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referring now to the drawing and first to fig1 the embodiment of the invention there shown includes a series of lights in the form of light emitting diodes ( led ) 1 - 16 . these elements may be arranged linearly or curvilinearly in the view of a player to provide a fixed predetermined path . lights 1 - 16 are connected to a voltage source v + through a current limiting resistor 17 connected in common to all the anodes of the led &# 39 ; s . the cathodes are connected to the output lines of a four - to - sixteen bit decorder 20 so that when an output line is active , the associated led conducts and emits light . each of the lights may be associated with a score that is arbitrarily assigned to provide interest to the player . the scores may be progressively higher or lower , random or any combination . as shown , the scores run from zero to eighty and back to ten by tens . the input to decoder 20 is connected to the output of a four bit binary counter 21 having a wrap - around type output . the bit pattern appearing at the output of counter 21 determines which of the lights will be lit at any given time . the operation of counter 21 is controlled by an and ( a ) circuit 22 having two inputs , respectively connected to a variable frequency oscillator 23 and a flip - flop ( ff ) 24 . the oscillator provides a continuous series of pulses to a 22 and the output from ff 24 is used to control whether these pulses will be passed on to the counter . switches 25 and 27 are connected to the set and reset inputs of ff 24 , these switches being also connected between potential source v + and ground through resistors 26 and 28 , respectively . in the preferred form of the game , the potential source is a battery and a power switch ( fig7 ) provides on - off control for the game . at the start , the player would turn the power switch on to activate the circuits shown in fig1 . to play the game , the player closes switch 25 and such action provides a signal that sets ff 24 . when thus set , the output of ff 24 activates a 22 whereupon the output from oscillator 23 causes a 22 to transmit a similar chain of pulses to counter 21 . each successive active pulse thus applied to the input of counter 21 causes the four - bit output thereof to change . consequently , counter 21 causes successive output lines from decoder 20 to illuminate or activate corresponding ones of led 1 - 16 . in the embodiment of fig1 the lights are lit in succession from led 1 to led 16 and then repeated beginning with led 1 . with the game functioning as described above , the player can then attempt to stop the successive lighting on a desired light such as the one associated with the highest score . to do this , the player closes switch 27 to reset ff 24 . in turn , this deactivates a 22 so that the output of counter 21 stops changing . therefore , the light associated with the particular output of counter 21 will remain lit . the player can record his score if so desired and then proceed with further play by closing switch 25 . the effect presented to the player by this embodiment is one of a moving light where the player tries to catch the light or stop the light at a desired position , such as one corresponding with a desired score . with reference to fig2 the embodiment described above can be modified to provide a different effect . a series of latches 30 corresponding in number to the number of output lines from decoder 20 and to led 1 - 16 , are connected therebetween . also , individual current limiting resistors rl1 - rl16 are connected to the lights . the outputs of the latches are one - by - one set to a down level by the decoder outputs . as a result , once a light is turned on , it remains on until the latch outputs are reset to their up level . this is done by using the trailing edge of the lower output from decoder 20 to reset latches 30 , this signal being applied to the reset inputs via line 31 . the effect is to present to the player a lighting streak that grows in length and wherein the object is to stop the growth at a desired length or score . a further variation in the basic game is achieved with the