same time , the cpu holds the peak of the echo signal or performs an averaging processing to calculate a water depth to the seabed , and stores the respective calculation results in the memory 7 . in the case where the selector switch 18 is switched to the side “ a ”, the display control portion 8 reads out the fish school detection information from the memory 7 and output it to the display instrument 9 , and the fish school detection information is displayed on one screen 41 of the display instrument 9 as shown in fig5 . in the case where the selector switch 18 is switched to the side “ b ”, the display control portion 8 reads out the water depth information from the memory 7 and outputs it to the display instrument 9 , and the water depth information is displayed on one screen 41 of the display instrument 9 as shown in fig6 . incidentally , since the water depth data for the past 24 hours are stored in the external storage device 14 of fig1 , 4 , 19 and 20 as described hereinbefore , it is possible to read out the stored data and to display it on the screen 41 a when necessary . at this readout , it is possible to specify an arbitrary time zone and to extract only the data during that . this operation is performed by making the mode switch 31 of fig2 the logbook mode and by specifying the time zone in the table displayed at this time in which times are made to correspond to water depth values . in the above embodiments , although the underwater detecting apparatus having both functions of the fish school detecting apparatus and the depth measuring apparatus , the embodiments shown in fig7 , 10 through 15 and 17 can also be applied to a single depth measuring apparatus . as the circuit structure therefor , the same as that of fig1 can be used , and it can be realized by replacing the cpu 6 , the memory 7 and the display control portion 8 of the fish detection and depth measurement control block 84 by those which are necessary for only the depth measurement . besides , the display unit 20 can also be constructed as the same one shown in fig2 . besides , although the above embodiments show the example in which the display instrument 9 is comprised with the liquid crystal display , it can also be comprised with a crt , an el display or the like . according to the present invention , since a large amount of underwater detection information can be displayed on a space of a limited display screen efficiently and effectively and to be easy to see , even if a display instrument is small , it becomes possible to accurately and quickly grasp necessary information . fig2 is an electrical block diagram of a depth measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention . in the drawing , reference numeral 101 designates a transducer which is provided on the bottom of a ship and transmits / receives an ultrasonic wave ; 102 , a transmission / reception switching circuit for switching the operation of the transducer 101 to a transmission side and reception side ; 103 , a transmitting portion for producing a transmission signal to the transducer 101 through the transmission / reception switching circuit 102 ; 104 , a receiving portion for receiving an echo signal from the seabed received by the transducer 101 through the transmission / reception switching circuit 102 ; and 105 , an a / d converter for converting an analog signal received by the receiving portion 104 into a digital signal . a measurement means for measuring water depth is constituted by the transducer 101 , the transmission / reception switching circuit 102 , the transmitting portion 103 , the receiving portion 104 , the a / d converter 105 , and a control portion 106 which will be explained hereinafter . reference numeral 106 designates a control portion including a cpu and for calculating the water depth to the seabed on the basis of output from the a / d converter 105 ; 107 , a memory including a rom storing a program of the cpu and a ram storing various data ; 108 , a display control circuit for making the various data of the memory 107 displayed on a display instrument 109 ; 109 , the display instrument comprised with a liquid crystal display driven by the display control circuit 108 ; 110 , a brilliance adjustment circuit for adjusting the brilliance of a screen of the display instrument 109 on the basis of an instruction from the control portion 106 ; 111 , a backlight whose brightness is adjusted by the brilliance adjustment circuit 110 ; and 112 , an alarm circuit for driving a buzzer 113 as an alarm unit in response to an alarm signal from the control portion 106 . a display apparatus of the present invention is constituted by the control portion 106 , the memory 107 , the display control circuit 108 , the display instrument 109 , the brilliance adjustment circuit 110 , the backlight 111 , the alarm circuit 112 , and the buzzer 113 . incidentally , although the alarm circuit 112 and the buzzer 113 are provided to give an alarm by sound as well , they may be omitted in the case where an alarm is merely displayed on the screen of the display instrument 109 . in the depth measuring apparatus constructed as explained hereinbefore , when a transmission instruction is supplied to the transmitting portion 103 from the control portion 106 , a transmission signal is outputted from the transmitting portion 103 , and an ultrasonic search pulse signal is emitted in a beam form from the transducer 101 to the seabed through the transmission / reception switching circuit 102 switched to the transmission side . this ultrasonic beam is reflected by the seabed , and its echo signal is received by the transducer 101 . this echo signal is received by the receiving portion 104 through the transmission / reception switching circuit 102 switched to the reception side , is converted into a digital signal by the a / d converter 105 , and is supplied to the control portion 106 . the control portion 106 calculates a time from the emission of the ultrasonic search pulse signal to the reception of the echo signal , obtains the water depth to the seabed by calculation on the basis of the time measured , and stores the result in the memory 107 . the display control circuit 108 outputs data read out from the memory 107 to the display instrument 109 , and various data including the water depth value to the seabed are displayed on the display instrument 109 . fig2 shows an example of the display instrument 109 . in the display instrument 109 , an operation portion 131 is provided adjacent to a display screen 121 . on the display screen 121 , reference numeral 122 designates an oscillation line indicating a position of the transducer 101 on the bottom of a ship ; 123 , a water depth scale provided at 5 meter intervals ; and 124 , an alarm water depth mark as a reference to give an alarm . in this embodiment , although the alarm water depth mark 124 is indicated by a line , it may be displayed by an arrow or the like other than the line . the alarm water depth mark 124 can be set arbitrarily , and here , it is set at 15 m , and an alarm is given when the measured water depth is this one or less . reference numeral 125 designates a seabed line displayed on the basis of water depth measurement values , and is continuously displayed as a history on the basis of data for a definite period . that is , the seabed line 125 at a position of a right end 127 of the display screen 121 is the presently measured latest seabed line , and a past seabed line measured for a past time period is displayed toward the left from this position . reference numeral 126 designates a present water depth measurement value , and the water depth value of 47 . 5 m of the seabed line 125 at the end 127 is displayed . on the other hand , in the operation portion 131 , reference numeral 132 designates a draft key for setting the draft ; 133 , an alarm key for setting the foregoing alarm water depth mark 124 ; 134 , an illumination adjustment key for adjusting the panel illumination of the operation portion 131 ; 135 , a brilliance adjustment key for adjusting the brilliance of the display screen 121 ; 136 , an automatic key for switching the automatic / manual operation of a range , sensitivity or the like ; 137 , a color key for adjusting the color tone of the display screen 121 ; 138 , a minus key for renewing the display of water depth history displayed on the display screen 121 in a reverse direction ( left direction ) and for decreasing a set value ; and 139 , a plus key for renewing the display of water depth history displayed on the display screen 121 in a positive direction ( right direction ) and for increasing the set value . the alarm key 133 has not only the function of setting the alarm water depth mark 124 but also the function of stopping an alarm sound and restoring the brilliance of the display screen 121 as will be described hereinafter . the brilliance adjustment key 135 adjusts the brilliance of the display screen 121 by adjusting the brightness of the backlight 111 through the brilliance adjustment circuit 110 of fig2 . as described hereinbefore , at the time of a night cruise , an adjustment is made such that the backlight 111 is made dark and the display screen 121 is made to have low brilliance . on the other hand , in the case where the surroundings are bright as in daylight , the display screen 121 is adjusted to normal brilliance . reference numeral 140 designates a range switch for switching a display range ; 141 , a gain switch for adjusting sensitivity ; 142 , a mode switch for switching a mode ; and 143 , a power switch of the display instrument 109 . the mode includes a basic mode for displaying a basic screen , a text mode for displaying the water depth history in a table form , a contour mode for displaying the water depth history in a graph form , a help mode for displaying the explanation of operations and functions , and the like . with the display in fig2 , the present water depth value is 47 . 5 m , and does not reach 15 m as the set value of the alarm water depth mark 124 , so that there is no fear of stranding , and therefore , an alarm is not produced . however , if the present water depth value reaches 15 m , an alarm to stranding is outputted as water depth abnormality . that is , if the calculated water depth value is 15 m or less , the control portion 106 reads out alarm data from the ram 107 and outputs this to the display control circuit 108 . then , an alarm 128 “ shallow depth alarm ”, as shown in fig2 , indicating that the ship enters a shallow depth region is displayed on the display screen 121 of the display instrument 109 . at the same time as this , the control portion 106 provides the alarm circuit 112 with an alarm signal , so that the alarm circuit 112 operates to ring the buzzer 113 . this ringing sound may be a continuous sound or may be an intermittent sound . besides , instead of the buzzer 113 , a bell or the like can also be used as an alarm unit . alternatively , an electrical synthetic sound may also be used . further , a terminal for outputting the alarm signal to the outside is provided and an equipment such as an alarm unit may be externally fitted to this terminal . if there is adopted a system in which the alarm signal is transmitted to another place in the ship by wireless , it is possible to recognize the occurrence of the alarm even at a remote place . besides , the control portion 106 outputs the alarm signal as set forth above , and at the same time , sends a brilliance control signal to the brilliance adjustment circuit 110 . in response to this control signal , the brilliance adjustment circuit 110 makes the backlight 111 bright to change the display screen 121 into high brilliance even in the case where the display screen 121 is set at low brilliance by the brilliance adjustment key 135 . with this arrangement , since the alarm 128 is displayed brightly and clearly , the contents can be instantaneously and easily grasped , and measures to prevent stranding can be quickly taken . besides , even in the case where the alarm sound is hard to hear because of surrounding noises , the display screen is changed from low brilliance to high brilliance , so that the alarm can be given by light . incidentally , even in the case where the display screen 121 is set at normal brilliance as in daylight , the brilliance is made higher than that to brighten the screen . here , the high brilliance is not necessarily required to be the maximum brilliance , but may be , for example , brilliance of about 80 % of the maximum brilliance . in brief , the brilliance has only to be such that the contents of the alarm 128 can be clearly and visually recognized . however , for the purpose of arousing attention by making the change of brilliance of the screen large , it is preferable to raise the brilliance to the maximum brilliance . besides , in addition to making high brilliance , if the display screen 121 is made to flash on and off , the attention is further aroused , and if the display screen 121 is made to flash on and off in the state of the maximum brilliance , it is further effective . besides , in fig2 , since the alarm 128 is displayed together with the alarm water depth mark 124 and the seabed line 125 , it is possible to intuitively recognize that the seabed line 125 exceeds the line of the alarm water depth mark 124 ( water depth value is the reference value or less ), and the contents of the alarm 128 can be grasped more easily . in order to stop the alarm sound of the buzzer 113 after the alarm contents are confirmed , the alarm key 133 is pressed once . when the alarm key 133 is pressed , the control portion 106 sends an alarm stop instruction to the alarm circuit 112 , and the alarm circuit 112 stops driving of the buzzer 113 in response to the alarm stop instruction . also , the control portion 106 sends an alarm display erase instruction to the display control circuit 108 , and the alarm 128 of the display screen 121 is also erased . at the same time as this , the control portion 106 sends a brilliance return signal to the brilliance adjustment circuit 110 , and the brilliance adjustment circuit 110 receives this , makes the backlight 111 dark , and restores the brilliance of the display screen 121 to the former low brilliance . in this way , with this embodiment , since both the alarm and brilliance can be reset by pressing the alarm key 133 once , there is a merit that the operation becomes simple . however , the present invention is not necessarily limited to this method , but may be modified such that the alarm sound is stopped by pressing the alarm key 133 once and the brilliance is restored by pressing the brilliance adjustment key 135 once . besides , instead of resetting the alarm sound and the brilliance by the key operation , it is also possible to automatically stop the alarm sound and to restore the brilliance after a predetermined time set by a built - in timer ( not shown ) of the control portion 16 has elapsed . fig2 is a flowchart showing the foregoing operation , and shows the procedure executed by the cpu of the control portion 106 . the control portion 106 measures the water depth on the basis of the transmission / reception timing of the ultrasonic signals , and displays the resultant water depth on the display screen 121 of the display instrument 109 ( step s 21 ), and then , the control portion judges whether or not the water depth is abnormal , that is , whether or not the water depth is not larger than the set value of the alarm water depth mark 124 ( step s 22 ). if the water depth is not abnormal ( no at step s 22 ), the procedure is ended . while , if the water depth is abnormal ( yes at step s 22 ), the alarm 128 is displayed on the display screen 121 of the display instrument 109 through the display control circuit 108 , and the alarm circuit 112 is driven to produce the alarm by the buzzer 113 ( step s 23 ). at the same time as this , the brilliance of the display screen 121 is raised to the maximum value through the brilliance adjustment circuit 110 ( step s 24 ). thereafter , it is judged whether or not the alarm key 133 is pressed ( step s 25 ), and if the alarm key 133 is not pressed ( no at step s 25 ), steps s 23 and s 24 are repeated . if the alarm key 133 is pressed ( yes at step s 25 ), an instruction is given to the alarm circuit 112 to stop ringing of the buzzer 113 , and the alarm 128 displayed on the display screen 121 is erased ( step s 26 ). besides , at the same time as this , the control portion 106 gives an instruction to the brilliance adjustment circuit 110 and restores the brilliance of the display screen 121 to the former low brilliance ( step s 27 ). the present invention is not limited to only the foregoing embodiment , but is capable of adopting various modifications in addition . for example , in the above embodiment , although the liquid crystal display is adopted as the display instrument 109 , a crt can be adopted instead of this . besides , the alarm 128 of the display screen 121 may be displayed to flash on and off , and the volume of the alarm sound by the buzzer 113 may be increased as the water depth becomes shallow . further , the display apparatus of the present invention can be generally widely applied to an apparatus for outputting an emergency alarm in response to some change , such as a fish finding apparatus giving an alarm when a school of fish are detected , a radar plotter for giving an alarm when another ship enters a sea area within a predetermined distance from the present ship , or a water temperature meter for giving an alarm at a changing point of water temperature , in addition to the depth measuring apparatus described above . besides , the present invention can be applied to not only such a single apparatus but also an apparatus of a combination of , for example , the fish finding apparatus and the depth measuring apparatus . according to the present invention , since the screen of the display instrument comes to have high brilliance at the alarm time , the contents of the alarm can be instantaneously grasped and measures can be quickly taken . besides , in the case where the alarm is given by sound as well , even in the case where the alarm sound is hard to hear because of surrounding noises or the like , the alarm can be recognized by the change in the brilliance of the screen , and hence , it becomes possible to prevent an accident such as stranding in advance . fig2 is an electrical block diagram of a depth measuring apparatus of another embodiment of the present invention . in the drawing , reference numeral 201 designates a transducer which is provided on the bottom of a ship and transmits and receives an ultrasonic wave ; 202 , a transmission / reception switching circuit for switching the operation of the transducer 201 to a transmission side and reception side ; 203 , a transmitting portion for giving a transmission signal to the transducer 201 through the transmission / reception switching circuit 202 ; 204 , a receiving portion for receiving an echo signal from the seabed received by the transducer 201 through the transmission / reception switching circuit 202 ; and 205 , an a / d converter for converting an analog signal received by the receiving portion 204 into a digital signal . a measurement means for measuring water depth is constituted by the transducer 201 , the transmission / reception switching circuit 202 , the transmitting portion 203 , the receiving portion 204 , the a / d converter 205 , and a control portion 206 which will be described hereinafter . reference numeral 206 designates a control portion including a cpu and for calculating the water depth to the seabed on the basis of output from the a / d converter 205 ; 207 , a memory including a rom storing a program of the cpu and a ram storing various data ; 208 , a display control circuit for making the various data of the memory 207 displayed on a display portion 209 ; 209 , the display portion comprised with a liquid crystal display driven by the display control circuit 208 ; and 210 , an operation portion in which a plurality of keys described later are arranged . a display apparatus 200 of the present invention is constituted by the control portion 206 , the memory 207 , the display control circuit 208 , the display portion 209 , and the operation portion 210 . in the depth measuring apparatus constructed as above , when a transmission instruction is given to the transmitting portion 203 from the control portion 206 , a transmission signal is outputted from the transmitting portion 203 , and an ultrasonic pulse signal is emitted in a beam form from the transducer 201 to the seabed through the transmission / reception switching circuit 202 switched to the transmission side . this ultrasonic search signal is reflected by the seabed , and its echo signal is received by the transducer 201 . this echo signal is received by the receiving portion 204 through the transmission / reception switching circuit 202 switched to the reception side , is converted into a digital signal by the a / d converter 205 , and is given to the control portion 206 . the control portion 206 calculates a time from the emission of the ultrasonic pulse search signal to the reception of the echo signal , obtains the water depth to the seabed by calculation on the basis of the measured time , and stores the result in the memory 207 . the display control circuit 208 outputs data read out from the memory 207 to the display portion 209 , and various data including the water depth value to the seabed are displayed on the display portion 209 . fig2 shows an example of the display apparatus 200 . in the display apparatus 200 , the operation portion 210 is provided adjacent to the display portion 209 comprised with the liquid crystal display . on the display portion 209 , reference numeral 222 designates an oscillation line indicating the position of the transducer 201 on the bottom of a ship ; 223 , a water depth scale provided at 5 meter intervals ; and 224 , an alarm water depth line as a reference to produce an alarm . the alarm water depth line 224 can be arbitrarily set , and here , it is set at 15 m , and an alarm is given when the water depth is at this one or less . reference numeral 225 designates a seabed line displayed on the basis of water depth measurement values , and is continuously displayed as a history on the basis of data for a predetermined definite time period . that is , the seabed line 225 at the position of a right end line 227 of the display portion 209 is the presently measured latest seabed line , and a past seabed line measured for a past definite time is displayed toward the left from this position . reference numeral 226 designates a measured present water depth value , and the water depth value of 47 . 5 m of the seabed line 225 at the end 227 is displayed . on the other hand , in the operation portion 210 , reference numeral 232 designates a draft key for setting a draft value ; 233 , an alarm key for setting the foregoing alarm water depth line 224 ; 234 , an illumination adjustment key for adjusting the panel illumination of the operation portion 210 ; 235 , a brilliance adjustment key for adjusting the screen brilliance of the display portion 209 ; 236 , an automatic key for switching the automatic / manual operation of a range , sensitivity or the like ; 237 , a color key for adjusting the color tone of the display portion 209 ; 238 , a minus key for renewing the display of the water depth history displayed on the display portion 209 in a reverse direction ( left direction ) and for decreasing a set value ; and 239 , a plus key for renewing the display of the water depth history displayed on the display portion 209 in a positive direction ( right direction ) and for increasing the set value . reference numeral 240 designates a range switch for switching a display range of the display portion 209 ; 241 , a gain switch for adjusting sensitivity ; 242 , a mode switch for switching a mode ; and 243 , a power switch of the display apparatus 200 . the mode includes a basic mode for displaying a basic screen , a text mode for displaying the water depth history in a table form , a contour mode for displaying the water depth history in a graph form , a help mode for displaying the explanation of operations and functions , and the like . in fig2 , the mode is set to the basic mode by the mode switch 242 . next , the procedure for displaying the guidance of a key in the help mode will be described . as shown in fig2 , when the mode switch 242 is switched to the position of “ help ”, the mode is set to the help mode , and a window for a help screen 228 is displayed on the display portion 209 . on the help screen 228 , an expression of “ push any key ” is displayed , which indicates a state waiting any key to be pushed . next , when any one of the keys 232 through 239 in the operation portion 210 is pushed , as shown in fig2 , guidance 229 as to the pushed key is displayed in the help screen 228 . here , there is shown a case where the draft key 232 for setting the draft value is pushed , and in the guidance 229 , as the explanation of the function of the draft key 232 , it is explained that the key is a key used when a draft value is inputted . besides , the procedure of key operations in the case where the draft value is inputted is also displayed . the operator looks at this guidance 229 , and inputs the draft value by the draft key 232 , the minus key 238 , and the plus key 239 . the inputted draft value is displayed at the portion of “ draft ” at the right upper portion of the display portion 209 . since fig2 shows the state before the draft value is inputted , the draft value is 0 m . when the draft value is inputted , the oscillation line 222 is shifted downward by an amount corresponding to the draft value , and the image of the seabed line 225 is also shifted downward together with that by the same amount . in this way , in the case where the function and operation procedure of keys in the operation portion 210 are unknown , after the mode is set to the help mode by the mode switch 242 , when a key whose guidance is desired to be displayed is pushed , the guidance 229 as to the key is immediately displayed , so that the function and operation procedure of the key can be easily known without performing any complicated operation . fig2 is a flowchart showing the foregoing operation , and shows the procedure executed by the cpu of the control portion 206 . the control portion 206 reads out the mode set by the mode switch 242 ( step s 31 ), and judges whether or not the mode is the help mode ( step s 32 ). if it is not the help mode ( no at step s 32 ), the procedure is ended , and if it is the help mode ( yes at step s 32 ), the help screen 228 of fig2 is displayed on the display portion 209 through the display control circuit 208 ( step s 33 ). the image data of this help screen 228 is stored in the memory 207 in advance . next , it is judged whether or not any one of the keys 232 through 239 of the operation portion 210 is pushed ( step s 34 ), and if a key is not pushed ( no at step s 34 ), the display of the help screen 228 is continued ( step s 33 ), and if a key is pushed ( yes at step s 34 ), the guidance 229 as to the key is displayed on the help screen 228 ( step s 35 ). the image data of this guidance 229 corresponding to each key is also previously stored in the memory 207 . next , it is judged again whether or not a key is pushed ( step s 36 ). here , if another key is pushed ( yes at step s 36 ), the guidance as to the key is displayed on the help screen 228 ( step s 35 ), and renewal of the guidance 229 is performed . that is , while the mode is set to the help mode , each time a new key is pushed , the guidance 229 as to the key is renewed and is displayed . if a key is not pushed at step s 36 ( no at step s 36 ), it is judged whether or not the help mode is ended , that is , the mode switch 242 is switched to another mode ( step s 37 ), and if it is switched to another mode ( yes at step s 37 ), the help screen 228 is erased and the procedure is ended ( step s 38 ). if the help mode is not ended ( no at step s 37 ), the procedure returns to step s 36 , and the foregoing steps are repeated . the present invention can adopt various modifications in addition to the foregoing embodiment . for example , in the foregoing embodiment , although the liquid crystal display is adopted for the display portion 209 , a crt can be adopted in place of this . besides , in the above embodiment , although the mode display in the case where the help mode is set by the mode switch 242 is “ help ”, the help mode in the present invention indicates the mode for displaying the guidance as to keys , and is not necessarily limited to only the case where the mode name is “ help ”. thus , as long as a guidance mode , a guide mode , or a mode such as an abstract x mode is a mode for displaying the guidance as to keys , all of them are included in the help mode of the present invention . besides , in the above embodiment , although the guidance 229 is displayed by pushing an actual key of the operation portion 210 in the help mode , it is also possible that keys of the operation portion 210 are displayed on the help screen 228 , and by pushing this key , the guidance 229 of the key may be displayed . in this case , the display portion 209 has only to be constituted by a touch panel . besides , in the above embodiment , although the guidance 229 is renewed each time a key is pushed in the help mode , it is also possible that the guidance 229 may be displayed side by side as a multi - window each time a key is pushed . further , the display apparatus of the present invention can be widely applied to another apparatus provided with keys and a display portion , such as a fish finding apparatus , a tidal current meter , or a water temperature meter , in addition to the depth measuring apparatus described above . besides , the present invention can be applied to not only such a single apparatus but also an apparatus of a combination of , for example , the fish finding apparatus and the depth measuring apparatus . according to the present invention , by merely pushing an objective key in a help mode , the guidance as to the key is instantaneously displayed , so that it becomes unnecessary to search and select an item from a menu and contents contrary to the prior art , the operation becomes very simple , and the working efficiency is greatly improved .	6
records of real estate for sale available for viewing in various databases have indicators of defects in the properties being offered for sale . two types of defects that can alert an investor to a bargain are legal defects , such as excess property tax valuations , and physical defects such as indications of states of disrepair of the property . they are discussed in turn below . real estate is assessed by taxing authorities to estimate the value of a given piece of real estate . this is necessary because the only true way to determine what real estate is worth is to conduct an arm &# 39 ; s length sale , the resulting sales price representing the true valuation of the real estate . however , every piece of real estate does not trade every year , making periodic tax assessment valuations necessary . in some jurisdictions 10 years , and even longer , can go by between assessments . the market for real estate is very inefficient and it is very frequent that a property is put on the market that has a tax assessment valuation higher than the offer price of the real estate . this represents an opportunity for speculators and investors . the average buyer will fear that he would risk being committed to paying an unfairly high amount of property tax , if he were to purchase such a property . fortunately , average individuals overestimate risk , nor do they have the wherewithal to average risk over multiple purchases . the risk is that an appeal of the tax assessment valuation will fail . while it is certainly possible that an appeal of a periodic reassessment associated with an entire community will fail , this is much less likely than an appeal based on an arm &# 39 ; s length sale . the reason is that a tax assessment valuation is done as an estimate because the true value of a piece of real estate is not known . once a sale occurs , the sales price is established as the true value , as is recognized by courts , and courts will generally reduce the tax assessment valuation to , or near , the sales price , as a remedy . a key piece of information that investors require is return on investment ( roi ). existing databases of real estate for sale , such as the mls , can be made to provide this . a real estate database comprises records that contain information such as geographic location of a given piece of real estate , the offer price , how much the utility bills are , the annual property taxes that have to be paid , the tax assessment valuation , which is the basis for the amount of property taxes that must be paid , a description of the property , whether there are any houses on it , the condition of any house , how many and what type of rooms a house has and the like . the tax assessed valuation in some jurisdictions sometimes has an arbitrary multiplier , like one - half , as a multiplier to make taxpayers think that their tax is not as bad as it seems . these multipliers can be accommodated , i . e ., adjusted back to normal , in an roi calculation for each jurisdiction in which the real estate in interest is located . note that the tax assessment valuation is multiplied by a tax rate to obtain the actual property taxes owed . with the offer price and the tax assessment valuation extracted from a record in the database , an roi based on a successful tax appeal can be calculated . then , the records in the database , or a subset of the records , can be sorted according to roi , as well as other factors such as geographic location and offer price . the results are then displayed so that a decision to buy real estate can be made . the most important point of the roi calculation is that the price of a house can be raised once a successful tax appeal is obtained . this is because buyers are qualified according to how much monthly payment they can tolerate . generally , the maximum monthly payment allowed is about 28 to 36 % of the buyer &# 39 ; s monthly income . the monthly payment is the property tax , which the mortgage companies pay out of escrow monthly , plus the monthly mortgage payment . if the tax goes down , the monthly mortgage payment can go up , yet the same pool of buyer &# 39 ; s will be qualified to buy the real estate . if the monthly mortgage payment can the go up , then the real estate can be offered for resale at a price corresponding to the higher mortgage payment , rather than the original purchase price . in other words , the step of calculating the return on investment substitutes an increased future sales price based on hypothetical increased future mortgage , wherein the property taxes saved by a hypothetically successful tax assessment valuation appeal allow for an increased mortgage . of course , the real estate does not have to be resold to obtain an economic benefit , paying fewer taxes is a reward even for non - investors . also , the reduced taxes support a higher valuation for purposes of obtaining a home equity loan , for example . so to a first approximation , the roi can be estimated to be a mortgage with a monthly payment equivalent to the taxes saved by reducing the tax assessment valuation to the sales price , divided by the money invested . the sales price is not obtainable from the record , but the offer price can be used as a good approximation , or it can be reduced by a percentage like 10 % to reflect what is common in the market as a differential . the money put forward by an investor used to buy real estate is generally in the form of a deposit of 5 , 10 or 20 % of the sales price when the investor is obtaining a mortgage , but it can be 100 % cash . the investor , after purchase , appeals the tax assessed valuation and after a time resells the house . the time selected can be arbitrary , such as one year , for an easy annualized roi calculation , and as it will apply equally to every real estate record examined in the database . two years is a particularly preferred choice because current law allows profits to be taken up to $ 250 , 000 or $ 500 , 000 tax free after a single buyer or married buyers respectively occupies the real estate for that time . in practice , some real estate purchases are too small to contemplate because of frictional costs . these frictional costs are subtracted from expected resale price as a further refinement on the roi calculation . the frictional costs are of two types : those that are a function of the sales price of the real estate and those that aren &# 39 ; t . frictional costs that depend on the cost of the real estate generally include real estate commissions , transfer taxes , loan origination fees , property taxes , school taxes , refuse charges , points , mortgage insurance if any , mortgage payments , flood insurance , liability and damage insurance , title insurance and the like . customary percentages may be assumed for the purposes of calculating an roi since applying an approximate percentage to all records examined is not expected to much affect the ordering of desirability of buying a given piece of real estate . six percent is typical for real estate commissions and one percent may be used as a transfer tax . current mortgage rates may be used to calculate the mortgage payments and also the effect of trading tax payments for mortgage payments . frictional costs that do not depend on the sales price will make some investments uneconomical even if the tax assessment valuation is higher than the offer price . these generally include attorneys fees , engineering inspections , termite inspections , radon tests , percolation tests , appraisal fees , credit reports , processing fees , notary fees , flood zone determination fees , tax service fees , tax certifications , overnight mail , endorsements , recordation fees , and the like . a sum of all of these typical for a given jurisdiction may be used in the roi calculation without unduly affecting the rankings of records . the roi calculation is illustrated in the following by way of an example . a piece of real estate is offered for sale at $ 250 , 000 . the assessed valuation for tax purposes is $ 500 , 000 and the annual taxes associated with the assessed valuation are $ 9 , 000 . the monthly taxes due are $ 750 . a buyer purchases the real estate at the offer price with a 10 % deposit of $ 25 , 000 , and successfully has the tax assessment reduced to the offer price . the annual taxes owed are now $ 4 , 500 or $ 375 per month , which is $ 375 dollars less a month than before the appeal . the monthly mortgage payments can be increased to that amount and the real estate would still be available for purchase to the same buyers that were qualified for the earlier sale . at 8 % interest , a 30 - year , $ 51 , 000 mortgage can be had for the $ 375 payments . therefore , the real estate can be resold for $ 250 , 000 plus $ 51 , 000 or $ 301 , 000 . the buyer then resells the real estate six months after he purchased it . the buyer has made $ 51 , 000 that he would not have made if he had bought a house that was fairly assessed . the buyer has invested $ 11 , 006 over the six months on his own mortgage of 8 %, his deposit being returned in the resale . so , the buyer has obtained in six months a return on investment of 65 %, annualized would be about double that . more accurately , including frictional costs preferably refines the above calculation . a six - percent real estate sales commission and a one - percent commission would add $ 21 , 070 to the cost of a $ 301 , 000 sale . two attorney &# 39 ; s fees ( once as buyer , then as seller ), taxes for six months , insurance , inspections and the like could add another $ 5 , 000 , raising the total frictional cost to $ 26 , 070 . the total invested would then be $ 37 , 006 to obtain $ 51 , 000 after six months . the roi would then be 38 %; about double that when annualized . such a frictional roi calculation as described above is preferably done for every record examined in a database where the tax assessment valuation exceeds the offer price . assumptions about interest rates and frictional costs will vary with time and location , and can be so adjusted , but it is not expected that the sorting order of the records will be much affected , so long as the assumptions are reasonable . real estate database records also generally contain indications of physical defects , such as states of disrepair , of the property being described . these indications are generally couched in terms of euphemisms such as “ diamond in the rough ” or “ handyman &# 39 ; s special ” or “ fixer - upper ” or “ needs tlc ( tender loving care ).” records containing these terms may be preferentially displayed by invoking a predesigned boolean keyword search of a property description field of records in database such as : “ diamond ” or “ fixer ” or “ upper ” or “ tlc ” or “ handyman ”. the techniques of the present invention may also be employed by real estate investment trusts in searching for real estate to invest in . note that the present invention can also benefit commercial real estate databases . also , the sorting on legal and physical defects described herein may be used with each other or in conjunction with sorting by offer price or location . the databases corresponding to the various embodiments of the present invention may be stored on computer - readable media . although various embodiments of the invention are shown and described herein , they are not meant to be limiting , for example , those of skill in the art may recognize certain modifications to these embodiments , which modifications are meant to be covered by the spirit and scope of the appended claims .	6
in fig1 the character 1 designates the body of a ladder truck ; 2 , a turntable mounted on the rear portion of said body ; 3 , a ladder frame mounted on said turntable ; and 4 designates an extensible ladder which is pivotally mounted on the frame 3 by a pin 5 through a tilt correcting frame 4 . designated at 6 is a control tower and at 7 is a ladder support . an extensible ladder a is shown as one of the 6 - stage type in which , as shown in fig2 channel - shaped stage ladders a 1 , a 2 , a 3 , a 4 , a 5 and a 6 of the same length but successively increasing width are telescopically fitted together for extension and retraction through rollers ( not shown ). the ladder a is raised and lowered by a raising and lowering cylinder disposed between the frames 3 and 4 . the extension of the extensible ladder is effected in its erected position by extending an extension and retraction cylinder disposed between the lowermost stage ladder a 6 and the fifth stage ladder a 5 to cause a pulley at the front end of the fifth stage ladder a 5 to push the intermediate portion of an extension and retraction wire rope of predetermined length tied between the front portion of the lowermost stage ladder a 6 and the rear portion of the fourth stage ladder a 4 , thereby extending the fourth stage ladder a 4 concurrently with the fifth stage ladder a 5 and through the same distance as the latter . the third stage ladder a 3 is extended by a pulley at the front portion of the fourth stage ladder a 4 which pushes the intermediate portion of an extension and retraction wire rope tied between the front portion of the fifth stage ladder a 5 and the rear portion of the third stage ladder a 3 . the second and first stage ladders are likewise extended by rope arrangements similar to those described above . when the extensible ladder is to be retracted , said extension and retraction cylinder is retracted with the ladder a erected , whereby the extension and retraction wire ropes of the stage ladders a 1 , a 2 , a 3 and a 4 are slackened to allow the stage ladders to be retracted under their own weight . according to this extension and retraction system , if the ladder truck running with the extensible ladder retracted and lying flat on the support 7 is suddenly braked , the stage ladders a 1 , a 2 , a 3 and a 4 in the first , second , third and fourth stages , respectively , will jut out . to prevent this , the following jutting - out preventing device is provided . frame - shaped brackets 8 are firmly secured to the upper rear end portions of opposite side frames of the stage ladders a 1 , a 2 , a 3 and a 4 so that they rearwardly extend therefrom and are vertically opened . each bracket 8 has a locking element 9 pivotally mounted on and suspended from a transverse pin 10 at the front portion thereof . the locking element 9 is associated with a bracket top plate 8a serving as a stop and is thereby prevented from being turned rearwardly from its vertically suspended position but it is capable of forwardly turning to its retracted position within the bracket . bearings 11 are attached to the rear ends of the opposite side frames of the sixth stage ladder a 6 which does not extend or retract , and a lever shaft 12 is supported in a transverse position between said bearings . locking levers 13 are fixed side by side on said shaft 12 so as to be opposed to said locking elements 9 in the direction of extension and retraction of the extensible ladder . each locking lever 13 , as shown in fig3 is formed with a hook portion 13a which assumes its vertical position in front of the looking element 9 with a clearance maintained therebetween to ensure unimpeded downward turning of the locking lever . the engagement surfaces of the locking member and locking element are formed with irregularities which mesh with each other when the locking member and locking element abut against each other to ensure firm engagement therebetween . a locking lever actuating cylinder 14 is vertically installed on the rear lower end surface of the lowermost stage ladder a 6 by a bracket 15 . the cylinder is of the single - acting type having a coiled spring 16 installed therein in a compressed state on the head side . a piston rod 17 and one locking lever 13 immediately thereabove are bendably connected together by a link 18 , so that when said one lever 13 is turned , the lever shaft 12 is turned , which means that all the locking levers 13 are simultaneously turned . a spring 16 constantly urges the piston rod 17 to maintain the latter in an extended condition , where the locking levers 13 assume the illustrated locking position . when high pressure oil is supplied to the cylinder 14 on its rod side to retract the rod 17 , the locking levers 13 are downwardly pulled into their retracted position . the characters 19 and 20 designate joints and 21 and 22 designate their pins . as shown in fig4 an extension and retraction changeover valve 24 for a ladder extension and retraction cylinder 23 is associated with a directional control valve 26 placed in a hydraulic circuit 25 for the lever actuating cylinder 14 . a cam 27 is attached to the spool of the extension and retraction changeover valve 24 and an actuating bar 28 is attached to the spool of the directional control valve 26 , and they are associated with each other in the following manner . when the valve 24 is in its neutral position , the actuating bar 28 and spool of the valve 26 are urged to the right against the force of a spring 29 by the cam 27 , so that ports to a cylinder line 30 and a low pressure line 31 , respectively , communicate with each other , whereupon the oil in the cam actuating cylinder 14 is returned to an oil tank 32 , thereby allowing the piston rod 17 to extend to turn the locking levers 13 to their locking position . on the other hand , when the valve 24 is changed over to the ladder extending or retracting side , the cam 27 is disengaged from the actuating bar 28 , allowing the spool of the valve 26 to be moved to the left under the action of the spring 29 , thereby establishing communication between ports to the cylinder line 30 and to a high pressure line 32 , respectively , whereupon high pressure oil is supplied to the rod side of the cylinder 14 to turn the locking levers 13 to their retracted position . the character 33 designates a motor ; 34 , a hydraulic pump ; 35 , a check valve ; 36 , a safety valve ; and 37 designates a high pressure line from which the above mentioned line 32 branches off . the character 38 designates a low pressure line and 39 designates a center bypass circuit serving to return high pressure oil to the tank 32 when the valve 24 is in its neutral position . the characters 40 and 41 designate cylinder lines and 42 designates a check valve . according to the above arrangement , when the extensible ladder is extended and retracted , all the locking levers 13 are turned to their retracted position by the ladder extension and retraction changeover valve 24 , thereby allowing the extensible ladder to be extended and retracted without hindrance . further , if the extension and retraction changeover valve 24 is brought to its neutral position with the extensible ladder extended to any desired length , all the locking levers are turned to their locking position , but there is no hindrance to the operation since the locking elements 9 on the stage ladders a 1 , a 2 , a 3 and a 4 are spaced away forwardly of the associated locking levers 13 . when the extension and retraction changeover valve 24 is brought to its neutral position with the extensible ladder completely retracted upon completion of the operation , the locking levers 13 are turned to assume a position in front of the corresponding locking elements 9 , thereby preventing jutting out . if the extension and retraction changeover valve should be returned to its neutral position with the extensible ladder incompletely retracted resulting in the front ends of the locking levers 13 abutting against the front lower surfaces of the locking elements 9 , the locking elements 9 will be turned to their retracted position or the locking levers 13 will not be further turned owing to the insufficient upward push thereon exerted by the spring 16 , so that there will be no damage to the locking members .	4
the following description is the best embodiment presently contemplated for carrying out the present invention . this description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the present invention and is not meant to limit the inventive concepts claimed herein . referring now to fig3 there is shown a disk drive 300 embodying the present invention . as shown in fig3 at least one rotatable magnetic disk 312 is supported on a spindle 314 and rotated by a disk drive motor 318 . the magnetic recording media on each disk is in the form of an annular pattern of concentric data tracks ( not shown ) on the disk 312 . at least one slider 313 is positioned on the disk 312 , each slider 313 supporting one or more magnetic read / write heads 321 where the head 321 incorporates the mr sensor of the present invention . as the disks rotate , the slider 313 is moved radially in and out over the disk surface 322 so that the heads 321 may access different portions of the disk where desired data is recorded . each slider 313 is attached to an actuator arm 319 by means of a suspension 315 . the suspension 315 provides a slight spring force which biases the slider 313 against the disk surface 322 . each actuator arm 319 is attached to an actuator means 327 . the actuator means as shown in fig3 may be a voice coil motor ( vcm ). the vcm comprises a coil movable within a fixed magnetic field , the direction and speed of the coil movements being controlled by the motor current signals supplied by a controller 329 . during operation of the disk storage system , the rotation of the disk 312 generates an air bearing between the slider 313 ( the surface of the slider 313 which includes the head 321 and faces the surface of the disk 312 is referred to as an air bearing surface ( abs )) and the disk surface 322 which exerts an upward force or lift on the slider . the air bearing thus counter - balances the slight spring force of the suspension 315 and supports the slider 313 off and slightly above the disk surface by a small , substantially constant spacing during normal operation . the various components of the disk storage system are controlled in operation by control signals generated by the controller 329 , such as access control signals and internal clock signals . typically , controller 329 comprises logic control circuits , storage means and a microprocessor . the controller 329 generates control signals to control various system operations such as drive motor control signals on a line 323 and head position and seek control signals on a line 328 . the control signals on the line 328 provide the desired current profiles to optimally move and position the slider 313 to the desired data track on the disk 312 . read and write signals are communicated to and from read / write heads 321 by means of a recording channel 325 . the above description of a typical magnetic disk storage system , and the accompanying illustration of fig3 are for representation purposes only . it should be apparent that disk storage systems may contain a large number of disks and actuators , and each actuator may support a number of sliders . fig4 shows an air bearing surface ( abs ) view of an sv sensor 400 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention . the sv sensor 400 comprises end regions 404 and 406 separated from each other by a central region 402 . the substrate 450 can be any suitable substance , including glass , semiconductor material , or a ceramic material , such as alumina ( al 2 o 3 ). the seed layer 440 is a layer deposited to modify the crystallographic texture or grain size of the subsequent layers , and may not be needed depending on the substrate and afm materials . if used , the seed layer may be formed of tantulum ( ta ), zirconium ( zr ), nickel - iron ( ni — fe ), or al 2 o 3 . in the preferred embodiment , the first afm ( afm 1 ) layer 430 is formed of nickel - oxide ( nio ) and is deposited directly over the substrate 450 by ion beam sputtering a nickel ( ni ) target in the presence of an oxygen - containing gas to the thickness at which the desired exchange properties are achieved , typically in the range from 200 å to 500 å . a laminated pinned layer 420 comprising a second sublayer 424 formed of ni — fe ( permalloy ) having a thickness of about 20 å deposited on the afm 1 layer 430 , and a first sublayer 426 formed of cobalt ( co ), or alternatively of co — fe , having a thickness of about 25 å deposited over the second sublayer 424 . a first spacer ( spacer 1 ) layer 415 formed of copper ( cu ) having a thickness of about 20 å is deposited on the laminated pinned layer 420 . a free layer 410 formed of ni — fe having a thickness of about 55 å is deposited on the spacer 1 layer 415 . a second spacer ( spacer 2 ) layer 408 formed of a tantalum ( ta ) film having a thickness of about 50 å deposited on the free layer 410 separates the free layer 410 from a keeper layer 406 formed of a ni — fe — cr film having a thickness in the range from 50 å to 100 å . the spacer 2 layer 408 is made of a non - magnetic , high electrical resistivity material to provide magnetic isolation of the keeper layer 406 from the free layer 410 . a second afm ( afm 2 ) layer 432 formed of nio having a thickness in a range from 200 å to 500 å is deposited on the keeper layer 406 . a cap layer 405 formed of a tantalum ( ta ) film having a thickness of about 50 å completes the structure of the central portion 402 of the sv sensor 400 . after deposition of the layers forming the central portion 402 , the sv sensor 400 was annealed in a high vacuum oven for 20 minutes at 200 ° c . with a magnetic field applied in a transverse direction ( perpendicular to and away from the abs ) to set the direction of the exchange interaction of the pinned and keeper layers with the afm 1 and afm 2 layers , respectively . after annealing , bias layers 452 and 454 are formed in the end regions 404 and 406 , respectively , for providing a longitudinal bias field to the free layer 410 to ensure a single magnetic domain state in the free layer oriented in the direction indicated by arrow 412 . lead layers 460 and 465 are also deposited in the end regions 404 and 406 , respectively , to provide electrical connections for the flow of the sensing current i s from a current source 470 to the sv sensor 400 . a signal detector 480 , which is electrically connected to leads 460 and 465 , senses the change in the resistance due to changes induced in the free layer 410 by the external magnetic field ( e . g ., field generated by a data bit stored on a disk ). the external magnetic field acts to rotate the direction of magnetization of the free layer 410 relative to the direction of magnetization of the pinned layer 420 which is preferably pinned perpendicular to the abs . the signal detector 480 preferably includes a digital recording channel such as a prml channel as is known to those skilled in the art . the signal detector 480 also includes other supporting circuitries such as a preamplifier ( electrically placed between the sensor and the channel ) for conditioning the sensed resistance changes as is known to those skilled in the art . after the fabrication process of sv sensor 400 , the magnetizations of the pinned layer 420 and the keeper layer 406 are oriented perpendicular to and away from the abs . to form the fully - pinned , flux closed configuration of the present invention , the magnetizations of the pinned layer 420 and the keeper layer 406 must be fixed in an antiparallel orientation by an initialization process . a current pulse is applied by the sense current source to the sv sensor 400 . the current pulse resistively heats the sv sensor 400 causing the temperature of the afm 1 and afm 2 layers to exceed the blocking temperature ( temperature at which the afm pinning field reaches zero oe ) of nio ( approximately 220 ° c .). the applied current pulse also induces magnetic fields in the pinned layer 420 and the keeper layer 406 directed perpendicular to the abs . since most of the current pulse flows through the spacer 1 and free layers , 415 and 410 , respectively , which lie between the pinned layer 420 and the keeper layer 406 the current pulse induced magnetizations of the pinned layer 420 and the keeper layer 406 are antiparallel as indicated by arrows 407 and 422 , respectively ( arrow heads directed into and out of the plane of the paper , respectively ). when the current pulse is removed , the sv sensor 400 cools below the nio blocking temperature leaving the pinned and keeper layer magnetizations fixed in the desired antiparallel fully - pinned , flux - closed orientation . alternative afm materials for the afm 1 layer 430 or the afm 2 layer 432 such as fe — mn , pd — mn , pt — mn , pd — pt — mn , ir — mn , rh — mn , and ru — mn may also be used to fabricate sv sensors according to the present invention . however , the use of electrically insulating afm materials , such as nio or α — fe 2 o 3 , is advantageous in reducing sense current shunting through the afm 1 and afm 2 layers . alternative spacer 1 layer 415 materials such as gold and silver , and alternative spacer 2 layer 408 materials such as tantalum oxide , al 2 o 3 and sio 2 may also be used to fabricate sv sensors according to the present invention . alternative keeper layer 406 materials such as ni — fe — nb , ni — fe — rh , ni — fe , co — fe — nb , co — fe — nb — hf , co — zr — mo , fe — hf — n , fe — y — n fe — zr — n , fe — hf — o , fe — y — o and fe — zr — o may be used to fabricate sv sensors according to the present invention . having the afm 2 layer fixing ( pinning ) the magnetization of the keeper layer 406 by exchange pinning results in a predictable and stable magnetization configuration providing optimum flux closure for the sv sensor 400 . with a pinned keeper layer , the magnetization of the keeper layer 406 is saturated in the desired antiparallel direction to the magnetization of the pinned layer 420 , greatly reducing or eliminating canting of the magnetization direction at the keeper layer 406 edges . the improved and predictable keeper layer magnetization improves consistency in achieving nearly zero net magnetic moment of the pinned and keeper layers and allows a keeper layer having reduced thickness to be used . achieving near zero net magnetic moment will improve sv sensor performance by reducing demagnetizing fields in the pinned layer 420 and by reducing magnetostatic coupling of the pinned and keeper layers 420 , 407 to the free layer 410 . for optimum sv sensor biasing , it is preferred to have the keeper layer magnetic moment slightly larger than the pinned layer magnetic moment in order to compensate for the sense current induced bias field . saturation of the keeper layer 406 magnetization by exchange interaction with the afm 2 layer 432 reduces the permeability of the keeper layer 406 resulting in reduced signal magnetic flux shunting from the free layer 410 through the keeper layer 406 . reduced shunting of the signal magnetic flux will increase the sensitivity of sv sensor 400 . fig5 shows an air bearing surface ( abs ) view of an sv sensor 500 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , the second afm ( afm 2 ) layer 532 is formed of nickel - oxide ( nio ) having a thickness in a range from 200 å to 400 å deposited directly onto the substrate 450 . a keeper layer 506 formed of ni — fe — cr having a thickness of in a range from 50 å to 100 å is formed on the afm 2 layer 532 . a second spacer ( spacer 2 ) layer 508 formed of ta having a thickness of about 50 å is deposited on the keeper layer 506 . the spacer 2 layer 508 is a non - magnetic , high electrical resistivity material layer separating the keeper layer 506 from a free layer 510 formed of ni — fe having a thickness of about 55 å . a first spacer ( spacer 1 ) layer 515 formed of a copper ( cu ) film having a thickness of about 20 å is deposited on the free layer 510 and a pinned layer 520 formed of a cobalt ( co ) film having a thickness in a range from 20 å to 50 å is deposited on the spacer 1 layer 515 . an afm 1 layer 530 formed of ni — mn having a thickness in the range from 100 å to 400 å is deposited on the pinned layer 520 . the preferred composition of the ni — mn afm layer is a mn content in the range between 46 and 60 atomic percent . a cap layer 405 formed of a tantalum ( ta ) film having a thickness of about 50 å completes the structure of the central portion 402 of the sv sensor 500 . after deposition of the layers forming the central portion 402 , the sv sensor 500 was annealed in a high vacuum oven for 2 hours at 280 ° c . with a magnetic field applied in a transverse direction ( perpendicular to and toward the abs ) to set the direction of the exchange interaction of the pinned layer with the ni — mn afm 1 layer . after the fabrication process of sv sensor 500 , the magnetizations of the pinned layer 520 and the keeper layer 506 are oriented perpendicular to and toward the abs . an initialization process is needed to set the magnetization direction of the keeper layer 506 antiparallel to the magnetization direction of the pinned layer 520 . since the afm 2 layer 532 has a lower blocking temperature than the afml layer 530 , the initialization can be done by a low temperature anneal process ( 200 ° c . for 20 minutes ) in an orienting magnetic field of about 100 oe to cause the nio afm 2 layer to exceed its blocking temperature resulting in reorientation of the magnetization of the keeper layer 506 perpendicular to and away from the abs . while the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the 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 spirit , scope and teaching of the invention . accordingly , the disclosed invention is to be considered merely as illustrative and limited in scope only as specified in the appended claims .	6