embodiment shown in fig3 wherein elements the same as those previously described have identical reference numerals . in this embodiment , the lighting streak is caused to move back and forth , i . e ., bi - directionally , between the end lights . to accomplish this , a four bit binary counter 32 is provided , the counter being of the type having up / down control instead of the wrap - around type . counter 32 has three inputs , one being connected to oscillator 23 to receive pulses therefrom for stepping the counter . another input is connected to the output of a flip flop ( ff ) 33 to provide up / down control . when the output level is up , due to ff 33 being set , counter 32 counts up and when the level is down due to ff 33 being reset , the counter counts down . the set and reset inputs of ff 33 are connected by lines 34 and 35 to led 1 and led 16 respectively so that when these devices are activated , appropriate signals are applied to operate ff 33 . the third input to counter 32 is connected to the output of ff 24 for the purpose of providing a signal controlled by ff 24 that enables and disables counter 32 . when ff 24 is set upon the closing of switch 25 , counter 32 is enabled allowing it to count under the control of oscillator 23 and ff 33 , and when ff 24 is reset , counter 32 is disabled from further counting whereby the then existing signals on the output thereof control which light is lit . in the operation of the embodiment of fig3 the player closes switch 25 to initiate the lighting streak . the streak travels back and forth until the player closes switch 27 whereupon one light will remain lit which light corresponds to the count stored in counter 32 . such light may then be used as the player &# 39 ; s score . as previously indicated , oscillator 23 is variable and may be adjusted by the player to a speed that matches the player &# 39 ; s skills or desires . the rate may vary from 0 . 001 seconds to one second to provide a range of time or operation suitable for different players . when the frequency of the oscillator is slow , the skill of the operator determines where the lighting streak stops , and the apparatus provides a game of skill . when the frequency of the oscillator is fast or rapid , the point at which the lighting streak can be stopped is no longer controllable by the player , and it becomes a game of chance . the embodiments described thus far can readily be packaged as shown in fig7 and 8 , wherein led &# 39 ; s 1 - 16 are arranged along a line and in a circle on housings 38 and 42 , respectively . switches 25 and 27 are located along one edge of the housing to facilitate operation thereof and a rotary on / off switch 40 is located nearby . switch 40 is connected to control operation of a battery located within the housing and providing the power for operation of the game . switch 40 is also connected to a variable impedance element that controls the rate or frequency at which oscillator 23 operates . in these embodiments , the light streaks along the line from one end to the other in the one embodiment of fig7 and it streaks continously around the circle in the embodiment of fig8 . the above embodiments are playable in a variety of ways with either a single player or more than one player . in some instances , scores or records of the progression of play can be kept manually such as by using pencil and paper . in the embodiments of fig4 - 6 and 9 - 11 , the game includes automatic score keeping facilities . in each of these embodiments , eight led &# 39 ; s 1 - 8 are connected to the output of a three - to - eight decoder 48 that controls the activation of the led &# 39 ; s . the input to decorder 48 is connected to the output of a three bit binary counter 46 that is controlled by oscillator 23 and ff 24 . referring to fig9 the embodiment there shown includes a housing 54 having a column of led &# 39 ; s 1 - 8 arranged along one edge . four additional columns of led &# 39 ; s a - d 1 - 8 are mounted on the housing for the purpose of keeping score . four momentary contact switches 50a - d are mounted at the bottom of the housing . this embodiment is designed for use by up to four players each of whom would use one of switches 50 to stop the lighting streak along the first column and attempt to light all the lights in a scoring column associated with the player . referring now to fig4 switches 50 are connected through an and circuit 56 to the reset input of ff 24 . switch 25 is used as before to initiate the lighting streak by setting ff 24 . when a player then activates his associated switch , ff 24 is reset to stop the streak on the light corresponding to the output of decoder 48 . the scoring lights are connected to rows of latches 57 - 1 through 57 - 8 wherein each row is connected to a corresponding one of led &# 39 ; s 1 - 8 . each row of latches 57 contains four latches connected to respective ones of a row of the scoring lights so that when a latch is set , the corresponding led is lit . switches 50 a - d are also connected respectively to all of the latches in an associated column so that when one of these switches is actuated , an input signal is applied to all of the latches in the associated column . when one of led &# 39 ; s 1 - 8 is lit , the active signal is applied to all of the latches 57 in the connected row whereby the presence of an active signal from such light and a signal due to the closing of one of switches 50 sets the corresponding latch and activates the associated scoring light . a switch 52 is connected to the reset inputs of all of latches 57 allowing the scoring lights to be turned off at the end of a game . in the embodiment of fig1 , led &# 39 ; s 1 - 8 are arranged in a column along one edge and four rows of scoring lights e - h 1 - 8 extend to the right of led &# 39 ; s 2 , 4 , 6 and 8 . in this embodiment , each row of scoring lights is assigned to or associated with a different player . each player is in turn given control of the game and attempts to stop the streak on the light associated with the assigned scoring row , and each time a player succeeds in doing so , the next led in the scoring row is lit . if a player should stop the streak on a light associated with another player &# 39 ; s scoring row , then the other player is benefitted . the preceding mode of operation and play is achieved with the circuit shown in fig5 . switches 25 and 27 are used to initiate and stop the streak in the manner previously described . the output of ff 24 is also connected to one input of each of four or gates 60 - 2 , 60 - 4 , 60 - 6 and 60 - 8 which have their other inputs connected to led &# 39 ; s 2 , 4 , 6 and 8 respectively . the coincidence of ff 24 being reset and one of led &# 39 ; s 2 , 4 , 6 or 8 being lit causes the associated or gate 60 to apply a stepping pulse to a three bit counter 61 connected to a three - to - eight bit decoder 62 . the decoders 62 are each connected to a row of the scoring lights . in operation , when a switch 52 is closed , a clear signal is applied to each of counters 61 to reset the decoders 62 whereby the first scoring lights e1 , f1 , g1 and h1 are lit . closing switch 25 starts the streak and the streak is stopped by closing switch 27 . should the streak stop with one of led &# 39 ; s 2 , 4 , 6 or 8 lit , the counter associated with such light is stepped by one causing the next scoring light to be lit . the winner is the first player associated with the row in which the last scoring light is lit . fig1 shows another way in which the lights of the embodiments of fig5 can be arranged . here , the led &# 39 ; s 1 - 8 are arranged in a circle and the scoring light e - g 1 - 8 are arranged in lines radially aligned with led &# 39 ; s 2 , 4 , 6 and 8 . in the embodiment just described , should one player stop the streak at a light corresponding to another player &# 39 ; s scoring row , the other player gets the score . to prevent this , the game can be arranged as shown in fig6 wherein each player is assigned to operate a different one of switches 66 e - h . four ff 67 e - h have their reset inputs connected to switches 66 e - h respectively so that closing of any switch will reset its associated ff . switch 25 is connected to all of the set inputs of ff 67 . the outputs of ff 67 are connected to the input of an and circuit 68 whose output is connected to oscillator 