as discussed above , the lithographic process to produce saw devices at higher frequencies is difficult due to the very small finger width . at 2 . 4 ghz , the wavelength would be approximately 1 . 7 microns , requiring a finger width of 0 . 425 microns depending on the substrate chosen . this very small width will affect the overall yield of the fabrication process and will impact on the price of the devices . a solution to this problem would be to fabricate the device to operate at 1 . 2 ghz to produce a wavelength of 3 . 4 microns using unique finger geometry and then take advantage of the second harmonic that the device will support . this will allow for a more relaxed lithographic process and increase production yield , as the lines are not as thin and are spaced farther from each other . the use of second harmonic idt geometries has been well know for several years , see for example campbell and edmonson , “ conductance measurements on a leaky saw harmonic one - port resonator ”, ieee transactions on ultrasonics , ferroelectrics and frequency control , vol . 47 , no . 1 , january 2000 , pp . 111 - 116 , but has never been applied to expanders or compressors . fig5 illustrates an example of the finger configuration for a second harmonic saw device with 2 chips (+ and −). in fig5 and subsequent drawings , the substrate 14 has been omitted for clarity , but it is to be understood that idt structures may be fabricated on a common substrate . as shown in fig5 , a so - called “ three - finger ” idt , in which each of the four groups of fingers includes three fingers , is required for second harmonic operation . corresponding fingers of each group are separated by a distance ‘ a ’ equal to fundamental wavelength λ 0 . each finger and space in this three - finger idt therefore has a width ‘ b ’ of λ 0 / 6 . the two double fingers in each group start out at the left hand side of the idt attached to the top rail , but beyond the center line they are attached to the bottom rail . this indicates a 180 ° phase shift as what is derived from a + and − configuration . as stated above , the finger and space width of the second harmonic idt is λ 0 / 6 . for a 2 . 4 ghz second harmonic output , the fundamental frequency is 1 . 2 ghz , corresponding to a wavelength λ 0 = 3 . 4 microns . the required finger width will be λ 0 / 6 = 0 . 567 microns instead of the 0 . 425 microns finger width for a 2 . 4 ghz idt . fig5 shows a single - ended idt with a grounded lower terminal , but a differential idt design could also be employed . according to a first preferred embodiment of the invention , with an idt arrangement which can directly produce a high frequency output signal , a saw - based communications system could comprise an expander / compressor idt 52 , a transmit ( tx ) idt 56 and a receive ( rx ) idt 60 . these structures are in - line with each other as shown in fig6 . as discussed above in relation to fig2 , these structures may be placed on a suitable piezoelectric substrate using thin film lithographic procedures . a narrow pulse which represents digital data and can be generated by using simple digital circuitry or an existing data source is injected into the middle idt 52 of fig6 through pulse input and output terminal 54 to activate a piezoelectric effect that converts electrical to mechanical ( acoustic wave ) motion . the acoustic waves can be coded depending on the geometry of the idt 52 . these acoustic waves then propagate within the substrate to the tx idt 56 . the coded acoustic waves are then transformed to an electrical coded rf signal within the proximity of the tx idt 56 . when the tx idt 56 is attached to a suitable antenna 58 through the switch 62 and band pass filter 57 , the coded rf signal can propagate throughout the air . the same device can then perform in a similar reciprocal fashion . a coded electrical signal that enters the rx idt 60 via the antenna 58 , band pass filter 57 and switch 62 generates an acoustic wave that propagates towards the middle expander / compressor idt 52 . an autocorrelation function is passively performed in the idt 52 and if the coded waveform from the rx idt 60 matches with the code on the expander / compressor idt 52 , a peak is generated at the pulse input and output terminal 54 . as discussed above , any of the idts shown in fig6 could be implemented as differential idts . a fully differential system is shown in fig7 . in comparison with the system of fig6 , all of the grounded terminals in fig7 are pulse input and output terminals in fig7 . although two switches 58 and 58 ′ are shown , a single differential switching arrangement may be used . as indicated by the multiple connections in fig7 , the filter 61 ′ and antenna 62 ′ must also be differential components . expander / compressor idt 52 ′ may be single - ended , with terminal 55 ′ grounded as shown in fig6 , or differential , wherein terminal 55 ′ is a pulse input and output terminal . the differential system in fig7 operates similarly to the system of fig6 , as will be apparent to those skilled in the art . the peak produced by an expander / compressor idt such as 52 or 52 ′ can represent digital data . for example , in accordance with an on - off keying technique , following an initialization or synchronization sequence , the presence of a peak within a bit period may be interpreted as a ‘ 1 ’ data bit , whereas the absence of a peak would represent a ‘ 0 ’ bit . the coding of the expander / compressor idts 52 , 52 ′ and the associated autocorrelation function performed by the idts as discussed above are determined by the finger geometry of the idt . a preferred idt coding scheme is a barker code . barker codes are particularly useful for idt coding , since they minimize the energy in the side lobes associated with a compressed pulse generated by the autocorrelation function performed on a saw input to an expander / compressor idt . in fig6 for example , the expander / compressor idt 52 embodies a 5 bit +++−+ barker code . fig8 shows an example of the autocorrelation function performed by the expander / compressor idt 52 of fig6 when a signal received through the antenna 58 and switch 62 is converted to a saw by rx idt 60 . the autocorrelation function is mathematically equivalent to a series of shift and add operations as shown in fig8 and generates the peak and associated side lobes shown at the bottom of fig8 . the amplitude of the autocorrelation peak is proportional to the code length n , which is 5 in the example shown in fig8 , whereas the side lobes are amplitude 1 . this passive autocorrelation decodes received signals that were generated with an identically - coded idt . in the system of fig6 and 7 , only the expander / compressor idts 52 , 52 ′ must be coded . as discussed above , barker codes are preferred . since the amplitude of the autocorrelation peak generated when a received signal is compressed by a barker - coded expander / compressor idt is dependent on the length n of the barker code , higher - length codes are most preferred . for example , the maximum length known barker code with n = 13 (+++++−−++−+−+) will generate an autocorrelation waveform similar to that shown in fig7 , but having a peak of amplitude 13 and additional side lobes with amplitude 1 . also evident from fig6 and 7 are the relative lengths of the rx idts 60 , 60 ′, the expander / compressor idts 52 , 52 ′ and tx idts 56 , 56 ′. by far the longest idts , expander / compressor idts 52 , 52 ′, are fabricated with a finger width of 0 . 567 microns to facilitate second harmonic operation at 2 . 4 ghz . only the shorter idts 56 , 56 ′, 60 and 60 ′ must be fabricated for 2 . 4 ghz operation with the smaller finger width of 0 . 425 microns . therefore , the more stringent manufacturing requirements apply only to the shorter elements , which will increase production yields . fabrication of the shorter elements with thinner fingers is considerably less difficult than fabrication of the much longer expander / compressor idt with the same finger width . furthermore , the representations shown in the drawings are simplified views of expander / compressor idts . in reality , the idts 52 , 52 ′ will often comprise more than the single set of fingers shown in fig6 and 7 per code bit . the antenna switch 62 in fig6 and switches 62 and 62 ′ in fig7 are required to prevent feedback of a transmission signal from the tx idts 56 and 56 ′ to the rx idts 60 , 60 ′, which would occur if both the tx and rx idts were connected to the antennas 58 , 58 ′. such feedback would cause the rx idts 60 , 60 ′ to convert the fed back signal to a saw , which in turn would propagate through idt 52 , 52 ′ and cause interference . switches 62 , 62 ′ similarly prevent a received signal from feeding back through the tx idt 56 , 56 ′. however , small - scale switches of the type normally employed in such arrangements tend to be prone to failure . the switch and associated complex control circuits also occupy space and consume power . such problems are critical concerns in highly integrated device designs and mobile communications equipment in which saw systems according to the instant invention could be employed . a second embodiment of the invention as shown in fig9 eliminates the antenna switches and the problems associated therewith . according to the second embodiment , the saw - based communication system 70 has an expander idt 52 a and a compressor idt 52 b . a pulse representing data input at terminal 54 is converted to a coded saw by expander idt 52 a . transmit idt 56 then converts the resultant coded saw into an electrical signal for transmission via band pass filter 57 and antenna 58 . feedback of the transmit signal to the rx idt 60 does not interfere with the idt 52 a in the transmit module 80 a . pulse output 54 b is not read during signal transmission to prevent erroneous data detection . a signal received at antenna 58 is filtered by band pass filter 57 , input to rx idt 60 , converted to a saw and decoded by autocorrelation in compressor idt 52 b provided the received signal code corresponds to the coding of idt 52 b . the autocorrelation peak is output at terminal 54 b . although the received signal is split between the tx idt 56 and the rx idt 60 , the saw generated at tx idt 56 causes no interference with the receive module 80 b . any pulse output on terminal 54 a during a receive operation is ignored . the idts shown in fig9 are similar in construction to those in fig6 . the expander idt 52 a and compressor idt 52 b are fabricated for second harmonic operation at 2 . 4 ghz and coded in the same way as idt 52 of fig6 . tx idt 56 and rx idt 60 operate at a fundamental frequency of 2 . 4 ghz . any of the idts in fig9 may be differential idts , as shown in fig1 . in the differential arrangement , terminals of the tx idt 56 and rx idt 60 shown as grounded in fig9 are pulse input or output terminals in fig1 . although single - ended idts are preferred for the expander idt 52 a ′ and compressor idt 52 b ′, these idts may also be differential idts , in which case terminals 55 a ′ and 55 b ′ are connected as pulse input and output terminals , respectively , instead of to ground . although the problems associated with the antenna switches 62 and 62 ′ of the first embodiment are eliminated in the second embodiment , transmit and receive signal splitting at the antenna result in signal power losses within the system . any choice between the first and second embodiments trades off the relatively higher failure rates , control circuit complexity , size and power consumption of the first embodiment against the signal power losses of the second embodiment . the arrangements disclosed above can reduce the cost , power consumption , size and complexity of virtually any short range communications system . this saw based technology will allow communication devices to be placed in power sensitive applications such as a wireless earpiece to allow the user a longer “ talk - time ” over bluetooth devices . this invention may be incorporated into any situation for which bluetooth was designed . an illustrative example of a system into which a system in accordance with the first or second embodiment could be incorporated is shown in fig1 . one contemplated application of the invention is illustrated in fig1 , wherein 102 denotes an earpiece , 104 is a mobile wireless communication device and 106 is a holder or cradle for holding the device 104 and coupling device 104 to a personal computer ( pc ) 110 . in system 100 , the earpiece 102 , device 104 and cradle 106 incorporate a saw communication device as disclosed above . this allows a user to communicate audibly between the wireless communication device 104 , which may for example be carried on their belt or person , and the wireless earpiece 102 with a built - in microphone , as indicated at 108 a in fig1 . this system could be then expanded to include communication between the earpiece 102 and the personal computer 110 , as indicated by 108 b , when a saw system in cradle 106 is attached to the pc via a bus connection . this system may then be further expanded to include network communications ( designated 108 c in fig1 ) between the wireless device 104 on the belt or person with the pc 110 to incorporate connectivity via small pico - cell networks . a further extension of the communication systems according to the first and second embodiments could be a personal area network ( pan ) based on saw technology rather than the more excessive bluetooth strategy . in a third embodiment of the invention , the second harmonic design techniques discussed above are applied to passive saw rf systems . in such systems , saw devices usually perform only as rf expanders . as shown in fig1 , such a passive system 120 may comprise two idts 122 and 124 . idt 124 is fabricated according to fundamental frequency criteria , whereas idt 122 operates at a harmonic of the fundamental , as discussed above . a pulse that has been sent out by a local requesting unit is received at the antenna 128 and excites idt 122 to produce an acoustic wave . this wave then propagates to a coded idt 124 that has a suitable termination 126 connected across its terminals 132 and 134 to produce a reflection coefficient of magnitude 1 . termination 126 could be an open or short circuit termination , which will re - excite the coded idt 124 to produce a coded acoustic wave back to the idt 122 that is connected to the antenna 128 . the result is that an impulse sent out by a local requesting unit excites a coded idt which then returns back to the requesting unit a coded rf waveform . at the requesting unit , autocorrelation of the coded waveform returned from the device 120 would preferably be performed by a dsp or other conventional signal processing circuitry , such that different codes can be used for different idts such as idt 124 . in order for the requesting unit to passively perform the autocorrelation , a separate coded idt must be provided in the requesting unit for each different code embodied in all devices 120 with which communication is desired . this would severely limit the number of devices 120 that could be deployed . the size of the complete saw device 120 , as discussed above , could be on the order of 3 mm square . this would allow the device to be incorporated into labels such as shipping or address labels , equipment name plates , adhesive stickers such as vehicle license plate stickers and other forms of identification tags . the code embodied in the idt 124 could for example be a code that provides information about an item to which the device 120 is attached . device 120 could therefore be implemented in an identification or location system for example . although idt 122 in fig1 is a single - ended idt , a differential design is also contemplated , as shown in fig1 . in fig1 and 13 , idt 124 is shown as a coded idt that produces a coded reflected saw that can provide information to the requesting unit . however , in the systems of fig1 and 15 , the idts are not coded . as shown in fig1 for example , the passive communication system includes four idts , 122 , 136 , 138 and 142 , of which idts 136 , 138 and 142 are fabricated as fundamental frequency components . idt 122 is fabricated for operation at a harmonic frequency of fundamental . the terminals of idt 136 are either open circuited as in fig1 or short circuited such that a saw produced by idt 122 in response to a pulse received from a requesting unit by antenna 128 is reflected back toward the idt 122 by idt 136 . a return rf signal is therefore transmitted to the requesting unit as discussed above in relation to fig1 , although the return signal generated by device 130 is not coded . the terminals of idt 142 are also either open or shorted , to thereby generate a second return signal to the requesting unit . the middle idt 138 is connected to a sensor 144 , which may for example be a load impedance which changes according to a sensed characteristic or property such as moisture or temperature . a further reflected saw , the magnitude and phase of which is dependent upon the impedance of the sensor 144 , is generated by idt 138 and results in a third rf return signal . the reflection characteristics and thus the magnitude and phase of the rf return signal generated by the so - called reference idts 136 and 142 are known , depending upon the open or short circuiting of the terminals . these reference return signals can be compared to the return signal generated by the idt 138 to determine the state of sensor 144 and thereby the value of the measured characteristic or property . the device 130 ′ shown in fig1 is a fully differential realization of the device 130 . fig1 shows a system into which passive saw rf devices according to the third embodiment of the invention could be implemented . a requesting unit 150 , which may for example be a hand - held unit with a display or part of a larger interrogation and tracking system , sends an rf pulse 152 to a label , tag or the like generally indicated at 160 . the tag 160 includes a saw device 120 , 120 ′, 130 or 130 ′ and may be attached to or placed on or inside an item or at a location where measurement by sensor 144 is to be made . the return signals 154 generated by the saw device in tag 160 , are received at the requesting device . for a device 120 or 120 ′, which produces a coded return signal 154 , the return signal is processed to determine tag information . for sensor applications in which reference return signals and a sensor return signal are generated , the signals are compared to determine sensor information . the tag or sensor information thus determined may for example be displayed to a user or operator of the requesting device 150 , forwarded from the requesting unit 150 to an information , tracking or billing system for further processing , or both . it will be appreciated that the above description relates to the preferred embodiment by way of example only . many variations on the invention will be obvious to those knowledgeable in the field , and such obvious variations are within the scope of the invention as described and claimed , whether or not expressly described .	6
techniques ( including methods and devices ) to allocate memory access bandwidth based on an access count priority scheme are described . each device / process capable of requesting system memory access ( hereinafter referred to as a requestor ) may be assigned an access count value . a requestor &# 39 ; s access count value determines the number of consecutive memory access cycles it may use before a different device is allowed to access memory . the following embodiments of the invention are illustrative only and are not to be considered limiting in any respect . fig1 shows a block diagram of computer system 100 incorporating system controller 102 and memory interface 104 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention . as shown , system controller 102 couples processor 106 , accelerated graphics port ( agp ) device 108 , system bus 110 and devices connected thereto ( e . g ., devices 112 and secondary bus bridge circuit 114 ) to system memory 116 ( via memory bus 118 ). in turn , secondary bus bridge circuit 114 provides a mechanism to couple secondary bus 120 and attached devices to system memory 116 . for example , non - volatile memory 122 , and other secondary bus devices ( e . g ., device 124 ) such as floppy disks may be coupled directly to secondary bus 122 while one or more intelligent drive electronics ( ide ) devices may be coupled to system 100 via ide interface 126 , and one or more universal serial bus ( usb ) devices may be coupled to system 100 via usb interface 128 . in one embodiment of the invention , memory interface 104 determines an access count value for each requester that may access system memory 116 . in another embodiment , memory interface 104 determines an access count value for each type of requestor that may access system memory 116 . for example , all processors ( e . g ., processor 106 ) may be assigned a common access count value as may all agp devices ( e . g ., device 108 ). in yet another embodiment , some devices ( e . g ., a specific processor or a specific primary bus device ) may have specifically assigned access count values while other devices may have assigned access count values based on their type . regardless of which approach is taken to assign access count values with a particular requester , once a device is granted access to memory 116 by memory interface 104 ( based on any selected arbitration scheme — priority based or round - robin , for example ), a requestor may access system memory 116 up to n consecutive times ( where n equals the requestor &# 39 ; s assigned access count value ) before another requestor is granted access . generally speaking , requesters may be assigned access count values commensurate with their natural memory transaction size . for example , requests initiated by processor 106 are typically for a cache line &# 39 ; s worth of data ( e . g ., 256 bits or 32 bytes ). thus , a processor requestor may be assigned a access count value sufficient to transfer 32 bytes of data between itself and system memory . thus , if system memory 116 is accessed via 64 - bit ( 32 - bit ) words , a processor requestor may be assigned an access count value of 4 ( 8 ). similarly , block devices such as graphics devices ( e . g ., agp device 108 and one or more system bus devices 112 ) may naturally initiate memory transactions of 8 kilobytes ( kb ). these devices may be assigned access count values sufficient to transfer 8 kb . referring again to fig1 illustrative processors ( e . g ., processor 106 ) include the pentium ® processor and 80 × 86 families of processors from intel corporation . an illustrative system bus ( e . g ., bus 110 ) is one operated in conformance with the peripheral component interconnect ( pci ) specification . illustrative primary bus devices 112 include audio , network interface , video and graphics accelerator pci expansion card devices . an illustrative secondary bus bridge circuit ( e . g ., bridge circuit 114 ) is the piix4 pci - to - isa / ide accelerator chip from intel corporation . illustrative secondary buses ( e . g ., bus 120 ) include those bus structures operated in conformance with the low pin count ( lpc ) interface , industry standard architecture ( isa ) and extended industry standard architecture ( eisa ) standards . illustrative non - volatile memory devices ( e . g ., nvram 126 ) include read only memory ( rom ), electrically programmable read only memory ( eprom ), electrically erasable programmable read only memory ( eeprom ), flash memory , and complementary metal oxide semiconductor ( cmos ) memory . illustrative secondary bus devices ( e . g ., device 128 ) include input - output device controllers , audio and modem devices . it will be recognized that each of the elements of fig1 are typically connected , directly or indirectly , to a printed circuit board often referred to as a motherboard . it will be further recognized that motherboards often include embedded devices ( a digital signal processor , for example ) that may communicate with system memory 116 via system controller 102 . fig2 shows system controller 102 and an expanded block diagram of memory interface 104 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention . as indicated , switch 200 may be used to route memory request signals 202 through 206 between requesting devices and memory interface 104 . each request signal represents a signal path between system controller 102 and a requesting device ( e . g ., processor 108 and secondary bus device 124 ). it will be recognized that memory request signals ( e . g ., 202 ) typically encode information identifying the device issuing the memory request , the amount of memory being requested ( to read or write ), a memory transaction address , and other information as needed by other system controller functions . memory interface 104 includes memory controller 208 , arbiter 210 , configuration register 212 , and one or more counters 214 . memory controller 208 processes selected memory access request signals , transferring data into and out of memory 116 in accordance with conventional memory controller operations . arbiter 210 determines which request signal ( via select signal 216 ) is routed by switch 200 to memory controller 208 for processing . in one embodiment , arbiter 210 implements a grant - request handshake protocol wherein each device that may access memory 116 has a corresponding grant / request signal pair 218 . using a chosen arbitration scheme ( e . g ., a priority - based or round - robin scheme ), arbiter 210 monitors grant / request signals 218 and , in combination with configuration registers 214 and counters 216 selectively passes one request signal at a time between switch 200 and memory controller 208 . configuration registers 212 may be used to record access count values for each requestor ( or class of requester ), and counters 214 may be used by arbiter 210 to track the number of memory access operations remaining for a selected requestor . as shown in fig3 configuration register 212 may have a plurality of fields , each field adapted to store an access count value for a single requestor . for example , field - 1 300 may record an access count value for processor 106 , field - 2 302 may record an access count value for agp device 108 and field - n 304 may store an access count value for secondary bus device 124 . counters ( e . g ., 306 , 308 and 310 ) are used by arbiter 210 to track the number of memory access operations that remain allocated to a selected requestor . each access by a requestor causes its associated counter value to be decremented . when the counter reaches 0 ( zero ), or the requester deasserts its request signal ( on grant / request signal pairs 218 ), arbiter 210 performs an arbitration cycle — selecting a different requestor or the same requestor ( depending upon the arbitration scheme ). in one embodiment ( see fig3 ), the number of counters may equal the number of access count value fields in configuration register 212 . in another embodiment , there are fewer counters than there are access count value fields in configuration register 212 . for example , counter 214 may comprise a single counter which is loaded with the appropriate configuration field value when a device is initially selected , decremented each access thereafter , and reloaded when another device is selected by arbiter 210 . a flowchart of memory interface processing in accordance with one embodiment of the invention is shown in fig4 . arbiter 210 initially chooses one device from the plurality of devices that may access memory 116 ( block 400 ). arbiter 210 may , for example , implement a round - robin arbitration mechanism in which requestors are chosen during block 400 in a predetermined and cyclic pattern . if the chosen device does not have a pending memory request ( the ‘ no ’ prong of diamond 402 ), the next requestor is chosen and processing continues at block 400 . if the chosen device has a pending memory request ( the ‘ yes ’ prong of diamond 402 ), arbiter 210 selects the chosen device by loading the access count value associated with the selected device from configuration register 212 to counter 214 , and causing switch 200 to couple the selected requestor ( request signal 204 , for example ) to memory 116 via memory controller 208 ( block 404 ). memory controller 208 performs a single memory access operation in accordance with the selected memory request ( block 406 ), the requestor &# 39 ; s associated counter value is decremented ( block 408 ), and a check is made to determine if the selected device has completed all of its allocated consecutive accesses ( diamond 410 ). if the selected device &# 39 ; s counter value is zero , or the selected device deasserts it memory request signal ( the ‘ yes ’ prong of diamond 410 ), processing continues at block 406 . if the selected associated device &# 39 ; s counter value greater than zero ( the ‘ no ’ prong of diamond 410 ), processing continues at block 406 . in one embodiment , configuration register 212 is initialized during computer system power on self - test ( post ) operations by basic input - output system ( bios ) routines 130 ( see fig1 ). for example , if system bus 110 is a pci bus , configuration register 212 may reside in pci configuration address space . ( techniques to read and write to pci configuration space registers are well - known to those of ordinary skill in the art of system controller and memory controller design .) in another embodiment , requester access count values may be determined dynamically at computer system start up and / or modified during system operations . for example , access count values may be based on requestor operating speed , wherein faster devices are allocated larger access count values . alternatively , system controller 102 or memory interface 104 may monitor ( snoop ) memory bus 118 activity and empirically set and adjust requestor access count values ( i . e ., modify values stored in configuration register 212 )— wherein the more frequently a requester seeks to access memory 116 ( relative to other requesters ), the larger its access count value is set . various changes in the materials , components , circuit elements , as well as in the details of the illustrated operational method are possible without departing from the scope of the claims . for instance , the illustrative system of fig1 and 2 show memory interface 104 as being one element within system controller 102 . while many current personal computer systems do employ integrated system and memory controllers ( often referred to as a “ north bridge ”), a memory interface in accordance with the invention may be implemented as a stand - alone circuit . that is , memory interface 104 may be implemented as one or more custom designed state machines , embodied in a hardware device such as a printed circuit board comprising discrete logic , integrated circuits , or specially designed application specific integrated circuits ( asics ). in addition , a requestor may have different access count values for read and write memory transactions . that is , configuration register 212 may provide two fields per requestor — one field adapted to store a read operation access count value and another field adapted to store a write operation access count value . while the invention has been disclosed with respect to a limited number of embodiments , numerous modifications and variations will be appreciated by those skilled in the art . it is intended , therefore , that the following claims cover all such modifications and variations that may fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention .	6
the tocotrienol compound applicable to the invention includes tocotrienol , α - tocotrienol , β - tocotrienol , γ - tocotrienol , δ - tocotrienol , nicotinate esters of the above tocotrienol isomers , and the like . the tocotrienol compound may be any of d -, l - or dl - isomer , and further may be a mixture of two or more of the above tocotrienol compounds . the tocotrienol compound can be produced by a known method , such as pressing a natural material , extraction from a natural material , synthesis or the like . the tocotrienol compound may be purified , for example , by column chromatography . the agent in the invention can be used for a pharmaceutical composition for ischemic disease , for the improvement in the deformability of erythrocyte membrane , or for the improvement in peripheral circulation in various forms which are administrated orally or parenterally . a suitable dose varies depending on age , sexuality , body weight and susceptibility of patient , method of administration , phase of administration , sensitivity , recipe , form of drug and the like , and typically , is about 0 . 1 to 5 , 000 mg , preferably 0 . 5 to 3 , 000 mg , more preferably 1 to 2 , 000 mg per adult per one day . the pharmaceutical composition can be prepared into various forms , such as tablets , sublingual tablets , pills , suppository , triturate , powder , parvules , granules , capsules , microcapsules , injection , emulsion , patches and the like . for example , tablets can be produced by mixing pharmacologically acceptable carrier homogeneously with the composition , and then tabletting the mixture . triturate , powder and granules can be produced by rendering the composition into solution or suspension together with a carrier , followed by drying by a conventional method , such as spray drying or lyophilizing . on producing triturate , powder , parvules , granules , tablets or the like , it is possible to use various additives , such as excipient , e . g . lactose , glucose , sucrose , and mannitol , disintegrator , e . g . starch and sodium alginate , lubricant , e . g . magnesium stearate and talc , binder , e . g . polyvinyl alcohol , hydroxypropyl cellulose and gelatin , surfactant , e . g . fatty ester , plasticizer , e . g . glycerin , and so on . to the pharmaceutical composition , a further antioxidant may be added . the further antioxidant is not particularly limited , and may be any material having antioxidant action . illustrative of the further antioxidants are vitamin a , such as retinol and 3 , 4 - di - dehydroretinol , vitamin b , vitamin c , such as d - ascorbic acid and l - ascorbic acid , vitamin e , such as α - tocopherol , β - tocopherol , δ - tocopherol , δ - tocopherol , vitamin e acetate and vitamin e succinate , vitamin e phosphates , coenzyme q , flavonoid , tannin , ellagic acid , polyphenols , radical inhibitor , hydroperoxide decomposer , metal chelating agent , active oxygen remover , carotenes , such as α - carotene , β - carotene , γ - carotene and δ - carotene , tocoquinone , and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts , and mixtures thereof . injections can be produced in a conventional manner where additive ( s ) may be added , such as ph adjustor , buffer , resolvent , suspensing agent , isotonizing agent , stabilizer , antiseptic , etc . the injections may be lyophile preparations which can be produced in a conventional manner . illustrative of the suspensing agents are polysolbate 80 , methyl cellulose , hydroxyethyl cellulose , sodium carboxymethyl cellulose , polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate , gum arabic , tragacanth powder , etc . illustrative of the resolvents are polysolbate 80 , hydrogenated polyoxyethylene castor oil , nicotinamide , polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate , macrogol , castor oil fatty ethyl ester , etc . illustrative of the stabilizers are sodium sulfite , sodium metasulfite , etc . illustrative of the antiseptics are p - hydroxybenzoic acid methyl ester , p - hydroxybenzoic acid ethyl ester , sorbic acid , phenol , cresol , chlorocresol , etc . the composition of the invention containing a tocotrienol compound can be used as or for auxiliary nutritive food , functional food , component of nutraceuticals and food additive in an arbitrary concentration . strength of antioxidant action of tocotrienol and tocopherol on monolayer liposome and erythrocyte membrane was evaluated by using iron - ascorbic acid , 2 , 2 ′- azobis ( 2 - amidinopropane ). 2hcl ( aaph ) which is a water - soluble radical generator and lipoxigenase reaction system . as a result , although the difference in the strength of antioxidant action on monolayer liposome was not found between tocotrienol and tocopherol , the strength of antioxidant action of tocotrienol on erythrocyte membrane was much greater than that of tocopherol . human erythrocytes to be tested were prepared from blood of a healthy person by treating the blood according the method disclosed in lipids , vol . 33 ( 6 ), p589 - 595 ( 1998 ). actually , blood drawn from a healthy person was put in a test tube containing edta - 2na ( 1 mg / ml ), and certrifuged at 1000 × g at 4 ° c . for 20 minutes to be separated into erythrocytes and plasma . the erythrocytes were washed three times with 5 parts by volume of phosphate - buffered saline ( pbs ), and centrifuged exactly at 1000 × g for 20 minutes to obtain a definite volume of packed erythrocytes . the erythrocytes were subjected to hemolysis test according to the method of miki et al ., arch . biochem . biophys . 258 , p373 - 380 . 0 . 5 ml of the human erythrocytes were suspended into 4 parts by volume of pbs , and a - tocotrienol ethanol solution was added thereto wherein the final ethanol concentration was made 0 . 5 % ( v / v ) or less . after incubating the mixture at 37 ° c . for 30 minutes , the erythrocytes were washed . 10 % suspension of the erythrocytes was incubated again . to the suspension , 75 mm aaph - pbs solution was added , and oxidation was carried out at 37 ° c . in a dark place with stirring . the state of erythrocyte membrane , which was destroyed by radicals to induce hemolysis , was observed . similarly , the human erythrocytes were incubated with α - tocopherol for 30 minutes , washed , and 10 % suspension of the erythrocytes was incubated again . to the suspension , 75 mm aaph was added , and the state of erythrocyte membrane , which was destroyed by radicals to induce hemolysis , was observed . reactivity of α - tocotrienol and α - tocopherol with radicals on human erythrocyte membrane was examined , and residual rate of α - tocotrienol and α - tocopherol in solution was measured after 1 , 2 and 3 hours . residual rate (%) 1 hr . 2 hrs . 3 hrs . α - tocotrienol 12 ± 2 7 ± 1 4 ± 1 α - tocopherol 41 ± 3 25 ± 4 19 ± 3 from the above results , it can be seen that the decrease of tocotrienol was greater than that of tocopherol , and the incorporation ( reaction rate with radicals ) of tocotrienol was about three to four times as much as that of tocopherol . the difference of the incorporation is due to the difference of structure between tocotrienol and tocopherol . both tocotrienol and tocopherol are 8 - methylcumarone - 6 - ol substituted with methyl group at 1 - position , wherein tocopherol has a saturated chain in polyisoprene type having 16 carbon atoms . on the other hand , tocotrienol has three unsaturated chains having 16 carbon atoms , and α -, β -, γ - and δ - isomers are different in the number and position of methyl group ( s ) at 5 - position and 7 - position . deformability of erythrocytes was measured using a micro - channel array flow analyzer ( mc - fan ) illustrated in fig3 which measures time for passing total volume of an erythrocyte ( 8 - 10 μm ) through a pore ( 6 μm ) of a microchip . human erythrocytes were incubated with 43 . 3 μm α - tocotrienol for 30 minutes to incorporate the α - tocotrienol into the erythrocytes , and deformability of the erythrocytes was measured by the mc - fan . as a control sample , human erythrocytes without α - tocotrienol were prepared , and the deformability was also measured . as a result , passage time of the erythrocyte with α - tocotrienol was 26 sec / 100 μl erythrocyte ( rbc ), and that without α - tocotrienol was 54 sec / 100 μl rbc . in comparison , human erythrocytes were incubated with 40 μm α - tocopherol ( vitamin e , tokyo kasei kogyo ) for 30 minutes to incorporate the α - tocopherol into the erythrocytes , and deformability of the erythrocytes was measured by the mc - fan . as a result , passage time of the erythrocyte with a - tocopherol was 36 sec / 100 μl rbc . as can be seen from table 1 , tocotrienol as well as tocopherol have an action to improve deformability of erythrocytes , and the ability of improving the deformability of tocotrienol is more excellent than tocopherol . since the tocotrienol compound has excellent ability of improving deformability of erythrocyte membrane , the pharmaceutical composition containing the tocotrienol compound is useful as an agent for improving peripheral circulation , because erythrocytes of which deformability has been improved by the tocotrienol compound can pass through blood vessel even narrowed by the deposition of cholesterol or the like . tablets having the following composition for oral administration were prepared according to a conventional method . injections having the following composition were prepared in a form of suspension according to a conventional method . α - tocotrienol 45 mg tween 80 4 mg puriefid water 1 mg propylparaben 0 . 2 mg action of tocotrienol on the flowability of whole blood was investigated by examining 10 male persons . 42 mg / day of tocotrienol consisting of α -, β - and δ - isomers at a ratio by weight of 11 . 6 : 22 . 4 : 6 . 4 was administrated every day after dinner for 2 weeks . blood was drawn from every person by a vacuum blood collecting tube with heparin before the investigation and after 2 weeks from the beginning of the administration each at 10 o &# 39 ; clock a . m . the flowability of whole blood was evaluated by measuring passage time of 100 μl whole blood using the mc - fan . as a result , the passage time before the investigation was 45 . 94 ± 4 . 76 sec / 100 μl , and that after 2 weeks was 41 . 43 ± 4 . 93 sec / 100 82 l . the significant difference was less than 1 %. the flowability of whole blood was improved in all examinet persons .	0
fig1 a and 2 a , fig3 to 6 , fig8 and 9 and fig1 a in each case show in cross section a quarter of a screw profile of a screw element according to the invention . all these figures have the same structure , which is described in detail below . in the middle of the figures is located the xy system of coordinates , at the origin of which is located the point of rotation of the screw profile . the circular arcs of the screw profile are distinguished by thick , continuous lines , which are provided with the respective numbers of the circular arcs . the centre points of the circular arcs are illustrated by small circles . the centre points of the circular arcs are connected by thin , continuous lines both with the starting point and with the end point of the associated circular arc . the straight line fp is illustrated by a thin , dotted line . the outer screw radius ra is distinguished by a thin , dashed line , the numerical value of which is indicated bottom right in the figure to four significant digits . on the right next to the figures the radius r , the angle a and the x and y coordinates of the circular arc centre point mx and my are stated for each circular arc in each case to four significant digits . these details unambiguously define the screw profile . the screw profiles are in each case mirror - symmetrical for the x and y axes , such that the entire screw profiles are obtained by mirroring of the illustrated quarter at the x and y axes . screw profiles in which a quarter of the screw profile consists of a total of n circular arcs are described below as n - circle screw profiles . in fig1 a and 2 a , fig3 to 6 , fig8 and 9 and fig1 a the circular arcs of an n - circle screw profile are numbered in that the first n / 2 circular arcs are numbered consecutively in ascending order 1 to n / 2 and the last n / 2 circular arcs are numbered consecutively in descending order ( n / 2 )′ to 1 ′. the circular arc n / 2 and the circular arc ( n / 2 )′ each touch the straight line fp . each circular arc i of the screw profile corresponds to a circular arc i ′ of the screw profile . the radius of a circular arc i ′ is calculated from the difference of the centreline distance minus the radius of the circular arc i , thus r_i ′= a − r_i . the angle of a circular arc i ′ is equal to the angle of a circular arc i , thus α_i ′= α_i . this means that a tip zone with a circular arc j is equal to a grooved zone with a circular arc j ′. this means that a grooved zone with a circular arc j is equal to a tip zone with a circular arc j ′. fig1 : fig1 a shows a quarter of a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile according to the prior art , which is made up of 4 circular arcs . it is characteristic of erdmenger screw profiles that the radius r — 1 = ra , the radius r — 2 = 0 , the radius r — 2 ′= a = 1 and the radius r — 1 ′= a − ra = ri . the angles α — 1 , α — 2 , α — 2 ′ and α — 1 ′ depend on the outer screw radius and on the centreline distance . the angle α — 1 is equal to the half tip angle of a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile . the sum of the tip angles of a pair of screw elements with a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile is thus calculated as 8 * α — 1 . the erdmenger screw profile comprises a kink at the location of the radius r — 2 . the “ magnitude of the kink ” is determined by the angle α — 2 , i . e . the transition from the circular arc 1 to the circular arc 2 ′ is brought about by rotation about the angle α — 2 . in fig1 a the dimensionless outer screw radius ra = 0 . 54 . the half tip angle is α — 1 = 0 . 3981 and the sum of the tip angles of a pair of screw elements is 8 * α — 1 = 3 . 1847 . fig1 b shows by way of example a pair of screw elements , configured as conveying elements , whose screw profile is based on fig1 a . the clearance between the two conveying elements amounts to s = 0 . 008 . the clearance between the two conveying elements and the barrel amounts to d = 0 . 004 . the pitch of the conveying elements amounts to t = 1 . 08 . the length of the conveying elements amounts to 0 . 54 , which corresponds to rotation of the screw profiles about an angle of π . the barrel is illustrated by thin , continuous lines to the left and right of the two conveying elements . a possible computational grid is further illustrated on the surfaces of the two conveying elements , which grid may be used for calculating flow in twin - and multi - screw extruders . the number of grid elements is equal to 160 in the circumferential direction and equal to 80 in the axial direction . fig1 c shows a plan view of the pair of screw elements according to fig1 b . the free volume between the conveying elements and the barrel is provided with a possible computational grid , which may be used for calculating flow in twin - and multi - screw extruders . the number of grid elements is equal to 160 in the circumferential direction and equal to 6 in the radial direction . the axes of rotation of the two screw elements are labelled by small circles . fig2 : fig2 a shows a quarter of a preferred screw profile of a screw element according to the invention , which is made up of 8 circular arcs . the dimensionless outer screw radius amounts to ra = 0 . 54 . the radius r — 1 is equal to 0 . 8206 . the maximum dimensionless distance of the circular arc 1 from the outer screw radius is calculated as ra −( mx + r — 1 )= 0 . 54 −(− 0 . 2926 + 0 . 8206 )= 0 . 012 . the sum of the tip angles α — 1 and α — 2 is equal to 0 . 3563 . the tip zone is determined by the circular arc 3 which lies on the outer screw radius . the tip angle α — 3 is equal to 0 . 0419 . the grooved zone is determined by the circular arc 3 ′, which lies on the core radius . the groove angle α — 3 ′ is equal to 0 . 0419 . the sum of the tip angles of all the tip zones for a pair of screw elements according to the invention amounts to 8 * 0 . 0419 = 0 . 3352 and thus only approx . 0 . 105 times the sum of the tip angles of a pair of screw elements with a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile . half of a zone , which consists of flank zones and grooved zones , is provided by the circular arcs 4 , 4 ′, 3 ′, 2 ′ and 1 ′. twice the sum of the associated flank and groove angles amounts to 2 . 3456 and is greater than 2 * π / 3 . fig2 b shows a section of a pair of screw elements according to the invention perpendicular to the axes of rotation , whose screw profile is based on fig2 a . by mirroring the screw profile of fig2 a at the x axis and by subsequent mirroring of the screw profile of fig2 a and of the screw profile of fig2 a mirrored at the x axis at the y axis , a generating screw profile is obtained of a pair of screw elements according to the invention . by rotating the generating screw profile by π / 2 and by subsequent displacement by a along the x axis , the generated screw profile is obtained . the generated screw profile is obtained from the generating screw profile . generating and generated screw profile are mutually interchangeable . the screw barrel , which is obtained from two mutually interpenetrating bores with in each case the radius ra = 0 . 54 and the distance a = 1 , is illustrated by a thin , dashed line . where the two barrel bores interpenetrate , the two bores are distinguished by thin , dotted lines . the centre points of the two barrel bores are identical to the two points of rotation of the screw profiles and are distinguished in each case by a small circle . the circular arcs of the screw profiles are distinguished by a thick , continuous line . the circular arcs of the left - hand screw profile , of the generating screw profile , are consecutively numbered ( 1 ′- 32 ′), wherein for reasons of clarity the numbers of circular arcs 2 , 4 , 13 , 15 , 18 , 20 , 29 and 31 are omitted . the circular arcs 2 , 4 , 13 , 15 , 18 , 20 , 29 and 31 have in each case the radius 0 . the circular arcs of the right - hand screw profile , of the generated screw profile , are consecutively numbered ( 1 ′- 32 ′), wherein for reasons of clarity the numbers of circular arcs 5 ′, 7 ′, 10 ′, 12 ′, 21 ′, 23 ′, 26 ′ and 28 ′ are omitted . the circular arcs 5 ′, 7 ′, 10 ′, 12 ′, 21 ′, 23 ′, 26 ′ and 28 ′ have in each case the radius 0 . the start and end of a tip or grooved zone of the generating and generated screw profiles are distinguished by thin , continuous lines . each circular arc i of the generating screw profile corresponds to a circular arc i ′ of the generated screw profile . the radius of a circular arc i ′ is calculated from the difference of the centreline distance minus the radius of the circular arc i , thus r_i ′= a − r_i . the angle of a circular arc i ′ is equal to the angle of a circular arc i , thus α_i ′= α_i . this means that a tip zone of the generating screw profile is equal to a grooved zone of the generated screw profile . this further means that a grooved zone of the generating screw profile is equal to a tip zone of the generated screw profile . the generating screw profile consists of the 4 tip zones kb 1 , kb 2 , kb 3 and kb 4 . the generated screw profile consists of the 4 grooved zones nb 1 ′, nb 2 ′, nb 3 ′ and nb 4 ′, which correspond to the 4 tip zones of the generating screw profile . the tip zone kb 1 consists of the circular arc 3 . the tip zone kb2 consists of the circular arc 14 . the tip zone kb3 consists of the circular arc 19 . the tip zone kb4 consists of the circular arc 30 . the grooved zone nb1 ′ consists of the circular arc 3 ′. the grooved zone nb2 ′ consists of the circular arc 14 ′. the grooved zone nb3 ′ consists of the circular arc 19 ′. the grooved zone nb4 ′ consists of the circular arc 30 ′. the generating screw profile consists of the 4 grooved zones nb1 , nb2 , nb3 and nb4 . the generated screw profile consists of the 4 tip zones kb1 ′, kb2 ′, kb3 ′ and kb4 ′, which correspond to the 4 grooved zones of the generating screw profile . the grooved zone nb1 consists of the circular arc 6 . the grooved zone nb 2 consists of the circular arc 11 . the grooved zone nb 3 consists of the circular arc 22 . the grooved zone nb4 consists of the circular arc 27 . the tip zone kb1 ′ consists of the circular arc 6 ′. the tip zone kb2 ′ consists of the circular arc 11 ′. the tip zone kb3 ′ consists of the circular arc 22 ′. the tip zone kb4 ′ consists of the circular arc 27 ′. in total the number of tip zones of the pair of screw elements according to the invention shown in fig2 b is 8 and according to the invention is greater than 4 . the sum of the tip angles of all the tip zones amounts to 8 * 0 . 0419 = 0 . 3352 and thus only to approx . 0 . 105 times the sum of the tip angles of a pair of screw elements with a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile . a first zone of the generating screw profile , which consists of flank zones and grooved zones and in which the sum of the flank and groove angles is greater than π / 2 , preferably greater than 2 * π / 3 , consists of the circular arcs 4 to 13 . the sum of the flank and groove angles amounts to 2 . 3456 and is greater than 2 * π / 3 . a second zone of the generating screw profile , which consists of flank zones and grooved zones and in which the sum of the flank and groove angles is greater than π / 2 , preferably greater than 2 * π / 3 , consists of the circular arcs 20 to 29 . the sum of the flank and groove angles amounts to 2 . 3456 and is greater than 2 * π / 3 . a first zone of the generated screw profile , which consists of flank zones and grooved zones and in which the sum of the flank and groove angles is greater than π / 2 , preferably greater than 2 * π / 3 , consists of the circular arcs 12 ′ to 21 ′. the sum of the flank and groove angles amounts to 2 . 3456 and is greater than 2 * π / 3 . a second zone of the generated screw profile , which consists of flank zones and grooved zones and in which the sum of the flank and groove angles is greater than π / 2 , preferably greater than 2 * π / 3 , consists of the circular arcs 28 ′ to 32 ′ and 1 ′ to 5 ′. the sum of the flank and groove angles amounts to 2 . 3456 and is greater than 2 * π / 3 . fig3 : fig3 a and 3 b each show a quarter of a further preferred screw profile of a screw element according to the invention , which is made up in each case of 8 circular arcs . in fig3 a and 3 b the outer screw radius amounts in each case to ra = 0 . 54 . the radius r — 1 is equal to 0 . 6976 in fig3 a and equal to 0 . 9995 in fig3 b . in fig3 a the maximum dimensionless distance of the circular arc 1 from the outer screw radius is calculated as 0 . 008 and in fig3 b as 0 . 016 . the sum of the tip angles α — 1 and α — 2 is equal to 0 . 3563 in both figures . the tip zone is provided in both figures by the circular arc 3 , which lies in each case on the outer screw radius . the tip angle α — 3 is in each case equal to 0 . 0419 . the grooved zone is provided in each case by the circular arc 3 ′, which in each case lies on the core radius . the groove angle α — 3 ′ is in each case equal to 0 . 0419 . the sum of the tip angles of all the tip zones for a pair of screw elements according to the invention amounts in each case to 8 * 0 . 0419 = 0 . 3352 for fig3 a and 3 b and thus to only approx . 0 . 105 times the sum of the tip angles of a pair of screw elements with a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile . half of a zone , which consists of flank zones and grooved zones , is provided by the circular arcs 4 , 4 ′, 3 ′, 2 ′ and 1 ′. twice the sum of the associated flank and groove angles amounts to 2 . 3456 and is greater than 2 * π / 3 . by varying the radius r — 1 and by displacing the x coordinate mx — 1 of the centre point of the circular arc 1 , it is possible to adjust the maximum dimensionless distance of the circular arc 1 from the outer screw radius while keeping the tip angle of the tip zone constant . fig4 : fig4 a and 4 b each show a quarter of a further preferred screw profile of a screw element according to the invention , which is made up in each case of 8 circular arcs . in fig4 a and 4 b the outer screw radius amounts in each case to ra = 0 . 54 . the radius r — 1 is equal to 0 . 6990 in fig4 a and equal to 0 . 9981 in fig4 b . in fig4 a the maximum dimensionless distance of the circular arc 1 from the outer screw radius is calculated as 0 . 004 and in fig4 b as 0 . 008 . the sum of the tip angles α — 1 and α — 2 is equal to 0 . 2531 in both figures . the tip zone is provided in both figures by the circular arc 3 , which lies in each case on the outer screw radius . the tip angle α_3 is in each case equal to 0 . 1450 . the grooved zone is provided in each case by the circular arc 3 ′, which in each case lies on the core radius . the groove angle α — 3 ′ is in each case equal to 0 . 1450 . the sum of the tip angles of all the tip zones for a pair of screw elements according to the invention amounts in each case to 8 * 0 . 1450 = 1 . 1600 for fig4 a and 4 b and thus to only approx . 0 . 364 times the sum of the tip angles of a pair of screw elements with a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile . half of a zone , which consists of flank zones and grooved zones , is provided by the circular arcs 4 , 4 ′, 3 ′, 2 ′ and 1 ′. twice the sum of the associated flank and groove angles amounts to 2 . 3456 and is greater than 2 * π / 3 . by varying the radius r — 1 and by displacing the x coordinate mx — 1 of the centre point of the circular arc 1 , it is possible to adjust the maximum dimensionless distance of the circular arc 1 from the outer screw radius while keeping the tip angle of the tip zone constant . it becomes clear in conjunction with fig3 a and 3 b that the tip angle of the tip zone may also be adjusted . a screw profile of a screw element according to the invention may clearly be obtained , inter alia , by selecting the x coordinate mx — 1 and radius r — 1 of the circular arc 1 and thus “ removing ” a zone from the tip zone of a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile . to ensure self - cleaning , a zone has then to be “ added ” again in the grooved zone of a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile . this is effected by means of the circular arcs 2 ′ and 1 ′. through free selection of the magnitude of the tip angle of the tip zone , it is possible purposefully to adjust the exposure of the product to thermal loading in the case of screw elements according to the invention and to reduce it relative to double - flighted erdmenger screw profiles . overall , energy input falls and pressure build - up efficiency rises . in addition , fig3 a and 4 b are characterized in that the position of the starting point of the circular arc 1 and the position of the end point of the circular arc 1 ′ are in each case identical . mirroring fig3 a at the x axis and mirroring the mirrored fig3 a and fig4 b at the y axis and combining a screw profile from fig4 b , fig4 b mirrored at the y axis , fig3 a mirrored at the x and y axes and fig3 a mirrored at the x axis results in a screw profile of a screw element according to the invention in which the tip angles of the tip zones differ in size . it is admissible to configure each quarter of a screw profile and thus the tip angle of the respective tip zones mutually independently and to combine them into a screw profile for screw elements according to the invention , provided that the starting points of the circular arcs 1 and the end points of the circular arcs 1 ′ are in each case identical . fig5 : fig5 a to 5 d each show a quarter of a further preferred screw profile of a screw element according to the invention , which is made up in each case of 8 circular arcs . in fig5 a to 5 d the outer screw radius amounts in each case to ra = 0 . 54 . the radius r — 1 is equal to 0 . 95 in each of the four figures and the maximum dimensionless distance from the outer screw radius is calculated in each case as 0 . 0075 . the tip zone is provided in the four figures by the circular arc 3 , which lies in each case on the outer screw radius . the tip angle α — 3 varies between 0 . 0461 and 0 . 1458 . the grooved zone is provided in each of the four figures by the circular arc 3 ′, which in each case lies on the core radius . the groove angle α — 3 varies between 0 . 0461 and 0 . 1458 . the sum of the tip angles of all the tip zones for a pair of screw elements according to the invention varies for fig5 a to 5 d between 8 * 0 . 0461 = 0 . 3688 and 8 * 0 . 1458 = 1 . 1664 and thus amounts only to approx . 0 . 116 to 0 . 366 times the sum of the tip angles of a pair of screw elements with a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile . half of a zone , which consists of flank zones and grooved zones , is provided by the circular arcs 4 , 4 ′, 3 ′, 2 ′ and 1 ′. twice the sum of the associated flank and groove angles amounts to between 2 . 3456 and 2 . 