23 . a reset state at the output of any one of ff 67 results in a down level output from the and circuit 68 which in turn deactivates the oscillator . the outputs of ff 67 e - h are also connected to one input of or circuits 60 - 2 , 60 - 4 , 60 - 6 and 60 - 8 , respectively . switch 25 is closed to start the streak . a player attempts to stop the streak on his assigned light and achieves a score only when such action is successful . if the streak is stopped on another player &# 39 ; s light , the other player does not receive a score . it should be obvious to a person of skill in the art that many changes and omissions can be made in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims .	0
in the drawings , the several components are denoted by the following reference numerals , the suffix letters , where appended , identifying the drawing figures where shown : affinity gradients can be understood in terms of fig1 adapted from fonash and ashok ( s . j . fonash and s . ashok , appl . phys . letters 35 ( 7 ), 535 ( 1979 )). this figure shows the most general band diagram of an isothermal , illuminated semiconducting material in which all characteristic energies , e , are permitted to vary with a single space coordinate , x . e o is the local vacuum level , e c and e v are the conduction and valence band edges , respectively , ( interpreted as mobility edges in an amorphous semiconductor ), and e fn and e fp are the electron and hole quasi - fermi levels , respectively . the electron affinity χ n is defined as e o - e c , and the hole affinity χ p ( also called the ionization energy ) is defined as e o - e v ; i . e ., χ p = χ n + e g , where e g = e c - e v . ignoring the longitudinal dember effect and the spatial dependence of the effective densities of states n c and n v , it can be shown ( s . j . fonash and s . ashok , supra ; s . j . fonash , solar cell device physics ( academic press , new york , 1981 ) pp . 56 - 63 )) that the open - circuit voltage v oc is given generally by ## equ1 ## where δσ n ( x ) and δσ p ( x ) are the excess electron and hole conductivities , respectively , and σ ( x ) is the total conductivity under illumination . by use of the energy relations shown in fig1 eq . ( 1 ) can be put in the alternate form ## equ2 ## where δσ = δσ n + δσ p is the total excess conductivity , f eq =( de o / dx ) eq is the gradient of the vacuum level in the dark , and the minus signs preceding the second and third terms arise from the sign conventions implicit in fig1 . the significance of eq . ( 2 ) is that the affinity gradients dχ n / dx and dχ p / dx due to material property variations provide effective forces which act on carriers in precisely the same manner as the built - in electrostatic field . generally speaking , the back - diffusion problem is most severe for carriers adjacent a contacting layer of opposite type . fig2 a - 2d inclusive , show band diagrams in thermal equilibrium for four possible applications of localized affinity gradient to oppose back - diffusion . in fig2 a , a hole affinity gradient adjacent the n + layer 10a of an n - i - p device is used to suppress the back - diffusion of photogenerated holes . in fig2 b , an electron affinity gradient is used to suppress the back - diffusion of photogenerated electrons . fig2 c and 2d illustrate the corresponding applications in a p - i - n device . in addition to the configurations shown , both electron and hole affinity gradients may be applied to a single device , or to any , or all constituents of a tandem or multi - junction device . moreover , since gradients are confined to the primary light - absorbing layer 12a , 12b , 12c , etc ., the principle can be applied to schottky barrier , mis , and semiconductorelectrolyte configurations as well . the profile and extent of the graded region are both process variables affording the cell designer important new degrees of freedom for the optimization of photovoltaic performance . the graded affinity cell may be compared with the &# 34 ; wide - window &# 34 ;, or heteroface a - si , cell first produced by hamakawa et al . ( y . hamakawa , et al . appl . phys . letters 43 ( 7 ), 644 ( 1983 )) and brought to efficiencies exceeding 10 % by catalano et al . ( a . catalano et al . proc . 16th ieee photovoltaic specialists conf ., ieee , new york , 1982 p . 1421 ). here the p + layer in a p - i - n configuration is composed of an a - sic alloy of substantially greater optical gap than the unalloyed a - si which comprises the remainder . this modification was introduced to minimize photon losses due to gap - narrowing in b - doped a - si , and is so justified in refs . ( hamakawa , wa et al ., catalano et al . supra ). in retrospect , however , it appears that the a - sic / a - si heteroface serves also as a blocking contact for back - diffusion of photogenerated electrons ( f . evangelisti , et al ., appl . phys . letters 44 ( 8 ), 764 ( 1984 )), and this accounts for much of the superiority of &# 34 ; wide - window &# 34 ; cells . hence , the question arises whether an affinity gradient in the i - layer is more effective in minimizing recombination than an abrupt affinity discontinuity at the window - base interface . it is believed that it is , for two reasons : ( a ) recent experiments with quantum well or &# 34 ; superlattice &# 34 ; structures ( t . tiedje , et al ., proc . int . conf . transport and defects in amorphous semiconductors - mar . 1984 , j . non - cryst . solids ( to be published ) suggest that electron wave functions in a - si maintain their coherence over distances of order 30 å . hence back - diffusing carriers can penetrate the potential barriers at the interface for a significant fraction of the thickness of the front contacting layer ; ( b ) in any event , not all recombination takes place within the front contacting layer . majority carrier concentration remains high for a considerable distance within the i - layer . it is estimated that the substantial shift of the majority carrier quasi - fermi level in typical designs under maximum - power conditions is of order ( 1 - 2 )× 10 4 ev / cm , whence the majority carrier concentration requires several hundred å to decay one decade . in other words , it is insufficient on both counts to attempt to arrest backdiffusing carriers precisely at the interface ; rather , they must be prevented from approaching it . in order to prove the efficacy of affinity grading , applicant fabricated the configuration of fig2 a in the amorphous silicon - germanium alloy system . the desired hole affinity gradient was produced by tapering the alloy composition linearly from a - si 80 ge 20 to pure a - si over the front ( radiationward ) 390 å of the i - layer , as shown schematically in fig3 . the n + layer 10 was , of course , pure si as well , to avoid the formation of an interface step . as control group and standard of comparison applicant also fabricated , under identical conditions , a set of conventional ( ungraded ) alloy cells of uniform composition , spanning the range from pure si to si 50 ge 50 in approximately 10 % increments . thus , the graded affinity cell ( gac ) is substantially comparable to the si 80 ge 20 member of the control group . all cells were prepared by rf plasma decomposition of silane - germane mixtures in the presence of excess hydrogen . substrates were corning 7059 glass metallized with 1500 å of electron beam - evaporated mo , and held at 250 ° c . during deposition . the p + layer was approximately 300 å thick and doped with about 4 % diborane in the gas phase . the i - layer was approximately 5000 å thick overall , and not intentionally doped . the n + layer was approximately 70 å thick and doped with about 4 % phosphine in the gas phase . upper contact 21 ( fig3 a ) was made with approximately 600 å of electron beam - evaporated ito ( indium tin oxide ). the parameters of the graded region of the gac were chosen a priori on the following basis : neglecting the dember effect and dn v / dx as before , the hole current density j p can be written ( s . j . fonash et al ., supra ): ## equ3 ## where f = de o / dx is the gradient of the vacuum level under illumination and the remaining symbols have their usual meanings . in order that holes move in the + x direction , the inequality ## equ4 ## must be satisfied . from the computer simulation of ( g . a . swartz , supra ) it is estimated that f ≈ 3 × 10 4 ev / cm and ktd ( 1n ( p ))/ dx ≈ 6 × 10 4 ev / cm in the critical portion 11 of the i - layer 12 immediately adjacent the n + layer 10 , fig3 . this leaves a deficiency of at least 3 × 10 4 ev / cm to be provided by dχ p / dx . unfortunately , the electron and hole affinities of a - sige alloys are not known . hirose , ( m . hirose , proc . int . conf . transport and defects in amorphous semiconductors , mar ., 1984 , j . non - cryst . solids ( to be published ) however , has recently reported the value 3 . 