4626 and is in each case greater than 2 * π / 3 . in fig5 a the tip zone begins and ends with a kink , i . e . the circular arcs 2 and 4 in each case have the radius 0 . in fig5 b the tip zone begins with a rounded portion and ends with a kink , i . e . the circular arc 2 has a radius greater than 0 and the circular arc 4 has the radius 0 . in fig5 c the tip zone begins with a kink and ends with a rounded portion , i . e . the circular arc 2 has the radius 0 and the circular arc 4 has a radius greater than 0 . in fig5 d the tip zone begins and ends with a rounded portion , i . e . the circular arcs 2 and 4 in each case have a radius greater than 0 . through rotation by 1 × or a multiple of π / 2 and / or by mirroring at the x and / or y axis , fig5 a to 5 d may be combined into further preferred screw profiles of screw elements according to the invention . it is thus possible , for example , to generate a screw profile of screw elements according to the invention whose tip zones are of different sizes . it is thus additionally possible , for example , to generate a screw profile of screw elements according to the invention whose tip zones are rounded in the direction of rotation of the screw element or which are rounded contrary to the direction of rotation of the screw elements . a process is explained below for generating smooth , closely intermeshing , self - cleaning and co - rotating screw profiles with the number of flights z , using the portion of a screw profile in fig5 d by way of example . the screw profile and thus also the portion shown of the screw profile are in one plane according to the invention . for the sake of simplicity , this plane is placed in the xy plane of a cartesian system of coordinates . also for the sake of simplicity , the point of rotation of the screw profile is placed at the origin of the cartesian system of coordinates ( x = 0 , y = 0 ). the number of flights z is selected according to the invention such that z is greater than or equal to 1 . in the present example the number of flights is selected to be z = 2 . the number of circular arcs n of the screw profile is selected such that n is a whole multiple p of 4 * z . in the present example the number of circular arcs is selected to be n = 32 , resulting in p = 4 . the dimensionless outer screw radius ra of the screw profile is selected such that it is greater than 0 and less than or equal to the dimensionless centreline distance a . in the present example the dimensionless outer screw radius of the screw profile is selected to be ra = 0 . 54 . the dimensionless core radius ri of the screw profile is selected such that it is greater than or equal 0 and less than or equal to the dimensionless outer screw radius ra . in the present example the dimensionless core radius of the screw profile is selected to be ri = a − ra = 0 . 46 . the circular arcs of the screw profile may be arranged clockwise or counterclockwise about the axis of rotation of the screw profile . in the present example the circular arcs are arranged counterclockwise about the axis of rotation of the screw profile . the screw profile is divided into 2 * z portions , which are characterized in that each portion is defined by two straight lines , which mutually form an angle in radians of π / z and which intersect at the point of rotation of the screw profile , wherein these two straight lines are denoted portion boundaries . in the present example the screw profile is subdivided into four portions . for the sake of simplicity all the portion boundaries are placed on the x and y axes of the system of coordinates . in the present example the only portion of the screw profile taken into consideration hereinafter is the one which lies in the positive x and y directions . the portion of the screw profile is subdivided into a first and a second part , wherein the first part consists of p circular arcs and the second part of p ′ circular arcs , wherein p ′= p . in the present example p ′= 4 . the circular arcs of the first part of the portion of the screw profile may be numbered in ascending or descending order . the circular arcs of the second part of the portion of the screw profile are numbered in reverse order from the circular arcs of the first part of the portion of the screw profile . in the present example the circular arcs of the first part of the portion of the screw profile are numbered in ascending order , the circular arcs of the second part of the portion of the screw profile accordingly being numbered in descending order . the angle α — 1 of the 1st circular arc of the first part of the portion of the screw profile is selected such that in radians it is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to π /( 2 * z ). in the present example the angle of the 1st circular arc is selected to be α — 1 = 0 . 1222 . the dimensionless radius r — 1 of the 1st circular arc of the first part of the portion of the screw profile is selected such that it is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to the centreline distance a . in the present example the dimensionless radius of the 1st circular arc is selected to be r — 1 = 0 . 9500 . the position of the 1st circular arc of the first part of the portion of the screw profile is selected such that the 1st circular arc lies within or on the boundaries of a circular ring with the dimensionless outer screw radius ra and the dimensionless core radius ri , the centre point of which lies on the point of rotation of the screw profile . the position is preferably established by the positioning of the starting point and the centre point of the 1st circular arc . the starting point and centre point of the 1st circular arc are located on one of the portion boundaries , whereby the starting point is obtained from the position of the centre point and of the dimensionless radius r — 1 . in the present example the centre point of the 1st circular arc is placed on the coordinate mx — 1 =− 0 . 4175 , my — 1 = 0 . 0000 and the starting point thus lies on the coordinate x = 0 . 5325 , y = 0 . 0000 . the angle α — 2 , . . . , α_ ( p − 1 ) of p − 2 further circular arcs , i . e . of 2 further circular arcs of the first part of the portion of the screw profile , are selected such that in radians they are greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to π /( 2 * z ). in the present example the angles of the 2 further circular arcs are selected to be α — 2 = 0 . 1712 and α — 3 = 0 . 0461 . the dimensionless radii r — 2 , . . . , r_ ( p − 1 ) of the 2 further circular arcs of the first part of the portion of the screw profile are selected such that they are greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to the dimensionless centreline distance a . in the present example the dimensionless radii of the 2 further circular arcs are selected to be r — 2 = 0 . 2414 and r — 3 = 0 . 5400 . according to the rules of arrangement , the circular arcs are arranged such that the circular arcs merge tangentially into one another in such a way that a continuous , convex screw profile is obtained , wherein a circular arc , whose dimensionless radius is equal to 0 , is preferably treated as a circular arc whose radius is equal to eps , wherein eps is a very small positive real number which tends towards 0 ( eps & lt ;& lt ; 1 , eps →* 0 ). it follows from this rule of arrangement that the end point of a circular arc is equal to the starting point of the following circular arc . the required tangential transition between a first circular arc and a second , subsequent circular arc is met in that the centre point of this second , subsequent circular arc is placed in such a way on the straight line resulting from the end point and the centre point of this first circular arc that the distance of the centre point of this second , subsequent circular arc from the end point of this first circular arc is equal to the radius of this second , subsequent circular arc and the screw profile is convex . a circular arc whose radius is equal to 0 is preferably treated as a circular arc with a very small radius eps , wherein eps tends towards 0 , such that the tangential transition may additionally be designed . as an alternative , a circular arc whose radius is equal to 0 may be treated such that the screw profile comprises a kink at the position of this circular arc , wherein the magnitude of the kink is established by the angle of this circular arc . in the present example the following positions of the centre points of the 2 further circular arcs result from the above - described rule of arrangement : mx — 2 = 0 . 2859 , my — 2 = 0 . 0864 and mx — 3 = 0 . 0000 , my — 3 = 0 . 0000 . the 3rd circular arc lies on the dimensionless outer screw radius ra and the rule of arrangement that at least one circular arc touches the dimensionless outer screw radius ra is fulfilled . the angle α — 4 of the last circular arc of the first part of the portion of the screw profile is obtained according to the invention from the fact that the sum of the angles of the 4 circular arcs of the first part of the portion of the screw profile in radians is equal to π /( 2 * z ), wherein the angle α — 4 in radians is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to π /( 2 * z ). in the present example the angle of this last circular arc is α — 4 = 0 . 4459 . the dimensionless radius r — 4 of the last circular arc of the first part of the portion of the screw profile results according to the invention from the fact that the end point of this last circular arc is tangent to a straight line fp at one point , wherein the straight line fp is perpendicular to the bisector of the two portion boundaries of this portion and is at a distance from the point of rotation of the screw profile in the direction of this portion which is equal to half the centreline distance , wherein the bisector passes , like the portion boundaries , through the point of rotation of the screw profile . the straight line fp is drawn in fig5 d as a dotted line . the 4th circular arc of the first part of the portion of the screw profile is designed by placing a tangent to the 3rd circular arc at the end point of the 3rd circular arc , the point of intersection of the tangent with the straight line fp being the centre point of a circle whose radius is equal to the length of the distance between the end point of the 3rd circular arc and the point of intersection of the tangent with the straight line fp , and in that the point of intersection , placed in the direction of the selected clockwise direction , of the circle with the straight line fp is the sought contact point of the end point of the 4th circular arc with the straight line fp . at the end point of the 4th circular arc , a perpendicular is dropped to the straight line fp . the point of intersection of this perpendicular with the straight line which is provided by the end point and the centre point of the 3rd circular arc is the centre point of the 4th circular arc . in the present example the position of the centre point of the 4th circular arc is calculated as mx — 4 = 3858 , my — 4 = 0 . 1362 and the dimensionless radius of the 4th circular arc is established as r — 4 = 0 . 1309 . the angles α_p ′, α — 1 ′ of the second part of the portion of the screw profile are determined in that the angle α_j ′ of the j ′ th circular arc of the second part of the portion is equal to the angle α_j of the jth circular arc of the first part of the portion , wherein j and j ′ are integers which pass jointly through all the values in the range from 1 to the number of circular arcs p or p ′ respectively ( α — 1 ′= α — 1 , α_p ′= α_p ). in the present example the angles of the second part of the portion are calculated as α — 1 ′= α — 1 = 0 . 1222 , α — 2 ′= α — 2 = 0 . 1712 , α — 3 ′= α — 3 = 0 . 0461 and α — 4 ′= α — 4 = 0 . 4459 . the dimensionless radii r_p ′, . . . , r — 1 ′ of the second part of the portion of the screw profile are determined in that the sum of the dimensionless radius r_j ′ of the j ′ th circular arc of the second part of a portion and of the dimensionless radius r_j of the jth circular arc of the first part of a portion is equal to the dimensionless centreline distance a , wherein j and j ′ are integers which pass jointly through all the values in the range from 1 to the number of circular arcs p or p ′ respectively ( r — 1 ′+ r — 1 = a = 1 , r_p ′+ r_p = a = 1 ). in the present example the dimensionless radii of the second part of the portion are calculated as r — 1 ′= a − r — 1 = 0 . 0500 , r — 2 ′= a − r — 2 = 0 . 7586 , r — 3 ′= a − r — 3 = 0 . 4600 and r — 4 ′= a − r — 4 = 0 . 8691 . the position of the circular arcs of the second part of the portion of the screw profile is obtained according to the invention in that the circular arcs merge tangentially with one another and the screw profile is convex . in the present example the following coordinates are obtained for centre points of the 4 circular arcs of the second part of the portion of the screw profile : mx — 1 ′= 0 . 0000 , my — 1 ′= 0 . 4175 , mx — 2 ′=− 0 . 0864 , my — 2 ′=− 0 . 2859 , mx — 3 ′= 0 . 0000 , my — 3 ′= 0 . 0000 and mx — 4 ′=− 0 . 1362 , my — 4 ′=− 0 . 3858 . the 3rd circular arc of the second part of the portion of the screw profile lies on the dimensionless core radius ri and the rule of arrangement that at least one circular arc touches the dimensionless core radius ri is fulfilled . fig6 : fig6 a to 6 c each show a quarter of a further preferred screw profile of a screw element according to the invention , which is made up in each case of 8 circular arcs . in fig6 a the outer screw radius ra = 0 . 58 , while in fig6 b ra = 0 . 56 and in fig6 c ra = 0 . 52 . the maximum dimensionless distance of the circular arc 1 from the outer screw radius varies in fig6 a to 6 c between 0 . 006 and 0 . 02 . the tip zone is provided in the three figures by the circular arc 3 , which lies in each case on the outer screw radius . the tip angle α — 3 varies between 0 . 0270 and 0 . 0698 . the grooved zone is provided in each of the four figures by the circular arc 3 ′, which in each case lies on the core radius . the groove angle α — 3 varies between 0 . 0270 and 0 . 0698 . the sum of the tip angles of all the tip zones for a pair of screw elements according to the invention varies for fig6 a to 6 c between 8 * 0 . 0270 = 0 . 2160 ( ra = 0 . 58 ) and 8 * 0 . 0698 = 0 . 5584 ( ra = 0 . 56 ) and thus amounts only to approx . 0 . 106 times ( ra = 0 . 58 ) to 0 . 219 times ( rs = 0 . 56 ) the sum of the tip angles of a pair of screw elements with a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile with a corresponding outer screw radius . half of a zone , which consists of flank zones and grooved zones , is provided by the circular arcs 4 , 4 ′, 3 ′, 2 ′ and 1 ′. twice the sum of the associated flank and groove angles amounts to between 2 . 1272 ( ra = 0 . 52 ) and 2 . 6338 ( ra = 0 . 58 ) and is in each case greater than 2 * π / 3 . fig7 : fig7 shows a section perpendicular to the axes of rotation of a preferred pair of screw elements according to the invention with asymmetric screw profiles . the screw barrel , which is obtained from two mutually interpenetrating bores with in each case the radius ra = 0 . 54 and the distance a = 1 , is illustrated by a thin , dashed line . where the two barrel bores interpenetrate , the two bores are distinguished by thin , dotted lines . the centre points of the two barrel bores are identical to the two points of rotation of the screw profiles and are distinguished in each case by a small circle . the in each case 32 circular arcs of the two screw profiles are distinguished by a thick , continuous line . the circular arcs of the left - hand screw profile , of the generating screw profile , are consecutively numbered ( 1 - 16 ), wherein for reasons of clarity the numbers of circular arcs 17 to 32 are omitted . the circular arcs of the right - hand screw profile , of the generated screw profile , are consecutively numbered ( 1 ′- 16 ′), wherein for reasons of clarity the numbers of circular arcs 17 ′ to 32 ′ are omitted . the centre points of the in each case first 16 circular arcs are illustrated by small circles . the centre points of these in each case first 16 circular arcs are connected by thin , continuous lines both with the starting point and with the end point of the associated circular arc . below the figure , the radius r , the angle a and the x and y coordinates of the circular arc centre point mx and my are stated for each circular arc in each case to four significant digits . these details unambiguously define the screw profile . despite reducing the circular arcs described in detail to 16 per screw profile , as a result of generation of the figures by means of computer software , the numbers of the circular arcs may overlap in part , see for example circular arcs 6 and 7 and circular arcs 14 ′ and 15 ′. despite the sometimes poor legibility of individual numbers , the structure of the profiles is nevertheless clear from the context in conjunction with this description . the generating screw profile consists of 4 tip zones . the tip zones of the generating screw profile consist of the circular arcs 1 , 12 , 17 and 28 . the flank zone between the two tip zones belonging to the circular arcs 1 and 28 is larger than the flank zone between the two tip zones belonging to the circular arcs 12 and 17 . the generated screw profile consists of the 4 grooved zones , which correspond with the 4 tip zones of the generating screw profile . the grooved zones of the generated screw profile consist of the circular arcs 1 ′, 12 ′, 17 ′ and 28 ′. the generating screw profile consists of 4 grooved zones . the generated screw profile consists of the 4 tip zones , which correspond with the 4 grooved zones of the generating screw profile . the grooved zones of the generating screw profile consist of the circular arcs 4 , 9 , 20 and 25 . the tip zones of the generated screw profile consist of the circular arcs 4 ′, 9 ′, 20 ′ and 25 ′. in total the number of tip zones of the pair of screw elements according to the invention shown in fig7 is 8 and according to the invention is greater than 4 . the sum of the tip angles of all the tip zones amounts to 4 * 0 . 0419 + 4 * 0 . 1450 = 0 . 7476 and thus only to approx . 0 . 235 times the sum of the tip angles of a pair of screw elements with a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile with a corresponding outer screw radius . a first zone of the generating screw profile , which consists of flank zones and grooved zones and in which the sum of the flank and groove angles is greater than π / 2 , preferably greater than 2 * π / 3 , consists of the circular arcs 2 to 11 . the sum of the flank and groove angles amounts to 2 . 3456 and is greater than 2 * π / 3 . a second zone of the generating screw profile , which consists of flank zones and grooved zones and in which the sum of the flank and groove angles is greater than π / 2 , preferably greater than 2 * π / 3 , consists of the circular arcs 18 to 27 . the sum of the flank and groove angles amounts to 2 . 3456 and is greater than 2 * π / 3 . a first zone of the generated screw profile , which consists of flank zones and grooved zones and in which the sum of the flank and groove angles is greater than π / 2 , preferably greater than 2 * π / 3 , consists of the circular arcs 10 ′ to 19 ′. the sum of the flank and groove angles amounts to 2 . 1709 and is greater than 2 * π / 3 . a second zone of the generated screw profile , which consists of flank zones and grooved zones and in which the sum of the flank and groove angles is greater than π / 2 , preferably greater than 2 * π / 3 , consists of the circular arcs 26 ′ to 32 ′ and 1 ′ to 3 ′. the sum of the flank and groove angles amounts to 2 . 5199 and is greater than 2 * π / 3 . a screw profile of a screw element according to the invention may clearly be obtained according to fig7 inter alia in the following way : the flank zone and grooved zone of a first quarter of a ( symmetrical ) screw profile is mirrored at the y axis . the flank zone and grooved zone of a second quarter of a ( symmetrical ) screw profile is mirrored at the y axis and in the range from π to π −[ π / 2 − 2 * arccos ( 0 . 5 * a / ra )] is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise about the point of rotation of the screw profile . the term in the square brackets is equal to the tip angle of a screw element with a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile . in fig7 a flank zone and grooved zone of a first quarter according to fig4 b is selected . the circular arcs 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 of fig7 correspond to the circular arcs 4 , 4 ′, 3 ′, 2 ′ and 1 ′ of fig4 b . the flank zone and grooved zone of a second quarter is based on fig2 a . the circular arcs 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 and 22 correspond to the circular arcs 4 , 4 ′, 3 ′, 2 ′ and 1 ′ of fig2 a . the zones between the two flank zones and grooved zones are completed by a tip zone or by a sequence of tip and flank zones , preferably by a sequence of tip zone — flank zone — tip zone , in such a way that a continuous screw profile is obtained . such zones are hereinafter known as closing zones . the angle between the starting and end points of a closing zone relative to the point of rotation of the screw profile is known as the closing angle . in fig7 a first closing zone , consisting of tip and flank zones , consists of circular arcs 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 and 17 . a second closing zone consists of circular arcs 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 and 1 . rotating a second quarter of a screw profile by more or less than π results in the two closing zones between the two zones consisting of flank zones and grooved zones being unequal in size . rotation proceeds about an angle , such that the closing angle of one of the two closing zones is preferably greater than the 1 . 2 times , particularly preferably greater than 1 . 6 times the tip angle of a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile with a corresponding outer screw radius and most preferably greater than the barrel opening angle , which is calculated by 2 * arccos ( 0 . 5 * a / ra ). in these cases the second of the two closing zones particularly preferably consists of a tip zone , whereby this screw profile consists of a total of 3 tip zones . fig8 : fig8 a and 8 b each show a quarter of a preferred screw profile of a screw element according to the invention , which is made up in each case of 4 circular arcs . in both figures the outer screw radius amounts to ra = 0 . 54 . the maximum dimensionless distance between the circular arc 1 and the outer screw radius is calculated in fig8 a as 0 . 02 and in fig8 b as 0 . 016 . the tip zone is provided in both figures by the circular arc 2 , which lies in each case on the outer screw radius . the tip angle α — 2 is in each case equal to 0 . the grooved zone is provided in each case by the contact point of the circular arc 2 ′ with the core radius . the contact point is equal to the point of intersection of the circular arc 2 ′ with a straight line , which is determined by the centre point of the circular arc 2 ′ and the point of rotation of the screw profile ( coordinate origin ). the groove angle is in each case equal to 0 . the sum of the tip angles of all the tip zones for a pair of screw elements according to the invention amounts for fig8 a and 8 b in each case to 0 . half of a zone , which consists of flank zones and grooved zones , is provided in each case by the circular arcs 2 , 2 ′ and 1 ′. such zones are hereinafter known as channel zones . the angle between the starting and end points of a channel zone relative to the point of rotation of the screw profile is known as the channel angle . half of a closing zone is provided by circular arcs 1 and 2 . circular arc 2 belongs both to the closing zone and to the channel zone . division of the angle of the circular arc 2 into the closing zone and the channel zone proceeds in that the circular arc 2 is imagined as a circular arc with radius eps ( eps & lt ;& lt ; 1 , eps → 0 ) and this circular arc intersects with a straight line which is provided by the centre point of the circular arc 2 and the point of rotation of the screw profile . the part of the circular arc 2 , and thus the part of the angle of the circular arc 2 which lies under the point of intersection , belongs to the closing zone , the other part belonging to the channel zone . the straight line which passes through the centre point of the circular arc 2 and through the point of rotation of the screw profile has in both figures in each case the lead angle arctan ( my — 2 / mx — 2 )= 0 . 3980 . the sum angle of the entire channel zone amounts in each case to π − 2 * lead angle = 2 . 3456 and is in each case greater than 2 * π / 3 . a characteristic feature of fig8 a and 8 b is that the tip zone and the grooved zone are provided in each case by a point on the outer screw radius or the core radius . at the point of contact with the outer screw radius , the screw profiles comprise a kink , i . e . the circular arc 2 in each case has the radius 0 . fig9 : fig9 a and 9 b each show a quarter of a further preferred screw profile of a screw element according to the invention , which is made up in each case of 4 circular arcs . in both figures the outer screw radius amounts to ra = 0 . 54 . the maximum dimensionless distance between the circular arc 1 and the outer screw radius is calculated in fig9 a as 0 . 0148 and in fig9 b as 0 . 0122 . the tip zone is provided in both figures by the circular arc 2 , which lies in each case on the outer screw radius . the contact point is equal to the point of intersection of the circular arc 2 with a straight line , which is determined by the centre point of the circular arc 2 and the point of rotation of the screw profile ( coordinate origin ). the tip angle is in each case equal to 0 . the grooved zone is provided in each case by the contact point of the circular arc 2 ′ with the core radius . the contact point is equal to the point of intersection of the circular arc 2 ′ with a straight line , which is determined by the centre point of the circular arc 2 ′ and the point of rotation of the screw profile ( coordinate origin ). the groove angle is in each case equal to 0 . the sum of the tip angles of all the tip zones for a pair of screw elements according to the invention amounts for fig9 a and 9 b in each case to 0 . half of a channel zone is provided in each case by part of the circular arc 2 and the circular arcs 2 ′ and 1 ′. the straight line which passes through the centre point of the circular arc 2 and through the point of rotation of the screw profile has in fig9 a the lead angle arctan ( my — 2 / mx — 2 )= 0 . 3597 and in fig9 b the lead angle 0 . 3610 . the sum angle of the entire channel zone amounts in fig9 a to π − 2 * lead angle = 2 . 4223 and in fig9 b to 2 . 4195 and is in each case greater than 2 * π / 3 . a characteristic feature of fig9 a and 9 b is that the tip zone and the grooved zone are provided in each case by a point on the outer screw radius or the core radius . at the point of contact with the outer screw radius , the screw profiles do not comprise a kink , i . e . the circular arc 2 in each case has a radius greater than 0 . the circular arc 2 is thus at a tangent to the outer screw radius . fig1 : fig1 a and 10 b show further preferred screw profiles of screw elements according to the invention , of which the sum of the tip angles of all the tip zones is equal to 0 . the figures are constructed as in fig7 , where a detailed explanation has already been provided . the outer screw radius amounts in fig1 a to ra = 0 . 54 and in fig1 b to ra = 0 . 63 . the tip zones of the left - hand screw profile , the generating screw profile , consist in each case of the circular arcs 2 , 7 , 10 and 15 . the tip zones of the right - hand screw profile , the generated screw profile , consist of the circular arcs 3 ′, 6 ′, 11 ′ and 14 ′. fig1 b shows the peculiar feature that the circular arcs 3 ′ to 6 ′ and 11 ′ to 14 ′ coincide and the generated screw profile comprises only two tip zones and the pair of screw elements comprises overall only six tip zones . a first channel zone of the generating screw profile is provided in each case by the circular arcs 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 and 7 . a second channel zone of the generating screw profile is provided in each case by the circular arcs 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 and 15 . a first closing zone between the two channel zones of the generating screw profile is provided by the circular arcs 7 , 8 , 9 and 10 . a second closing zone between the two channel zones of the generating screw profile is provided by the circular arcs 15 , 16 , 1 and 2 . the circular arcs 2 , 7 , 10 and 15 belong in each case both to the channel zone and to the closing zone . subdivision of the angle of these circular arcs into the channel and closing zones has already been explained in fig8 . the closing angles of the two closing zones of the generating screw profile amount in fig1 a in each case to 0 . 9600 . the closing angle of the closing zone thus amounts to approx . 1 . 206 times the tip angle of a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile with a corresponding outer screw radius . the closing angles of the two closing zones of the generating screw profile amount in fig1 b in each case to 0 . 5257 . the closing angle of the closing zone thus amounts to approx . 2 . 000 times the tip angle of a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile with a corresponding outer screw radius . the two closing angles of the closing zones of a screw profile of a pair of screw elements according to the invention are preferably in each case greater than 1 . 2 times , particularly preferably in each case greater than 1 . 6 times the tip angle of a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile with a corresponding outer screw radius . in these cases the closing zones of the corresponding screw profile preferably consist of a tip zone . the figures show screw profiles with a screw radius of 0 . 52 , 0 . 54 , 0 . 56 , 0 . 58 and 0 . 63 . the outer screw radius is in no way limited to the values shown . instead , the screw radius is preferably in the range from 0 . 51 to 0 . 66 and particularly preferably in the range from 0 . 52 to 0 . 575 . the figures show screw profiles in which a quarter of a screw profile consists of 4 or 8 circular arcs or in which a complete screw profile consists of 16 or 32 circular arcs . the number of circular arcs is in no way limited to the values shown . instead , a quarter of a screw profile consists of at least 2 circular arcs and a complete screw profile of at least 6 circular arcs . there is no upper limit to the number of circular arcs of which a screw profile or a part of a screw profile consists . it has surprisingly been found that screw profiles of a pair of screw elements according to the invention may be generated by a defined sequence of tip zones , flank zones and grooved zones . the present invention therefore provides novel screw elements for multi - screw extruders , characterized in that a generating and a generated screw profile display a sequence of channel zone — closing zone — channel zone — closing zone . channel zone is understood to mean a sequence of flank zones and grooved zones , preferably a sequence of flank zone — grooved zone — flank zone — grooved zone — flank zone , particularly preferably a sequence of flank zone — grooved zone — flank zone . closing zone is understood to mean a tip zone or preferably a sequence of tip and flank zones , particularly preferably a sequence of tip zone — flank zone — tip zone . all the screw profiles shown in the figures may be subdivided into a sequence of channel zone — closing zone — channel zone — closing zone . fig1 to 13 show the generating and generated screw profile inside a figure - of - eight - shaped screw barrel . inside the two screw profiles numerical values are given for the following screw variables : rg : radius of the two barrel bores rv : virtual barrel radius , which is less than or equal to the barrel radius rg ra : outer screw radius of the closely intermeshing , self - cleaning screw profiles rf : outer screw radius of the screw profiles to be manufactured s : clearance between the two screw profiles to be manufactured d : clearance between the screw profiles to be manufactured and the barrel t : pitch of a conveying , mixing or transition element vpr : magnitude of the displacement of the smooth , closely intermeshing , self - cleaning screw profiles , if they are arranged eccentrically vpw : angle of displacement ( indication of direction ) of the smooth , closely intermeshing , self - cleaning screw profiles , if they are arranged eccentrically vlr : magnitude of the displacement of the screw profile to be manufactured of the left - hand screw within the clearances vlw : angle of displacement of the screw profile to be manufactured of the left - hand screw within the clearances vrr : magnitude of the displacement of the screw profile to be manufactured of the right - hand screw within the clearances vrw : angle of displacement of the screw profile to be manufactured of the right - hand screw within the clearances . the screw barrel , which is obtained from two mutually interpenetrating bores with in each case the radius rg and the distance a = 1 , is illustrated by a thin , dashed line . where the two barrel bores interpenetrate , the two bores are distinguished by thin , dotted lines . the centre points of the two barrel bores are identical to the two points of rotation of the screw profiles and are distinguished in each case by a small circle . the closely intermeshing , self - cleaning screw profiles are distinguished by a thick , continuous line . the screw profiles in manufacture are illustrated by a thin , continuous line . it is known to a person skilled in the art that the following relationship applies between the outer screw radius ra of the closely intermeshing , self - cleaning screw profile , the virtual barrel radius rv , the clearance s between the two screw profiles to be manufactured and the clearance d between the screw profiles to be manufactured and the screw barrel : ra = rv − d + s / 2 . it is further known to a person skilled in the art that the following relationship applies between the outer screw radius rf of the screw profile to be manufactured , the virtual barrel radius rv and the clearance d between the screw profiles to be manufactured and the screw barrel : rf = rv − d . typically the virtual barrel radius rv is equal to the stated barrel radius rg . if the virtual barrel radius rv is selected to be smaller than the barrel radius rg , an additional clearance arises between the screw profiles and the barrel . this clearance may be used to displace the generating and the generated screw profile eccentrically while maintaining self - cleaning . the eccentricity is unambiguously characterized by the magnitude of the displacement vpr and the direction of displacement in the form of an angle vpw . fig1 : fig1 a to 11 c show preferred embodiments of eccentric positioning of the screw profiles of screw elements according to the invention . the screw profile in fig1 a to 11 c is based on fig2 a . the virtual barrel radius amounts to rv = 0 . 54 and is less than the barrel radius rg ( rg = 0 . 55 ). the further geometric parameters may be taken from the individual figures . the screw profiles have each been displaced to such an extent in fig1 a to 11 b that exactly one point of the right - hand screw profile and no point of the left - hand screw profile touches the barrel . the magnitude of the displacement needed for this purpose depends on the direction of displacement . fig1 c shows a special case , in which the screw profiles are displaced in magnitude and direction to such a degree that both screw profiles touch the barrel at precisely one point . the displacement here proceeds at an angle of π / 4 . further eccentric positionings of the screw profiles may be selected , in which no point of the screw profiles touches the barrel . fig1 : as is known to a person skilled in the art , in practice all screw elements need a degree of clearance , both relative to one another and relative to the barrel . fig1 a to 12 d show different clearance strategies . the geometric parameters may be taken from the individual figures . fig1 a shows a clearance strategy in which the clearance between the screw profiles to be manufactured and between the screw profiles to be manufactured and the barrel is of equal size . fig1 b shows a clearance strategy in which the clearance between the screw profiles to be manufactured is smaller than the clearance between the screw profiles to be manufactured and the barrel . fig1 c shows a clearance strategy in which the clearance between the screw profiles to be manufactured is larger than the clearance between the screw profiles to be manufactured and the barrel . fig1 d shows a further embodiment according to fig1 c with particularly large clearances . for the clearance between the screw profiles to be manufactured , typical clearances occurring in practice lie in the range from 0 . 002 to 0 . 1 . for the clearance between the screw profiles to be manufactured and the barrel , typical clearances occurring in practice lie in the range from 0 . 002 to 0 . 1 . typical clearances occurring in practice are constant over the circumference of the screw profile . it is however admissible to vary both the clearance between the screw profiles to be manufactured and the clearance between the screw profiles to be manufactured and the barrel over the circumference of the screw profiles . fig1 : it is additionally possible to displace the screw profiles to be manufactured within the clearances . fig1 a to 13 d show a selection of possible displacements . the geometric parameters may be taken from the individual figures . in fig1 a to 13 d the magnitude of the displacement for in each case both screw profiles to be manufactured amounts to vlr = vrr = 0 . 02 . in fig1 a to 13 d the direction of displacement for in each case both screw profiles to be manufactured varies stepwise between vlw = vrw = 0 and vlw = vrw = π / 2 . it is admissible to displace the two screw profiles to be manufactured mutually independently in different directions and by different amounts . fig1 a shows by way of example a pair of screw elements according to the invention , configured as conveying elements , whose screw profile is based on fig2 a . the barrel radius amounts to rg = 0 . 54 . the clearance between the two conveying elements amounts to s = 0 . 02 . the clearance between the two conveying elements and the barrel amounts to d = 0 . 01 . the pitch of the conveying elements amounts to t = 1 . 2 . the length of the conveying elements amounts to 1 . 2 , which corresponds to rotation of the screw profiles by an angle of 2π . the barrel is illustrated by thin , continuous lines to the left and right of the two conveying elements . a possible computational grid is further illustrated on the surfaces of the two conveying elements , which grid may be used for calculating flow in twin - and multi - screw extruders . fig1 b shows by way of example a pair of screw elements according to the invention , configured as kneading elements , whose screw profile is based on fig2 a . the barrel radius amounts to rg = 0 . 54 . the clearance between the kneading discs of the two kneading elements amounts to s = 0 . 02 . the clearance between the kneading discs of the two kneading elements and the barrel amounts to d = 0 . 01 . the kneading element consists of 7 kneading discs , which are in each case offset right - handedly by an angle of π / 6 relative to one another . the first and last kneading discs have a length of 0 . 09 . the middle kneading discs have a length of 0 . 18 . the groove between the kneading discs has a length of 0 . 02 . the barrel is shown by thin , continuous lines to the left and right of the two kneading elements . a possible computational grid is further illustrated on the surfaces of the two kneading elements , which grid may be used for calculating flow in twin - and multi - screw extruders . the pressure build - up capacity and power requirement of screw elements with a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile according to the prior art and of screw elements according to the invention with novel screw profiles were calculated with the assistance of flow simulation . as is known to a person skilled in the art and as is to be found in kohlgrüber on pages 129 to 146 , the operating behaviour of screw elements such as conveying , kneading and mixing elements may be described by a pressure differential / throughput and a power / throughput characteristic . to simplify transferability to different extruder sizes , the variables pressure differential , power and throughput are used in their dimensionless forms . in the case of a plastic composition with newtonian flow behaviour there is a linear relationship both between pressure differential and throughput and between power and throughput . in the pressure difference / throughput characteristic , the intersection points of the axes are labelled a 1 and a 2 ( kohlgrüber , page 133 ). the operating point a 1 denotes the inherent throughput of a screw element . the operating point a 2 denotes the pressure build - up capacity without throughput . in the power / throughput characteristic the intersection points of the axes are labelled b 1 and b 2 ( kohlgrüber , page 136 ). point b 1 is the “ turbine point ”. if the throughput is greater than b 1 , power is output to the screws . operating point b 2 denotes the power requirement without throughput . in a pressure build - up zone only some of the power introduced may be converted into flow power . the remainder of the introduced power dissipates . flow power is calculated as the product of throughput and pressure differential . as a person skilled in the art will readily recognize , the flow power at the intersection points a1 and a2 of the axes is in each case equal to 0 , since either the pressure differential is equal to 0 ( a1 ) or the throughput is equal to 0 ( a2 ). in the zone between a1 and a2 both the pressure differential and the throughput are greater than 0 , resulting in a positive flow power . if the flow power of an operating point provided by a throughput is divided by the power output by the screws at this operating point , the pressure build - up efficiency at this operating point is obtained . by deriving efficiency on the basis of throughput and subsequent root finding , the maximum efficiency of a screw element may be found . the flow inside a pair of screw elements was carried out using the commercially available software package fluent , version 6 . 3 . 26 . an introduction to flow simulation of twin - screw extruders may be found for example in [ 1 , pages 147 - 168 ]. flow simulation was carried out in each case by investigating using screw elements whose length is equal half the pitch . during flow simulation , these screw elements were provided at their axial start and their axial end with periodic constraints , in order to calculate a hydrodynamically established flow state . a fluid with newtonian flow behaviour was used as the plastic composition . conveying element with double - flighted erdmenger screw profile according to the prior art the geometry of the conveying element may be inferred from fig1 and the descriptions relating to fig1 . in contrast to the computational grids shown in fig1 b and 1 c , a computational grid is used for flow simulation which in each direction comprises twice as many computational cells , i . e . 320 grid elements in the circumferential direction , 160 grid elements in the axial direction and 12 grid elements in the radial direction . the axial portions were calculated as follows : a1 = 0 . 1365 , a2 = 18917 , b1 = 0 . 4273 , b2 = 8084 . maximum efficiency during pressure build - up is determined as 9 . 59 %. the geometry of the conveying element according to the invention is clear from fig1 . fig1 a shows a quarter of a preferred screw profile of a screw element according to the invention , which is made up of 8 circular arcs . the dimensionless outer screw radius amounts to ra = 0 . 54 . the radius r — 1 is equal to 0 . 7647 . the maximum dimensionless distance of the circular arc 1 from the outer screw radius is calculated as 0 . 008 . the tip zone is provided by the circular arc 3 , which lies on the outer screw radius . the tip angle α — 3 is equal to 0 . 0839 . the grooved zone is determined by the circular arc 3 ′, which lies on the core radius . the groove angle α — 3 ′ is equal to 0 . 0839 . the sum of the tip angles of all the tip zones for a pair of screw elements according to the invention amounts to 8 * 0 . 0839 = 0 . 6712 and thus only approx . 0 . 211 times the sum of the tip angles of a pair of screw elements with a double - flighted erdmenger screw profile . fig1 b shows a pair of screw elements , configured as conveying elements , whose screw profile is based on fig1 a . the clearance between the two conveying elements amounts to s = 0 . 008 . the clearance between the two conveying elements and the barrel amounts to d = 0 . 004 . the pitch of the conveying elements amounts to t = 1 . 08 . the length of the conveying elements amounts to 0 . 54 , which corresponds to rotation of the screw profiles about an angle of π . the barrel is illustrated by thin , continuous lines to the left and right of the two conveying elements . a possible computational grid is further illustrated on the surfaces of the two conveying elements , which grid may be used for calculating flow in twin - and multi - screw extruders . the number of grid elements is equal to 160 in the circumferential direction and equal to 80 in the axial direction . fig1 c shows a plan view of the pair of screw elements according to fig1 b . the free volume between the conveying elements and the barrel is provided with a possible computational grid , which may be used for calculating flow in twin - and multi - screw extruders . the number of grid elements is equal to 160 in the circumferential direction and equal to 6 in the radial direction . the axes of rotation of the two screw elements are labelled by small circles . in contrast to the computational grids shown in fig1 b and 15 c , a computational grid is used for flow simulation which in each direction comprises twice as many computational cells , i . e . 320 grid elements in the circumferential direction , 160 grid elements in the axial direction and 12 grid elements in the radial direction . the axial portions were calculated as follows : a1 = 0 . 1324 , a2 = 18721 , b1 = 0 . 3436 , b2 = 6434 . maximum efficiency during pressure build - up is determined as 12 . 11 %. inherent throughput a1 and pressure build - up capacity a2 correspond to within approx . 1 % or 2 % with the results of example 1 . the values for the turbine point b1 and the power requirement b2 are approx . 20 % smaller compared with example 1 . the result for the screw elements according to the invention compared with the screw elements according to the prior art is an improvement in pressure build - up efficiency of approx . 26 . 2 %. with the screw elements according to the invention , screw elements are provided which are more efficient than screw elements according to the prior art . at the same time , as a result of their reduced tip zone , the screw elements according to the invention expose the product to less thermal stress than do screw elements according to the prior art .	8
fig1 shows the longitudinal section through the pump element of a device for injection fuel . a roller tappet 1 is received in the pump element 3 , which is embodied substantially rotationally symmetrically . a pump piston 4 protruding into a pressure chamber 5 is received on the upper end of the tappet , and an actuating device in the form of a roller 25 is received on its lower end . the lower part , receiving the actuating device 25 , is prestressed via a spring 2 . the tang 24 is supported in the lower part of the roller tappet 1 ; it is supplied with lubricant via a bore 26 and is retained in the lower part of the roller tappet 1 by means of a pin assembly 27 . in the upper part of the device for injecting fuel , which is embodied as a single - cylinder pump unit , the control element 8 , actuatable by a magnetic actuator 6 , is built in transversely to the axis of symmetry of the pump element 3 . the magnetic actuator 6 — preferably embodied as a fast - switching magnet valve , is triggered via a control unit 15 . in the region of the control element disposed transversely to the axis of symmetry of the pump element 3 , a fuel inlet 21 discharges into a hollow space , which receives an energy - storing means , between the magnetic actuator 6 and the control element 8 . discharging into the region of the sleeve 12 surrounding the control element 8 are both a bore 23 , extending from the pressure chamber 5 in the pump element 3 , coaxial to the line of symmetry of the pump element 3 , and a high - pressure - side bore 19 extending to the injection nozzle 14 . the orifice of the high - pressure - side bore 19 discharges somewhat offset from the bore 23 . the variant embodiment shown in fig1 involves a pump - line - nozzle system , in which a line 13 is connected between the pump element 3 and the injection nozzle 14 . in other variant embodiments , the injection nozzle 14 can also be secured directly to the pump element 3 , without the interposition of a line ; however , this option is not shown here . an outlet bore 22 is provided in the region of the low - pressure end of the control element 8 , and from it excess fuel out of the pump element 3 can be pumped back into the supply tank via a return line . fig2 shows a longitudinal section through a control element , which is received in the pump element and coordinates the injection events that are to be executed . the control element 8 comprises two joined - together parts , that is , an outer part 8 . 1 and an inner part 8 . 2 . it is surrounded by a sleeve 12 that is let into the pump housing of the pump element 3 , preferably being shrunk fit into it . annular chambers 31 are let into the sleeve 12 , which by comparison with the material comprising the pump element 3 is of higher - grade material , and the bore 23 on the pressure chamber side and the bore 19 on the nozzle inlet side discharge respectively into these annular chambers . the orifices of the bores 19 and 23 are each offset from one another in the region of the sleeve 12 . hollow spaces are provided on both sides of the sleeve 12 that surrounds the control element 8 , and in each of these spaces a respective spring means 10 and 11 is received , which acts on a respective face end of the control element 8 . the spring means 10 , 11 , preferably embodied as spring elements , are dimensioned such that the spring force of the spring means 10 on the magnetic actuator side is dimensioned to be greater than that of the force of the energy - storing means 11 placed on the low - pressure side . the spring means 10 , preferably embodied as a helical spring , surrounds a narrowed region on the control element 8 , in which region the control element is connected to the magnet 7 of the magnetic actuator 6 . located on the low - pressure end of the control element 8 is a spring stop 29 , which is screwed to a base with a sleevelike component 9 let into it . the spring means 11 , likewise preferably embodied as a helical spring , is received between the face end of the sleeve 9 remote from the control element 8 and a cup - shaped insert of the spring stop 29 . the return line 22 of fig1 through which excess fuel is returned to the supply tank , discharges between the sleeve 12 and the walls of the bore of the pump element 3 which receives the sleeve 12 surrounding the control element . for the sake of sealing off the low - pressure region of the control element 8 , a sealing element 28 is let into an annular recess in the base . the control edge 17 , which seals off the low - pressure chamber 18 , is embodied on the inner part 8 . 2 of the control element 8 . the control edge 16 , which connects the high - pressure - side bores 19 and 23 to one another , is located on the outer part 8 . 1 of the control element 8 . the configuration of the control edge 16 on the outer part 8 . 1 of the control element 8 is shown in detail on larger scale in fig3 . fig3 is an enlarged view of the pressure stage on the control element in the region of the high - pressure inlet to the injection nozzle 14 . in the region of the control edge 16 on the control element 8 , which cooperates with the annular chambers 31 of the sleeve 12 of the pump element 3 , a pressure stage 8 a is embodied in the form of a diameter narrowing . this diameter narrowing is in the range between 0 . 05 mm and 0 . 2 mm where the pressure stage 8 a is embodied with a lesser diameter , compared with the adjoining diameter region of the control element 8 . the mode of operation of the single - cylinder pump unit described in conjunction with fig1 - 3 is as follows : via the inlet line 21 , the hollow space toward the magnetic actuator , which space receives the spring means 10 , an aspiration of fuel occurs upon the downward motion of the pump piston 4 ; the pressure chamber 5 slowly fills with fuel . to that end , the magnetic actuator 6 is suitably supplied with current via the control unit 15 , and the control element 8 is in the open position . if the pump piston 4 moves from bottom dead center 35 in the direction of its top dead center 36 , the control element 8 is moved to its closed position . during the upward motion , there is no current to the magnetic actuator 6 ; the two spring means 10 , 11 acting on the control element 8 , with spring 10 being stronger than spring 11 , keep the control element 8 in its closed position ; the control edge 16 prevents the bores 19 and 23 on the high - pressure side in the pump element 3 from being put into communication with one another . the fuel pressure in the pressure chamber 5 increases upon the motion of the roller tappet 1 as a function of the stroke of the pump piston 4 , as long as the control element 8 remains in its position that closes the inlet bore 19 to the bore 23 . as long as there is no current to the magnetic actuator 6 , the closing force is imposed only by the spring means 10 on the magnetic actuator side . the supply onset occurs when current is delivered to the magnetic actuator 6 and the control element 8 moves toward the magnetic actuator , and thus the low - pressure chamber 18 is closed against the entrance of fuel at its seat face 17 . simultaneously , the control edges 16 , 32 open , so that fuel at high pressure flows from the bore 23 into the annular chamber 31 , along the pressure stage 8 a provided on the control element 8 in the region of the control edge 16 . the fuel flows into the bore 19 leading to the injection nozzle 14 . depending on the onset of triggering of the control element 8 by the magnetic actuator 6 , the course of injection pressure can be varied by the motion of the pump piston 4 during the upward motion in the direction of top dead center 36 . influence can be exerted on the course of the injection pressure , for instance via a suitable shaping of the various cams on which the actuating devices 25 embodied as roller bodies roll , received on the lower end of the roller tappet 1 . as long as the holding current 42 stays at a first , higher level , the control element 8 closes off the annular chambers 31 by contact of the control edge 16 . conversely , if by means of the control unit that operates the magnetic actuator 6 the holding current is lowered to a lower level 43 , a force equilibrium ensues at the control element 8 . the force generated by the magnetic actuator 6 and the spring force of the spring means 11 are in equilibrium with the spring means 10 on the magnet valve side . as a result , the control element 8 assumes an intermediate position halfway along the stroke length in the sleeve 12 , in which position both control edges 16 and 17 are each open , as shown in fig7 . in this position of the control element 8 , the communication between the pressure chamber 5 of the pump element 3 , the communication with the injection nozzle 14 via the line 19 , and the opening of the low - pressure chamber 18 remain open . the result is a rapid drop in pressure , so that the injection event is quickly ended . fig4 shows the current course of the magnetic actuator , plotted over the travel of the pump piston from bottom dead center to top dead center and back to bottom dead center again . during the upward - oriented stroke motion of the pump piston 4 from bottom dead center 35 to top dead center 36 , a lower - level holding current 43 is initially established at the control unit 15 ; the holding current value 43 remains set until the desired pressure buildup is desired . depending on the required pressure buildup , the control edge 16 is closed during the pressure buildup phase , so that the triggering pulse can be effected depending on the desired pressure level within the pressure control range 33 — indicated by the dashed line . the holding current spike and the holding current 42 leveling out at a holding current level 42 cause the control element 8 to move as shown in fig5 from control edge 16 to control edge 17 . the regions 38 along the stroke course 37 of the control element define transitional regions within which the times of control element motion and thus the quantity of fuel to be injected can be varied . while the holding current 42 is maintained , the control edge 17 is closed toward the low - pressure chamber 18 , and the injection can take place through the opened control edge 16 into the bore 19 that acts on the injection nozzle 14 . depending on the duration of the holding current 42 during the injection quantity control region 34 , or in other words depending on the time when the holding current level 42 drops to the level 43 , a compensatory motion of the control element 8 takes place in such a way that as shown in fig5 the control element assumes a middle position between the control edges 16 and 17 and short - circuits the pressure chamber 5 to the low - pressure chamber 18 , causing a rapid drop in the built - up pressure . a comparison of the course over time of the current changes and positional changes of the control element 8 within the sleeve 12 shows that the suitably metered injection quantity is attained before the pump piston 4 reaches top dead center 36 . fig6 shows the course of the parameters comprising the holding current , control element stroke travel and injection course , plotted over the pump piston travel from bottom dead center to top dead center and vice versa . the top two graphs substantially correspond to what is shown for fig4 and 5 , already described , while the lowermost graph shows the injection course of the fuel quantity , plotted over the stroke travel of the pump piston from bottom dead center 35 to top dead center 36 and vice versa . the various regions shown in dashed lines mark the regions where a chronological variability in the injection event is possible by changing the holding currents at the magnetic actuator 6 via the control unit 15 . by means of the proposed triggering , all the injection parameters for optimizing combustion , whether they are the injection quantity , injection onset , injection pressure , or course of injection pressure , can be controlled electronically during the injection phase , and the embodiment selected definitively enhances system safety . for instance , if the magnetic actuator 6 remains without current , then because the spring means is more strongly dimensioned , the control edge 16 of the control element 8 is always located on its seat face and closes the inlet to the high - pressure - side bore 19 to the injection nozzle 14 , and as a result , filling of the pump is not made possible , and the system cannot execute any injection event . if the control element 8 becomes mechanically wedged in its open position inside the sleeve 12 of the pump element 3 , only a delayed filling of the pressure chamber 5 occurs , and the low - pressure chamber 18 communicates constantly with the pressure chamber 5 , and inflowing high - pressure fuel flows out to the low - pressure region 18 via the short circuit , so that an excess quantity of fuel does not attain injection . a power failure at the magnetic actuator 6 during pumping is provided for by embodying a pressure stage 8 a on the circumference of the control element ; this pressure stage has a diameter reduction of 0 . 05 mm to 0 . 2 mm , compared with the control element diameter . the pressure stage 8 a and the spring means 10 on the magnet valve side both function as a safety valve for the pressure chamber 5 , in such a way that at this valve , the maximum system pressure the maximum allowable load of the roller tappet 1 can be set , so that if this critical pressure is exceeded , the control chamber 18 on the low - pressure side is automatically opened , so that the fuel can flow into the low - pressure region without causing any damage . the foregoing relates to preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention , it being understood that other variants and embodiments thereof are possible within the spirit and scope of the invention , the latter being defined by the appended claims .	5
a preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be set forth in detail with reference to the drawings . mh - trace is organized around super frames with duration t sf matched to the periodic rate of voice packets . as shown in fig1 , each super frame 102 consists of n f frames 104 , each having a duration t f . the frame format is presented in fig2 . each frame 104 consists of two sub - frames : a control sub - frame 202 and a data sub - frame 204 . the control sub - frame 202 consists of a beacon slot 206 , a clusterhead announcement ( ca ) slot 208 , a contention slot 210 , a header slot 212 and an information summarization ( is ) slot 214 . at the beginning of each occupied frame , the clusterhead transmits a beacon message . this is used to announce the existence and continuation of the cluster to the cluster members and the other nodes in the transmit range of the clusterhead . by listening to the beacon and ca packets , all the nodes in the carrier sense range of this clusterhead update their interference level table . the contention slot , which immediately follows the ca slot , consists of n c sub - slots . upon hearing the beacon , each node that has data to send but did not reserve a data slot in the previous cyclic frame , randomly chooses a sub - slot to transmit its request . if the contention is successful ( i . e ., no collisions ), the clusterhead grants a data slot to the contending node . following the contention subslot , the clusterhead sends the header , which includes the data transmission schedule of the current frame . the transmission schedule is a list of nodes that have been granted data slots in the current frame , along with their data slot numbers . a contending node that does not hear its id in the schedule understands that its contention was unsuccessful ( i . e ., a collision occurred or all the data slots are already in use ) and contends again in the following frame . if the waiting time for a voice packet during contention for channel access exceeds the threshold , t drop , it is dropped . the is slot begins just after the header slot and consists of n d sub - slots . nodes that are scheduled to transmit in the data sub - frame transmit a short is message exactly in the same order as specified by the data transmission schedule . an is message has an end - of - stream bit , which is set to one if the node has no data to send . each receiving node records the received power level of the transmitting node and inserts this information into its is table . the is info table is used as a proximity metric for the nodes ( i . e ., the higher the received power , the shorter the distance between transmitter and receiver nodes ). nodes that are not members of this cluster also listen to the is slot and record the received power level . each node creates its own listening cluster by selecting the top n max transmissions that are the closest transmitters to the node . note that other methods of deciding which nodes to listen to can be used within the trace framework by changing what data nodes send in the is slot . each node does not necessarily need to listen to a predetermined number of closest nodes — this can be chosen dynamically based on what data is being transmitted . furthermore , the receive clusters can be based on information besides proximity . for example , if each node sends information about the data packet in the is slot , nodes can choose their listening clusters based on whether or not they want to receive the packet described in the is slot . priority information can be transmitted in the is slot as well , so nodes know to always listen to high priority data . hence the network is softly partitioned into many virtual clusters based on the receivers ; this is fundamentally different from transmitter based network partitioning . the data sub - frame is broken into constant length data slots . nodes listed in the schedule in the header transmit their data packets at their reserved data slots . each node listens to at most n max data transmissions in a single super frame ; therefore , each node is on for at most n max data slots . a node keeps a data slot once it is scheduled for transmission as long as it has data to send . a node that sets its end - of - stream bit ( in the is packet ) to one because it has no more data to send will not be granted channel access in the next frame ( i . e ., it should contend to get a data slot once it has new data to send ). automatic renewal of data slot reservation enables real - time data streams to be uninterrupted . fig3 shows a flow chart of a cluster creation algorithm . at the initial startup stage of step 302 , a node listens to the medium in step 304 to detect any ongoing transmissions for the duration of one super frame time , t sf , to create its interference table in step 306 for each frame within the super frame . if there is already a clusterhead in its receive range , as determined in step 308 , the node starts its normal operation . if it is determined in step 310 that more than one beacon is heard , the node that sent the beacon with higher received power is chosen as the clusterhead in step 312 ( i . e ., the closest clusterhead is chosen ). either way , the node joins a cluster in step 314 . if no beacon is detected in step 308 , then the node checks the interference level of the least noisy frame in step 316 to see if the interference level is low enough to create a new cluster . if the interference level is low enough to create a new cluster , then the node picks a random time or the least noisy frame to transmit its own beacon signal in step 318 , starts its contention timer in step 320 , and begins to listen to the channel until its contention timer expires . if it is determined in step 322 that a beacon is heard in this period , then the node just stops its timer and starts normal operation ; that is , it waits for a header in step 324 and joins the cluster in step 326 . otherwise , when the timer expires , the node sends the beacon in step 328 and assumes the clusterhead position . it is determined in step 330 whether a beacon or a header is heard . if a header is received , the node joins a cluster in step 336 . if a beacon is heard , the node goes to step 324 . if neither a beacon nor a header is heard , the node sends a header in step 332 and creates a cluster in step 334 . in case there is a beacon collision , none of the colliding nodes will know it , but the other nodes hear the collision , so the initial setup continues . all the previously collided nodes , and the nodes that could not detect the collision ( s ) because of capture , will learn of the collisions with the first successful header transmission . finally , if it is determined in step 316 that the node does not hear any beacons but the interference level is higher than the maximum level to start a new cluster , then the node is blocked from any transmissions . however , it can still receive all the packets in its receive range . the node listens for a time , e . g ., equal to twice the superframe time in step 336 and then goes back to step 308 . the reason for node blocking is that if a new cluster centered at the high interference region is created , then packet transmissions from the multiple clusters transmitting at the same time frame will collide at some locations with high probability . thus , blocking new cluster creation is preferable over letting new clusters be formed with very high interference . furthermore , if nodes are mobile , a blocking situation will only be temporary , and the node will be able to transmit data as soon as either it moves into range of an existing clusterhead or it moves far enough away from existing clusterheads that the node can start a new cluster without interfering with existing clusters . each clusterhead continuously records the interference level of each frame by listening to the beacon transmission and ca transmission slots , which are at the beginning of each frame . since only the clusterheads are allowed to transmit in these slots , it is possible for each clusterhead to measure the received power level from other clusterheads and know the approximate distances to other clusterheads in the carrier sense range . a clusterhead can record the interference level of each frame by listening to the beacon slot , but the beacon slot becomes useless for a clusterhead &# 39 ; s own frame , because it is transmitting its own beacon . ca transmission is used to determine the interference level of the co - frame clusters ( i . e ., clusters that have chosen to broadcast over the same frame ). this is done by having each node transmit the ca packet with a probability p ca . if this probability is set to 0 . 5 , then each clusterhead records the interference level in its frame , on the average , at 4t sf time . it is possible to use two consecutive ca slots , which has an average settling time of 2t sf . a cluster maintenance protocol will be explained with reference to the flow chart of fig4 . a clusterhead keeps its frame ( the steady state operation of step 402 ) unless the interference threshold becomes too high ( step 404 or 406 ) or any other clusterhead enters in its receive range ( step 408 ). a cluster leaves a frame with high interference in step 410 and moves to a low interference frame with probability p cf . the reason for adding such randomness is to avoid the simultaneous and unstable frame switching of co - frame clusters , which are the interference source for each other . in case of high interference in all frames , the clusterhead resigns in step 412 with a probability p hi . if this probability is set to 0 . 5 , then the probability that only one of the two clusterheads resigns becomes 0 . 67 . when two clusterheads enter in each other &# 39 ; s receive range , the one who receives the other &# 39 ; s beacon first resigns directly in step 414 . if a node does not receive a beacon packet from its clusterhead for t nb time , either because of mobility of the node or the clusterhead or the failure of the clusterhead , then it enters the initial startup procedure . it is possible that network node distribution is not perfectly uniform or traffic at a specific portion of the network is higher than the other regions , especially at the regions close to the network center where node density is higher . in addition , node distribution changes continuously in time . this creates clusters with few nodes and underutilization of the channel . some nodes are in the transmit range of more than one clusterhead , and they choose to be a member of the cluster with the closer clusterhead . for these nodes , if all the data slots in the cluster that they belong to are in use and another cluster in range has available data slots , they can contend for channel access from the further clusterhead rather than the one that is closer . another option is to select the closest clusterhead that has available data slots . by incorporating this dynamic channel allocation scheme into mh - trace , one more degree of freedom is added to the network dynamics , which reduces the adverse affects of clustering . network - wide multi - hop broadcasting is an operation that drains network resources and leaves the network inoperable very quickly under even moderate traffic . moreover , voice packets with delay limits cannot traverse more than several hops before being dropped . thus , only a selected subset of the data packets is broadcasted to multiple hops in mh - trace . mh - trace supports an optional prioritized operation mode . in this mode , nodes have three pre - assigned priority levels , of which priority level - 1 ( pl1 ) is the highest priority and pl3 is the lowest priority . the highest level has the highest qos ( quality of service ), and the lowest level has the lowest qos . pl1 and pl2 nodes get channel access in all situations . if all the data slots are already in use , reservation for some of the pl3 nodes are taken away and higher priority nodes are granted channel access . all the nodes should listen to data from pl1 nodes , whether or not they are close to the nodes . however not all the nodes that belong to the same cluster can hear each other directly , so the clusterhead which can be heard by all the nodes in the cluster , rebroadcasts packets from pl1 nodes . nodes that can hear more than one clusterhead also forward the pl1 packets they receive , so that other clusterheads can receive these packets . in this way , packets from pl1 nodes will be transmitted to a large number of nodes throughout the network . as an alternative , information can be transmitted between at least two of the clusterheads by way of at least two nodes , one of which is communicating with one cluster and the other of which is communicating with the other cluster , if those at least two nodes are in communication with each other . each node creates its receiver - based listening cluster , which has a maximum of n max members , by choosing the closest nodes based on the proximity information obtained from the received power from the transmissions in the is slots . priority has precedence over proximity ; therefore , transmissions by pl1 nodes are always included in the listening cluster by removing the furthest node in the cluster . to avoid instantaneous changes in the listening clusters and to make them more stable , there is also a continuity rule : a member of the listening cluster cannot be excluded from the listening cluster until it finishes its talk spurt , which is a natural extension in the sense that if a speech stream is broken in the middle , the whole transmission becomes useless . to test the performance of mh - trace , we started conducting simulations using the ns software package . we simulated conversational voice coded at 32 kbps . the channel rate is chosen as 2 mbps . the transport agent used in the simulations is very similar to udp , which provides best effort service . acronyms , descriptions and values of the parameters used in the simulations are presented in table i below . super frame time is 24360 μs , consisting of seven frames ( i . e ., n f = 7 ). frame time , t f , is 3580 μs ; of this 2968 μs is for the data sub - frame , dsf , and 560 μs is for the control sub - frame , csf . there are 9 24 μs duration contention sub - slots , 7 24 μs duration is sub - slots , and 7 424 μs duration data slots . beacon , ca , contention , and is packets are all 4 bytes . the header packet has a variable length of 4 - 18 bytes , consisting of 4 bytes of packet header and 2 bytes of data for each node to be scheduled . data packets are 104 bytes long , consisting of 4 bytes of packet header and 100 bytes of data . each slot or sub - slot includes 8 μsec of guard band ( ifs ) to account for switching time and round - trip time . for voice source modeling , we assume each node has a voice activity detector , which classifies speech into “ spurts ” and “ gaps ” ( i . e ., gaps are the silent moments during a conversation ). during gaps , no data packets are generated , and during spurts , data packets are generated in the rate of the speech coder , which is 32 kbps in our case . both spurts and gaps are exponentially distributed statistically independent random variables , with means m s and m g , respectively . in our simulations and analysis we used the experimentally verified values of m s and m g , which are 1 . 0 s and 1 . 35 s , respectively . we used the energy model , where transmit power consists of a constant transmit electronics part , p t e , and a variable power amplifier part , p pa . hence the transmit power , p t , can be expressed as the sum of two terms p pa should be adjusted to compensate for the path loss in wave propagation . the propagation model is a hybrid propagation model , which assumes d 2 power loss for short distances and d 4 power loss for long distances . receive power , p r , is dissipated entirely on receiver electronics . idle power , p i , is the power needed to run the electronic circuitry without any actual packet reception . in sleep mode , the radio is just shut down so sleep mode power , p s , is very low . we used the random way - point mobility model to create mobility scenarios . fig5 shows a snapshot of the distribution of 100 nodes over a 750 m by 750 m area at 0 . 050 s . fig6 shows the snapshot at 100 . 0 s . node speed is a uniform random variable between 0 . 0 m / s and 5 . 0 m / s ( average speed of a marathon runner ). the circles around the nodes show the clusterheads . we ran the simulation for 100 . 0 s . the number of clusterheads throughout the entire simulation time is 20 , and the average number of blocked nodes is 0 . 58 nodes / frame . in mh - trace , each node contains the functionality to perform the operations described above , either as a clusterhead or as merely a node as required . a block diagram of a radio device capable of functioning as an mh - trace node is shown in fig7 . the radio device 700 includes an antenna 702 and circuitry 704 for transmitting and receiving under the control of a processor 706 . a non - volatile memory 708 includes the software for permitting the processor 706 to perform the required operations . of course , other components can be included , based on the sort of network to be implemented , e . g ., equipment for a voice network , a video / voice network , etc . mh - trace is energy - efficient when compared to existing mac protocols , like ieee 802 . 11 . under low to medium traffic load , both mh - trace and 802 . 11 have similar throughput characteristics , but under high traffic , mh - trace performs better . the clustering approaches proposed in the literature are mostly link level algorithms , which create clusters based on connectivity information , which changes quickly , thus forcing the network to create and destroy clusters very fast . this creates high overhead on a mobile network and annuls the gain obtained from clustering . in mh - trace , on the other hand , cluster formation can be completely based on mac layer information ; cluster creation , termination , and maintenance do not bring much overhead to the network . the most important advantage of mh - trace is that it achieves traffic adaptive energy efficiency in a multi - hop network without using any global information except synchronization . we used the cluster concept in such a way that each node creates its own listening cluster as if it is operating under a csma type protocol . however , collisions of data packets are also avoided by means of coordination via scheduling . thus , advantageous features of fully centralized and fully distributed networks are combined to create a hybrid and better protocol for real - time energy efficient broadcasting in a multi - hop network without making any assumptions about global knowledge . while a preferred embodiment has been set forth above , those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that other embodiments can be realized within the scope of the invention . for instance , the clustering technique is not limited to voice networks , but can be implemented with any suitable network . as an example , a group of hearing - impaired persons can have communication devices with cameras and low - resolution screens large enough to display sign language intelligibly , possibly with several panels . given the ability to transmit image data at a sufficient rate , e . g ., with mpeg compression , the devices can be linked through mh - trace to permit visual communication . furthermore , numerical values are illustrative rather than limiting ; those skilled in the art who have reviewed the present disclosure will readily appreciate that other numerical values can be implemented as needed . therefore , the present invention should be construed as limited only by the appended claims .	8
referring to fig1 electroluminescent lamp 10 is applied to substrate 17 , and comprises , with reference to fig2 cover 12 , bus bar 11 , translucent electrode 13 , luminescent layer 14 , dielectric layer 15 , and rear electrode 16 . in a presently preferred embodiment , substrate 17 is a cloth or textile substrate such as polyester cotton or leather . according to the present invention , however , substrate 17 may be any material suitable to support electroluminescent lamp 10 as a substrate , for example metal , plastic , paper , glass , wood , or even stone . referring again to fig1 contact 19 is shown projecting from cover 12 , contact 19 being in electrical connection with rear electrode 16 . power source ( not shown ), advantageously 110 v / 400 hz ac , may thus be connected electrically to rear electrode 16 via contact 19 . it will be appreciated that contact 19 may also take the form of a bus bar , analogous to bus bar 11 discussed below , in order to enhance conductivity between rear electrode 16 and the power source . still referring to fig1 bus bar 11 is disposed around the perimeter of electroluminescent lamp 10 . bus bar 11 is connected to the other side of the ac power source ( not shown ) to enable electrical connection between translucent electrode 13 and the power source . it will be understood that bus bar 11 may also be reduced to a small contact , analogous to contact 19 , in other embodiments of the present invention , or alternatively bus bar 11 may be applied only to a single edge of translucent electrode 13 . it will be understood that bus bar 11 and contact 19 may be made from any suitable electrically conductive material . in the preferred embodiment herein both bus bar 11 and contact 19 are very thin strips of copper . it can be seen from fig2 that electroluminescent lamp 10 is structurally analogous to a parallel plate capacitor , rear electrode 16 and translucent electrode 13 being said parallel plates . when the power source is energized , the dielectric layer 15 provides nonconducting separation between rear electrode 16 and translucent electrode 13 , while luminescent layer 14 , which includes encapsulated phosphor suspended therein , becomes excited and emits photons to give light . it will be seen on fig2 that in the preferred embodiment herein disposes dielectric layer 15 and luminescent layer 14 to overlap rear electrode 16 and translucent electrode 13 . the advantage of such a structure is to discourage direct electrical contact between rear electrode 16 and translucent electrode 13 and thereby reducing the chances of a short circuit occurring . it shall be understood , however , that all layers of the current invention may be of any size , so long as rear electrode 16 and translucent electrode 13 are electrically separated by a dielectric layer 15 and luminescent layer 14 . according to the present invention , one or more , and advantageously all of the layers comprising back electrode 16 , dielectric layer 15 , luminescent layer 14 , translucent electrode 13 and cover 12 are deposited in the form of active ingredients ( here after also referred to as &# 34 ; dopants &# 34 ;) suspended in a unitary carrier compound . it will be understood that although the preferred embodiment herein discloses exemplary use of a unitary carrier in which all layers are suspended , alternative embodiments of the present invention may have less than all neighboring layers suspended therein . it will be further appreciated that consistent with the present invention , differing carrier compounds may also be used to suspend neighboring layers , so long as such differing carrier compounds are disposed to harden together to form a mass with monolithic properties . in the presently preferred embodiment , the unitary carrier compound is a vinyl resin in gel form . once hardened , electroluminescent lamp 10 thereby adopts the characteristics of a series of active strata deposited through a monolithic mass . furthermore , use of a unitary carrier results in reduced manufacturing costs by virtue of economies associated with being able to purchase larger quantities of the unitary compound , as well as storing , mixing , handling , curing and cleaning similar suspensions . research has also revealed that the use of a carrier in gel form results in further advantages . the viscosity and encapsulating properties of a gel result in better suspension of particulate dopants mixed into the gel . this improved suspension requires less frequent , if any , agitation of the compound to keep the dopants suspended . experience reveals that less frequent agitation results in less spoilage of the compounds during the manufacturing process . furthermore , vinyl resin in gel form is inherently less volatile and less noxious than the liquid - based cellulose , acrylic and polyester - based resins currently used in the art . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the vinyl gel utilized as the unitary carrier is an electronic grade vinyl ink such as ss24865 , available from acheson . such electronic grade vinyl inks in gel form have been found to maintain particulate dopants in substantially full suspension throughout the manufacturing process . moreover , such electronic grade vinyl inks are ideally suited for layered application using silk - screen printing techniques standard in the art . with reference to fig2 doping the various layers illustrated thereon is advantageously accomplished by mixing predetermined amounts of the dopants , discussed in detail below , into separate batches of the unitary carrier . as noted , layers are advantageously deposited by silk - screening techniques standard in the art . it will be understood , however , that the present invention is not limited to any particular method of depositing one or more layers . after deposit and curing of the various layers , a stratified monolithic structure emerges displaying electroluminescent properties . with further reference to fig2 rear electrode 16 is illustrated as deposited on substrate 17 . as noted earlier , in the preferred embodiment described herein , substrate 17 is a cloth fabric . it shall be understood , however , that in alternative embodiments where substrate 17 is itself electrically conductive , such as a metal , it may be advantageous or even necessary to deposit a first protective insulating layer ( not shown ) between rear electrode 16 and substrate 17 . a first protective layer may also be advantageous when substrate 17 is a particularly porous material so as to ensure rear electrode 16 is properly insulated against discharge through substrate 17 itself . it will be appreciated that in such alternative embodiments , the first protective layer may ideally be the same material as cover 12 shown on fig2 preferably the vinyl resin in gel form such as the unitary carrier compound for other layers . consistent with the present invention , however , suitable alternative materials known in the art may be used to form a serviceable insulating first protective layer . rear electrode 16 comprises the unitary carrier doped with an ingredient to make the suspension electrically conductive . in a preferred embodiment , the doping agent in rear electrode 16 is silver in particulate form . it shall be understood , however , that the doping agent in rear electrode 16 may be any electrically conductive material including , but not limited to , gold , zinc , aluminum , graphite and copper , or combinations thereof . experimentation has shown that proprietary mixtures containing silver / graphite suspended in electronic grade vinyl ink as available from grace chemicals as part numbers m4200 and m3001 - 1rs respectively , are suitable for use as rear electrode 16 . research has further revealed that layer thicknesses of approximately 8 to 12 microns give serviceable results . layers may be deposited in such thicknesses using standard silk - screening techniques . with regard to contact 19 , as illustrated in fig1 it is advantageous , although not obligatory , to apply contact 19 to rear electrode 16 prior to curing , so as to allow contact 19 to achieve optimum electrical contact between contact with rear electrode 16 as part of the monolithic structure of the present invention . as shown in fig2 dielectric layer 15 is deposited on rear electrode 16 . dielectric layer 15 comprises the unitary carrier doped with a dielectric in particulate form . in a preferred embodiment , this dopant is barium - titanate powder . experimentation has shown that a suspension containing a ratio of 50 % to 75 %, by weight , of barium - titanate powder to 50 % to 25 % electronic grade vinyl ink in gel form , when applied by silk screening to a thickness of approximately 15 to 35 microns , results in a serviceable dielectric layer 15 . the barium - titanate is advantageously mixed with the vinyl gel for approximately 48 hours in a ball mill . suitable barium - titanate powder is available by name from tam ceramics , and the vinyl gel may be ss24865 from acheson , as noted before . it will also be appreciated that the doping agent in dielectric layer 15 may also be selected from other dielectric materials , either individually or in a mixture thereof . such other materials may include titanium - dioxide , or derivatives of mylar , teflon , or polystyrene . it will be further appreciated that the capacitive characteristics of dielectric layer 15 will be dictated by the capacitive constant of the dielectric dopant as well as the thickness of dielectric layer 15 . those in the art will understand that an overly thin dielectric layer 15 , with too little capacitance , may cause an unacceptable power drain . in contrast , an overly thick dielectric layer 15 , with too much capacitance , will inhibit current flow through electroluminescent lamp 10 , thus requiring more power to energize luminescent layer 14 . research has revealed that resolution of these competing considerations may be facilitated by use of y5v , a proprietary barium - titanate derivative available from tam ceramics , as an additional or alternative dopant in the dielectric layer 15 . experimentation has noted that y5v displays characteristics that apparently enhance the capacitive properties of dielectric layer 15 when y5v is used either as a dopant or as a substitute for the barium - titanate powder suspended in dielectric layer 15 . it has also been demonstrated to be advantageous to deposit dielectric layer 15 in multiple layers . experimentation has revealed that silk - screen techniques may tend to deposit layers with &# 34 ; pin - holes &# 34 ; in the layers . such pin - holes in dielectric 15 inevitably cause breakdown of the capacitive structure of electroluminescent lamp 10 . therefore , dielectric layer 15 is advantageously applied in more than one silk - screen application , thereby allowing subsequent layers to plug pinholes from previous silk - screen applications . in addition to pinhole remediation , depositing multiple layers may also yield further advantages to any layer of electroluminescent lamp 10 , such as achieving a design thickness more precisely , or facilitating uniform curing . it will be understood , however , that the advantages of depositing multiple layers must also be balanced with a need to keep manufacturing relatively inexpensive and uncomplicated . still referring to fig2 luminescent layer 14 is deposited on dielectric layer 15 . luminescent layer 14 comprises of the unitary carrier doped with electroluminescent grade encapsulated phosphor . experimentation has revealed that a suspension containing 50 % phosphor , by weight , to 50 % electronic grade vinyl ink in gel form , when applied to a thickness of approximately 25 to 35 microns , results in a serviceable luminescent layer 14 . the phosphor is advantageously mixed with the vinyl gel for approximately 10 - 15 minutes . mixing should preferably be by a method that minimizes damage to the individual phosphor particles . suitable phosphor is available by name from osram sylvania , and the vinyl gel may again be ss24865 from acheson . it shall be appreciated that the color of the light emitted from electroluminescent lamp 10 will depend on the color of phosphor used in luminescent layer 14 , and may be further varied by the use of dyes . advantageously , a dye of desired color is mixed with the vinyl gel prior to the addition of the phosphor . for example , rhodamine may be added to the vinyl gel in luminescent layer 14 to result in a white light being emitted when electroluminescent lamp 10 is energized . experimentation has also revealed that suitable admixtures , such as barium - titanate , improve the performance of luminescent layer 14 . as noted above , admixtures such as barium - titanate have a smaller particle structure than the electroluminescent grade phosphor suspended in luminescent layer 14 . as a result , the admixture tends to unify the consistency of the suspension , causing luminescent layer 14 to go down more uniformly , as well as assisting even distribution of the phosphor in suspension . the smaller particles of the admixture also tend to act as an optical diffuser which remediates a grainy appearance of the lumninescing phosphor . finally , experimentation also shows that a barium - titanate admixture actually may enhance the luminescence of the phosphor at the molecular level by stimulating the photon emission rate . the barium - titanate admixture used in the preferred embodiment is the same as the barium - titanate used in dielectric layer 15 , as described above . as noted , this barium - titanate is available by name in powder form from tam ceramics . in the preferred embodiment , the barium - titanate is pre - mixed into the vinyl gel carrier , advantageously in a ratio of 70 %, by weight , of the vinyl gel , to 30 % of the barium - titanate . this mixture is blended in a ball mill for at least 48 hours . if luminescent layer 14 is to be dyed , such dyes should be added to the vinyl gel carrier prior to ball mill mixing . again , the vinyl gel carrier may be ss24865 from acheson . with further reference now to fig2 translucent electrode 13 is deposited on luminescent layer 14 . translucent electrode 13 consists of the unitary carrier doped with a suitable translucent electrical conductor in particulate form . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , this dopant is indium - tin - oxide ( ito ) in powder form . the design of translucent electrode 13 must be made with reference to several variables . it will be appreciated that the performance of translucent electrode 13 will be affected by not only the concentration of ito used , but also the ratio of indium - oxide to tin in the ito dopant itself . in determining the precise concentration of ito to be utilized in translucent electrode 13 , factors such as the size of the electroluminescent lamp and available power should be considered . the more ito used in the mix , the more conductive translucent electrode 13 becomes . this is , however , at the expense of translucent electrode 13 becoming less translucent . the less translucent the electrode is , the more power that will be required to generate sufficient electroluminescent light . on the other hand , the more conductive translucent electrode 13 is , the less resistance electroluminescent lamp 10 will have as a whole , and so less the power that will be required to generate electroluminescent light . it will be therefore readily appreciated that the ratio of indium - oxide to tin in the ito , the concentration of ito in suspension and the overall layer thickness must all be carefully balanced to achieve performance that meets design specifications . experimentation has shown that a suspension of 25 % to 50 %, by weight , of ito powder containing 90 % indium - oxide and 10 % tin , with 50 % to 75 % electronic grade vinyl ink in gel form , when applied by silk screening to a thickness of approximately 5 microns , results in a serviceable translucent electrode 13 for most applications . advantageously , the ito powder is mixed with the vinyl gel in a ball mill for approximately 24 hours . the ito powder is available by name from arconium , while the vinyl gel is again ss24865 from acheson . it will also understood that the dopant in translucent electrode 13 is not limited to ito , but may also be any other electrically conductive dopant with translucent properties . it shall be understood that bus bar 11 , as illustrated in fig1 is applied to translucent electrode 13 during the manufacturing process to provide electrical contact between translucent electrode 13 the power source ( not shown ). in a preferred embodiment , bus bar 11 is placed in contact with translucent electrode 13 subsequent to the depositing of translucent electrode 13 on luminescent layer 14 . it is advantageous to apply bus bar 11 to translucent electrode 13 prior to curing to allow bus bar 11 to become part of the monolithic structure of the present invention , thereby optimizing electrical contact between bus bar 11 and translucent electrode 13 . it will nonetheless be understood that bus bar 11 may also be applied prior to depositing translucent electrode 13 or at any other time , so long as bus bar 1 1 remains disposed in electrical contact with translucent electrode 13 in the finished structure . still referring to fig2 cover 12 encapsulates electroluminescent lamp 10 on substrate 17 . although not structurally necessary for electroluminescent lamp 10 to function , cover 12 is highly advantageous to seal the layers therein and thus substantially prolong the operating life of electroluminescent lamp 10 . in a preferred embodiment , cover 12 is an undoped layer of the unitary carrier , again a vinyl gel such as ss24865 from acheson , approximately 10 to 30 microns thick . it will also be appreciate that active ingredients may be added to cover 12 to remediate specific problems or create advantageous effects . for example , a uv filter will assist prolonging the life of a lamp designed to operate outdoors in sunlight . further , dyes or other coloring agents may be used to create color filters for particular applications . it will be further understood that the present invention is not limited to the sequence of layers illustrated in fig2 as presently preferred embodiment . as already noted , unusual design criteria might require dielectric layer 15 to separate translucent electrode 13 and luminescent layer 14 . alternatively , rear electrode 16 might also be translucent . in another application , translucent electrode 13 may be applied to substrate 17 if light is desired to be shone through the substrate . directing attention now to fig3 and fig4 an alternative electroluminescent lamp 10 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated . referring to fig4 it can be seen that the layers of electroluminescent lamp 10 have been applied in a predetermined shape to provide a resulting predetermined electroluminescent image . this demonstrates an advantage realized from being able to silk - screen the layers of electroluminescent lamp 10 as suspended in a unitary gel carrier . the design size and shape of the lamp is no longer limited to constructs of the commercially available sizes and shapes of sputtered ito film , and the monolithic properties of the final cured structure allow it to be supported by many different substrates . it shall be appreciated that as a result , an unlimited number of shapes and configurations of electroluminescent lamp 10 , heretofore perhaps impossible or impractical , may be realized by the present invention . although not specifically illustrated , those in this art will also appreciate that instead of forming all layers of electroluminescent lamp 10 to a pre - defined shape and size , advantages may be gained when only luminescent layer 14 is deposited to that shape and size . one or more of the remaining layers may be larger , more uniform in shape , or even common to more than one discrete luminescent layer . use of such a technique suggests manufacturing economies , but may need to be balanced against the cost of extra materials deposited . with reference to fig5 and fig6 electroluminescent lamp 10 is illustrated with tinted filters 50 and 51 disposed therein . in this alternative embodiment of the present invention , as illustrated in fig6 tinted filters 50 and 51 are overlaid on translucent electrode 13 . it will be appreciated that when luminescent layer 14 is excited to emit electroluminescence , tinted filters 50 and 51 color the light emitted from electroluminescent lamp 10 rendering a multi - colored lighted image . 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 .	8
fig1 and 2 show device 20 , an embodiment in accordance with the present invention . main member 22 , the primary structure of device 20 , has holes 24 therein . holes 24 may either be covered by caps 26 , whose outer surface is aligned with the outer surface of main member 22 , or be filled with a portion of compressible element 28 , which extends outward beyond the outer surface of main member 22 . in this embodiment , compressible element 28 is made of an elastic material , such as rubber or an equivalent . ends 30 close the distal openings of main member 22 . support 32 , which holds compressible element 28 in fixed relation to the inner surface of main member 22 , is positioned inside of main member 22 and held in place by ends 30 . main member 22 , in this embodiment , is in the shape of a cylindrical tube , is sized to be engulfed by a single hand , and has a length measuring &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; with an inner diameter measuring &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; and an outer diameter measuring &# 34 ; c &# 34 ;. in this embodiment , &# 34 ; a &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; are approximately 100 mm , 30 mm and 25 mm , respectively . one of ordinary skill in the art would know that main member could vary in shape ( e . g ., a square , rectangular or tapered tube ) and may be lengthened to be held by two hands without overlap . main member 22 could be made of any number of materials or combinations of materials , but , for this embodiment , it is preferably made of a strong , light weight plastic . holes 24 in main member 22 are situated in proximity to the locations where the fingers of a user &# 39 ; s hand rest when main member 22 is held firmly in that hand . in this embodiment of the present invention , holes 24 have beveled sides and are round with diameters measuring &# 34 ; d &# 34 ; at the surface of main member 22 . in this embodiment , &# 34 ; d &# 34 ; is approximately 10 mm . one of ordinary skill in the art would envision that additional holes 24 could be made in a longer main member 22 to make device 20 usable with both of a user &# 39 ; s hands without overlap . other embodiments of device 20 could include fewer holes 24 ( for example , there may be no hole 24 corresponding to the user &# 39 ; s thumb if the configuration of the applicable grip resulting in the thumb being positioned over the fingers ). the distance between holes 24 is in this embodiment is &# 34 ; e &# 34 ; - approximately 10 mm . fig3 shows cap 26 , which is fashioned to fit in beveled holes 24 , and could be made of a number of materials or combinations of materials . in the embodiment of the present invention shown in fig1 and 2 , caps 26 are held in place in holes 24 by frictional fits between them that are stronger than the outwardly exerted force of compressible element 28 on the surface of caps 26 inside of main member 22 . preferably , the outer surface of caps 26 would be made of a material close in texture to the outer surface of main member 22 . notch 30 of cap 26 is sized and located on cap 26 such that the user of the device may position the point of an instrumentality ( e . g ., the pointed end of a small screwdriver ) in notch 30 . by exerting an angled force on cap 26 at notch 30 , cap 26 may be extracted from holes 24 . fig4 shows another embodiment of the compressible element in accordance with the present invention . compressible element 32 preferably includes five stems , each with outer surface 34 , a layer having a texture similar to the texture of the outer surface of the device in which compressible element 32 is housed . body 36 of compressible element 32 , in this embodiment , is a rubber or other material that can exert a force against the fingers of a user when the device in which the compressible element 32 is housed is held firmly in the user &# 39 ; s hand ( s ) and is primarily cylindrical in shape with the five cylindrical stems extending therefrom . its base measures &# 34 ; f &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; g &# 34 ; in length and height , respectively . in this embodiment , &# 34 ; f &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; g &# 34 ; are approximately 90 mm and 20 mm , respectively . the outward force exerted by body 36 through outer surface 34 on the user &# 39 ; s fingers may be varied by , for example , the use of materials with differing compositions . one skilled in the art would realize that outer surface 34 of compressible element 32 could be made of any number of materials . fig5 shows another embodiment of a compressible element . compressible element 38 includes springs 40 and pegs 42 . in this embodiment , springs 40 are attached to support 44 , l l which may be affixed to the inner surface of the device in which compressible element 38 is housed . one of ordinary skill in the art would realize that the attachment of support 44 to the device may be accomplished by a variety of means . springs 40 may be of the type commonly available or specially made for use with compressible element 38 and may be of any size to fit the device in which compressible element 38 is housed ( or any other applicable embodiment of the present invention ). like body 36 of compressible element 32 shown in fig4 one of ordinary skill could envision that the force exerted by springs 40 against the finger ( s ) of the user when the combination of pegs 42 and springs 40 is compressed ( i . e ., when the device in which compressible element 38 is housed is held firmly in the user &# 39 ; s hand ( s )) is dependent upon the configuration and stiffness of springs 40 . one of ordinary skill in the art would realize that compressible elements 32 and 38 , as well as other materials and apparatus which function in a similar manner , may be used with various embodiments of the present invention . one of ordinary skill in the art would also realize that the forces exerted upon the finger ( s ) of the user of such devices may be varied by the use of compressible elements with differing properties . alternatively , the same compressible element with differing properties may be used . for example , the portion of a rubber or other elastic material extending through the holes corresponding to the fingers to be exercised may have different elasticities at each hole . in such case , the forces exerted on each finger by the device in which such compressible element is housed may be different . fig6 and 7 show an embodiment of the present invention that would be useful , in particular , to golfers . main member 48 of device 46 is configured similarly to the grip of a golf club . as such , main member 48 measures &# 34 ; h &# 34 ; long and has an inner diameter measuring &# 34 ; i &# 34 ;. the outer surface is tapered and measures from a diameter of &# 34 ; j &# 34 ; at one end to a diameter of &# 34 ; k &# 34 ; at the other end . in this embodiment , &# 34 ; h &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; i &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; j &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; k &# 34 ; are 275 mm , 13 mm , 27 mm and 20 mm , respectively . compressible element 50 , made of rubber in this embodiment , fills main member 48 while portions of it extend through holes 52 . configured for a right - handed golfer , device 46 , by the force of the portion of compressible element 50 extending through the three holes 52 on the one side of main member 48 , exerts forces on the last three fingers of the left hand when is held properly and firmly . additionally , device 46 , by the force of the portion of compressible element 50 extending through the two holes 52 on the other side of main member 48 , exerts forces on the middle and fourth fingers of the right hand . the three holes 52 are &# 34 ; l &# 34 ; apart , as are the other two holes 52 . in this embodiment , &# 34 ; l &# 34 ; is approximately 10 mm . preferably , the outer surfaces of compressible element 50 include layers 54 ( sized and configured similarly to cap 26 of fig1 and 2 or a variation thereof ) with a texture similar to the texture of the outer surface device 48 , the texture of a golf club grip . as the user firmly grips the device , compressible element 50 asserts an opposing force against the specified fingers . fig8 and 9 show an embodiment of the present invention where main member 58 of device 56 is configured similar to the grip of a tennis racket . main member 52 is a tube measuring &# 34 ; m &# 34 ; in length , roughly configured , in cross section , as an elongated octagon with dimensions of &# 34 ; n &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; and a thickness of &# 34 ; p &# 34 ;. in this embodiment , &# 34 ; m &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; n &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; p &# 34 ; are approximately 125 mm , 35 mm , 31 mm and 3 mm , respectively . also , in this embodiment , holes 60 for each of the fingers of each hand are separated , along a center line running from one end of device 56 to the other , by a distance of approximately 10 mm . protruding through holes 60 are portions of compressible element 62 , which is enclosed in main member 58 . the outer surfaces of each portion of compressible element 62 are covered by caps 64 . fig1 and 11 show device 66 , which is configured similar to the handle of an axe . in this embodiment of the present invention , main member 68 is &# 34 ; q &# 34 ; long , with an oblong - shaped end having radii with dimensions measuring &# 34 ; r &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; s &# 34 ;. preferably , &# 34 ; q &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; r &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; s &# 34 ; are approximately 100 mm , 42 mm and 23 mm , respectively . holes 70 in main member 68 are separated , along a center line running from one end of device 66 to the other , by a distance of approximately 10 mm . compressible elements 72 are springs , which are attached to the inner surface of main member 66 by support 74 . attached to the other end of compressible elements 72 are pegs 76 , which protrude through holes 70 . outer surfaces 78 of pegs 76 preferably have the same texture as the surface of main member 66 . fig1 shows a portion of another embodiment of a compressible element . compressible element 80 includes peg 82 with outer layer 84 , stem 86 and supporting structure 88 . in this embodiment , supporting structure 88 , with stem 86 , is sized and configured to fit inside of a desirable grip or handle . peg 82 , made of rubber or some other elastic material , exerts a force on the user &# 39 ; s finger when device in which compressible element 80 is housed is held firmly . supporting structure 88 may be expanded by the application of a force ( represented in fig1 by &# 34 ; f &# 34 ;) to cause peg 82 to move away from the farthest element of supporting structure 88 . one of ordinary skill in the art would realize that supporting structure 88 may be immovable , if necessary , in other embodiments of the present invention . in some embodiments , stems 86 may be used to force covers over the holes in which compressible element 80 is housed out of their respective holes by moving stems 86 through such holes . peg 84 preferably has an orifice in its bottom ( not shown in fig1 ) to accommodate a frictional fit between stem 86 and peg 84 . peg 84 can be situated on stem 86 to correspond to the finger the user wishes to exercise . fig1 shows partial view of another embodiment of the present invention . device 90 includes compressible element 92 . compressible element 92 includes support 94 , spring 96 and cap 98 . spring 96 may be removable attached to support 94 , preferably metallic , by , for example , a weld or other fastening means . support 94 may be affixed to the inside surface of device 90 by , for example , any known means , such as rivets 100 or other means known to one of ordinary skill in the art . the user of device 90 may lock cap 98 in the compressed position by manipulating tab 102 , which is connected to locking member 104 . the combination to tab 102 and locking member 104 , to lock and unlock the outer surface of cap 98 , is movable by asserting a force on tab 102 and moving it across the surface of cap 98 . by moving tab 102 from a point in proximity with the center of cap 98 toward the outer edge of cap 98 when spring 96 is compressed , with cap 98 in alignment with the outer surface of device 90 , locking member 104 can be used to lock cap 96 in the compressed configuration . locking cap 96 in alignment with the main surface of device 90 negates the forces exertable by compressible element 92 upon the particular finger ( s ) of the user . this locking capability allows device 90 to exercise and strengthen fingers corresponding to the unlocked compressible elements . one of ordinary skill in the art would realize that other types of locking systems could be used to attain the same restraint upon the compressible element and that such locking systems could be used in connection with other embodiments of the present invention . the dimensions &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; through &# 34 ; s &# 34 ; could be of any size desired by the user ( s ) of the respective device ( s ). the present invention also includes a method of exercising and strengthening specific fingers of a hand . using an exercising and strengthening device that is desirably configured and sized , the method includes the step of locking selected compressible element ( s ) corresponding to finger ( s ) not to be exercised or strengthened in a compressed state , grasping the device , exerting a force upon the unlocked compressible element ( s ), and holding the device firmly with all fingers aligned in proximity with the surface of the device . a device with a desirable configuration and size could be a simple cylinder sized to fit in the user &# 39 ; s hand or could resemble the grip of an instrumentality used for sports or hand work ( e . g ., tools ). the method may also include the step of moving the finger ( s ) upon which the force is being exerted away from the device and then moving the finger ( s ) again toward the device into alignment with its surface . the locking step may include the sub - steps of sliding a locking member into contact with the compressible element ( s ) to be locked in place . the above embodiments are merely illustrations of the apparatus claimed herein . the invention also includes other embodiments not specifically disclosed above , embodiments which one of ordinary skill in the art would realize and envision as equivalents or derivations of the embodiments shown as existing in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential attribution . numerous variations may be made within the scope of this invention and without sacrificing its chief advantages . thus , the terms and expressions have been used as terms of description and not terms of limitation . instead , reference should be made to the appended claims , rather than to the foregoing specification and drawings , as indicating the scope of the apparatus invention .	0
with general reference to the figures and with special reference now to fig2 an exemplary use of the method of the present invention is described next below illustrating the preferred features of the present invention . the application client 110 further includes a software component 210 comprising an application test program forming part of the method of the present invention , which is bidirectionally coupled — see the network connection 220 — with a self - learning resource selection component 276 , which implements basically the main part of the method of the present invention according to the aspects as mentioned above , and which is also preferably located in the server system referred to as distributed resource manager 170 . the component 276 of the present invention can write to and read from the above - mentioned experience list 278 , which holds the resource combinations that were tested , either successfully or unsuccessfully . a connection 280 is depicted representing the possibility of the self - learning resource selection component 276 to access the above mentioned free resource pool 180 and make new combinations 190 , which is further described with reference to fig3 . as the rest of the components used in fig2 are identical to prior art as described with reference to fig1 , the rest of the description of fig2 can be obtained by reference back to the description of fig1 . the activities of the self - learning resource selection component 276 provided by the present invention are next further described by aid of fig3 and 4 , each illustrating the basic control flow in a method of the present invention according to respective embodiments thereof . in a first step 310 a particular resource combination is selected from the experience list 278 . then , in a step 315 , this resource combination is mutated in order to generate a new combination , see circle 190 in fig2 . by “ mutated ” here is meant that resources from the pool 180 are either substituted for resources in the combination or added to the combination ; thus , mutation of the combination ( a , b , c ) may produce the combination ( a , b , d ) by substitution as well as the combination ( a , b , c , d ) by addition . then a block 320 of provisioning this resource combination is entered , which begins with a call 325 to a software tool ( not separately shown ), called here provision manager . in particular , the new resource combination is assembled by the provision manager . this tool performs the basic activities necessary in this context , such as reserve and interconnect hardware components , as far as this is possible by a pure program work , and prepares and performs the network installation of the required software components including operating system software and application software , and “ middleware ”, if required . then the new resource combination should be able to be run and is forwarded — step 320 — to the application test program depicted with reference sign 210 in fig2 . this application test program 210 tries now to validate the new resource combination , step 330 . this is preferably done by calling a test program for the application , step 335 . by virtue of this test , which is basically scalable according to the introduction given above , the new resource combination can be tested reflecting the business view of the application environment , which is more preferable than a more theoretical pure “ it view ”, as is done in the prior art . then , a decision 340 is made telling us if the test was successful or not . in the no branch of decision 340 ( left side ) the current combination is added to the experience list in the form of a negative entry therein , step 345 . otherwise , see the yes branch of decision 340 , the new combination is added as a “ successful ” entry into the experience list , together with a usefully defined probability score , as mentioned above . then , in both branches , control is returned , step 360 , to the start of the procedure in step 310 . as an alternative embodiment in form of a manually initiated learning component step 310 and step 315 can be performed manually . thus , a manual request is issued to test a given resource combination . this resource combination is basically identically structured as the before - mentioned resource combination , which was selected by an algorithm of the present invention alone , without human intervention . the rest of the procedure is basically identical compared to the description of fig3 . with reference to fig4 a manually initiated configuration change of an existing resource combination is described , as follows : in a step 410 a request comes in , which is manually initiated either by staff of the application provider , or by staff of the client side . the request inquires a new resource combination , step 430 . again , the inventive part of this alternative embodiment of the present invention begins with a call 420 to the above introduced software tool , called provision manager . also here , the new resource combination is assembled by the provision manager as it is described above with reference to fig3 . then the new resource combination should also be able to be run and is forwarded to the application test program depicted with reference sign 210 in fig2 . if , in a test step 430 , the new combination turns out to be running error - free , it is added as a positive , successful entry in the experience list , step 440 . further , implementation details of the experience list 278 , fig2 are described next below : an experience list 278 according to a preferred aspect of the invention maps resource combinations to scores . this can be implemented advantageously by a hash table as follows : for a given list of resources rs , a predetermined hash function h computes a hash value h ( rs ) serving as an index into a hash table . then , the triple ( rs , score , expiration date ) is stored in the hash table at the position h ( rs ). a preferred data structure for generating experience lists according to the present invention is as follows : the individual elements that make up an experience list are triples of the form : ( resource list , score , expiration date ). the first element of such a triple describes a list of individual resources ; the second element assigns a score to this resource combination . it is preferred to include a field for an expiration date as well , for information stored in the experience list may not be valid forever . further fields can be added as mentioned above . the score can be a binary value ( works or doesn &# 39 ; t work ), an integer ( how well does it work ? ), a probability ( how likely is it that it works ?) or an even more complex value − depending on the desired amount of information that should be kept in the experience lists . the lists of resources are preferably represented as lists of keys ( integers ) that point to more detailed descriptions of the individual resources stored elsewhere . the actual modification of the lists is done preferably as usual with hash tables . for a given resource combination , the corresponding hash element — a tuple , as described above — an be found quickly . then , this element can be deleted or edited by assigning a new value to its score component . at any point in time , a resource manager tool according to the present invention is dynamically provisioning one or more environments ( i . e . resource combinations )— either for a customer who asked for one , or for itself for experimental purposes . whenever new insight is gained about one of the provisioned environments — because it just failed , or because it is now running without errors for a specified amount of time — the information about this environment is updated as explained above . environments for customers are provisioned that were actually asked for by such customer . new experience about these environments may be gained anytime and saved for future use , as mentioned above . according to a preferred aspect of the present invention , whenever resources are idle , the resource manager of the present invention can use them to randomly test a new combination or retest a known combination , for example , because its expiration date is in the near future . advantageously , the setting , which kind of experiment the resource manager prefers to do — if there is any choice to make is customisable . tests of new combinations can be further classified into tests of slightly modified known combinations and tests of entirely new combinations . slightly modified , known combinations are probably more likely to be successful , so they should be chosen more often . on the other hand , too many experiments of this kind may lead to an accumulation of very similar known successful combinations , whereas the search for entirely different combinations is neglected . in this scenario , similar resources would be chosen each time , while other resources are idle . preferably , a balance is found in this respect . further , preferably , a customisable setting is provided , providing some liberty , which type of experiment , i . e . new combinations or modified known combination , the resource manager chooses , and how often such selection is done . finally , a human administrator can manually edit the experience lists 278 , for example by specifying a resource combination and assigning a score to it . the present invention can be realized in hardware , software , or a combination of hardware and software . a tool according to the present invention can 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 could 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 can also 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 means or computer program in the present context mean 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 ; or b ) reproduction in a different material form .	6
referring now to the single figure of the drawing which shows a flow diagram for the process of the invention , molten dimethyl terephthalate is fed from the receiving vessel 6 by a pump to the bottom of the first esterification reactor 1 . this reactor is equipped with a stirrer driven by a motor . recycled butanediol from condenser 12 is fed into the bottom of the reactor through line 14 , and into the column 8 through line 15 . reactor 1 is maintained at superatmospheric pressure , preferably 1 . 2 to 1 . 6 bar absolute , and at a temperature between 160 ° c . to 180 ° c . the flow of reactants is controlled so the residence time in reactor 1 is about 80 minutes . the reaction , which is carried out in the presence of a catalyst under constant stirring , results in dimethyl terephthalate conversion of 72 % to 92 %, preferably 78 % to 86 %. the column 8 separates and condenses dimethyl terephthalate , butanediol and methanol , vaporized from the reaction chamber . essentially pure methanol escapes from the top of the column 8 and is recovered . the higher boiling constituents which escape from the bottom of the column flow to the top of the reactor together with the butanediol from line 15 . it will be noted that the recycled butanediol used in the first transesterification reactor comes from the condenser 12 , which connects to the polycondensation reactor , as will be explained below . this butanediol has a sufficiently high degree of purity . the reaction mixture flows continuously , due to the given pressure difference , and by means of a level control valve , to the lower end of the transesterification reactor 2 which is operated under a vacuum , preferably at 0 . 5 to 0 . 9 bar . where low methanol contamination at column 8 is desired , 0 . 05 to 0 . 25 mol of butanediol per mol of dimethyl terephthalate is recycled to reactor 2 from the condensers 10 , 11 through the line 16 via the column 9 located above and connecting to the reactor 2 . the temperature in this second stage transesterification reactor is between 180 ° c . and 210 ° c . here again , the low - soluble esters which evaporate from the reactor 2 are condensed in column 9 and recirculated to the top of the reactor . methanol is recovered together with tetrahydrofuran and water by well - known means . if methanol purity requirements at column 8 are of no concern , the column 9 is replaced by a condenser similar to the condensers 10 , 11 . in this case , all butanediol collected in the substitute condenser and condensers 10 , 11 is recycled to reactor 1 via the line 17 and the column 8 . after a residence time in reactor 2 of approximately 50 minutes , the melt flows to the first precondensation reactor 3 , which is maintained at a temperature ranging between 210 ° c . and 230 ° c ., and at a pressure between 100 to 500 mbar . after a residence time of approximately 50 minutes , the transesterification of dimethyl terephthalate is about 97 % complete . this melt then flows , due to the difference in pressure , into the second precondensation reactor 4 . this reactor is maintained at a temperature between 230 ° c . to 255 ° c . and at a pressure of between 5 to 100 mbar . it will be noted that both of the precondensation reactors are equipped with condensers 10 , 11 to which fresh butanediol is fed from the storage container 7 by means of a pump . the condensers 10 , 11 include a circulating system with an immersion vessel , a pump , a cooler ( not shown ), and the condenser itself . the butanediol containing low - soluble esters vaporized from the melt flows from the condensers 10 , 11 to the lines 16 through which the butanediol is fed either into the column 9 above the reactor 2 , or with additional butanediol from substitute condenser ( replacing column 9 ) into the column 8 above transesterification reactor 1 via lines 15 , 17 . since the condensers include a circulating system with a pump and a cooler , it is not important where the fresh butanediol is added . additional process stages will permit increasing the temperature and decreasing the pressure by narrower steps . finally , the product from the last precondensation reactor 4 is polycondensed in reactor 5 which is described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 617 , 225 . the pressure in reactor 5 is maintained at 0 . 2 to 25 mbar , and at temperatures ranging from 240 ° c . to 265 ° c . high molecular weight polybutylene terephthalate is discharged from the reactor by pump 13 . as indicated previously , the vapors from the polycondensation reactor 5 are condensed in the condenser 12 by means of cooled butanediol which is sprayed into the condenser and diluted with fresh butanediol . the condensed mixture from condenser 12 is divided into two streams 14 , 15 , one of which feeds directly into the first transesterification reactor 1 and the other of which feeds into the column 8 . the polybutylene terephthalate obtained according to the invention can be extruded as granules , fibers or foils . the granules are processed into molded articles primarily by injection molding . as desired , the polymers can be compounded with pigments or other additives such as glass fibers or flame protective agents . the polybutylene terephthalate can also be processed by blending with other polymers . utilizing the apparatus shown in the drawing , 100 kg per hour of molten dimethyl terephthalate and 60 . 3 kg per hour of butanediol - 1 , 4 ( mol ratio 1 : 1 . 3 ) and 0 . 07 per hour of tetraisopropyl - 0 - titanate are fed into the first transesterification reactor . the butanediol is that which has been condensed in the condensates from the two precondensation reactors and the final polycondensation reactor , said condensers having been fed 50 kg per hour of fresh butanediol . thus butanediol condensate contains terephthalate acid esters described above as low - soluble esters which were distilled off in these stages . the butanediol also contains small amounts of low - boiling constituents such as tetrahydrofuran , methanol and water . the transesterification reaction takes place in the first stage at a temperature of 175 ° c . and a pressure of 1 . 3 bar absolute , with a residence time of 80 minutes . the dimethyl terephthalate is 83 % converted . the reaction mixture is then passed into the second transesterification stage , which is maintained at a temperature of 193 ° c . and a pressure of 0 . 75 bar absolute , with a residence time of 50 minutes . the dimethyl terephthalate is 91 % converted into this stage . the methanol formed during the reaction and other low - boiling compounds are separated in the two transesterification stages with the aid of a column provided on the top of each and operated at superatmospheric pressure and below atmospheric pressure respectively . the reaction mixture from rector 2 is then passed into the first precondensation stage where it reacts at a temperature of 220 ° c . and a pressure of 200 mbar , with a residence time of 50 minutes to 97 % conversion of the dimethyl terephthalate . thereafter , the melt is passed into the second precondensation stage where it reacts at a temperature of 240 ° c . and a pressure of 25 mbar , with a residence time of 60 minutes to a 99 % conversion of the dimethyl terephthalate . finally , the precondensation is fed to the polycondensation reactor , which , as indicated , corresponds to the apparatus shown in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 617 , 225 . here it is polycondensed at a temperature of 245 ° c . and a pressure of 2 mbar . the residence time is 180 minutes . the discs of the reactor rotate at a speed of 3 . 5 rpm , and the polybutylene terephthalate is continually discharged with the aid of a gear pump . the strands discharged from the pump are cooled in a water bath and cut into chips . the resulting polybutylene terephthalate product has an intrinsic viscosity of 1 . 05 , measured in a 0 . 5 % solution in phenol - tetrachloroethane ( 3 : 2 ) at 25 ° c . the concentration of carboxyl groups is measured with 30 mval / kg . the process yielded only 1 . 9 kg of tetrahydrofuran per 100 kg of dimethyl terephthalate . by comparison , the amount of tetrahydrofuran accumulated during the process cited in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 056 , 514 amounts to 3 kg per 100 kg of dimethyl terephthalate . hence , in accordance with the invention , the loss of butanediol amounts to 5 . 1 mol % based upon 100 mol of dimethyl terephthalate feed , whereas , in accordance with the prior art , the loss amounts to 9 . 2 mol % on the same basis . this reflects a considerable difference in the consumption of expensive butanediol . the recirculation of the condensates is accomplished with a minimum expenditure of energy , since it is not necessary to purify the butanediol from the condensate . furthermore , the low - soluble esters are completely dissolved in the butanediol at operating temperatures which permit the flow of the esters through the lines which the liquid butanediol , thereby avoiding vacuum failures , interruptions of production , clogging of vacuum pumps and other equipment . furthermore , the invention permits avoidance of ester losses and reduction of the tetrahydrofuran formation . the use of high vacuum up to 0 . 2 mbar results in high solution viscosities of the polymer products corresponding to intrinsic viscosities up to 1 . 25 . at a higher polycondensation temperature and an increased pressure , preferably between 10 to 20 mbar , the concentration of carboxyl groups can be increased to 80 mval / kg at intrinsic viscosities in the range of 0 . 7 to 0 . 9 .	2
fig1 - 3 show the bottle cap 1 of the first embodiment . notch 2 seperates the bottom edge of cap 1 into the main cap and a short segment 3 ( which may be pointed as shown ). by placing notch 2 over the edge of the opening of bottle 8 ( as shown in fig3 ) seal 7 can be penetrated and then removed by twisting bottle 8 . as illustrated in fig1 - 3 , cap 10 has a top wall 10 a and a descending annular side wall 10 b with bottom edge 10 c . there are two spaced notched slits 2 with chord portion 10 d of said bottom edge 10 c between the spaced notched slits 2 and having a cutting edge . fig4 and 5 show bottle cap 10 of the second embodiment with curved side slot 11 . this cap is used in the vertical position fitting slot 11 over the edge of a sealed bottle and pushing segment 12 through the seal ( segment 12 can be pointed to aid in this action ). note that the circular contour 13 of segment 12 which forms one side of slot 11 matches the inside diameter of the bottle opening for easier guidance around during cutting of the seal . fig6 shows the molded points 21 around the periphery of cap 20 of the third embodiment . either of the points 21 can be used to penetrate the seal . note how easily it can be grasped using the contour for increased leverage . fig7 shows point 26 molded onto the bottom edge of cap 25 comprising the fourth embodiment . point 26 is used to penetrate the seal . fig8 - 10 illustrate the use of rigid tab 30 to remove seal 7 as per embodiment number 5 . the bottom surface of tab 30 has a pointed region , such as line 31 , protruding from the bottom surface . the pointed region can also be a pointed projection extending down from said tab . tab 30 is bonded to the top surface of seal 7 . when pressed in the vicinity of line 31 or other region , tab 30 will penetrate seal 7 and it can then be removed by grasping the torn edges . fig1 shows a sixth embodiment of a laminated rigid tab 35 with sharp edges . pressure on this tab will cause it to penetrate and tear seal 7 . fig1 shows multi - purpose tool 40 which is the seventh embodiment of this invention . this is a flat rigid plastic ( or metal ) tool with handle 45 , pointed extension 46 with point 41 , slot 48 , and claw 43 . edges that are knife edges ( or somewhat sharp ) are illustrated by the array of short lines along the edge . hole 49 permits attachment of chain , key ring , or lanyard . to remove a seal , the seal is pierced by point 41 near an edge with slot 48 riding the edge of the bottle . by twisting tool 40 with edge 42 in the desired direction and following the bottle edge around , cutting edge 42 will quickly remove the seal . claw 43 is used to get underneath an over - cap shrink wrap and then cut through with edge 44 to remove it . claw 43 can also be used to remove cotton wadding from a pill bottle by pushing it inside and snagging the cotton to pull it out . point 41 and outside extension side 46 serve as an excellent letter opener . an optional cover 50 shown in fig1 can be used to keep the front end of tool 40 away from contaminants which may be picked up on a counter - top , a drawer , or a purse for example . this simple cover is preferably dip molded of plastisol . it is designed to stay on handle 45 during use and to be slid over the front end when tool 40 is not in use . a tight fit slot at edge 52 permits it to slide along handle 45 , while a self - closing slit at edge 51 closes over the working parts and opens easily when required . it can be removed completely if not desired . in the foregoing description , certain terms and visual depictions are used to illustrate the preferred embodiment . however , no unnecessary limitations are to be construed by the terms used or illustrations depicted , beyond what is shown in the prior art , since the terms and illustrations are exemplary only , and are not meant to limit the scope of the present invention . it is further known that other modifications may be made to the present invention , without departing the scope of the invention , as noted in the appended claims .	1
according to the present invention , disclosed herein are binary guanosine gels formed by mixing soluble guanosine - 5 ′- monophosphate ( gmp ) with insoluble guanosine ( guo ) that exhibit unique properties that make them highly effective for swnt dispersion . guanosine gels , or “ g - gels ”, formed by individual guanosine compounds have been extensively studied ( gellert , m ., et al ., proc . natl . acad . sci . 1962 , 48 , 2013 ; sasisekharan , v ., and zimmerman , s . ; davies , d . r . j . mol . biol . 1975 , 92 , 171 ; proni , g ., et al ., chem . eur . j . 2000 , 6 , 3249 ; walmsley , j . a . and burnett , j . f . biochemistry 1999 , 38 , 14063 and davis , j . t . angew . chem . int . ed . 2004 , 43 , 668 ). the basic building block is the g - quartet formed by hoogsteen hydrogen bonding between each of four guanines and its two nearest neighbors . as the monomer concentration increases , the g - quartets can aggregate into columnar stacks through π - π interactions or , in the case of 5 ′- guanosine monophosphate ( gmp ), into continuous , hydrogen - bonded helices . it is demonstrated herein that by combining the soluble gmp with the insoluble guo in particular ratios in aqueous solution , the resulting solutions are shown to form reversible , binary g - gels with unique chiral and thermoresponsive properties that can be controlled by adjusting the guo : gmp ratio , cation content and ph . the chirality of g - gels offers the possibility of chiral selectivity that is supported by previous work demonstrating separations of small molecules using g - gels ( dowling , v . a ., et al ., anal . chem . 2004 , 15 , 4558 ; mcgown , us pregrant publication 2004 / 0241718 , published dec . 2 , 2004 ). specifically , in some proportions the gels of the present invention are formed by self - association of guanosine and 5 ′- guanosine monophosphate that are solution at low temperatures and then become a firm gel at higher temperatures before melting at even higher temperatures . as used herein , low temperatures are below room temperature and are between 2 - 20 ° c . while room temperature is defined as between 20 - 27 ° c . and high temperatures are defined as those above room temperature , particularly above 35 ° c ., above 45 ° c ., above 55 ° c ., above 65 ° c . or above 100 ° c . it is noted that the actual transition temperatures will vary depending upon the specific gel recipe , but in general the solution phase exists below room temperature , the gel exits at and above room temperature , and the higher temperature melting occurs above 40 - 50 ° c . this unique thermal dependence makes this gel ideal for encapsulation of heat sensitive components such as living cells , enzymes and other biological components , since they could be added to the solution at low temperature for homogeneous distribution and then raised to room or body temperature for gelation into , for example , drug delivery devices , artificial cells , artificial tissues , artificial organs , or bioreactors for medical use or environmental bioremediation . similarly , nanocomponents such as carbon nanotubes ( cnts ) or cnt - biological hybrids can be dispersed and stored in the solutions at low temperatures and then immobilized in the gels for use at higher temperatures . as such , nanostructures comprised of cnts may be incorporated into the binary gels for use in applications such as fuel cells , solar cells , artificial cells or tissues for medical purposes , microreactors containing cells or enzymes for bioremediation and / or drug delivery . furthermore , it is shown here that binary g - gels provide selective solubilization and dispersion of individual swnts , presumably through selective interactions of the nanotubes with the aromatic guanines in the chiral g - gel structures . solutions of guanosine ( guo ) and guanosine 5 ′ monophosphate ( gmp ) in buffer ( 25 mm tris buffer , ph 7 . 2 ) and then refrigerated as liquids overnight were evaluated for phase changes in different temperature ranges and across a range of cation concentration . the data are shown in table 1 . it is noted that the buffer may be modified to any suitable buffer and may even comprise water alone . the buffer may also contain cations other than potassium or no cations at all . the phase observations labeled in the table include “ l ” for liquid , “ vl ” for viscous liquid and “ g ” for gel . the symbol “−” indicates no observation data for this temperature range . the data suggest that at a guo : gmp ratio of 1 : 4 , the thermoassociative properties of the gel ( from liquid to gel on increased temperature ; see id 1058 ) occurs and is enhanced at higher concentrations of monomer . compare id 1058 with id 1059 . additional studies were performed with samples having monomer concentrations between those of gel id 1058 and 1059 . samples were prepared according to the concentrations in the table ( 25 mm tris buffer , ph 7 . 2 ) and then refrigerated as liquids overnight . these data are shown in table 2 . the time , in minutes , that each sample took to reach a gel state once at room temperature was also measured . these data are listed in the table in the room temperature column . the phase observations labeled in the table include “ l ” for liquid , “ vl ” for viscous liquid and “ g ” for gel . the symbol “−” indicates no observation data for this temperature range . the data shown here suggest that while maintaining a guo / gmp ratio of 1 : 4 , higher monomer concentrations expand the temperature window of the low temperature liquid phase . the effects of cation concentration were investigated . samples containing 0 . 025m guanosine and 0 . 1m guanosine 5 ′ monophosphate were prepared having concentrations of 0 . 01 m , 0 . 03 m , 0 . 05 m , 0 . 07 m or 0 . 09 m potassium chloride ( kcl ) ( 25 mm tris buffer , ph 7 . 2 ). the phase data are shown in table 3 . the phase observations labeled in the table include “ l ” for liquid , “ vl ” for viscous liquid and “ g ” for gel . the symbol “−” indicates no observation data for this temperature range . the data suggest that , while at the lowest concentration of kcl the phase transition is slightly shifted , the phase transition properties of the gel remain constant across a range of cation concentration . using the same binary g - gel ( 0 . 025 / 0 . 1 ; guo : gmp ), the effects of ph were investigated . the data are shown in table 4 . samples were prepared ( 25 mm tris buffer , ph 7 . 2 ) and then refrigerated as liquids overnight . the time , in minutes , that each sample took to reach a gel state once at room temperature was also measured . these data are listed in the table in the room temperature column . the phase observations labeled in the table include “ l ” for liquid , “ vl ” for viscous liquid and “ g ” for gel . the symbol “−” indicates no observation data for this temperature range . an observation matrix of samples was prepared across a range of guo and gmp concentrations . in this experiment , all samples were prepared having a guo : gmp ratio of 1 : 4 , ph 7 . 2 and kcl concentration of 0 . 05m in x buffer . ( 25 mm tris buffer , ph 7 . 2 ). the binary gels were observed at three temperature ranges , low temperature , room temperature and high temperature . the resultant observations are shown in table 5 in the order of low temperature observation / room temperature observation / high temperature observation . the concentration of guo is given in the last row running across the matrix , while the concentration of gmp is given in the first column running down the matrix . the observations are labeled in the table include “ l ” for liquid , “ vl ” for viscous liquid and “ g ” for gel . the symbol “−” indicates no data for this temperature . as other data herein have suggested , the most notable gel behavior occurs at higher concentrations of both monomers where the gels become viscous liquids on increased temperature . additional studies have failed to identify an upper boundary for the concentration of the monomers in preparing these binary gels . this boundary might only be reached at the solubility of each monomer . the binary g - gels disclosed herein exhibit thermoassociative behavior with gelation temperatures that decrease with increasing swnt concentration . single walled carbon nanotubes ( swnts ) were solubilized in g - gels formed by mixtures of guanosine and 5 ′- guanosine monophosphate in aqueous solution . three different guanosine media were investigated . in all cases , swnt suspensions were prepared by sonicating swnts in the dispersing media in bath sonicator for 15 min . stable suspensions of as much as 5 mg / ml could be achieved simply by sonicating . as a control or reference , the first medium was 0 . 25 m gmp alone in 25 mm tris buffer , ph 7 . 2 . gmp is highly soluble in water and does not readily form higher order structures in the absence of stabilizing k +. in contrast to the binary gels described below , up to 1 . 4 mg / ml swnt could be solubilized for up to 24 h in 0 . 25 m gmp without guo , after which the swnts precipitated . the temporary suspension could be reformed by shaking the solution . the result shows that gmp alone does not provide stable suspension of dispersed swnts . analogous experiments could not be performed for guo since it is insoluble in water . second , swnts were solubilized in a binary g - gel ( gel 1 ) comprised of 20 mm guo , 250 mm gmp , ( guo : gmp ratio of 1 : 12 . 5 ) 50 mm kcl in 25 mm tris buffer , ph 7 . 2 . suspensions of 5 μg / ml , 10 μg / ml , 20 μg / ml , 50 μg / ml , 100 μg / ml and 2 mg / ml swnt in gel 1 were evaluated for solubilization , dispersion and viscosity . these suspensions were liquid between 2 - 25 ° c . at swnt concentrations & lt ; 1 mg / ml . at higher swnt concentration , the suspensions exhibit thermoassociative behavior , forming gels at room temperature . suspensions of as much as 5 mg / ml swnt were stable , showing no signs of degradation or precipitation after 4 weeks . when inverted , a vial containing 50 ug / ml swnt in gel 1 flowed to the bottom ( inverted top ) of the vial . however , a solution of 2 mg / ml swnt in gel 1 remained in the top ( inverted bottom ) of the vial as a gel when inverted . third , swnts were solubilized in a binary g - gel ( gel 2 ) comprised of 60 mm guo , 300 mm gmp , ( guo : gmp ratio of 1 : 5 ) 50 mm kcl in the same buffer as gel 1 . gel 2 was found to be thermoassociative even in the absence of swnt , forming gels at temperatures ≧ 33 ° c . suspensions of 6 μg / ml , 12 μg / ml , 30 μg / ml , 60 μg / ml , 120 μg / ml and 240 μg / ml swnt in gel 2 were evaluated for solubilization , dispersion and viscosity . the gelation temperature was found to decrease with increasing swnt concentration until , above 2 mg / ml swnt , the suspension is a gel even at 2 ° c . concentrations as high as 2 . 4 mg / ml could be suspended in g - gel 2 . for both gels 1 and 2 , recovery of swnts could be achieved by heating the suspension above its melting temperature , causing the swnts to precipitate . optical microscopy using a simple light microscope at a resolution of 200 ×, was performed on g - gels with and without swnts . gels were prepared with 10 ug / ml swnt or no swnt and allowed to dry . in both cases the dehydrated gel exhibited crystallinity but the crystallinity was more pronounced and regular in the presence of swnts . these results suggest that swnts promote the self - assembly of the gels and become an integral part of the gel structure . atomic force microscopy ( afm ) of 2 mg / ml swnt in gel 1 showed well - dispersed swnts with diameters of ˜ 2 nm ( from line scan analysis ), which is consistent with diameters of ˜ 0 . 9 - 1 . 7 nm that were obtained from micro - raman spectra of the radial breathing mode ( see example 9 below ). the average length of the suspended swnts is 1 μm , which is similar to their length in the starting material . thicker regions of the swnts were observed and may be individual or bundled swnts , or g - gel bridges between adjacent swnts . atomic force microscopy ( afm ) of 240 μg / ml swnt in gel 2 showed that swnts were individually dispersed in the gel . there was evidence of parallel alignment suggesting a high degree of organization that might be increased by optimization of experimental conditions and application of an electric field . the presence of a thicker structures observed in the image may be evidence of different modes of interaction between the gel and the various structures in the heterogeneous swnt preparation , or to solubilization of both bundled and monodispersed nanotubes . micro - raman spectroscopy was performed of the radial breathing mode ( rbm ) region ( 100 - 300 cm − 1 ) and the g - band region ( 1400 - 1700 cm − 1 ) for acid treated swnts in aqueous suspension ( reference sample ) and for 1 mg / ml swnts in gel 1 after one week and from the top and bottom of the gel after four weeks . relative intensity was measured against raman shift ( cm − 1 ). calculations of others have shown that swnts with diameters d & lt ; 1 . 1 nm are metallic with rbm frequencies of 218 - 280 cm − 1 , while swnts with d & gt ; 1 . 1 nm are semiconducting with rbm frequencies of 175 - 213 cm − 1 . ( rao , a . m ., et al ., phys . rev . lett ., 2001 , 86 , 3895 ). here , it was found that the peaks in both regions are blue - shifted by 5 - 7 cm − 1 in the g - gel relative to the reference , which is evidence of interactions between the swnts and the g - gel structures ( dresselhaus , m . s . et al ., carbon 2002 , 40 , 2043 ). compared to the reference , the peaks associated with the semiconducting swnts in the g - gel samples were diminished , indicating that the metallic tubes are preferentially solubilized in the g - gels relative to the semiconducting tubes ( krupke , r ., et al ., am . chem . soc . 2003 , 125 , 3370 ). furthermore , the spectra of the suspensions after 4 weeks show evidence of selective enrichment from top to bottom of different structures within each class of swnts . most notable were the relative increases of the semiconductor peak at 186 cm − 1 and the metallic peak shoulder at 272 cm − 1 in the top of the gel and the increase of the semiconductor peak at 206 cm − 1 in the bottom of the gel . in the g - band region ( 1400 - 1700 cm − 1 ), the sharp peak of the semiconducting swnts was blue shifted from 1587 cm − 1 in the reference to 1592 cm − 1 in the g - gel suspension , which is evidence of association with the g - gel matrix . the shoulder near 1565 cm − 1 , also attributed to semiconducting nanotubes , was less distinct in the gel and indiscernible in the sample taken from the top of the 4 - week suspension . in contrast , the broad peak of the metallic swnts ( dresselhaus , m . s . ; et al ., carbon 2002 , 40 , 2043 ; krupke , r . et al ., science 2003 , 301 , 344 ; and chattopadhyay , d ., et al ., j . am . chem . soc . 2003 , 125 , 3370 ) at 1540 cm − 1 was much more prominent in the g - gel than reference , especially in the sample taken from the top of the gel after 4 weeks . these results indicate that g - gels solubilize high concentrations of swnts with preferential dispersion and enrichment of metallic tubes , and suggest that , as the sample ages , the swnts within the two classes are further distributed based on their chirality . the circular dichroism spectrum of 5 mg / ml swnt in gel showed increased magnitudes of the positive peak at 220 nm and a negative peak at 260 nm relative to the spectrum of the gel in the absence of swnts . it is known that 220 nm indicates the formation of g quartet and 260 nm signals formation of secondary structure . the addition of swnt in high concentration to the thermoassociative gels was found to destroy their thermoassociative ( ta ) property . the cd results suggest that addition of carbon nanotubes results in an increase in the concentration of g - quartet in solution while concomittantly destroying or changing second structures . based upon this finding , it is possible that the pi - pi interaction between g - quartet and swnt may be the driving force for dispersion . while this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims .	1
the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be best understood by reference to the drawings , wherein identical or comparable parts are designated by the same reference signs throughout . it will be readily understood that the present invention , as generally described herein , could vary in a wide range . thus , the following more detailed description of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention , is not intended to limit the scope of the invention , as claimed , but is merely representative of presently preferred embodiments of the invention . in an exemplary fashion , an inloop filter based on temporal pixel trajectories is described . a pixel trajectory can be defined as 2d - locations through which a certain image point moves from frame to frame . it will be shown that the temporal trajectory filter ( ttf ) performs well when integrated into the h . 264 / avc baseline profile , providing significant bit rate savings for a wide range of sequences . in block - based motion compensated video codecs such as the h . 264 / avc , there exist two main blocks that introduce noise at the encoder . one of these is the motion compensation itself , the other is the quantization of block - based integer discrete cosine transform ( dct ) coefficients . in order to improve the rate distortion , rd , performance of the h . 264 / avc codec , the remaining coding noise is reduced in the reconstructed frames at encoder and decoder . since these reconstructed frames are successively used for prediction of future frames , every degree of noise reduction will increase the performance of the codec . the applied strategy involves identification and tracking of identical image content over the past coded and noisy frames . for each pixel in frame f 1 an individual motion trajectory is constructed that identifies n pixel amplitudes in the past n frames . it is assumed that image content in the pixels identified along the motion trajectory does not change and that any deviation of these pixel amplitudes is caused by additive independent ( white ) coding noise . statistical signal theory implies that averaging the n pixel amplitudes along the trajectory potentially reduces the noise variance by a factor of n , resulting in a coding gain . hereinafter , y i ( x , y ), u i ( x , y ) and v i ( x , y ) shall denote the luminance and chrominance components of the i - th frame of a video sequence at pixel position ( x , y ) t respectively . since in h . 264 / avc motion vectors are assigned not to individual pixels but rather to blocks of various sizes , all pixels within such a block are assumed to have identical motion , resulting in a field of motion vectors with components dx i ( x , y ) and dy i ( x , y ). these give the motion vector needed to retrieve the pixel ( x , y ) t in frame f i from its respective reference frame . hereinafter , in an exemplary fashion , the h . 264 baseline profile with an ippp - structure ( i = intra - mode , p = predictive - mode ) is considered , thus there exists always only one reference frame , which is the previously encoded frame fi - 1 . starting with frame fi currently to be encoded , the trajectory is retrieved for a pixel ( x 0 , y 0 ) t inside that frame . the first luminance and chrominance components along the trajectory y t 0 , u t 0 and v t 0 are identical to the current image values y i ( x 0 , y 0 ) , u i ( x 0 , y 0 ) and v i ( x 0 , y 0 ). the location occupied by the pixel ( x 0 , y 0 ) t in the previous frame can be calculated by adding the motion vector associated with ( x 0 , y 0 ) t to that location as given in since ( x 1 , y 1 ) t generally points not to an integer pixel position but rather has quarterpel resolution , a rounding operation is helpful to retrieve the motion vector from the next motion vector field . the resulting pixel location in frame f i - 2 is subsequently given by the associated luma component is y t 2 = y i - 2 ( x 2 , y 2 ). thus it is possible to formulate a general recursive formula for determining the j - th position of a pixel from frame f i along the trajectory for any given frame f j as notated in equation 3 : equivalently the trajectory &# 39 ; s j - th luminance sample is y t j = y i - j ( x j , y j ), the same holds for both u - and v - channels , too . the averaging along the pixel trajectory as described above can be integrated into the h . 264 encoder depicted in fig1 . firstly , all predicted frames that have not yet been deblocked are stored in a separate queue . additionally , all motion vectors that have been used to predict these frames are also stored . in order to minimize memory usage only eight past frames and motion vector fields are kept . the new inloop filter is inserted in the encoder in front of the deblocking filter , which filters according to remaining block edges and does not reverse ttf - induced improvements . for every pixel inside a frame to be deblocked a trajectory is calculated as described above . the luma components , that have to be obtained with quarterpel accuracy according to equation 3 , may be calculated using the standard h . 264 interpolation filter . for the chroma components an eighthpel interpolation is used equivalently . this results in the formation of a list of luminance values y t 0 , . . . , y t 7 and two lists of chrominance values for every pixel in the current frame . before applying an averaging operation along the trajectory the validity of the predicted trajectory has to be verified . here two indicators for a badly predicted trajectory are used . a sudden change of the luminance value δy j =\| y t j + 1 − y t j \| can indicate that a retrieved motion vector no longer correctly describes a pixel &# 39 ; s trajectory . ( this is for instance the case when foreground objects are partly inside a background block thus interrupting the trajectory .) in order to avoid the inclusion of wrong luminance values the trajectory is only continued if δy j ≦ t y for a given threshold t y . the derivation of an optimal t y per frame will be described in further detail below . another indicator for a badly predicted trajectory are strong variations in the motion vector field . during the retrieval of the motion vector for a specified pixel as given in equation 3 , the retrieved motion vector may be compared against the vectors for the eight neighboring 4 × 4 blocks as illustrated by fig2 . the block vote metric bv j ( x j , y j ) denotes the number of 4 × 4 blocks surrounding location ( x j , y j ) t whose motion vectors differ from the one in which ( x j , y j ) t lies . in fig2 the bv j ( x j , y j ) value is 4 . based on this metric a second threshold t bv can be used to control the length of the predicted trajectory based on the confidence in the motion vector accuracy as given in the bv metric effectively checks for every pixel along the trajectory if a number of surrounding 4 × 4 blocks has identical motion to the current trajectory &# 39 ; s motion . as an example t bv = 0 would not restrict the motion at all , while t bv = 8 only continues a trajectory if all surrounding blocks have identical motion . in this context 4 × 4 blocks lying outside the frame are not considered at all , so that blocks at the edge of the frame are only checked against a smaller number of reference blocks . intra - coded blocks are assumed to have zero motion . there are two further cases in which a trajectory may be interrupted : the first being intra - coded blocks . should a trajectory reach such a block , which has no associated motion vector , it is terminated . the second case occurs when the predicted block retrieved from the previous frame lies partly outside the frame as shown in fig3 . in this case no motion information is available for a number of pixels whose trajectory is also interrupted . both thresholds introduced above may now be optimized for each frame . for all possible combinations of 1 ≦ t y ≦ 8 and 0 ≦ t bv & lt ; 4 the trajectories for each pixel in the frame to be deblocked are calculated and the luma and chroma components of every pixel are then replaced by the average along its respective trajectory of length k ≦ 8 as given by the current implementation only applies the filter to the luma component , leaving both chroma components in their original state . each combination can now be assigned a mean squared error ( mse ) compared to the original frame to be encoded . the optimum thresholds yielding the minimum mse are then chosen and encoded in the bitstream requiring five additional bits per frame . instead of computing all 32 different versions of the filtered frame it is easily possible to calculate all mses simultaneously only having to process every pixel in the current frame once . the first advantage of this approach is that no additional side information is required on the macroblock level . secondly , every pixel is filtered with an individual filter length which helps to break up blocking artifacts . the proposed filter has been implemented in c and integrated into the jm 1l ( kta 2 . 2 ) software using the h . 264 / avc baseline profile . the resulting bit rates and peak signal - to - noise ratio ( psnr ) values are compared against the same software without the additional inloop filter , which behaves exactly as h . 264 / avc . the implementation has been tested on a large variety of sequences including five sequences in tv resolution and 15 mpeg test sequences . exemplary rd - curves for the bqsquare sequence are shown in fig4 . from the underlying data it becomes instantly apparent , that the filter is less effective for high quantization parameter , qp . this is due to the fact that at very low quality reference blocks themselves are of such poor quality that averaging along the trajectory cannot significantly improve the current frame . in the final implementation the filter was therefore switched off automatically for qp higher than 45 . for all sequences average psnr gain and bit rate reduction were measured using the bjøntegaard metric [ 7 ]. the average values are given in the tables shown in fig6 and 7 . these values show , that the filter performs well for sequences of resolutions ranging from 416 × 240 ( bqsquare ) to 2560 × 1600 ( traffic ). additionally , the actual frame rate also seems to have no significant impact on the resulting quality , as significant bit rate reduction is present both for sequences with 24 hz ( parkscene ) and with 60 hz frame rates ( bqterrace ). since the filter makes a pixel - wise decision concerning the filter length , the visual quality of the decoded bit stream is also improved as is illustrated by the segments from the bqterrace sequence shown in fig5 . the performance gain illustrated in fig5 , however , still does not explore the full potential of the proposed filter . the mse minimization is , for instance , not necessarily the best criterion for determining the transmitted thresholds . ideally , an rd - optimization scheme should be adopted to derive both t y and t bv for each frame . this is especially important since there is no linear dependency between the transmitted error residual and the amount of bits needed to encode it . equivalently , maximizing the mse of any reference picture does not result in a minimization of the total bit rate for the entire video sequence . nevertheless , the proposed algorithm has shown to improve the compression efficiency of the h . 264 / avc baseline profile for all tested sequences fully justifying the introduced overhead of five bits per frame . in summary , the present invention provides a new inloop filtering approach that uses temporal information in the form of pixel trajectories to improve the quality of reference pictures used in h . 264 / avc . the algorithm based on individual temporal pixel trajectories as described provides bit rate savings for all tested sequences , reducing the bit rate by more than 4 % on average . this is achieved without significantly increasing computational complexity or memory usage of the encoder . moreover , even better results could be achieved by adopting an rd - optimization scheme . p . list , a . joch , j . lainema , g . bjøntegaard , and m . karczewicz , “ adaptive deblocking filter ,” ieee transactions on circuits and systems for video technology ( tcsvt ), 2003 . e . dubois and s . sabri , “ noise reduction in image sequences using motion - compensated temporal filtering ,” ieee transactions on communications , vol . 32 , no . 7 , pp . 826 - 831 , july 1984 . [ 3 ] j .- r . ohm , “ three - dimensional subband coding with motion compensation ,” ieee transactions on image processing , september 1994 . x . wang , m . karczewicz , j . ridge , and y . bao , “ simplified update step of motion compensated temporal filtering for video coding ,” in proceedings of the 24th picture coding symposium , 2006 , pp . 826 - 831 . d . t . vo and t . q . nguyen , “ optimal motion compensated spatio - temporal filter for quality enhancement of h . 264 / avc compressed video sequences ,” in proceedings of the 16th international conference on image processing ( icip ), november 2009 , pp . 3173 - 3176 . a . glantz , a . krutz , m . haller , and t . sikora , “ video coding using global motion temporal filtering ,” in icip , november 2009 , pp . 1053 - 1056 . g . bjøntegaard , “ calculation of average psnr differences between rd - curves ,” itu - t sg16 / q . 6 vceg document vceg - m33 , march 2001 .	7
the roller press according to fig1 contains two rollers , 1 , 2 which are rotatably supported in a frame . the frame basically comprises a lower frame portion 3 , an upper frame portion 4 and two pairs of head pieces 5 , 6 and 7 , 8 , respectively , which , at the two ends of the frame , connect the lower frame portion 3 to the upper frame portion 4 . the lower frame portion 3 comprises two lower flanges 9 , 10 and a transverse flange 11 connecting those lower flanges at the one end of the frame . the upper frame portion 4 comprises two upper flanges 12 , 13 and a cross - beam 14 connecting those upper flanges at the one end of the frame . the rollers 1 , 2 are supported with their two shaft ends in bearing shoes 15 , 16 and 17 , 18 , respectively , which are each arranged between a respective lower flange 9 , 10 of the lower frame portion 3 and a respective upper flange 12 , 13 of the upper frame portion 4 . in the operating position of the roller press ( fig1 ), the bearing shoes 15 , 16 of the roller 2 ( fixed roller ) are supported at the head pieces 5 , 6 of the frame . the roller 1 ( loose roller ) is forced in the direction towards the roller 2 by a pressure system formed by four pressure cylinders 19 , and this generates the high grinding pressure necessary for material bed comminution in the roller gap between the two rollers 1 , 2 . the head pieces 5 to 8 form pressure beams which introduce the grinding forces into the lower flanges 9 , 10 and upper flanges 12 , 13 of the frame . in order to replace the rollers 1 , 2 or to remove them periodically from the frame for servicing , the head pieces 5 , 6 at the end of the frame that is adjacent to the fixed roller ( roller 2 ) can be displaced from their operating position ( fig1 ) outwards into an opening position ( fig2 ). for that purpose , the lower frame portion 3 and the upper frame portion 4 have projecting slide rails 20 , 21 and 22 , 23 , respectively , at the end of the frame that contains the displaceable head pieces 5 , 6 . the slide rails 20 , 21 connected to the lower flanges 9 , 10 of the lower frame portion 3 contain a guide 24 in the form of a groove for the displaceable head pieces 5 , 6 . the slide rails 22 , 23 connected to the upper flanges 12 , 13 of the upper frame portion 4 are additionally carried at their projecting ends by the cross - beam 14 which connects the upper flanges 12 , 13 to each other . each of the slide rails 22 , 23 is provided on its underside with an inclined slide face which slopes away in an outward direction . during the displacement of the head pieces 5 , 6 , the slide rails 22 , 23 rest with that sloping slide face on the upper side of those head pieces which is accordingly constructed to be wedge - shaped like the inclined slide face of the slide rails 22 , 23 . if the head pieces 5 , 6 are displaced from their operating position ( fig1 ) outwards into their opening position ( fig2 ), the wedge - shaped upper side of the head pieces slides along the inclined slide face of the slide rails 22 , 23 and thereby lifts the slide rails 22 , 23 , the cross - beam 14 and the upper flanges 12 , 13 slightly ( by a few mm ). as a result , the friction between the upper flanges 12 , 13 and the bearing shoes 15 to 18 is suspended , so that the rollers 1 , 2 with their bearing shoes can be easily displaced in the frame and removed from the frame . in the opened state , the frame therefore forms a displacement frame for the roller units . the inclined slide faces of the slide rails 22 , 23 and the correspondingly wedge - shaped upper side of the head pieces 5 , 6 are advantageously constructed to be replaceable , so that the height measurement by which the upper flanges 12 , 13 are raised during the displacement of the head pieces 5 , 6 ( or lowered again during the return of the head pieces into the operating position ) can be adjusted as required . in the operating position ( fig1 ), the displaceable head pieces 5 , 6 are connected to the lower flanges 9 , 10 of the lower frame portion 3 and to the upper flanges 12 , 13 of the upper frame portion 4 by locking blocks 25 which produce a closed frame and which introduce the lifting ( that is to say , upwardly directed ) forces exerted by the rollers 1 , 2 on the upper flanges 12 , 13 into the lower frame portion 3 via the head pieces . at the same time , the locking blocks 25 position the head pieces 5 , 6 centrally in front of the bearing shoes 15 , 16 . provided between the displaceable head pieces 5 , 6 and the lower flanges 9 , 10 are also locating blocks 26 which , during the displacement of the head pieces from the operating position into the opening position ( fig2 ), cooperate as guide members with the guide 24 constructed in the form of a groove . all of the force - transmitting faces , especially of the locking blocks 25 and locating blocks 26 , are advantageously coated in a corrosion - inhibiting manner . an electrical drive or a travelling hydraulic system can be used to displace the head pieces 5 , 6 . also indicated in fig2 are the two grinding material guide plates 27 which , in the operating position ( fig1 ), delimit the roller gap at both ends and which , in the opening position ( fig2 ), are pulled upwards to such an extent that they do not obstruct a displacement of the two rollers 1 , 2 to the left ( that is to say , towards the opened end of the frame ). whereas , in the embodiment shown , the removal of the roller units from the displacement frame takes place from the side where the fixed roller is located ( which is generally the easier solution ), it is also possible in the context of the invention to carry out the removal of the roller units from the side where the loose roller is located . it will generally be advantageous , at one end of the frame , to configure both head pieces to be displaceable in the transverse direction . however , it is in principle also possible according to the invention to construct only one of the two head pieces to be displaceable , the displacement taking place to such an extent that the complete roller units can be removed through the free space created at the end .	1
hereinafter , various embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings . in this description , various devices in a system such as a server device , a client device , an external playback device or an external device will be described . these devices include a general configuration of a computer and are also configured of a processing unit such as a processor , a storage unit such as a memory or a local disk , an input and output unit such as a display , a keyboard , or a mouse , and a networking interface . various programs are executed on the processor which is a processing unit , and a state where the program is executed is called a module , and for example , when a web browser program is executed on the processor , it is called a web browser module . further , each of the programs may be called a code , a function , or a functional module . a method of recording and playing back an operation of a web application according to a first embodiment will be described with reference to fig1 to 5 . fig1 is a system configuration view illustrating an example of a hardware configuration and a software configuration of a system that executes a web application for various embodiments . in fig1 , the hardware of the system includes a client device 101 , a web server device 121 , a log connection server device 141 , an external playback device 181 , and a network 161 which connects the above - mentioned devices . further , hardware of each of the devices may be implemented by the same hardware or may be configured by a plurality of hardwares . the client device 101 , the web server device 121 , the log connection server device 141 , and the external playback device 181 all include processors 103 , 123 , 143 , and 184 , memories 107 , 126 , 147 , and 185 , input and output units 102 , 125 , 146 , and 183 , and network interfaces 106 , 122 , 142 , and 182 , respectively and are connected to each other . the client device 101 , the web server device 121 and the log connection server device 141 further include local disks 104 , 124 , and 144 . some of the devices may not have some of the above - mentioned components . a web browser program 108 and a script engine program 109 accompanied therewith are stored in the memory 107 of the client device 101 . further , these programs are read and executed by the processor 103 . the web browser program 108 has a function that requests a web page or receives a response of the requested web page and interprets the response to generate a display screen . the script engine program 109 has a function that interprets a script code included in the response of the web page to allow a processor 103 to execute a processing which is written in the script code . in the meantime , the script engine program 109 accompanied with the web browser program 108 may be loaded within the web browser program 108 . therefore , in this description , it should be understood that in the web browser program or web browser module , the script engine program or the script engine module may be loaded therein or accompanied therewith . the keyboard , the mouse , or the monitor is connected to the input and output unit 102 to be used to instruct to execute or stop a program and display the execution result of the program on the monitor . the processor 103 reads the program from the memory 105 and executes a processing . the network interface 106 transmits / receives a request or a response to / from a web server device or an operation log , to / from an external device of the client device 101 through the network 161 . a web server program 127 , a function insertion program 128 , an identifier transmission program 129 , and a content transmission program 134 are stored in the memory 126 of the web server device 121 . these programs may have an inclusive relationship with each other , and for example , the identifier transmission program 129 may be included in the web server program 127 . a web application code 130 is included in the web server program 127 or provided in parallel to the web server program 127 . in the function insertion program 128 , an operation log acquisition code 131 , a content improvement code 132 , and a difference detection code 133 are included . these programs are read and executed by the processor 123 . the web server program 127 has a function that generates and returns a response of a web page in response to a request from an external device such as the client device 101 . the function insertion program 128 has a function that adds or corrects contents included in the response of the web page . the identifier transmission program 129 has a function that generates or acquires an identifier related to the web page generated by the web server program 127 to transmit the identifier to the external device . as the identifier related to the web page , an id having a unique value for every request of the web page or an id that specifies a request source of the web page are included . the content transmission program 134 has a function that transmits the contents of the web page created by the web server program 127 to the external device . the web server program 127 also has a function that transmits the contents of the web page to the client device which is a request source . however , the content transmission program 134 may also transmit contents to an external device other than the request sources such as the log connection server device 141 or the external playback device 181 . in this case , the content transmission program 134 transmits the contents so as to be associated with the identifier related to the web page . the input and output unit 125 , the processor 123 , and the network interface 122 have the same functions as devices having the same names in the client device 101 . in the local disk 124 , all or some of web pages are saved . in the memory 147 of the log connection server device 141 , a log connection server program 148 and an operation playback program 149 are stored . these programs are read and executed by the processor 143 . the log connection server program 148 receives a web page transmitted from the client device 101 or the web server device 121 or an identifier that specifies a request source of the web page , or data such as an operation log , and stores the web page , the identifier , and the data in a log storage area 145 of the local disk 144 , reads data on the log storage area 145 or the memory 147 , displays lists thereof , or selects a specific identifier or operation log to transmit the specific identifier or operation log to the external device . further , an operation log related to the specific identifier is transmitted to the external device . the operation playback program 149 provides a function that plays back the operation on the web page from the contents and the operation log of the web page on the external playback device in response to the request from the external playback device 181 . the local disk 144 includes the operation log storage area 145 that stores the identifier or the operation log . the input and output unit 146 , the processor 143 , and the network interface 142 have the same functions as devices having the same names in the web server device 121 . a display program 186 is stored in the memory 185 of the external playback device 181 . the display program 186 is read and executed by the processor 184 . the display program 186 displays a web page , which is similar to the web browser program 108 and the script engine program 109 of the client device 101 . however , by the operation playback program 149 of the log connection server device 141 , the display program 186 plays back the operation on the web page or temporally stop the playback in connection with the operation log . the input and output unit 183 , the processor 184 , and the network interface 182 have the same functions as devices having the same names in the web server device 121 . referring to fig2 , a flow of operation reproduction processing of the web application in the system configuration will be described . as described with reference to fig1 , in the system in which the client device 101 , the web server device 121 , and the log connection server device 141 are connected through the network 161 , the client device 101 transmits a request of a web page , the web server device 121 generates and returns a response of the requested webpage , and the client device 101 displays the web page and executes the script code . in the log connection server device 141 , an identifier related to the web page , contents of the web page or an operation log on the web page is accumulated . further , between the log connection server device 141 and the client device 101 , the transmission and reception of the operation log or exchange of a command that transmits an inquiry for controlling the log operation and control contents is performed . the external playback device 181 receives the contents and the operation log of the web page from the log connection server device 141 to playback operation on the web page . hereinafter , a series of processings will be described in sequence . further , in fig2 and subsequent drawings , a state where a program is executed on a processor is referred to as a module , and for example , when the web browser program is executed on the processor , this state is referred to as a web browser module . at first , in fig2 , a web browser module 211 of the client device 101 transmits a request of the web page to the web server device 121 via the network 161 . the request 201 includes at least an uri ( uniform resource identifier ) that designates a location where a web page is present . in the web server device 121 , a web server module 221 receives the request and a web application 222 that performs a processing in accordance with the web application code 130 generates a response 202 of a requested web page . the response 202 is transmitted to the web browser module 211 of the client device 101 via a function insertion module 223 included in the web server device 121 . an operation log acquisition function module 224 of the function insertion module 223 is included in the client device 101 and inserts a function that acquires the operation log on the web browser module 211 into the response 202 in the form of a script code 206 which is executed on the script engine module 212 accompanied with the web browser module 211 into the response 202 . a content improvement function module 225 has a function that changes a part of contents included in the response 202 and inserts an identifier related to the response into the contents . a difference detection function module 226 inserts a function that detects , records , and stores a dynamic change of a document that provides the screen display or a function on the web browser module 211 into the response 202 in the form of a script code 206 that is executed on the script engine module 212 included in the client device 101 . in the web server device 121 , an identifier transmission module 227 generates or acquires an identifier 204 related to the response 202 of the web page to transmit the identifier to the log connection server device 141 . further , a content transmission module 228 transmits contents 205 of a web page included in the response 202 to the log connection server device 141 . these operations may be sequentially or simultaneously performed . in the