93 ev for the electron affinity of a - si . comparison with the accepted value 4 . 01 ev for crystalline si suggests that electron affinities are relatively insensitive to structural change . it is therefore , assumed that the affinity difference δχ n = χ n ( si )- χ n ( ge ), has the same value as in the crystalline state , namely , - 0 . 15 ev . adding the difference in mobility gaps , δe g = e g ( si )- e g ( ge )≈ 0 . 70 ev , yields δχ p ≈ 0 . 55 ev ; i . e ., about 79 % of the gap widening occurs in the valence band edge and 21 % in the conduction band edge . assuming that χ p is linear in composition , grading from 0 to 20 % ge in the space of 390 å ( refer to fig3 ) produces an effective field of order 3 × 10 4 v / cm in the valence band , marginally sufficient to reverse the hole flux at the n + i interface . the accompanying electron affinity gradient , 16 &# 39 ;, fig3 is , of course , counterproductive , retarding the drift of electrons . ( note in fig1 that dχ n / dx and dχ p / dx have opposite signs .) fortunately the electron concentration gradient appears to be much smaller at this point , so that the electron diffusion current is easily overwhelmed by the remaining drift field . this invention was reduced to practice by fabrication of an n - i - p solar cell , the schematic band diagram for which is shown in fig3 . the cell per se is shown schematically in fig3 a . the individual cell components were made up as follows : ______________________________________substrate , back contact 22 , fig3 a - molybdenum 1500åthick electron beam - evaporated on corning 7059 glass , 1 &# 34 ; × 1 &# 34 ;, approximately 0 . 04 &# 34 ; thick , component 23 , fig3 adeposition process - rf plasma ( glow ) dischargerf voltage : 400 volts peak - to - peak for ion cleaning ofmo surface in argon , 360 volts peak - to - peak for depositionsubstrate bias : - 50 volts dcself - induced plasma voltage : - 148 volts dcrf power density : 0 . 684 watts / sq . cm . ______________________________________gas flow rate (→ controllably changed to ) ______________________________________silane 3 . 8 → 4 . 0 sccm5 % germane : hydrogen 3 . 98 → 0 . 0 sccmhydrogen 8 . 22 → 12 . 0 sccm ( i layer ) 4 . 66 % diborane : 8 . 22 sccm ( p layer ) deposithydrogen4 . 29 % phosphine : 12 . 0 sccm ( n layer ) deposithydrogenhydrogen / hydrides ratio 3 . 0absolute pressure 200 millitorr______________________________________layer thickness______________________________________n layer ( front ) 70åtotal i layer 5015ågraded portion of i 386ålayerp layer ( back ) 292åfront contact , 21 , fig3 a 600åindium tin oxide ( ito )≈ deposition rate , i layer 1 . 286å / secsubstrate temperature 250 ° c . ______________________________________ the solar cell was fabricated , in this example , by tapering the composition of the a - si 80 ge 20 alloy as shown in the percent compostion v . thickness ( instrinsic layer 12 ) plot fig3 b . build - up proceeded as a continuous operation from the bottom layer , substrate 23 , through metallization 22 , p + layer 14 , intrinsic ( i ) layer 12 , n + layer 10 , and , finally , transparent conductive indium - tim oxide ( ito ) layer 21 , the thickness of the central p - i - n layer ( and graded affinity region 11 ) being shown in fig3 . the general sequence of build - up was as follows , all times reported being elapsed time for each step : rf cleaning : 15 minutes in argon at 122 mtorr absolute pressure flowing at 17 sccm , 400 volts peak - to - peak at 13 . 6 mhz , grounded substrate at 260 ° c ., plasma voltage ≈ - 154 volts dc evacuation : 10 minutes at 31 mtorr absolute pressure , substrate at 247 ° c ., dc power - 50 volts gas equilibration : 10 minutes , 200 mtorr absolute pressure , 247 ° c ., 3 . 8 sccm of silane , 8 . 22 sccm of diborane : hydrogen , 3 . 98 sccm of germane : hydrogen , 247 ° c . substrate temperature , 0rf voltage , - 50 volts dc substrate bias p + deposition : 1 minute , 45 seconds , 200 mtorr absolute pressure , 247 ° c ., 3 . 8 sccm of silane , 8 . 22 sccm of diborane : hydrogen , 3 . 98 sccm of germane : hydrogen , 360 volts peak - to - peak rf at 13 . 6 mhz , - 50 volts dc substrate bias evacuation : 15 minutes at 29 mtorr absolute pressure , substrate at 247 ° c . gas purge : 5 minutes , 196 mtorr absolute pressure , 247 ° c ., 3 . 8 sccm of silane , 8 . 22 sccm of hydrogen , 3 . 98 sccm of germane : hydrogen evacuation : 5 minutes at 29 mtorr absolute pressure , substrate at 247 ° c . gas equilibration : 5 minutes , 197 mtorr absolute pressure , 3 . 8 sccm of silane , 8 . 22 sccm of hydrogen , 3 . 98 sccm of germane : hydrogen , 247 ° c . substrate temperature , 0rf voltage , - 50 volts dc substrate bias i layer deposition start : 196 mtorr absolute pressure , 3 . 8 sccm of silane , 8 . 22 sccm of hydrogen , 3 . 98 sccm of germane : hydrogen , 247 ° c . substrate temperature , 360 volts peak - to - peak rf at 13 . 6 mhz , - 50 volts dc substrate bias grading of i layer : takes place over last 5 minutes of 65 minute i layer deposition as described in table i , 247 ° c . substrate temperature , 360 volts peak - to - peak rf at 13 . 6 mhz , - 50 volts dc substrate bias i layer deposition finish : 200 mtorr absolute pressure , 4 . 0 sccm of silane , 12 . 0 sccm of hydrogen , 0 . 0 sccm of germane : hydrogen , 247 ° c . substrate temperature , 360 volts peak - to - peak rf at 13 . 6 mhz , - 50 volts dc substrate bias gas equilibration : 5 minutes , 200 mtorr absolute pressure , 4 . 0 sccm of silane , 12 . 0 sccm of phosphine : hydrogen , 0 . 0 sccm of germane : hydrogen , 246 ° c . substrate temperature 0 rf voltage , - 50 volts dc substrate bias n + deposition : 57 seconds , 200 mtorr absolute pressure , 4 . 0 sccm of silane , 12 . 0 sccm of phosphine : hydrogen , 0 . 0 sccm of germane : hydrogen , 247 ° c . substrate temperature , 360 volts peak - to - peak , rf at 13 . 6 mhz , - 50 volts dc substrate bias the development of the graded affinity region 11 , fig3 is the most critical part of the cell build - up from the standpoint of this invention . in this example , affinity grading was accomplished by tapering the composition of the intrinsic a - si 80 ge 20 layer from 20 % germanium content to substantially zero ( refer to fig3 b ) during a 5 minute duration manipulation of mass flow controllers simultaneously supplying the three gaseous components sih 4 , geh 4 : h 2 , and h 2 . the sequence is tabulated at 15 second intervals in table i in terms of calculated gas flow rates ( sccm ). it will be noted , col . 1 , that the sih 4 supply rate was steadily increased from 3 . 80 to 4 . 00 sccm , whereas the geh 4 : h 2 was steadily decreased to zero while the flow rate of elemental h 2 was progressively increased from 8 . 33 to 12 . 11 sccm . the reason for increasing the h 2 supply is that it is essential to maintain the hydrogen / hydrides ratio ( i . e . hydrogen /( silane + germane )) constant ( in this instance at close to 3 . 0 ), otherwise the atomic structure of the amorphous semiconductor can be affected . the measure resistivity for the n + doped a - si layer 10 , fig3 was 1320 ohm - cm , whereas that of p + doped a - si layer 14 was 21 , 100 ohm - cm . some of the measured resistivity may be due to contact resistance during measurement . ( ideally , the resistivities should be lower than the foregoing , since reported resistivities as low as 53 ohm - cm and 2500 ohm - cm for n and p type films , respectively , can be found in the literature .) the resistivity of p or n doped si - ge alloys is expected to be similar . table i______________________________________gac - time log of last 5 minutes of i layer depositioncalculated gas flow ratestime sih . sub . 4 geh . sub . 4 : h . sub . 2 h . sub . 2______________________________________5 : 05 : 00 3 . 80 3 . 98 8 . 335 : 05 : 15 3 . 