client device 101 , the web browser module 211 displays contents included in a response 203 , transmits a next request is transmitted in response to the operation , or the script engine module 212 executes the script code 206 included in the contents . the script code inserted by the operation log acquisition function module 224 is executed by the script engine module 212 and an operation log on the web browser module 211 is generated . the generated operation log is stored on the memory 107 or the local disk 104 of the client device 101 together with the identifier . in the operation log acquisition function module 224 , a function that inquires a transmission request of the operation log or the log operation request to the log connection server device 141 through the web browser module 211 is included . if the command 208 is returned in response to the inquiry , the operation log which is stored in the memory 107 or the local disk 104 is transmitted to the log connection server device 141 or the operation log is deleted in accordance with the command 208 . the command 208 also includes processings other than the log transmission or the log deletion . in the log connection server device 141 , a log connection server module 231 receives the identifier 204 and the contents 205 from the web server device 121 and stores the identifier 204 and the contents 205 in the log storage area 145 . further , list data of the stored identifier 204 is displayed on the external playback device 181 to generate a command that allows the client device to transmit the operation log of the web page related to the selected identifier and transmit the command 208 of the log transmission in response to the log inquiry 207 from the client device 101 to receive an operation log 209 from the client device and store the operation log 209 in the log storage area 145 . as described above , the command 208 includes a command for performing processings other than the log transmission . an operation playback module 232 has a function that transmits contents or the operation log of the web page which are stored in the log storage area 145 of the log connection server device 141 and the document structure associated with the operation log to the external playback device 181 to display the operation state in accordance with the operation log on the web page , on the external playback device 181 . in the external playback device 181 , a display module 241 communicates with the log connection server device 141 and displays the list of the identifier stored in the log connection server device 141 and selects a specific identifier by the input from the input and output unit 183 to notify the identifier to the log connection server device 141 or displays the operation state on the web page through the operation playback module 232 of the log connection server device 141 or changes the display state in accordance with the instruction from the input and output unit 183 . in fig2 , even though the external playback device 181 and the log connection server device 141 are directly connected , but the external playback device 181 and the log connection server device 141 may be connected through the network 161 . further , the contents or the operation log of the web page or the document structure associated with the operation log may be received from other device such as the web server device 121 . next , with the above - mentioned system configuration and the operation reproduction of the web application as premises , a processing flow of the operation reproducing method of the web application according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to fig3 to 5 and fig1 to 16 . fig3 illustrates a processing flow of the operation recording and fig1 illustrates a processing flow of the operation reproducing . the processing flows illustrated in fig3 and 11 may be sequentially switched or simultaneously performed . as illustrated in fig3 , the web browser module of the client device transmits the request to the web application to the web server device ( step 303 ). in the web server device , the web server module receives the request from the client device to generate a response of the web application ( step 323 ). the identifier transmission module transmits the identifier to the log connection server device whenever the response is generated ( step 324 ). the identifier is a unique value for every response and is used to specify the contents of the web page of the response , the operation log of the operation performed on the web page , or the document structure associated with the operation log . continuously , the content transmission module transmits the contents of the response to the log connection server device ( step 325 ). further , the function insertion module inserts the operation log acquisition function , the difference detection function , and the identifier and improves the contents ( step 326 ). the order of steps 324 to 326 is not limited to the order illustrated in fig3 , but the steps may be performed in a reverse order or simultaneously performed . finally , the response is transmitted from the web server device to the client device ( step 327 ). a series of the processings of the steps 323 to 327 are a flow of the processing that by the web server device according to this embodiment , generates the web page and hereinafter , will be referred to as step 322 all together . the web server device completes the processing if the request from the client device is completed or the web server device is completed ( steps 328 and 329 ). continuously , the client device receives the response from the web server device ( step 304 ). a series of processings of steps 303 and 304 in the client device are a flow of the processing that displays the web page in the client device and will be referred to as step 302 all together . in the processing flow of fig3 , the log connection server device determines whether the identifier is transmitted from the web server device ( step 343 ). if the identifier is transmitted , the identifier and the contents are received and stored ( step 344 and 345 ). hereinafter , the communication processing with the web server device will be referred to as step 342 all together . continuously , in the log connection server device , a list of the stored identifiers is generated and the list is displayed on the external device and a command that transmits the operation log on the web page associated with the identifier specified by the external device is prepared ( step 347 ). the reception of the operation log that uses the command is performed by the following processing flow . first , step 302 is completed . in the client device in which the display of the web page is completed , the document structure which is included in the response used to display the web page or provide the function is temporally stored on the memory or the local disk by the difference detection function ( step 306 ). next , by the operation log acquisition function which is included in the response , the operation log of the operation performed on the web browser is generated to be stored on the memory or the local disk ( step 307 ). when the operation log is generated , a current document structure is compared with a document structure which is temporally stored in step 306 ( step 308 ). as a result of comparison , if the document structures are different , the document is associated with the operation log stored in step 307 and the current document structure is stored on the memory or the local disk ( step 309 ). as a result of comparison in step 308 , if the document structures are not different , step 309 is not performed . continuously , the operation log acquisition function inquires of the log connection server device whether there is a log transmission request ( step 310 ). in this case , an identifier which may specify the client device or a displayed web page is transmitted to the log connection server device . if the log connection server device receives the inquiry about whether there is the log transmission request from the client device , it is determined whether the inquiry is an inquiry from an object that transmits the command prepared in step 347 ( step 328 ). if the inquiry is the inquiry from the object , the command prepared in step 347 is transmitted to the client device ( step 349 ). if the client device receives the command , the client device transmits the operation log specified by the command or the document structure associated with the operation log to the log connection server device ( step 311 ). if the log is transmitted from the client device ( step 350 ), the log connection server device receives and stores the log ( step 351 ). among a series of flows of the reception processing of the operation log , hereinafter , a processing flow at the log connection server device side is referred to as step 346 and a processing flow at the client device side are referred to as step 305 all together . further , in some cases , even when the identifier received from the client device does not match with the identifier specified in step 347 , in the determination processing in step 348 , it is determined that there is a corresponding inquiry and step 349 is performed . for example , if an identifier stored in the log connection server device includes a user identifier that may specify a user who performs an operation , the identifier transmitted from the client device does not include the user identifier , but includes a request identifier that has a unique value for every request of the web page , and thus an identifier of a user that transmits the request so as to be associated with the request identifier from the list of the identifier stored in the log connection server device is present , it is determined that there is an inquiry from the same user and an inquiry source has an operation log related to the identifier specified in step 347 and the command is transmitted . as described above , in the log connection server device , by managing the list of the identifier , the log connection server device acquires the contents or the operation log of the web page which have been displayed and operated in the past . further , the determination processing of step 348 is omitted and a command for the inquiry about whether there is the log transmission request from the client device is always transmitted . further , at the client device side , it is determined whether there is an operation log corresponding to the object of the command or a document structure associated with the operation log with the stored operation log or the document structure associated with the operation log , and the operation log or the document structure associated with the operation log may be transmitted to the log connection server device . finally , in the client device , if the page is transited , the sequence returns to step 302 and if the page is not transited , the operation is completed or if the client device is not completed , the sequence returns to step 305 . otherwise , the processing is completed ( step 313 ). also in the log connection server device , if the log recording is not completed , the sequence returns to step 342 . otherwise , the processing is completed ( step 353 ). further , a method of performing the management of the identifier , or the transmission request and transmission / reception of the operation log or the document structure associated with the operation log is not limited to a method by the above - described log connection server device , but other methods may be used . next , referring to fig4 , a document structure which is recorded so as to be associated with the operation log will be described . an example that displays the web page on the web browser 401 and provides the function is illustrated in the upper part of fig4 . in this example , a message “ main text . . . ” is displayed on the paragraph 402 and a button 1 is provided as an input 404 . in this example , the button 1 provides a function that displays a message “ button has been pressed ” 403 on the paragraph if the button is pressed . in other words , by the clicking operation of the button 1 , the display on the web browser 401 is dynamically changed at the client side . in the lower part of fig4 , the document structure 410 of the web page is illustrated . elements that configure the web page are hierarchized in a tree shape . in the example of fig4 , a document element is disposed at the top , html is below the document , and head and body are continuous thereto below html and document . below head , title and meta are disposed and a character string of “ web browser ” which is a text element of title is displayed in a title bar 405 of the web browser . meta has an attribute value “ charset = utf − 8 ” and a character code of the web page is correspondingly set . the message displayed in the paragraph 402 becomes a text element 413 of a paragraph below body . further , the button 1 is represented as a document structure at input below form below body . in the example of fig4 , by pressing the button 1 , the text element 413 of the paragraph is changed to be “ main text . . . button has been pressed ”. in the processing flow described with reference to fig3 , the difference of the document structures is detected and stored so that the situation which is dynamically changed at the client side is recorded . fig4 merely illustrates an example of the document structure but , the document structure may be represented by other method . fig5 is a view illustrating an example of the operation log . the operation log includes a time , a client id , a user id , a page id , a session id , an operation content , an operation target , and an attribute value . among these , the operation target is recorded by the document structure illustrated in fig4 . for example , the operation log when the button 404 of fig4 is pressed is recorded as html [ 0 ], form [ 0 ], or input [ 0 ] as illustrated by an index 3 of an example of the operation log of fig5 , which indicates that a click operation is performed by a 0 - th input below a 0 - th form below a 0 - th html . next , referring to fig1 , a flow of the operation playback processing of the web application will be described . first , the external playback device requests the log connection server device to transmit an identifier list in order to select a target of the operation playback ( step 1143 ). if the transmission request of the identifier list from the external playback device is received , the log connection server device generates and transmits a list of the stored identifier ( step 1102 ). the external playback device receives the identifier list to display the identifier list ( step 1144 ). hereinafter , steps 1143 and 1144 are referred to as step 1142 all together . next , the external playback device selects a part that plays back the operation from the identifier list and transmits the part to the log connection server device ( step 1145 ). even though the selection method may be varied depending on information included in the identifier , for example , an operation of a specific user may selectively become an operation target or an operation on a specific web page may selectively become an operation target . if the log connection server device receives the transmission request of a log or a content from the external playback device ( step 1105 ), the log connection server device reads the operation log corresponding to the specified identifier or a document structure associated with the operation log or the content from the log storage area ( step 1107 ) and transmits the operation log , the document structure , and the content to the external playback device ( step 1108 ). continuously , the operation playback module transmits a function that plays back an operation state on the web page such as the operation playback script to the external playback device ( step 1109 ). hereinafter , steps 1107 to 1109 are referred to as step 1106 all together . the log connection server device repeats these processings until the operation playback is completed . the external playback device receives the operation log , the document structure associated with the operation log , the content , and the operation playback script from the log connection server device ( steps 1147 and 1148 ) and plays back the operation state on the web page from the received operation log , document structure associated with the operation log , and content using the operation playback script ( step 1149 ). the operation state is played by displaying the content and further performing the operation in accordance with the operation log or displaying the operation content . when the operation recorded in the operation log is performed , the document structure of the content is updated or substituted in accordance with a document structure recorded so as to be associated with the operation log to play the state of the web page which is dynamically changed at the client side . hereinafter , steps 1147 to 1149 are referred to as step 1146 all together . these processings are repeated until the playback of the operation is completed . as described above , by the processings illustrated in fig3 to 5 , and 11 , the reproduction of the operation on the web page is achieved . these processings do not need to introduce a web browser program of the client device and a specific program other than a script engine program which is loaded therein or associated therewith but selectively collect the log or the content of a part of the operation to be played by the selection according to the identifier to play the part of the operation , records the change of the document structure , and plays back the state of the web page which is dynamically changed at the client side based on the recorded change of the document structure to improve the reproducibility of the operation . fig1 is a view illustrating a sequence 1201 of the processing flow described with reference to fig3 and 11 . the processings for request of the web page , generation , transmission and reception , and display of the response , and recording and playback of the operation log , and the document structure have been described with reference to fig3 and 11 . here , an id which becomes a candidate to be set as an identifier and the others which have not been described will be described . as the candidate of the identifier , the client id , the page id , the content id , the request source page id , the session id , and the user id are included . the client id is an identifier that specifies the client device that sends the request to the web page and specifically includes a network address of the client device , a machine name , a process number of the web browser , or a hash value related thereto as an example . the client id may be generated and acquired by the client device and transmitted to the web server device so as to be attached to the request . the page id is a unique identifier for every web page generated by the web server device . specifically , an example of the page id includes a value which is created by combining a url of the page , a generation time , or the network address of the web server device by the web server device . the page id may be the same url or a separate page id in the case of a web page generated by a separate request . the request source page id is a page id of a web page that generates a request to a next web page when transition to a next webpage occurs on the web page by a link or a button . the request source page id and a new page id are recorded as a set so that the page transition state may be recorded . the content id is an identifier which is similar to the page id . the page id is an identifier which is assigned in the unit of a web page . in contrast , the content id is an identifier which is also assigned to data such as an image or a script code but not limited to an html document of the web page . in the case of a static image which is not changed , if the image is requested by a separate request , but is the same image , the same content id may be assigned thereto . by doing this , when the content is stored , since the content which is static and is not changed has the same content id , the content does not need to be duplicatively stored . the session id is an identifier which is generally set by a web server device with respect to the transition of a series of web pages . in fig5 , web pages a , b , and c are transitions of a series of web pages so that a common session id is assigned to the web pages a , b , and c . for example , when one job is completed by three pages of web pages a , b , and c , if it is desired to select the entire job to play the operation , it is convenient to select playback target by the session id . the user id is an identifier that specifies a user who performs the operation that generates a request to the web page . generally , the user id is an identifier that is input by a user or set by a web server device after authentication when a user is authenticated . the user id may be conveniently used when it is desired to playback the operation by the same user regardless of a time or a location . as known from fig1 , since some identifiers may not be present depending on a timing , an identifier which is transmitted from the web server device to the log connection server device may be varied depending on the timing and there are identifiers which may be calculated even when all identifiers are not always transmitted . between the external playback device and the log connection server device , when a playback target of the operation is selected , first , the log connection server device transmits the list of the stored identifier . the list includes all or a part of candidates of the identifiers . the external playback device selects an identifier from the candidates so that the corresponding operation log , the document structure associated with the operation log , and the content are specified . even though not illustrated in fig1 , a method that allows the client device to assign an operation id to an operation log which is generated whenever the operation is performed on the web page and the document structure recorded by the condition as an identifier , transmit the operation id to the log connection server device similarly to the other identifiers and store the operation id , and selects the operation id by the external playback device is also included in this embodiment . reference numeral 1301 of fig1 is an example of a web page that selects a web page which is an operation reproduction target in this embodiment . information that specifies a web page such as the time , the client id , the user id , the session id , and the page id is displayed in a form of list and a web page of the operation reproduction target is selected from the above information so that the information is used to display the list of the operations which are performed on the web page and reproduce the operation . reference numeral 1401 of fig1 is an example of a web page that selects an operation of the operation reproduction target in this embodiment . reference numeral 1401 displays the list of the operations which are performed on the web page specified by the web page 1301 that selects the web page illustrated in fig1 . the list includes the time , the operation content , the operation target , and the attribute . further , a button 1402 that starts to reproduce the operation is also provided on the operation in the middle of operation , the selection which is at the left end of a row of the corresponding operation is clicked and then the button is pressed so that the operation is reproduced . even though the list has an item of a change flag , the item is displayed as 1 when the document structure is recorded so as to be associated with the operation log . by doing this , it is possible to confirm that which operation causes the web page to be dynamically changed . the check box 1403 is a check box that indicates to actually perform an operation whose change flag is 1 at the time of reproducing the operation . a method of reproducing the operation includes a method that actually performs and reproduces the operation and a method that reproduces only the display without actually performing the operation . the former method is effective to improve the reproducibility . however , by actually performing the operation , for example , a reverse effect which changes the state at the server side may be accompanied . in contrast , the latter method is a method that performs operation reproduction , for example , the motion of the mouse by moving an image imitating a mouse pointer . however , in this case , if it is not actually performed so that the web page is not dynamically changed , the reproducibility becomes lower . therefore , the latter method is used as a basic reproduction method of the operation and only the operation in which the web page is dynamically changed is reproduced by the former method so that the reverse effect is restricted and the reproducibility is improved . fig1 is an example of the reproduction status of the operation and a web page that controls the operation reproduction . in a playback window 1501 which is illustrated in the upper part of the drawing , a mouse pointer 1504 reproduces an operation that presses a button 1502 . a playback controller 1511 , which is illustrated in the lower part of the drawing , provides a list 1512 of operations performed on the web page which is being reproduced and a control function that performs to start , complete or pause the reproduction by buttons . as the reproduction method of the operation , frame by frame playback 1513 that reproduces an operation one by one or playback 1514 that automatically and sequentially reproduces operations , and functions 1515 and 1516 that actually perform to reproduce the operation in various reproduction methods are provided . in the list 1512 of operations , a change flag is displayed similarly to fig1 and the flag may be performed by a method that actually performs only one operation , but does not actually perform the other operations , except for the display . specifically , one operation whose change flag is 1 is reproduced by using the button 1515 and the other operations are reproduced by using the button 1513 . fig1 is an example of the reproduction status of the operation and a separate web page that controls the operation reproduction . a playback window 1601 at the upper part and a playback controller 1611 at the lower part are substantially similar to those illustrated in fig1 . however , in the playback controller 1611 , a function that specifies a reproduction method that is actually performed is not provided . when one operation whose change flag is 1 is reproduced , the change flag displays a message inquiring whether the operation is actually performed on the playback window 1601 or a separate window from the playback window so that a user may select the reproduction method . according to the processing flow of the first embodiment described above , the operation on the client device and the dynamic change of the web page are continuously recorded so that the operation may be played with a high reproducibility . a second embodiment will be described with reference to fig6 . here , only different parts from the first embodiment will be described and the parts which have been described in the first embodiment will be omitted . fig6 is a processing flowchart illustrating another embodiment for a difference detection method of a document structure by a difference detection function . a processing 601 at the left side of fig6 and a processing 611 at the right side thereof correspond to the processing 305 of fig3 and parts other than the processing 305 of fig3 are the same as those of fig3 in the processing 601 , determination of change of a document structure is performed by determining whether a current document structure is equal to a latest document structure which is temporally stored ( step 602 ). further , if the document structure is changed , a changed document structure is temporally stored ( step 603 ) and used to determine change of a next document structure . by doing this , if a lot of dynamic change of the web page occurs at the client side , it is possible to reduce the amount of stored document structures by the difference detection . in the processing 611 , by temporally storing the document structure at every designated time ( step 613 ), determination of the change of the document structure is performed by determining whether the current document structure is equal to the document structure which is temporally stored at every designated time ( step 612 ). by doing this , it is possible to improve the operation reproducibility even when the dynamic change of the web page occurs at the client side regardless of the operation . a third embodiment will be described with reference to fig7 . here , only different parts from the first embodiment will be described and the parts which have been described in the first embodiment will be omitted . fig7 is a processing flowchart illustrating another embodiment for a difference detection timing of a document structure by a difference detection function . a processing 701 at the left side of fig7 and a processing 711 at the right side thereof correspond to the processing 305 of fig3 and parts other than the processing 305 of fig3 are the same as those of fig3 . in the processing 701 , the determination of the change of the document structure is performed only when a specific event occurs ( step 702 ). for example , if it is known in advance that dynamic change of a web page which requires a reproducibility in the reproduction of the operation is likely to be generated only by clicking the mouse , the storage of the document structure at the time of generating all operation logs is restricted to a case when an event that clicks the mouse occurs , so that an amount of resources which are required for the storage may be reduced . by doing this , likes a banner advertisement that dynamically changes , if the web page includes a part which is not related to the basic function on the web page but dynamically changed , storage of an unnecessary document structure may be prevented . in the processing 711 , the determination of the change of the document structure is performed at every designated time so that the dynamic change of the web page may be recorded regardless of the presence of the operation or the event . by doing this , contrary to the processing 701 , it is possible to improve reproducibility of a web page including a content such as a banner advertisement which is dynamically changed at every predetermined time . a fourth embodiment will be described with reference to fig8 . here , only different parts from the first embodiment will be described and the parts which have been described in the first embodiment will be omitted . fig8 is a processing flowchart illustrating another embodiment for a difference detection method of a document structure by a difference detection function . a processing 801 at the left side of fig8 and a processing 811 at the right side thereof correspond to the processing 305 of fig3 and parts other than the processing 305 of fig3 are the same as those of fig3 . in the processing 801 , the determination of the change of the document structure is performed by determining whether the content to be operated stored in the operation log is included in the temporally stored document structure ( step 802 ). by doing this , when the operation target is dynamically generated , it is possible to prevent a phenomenon that the operation is not reproduced because there is not an operation target or the reproduction of the operation causes an error . further , if the document structure is large sized , the determination of the change of the document structure by the difference detection function may be performed with a small amount of throughput . in the processing 811 , the determination of the change of the document structure is performed by determining whether the document structure of the content to be operated is changed ( step 812 ). by doing this , for example , even though the operation target is present on the document structure , if an attribute thereof which is not visualized as “ hidden ” is visualized to be changed so as to be operated , it may be determined that the document structure is changed . similarly to the processing 801 , even though the document structure is large sized , the determination of the change of the document structure by the difference detection function may be performed with a small amount of throughput . a fifth embodiment will be described with reference to fig9 . here , only different parts from the first embodiment will be described and the parts which have been described in the first embodiment will be omitted . fig9 is a processing flowchart illustrating another embodiment for a difference storage method of a document structure by a difference detection function . a processing 901 at the left side of fig9 and a processing 911 at the right side thereof correspond to the processing 305 of fig3 and parts other than the processing 305 of fig3 are the same as those of fig3 . in the processing 901 , as difference of the document structure , the document structure to be operated or a changed amount of the document structure to be operated are stored ( step 902 ). by doing this , it is possible to reduce the resource amount which is required to store the document structure while maintaining a reproducibility of the content to be operated which is directly related to the reproduction of the operation . in the processing 911 , when the document structure is changed , only a fact that the document structure is changed is stored as a flag ( step 912 ). by doing this , it is possible to reduce an amount of absence resource due to the storage of the document structure . at the time of reproducing the operation , it is an efficient storage method when the reproducibility of the operation is improved by actually performing the operation in which the flag is built to reproduce the operation . a sixth embodiment will be described with reference to fig1 . here , only different parts from the first embodiment will be described and the parts which have been described in the first embodiment will be omitted . fig1 is a processing flowchart illustrating another embodiment for a difference transmission method of a document structure by a difference detection function . a processing 1001 of fig1 corresponds to the processing 305 of fig3 and parts other than the processing 305 of fig3 are the same as those of fig3 . in the processing 1001 , when the log transmission request is sent from the log connection server device to the client device , among the document structures which are transmitted together with the operation logs and stored with respect to the same content , only a document structure which is finally recorded is transmitted ( step 1002 ). by doing this , it is possible to reduce the amount of data which is transmitted from the client device to the log connection server device . at the time of reproducing the operation , a reproducibility in the middle of a series of operations may be reduced , but the reproducibility in the final state is substantially equal to the other embodiments . a seventh embodiment will be described with reference to fig1 and 18 . here , only different parts from the first embodiment will be described and the parts which have been described in the first embodiment will be omitted . fig1 is an example of a system configuration that executes the web application according to this embodiment . an external device 1701 has a computer configuration configured by a processor 1703 which has the same function as the client device 101 or the web server device 121 , a memory 1707 , an input and output unit 1702 , a local disk 1704 , and a network interface 1706 . a document structure providing program 1708 is stored on the memory 1707 and the document structure providing program 1708 is a program that provides a function that transmits a response specified from the other device through the input and output unit 1702 or the network interface 1706 , or the document structure in the middle of the operation on the client to the other device through the network interface 1706 in accordance with the request . the external device 1701 may be the same as the web server device 121 or the log connection server device 141 , and for example , the document structure providing program 1708 may be present on the web server program 127 of the web server device 121 and the web server device 121 may provide the same function . fig1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing that records the operation by a system that includes the external device 1701 having the document structure providing program 1708 according to this embodiment . a processing 1801 of fig1 corresponds to the processing 305 of fig3 and parts other than the processing 305 of fig3 are the same as those of fig3 . in the processing 1801 , the document structure of the web page is read from the external device 1701 and temporally stored ( step 1802 ). using the temporally stored document structure , the document structure is changed or stored . by doing this , for example , if the client device receives a response from the web server device and the web page is dynamically changed before the difference detection function is operated , the document structure providing program 1708 transmits the document structure of the web page before the web page is dynamically changed , which is included in the response so as to precisely record dynamic change of the document structure . as described above , even though various embodiments according to the present invention have been described , it is needless to say that an arbitrary combination of the first to seventh embodiments is also included in the present invention . for example , the web browser of the client device performs the difference detection function and compares the content that forms the document structure of the web page with a content of a first document structure . if there is a difference , the difference is stored so as to be associated with the operation log . by considering a document having a difference as a new first document , the stored difference is transmitted to the log connection server device so that only the difference of the content which is finally stored is transmitted . further , the first to seventh embodiments describe only examples . for example , the operation is recorded while reproducing the operation by combining the embodiments of the present invention . further , as information which may be included in the operation log or the document structure associated with the operation log , all information which may be recorded on the web browser may be included . further , even though the description is made under the assumption that each of all the devices is one , the device may be plural or a plurality of devices may be combined by a smaller number of devices . the present invention is efficient as a processing technology that records , stores , and reproduces the operation of the web application . 102 , 125 , 146 , 183 , 1702 input and output unit	6
in the figures identical technical elements are provided with the same reference numerals and described only once . reference is made to fig1 , which shows a schematic diagram of a vehicle 2 with a chassis 6 supported on wheels 4 . two of the wheels 4 are driven via an axis 8 by an internal combustion engine 10 . the basic operating principle of an internal combustion engine is known and will therefore not be further discussed below . in a known manner , see for example de 10 2012 206 552 a1 , which is incorporated by reference , the valve timing of the internal combustion engine 10 can be adjusted with a camshaft timer 12 , in order to adjust the load point of the internal combustion engine 10 to obtain a better fuel utilization in different rotation speed ranges . to achieve this a camshaft control device 14 detects the rotation speed 20 of the internal combustion engine 10 using a rotation speed sensor 18 , and with a control signal 22 controls the camshaft timer 12 based on the detected rotation speed 20 . the means of generating the control signal 18 based on the rotation speed 20 is known and will not be discussed further below . details of this can be found in the relevant specialist literature . the rotation speed sensor 18 in the context of the present embodiment is designed in a particular way . before this is discussed in more detail , the basic structure of the rotation speed sensor 18 itself will be described in greater detail . to do so , reference is made to fig2 , which shows a schematic view of a possible embodiment of the rotation speed sensor 18 in the vehicle 2 of fig1 . the rotation speed sensor 18 in the present embodiment is designed as an active rotation speed sensor , which comprises an encoder disk 26 mounted in a rotationally fixed manner on the rotor , not shown , of the internal combustion engine 10 , and a read head 28 which is mounted on the chassis 6 in a fixed position . the encoder disk 26 in the present embodiment consists of magnetic north poles 30 and magnetic south poles 32 chained together , which jointly excite a magnetic encoder field 33 indicated with an exemplary arrow . when the encoder disk 26 mounted on the rotor of the internal combustion engine 10 rotates with the latter in a direction of rotation 34 , the magnetic encoder field 33 rotates with it . the read head 28 in the present embodiment comprises a sensor probe 35 , which generates an electrical sensor signal 39 as a function of the motion of the magnetic encoder field 17 . any desired measuring principle can be used for this purpose , such as a measuring principle based on the magneto - resistive effect . the electrical sensor signal 39 therefore depends on the rotation speed 20 to be detected . the sensor signal 39 can then be processed in a signal processing circuit 40 arranged in the read head 28 . here , a pulse signal 42 is usually created from the sensor signal 39 , wherein over a predefined time segment the pulse signal 42 comprises a number of pulses which is dependent on the rotation speed to be detected . this pulse signal 42 is then output to the camshaft control device 14 , which can then derive the rotation speed 20 by counting the number of pulses in the pulse signal 42 . because , as is well known , non - negligible interfering fields occur due to the internal combustion engine 10 , a support magnet 43 is arranged in the read head 28 , which counteracts these interfering fields and thus enables detection of the rotation speed 20 with low tolerances . the support magnet 43 should therefore be selected to be sufficiently strong to be able to adequately counteract the interfering fields . conventionally , the read head 28 is embodied on a lead frame , as is known , for example , from the above - mentioned prior art in wo 2010 / 037 810 a1 , which is incorporated by reference . such a lead frame is shown for example in fig3 and referenced with the reference number 44 . the lead frame 44 comprises a supporting frame 46 , an insertion island 48 on which the read head 28 is supported and interconnected , two dambars 50 and two contact terminals 52 . the dambars 50 hold the contact terminals 52 directly and hold the insertion island 48 via an auxiliary frame 53 on the supporting frame 46 . in the lead frame 44 the supporting frame 46 , the insertion island 48 , the dambars 50 , the contact terminals 52 and the auxiliary frame 53 are designed as an integral stamped part or stamped frame , in which the above - mentioned elements are formed by stamping from an electrically conductive metal plate . in the context of the present embodiment the sensor probe 35 , for example in the form of a magneto - resistive element , and the signal evaluation circuit 40 are mounted on the insertion island 48 and electrically contacted , for example by soldering or bonding . the sensor probe 35 and the signal evaluation circuit 40 are also connected to each other via a bonding wire 54 , so that the sampled signal 39 can be transmitted between the sensor probe 35 and the signal evaluation circuit 40 via the insertion island 48 and the bonding wire 54 . the insertion island 48 in the present embodiment is connected directly to one of the two contact terminals 52 , while the other of the two contact terminals 52 is electrically isolated from the insertion island 48 and is connected to the signal evaluation circuit 40 via a further bonding wire 54 . in this way , the data signal 42 can be output from the signal evaluation circuit 40 via the two contact terminals 52 . the supporting frame 46 in the context of the present embodiment comprises two parallel running transport strips 58 , which are connected to each other via connecting webs 60 . the transport strip 58 comprises transport holes 62 , into which a transport tool ( not illustrated further ) can engage and move the lead frame 44 . on the transport strip 58 an index hole 64 is also formed , by means of which the position of the lead frame 44 during transport can be defined and therefore regulated . to protect the read head 28 a housing can be formed around the insertion island 48 , which supports the read head 28 , and a part of the contact terminals 52 . the housing can be designed , for example , as a protective compound around the read head 28 , on which point for the sake of brevity reference is made to the relevant prior art , such as de 10 2008 064 047 a1 , which is incorporated by reference . this read head 28 must now be at least electrically connected to the camshaft control device 14 , so that the pulse signal 42 can be transmitted to this . the necessary electrical connection processes required increase not only the manufacturing costs , but the resulting connection in principle represents a source of error , both electrically as well as mechanically , on the basis of which the read head 28 and therefore the entire rotation speed sensor 18 may fail . the exemplary embodiment addresses this problem by proposing to embed the read head 28 of the rotation speed sensor 18 in a printed circuit board module . such a printed circuit board module will be explained in more detail hereafter on the basis of fig4 , in which it is shown in a sectional view with the reference numeral 66 . the printed circuit board module 66 comprises a plurality of insulating layers 67 stacked on top of one another , on which conductor tracks 68 are applied . the conductor tracks 68 or the insulating layers 67 carry the individual components 35 , 40 constituting the read head 28 of the rotation speed sensor 18 , which , in addition to the already mentioned sensor probe 35 and the already mentioned signal processing circuit 40 , can also include filter elements 69 as passive components , which increase the electromagnetic compatibility of the read head 28 and therefore the rotation speed sensor 18 . the sensor probe 35 and the signal processing circuit 40 in the present embodiment are embedded in an embedding compound 70 between two insulating layers 67 of the printed circuit board module 66 . in this way , these elements are protected against external influences . the individual layers can be electrically connected to each other via plated - through holes 71 . solder joints 72 can also be present on the printed circuit board module 66 , to electrically connect the printed circuit board module 66 to a higher - level circuit . the problem with the embedding as shown in fig4 , however , is the fact that individual mechanical stress 73 , which is caused by the individual mechanical components 35 , 40 , 69 , for example due to temperature variations , sums together into a total mechanical stress 74 , which in turn , for example , can deform the printed circuit board module 66 . this deformation can among other things cause the solder joints 72 to become detached from the higher - level circuit , and lead to failure of the read head 28 and thus the rotation speed sensor 18 . the exemplary embodiment addresses this problem by proposing to design the printed circuit board module 66 as symmetrically as possible , so that the individual mechanical stress 73 caused by the individual components 35 , 40 , 69 is mutually canceled out and the total mechanical stress 74 is thus minimized . to this end different compensation elements are present in the printed circuit board module 66 , which can counteract an individual mechanical stress 73 . it is not strictly necessary to actually implement all the compensation elements shown in the printed circuit board module 66 in order to realize the idea behind the embodiment . the individual compensation elements shown are only intended as an example to demonstrate how the components can be arranged symmetrically in the printed circuit board module 66 , to keep the total mechanical stress below a specific , reasonable limit . on the one hand it is possible to introduce a redundant conductor track 68 ′ and a redundant insulating layer 67 ′ as a compensation element , in order to design a symmetrical conductor track arrangement in the printed circuit board module 66 . therefore , a redundant embedding compound 70 ′ is also incorporated , which can be selected to be either different from the embedding compound 70 or , alternatively , identical to it . as a further option , the sensor probe 35 and the signal processing circuit 40 can be designed symmetrical to each other . the advantage in this case is that no redundant components need to be incorporated into the printed circuit board module 66 as compensation elements . in order to compensate for differences in the geometrical , material or other inherent physical properties between the two components 35 , 40 , it is also possible to dimension the contacts 75 between the conductor tracks and the individual components 35 , 40 , 69 in different geometries , which is indicated in fig4 by variations in the width of the contacts 75 on the sensor probe 35 and on the signal processing circuit 40 . in addition , redundant cutouts 76 can be introduced into the printed circuit board module 66 as compensation elements . the ideal case of the printed circuit board module 66 is shown in fig5 . here all of the distances 77 between the individual elements are symmetrical to one another with respect to an axis of symmetry 78 . in practice however , this ideal concept cannot be implemented , for the simple reason that the components 35 , 40 , 69 could then no longer be contacted with the conductor tracks 68 . but the ideal case should be attempted in the design of the printed circuit board module 66 as far as possible . the sensor probe 35 should be arranged as centrally as possible , so that the individual mechanical stress 73 on the probe remains as small as possible . in this way , measurement errors induced by the individual mechanical stress 73 can be kept small . by embedding the components 40 , 35 and passive components 69 , it is possible to miniaturize the resulting sensor system 28 to a significant extent . at the same time , additional components of a control device , such as the camshaft control device 14 , can be embedded as well . this enables printed circuit board space or component mounting surface to be reduced on the control device , i . e . in the exemplary embodiment of the camshaft control device 14 . furthermore , it is not necessary to encase the individual components 35 , 40 once again in an extra encapsulation step , for example by injection pressing , with protective compound referred to above in the context of fig3 . by enclosing the components with the embedding compound 70 over their whole surface , for example in the form of a resin , such a protective compound becomes obsolete . at the same time , a resin offers better thermal properties for dissipating heat generated by power loss of the components as , e . g ., airborne convection . by means of the printed circuit board design it is very simple to implement simple emc protection measures in the printed circuit board layer structure . the connection of the sensor system in the form of the read head 28 to the printed circuit board of the control device , in other words the camshaft control device 14 , can be designed in a mechanically more robust way by surface contacting . the electrical contacting of the components 35 , 40 of the read head 28 to each other and to the substrate by wire bonding technology is no longer required . the contact can be achieved via a structuring of the conductor tracks 68 , which can be embodied for example as copper foils ( inner layers of a printed circuit board ). this creates a more robust and much shorter signal connection . the exemplary embodiment has been described by reference to a rotation speed sensor 18 . in alternative or additional sensors , in which the previously explained idea can be used , the sensor probe 35 can detect , for example , accelerations , rotation rates and / or mechanical vibration . alternatively , the previously explained idea , as has been previously mentioned , can be applied in entire control devices . for example , a car2x control device 79 shown in a perspective view in fig6 and 7 should be mentioned for this purpose . these are control devices that can subscribe to mobile ad - hoc networks ( known as car2x ), which are known for example from wo 2010 / 139 526 a1 , which is incorporated by reference . the nodes of such car2x networks can be particular road traffic users , such as vehicles or other objects found in a road traffic situation , such as traffic lights . via these networks , information on road traffic conditions , such as accidents , congestion , dangerous situations , . . . can be provided to the road traffic users subscribed to the car2x network . by the use of the previously described idea in entire control devices , such as the previously mentioned car2x control device , any twisting or warping of the modules implemented in the control device can be reduced . a further advantage of the above - specified idea will be explained hereafter by reference to fig8 and 9 . these figures show a linear position sensor 80 , or lips , as is known for example from de 10 2014 201 790 a1 , which is incorporated by reference . the lips 80 comprises a printed circuit board consisting of conductor tracks 68 and insulation layer 67 , on which a plurality of insertion points 81 for press - fit connections are formed , to connect the sensor to a higher - level electrical system . as the measuring transducer 35 a coil structure can be used , as is disclosed in the previously mentioned patent document . in addition , a signal processing circuit 40 can again be arranged to adapt sensor signals from the measuring transducer 35 before they are output to the higher - level electrical system . the measuring transducer 35 in a lips 80 is a so - called fine pitch component , for the protection of which a lacquered region 82 suggested in fig8 must be formed in a known manner . by embedding the measuring transducer 35 , in the context of the idea described above as shown in fig9 , this lacquered region 82 can be completely omitted , which enables the miniaturization to be further increased .	7
the present invention is best understood with reference to side view fig1 , and section a - a of fig1 as shown in composite fig2 , which also shows other structures ( as dashed lines ) projected into the section for reference . the kitchen scrubber hood 100 may have the dimension of a standard kitchen exhaust hood , such as 2 ′ high ( z axis ) by 4 ′ wide ( x axis ) by any length ( y axis ) required . in a vent - only service mode used when the scrub mode is not available such as during service or shutdown operations or during an emergency condition such as clearing smoke from a fire , a cleaning fluid may be present in a main reservoir 134 , but pump 150 is not turned on , and scrub reservoir 108 has drained back to main reservoir 134 , such that incoming air enters inlet duct 102 , passes through the apertures in the lower surface 106 of empty scrub reservoir 108 , through the structures of the mist eliminator 112 , and through the exhaust outlet . in the normal operational scrubbing mode , fan 120 is operative as well as recirculation pump 150 and flow sensor 154 measuring the output flow of pump 150 , and air inlet duct 102 directs incoming contaminated air containing airborne oil droplets and cooking odors with an perimeter of the edge of the hood inlet velocity of 75 to 100 feet per minute ( fpm ) towards a reduced aperture passageway 104 which accelerates the air flow velocity to 1100 fpm at aperture 104 to avoid retrograde flow of contaminants and cleaning fluid back to the inlet 102 , such as may otherwise occur from the turbulence from scrubbing interaction between the contaminated air and cleaning fluid . in one embodiment of the invention , the reduced aperture passageway 104 may comprise a snap - on strip for reducing the x - axis extent of the aperture 104 , thereby increasing the incoming air velocity in the reduced aperture region to a desired velocity as high as 1500 fpm , or any air velocity sufficient to prevent incoming contamination particles or water droplets from the scrub reservoir 108 from exiting through aperture 104 towards inlet 102 . the contaminated air is directed to wetted surface 105 which draws cleaning fluid from pre - wet apertures 139 in the bottom of an upper reservoir 132 to apertures in the lower surface 106 of the scrub reservoir 108 , which serves to keep the scrub reservoir 108 lower surface 106 wetted , which minimizes the accumulation and plugging of the apertures in the scrub reservoir 108 lower surface 106 . the contaminated air is thereby directed upwards through scrub reservoir 108 having a porous bottom surface 106 , and the resulting efficiency of interaction between contaminates and cleaning fluid may approach or exceed 99 % efficiency . the porous bottom surface 106 may be realized using a plurality of apertures which direct the contaminated air through the scrub reservoir 108 and form high velocity jets for interaction with a cleaning fluid such as water mixed with a non - foaming surfactant such as potassium pyrophosphate , and in one embodiment , the cleaning fluid is in the range of 0 . 1 part to 10 parts of potassium pyrophosphate surfactant in 500 parts water . in one embodiment of the invention , the apertures in the scrub reservoir bottom surface 106 are in the range of 0 . 125 inch to 0 . 25 inch and the resulting scrub reservoir lower surface porosity is preferably in the range of 40 % to 60 %. the scrub reservoir 108 causes oils and particulates in the contaminated air passing through the scrub reservoir 108 to vigorously interact with and mix with the cleaning fluid , such that the majority of contaminates are transferred to the cleaning fluid of the scrub reservoir 108 , and the output of the scrub reservoir 108 contains clean air 110 and droplets 111 containing remaining contaminates are mixed and in solution with the cleaning fluid , or alternatively as an emulsion of contaminates and cleaning fluid . the function of the surfactant in the cleaning fluid of the scrub reservoir provides a reduced surface tension which results in highly efficient transfer of the contaminates to the liquid of the reservoir as the jets of contaminated air pass through the enhanced surface area of the cleaning fluid of the reservoir . in one standalone embodiment of the invention , contaminated air is passed through a scrub reservoir having a plurality of apertures , the contaminated air forming jets through the scrub reservoir which contains water and a surfactant , the contaminates remaining in solution with the cleaning fluid , and the output of the scrub reservoir containing cleaned air and droplets of cleaning fluid and contaminates which may be removed in any manner known in the prior art . additionally , the use of a cleaning fluid which contains water and a surfactant increases the capture of contaminates of the contaminated air , and also reduces the resistance and associated pressure drop through the scrub reservoir . in the system of fig1 , the majority of droplets 111 are macro - sized droplets on the order of 0 . 125 inch to 0 . 25 inch , and are directed from a + z axis movement to a − x axis movement through a 90 degree bend in flow to impinge on mist eliminator 112 which is formed from a series of chevrons ( such as v shaped surfaces ) which form a series of serpentine channels ( seen in fig2 ) such that the macro - sized droplets impinge on the surface of the mist eliminator 112 , and drain back to the main reservoir 134 . the efficiency of droplet collection through the mist eliminator may approach or exceed 99 %, exclusive of the vapor phase moisture which may exhaust . the clean air which remains after aggregation and removal of droplets is directed over the top of a dam 142 which forms one end of the main reservoir 134 , thereafter traveling upward to an exhaust vent 116 as directed by sloped surface 143 which leads to an overflow drain 140 used to capture overflow from main reservoir 134 which tops over dam 142 during a cleaning mode described later . for a long kitchen hood , such as a 10 foot ( y axis ) length , the exhaust vent 116 may be formed from a plurality of linearly arranged rectangular apertures 6 ″ wide by 36 ″ or 44 ″ long , which are aggregated together to form a single duct 118 leading to blower 120 in a remote location such as in an attic or on a facility roof . the overflow drain 140 typically leads to an external drain 144 such as a facility grease trap and drain for facility disposal and treatment of trapped grease and contaminates which drain out of the scrubber 100 . sump drain 138 of the main reservoir is also coupled to the external drain 144 through a stop valve 152 of fig2 for manually emptying the main reservoir 134 . the main reservoir 134 also has an intake 136 which is delivered to recirculation pump 150 of fig2 , the output of which is directed to an upper reservoir supply 130 which fills upper reservoir 132 which overflows over the top of adjustable spillway 135 above the scrub reservoir 108 such that the upper reservoir 132 fills and uniformly tops over the extent of adjustable spillway 135 to the scrub reservoir 108 , which also separate the comparatively low pressure air ( outlet ) side of septum 141 from the air inlet side . septum 141 also has a series of passageways 145 below the cleaning fluid surface which connects the main reservoir 134 extent adjacent to fill mechanism 300 with the main reservoir 134 under the scrub reservoir 108 . the adjustable spillway or weir 135 is disposed over a spillway support septum 137 which separates the upper reservoir 132 from the scrub reservoir 108 , and spillway 135 is capable of being adjusted after installation to create a horizontal spillway surface to uniformly drain from the upper reservoir 132 to the scrub reservoir 108 , thereby providing a uniform height spillway for water cascading from upper reservoir 132 to scrub reservoir 108 . the mist eliminator 112 may be formed from a plurality of substantially 2 ″× 2 ″ right angle bent material of height z of fig1 , which right angle bends are arranged in a series of offset chevron patterns , such that each successive mist eliminator row is offset by half of the distance from one mist eliminator chevron to the next as seen in fig2 . evaporative and overflow losses are compensated using a fill housing 300 which senses an optimum cleaning fluid level in the main reservoir 134 , and allows the introduction of new water to replenish the main reservoir 134 cleaning fluid to a desired level . typically , surfactant is introduced after the periodic blowdown cycle , where water is introduced which overfills the cleaning fluid from the main reservoir 134 over dam 142 and to the overflow drain 140 . during normal scrubbing operation , the main reservoir 134 level is typically below the dam 142 and above the level of recirculation pump inlet pipe 136 . the fill mechanism may use any fluid level sensing system of the prior art , including a float valve or conductivity probe . one example embodiment fill mechanism and programmable logic controller ( plc ) 324 is shown in fig3 , which provides fill housing 300 with a liquid aperture 316 coupled below the surface of the main reservoir 134 and a vent aperture 314 above the main reservoir . the housing 300 may be located anywhere which isolates the level sensors 302 and 304 from water turbulence and short term variations in the main reservoir level , such that the sensors are exposed to average reservoir level 322 . a short sensor 302 has a conductive rod 306 which is a first distance l 1 318 below the dam 142 level , and a comparatively long sensor 304 has a conductive rod 308 a second distance l 2 320 below dam 142 level , with l 2 & gt ; l 1 . short sensor 302 is used to control the fill solenoid 326 , which when open , allows pressurized water source 328 to add to the cleaning fluid in reservoir 134 . long sensor 308 is used to disable the circulation pump 150 of fig2 to protect against pump damage if the reservoir level falls below a minimum level established by long sensor 304 . the operation of the short and long sensors is described in flowchart fig4 a and 4b , which functionality is programmed into the programmable logic controller ( plc ) 324 of fig3 . the controller plc 324 thereby provides control of the main blower 120 of fig1 using control lines 330 , the circulation pump 150 of fig2 using control lines 332 , the fill solenoid 326 , control line 313 directed to the surfactant fluid pump 315 which is capable of metering known amounts of surfactant at controlled flow rates , and flow sensor 334 which provides input 311 which can be used to indicate the absence of surfactant flow during a surfactant demand request using pump 315 . plc inputs 310 and 312 provide reservoir level measurement using short and long level sensors 302 and 304 . the plc additionally accepts recirculating pump flow sensor input 317 from flow sensor 154 of fig2 which indicates flow through the recirculation pump 150 of fig1 and 2 . the functions performed by the plc upon external request such as from a control panel ( not shown ) may include the start up sequence shown in fig5 , the blow down cycle which performs periodic cleaning without draining the reservoir shown in fig6 , introduction of surfactant as shown in fig7 , and shutdown sequence shown in fig9 . the pump protection process of fig4 a provides continuous protection for the circulation pump against loss of fluid or pump circulation blockage . the process may operate as a background process in the plc of fig3 and separate from any other process such as those described in fig4 b , 5 , 6 , 7 , or 9 . the pump protection process starts at step 401 , and step 402 detects the long sensor contact with the cleaning fluid of the main reservoir , such as by averaging , sensing and waiting , or any method which provides a reliable indication that the long sensor is in contact with the main reservoir cleaning fluid and accurately detecting a level . if the sensor is not in fluid contact , the circulation pump is disabled 404 until step 402 detects contact and proceeds to step 406 which enables the pump . fluid flow through the pump is detected in step 407 , and if present , the process continues at step 402 , but if flow is not detected , the pump is disabled 409 and an error is reported 411 such as by indicator lamp or alarm bell at the front panel ( not shown ). similarly for the reservoir fill operation , the process shown in fig4 b represents one possible embodiment of a program operative in the plc 324 of fig3 , and once the process is started , steps 416 , 418 , 420 , and 422 operate as a continuous process for either maintaining fluid level , or overfilling the main reservoir for a blowdown mode which passes the excess cleaning fluid to the overflow drain . the reservoir fill process starts 414 and blowdown mode is tested in step 416 by checking to see if blowdown mode is enabled with a valid t 3 timer which indicates a blowdown cycle duration timer , as will be described in fig6 . if these two conditions are met , the fill solenoid is opened 420 . if the unit is not in blowdown mode , the short sensor is examined for fluid contact 418 , resulting in either the addition of water to the main reservoir by opening the fill solenoid 420 , or the short sensor makes contact indicating a full reservoir , and closing the fill solenoid in step 422 . the start - up sequence of fig5 starts 502 with the fill process of fig4 b which occurs in step 504 . upon completion of the reservoir fill 506 as determined by the short sensor detecting a full reservoir 422 of fig4 b , the circulation pump 150 starts 508 and causes the upper reservoir 132 to fill and spill over the adjustable weir into the scrubbing reservoir 108 , and the system fluid levels achieve equilibrium during delay t 1 510 and t 1 timer expiry 512 . as the main reservoir drops during the pumping of fluid to the upper reservoirs of the t 1 interval , the background process of fig4 b replaces the displaced cleaning fluid to maintain the main reservoir level . the t 1 pump start equilibrium interval represents the duration of time for the upper reservoir to overflow into and fill the scrub reservoir , and after the t 1 pump start equilibrium interval , the blower is started 514 , after which air scrubbing operation is in full effect . for purging of collected oils and contaminates while the system continues to operate , the plc generates the optional blow - down cycle shown in fig6 , entering at step 601 which follows step 514 of fig5 , whereby the plc 324 initializes a blowtime cycle interval timer t 2 in step 605 to the default value not_valid , indicating that no blowdown cycle is requested by asserting a not_valid value for the blowdown cycle interval timer t 2 . the operator settings for the blowdown cycle in step 602 include the programmable blowdown cycle interval time t 2 with a typical value of 30 to 60 minutes , and a blowdown cycle duration time t 3 with a typical value of 2 - 3 minutes . upon application of the blowdown parameters in step 602 , the t 2 timer is started in step 604 , or if not initialized at all , is tested in step 606 which returns to test 602 . if the t 2 timer is valid but not expired , the process similarly returns to step 602 . when the t 2 timer is valid and has expired in step 607 , the t 3 blowdown cycle duration timer is started , during which time the fill sensor ignores level sensor input 310 and opens fill solenoid 326 in step 610 for the blow down cycle interval time t 3 which is tested in step 612 , during which t 3 interval the main reservoir 134 overflows over dam 142 , carrying oils and greases to overflow drain 140 for the blowdown cycle duration t 3 . during this time t 3 of step 610 , the fill solenoid 326 is maintained open , and after duration t 3 , the fill valve is closed in step 614 and normal reservoir fill operation of fig4 b resumes . following the blowdown cycle at the end of step 614 , fig7 shows a surfactant control process , which is advantageously performed when the surfactant concentration is known . after a settling time t 4 702 during which the excess cleaning fluid displaced by the fill water drains to the overflow drain , the surfactant pump is enabled in step 704 , surfactant flow is detected 706 , and the surfactant pump continues to operate for a surfactant injection duration time t 5 710 , after which the surfactant pump is turned off in step 712 . the failure to detect surfactant flow in step 706 causes an error condition 708 , such as the sounding of an alarm or the disabling of the circulation pump 150 . the objective of the surfactant introduction sequence is to maintain the concentration of surfactant in the main reservoir to an optimum range such as was described previously , and the introduction of surfactant after the blowdown cycle of fig6 is one way of accomplishing this objective , and is presented not to limit the invention to this method , but to aid in the understanding of the operation of the invention . fig9 shows a shutdown sequence which may be entered upon user request from step 603 of fig6 . the shutdown sequence entry point of step 902 is followed by step 904 which shuts off the circulation pump , stops the reservoir fill process of fig4 b , and turns off the blower in step 904 , finally waiting for a startup request in step 906 , upon which the process transfers to the startup cycle of fig5 . fig8 shows another embodiment of the invention , where hot water spray nozzle 802 is added to the structures described in fig1 . the lower surface 106 apertures of the scrub reservoir 108 may become plugged with congealed grease over time , for which a thorough cleaning mode may be provided by spraying lower surface 106 with hot water delivered to spray nozzle 802 , which operation may be done under manual control , or using a hot water solenoid under the control of plc 324 described earlier . in another embodiment of the invention , multiple spray nozzles 802 are positioned over various inner surfaces of the air cleaner 100 , including the main reservoir 134 , the upper reservoir 132 , scrub reservoir 108 , and any other surfaces which may accumulate grease and oils , and after draining the main sump , the nozzles are charged with pressurized hot water and detergent with a temperature in excess of the 105 ° f . melting point of grease , and the sump drain 138 opened during the cleaning cycle . the plc allows default values as well as independent programming of each of the time parameters t 1 ( blower startup delay following circulation pump start , which fills the upper reservoir , spilling water into the scrub reservoir , thereby delaying operation of the blower until the scrub reservoir is filled ), t 2 ( blowdown cycle interval — the interval between blowdown cycles ), t 3 ( blowdown cycle duration timer — the duration of a blowdown cycle ), t 4 ( overflow settling time after shutoff of the circulation pump causes cleaning fluid from upper reservoir and scrub reservoir drain back into the main reservoir , over the spillway , and into the overflow drain ), t 5 ( surfactant injection time ). additionally , it is possible to change the order or manner of operation from the examples shown in fig4 a , 4 b , 5 , 6 , 7 , and 9 . the hood scrubber thereby provides several advantages over the prior art . the scrub reservoir 108 contains cleaning fluid such as water mixed with surfactant , which is non - flammable , and acts as a flame barrier , extinguishing flames which enter the scrubber . the scrubber intrinsically satisfies the flame controls tests required under underwriter laboratories standard 710 ( ul - 710 ), which prior art devices satisfy using a separate flame control system apart from the vent mechanism . another advantage is the ability of the kitchen hood to operate in a “ normal ” hood mode , whereby the blower 120 can be turned on without circulation pump 150 for ventilation without cleaning . the overflow drain 140 in conjunction with fill solenoid 326 of fig3 provides “ blow - down ” cleaning mode , whereby excess oils which collect at the surface and in emulsion with the fluid of the main reservoir are spilled over dam 142 and removed from the system . the present description of the vent hood and air scrubber is provided for understanding of the invention , and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention . structures such as the scrub reservoir 108 and apertures of the lower surface 106 may be practiced any number of ways , including regular arrays of apertures , round , oval , or square apertures , or other structures such as meshes which provide interaction between the cleaning fluid and contaminated air . certain other porous structures may be substituted in the scrub reservoir to improve cleaning fluid interaction and trapping , or to improve flame control . the drain valve is shown as a manual valve , but could be an automatic valve with cleaning functionality incorporated into the plc . any cleaning fluid which provides emulsification of oils , solution of fats , or solubility with particulates such as smoke may be used . the level sensors of fig3 may be practiced any number of ways , including float sensors , ultrasonic level sensors , or any prior art method for sensing the level of a fluid . the mist eliminators are shown as chevron structures which are suitable for capture of large droplets of contaminates , but may alternatively be any structure which captures droplets and returns them to the main reservoir for re - use .	1
referring now to fig1 a suitable method to produce a lyocell dissolving pulp from low specific gravity wood is illustrated . the method may be considered to include two broad processing areas , pulping depicted as block 126 and bleaching depicted as block 128 . in block 100 , low specific gravity wood chips are loaded or fed into a digester . specific gravity , according to the handbook of pulping and papermaking , 2d ed ., by christopher j . biermann , is the ( unit less ) ratio of the solid wood density to the density of water at the same temperature . as used herein , specific gravity is the average specific gravity of any population of wood feedstock material . the solid wood density may be determined using the green volume , the oven - dry volume , or intermediate volumes . the wood chips used in practicing the invention can be made from any cellulose source . contrary to conventional thinking , low specific gravity wood has been found to be suitable for use as a source of cellulose for making lyocell - molded bodies . a suitable range of low specific gravity wood used for the present invention is any wood material having a specific gravity about equal or less than 0 . 41 . low specific gravity wood results in a lower brownstock pulp viscosity , which is believed to reduce the use of bleaching chemicals in the bleach plant . representative sources of low specific gravity wood may be derived from “ thinnings ” and “ juvenile ” wood . juvenile wood is defined as the first 10 growth rings surrounding the pith , according to biermann . however , others define it as wood formed near the pith of the tree , often characterized by wide growth rings , lower density , and shorter fibers . however , in some instances the juvenile wood may extend to the 15 - ring or more . specific gravity increases with the increasing height of the tree , so specific gravity at 16 feet , 32 feet , or 48 feet is incrementally greater than at the butt of the tree . in some embodiments , the specific gravity will be less than 0 . 41 , and could be less than 0 . 38 , 0 . 36 , 0 . 34 , 0 . 32 , or 0 . 30 , or less . digesters for use in the present invention can include any digester suitable to pulp low specific gravity wood . one example of a suitable digester is a continuous digester that is often referred to as a “ kamyr ” digester . ( it should be noted that kamyr is the name of a company that designed and built such digesters and as such , the term kamyr is loosely associated with a continuous digester . kamyr no longer exists as a company . such continuous digesters are supplied by kvaerner .) these digesters have been used in the pulp and paper industry for several years with the first one being installed in sweden in 1950 . over the years , the modifications have been made to these digesters to improve their operation . the digester system may be either a single vessel or a two - vessel system . “ kamyr ” digesters are typically used in kraft or alkaline wood pulping , but may also be used in semi - chemical pulping methods . other continuous digesters , such as the m & amp ; d digester and the pandia digester , are also suitable to use in the present invention . however , the present invention can also be practiced using any batch or other continuous digester . referring to fig1 within the pulping process , block 126 , there are several operations , depicted as blocks 100 - 116 . loading , or feeding chips as discussed above , occurs in block 100 . the wood chips may be presteamed prior to cooking , block 102 . steam at atmospheric pressure preheats the chips and drives off air so that liquor penetration will be enhanced . after the pre - steaming operation is completed , cooking liquor , referred to as white liquor , containing the pulping chemicals may be added to the chips , block 104 . the white liquor and chips are then fed into the digester . in kraft pulping , the active chemical compounds are naoh and na 2 s . other chemicals may be added to influence or impart desirable effects on the pulping process . these additional chemicals are well known to those of skill in the art . the present invention provides a lower brownstock pulp viscosity from relatively lower specific gravity wood as composed with wood having a higher specific gravity , i . e ., specific gravity is related to kappa number . impregnation , block 106 , is the period during which the chemicals are allowed to impregnate the low specific gravity wood material . good liquor penetration helps assure a uniform cooking of the chips . “ cooking ” occurs in blocks 108 and 110 . the co - current liquid contact operation , block 108 , is followed by the counter - current liquid contact operation , block 110 . cooking of the low specific gravity wood occurs during these two operations . in either block 108 or 110 , the cooking liquor and chips can be brought to temperature . digester washing , block 112 , is accomplished by introducing wash liquor into the bottom of the digester and having it flow counter - current to the cooked pulp . cooking for the most part ends when the pulp encounters the cooler wash liquor . upon completion of the cook operation , and digester washing , the digester contents are blown , block 112 . digester blowing involves releasing the wood chips and liquor at atmospheric pressure . the release occurs with a sufficient amount of force to cause fiber separation . if desired , the blow tank may be equipped with heat recovery equipment to reduce operating expenses . in block 114 , the pulp is sent from the blow tank to external brownstock pulp washers . the separation of black liquor from the pulp occurs at the brownstock washers . in one embodiment of a method of making a pulp from low specific gravity wood to be used in the manufacture of lyocell - molded bodies , the time allowed for impregnation in block 106 is about 35 minutes . the initial percent effective alkali is about 8 . 5 . the percent effective alkali at 5 minutes is about 1 . 6 . the percent suefidity is about 29 . the liquor ratio is about 4 . the initial temperature is about 110 ° c . the residual grams per liter of effective alkali is about 9 . 63 . the residual percent effective alkali is about 3 . 85 . the ph is about 12 . 77 , and the h factor is about 2 . in one embodiment of the co - current operation , block 108 , the percent effective alkali is about 4 . 2 . according to biermann , the effective alkali is the ingredients that will actually produce alkali under pulping conditions . the percent sulfidity is about 29 . according to biermann , the sulfidity is the ratio of sodium sulfide to the active alkali , expressed as a percent . the liquor addition time is about 1 minute . the temperatures may be ramped to the final cooking temperature with a hold at one or more temperatures . the first temperature platform is about 154 ° c . the time to reach the temperature is about 9 minutes and the time at the temperature is about 5 minutes . a second and higher cooking temperature at the co - current operation is provided at 170 ° c . the time to reach the second temperature is about 51 minutes and the time at temperature is about 3 minutes . the effective alkali remaining after a cook operation is called the residual alkali . the residual grams per liter of effective alkali is about 9 . 42 , following the co - current operation . the residual percent effective alkali is about 3 . 77 . the ph is about 12 . 92 , and the h factor is about 649 . in one embodiment of the counter - current operation , block 110 , the percent effective alkali is about 8 . the percent sulfidity is about 29 . 2 . capability also exists for ramping to two different temperatures in the counter - current step . however , in one embodiment , the first and second cooking temperatures are both about 171 ° c . the time to reach temperature is about 54 minutes and the time at the temperature is about 162 minutes . the effective alkali grams per liter is about 16 . 0 . the displacement rate is about 93 ml per minute . the displacement volume is about 20 liters . the volumes given here are relatively small , since the method was tested on a lab - scale bench reactor . however , with the parameters provided herein , and with no undue experimentation , the process can be scaled to any rate . the residual grams per liter of effective alkali is about 9 . 95 . the residual percent effective alkali is about 3 . 98 . the ph is about 12 . 74 and the h factor is about 3877 . in one embodiment , the total time is about 319 minutes and the percent effective alkali for the total cook is about 22 . 3 . in one embodiment , after washing , the viscosity of the brownstock pulp is about 153 cp . the total yeild on oven dried wood is about 41 . 04 . following the pulping process , generally depicted as reference numeral 126 in fig1 the brownstock pulp made from low specific gravity wood is bleached to reduce its viscosity . the bleaching process does not lead to a substantial reduction of the hemicellulose content of the pulp . the method according to the invention produces a bleached dissolving pulp that is suitable for lyocell - molded body production . bleaching of chemical pulps involves the removal of lignin with an attendant decrease in the pulp fiber length and viscosity . however , the bleaching process does not cause a substantial reduction to the hemicellulose content of the pulp . bleaching brownstock pulp made from low specific gravity wood may require fewer chemicals than the conventional highly refined , high - alpha pulps presently being used for lyocell . in one embodiment , the low specific gravity brownstock pulp made according to the invention can be treated with various chemicals at different stages in the bleach plant . the stages are carried out in vessels or towers of conventional design . one representative bleaching sequence is ode p d . the operations occurring in the bleaching plant are represented collectively by reference numeral 128 in fig1 . other embodiments of post bleaching the pulp after pulping are described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 331 , 354 , and u . s . application ser . no . 09 / 842 , 274 , incorporated herein by reference in their entirety . the first stage of bleaching is an o stage , block 116 . the o stage comprises bleaching with oxygen . however , according to biermann , some consider oxygen bleaching to be an extension of the pulping process . oxygen bleaching is the delignification of pulps using oxygen under pressure . the oxygen is considered to be less specific for the removal of lignin than the chlorine compounds . oxygen bleaching takes place in an oxygen reactor . suitable oxygen reactors capable of carrying out the method of the present invention are described in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 295 , 925 ; 4 , 295 , 926 ; 4 , 298 , 426 ; and 4 , 295 , 927 , fully incorporated herein by reference in their entirety . the reactor can operate at a high consistency , wherein the consistency of the feedstream to the reactor is greater than 20 % or it can operate at medium consistency , where the medium consistency ranges between 8 % up to 20 %. preferably , if a high consistency oxygen reactor is used , the oxygen pressure can reach the maximum pressure rating for the reactor , but more preferably is greater than 0 to about 85 psig . in medium consistency reactors , the oxygen can be present in an amount ranging from greater than 0 to about 100 pounds per ton of the pulp , but is more preferably about 50 to about 80 pounds per ton of pulp . the temperature of the o stage ranges from about 100 ° c . to about 140 ° c . in one embodiment of the method to make a pulp suitable to be used in making lyocell - molded bodies , a d stage , block 118 follows the o stage , block 116 . the d stage comprises bleaching the pulp coming from the oxygen reactor with chlorine dioxide . chlorine dioxide is more selective than oxygen for removing lignin . the amount of chlorine dioxide used in this stage ranges from about 20 to about 30 lb / ton , which may be lower than a conventional bleach plant that processes pulp from wood chips with a specific gravity not within the low specific gravity range of this invention . the temperature of the d stage ranges from about 50 ° c . to about 85 ° c . in one embodiment of the method to make a pulp suitable to be used in making lyocell - molded bodies , an e p stage , block 120 , follows the d stage , block 118 . the e p stage is the hydrogen peroxide reinforced extraction stage where lignin is removed from the pulp using caustic in an amount ranging from about 20 to about 50 lb / ton . the amount of hydrogen peroxide ranges from about 20 to about 60 lb / ton , which may be lower than a conventional bleach plant that processes pulp from wood chips having a specific gravity not considered within the low specific gravity range of this invention . the temperature of the ep stage ranges from about 75 to about 95 ° c . in one embodiment , a second d stage , block 122 , follows the e p stage , block 120 . the amount of chlorine dioxide used in this stage ranges from 10 to about 30 lb / ton , which may be lower than a conventional bleach plant that processes pulp from wood chips having a conventional specific gravity not considered to be within the low specific gravity range of this invention . the temperature of the d stage ranges from about 60 ° c . to about 90 ° c . one embodiment of a pulp made from low specific gravity wood has a hemincellulose content of at least 7 % hemricellulose , a pulp viscosity less than 32 cp , a copper number less than 2 . 0 , and in some instances less than 1 . 3 ( tappi t430 ), a weighted average fiber length less than 2 . 7 mm , and a coarseness less than 23 mg / 100 m . other embodiments of pulps made according to the present invention have a combined copper , manganese , and iron content less than 2 ppm , a total metal load less than 300 ppm , and a silicon content less than 50 ppm . lyocell molded bodies made from the pulps of the invention will have a correspondingly high hemicellulose content of at least 7 % by weight , and cellulose . hemicellulose is measured by a sugar content assay based on tappi standard t249 hm - 85 . methods for measuring pulp viscosity are well known in the art , such as tappi t230 . copper number is a measure of the carboxyl content of pulp . the copper number is an empirical test used to measure the reducing value of cellulose . the copper number is expressed in terms of the number of milligrams of metallic copper , which is reduced from cupric hydroxide to cuprous oxide in an alkaline medium by a specified weight of cellulosic material . the degree to which the copper number changes during the bleaching operation is determined by comparing the copper number of the brownstock pulp entering the bleaching plant and the copper number of the bleached pulp after the bleaching plant . a low copper number is desirable because it is generally believed that a high copper number causes cellulose and solvent degradation during and after dissolution of the bleached pulp to form a dope . the weighted average fiber length ( wafl ) is suitably measured by a fqa machine , model no . lda93 - r9704 , with software version 2 . 0 , made by the optest company of hawkesbury , ontario , canada . transition metals are undesirable in pulp because they accelerate the degradation of cellulose and nmmo in the lyocell process . examples of transition metals commonly found in bleached pulps include iron , copper , and manganese . preferably , the combined metal content of these three metals in the pulps of the invention is less than about 20 ppm by weyerhaeuser test no . am5 - pulp - 1 / 6010 . additionally , pulps of the invention have a total metal load of less than 300 ppm by weyerhaeuser test no . am5 - pulp - 1 / 6010 . the total metal load refers to the combined amount , expressed in units of parts per million ( ppm ), of nickel , chromium , manganese , iron and copper . once the pulp has been bleached to reduce its viscosity without substantially increasing its copper number or decreasing the hemicellulose content , the pulp can either be washed in water and transferred to a bath of organic solvent , such as n - methyl - morpholine - n - oxide ( nmmo ), for dissolution prior to lyocell - molded body formation . alternatively , the bleached washed pulp can be dried and broken into fragments for storage and / or shipping in a roll , sheet or bale , for example . in order to make lyocell products from the low specific gravity wood pulps , the pulp is first dissolved in an amine oxide , preferably a tertiary amine oxide . representative examples of amine oxide solvents useful in the practice of the present invention are set forth in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 409 , 532 , incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . the preferred amine oxide solvent is nmmo . other representative examples of solvents useful in the practice of the present invention include dimethylsulfoxide ( d . m . s . o . ), dimethylacetamide ( d . m . a . c . ), dimethylformamide ( d . m . f .) and caprolactan derivatives . the bleached pulp is dissolved in amine oxide solvent by any known means such as ones set forth in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 534 , 113 ; 5 , 330 , 567 ; and 4 , 246 , 221 , incorporated herein by reference in their entirety . the pulp solution is called dope . the dope is used to manufacture lyocell fibers , films , and nonwovens or other products , by a variety of techniques , including melt blowing , spunbonding , centrifugal spinning , dry - jet wet , or any other suitable method . examples of some of these techniques are described in u . s . pat . nos . 6 , 235 , 392 ; 6 , 306 , 334 ; 6 , 210 , 802 ; and 6 , 331 , 354 , incorporated herein by reference in their entirety . examples of techniques for making films are set forth in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 401 , 447 ; and 5 , 277 , 857 , incorporated herein by reference in their entirety . meltblowing , centrifugal spinning and spunbonding used to make lyocell fibers and nonwoven webs are described in u . s . pat . nos . 6 , 235 , 392 and 6 , 306 , 334 , incorporated herein by reference in their entirety . dry - jet wet techniques are more fully described in u . s . pat . nos . 6 , 235 , 392 ; 6 , 306 , 334 ; 6 , 210 , 802 ; 6 , 331 , 354 ; and 4 , 142 , 913 ; 4 , 144 , 080 ; 4 , 211 , 574 ; 4 , 246 , 221 ; incorporated herein by reference in their entirety . one embodiment of a method for making lyocell products , including fibers , films , and nonwoven webs from dope derived from pulp is provided , wherein the pulp is made from low specific gravity wood , the pulp having at least 7 % hemicellulose , a viscosity less than or about 32 cp , a copper number less than or about 2 , a weighted average fiber length less than or about 2 . 7 mm , and a coarseness less than or about 23 mg / 100 m . the method involves extruding the dope through a die to form a plurality of filaments , washing the filaments to remove the solvent , regenerating the filaments with a nonsolvent , including water or alcohol , and drying the filaments . [ 0052 ] fig2 shows a block diagram of one embodiment or a method for forming lyocell fibers from the pulps made from low specific gravity wood according to the present invention . starting with low specific gravity wood pulp in block 200 , the pulp is physically broken down , for example by a shredder in block 202 . the pulp is dissolved with an amine oxide - water mixture to form a dope , block 204 . the pulp can be wetted with a nonsolvent mixture of about 40 % nmmo and 60 % water . the mixture can be mixed in a double arm sigma blade mixer and sufficient water distilled off to leave about 12 - 14 % based on nmmo so that a cellulose solution is formed , block 208 . alternatively , nmmo of appropriate water content may be used initially to eliminate the need for the vacuum distillation block 208 . this is a convenient way to prepare spinning dopes in the laboratory where commercially available nmmo of about 40 - 60 % concentration can be mixed with laboratory reagent nmmo having only about 3 % water to produce a cellulose solvent having 7 - 15 % water . moisture normally present in the pulp should be accounted for in adjusting the water present in the solvent . reference is made to articles by chanzy , h ., and a . peguy , journal of polymer science , polymer physics ed . 18 : 1137 - 1144 ( 1980 ), and navard , p ., and j . m . haudin , british polymer journal , p . 174 ( december 1980 ) for laboratory preparation of cellulose dopes in nmmo and water solvents . the dissolved , bleached pulp ( now called the dope ) is forced through extrusion orifices in a process called spinning , block 210 , to produce cellulose filaments that are then regenerated with a non - solvent , block 202 . spinning to form lyocell - molded bodies , including fibers , films , and nonwovens , may involve meltblowing , centrifugal spinning , spun bonding , and dry - jet wet techniques . finally , the lyocell filaments or fibers are washed , block 214 . the solvent can either be disposed of or reused . due to its high costs , it is generally undesirable to dispose of the solvent . regeneration of the solvent suffers from the drawback that the regeneration process involves dangerous , potentially explosive conditions . the following examples merely illustrate the best mode now contemplated for practicing the invention , but should not be construed to limit the invention . a commercial continuous extended delignification process was simulated in the laboratory utilizing a specially built reactor vessel with associated auxiliary equipment , including circulating pumps , accumulators , and direct heat exchangers , etc . reactor temperatures were controlled by indirect heating and continuous circulation of cooking liquor . the reactor vessel was charged with a standard quantity of equivalent moisture free wood . an optional atmospheric pre - steaming step may be carried out prior to cooking . a quantity of cooking liquor , ranging from about 50 % to 80 % of the total , was then charged to the digester along with dilution water to achieve the target liquor to wood ratio . the reactor was then brought to impregnation temperature and pressure and allowed to remain for the target time . following the impregnation period , an additional portion of the total cooking liquor was added to the reactor vessel , ranging from about 5 % to 15 % of the total . the reactor was then brought to cooking temperature and allowed to remain there for the target time period to simulate the co - current portion of the cook . following the co - current portion of the cook , the remainder of the cooking liquor was added to the reactor vessel at a fixed rate . the rate is dependent on the target time period and proportion of cooking liquor used for this step of the cook . the reactor was controlled at a target cooking temperature and allowed to remain there during the simulation of the counter - current portion of the cook . spent cooking liquor was withdrawn from the reactor into an external collection container at the same fixed rate . at the end of the cook , the reactor vessel was slowly depressurized and allowed to cool below the flash point . the reactor vessel was opened and the cooked wood chips were collected , drained of liquor , washed , screened and made ready for testing . three cooks of low specific gravity wood chips were prepared , along with three cooks of non - low specific gravity wood . one cook for low specific gravity wood chips had the following parameters . inwoods low specific gravity wood chips were pulped into an alkaline kraft pulp with a kappa number of 16 . 8 ( tappi standard t236 cm - 85 and a viscosity of 239 cp ( tappi t230 ). the brownstock pulp was treated with oxygen in a pressure vessel with high consistency mixing capabilities . the vessel was preheated to about 120 ° c . an amount of sodium hydroxide ( naoh ) equivalent to 100 pounds per ton of pulp was added to the alkaline pulp . the reaction vessel was then closed and the pressure was increased to 60 psig by introducing oxygen into the pressure vessel . water was present in the vessel in an amount sufficient to provide a 10 % consistency . after 45 minutes , the stirring was stopped and the pulp was removed from the pressure vessel and washed . the resulting washed pulp viscosity was 35 . 3 cp , and had a kappa number of 3 . 8 . the d stage treated the pulp processed in the o stage by washing it three times with distilled water , pin fluffing the pulp , and then transferring the pulp to a polypropylene bag . the consistency of the pulp in the polypropylene bag was adjusted to 10 % with the addition of water . chlorine dioxide corresponding to an amount equivalent to 28 . 4 pounds per ton of pulp was introduced to the diluted pulp by dissolving the chlorine dioxide in the water used to adjust the consistency of the pulp in the bag . the bag was sealed and mixed and then held at 75 ° c . for 30 minutes in a water bath . the pulp was removed and washed with deionized water . the washed pulp from the d stage was then placed in a fresh polypropylene bag and caustic was introduced with one - half of the amount of water necessary to provide a consistency of 10 %. hydrogen peroxide was mixed with the other one - half of the dilution water and added to the bag . the hydrogen peroxide charge was equivalent to 40 pounds per ton of pulp . the bag was sealed and mixed and held for 55 minutes at 88 ° c . in a water bath . after removing the pulp from the bag and washing it with water , the mat was filtered and then placed back into the polypropylene bag and broken up by hand . chlorine dioxide was introduced a second time to the pulp in an amount equivalent to 19 pounds per ton of pulp with the dilution water necessary to provide a consistency of 10 %. the bag was sealed and mixed , and then held for 3 hours at 88 ° c . in a water bath . the treated pulp had a copper number of about 0 . 9 measured by tappi standard t430 and had a hemicellulose ( xylan and mannan ) content of 12 . 7 %. low specific gravity wood having a specific gravity of 0 . 410 was pulped using the kraft process , and subsequently , bleached and treated with varying amounts of oxygen to reduce its viscosity . components in the pulps made using inwoods low specific gravity wood chips are 7 . 2 % xylans and 5 . 5 % mannans . table 2 shows the results for three different cooking conditions . while brownstock pulp wafl is provided , it is apparent that bleaching the brownstock pulp to reduce its viscosity without substantially reducing the hemicellulose content , in accordance with the conditions of the present invention , will not result in any appreciable increase in the bleached pulp wafl and may in fact be lower than the brownstock pulp wafl . a conventional tolleson wood chip made from wood having specific gravity of 0 . 495 was pulped using a kraft process and subsequently treated with varying amounts of oxygen to reduce its viscosity . table 3 shows the pulping conditions for one cook of tolleson wood chips . table 4 shows the results of three different cooks using a conventional tolleson wood chip made from a non - low specific gravity wood . components in the pulps made using tolleson non - low specific gravity wood chips are 6 . 5 % xylose ; 6 . 6 % mannose ; 5 . 7 % xylans ; and 5 . 9 % mannans . it can be seen that the viscosity of the pulps made from the inwoods low specific gravity wood chips is lower than the viscosity of the pulps made from the tolleson non - low specific gravity wood chips . it can be seen that the viscosity of the pulps made from the inwoods low specific gravity wood chips is lower than the viscosity of the pulps made from the tolleson non - low specific gravity wood chips . while the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described , it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	8
this invention is best understood by reference to the drawings . referring first to fig1 to 4 , a preferred embodiment of the toolbar implement 10 of this invention comprises a main longitudinal frame 20 , a transverse axle assembly 30 , a lift assembly 40 , two control arms 50 at the ends of the axle assembly , two track assemblies 60 mounted onto the control arms , and a steering mechanism 70 to turn the control arms and the track assemblies . the axis of the lift assembly - axle assembly connection is below , and in the same vertical plane as the pivoting connection axes of the control arms . this structure gives the toolbar implement two highly desirable properties . first , it maintains the control arm kingpins perpendicular to the ground which , in turn , maintains the lower portions of the tracks of the track assemblies parallel to the ground at all times for optimal stability and traction on side inclines . second , it directs the weight of the frame optimally to the track assemblies . the components of the toolbar implement are discussed in more detail below . the main longitudinal frame 20 is conventional and is shown in simplified form for illustration purposes . accordingly , the transverse toolbars and the front connector are omitted . the frame has two positions relative to the axle assembly and track assemblies : a lower working position as shown in fig1 and 2 , and an upper storage position as shown in fig3 and 4 . the transverse axle assembly 30 provides the support for the frame . the assembly preferably comprises a steel tube having a square cross - section with multiple brackets attached to it . lift arm brackets 31 are attached to the front of the axle assembly . the axle assembly has no moving parts . as discussed below , various components of the toolbar implement move relative to the axle assembly . the lift assembly 40 moves the frame relative to the axle assembly . referring now to fig7 and 8 , the main component of the lift assembly is the lift arm 41 . the lift arm contains four brackets on each side for pivoting attachments to other components : upper brackets 42 , lifting cylinder brackets 43 , locking cylinder brackets 44 , and lower brackets 45 . the lift arm is pivotably connected directly to the frame at the upper brackets and is pivotably connected to lift arm brackets of the axle assembly at the lower brackets . hydraulic lifting cylinders 46 are pivotably connected between the lifting cylinder brackets of the lift arm and the frame . the hydraulic lines of the lifting cylinders are connected to the hydraulic system of the towing tractor and are controlled by the operator of the tractor . the lifting cylinders provide the force to raise the lift arm ( and the frame ). locking arm cylinders 47 are pivotably connected between the locking cylinder brackets and the axle assembly . although not essential , the locking arm cylinders are preferred because they provide additional stabilization of the lift arm in the upper and lower positions . the control arms provide the link between the axle assembly , the track assemblies , and the steering mechanism . referring now to fig9 to 13 , the control arms 50 are pivotably connected to the ends of the axle assembly . the control arms pivot about vertical axes defined by the kingpins 51 . each control arm has a spindle 52 defining a horizontal axis upon which a track assembly is mounted . the horizontal axis is above the pivoting connection between the lift arm assembly and the axle assembly . this relationship is best seen in fig1 where the upper broken line u represents the horizontal axis of the spindle and the lower broken line l represents the pivoting connection . the lift arm is omitted in fig1 for illustration purposes . each control arm also has a bracket 53 to which a component of the steering mechanism is attached . the vertical axes of the kingpins are in about the same vertical plane as the horizontal axis of the pivoting lift assembly . the term “ about ” is used in this context to mean within a few inches of the precise vertical plane . this relationship is best seen in fig4 where a transverse vertical plane v represented by the broken transverse line passes through both kingpins and also passes through both of the lift arm brackets ( which define the horizontal axis of the pivoting lift assembly ). the track assemblies 60 are conventional and are mounted on the control arms . each track assembly comprises of two or more rollers and a track . the track assemblies roll freely and are not powered . the steering mechanism 70 moves the control arms that , in turn , move the track assemblies that , in turn , move the implement . the steering mechanism comprises a pivoting connector 71 , an upper steering actuator 72 , and a lower steering linkage 73 . the pivoting connector is pivotably connected to the axle assembly , to the upper steering actuator , and to the lower steering linkage . the upper steering actuator includes left and right hydraulic cylinders that extend between the pivoting connector and brackets mounted to the axle assembly . the lower steering linkage includes left and right arms that extend between the pivoting connector and the control arms . the arms have a constant length . if desired , the steering actuator and the steering linkage are located at the same level instead of one being above the other . the left hydraulic cylinder 72 a of the upper steering actuator and the left arm 73 a of the lower steering linkage are seen in fig1 . the hydraulic lines of the left and right hydraulic cylinders are connected to the hydraulic system of the towing tractor and are controlled by the operator of the tractor . the hydraulic lines are plumbed together so the cylinders always operate together . in other words , the left cylinder extends as the right cylinder retracts and vice versa . the movement of the hydraulic cylinders causes the pivoting connector to move from side to side which , in turn , causes the steering arms to move . the movement of the steering arms causes the control arms and track assemblies to move ( turn ). the operation of the toolbar implement can now be considered . the implement is attached to the hitch of a tractor using the connector at the front of the frame . the hydraulic lines of the toolbar implement are then attached to the appropriate hydraulic lines of the tractor . after attachment , the operator of the tractor can raise the frame to the storage position , allow the frame to lower to the working position , and can steer ( turn ) the track assemblies using the hydraulic controls of the tractor . the placement of the lift arm lower brackets below the control arm spindles and in substantially the same vertical plane as the control arm kingpins ensures that the downward forces exerted by the frame , toolbars , and row units are directed where the track assemblies are best able to accommodate them for maximum durability . this placement also maintains the kingpins perpendicular to the ground which , in turn , maintains the lower portions of the tracks of the track assemblies parallel to the ground at all times for optimal stability and fraction on side inclines .	0
fig1 shows an embodiment of a surgical marker 30 . the surgical marker 30 may be referred to as a “ marker ”. while the preferred embodiment of a method of using the surgical marker 30 is for surgery , other procedures than need to mark a target at a distance from the user might use the surgical marker 30 . the surgical marker 30 is particularly useful in procedures in which the user needs to mark a target via conduit or cannula . a rod assembly 10 is used to deliver the surgical marker 30 via a cannula . the cannula is not shown . examples of compatible cannulas are those that are sold under the trade name covidien . the rod assembly 10 includes a rod 20 . the rod 20 is cylindrical . the rod 20 is made of a flexible resilient material . the rod 20 has a diameter that is less than an inner diameter of the cannula . the rod 20 is configured to be pushed through the cannula to a targeted tissue within a patient &# 39 ; s body . a preferred embodiment of the rod 20 has a diameter of five millimeters ( 5 mm ); other widths are possible for different uses . in the drawings , the rod 10 is not necessarily drawn to scale . in particular , the length in proportion to the width could be different . a particularly , preferred embodiment of the rod 20 is a rod that is similar to a blunt dissector with the dissector removed such as the dissectors sold under the trade name endo peanut by covidien . the rod 20 has a proximal end 25 and a distal end 21 . the proximal end 25 is handled by the surgeon and is used to push the rod assembly 10 through the cannula . the distal end 21 ends in a peg 22 . the peg 22 is a cylinder with smaller diameter than the rod 20 . the marker 30 includes a connector 33 , a holder 32 , and a nib 31 . the connector 33 is used to connect the marker 30 to the rod assembly 10 . the holder 32 encloses part of the nib 31 . the holder 32 fastens to the connector 33 and secures the nib 31 to the connector 33 . the holder 32 has an opening 153 formed in a distal end of the holder 32 . the distal tip 37 of the nib 31 extends beyond the holder 32 . the tip 37 of the nib 31 is used to write on a target , for example , targeted tissue . fig2 shows the surgical marker 30 and rod assembly 10 with a first embodiment of a cap 40 . the cap 40 is an enclosure with a proximal opening for receiving the tip 37 of the marker 30 . the cap 40 has a proximal cylindrical portion 49 and a distal frustoconical portion 48 . the distal end 43 of the cap 40 is closed . the cap 40 has an inner tube wall 44 . the rod diameter d 1 is approximately equal to a diameter of the opening 42 . the diameter d 1 of the opening in relation to the diameter of the marker should be close enough to allow the cap 40 to receive the surgical mark 30 and form an airtight connection when inserted but still allow the cap 40 to be removed by hand from the surgical marker 30 . fig3 shows an exploded view of the rod assembly 10 , surgical marker 30 , and cap 40 that is shown in fig2 . in fig3 , the nib 31 is not shown . a peg 22 is disposed on a distal face 23 of the rod 30 . in the preferred embodiment , the peg 22 is cylindrical . the peg 22 has a length l 1 and a diameter d 2 . the connector 33 of the marker 30 has a proximal abutment 39 . a socket 34 is formed in the connector 33 . the socket 34 has a diameter d 2 and a length l 2 . the length l 2 of the socket 34 is at least as the length l 1 of the peg 22 . the peg 22 inserts in the socket 34 to connect the rod assembly 10 and the marker 30 . the diameters d 2 of the socket 34 and the peg 22 should be substantially equal such that a snug connection is formed such that more force than can be applied by hand is required to separate the rod assembly 10 from the marker 30 . fig5 shows a view of the embodiment in fig1 - 3 and details how the holder 32 secures the nib 31 . the nib 31 is a block of absorbent fiber material . synthetic fiber materials are preferred for sanitary reasons over natural fibers such as felt . the nib 31 holds and dispenses ink . the ink is preferably a highly visible color that contrasts the color of the tissue to be marked . blue is typically a preferred color of ink . the nib 31 includes distal frustoconical portion 36 that has a distal tip 37 . the nib 31 includes a proximal cylindrical portion 38 that has a proximal abutment 39 . fig5 shows details of the connector 33 . the connector includes a proximal wide cylindrical portion 158 and a distal narrow cylindrical portion 156 . the wide cylindrical portion 158 has a diameter d 3 . the narrow cylindrical portion 156 has a diameter d 4 . an abutment 159 is defined between the wide cylindrical portion 158 and the distal narrow cylindrical portion 156 . a frustoconical portion 157 is at the distal - most location of the connector 33 and provides a surface on which the nib 31 can rest . fig5 shows details of the holder 32 . the holder 32 includes a distal frustoconical portion 131 and a proximal cylindrical portion 132 . the holder 32 has an inner wall 133 . both ends of the holder 32 are open . a proximal face 134 is located on the cylindrical portion 132 . a hole 135 is formed at the distal end of the frustoconical portion 131 . the cylindrical portion 132 , which is hollow has an outside diameter d 3 and an inside diameter d 4 . as shown in fig1 , 2 , and 5 , when the holder 32 is fitted over the nib 31 and seated on the narrow cylindrical portion 156 , the nib 31 is secured and the tip 37 of the nib 31 extends beyond the hole 135 . the holder 32 should form a snug connection , which requires more torque to unscrew than can be applied by hand , when the holder is seated on the narrow cylindrical portion 156 because the inner diameter of the holder 32 and the outer diameter of the narrow cylindrical portion are equal d 4 . the holder 32 and the wide cylindrical wall provide a smooth outer surface when the holder 32 is seated on the narrow cylindrical portion 156 because the outer diameter of the holder 32 and the outer diameter of the wide cylindrical wall 158 are equal d 3 . the proximal face 134 of the holder 32 abuts the abutment 159 of the connector 33 when the holder 32 is seated on the connector 33 . fig4 and 6 show a second embodiment of a cap 200 according to the invention . fig7 - 11 show a third embodiment of a cap . the cap 200 has an ink reservoir for wetting the nib of markers . fig6 shows the second embodiment of the cap 200 according to the invention . an enclosure for a marker 30 is formed by a generally cylindrical body that is capped at a distal end and open at a proximal end . a cylindrical , narrow wall 202 is provided at a proximal end of the cap 200 . an inner diameter of the narrow wall 202 is sized to fit over an outer diameter of the marker 30 . the narrow wall 202 has an opening 205 for receiving the distal end of the marker 30 as shown in fig4 . a flange 201 is provided to form an air - right fit when the marker 30 is inserted in the opening 205 of the cap . the cap 200 includes an absorbent fiber block 225 . the absorbent fiber block 225 is soaked with ink . the absorbent fiber block 225 contacts the nib 31 of the marker 30 when the marker 30 is inserted in the cap 200 . ink diffuses from the absorbent fiber block 225 into the nib 31 to keep the nip 31 moist and inked . as shown in fig1 , the absorbent fiber block 225 has a dimple 228 formed in the absorbent fiber block 225 . the dimple 228 is shaped to complement the shape of the tip 37 of the nib 31 . as shown in fig6 , the tip 37 of the nib seats in the dimple 228 when the marker 30 is fully inserted in the cap 200 . fig6 shows that the narrow wall 202 has a frustoconical portion 238 . the frustoconical portion 131 of the holder 32 complements the frustoconical portion 238 of the narrow wall 202 and abuts the frustoconical portion 238 when the marker 30 is fully inserted in the cap 200 . fig6 shows the wide outer wall 203 and the inner wall 209 . a proximal abutment 204 is defined between where the cap reduces inner diameter between the wide outer wall 203 and the narrow wall 202 . a proximal face 227 of the absorbent fiber block 225 abuts the proximal abutment 204 . the proximal abutment 204 prevents the absorbent fiber block 225 from dislodging from the cap 200 . fig6 shows a plug 220 . the plug 220 has a distal end 220 that is wider than an inner diameter of the distal portion of the cap . the plug 220 has a proximal portion 222 that is approximately the same diameter as an inner diameter of the distal portion of the cap 200 . the proximal portion forms a snug fit when inserted in the cap 200 . a proximal abutment 221 contacts a distal end of the wide portion 220 when the plug is fully inserted . the plug 240 includes a narrow wall 223 and conical portion 224 to urge the absorbent fiber block 225 toward the proximal abutment 204 when the plug 240 is inserted . to assemble the cap 200 , the cylindrical portion including the narrow wall 202 and wide outer wall 203 is fabricated , for example , by molding . next , the absorbent fiber block 2225 is inserted from the distal end of the cylindrical portion . then , the cap 240 is seated within the distal end of the cylindrical portion . fig7 - 8 show a rod assembly 10 , connected to a marker 30 , inserted in a cap 200 . fig9 shows a rod assembly 10 , a marker 30 , and a cap 200 aligned axially for connection with each other . fig1 and 11 show the rod assembly , the marker 30 , and the cap in exploded and exploded sectional views . a preferred method of using the marker 30 shown in fig7 - 9 includes a method marking tissue in a laparoscopic surgical procedure . in a first step of the method , a peg 22 of a rod assembly 10 is inserted into the socket 34 of the connector 33 . when the marker 30 is ready to be inserted , the surgeon removes the cap 200 from the marker 30 . next , the surgeon delivers the marker 30 to the targeted tissue by pushing the marker 30 through a cannula to the targeted area . the surgeon then manipulates and maneuvers the marker 30 to the targeted tissue by operating the proximal end 25 of the rod 20 . the tip 37 of the marker 30 is pressed against the targeted tissue to leave an inked mark on the targeted tissue . in a further embodiment of method of using the marker 30 , the marker 30 can be used during the installation of a diaphragmatic pacemaker . the surgeon begins by making an incision and inserting a cannula and an endoscope . the surgeon inserts the marker by pushing the marker 30 through the cannula with the rod 20 . the surgeon examines an inferior surface of the diaphragm and locates the phrenic nerve . portions of the phrenic nerve will respond to electric stimuli better than other portions . when a responsive portion is found , the surgeon marks that portion with the tip 37 of the marker 30 . after marking the nerve , the marker 30 is removed by retracting the rod 20 from the cannula . the surgeon then connects the lead of the pacemaker to the marked portion of the phrenic nerve . while the embodiments show preferred devices and methods , the scope of the invention may be broader than those examples .	0
referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for the purposes of illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention only and not for purposes of limiting same , fig1 illustrates an exemplary two phase switched reluctance ( sr ) motor 5 . it should be appreciated that the term &# 34 ; switched reluctance ,&# 34 ; as used herein , is also intended to refer to &# 34 ; variable reluctance &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; synchronous reluctance .&# 34 ; moreover , while the present invention is described with particular reference to a switched reluctance motor , the present invention is equally applicable to a switched reluctance generator . motor 5 is generally comprised of a stator 10 and a rotor 20 . stator 10 includes stator poles 12 . each stator pole 12 is surrounded by a winding of one or more turns of electrically conductive material and appropriate insulation . each phase winding is a pair of series ( or parallel ) connected windings respectively wound on diametrically opposed stator poles 12 . accordingly , windings 14 and 14 &# 39 ; form a first phase winding (&# 34 ; phase a &# 34 ;), while windings 16 and 16 &# 39 ; form a second phase winding (&# 34 ; phase b &# 34 ;). the phase a and phase b windings are grouped together so that a balanced torque is produced in the motor when the windings are excited from an external source of electrical energy and also so that voltage and current requirements of the external energy source are satisfied . a variation in reluctance occurs when rotor 20 is rotated with respect to stationary stator poles 12 . the variation in reluctance is the result of the variation in the inductance of the phase windings . minimum inductance is observed when rotor poles 22 are at right angles to stator poles 12 . this point in rotational space is commonly referred to as an &# 34 ; unaligned position .&# 34 ; the unaligned position in most sr motors typically exists throughout an arc of several degrees of rotor rotation . moreover , the inductance of the respective phase winding is nearly constant at its minimum value throughout this arc . excitation of the respective phase windings during this rotational period of constant , minimum inductance results in negligible developed torque . as rotor 20 turns beyond the arc of minimum inductance , the inductance in the respective phase windings begins to increase . it reaches a maximum value when a pair of rotor and stator poles are aligned . this position is commonly referred to as the &# 34 ; aligned position .&# 34 ; in fig1 rotor 22 is aligned with stator poles 12 associated with windings 16 and 16 &# 39 ;. when the respective phase winding is excited with an electrical current as the inductance is increasing from minimum to maximum , a motor torque is developed on shaft 30 . in contrast , when the respective phase winding is excited as the inductance is decreasing from a maximum to a minimum , torque of the opposite direction is developed on shaft 30 ( i . e ., generator torque ). the switching or &# 34 ; excitation &# 34 ; of the phase windings is typically accomplished by solid state switching devices such as mosfets , transistors , thyristors , insulated gate bipolar transistors ( igbts ) and the like , including combinations thereof . the sequencing of the solid state switching devices is typically determined by a &# 34 ; logic system &# 34 ; comprised of electronic circuits , that are responsive to various sensors which sense parameters such as voltage levels , current levels in the windings , the position of the rotor poles relative to the stator poles , or other signals necessary for proper operation of the motor . fig2 illustrates a controller 40 for driving a 2 - phase sr motor . it should be appreciated that controller 40 may also be referred to as a power switching circuit . in accordance with a preferred embodiment , controller 40 is generally comprised of a pair of controller circuits in the form of asymmetric half bridges ( ahb ). the asymmetric half bridges are both connected to a capacitive circuit , which is described in detail below . it should be appreciated that the controller circuit may take a form other than an ahb , as will be discussed below . the first asymmetric half bridge ( ahb ) is comprised of a phase winding a , a commutation switch q1 , a chopping switch q2 , and a pair of freewheeling diodes d1 and d2 . the second asymmetric half bridge is comprised of a phase winding b , a commutation switch q3 , a chopping switch q4 , and freewheeling diodes d3 and d4 . the capacitive circuit is comprised of a pair of diodes d5 and d6 , and a capacitor c1 . a dc energy source ( supply voltage vs ) provides a source of electrical energy to controller 40 . phase windings a and b are respectively connected between a positive potential 62 and a negative potential 64 of supply voltage vs by closing of switches q1 - q4 and diodes d1 - d4 . it should be understood that while switches q1 , q2 , q3 , and q4 are shown as power transistors , other appropriate types of power switching devices are also suitable . the primary function of switches q1 and q3 ( commutation transistors ) is to enable the respective phase windings , while the primary function of switches q2 and q4 ( chopping transistors ) is to regulate current in the respective phase windings , during the period that the respective phase winding is excited . it should be appreciated that the inverted functional arrangement of q3 and q4 ( i . e ., chopping switch - for - commutation switch ), as compared to q1 and q2 , is important to operation of the present invention , as will be apparent from the detailed description provided below . a switching controller 50 generates control signals to control the switching of switches q1 , q2 , q3 and q4 . the control signals are generated in accordance with prior art techniques and may be in response to sensor signals , pre - programmed signals ( e . g ., stored in rom ), manually - controlled signals , or a combination thereof . the design of switch controller 50 does not form a part of the present invention , except that it must be capable of operating switches q1 , q2 , q3 and q4 to provide appropriate current pulse control . it should be appreciated that the sequence of current flow for each phase winding may take many suitable forms , including sequential or overlapping . in sequential operation , current flows through only one phase winding at a time . in overlapping operation , current may simultaneously flow through two or more phase windings . controller 40 generally has three basic modes of operation for current control , namely , a positive voltage loop ( pvl ), a zero voltage loop ( zvl ) and a negative voltage loop ( nvl ). pvl occurs when both switches for a phase winding are closed . during the pvl mode , the current in the respective phase winding will generally increase . zvl occurs when either one of the two respective switches for a phase is open ( i . e ., off ). during the zvl mode the phase or winding current can continue to freewheel through one of the two respective diodes for a phase . with ideal circuit components , the current in the respective phase winding is maintained due to the lossless short circuit across the phase winding . however , with practical circuit components and mechanical power taken from the shaft , the current in the respective phase winding will slowly decay . as a result , a zvl mode is usually alternated with a pvl mode to maintain the current in the respective winding at a desired level . to maintain the current in phase winding a , q1 remains closed while q2 ( chopping transistor ) is toggled between open ( i . e ., off ) and closed ( i . e ., on ) to alter the current path . as a result , the current in phase winding a is &# 34 ; chopped &# 34 ; to maintain a constant magnitude . likewise , the current in phase winding b is maintained by keeping q3 closed while q4 ( chopping transistor ) is toggled between open and closed . lastly , in the nvl mode , both of the respective switches for a phase are opened ( i . e ., &# 34 ; turned off &# 34 ;), and current rapidly falls as energy is returned from the respective phase winding to the supply voltage via the respective pair of diodes . the present invention initially slows this rapid decay to avoid an abrupt change in applied terminal voltage , as will be explained in detail below . as indicated above , an abrupt turn off of the phase switching devices at the end of each phase excitation cycle causes a rapid decay in phase current as the negative voltage loop ( nvl ) is encountered . the large voltage into which the current must &# 34 ; buck &# 34 ; causes the above mentioned problems . the present invention provides a controller which causes a more gradual transition in current without the need for sophisticated and complex circuitry . operation of controller 40 will now be described in detail with reference to fig2 . it should be understood that initially there is no voltage across c1 . to begin phase a excitation , switches q1 and q2 are switched on . as a result , the positive terminal 62 of dc energy source 60 is connected to terminal 72 of phase winding a , and the negative terminal 64 of dc energy source 60 is connected to terminal 74 of phase winding a . diodes d1 , d2 and d5 are reverse biased . accordingly , a supply voltage vs is applied to the inductors comprising phase winding a in a positive voltage loop ( pvl ). this results in a general increase in the phase a current . current flows in the following loop : phase winding a - switch q1 - supply voltage vs - switch q2 . it should be noted that as the rotor progresses toward full alignment with the stator , the back emf of the motor will detract from the available voltage of the energy source . as a result , the rate of current rise may decrease , or even change direction ( i . e ., the current may actually begin to fall ). when the desired peak current level is reached , switch q2 is turned off , while switch q1 remains on . as a result , the potential at terminal 72 drops below the potential at terminal 64 , and freewheeling diode d2 becomes forward biased . accordingly , terminal 72 is connected to negative terminal 64 through diode d2 . since switch q1 remains on , terminal 74 is also connected to negative terminal 64 . therefore , the inductors comprising phase winding a are short circuited in a zero voltage loop ( zvl ). the current continues to &# 34 ; freewheel &# 34 ; in the following loop : phase winding a - switch q1 - diode d2 . as indicated above , the phase a current slowly decays as some energy is dissipated in the resistance of the windings , conduction losses in the switch and diode , and some electrical energy is converted to mechanical energy . to maintain the desired current level in phase winding a for the desired duration , switch q2 is toggled between on and off , as necessary . when switch q2 is on , the circuit returns to the pvl mode , whereas , when switch q2 is off , the circuit returns to the zvl mode . the changes in the phase a current are observed as ripples in fig3 b ( period t3 ), which is explained in further detail below . when it is the appropriate time to decrease the phase a current to zero ( i . e ., conclude the excitation of phase a ), switches q1 and q2 are both turned off . as a result , the potential at terminal 74 tries to become positive relative to the potential at terminal 80 of capacitor cl . thus , diode d5 becomes forward biased . as noted above , the initial voltage across capacitor c1 is zero . at the instance that switches q1 and q2 are opened , current in the inductors comprising phase winding a begins flowing through diode d5 to capacitor cl and back through diode d2 ( i . e ., the loop : phase winding a diode d5 -- capacitor c1 -- diode d2 ). therefore , the current flow initially looks like a zvl , when the charge on capacitor c1 is low , and progresses to a nvl , as capacitor c1 continues to charge to the supply voltage vs . at full charge of capacitor c1 , the circuit looks just like a diode - clamped asymmetric half bridge . it will be appreciated that the capacitor - induced zvl current flow results in an initially slowed decay of the current in the inductors comprising phase winding a . upon capacitor c1 becoming filly charged , terminal 74 goes positive relative to terminal 62 , causing diode d1 to become forward biased , and diode d5 to become reverse biased . consequently , any current remaining in the inductors comprising phase winding a begins flowing in a final nvl as follows : phase winding a -- diode d1 -- supply voltage vs -- diode d2 . it should be noted that when the voltage across c1 is the same as the supply voltage vs , diode d5 could be referred to as &# 34 ; unbiased .&# 34 ; in this regard , unless there is sufficient voltage across the diode to overcome it &# 39 ; s intrinsic &# 34 ; forward voltage ,&# 34 ; then current will not be &# 34 ; compelled &# 34 ; to flow , even though the anode might be some fraction of a volt more positive than the cathode . this final nvl leads to a rapid decay in the current of phase winding a to zero . eventually , the energy in the inductor is filly depleted and terminal 74 goes negative relative to terminal 62 , causing diode d1 to become reversed biased . simultaneously , terminal 72 becomes more positive than terminal 64 and diode d2 becomes reverse biased ( i . e ., stops conducting ). therefore , when the current in phase winding a reaches zero , both diodes d1 and d2 are reverse biased , thus disconnecting phase winding a from the circuit . to begin the subsequent excitation of the phase b winding , switches q3 and q4 are turned on . it should be understood that diode d6 will always be reverse biased whenever switch q3 is on . as a result of switches q3 and q4 being closed , the supply voltage vs is applied across phase winding b . therefore , current flows in a pvl as follows : phase winding b - switch q4 - supply voltage vs - switch q3 . consequently , the current in the inductors comprising phase winding b will increase . when the desired peak current level is reached , chopping switch q4 is turned off . as a result , terminal 84 will be forced , by the inductive nature of phase winding b , to have a higher potential than terminal 62 , thus causing diode d4 to become forward biased . thus , the inductors comprising phase winding b are short circuited in a zvl consisting of : phase winding b - diode d4 - switch q3 . this results in a gradual decay in the phase b current . to maintain the current for the desired duration , switch q4 is toggled between on and off . when switch q4 is on , the circuit is in the pvl mode , and when switch q4 is off , the circuit is in the zvl mode . when it is the appropriate time to decrease the phase b current to zero , switches q3 and q4 are both turned off . as a result , diode d6 and diode d4 become forward biased . it is noted that capacitor c1 remains charged from the phase a turn - off . at the instant that switches q3 and q4 are opened , a zvl effect is provided . in this regard , current in the inductors comprising phase winding b flows as follows : phase winding b - diode d4 - supply voltage vs - capacitor c1 - diode d6 . it should be noted that capacitor c1 and diode d6 clamp terminal 82 of phase winding b . in this regard , capacitor c1 initially provides its current to phase winding b . as capacitor c1 discharges towards ground , the circuit gradually moves from a zvl mode to a nvl mode . when capacitor c1 reaches ground ( i . e ., fully discharged ), diode d3 becomes forward biased , forming a full nvl as follows : phase winding b - diode d4 - supply voltage vs -- diode d3 . when the current in phase winding b reaches zero diodes d3 and d4 become reverse biased , thus disconnecting phase winding b from the circuit . capacitor c1 is now in proper condition ( i . e ., fully discharged ) for use in the soft &# 34 ; turn off &# 34 ; of the subsequent phase a excitation . it should be appreciated that since the alternate bridge for phase winding b is &# 34 ; flipped &# 34 ; ( i . e ., chopping switch - for - commutation switch ), the voltage stored at capacitor c1 after phase winding a &# 34 ; turn - off &# 34 ; is in the correct sense to act as a soft turn - off when commutation switch q3 is opened at the end of phase winding b excitation . the cycle repeats without the need to introduce additional circuitry to manage energy storage on capacitor c1 . in this regard , each phase &# 34 ; turn - off &# 34 ; takes care of energy storage management without the need for additional circuitry . fig3 a illustrates a current waveform for a phase winding in accordance with prior art controllers . during period t1 there is no current in the phase winding . during period t2 , the amount of current flowing in the phase winding is increasing . this results from a pvl mode . during period t3 , the amount of current flowing in the phase winding is maintained . this results from alternating between a pvl mode and a zvl mode . during period t4 ( i . e ., &# 34 ; turn off &# 34 ;), the amount of current flowing in the phase winding begins decreasing to zero . this results from a nvl mode . it is important to note that there is an abrupt change in the current ( i . e ., a high di / dt ) as soon as period t4 begins . the present invention addresses the abrupt change in current , as can be seen from fig3 b , which is the current waveform for the controller of the present invention . as can be seen , periods t1 , t2 and t3 in fig3 b are the same as seen in fig3 a . however , in fig3 b the current waveform begins period t4 with a rounded corner ( i . e ., a lower di / dt ), rather than the abrupt drop , seen in fig3 a . the rounded corner is the result of the initial zvl preceding the nvl , as described above . it should be appreciated that after the initial rounded corner , the di / dt in the later part of period t4 is essentially the same as seen in fig3 a . this occurs because capacitor c1 beginning to charge ( phase a ) or discharge ( phase b ). accordingly , the phase winding current reaches zero at approximately the same time in both fig3 a and 3b . referring now to fig4 there is shown a controller 40 &# 39 ;, which is particularly effective for use in a &# 34 ; single pulse mode .&# 34 ; single pulse mode refers to the operating condition wherein modulation of the chopping transistor &# 39 ; s on - time is not required to effect current amplitude limiting . this typically occurs during high speed operation , but can also be extended into the domain of low speed operation ( albeit at reduced torque levels ) by using &# 34 ; dwell control .&# 34 ; with dwell control , the duration of switch conduction is limited to only that which is necessary to generate the required torque while adhering to the maximum allowable current levels . although the torque ripple will be higher in dwell controlled motors , the switching losses will be minimized by having only a single turn - on / turn - off cycle per phase firing . it should be further understood that single pulse mode can be promoted at low speeds by moderating the dc supply potential to an appropriate level in keeping with desired speed and torque requirements . regardless of cause , single pulse mode allows for both the commutation and chopping transistors to be turned on for the entire phase firing interval . there is no alternation between pvl and zvl ( as in soft - chopping ) or pvl and nvl ( as in hard chopping ). one benefit of operating in single pulse mode is that switching losses in the power switches is minimized . moreover , the circuit shown in fig4 offers the added benefits that turn - off losses in switches q1 - q4 are further reduced by establishing a soft turn - off , and that turn - off losses normally associated with diodes d1 - d4 are distributed across diodes d5 - d8 as well . controller 40 &# 39 ; shown in fig4 works essentially the same as the circuit of fig2 but having an additional soft turn - off network for switches q4 and q2 . the soft turn - off network is comprised of diode d7 ( added between terminals 84 and 92 ), diode d8 ( added between terminals 92 and 72 ), and a second capacitor c2 ( added between terminals 92 and 64 ). however , it should be noted that capacitor c2 will not be correctly &# 34 ; pre - charged &# 34 ; for desired soft - turn - off operation until the motor / drive enters the single pulse mode of operation . this is because any chopping action will serve to prematurely alter the charge on capacitor c2 ( thus degrading the &# 34 ; softness &# 34 ; of any turn - off at the end of the phase firing ). fortunately , the circuit does not interfere with normal chopping . to apply the present invention to an sr motor having a greater number of &# 34 ; even &# 34 ; phases , controllers of fig2 and 4 are replicated for each additional pair of phase windings . moreover , while the present invention has been described with reference to a switched reluctance machine having an even number of phases , the present invention may be suitably modified for use with a switched reluctance machine having an odd number of phases by adding an auxiliary energy management circuit to manage the soft turn - off capacitor for the &# 34 ; un - paired &# 34 ; phase . it will be appreciated that the present invention finds application in a wide variety of controller designs . as mentioned above , the controller circuit may take many forms . for instance , in fig5 there is shown a controller which is comprised of controller circuits including a pair of phase windings and three switching devices ( i . e ., two chopping switches and one shared commutation switch ). the soft turn - off is provided by the capacitive circuit comprised of capacitor c1 and diodes d5 and d6 . as indicated above , the present invention has numerous advantages . in the absence of capacitor c1 , the change in voltage across the phase winding inductors will be controlled solely by the switching speed of the semiconductor switches . capacitor c1 moderates the rate of rise in voltage across the phase winding inductors , in accordance with the well known relationship dv / dt = i / c . accordingly , the &# 34 ; rise time &# 34 ; for the voltage will increase , which in turn reduces the high frequency components . reducing the high frequency components has the beneficial effects of reducing both electrical and mechanical impulses . reductions in electrical impulses leads to reductions in turn - off losses , while reductions in mechanical impulses leads to reductions in acoustic noise . it will be appreciated that reduction of turn - off losses is particularly advantageous in motors operating at high rpm . another benefit of reducing high frequency components is the reduction in potential generation and subsequent propagation of electromagnetic interference ( emi ), since emi radiates more easily with higher frequency components . the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment . obviously , modifications and alterations will occur to others upon a reading and understanding of this specification . it is intended that all such modifications and alterations be included insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof .	7
fig1 represents the main components of a device adapted to implement the method provided by the invention ; this device comprises a microprocessor 2 connected ( via suitable buses ) to a rewritable memory 4 ( typically of eeprom type ) and to a random access memory 6 . the device of fig1 is for example a micro - computer . as a variant , it could be another type of electronic device , for example a secure electronic device , such as a microcircuit card . the rewritable memory 4 contains in particular instructions of a computer program prog which , when they are executed by the microprocessor 2 , enable the implementation of the methods provided by the invention , such as the one described below . the computer program prog may as a variant be stored on another data carrier ( for example a hard disk ), which may possibly be removable ( for example an optical disc or a removable memory ). in this case , the computer program prog may possibly be transferred first of all into the random access memory 6 before being executed by the microprocessor 2 . at the time of its execution by the microprocessor 2 , the computer program prog implements a cryptographic data processing method which in particular involves an item of data x to process . the data to process ( in particular the item of data x ) are represented within the device of fig1 ( and in particular within the random access memory 6 ) by digital words each formed by several bits ; for example a representation of the data is used here in the form of 8 - bit bytes . the random access memory 6 stores the variables and data processed , in particular those manipulated by the method described later with reference to fig2 . in the context of their processing ( in particular when cryptographic processing is involved ), the data are ( each ) viewed as elements of a set f 2 n comprising 2 n elements and provided with a field structure via the definition of an addition between two elements of the set ( denoted ⊕ below ) and via the definition a multiplication of two elements of the set ( denoted ). it can be understood that , in the case described here in which the data are represented by 8 - bit bytes , the field f 2 n comprises 256 elements ( n = 8 ). the addition ⊕ defined over this field is the “ exclusive or ” or xor operation ( which is a basic operation in processing by the microprocessor 2 ). as regards the multiplication between two elements ( that is to say between two items of data coded over several bits , typically 8 bits ), this may be defined as a modular polynomial multiplication , or as the multiplication of two powers of a primitive element ( or generator ) of the field ( in which case , this multiplication amounts to an addition of two exponents of the primitive element modulo 2 n − 1 ). in this regard , reference may be made to the work “ finite fields ”, volume 20 of the “ encyclopedia of mathematics and its applications ” by rudolph lidl and harald niederreiter , cambridge university press , 2 nd edition , 1997 . whatever the theoretical representation used , the multiplication is implemented here by means of a stored table ( stored here in the rewritable memory 4 ). such a table , denoted lut ( for “ look - up table ”) stores , for any pair of elements of the field , the result of the multiplication of those elements . in this context , the processing of an item of data which achieves the transformation of that item of data into another item of data may be viewed as a function of the field on itself ( that is to say a function f which associates with every element x of the field , that is to say with all the possible data , an element f ( x ) of the field , that is to say the item of data obtained by the processing ). in the device of fig1 a masking technique is furthermore used whereby a determined item of data x is manipulated only in a form masked by one or more masks x i ( i & gt ; 0 ), typically determined by random picking at the start of processing ( that is to say in practice at the start of the algorithm concerned , which it is wished to protect by the masking ). the masks may moreover be regenerated if necessary during the course of processing . the masking used here is successive addition ( by application of the xor operation ) of the masks x i to the item of data x to mask . such masking is said to be of higher order when several masks x i are successively applied to the item of data x . in this case , the item of data x is as represented while processing by d items of data x i , i . e . the masked item of data x 0 and the masks x 1 , x 2 , x d - 1 . ( the masks must indeed be stored to be able to retrieve the value x without masking ). this is referred to as masking of order ( d − 1 ). the item of data x is thus represented during the processing by d items of data x i of which the sum ( according to the addition ⊕ defined over the field referred to above ) is equal to the item of data x so represented : as already explained in the introduction , on account of the random picking of the masks at each execution of an algorithm , the masking makes it possible to modify the values manipulated at the time of the different executions of the algorithm and makes it difficult ( or impossible ) to deduce the data actually processed based on observation of the circuit , with the difficulty increasing with the order of masking . the masking however involves particular processing when , to the item of data x to be processed ( and thus in practice to the data x i that are actually manipulated ), a function f is to be applied that is non - linear with respect to the masking operation ( here the addition ⊕, performed by an xor operation ). to be precise , contrary to the case of the functions that are linear with respect to that operation , the sum of the results f ( x i ) of the application of the function f to the manipulated data x i is ( by the actual definition of the absence of linearity ) different from the result f ( x ) of the application of the function to the item of data x processed . a method is provided below which , on the basis of the data x i ( where x 0 ⊕ x 1 ⊕ x 2 ⊕ . . . ⊕ x d - 1 = x ), enables data e i to be obtained the sum of which will be equal to f ( x ) while maintaining the masking of order ( d − 1 ) throughout the computation . it may be noted first of all that the lagrange interpolation formula makes it possible to define a polynomial p ( x ) equal to the function f ( x ) in each element of the set f 2 n : is the product ( in the sense of the multiplication ) of the element ( x − b ) by the inverse ( still in the sense of the multiplication ) of the element ( a − b ). it may be noted that the formula below is written in its general form ( with subtraction ), but that , in the sets of type f 2 n studied here , the subtraction (“−” symbol above ) is also implemented by an xor operation , denoted here by ⊕, on account of the fact that the application of the xor operation with a given element ( that is to say the addition of a given element ) is involutary in this type of set . according to the above , the function f ( in particular when it is non - linear with respect to the addition ⊕) may be written in the form of a polynomial of degree 2 n − 1 and it is thus possible to define the function f by a family of coefficients α i such that : where x 0 is the identity element relative to the multiplication , x 1 is the element x and , for i & gt ; 1 , x i is the element x multiplied ( i − 1 ) times by itself ( by means of the operation ). the processing of an item of data x by the function f may thus be reduced to a combination of additions ⊕ and multiplications . the additions are naturally linear with respect to the masking operation ( here constituted by the same xor operation ) and the summing of the different elements concerned may thus be carried out by summing the d manipulated items of data representing those elements . the same applies for the multiplication by each of the coefficients α i , which is also linear with respect to the masking operation . however it is necessary to employ a specific method to determine the result of the multiplications to implement ( here to obtain powers of the element x to process ) while maintaining the masking of order ( d − 1 ) on account of the non - linearity of the operation of multiplication with respect to the masking operation . the method of multiplying a number a ( represented by d values a i ) and a number b ( represented by d values b i ) provided to that end is now described with reference to fig2 . it can be understood that in the context of evaluating the function f described above , which is merely one possible application of that method , the items of data a and b are both equal to the item of data x to process . the method commences at step s 10 by the initialization of a variable i to 0 . at step s 12 a variable j is then initialized to the value i + 1 . at step s 14 a variable r i , j is next determined by random picking , typically using a random value generating function implemented in software form and which forms part of the program prog . a variable r j , i is next computed at step s 16 using the formula : ( r i , j ⊕ a i b j )⊕ a j b i . it may be noted that the index i is necessarily different from the index j in this formula ( since j is initialized to i + 1 and incremented as indicated later ). it is to be recalled that , using conventional notation , multiplication takes priority over addition and that the multiplications a i b j and a j b i , are thus carried out first , before adding the value r i , j to the result of the first multiplication ( using an xor ), and lastly adding to that sum the result of the second multiplication . it is to be noted that compliance with this order for the operations ( in particular for the additions ) is imperative if it is wished to maintain the security of the masking . at step s 18 the incrementation of the variable j is next carried out . it is then tested at s 20 whether the variable j is equal to d ( which , as indicated earlier , represents the number of values representing a value to process ). in the negative ( that is to say if values of j between i + 1 and d − 1 remain that have not been processed ), step s 14 is looped back to . in the affirmative , that is to say when the last passage through step s 16 was made with a value of the variable j equal to d − 1 , the following step s 22 is proceeded to . this step s 22 consists in incrementing the variable i . next , at step s 24 , it is tested whether the variable i is equal to ( d − 1 ). in the negative , step s 12 is looped back to which makes it possible to perform the processing already described with an incremented value of i . in the affirmative , all the values r i , j have been processed ( since there are no values r i , i to determine , and thus in particular no value r d - 1 , d d - 1 ) and the second part of the method is then proceeded to at step s 26 . step s 26 consists in initializing the variable i to 0 . step s 28 is next proceeded to at which the product a i b i is computed , which is stored in a variable c i . step s 30 is then carried out at which the variable j is initialized to 0 . at step s 32 , equality between the variables i and j is tested . in the negative , the variable r i , j determined in the first part of the method is added to the variable c i ( by means of the operation ⊕). to be precise , the sum c i ⊕ r i , j is computed , which is again stored in the variable c i ( by overwriting ). in the affirmative at step s 32 ( that is to say if i = j ), step s 36 is proceeded to directly ( that is to say without performing step s 34 ). step s 34 is also followed by step s 36 , at which the variable j is incremented . at step s 38 it is then tested whether the variable j is equal to d . in the negative , step s 32 is looped back to . in the affirmative , step s 40 is proceeded to . step s 42 is then proceeded to at which it is tested whether the variable i is equal to d . in the negative , step s 28 is looped back to in order to determine the next variable c i . in the affirmative , all the variables c i ( for i from 0 to d − 1 ) have been determined and the method is thus terminated ( step s 44 ). the d values c i so obtained represent the product c , which is the result of the multiplication a b , that is to say that : c = a b and c 0 ⊕ c 1 ⊕ c 2 ⊕ . . . ⊕ c d - 1 = c . it is to be noted that this last equality may be verified as follows by using the properties of commutativity of the multiplication , and of distributivity of the multiplication with respect to the addition ⊕: ⊕ i = 0 d - 1 ⁢ c i = ⊕ i = 0 d - 1 ⁢ [ a i ⊗ b i ⊕ ( ⊕ j ≠ i ⁢ r i , j ) ] ⊕ i = 0 d - 1 ⁢ c i = ⊕ i = 0 d - 1 ⁢ [ a i ⊗ b i ⊕ ( ⊕ j & gt ; i ⁢ r i , j ) ⊕ ( ⊕ j & lt ; i ⁢ ( r j , i ⊕ a i ⊗ b j ⊕ a j ⊗ b i ) ) ] ⊕ i = 0 d - 1 ⁢ c i = ⊕ i = 0 d - 1 ⁢ [ a i ⊗ b i ⊕ ( ⊕ j & lt ; i ⁢ ( a i ⊗ b j ⊕ a j ⊗ b i ) ) ] it has thus been made possible to obtain values representing the product c of the values a and b , while maintaining the masking of order ( d − 1 ). the embodiment which has just been described is merely a possible example of implementation of the invention , which is not limited thereto . in particular , the invention is not limited to the case of the field of type f 2 n but also applies in the case of other fields ( because , as stated above , the solution relies on the rules of commutativity and distributivity in the field ).	7
the present invention relates to an apparatus for generating ( that is , producing ) energy . more specifically , the apparatus of this invention comprises : a . a rotor movable in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction and having at least one magnet affixed to the rotor ; b . a plate located adjacent to but spaced apart from the rotor ; c . one or more magnets affixed to and around an upper side of the plate and having a polarity which is opposite to the magnet affixed to the rotor ; d . a magnetic field of increasing magnetic field strength which is provided by the one or more magnets affixed to the plate , wherein the magnetic field is continuous except for a defined space ; e . an electromagnet capable of creating a magnetic field and located adjacent to but not within the defined space , wherein the device is in sequence with movement of a magnet affixed to the rotor . this invention also provides a process for generating energy in which the process uses an apparatus as described in the preceding paragraph . a preferred configuration of the apparatus of the present invention is shown in exploded form in fig1 . referring now to the drawings , in which like numbers represent like elements , fig1 shows an exploded view of a preferred embodiment of this invention in which an apparatus 1 comprises a movable rotor 2 having magnets 3 affixed to an upper side of the rotor 2 . in fig1 there are two magnets 3 affixed to the upper side of the rotor 2 . the apparatus 1 includes a plate 4 which is located adjacent to ( i . e ., in close proximity ) but spaced apart from the rotor 2 . affixed to and around an upper side of the circular plate 4 is a series of magnets 5 . as shown in fig1 the series of magnets 5 is approximately sixteen in number . the magnets 5 have an opposite polarity to that of the magnets 3 located on the rotor 2 . the magnets 5 are located in a generally circular fashion around the plate 4 . however , each magnet 5 is located at a generally increasing distance from the inner edge of the plate 4 , viewed in a clockwise direction . the location of magnets 5 creates a magnetic field of increasing magnetic field strength around the plate 4 except for a defined space 6 where the first magnet 5 of the series is not adjacent to the last magnet 5 . the area between the first and last magnets defines space 6 . as shown in fig1 an electromagnet 7 is located adjacent to but not within defined space 6 . the electromagnet 7 is equipped to create a magnetic field which will be of a polarity which is the same as the polarity of the magnets 3 and opposite to the polarity of the magnets 5 . in operation and with reference to fig1 the rotor 2 moves through the magnetic field created by the magnets 5 in a counter clockwise direction due to the opposite polarities of the magnets 3 and 5 . however , the space 6 defines a break or alteration in the magnetic field and , in the absence of electromagnet 7 , the rotor 2 would stop rather than move through space 6 . at or around the point when the rotor 2 would stop , the electromagnet 7 creates a magnetic field of opposite polarity to the magnet 5 . this field cancels out the field created by magnet 5 and sends or allows the passage of magnet 3 through and past the defined space 6 , which results in the rotor 2 beginning movement again through the magnetic field created by the magnets 5 . of course , movement of the rotor 2 causes the rotor shaft 8 to turn , thereby generating and delivering energy to a device , such as a direct drive assembly . the movement of the rotor 2 and the resultant generation of energy will continue until the device 7 is deactivated . as shown in fig1 a cover plate 9 can be used if desired . the power to allow the electromagnet 7 to create its magnetic field can be supplied through inlets 10 which , for example , could contain wires connected to a power source such as a low voltage battery or an internal capacitor charged from the energy output of the apparatus 1 . a single magnet 3 could be used instead of the two magnets 3 , and a single , shaped magnet 5 could be used in place of the series of magnets 5 . additionally , if a series of magnets is used , there can be more or less than shown in fig1 . [ 0049 ] fig2 shows the plate 4 , the defined space 6 and the electromagnet 7 . with reference to fig2 the rotor 2 is shown with magnets 3 and rotor shaft 8 . the positioning and polarity of the magnets 3 and 5 are as described for fig1 . with reference to fig3 the area encircled in fig1 is shown , specifically the magnet 3 located on the rotor 2 , the magnets 5 located on the plate 4 and the electromagnet 7 for continuing movement of the rotor 2 to generate energy . in the drawings , the magnets 3 are shown on the upper side of rotor 2 . however , these magnets ( or a single magnet in another embodiment ) can be located anywhere on the rotor , such as the lower side or outer edge . the drawings also show the plate 4 as circular , but other shapes can also be used , such as square , rectangular , etc . the electromagnet 7 , which could be comprised of lead or any substance and an induction coil , is positioned adjacent to the innermost magnet 5 . the electromagnet is powered through a power source sufficient to generate a magnetic field which offsets or breaks the magnetic field created by the magnets 5 . an electrical impulse is fired from the electromagnet on command through a timer ( such as a laser triggered circuit or other mechanical trigger mechanism ) that is connected to the device and positioned between the innermost and outermost magnets 5 . the timer detects the approaching magnet 3 and signals the electromagnet 7 to fire , in order to break the magnetic field as the rotor 2 approaches the innermost magnet 5 , thereby allowing the rotor to continue movement around to the outermost magnet 5 again . this process is repeated upon each rotation of the rotor . the only external energy input is a requirement to charge the electromagnetic device and power the timer , if necessary . the timer could also be triggered through optical or mechanical mechanisms . this invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain embodiments , but variations and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims .	7
in formula ( i ) above , r 1 is preferably a propyl radical . x is preferably a single bond , an ethane - 1 , 2 - diyl , propane - 1 , 2 - diyl , propane - 1 , 3diyl , 2 - oxapropane - 1 , 3 - diyl , 2 - methylpropane - 1 , 3 - diyl , butane - 1 , 3 - diyl , ethene - 1 , 2 - diyl , 1 - methylethene - 1 , 2 - diyl , 1 , 2 - dimethylethene - 1 , 2 - diyl , 1 , 2 , 2 - trimethylcyclopentane - 1 , 3 - diyl , cyclo - hexene - 1 , 2 - diyl , ortho - phenylene , benzene - 1 , 2 , 4 - triyl , benzene - 1 , 2 , 4 , 5 - tetrayl , naphthalene - 2 , 3 - diyl , naphthalene - 1 , 8 - diyl , naphthalene - 1 , 4 , 5 , 8 - tetrayl , pyridine - 2 , 3 - diyl , pyrazine - 2 , 3 - diyl , furan - 2 , 5 - diyl , furan - 2 , 5 - diyl , thiophene - 2 , 3 - diyl or thiophene - 2 , 5 - diyl group or a bicyclo [ 2 . 2 . 1 ] hept - 2 - ene - 5 , 6 - diyl group . the groups x may additionally be substituted , for example by halogen atoms ( cl , br ), alkoxy groups or nitro groups . the weight - average molecular weight , m w , of the polymer of the formula ( i ) may vary within wide limits . it is in general from 5000 to 500 , 000 , preferably from 20 , 000 to 300 , 000 . the acid numbers of the polymer are in general in the range from 5 to 150 , preferably from 30 to 120 . in one aspect of the present invention , the monomer units are randomly distributed in the polymer and the polymer is therefore not , for example , a block copolymer . the mixture according to the invention can , if required , also contain optional additives . the additives may comprise one or more of dyes , plasticizers , solubility inhibitors , solubility accelerators , reaction accelerators , residues of organic solvents , surfactants , compositions which ensure a level surface of the layer , lubricants , spacers , antistatic compositions and inert fillers . in a preferred embodiment , the mixture contains no components which are sensitive to radiation having a wavelength of 600 nm or less , so that no special conditions regarding the ambient light ( such as yellow or red safety lighting ) need be fulfilled during processing . starting materials from which the polymer of the formula ( i ) can be prepared are preferably polyvinyl acetals which still contain free hydroxyl groups , especially polyvinyl butyrals , as available under the name ® mowital from clariant ag or under the name ® butvar from monsanto chem . co . these can then be esterified with dicarboxylic anhydrides , such as maleic anhydride , citraconic anhydride , 2 , 3 - dimethylmaleic anhydride , succinic anhydride , methylsuccinic anhydride , glutaric anhydride , 3 - methylglutaric anhydride , camphoric anhydride , phthalic anhydride , hexahydrophthalic anhydride , cyclohexene1 , 2 - dicarboxylic anhydride , naphthalene - 2 , 3 - dicarboxylic anhydride , furan - 2 , 5 - dicarboxylic anhydride , trimellitic anhydride or di - or polycyclic anhydrides formed by diels - alder addition of dienes with maleic anhydride . this gives polymers which also contain carboxyl groups in addition to free hydroxyl groups . polymers comprising the units mentioned in the formula ( i ) are known . they are described in detail in ep - a 152 , 819 ( same patent family as u . s . pat . no . 4 , 631 , 245 ), as are processes for their preparation . the polyvinyl acetals serving as starting material are in turn usually prepared from polyvinyl acetate , which is hydrolyzed under acidic or alkaline conditions and then acetalated with an aldehyde with elimination of water . in addition to containing the units mentioned in the formula ( i ), the polymeric binders used in the mixture according to the invention therefore unavoidably have a residual content of polyvinyl acetate units which generally accounts for up to about 6 mol %, in particular from 1 to 4 mol %, based on all monomer units in the binder . the radiation - sensitive mixture preferably comprises a radiation - sensitive layer over a substrate . the amount of this binder is in general from 30 to 95 , preferably from 45 to 70 % by weight , based on the total weight of the nonvolatile components of the radiation - sensitive layer . the component which is capable of converting ir radiation energy into heat may be a carbon black grade ( for example ® printex 25 from degussa ag ) or an infrared absorber or infrared dye ( for example ® pro - jet 830 np from zeneca ). cyanine dyes , merocycanine dyes , infrared - absorbing indolenine dyes , indocyanine dyes , squarylium dyes , methine dyes , cyan dyes , pyrylium compounds and pentamethinethiopyrylium salts may also be used . carbon blacks and squarylium dyes are generally preferred . in a particularly preferred embodiment , the infrared - absorbing and heat - generating ( colored ) pigment is predispersed in a polymeric binder having the units mentioned in the formula ( i ). the amount of the component which converts ir radiation into heat is in general from 2 to 70 % by weight , preferably from 30 to 55 % by weight , based in each case on the total weight of the nonvolatile components of the radiation - sensitive layer . if required , the negative - working layer may also contain solubility inhibitors . inter alia , acrylate polymers or other substances sparingly soluble or insoluble in aqueous alkaline solutions are suitable for this purpose . if these compounds are used in the radiation - sensitive mixture according to the invention , they are generally present in an amount of from 2 to 30 % by weight , preferably from 4 to 12 % by weight , based in each case on the weight of the nonvolatile components of the layer . in addition , the layer may also contain solubility accelerators . suitable solubility accelerators may simultaneously act as reaction accelerators . solubility accelerators are preferably acids , such as phosphoric acid , trimellitic acid , nitro - benzenecarboxylic acids or p - toluenesulfonic acid , and also trihalomethyl - s - triazines , bistrihalomethyl - 5 - triazines or acid chlorides , such as 1 , 2 - naphtho - quinone - 2 - diazide4 - sulfonyl chloride and others . naphthoquinonediazides are sensitive to uv radiation and visible light . the corresponding recording materials must therefore be processed in yellow safety light . the amount of these optional additives , which are present only if required , is in general from 0 . 5 to 25 % by weight , preferably from 2 to 15 % by weight , based in each case on the total weight of the nonvolatile components of the radiation - sensitive layer . for the production of the recording material according to the invention , the radiation - sensitive mixture is generally applied to a suitable substrate . for this purpose , the mixture is generally dissolved in a solvent , for example butanone , tetrahydrofuran , propylene glycol monomethyl ether or propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate , and applied as a thin layer to the substrate by pouring on , spin - coating or similar methods . the solvent is then removed from the layer , in particular by the use of heat and / or under reduced pressure . preferred substrates in radiation - sensitive recording materials from which offset printing plates are to be produced are metal sheets , bands or foils , in particular of aluminum or of an aluminum alloy , which can in general be pretreated in a conventional manner . in the case of aluminum substrates , such a pretreatment comprises in particular mechanical , chemical or electrochemical roughening , which may be followed by anodic oxidation and further treatments , for example with polyvinylphosphonic acid , alkali metal silicate , phosphate or polyacrylamide . in recording materials for the production of color proofs , a transparent , flexible and dimensionally stable plastics film , in particular a film of polyester or polycarbonate , generally serves as a substrate material . polyester films are preferred , in particular biaxially oriented and heat - set films , for example of polyethylene terephthalate ( pet ). the films are chosen so that they remain dimensionally stable at temperatures up to about 150 ° c . their thickness is in general from 10 to 200 μm , preferably from 20 to 80 μm . the imagewise exposure is preferably effected using ir lasers or ir laser diodes which emit radiation having a wavelength in the range from 700 to 1200 nm , preferably from 750 to 1100 nm . the recording material can be exposed in a flat - bed exposure unit or in an outer - or inner - drum exposure unit . the unexposed parts of the layer are then removed by means of a suitable liquid developer . the developer solutions used are in general aqueous alkaline solutions which have a ph in the range from 8 to 14 , preferably from 9 to 11 , and may contain buffer salts , for example water - soluble alkali metal phosphates , silicates , borates , carbonates , acetates or benzoates . wetting agents and small amounts of water - miscible organic solvents may be present therein as further components . as an alternative to wet development , a developing film can be laminated with the imagewise exposed photo - sensitive layer . the unexposed parts of the layer adhere to the film more strongly than the exposed parts ; during peel - apart , only these parts are therefore removed with said film . the peel - apart method has the advantage that no liquid waste products are obtained . in another aspect of the present invention , there is provided a process for the production of a color proof , comprising the steps of : ( a ) providing an ultraviolet radiation / visible light (“ uv / vis ”) transparent substrate , containing a first photopolymerizable layer colored with primary color dyes or pigments over a first side of the substrate and an adhesion - promoting layer over the first photopolymerizable layer , ( b ) applying a heat - sensitive layer according to the present invention over the second side of the transparent substrate , ( e ) forming an exposure mask by removing unexposed parts of the heat - sensitive layer , ( f ) uniformly exposing the first photopolymerizable layer to uv / vis radiation through the exposure mask and ( g ) peeling off the transparent substrate , the mask and exposed and polymerized portions of the first photopolymerizable layer from the image receiving - sheet and the unexposed portions of the first photopolymerizable layer ; and , if required , ( h ) repeating of the steps ( a ) to ( g ) with a second photopolymerizable layer having a second primary color , the image - receiving sheet already containing an image in a first primary color . the dimensionally stable substrate which is transparent to uv or visible light is preferably a biaxially oriented and heat - set plastics film , in particular a polyester film . the substrate is expediently adhesion pretreated on one side . the photopolymerizable layer arranged on the adhesion pretreated side of the substrate is generally colored in each case in a primary color ( yellow , magenta , cyan or black ). after the removal of the coating solvent ( generally by heating to temperatures of up to about 120 ° c . ), the weight of the photopolymerizable layer is usually from about 0 . 2 to 5 . 0 g / m 2 , preferably from 0 . 3 to 3 . 0 g / m 2 . thereafter , preferably an aqueous solution is applied to the photopolymerizable layer to form an adhesion - promoting layer and dried again . after the drying , the weight of the adhesion - promoting layer is from about 2 to 30 g / m 2 . suitable mixtures for the photopolymerizable layer as well as for the adhesion - promoting layer on top of this layer are known and are described , for example , in ep - a 803 , 773 , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 895 , 787 or u . s . pat . no . 5 , 049 , 476 , incorporated in their entirety by reference . the radiation and heat sensitive mixture according to the present invention is then applied to the back of the substrate , for example with the aid of a doctor blade , and the coating solvent is removed . the multilayer material thus produced is then laminated via the adhesion - promoting layer with an image - receiving material or sheet . thereafter , ir laser radiation is allowed to act imagewise on the laminate from the side of the heat - sensitive layer and development is then carried out . the development can be effected , as described , with a liquid developer or by a peel - apart method with the aid of a development film . the exposed parts of the heat - sensitive layer then remain behind and form an image on the back of the transparent substrate . this image serves as an exposure mask in the subsequent uniform uv / vis exposure . in the parts not covered by the mask , the uv / vis radiation passes through the transparent substrate and initiates polymerization in the photopolymerizable layer colored in the respective color . the transparent substrate together with the mask and the polymerized parts of the photopolymerizable layer are then removed . a colored image remains behind on the image - receiving material . a recording material of said type whose photopolymerizable layer is colored in another primary color can in turn be laminated with this colored image . after digitally controlled ir exposure and development of the heat - sensitive layer , followed by uniform uv / vis exposure and removal of the substrate with the mask and the polymerized parts of the photopolymerizable layer colored in the other primary color , a two - color image is formed on the image - receiving material . the process can be repeated until a complete color proof has been formed from all images in primary colors . the invention is explained in more detail by the following examples without being restricted thereto . unless stated otherwise , all percentage data and ratios are to be understood as units by weight . “ pbw ” means part ( s ) by weight . a : preparation of a polymeric binder “ a ” suitable for the radiation - sensitive mixture 25 pbw of a polyvinyl butyral having a molecular weight m w of from about 170 , 000 to 180 , 000 and containing about 70 % of vinyl butyral , 3 % of vinyl acetate and 27 % of vinyl alcohol units and 4 pbw of maleic anhydride were dissolved in 400 pbw of methyl ethyl ketone while heating . 1 pbw of triethylamine was added to the clear solution and the solution was refluxed for 5 h . after cooling , the solution was filtered and was added dropwise to 6000 pbw of demineralized water . the resulting white , fibrous product was filtered off with suction and dried to a constant weight under reduced pressure at 40 ° c . 20 pbw of the polymer from section a were dissolved in 160 pbw of 1 - methoxy - 2 - propanol (= propylene glycol monomethyl ether ) and introduced into a dispersing vessel of a suitable size . 20 pbw of carbon black (® printex 25 from degussa ag ) were stirred into the solution by means of a toothed disk . thereafter , 180 pbw of glass beads ( diameter about 1 mm ) were added and dispersing was carried out with a grinding disk at about 5000 revolutions per mm for about 7 hours while cooling . the glass beads were then separated from the finished product by filtration . for the production of the recording material according to the one aspect of the invention , a mixture of 15 pbw of carbon black dispersion ( prepared as described in section b ), 57 pbw of 1 - methoxy - 2 - propanol and 28 pbw of methyl ethyl ketone were applied by spin - coating at about 100 revolutions per min , to a roughened , anodized and hydrophilized aluminum sheet . the recording material thus produced was then dried for 1 min at 100 ° c . in a drying oven . the weight of the radiation - sensitive layer was about 1 g / m 2 . the recording material from section c was exposed in a creo trendsetter laser exposure unit with a thermal printing head ( laser diode 830 nm ) with a power of 8 w at 50 revolutions per min , which corresponded to an energy transfer of about 500 mj / cm 2 . the development was then carried out in a cell with a commercial negative developer ® ozasol en 232 ( ph about 9 ), which acted for 10 seconds on the imagewise exposed layer . thereafter , the material was rubbed with a cotton wool pad and rinsed off with water . this produced a negative image . the resistance of the exposed layer to developer was adequate . example 1 was repeated , except that the substrate in this case was coated with a mixture of : 13 . 7 pbw of carbon black dispersion ( as described in example 1 , section b ), the imagewise action of heat once again resulted in a negative image , and the resistance of the exposed layer to developer was better than that of the exposed layer in example 1 . the procedure was as in example 1 , except that the coating solution comprised of : 1 . 50 pbw of carbon black dispersion ( as described in example 1 , section b ), 2 . 64 pbw of polymer a ( as described in example 1 , section a ), the imagewise action of heat produced a negative image . the resistance of the exposed layer to developer was comparable with that of the exposed layer in example 2 . the procedure was as in example 1 , except that a coating solution comprised of : a negative image formed . the resistance to developer corresponded to that of the exposed layer in example 2 . e : preparation of a polymeric binder “ e ” suitable for the radiation - sensitive mixture according to another embodiment of the present invention a polymeric binder (“ e ”) was prepared analogously to example 1 , section a . however , the starting materials used were a polyvinyl butyral having a lower molecular weight ( m w from about 70 , 000 to 80 , 000 ) and trimellitic anhydride instead of maleic anhydride . example 1 was repeated but coating was carried out with the following solution : 6 . 00 pbw of carbon black dispersion b ( from example 1 , section b ), a negative image formed . during the development , no rubbing but only rinsing was necessary after the action time . the resistance of the exposed layer to the developer corresponded to that of the exposed layer in example 2 . use of the mixture according to an embodiment of the present invention in a color proof system the starting photopolymerizable materials corresponded to the color proofs from ep - a 803 , 773 or u . s . pat . no . 4 , 895 , 787 and 5 , 049 , 476 , which represent an analogously operating color proof system . in combination with the radiation - sensitive mixture according to the present invention , a color proof system which can be thermally and digitally imaged is obtained . in each case , one of the following mixtures was applied to a front side of a 50 μm thick , biaxially oriented and heat - set polyester films (® melinex 457 ), adhesion pretreated on one side : the pigments were dispersed with a part of the binder and the γ - butyrolactone . the mean particle size was less than 200 nm . the coated films were dried in a drying tunnel at temperatures up to 110 ° c . to form a photopolymerizable layer . the layer weight was from 0 . 6 to 0 . 8 g / m 2 . the following solution for the adhesion - promoting layer was applied to the dry photopolymerizable layer : the coated films were dried in a drying tunnel at temperatures of 100 ° c . the layer weight was 6 . 5 g / m 2 . coating of the radiation - sensitive mixture according to an embodiment of the present the invention the following coating solution was then applied to the back side of the substrate by means of a doctor blade apparatus and was dried for 1 min at about 100 ° c . in a drying oven ( layer weight thereafter was about 1 . 4 g / m 2 ): 31 . 20 pbw of carbon black dispersion b ( from example 1 , section b ), a ) an image - receiving sheet was laminated to the adhesion - promoting layer over a cyan recording material ( i . e ., a photopolymerizable layer ) on a polyester substrate . b ) the radiation sensitive layer ( i . e ., the heat - sensitive or black masking layer according to an embodiment of the present invention ) formed on the back of the polyester substrate was then exposed in a creo trendsetter laser exposure unit with a thermal printing head ( laser diode 830 nm ) with a power of 8 w at 50 revolutions per min , which corresponds to an energy transfer of about 500 mj / cm 2 . c ) development was then carried out with a commercial negative developer ® ozasol en 232 , which has a ph of about 9 , for about 10 seconds , followed by rubbing with a cotton wool pad and rinsing off with water . a negative image was formed as a mask on the color proof ( i . e ., on the back side of the polyester substrate ). the resistance of the exposed layer to developer was very good . alternatively , in addition to being achieved by the liquid developer , development could also be achieved by applying adhesive films and peeling them off again ( i . e ., by the peel - apart method ). d ) after development of the digitally exposed image ( i . e ., the black mask on the back of the substrate ), floodlight exposure of the cyan photopolymerizable layer to uv light ( 1000 w , about 20 s ) was effected through the resulting black mask , and the polyester substrate was removed together with the mask and the nonimage parts of the cyan photopolymerizable layer . an image in the color cyan , which corresponded to the digitally exposed pattern , was obtained . by repeating steps a ) to d ) with the other process colors ( i . e ., magenta , yellow and black ) with the use of the corresponding digital exposure data and floodlight exposure times , it was possible to obtain a thermally and digitally exposed color proof . while the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms , specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in detail herein . however , it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular forms disclosed . rather , the invention covers all modifications , equivalents , and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims .	8

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