81 3 . 78 8 . 525 : 05 : 30 3 . 82 3 . 58 8 . 715 : 05 : 45 3 . 83 3 . 39 8 . 905 : 06 : 00 3 . 84 3 . 19 9 . 065 : 06 : 15 3 . 85 2 . 99 9 . 245 : 06 : 30 3 . 86 2 . 78 9 . 515 : 06 : 45 3 . 87 2 . 58 9 . 695 : 07 : 00 3 . 88 2 . 39 9 . 885 : 07 : 15 3 . 89 2 . 19 10 . 055 : 07 : 30 3 . 90 1 . 99 10 . 235 : 07 : 45 3 . 91 1 . 79 10 . 415 : 08 : 00 3 . 92 1 . 59 10 . 585 : 08 : 15 3 . 93 1 . 40 10 . 765 : 08 : 30 3 . 94 1 . 20 10 . 945 : 08 : 45 3 . 95 1 . 00 11 . 125 : 09 : 00 3 . 96 0 . 79 11 . 395 : 09 : 15 3 . 97 0 . 59 11 . 575 : 09 : 30 3 . 98 0 . 40 11 . 755 : 09 : 45 3 . 99 0 . 20 11 . 935 : 10 : 00 4 . 00 0 . 00 12 . 11______________________________________ the measured photovoltaic parameters of the graded affinity cell and the control group of ungraded cells are shown in fig4 and 6 plotted against percent ge content of the i - layer . measurements were performed under unfiltered radiation from an elh bulb at a flux of 93 . 6 mw / cm 2 . with respect to the comparable alloy cell , the graded affinity cell ( plot points denoted gac ) shows a 12 . 7 % improvement in v oc ( fig5 ), a 5 . 1 % improvement in j sc ( fig4 ), and a 9 . 8 % improvement in fill factor ( not shown graphically ), amounting in all to a 29 . 1 % improvement in efficiency ( fig6 ). the efficiency of the graded cell is , in fact , higher than that of a - si cells made under similar conditions , and , so far as is known , is the highest yet reported for single junction amorphous alloy cells . beyond 40 % ge , the photovoltaic performance parameters drop precipitously . it is of interest to compare the measured increase in v oc with that predicted by eq . ( 2 ). the measured increase is 85 mv , whereas the algebraic sum ( i . e ., the difference ) of the potential difference shown in fig3 is about 80 mv . this agreement is probably fortuitous , because the prefactors in the second and third terms of eq . ( 2 ) cannot simultaneously approach unity . applicant believes , instead , that the principal effect of affinity grading is perhaps to increase the excess carrier concentration in the intrinsic layer 11 and 12 by eliminating the recombination sink in the n + layer 10 . this increased carrier concentration is transported by the combined effect of the built - in field and the hole affinity gradient . hence , both the first and third terms of the integrand contribute to the increase in v oc , with the primary contribution coming from the first term . the graded affinity cell described herein was designed in accordance with the simplest considerations , solely to establish the validity of a general principle . no effort was made to achieve maximum efficiency and no systematic optimization of the design was attempted . it appears that a larger δχ p extending over a longer region would be beneficial . this can be achieved , within the a - sige system , specifically , by increasing the ge content of the i - layer to as much as 40 %, thereby lowering the optical gap to about 1 . 4 ev , close to the optimum for am1 insolation ( j . j . loferski , j . appl . phys . 27 , 777 ( 1956 )). recent photoemission studies in the a - sin system ( m . hirose , supra ) indicate that the majority of the gap change occurs in the valence band ; whereas similar studies in the a - sic system ( f . evangelisti et al ., supra ), indicate a valence band discontinuity near zero . thus , electron and hole affinities can be independently manipulated , and all four configurations depicted in fig2 a through 2d can be obtained . the very wide gaps attainable in these systems raise the possibility of affinity differences approaching 0 . 5 ev . combinations of these systems permit the simultaneous elimination of recombination sinks near both front and rear contacting layers , promising still further increases in photovoltaic efficiency . all the foregoing methods of producing affinity gradients apply to alteration of the gross chemical composition of the graded layer as in the example . the configurational freedom available in amorphous materials also permits the production of affinity gradients in a chemically homogeneous semiconductor by alteration of the manner or conditions of deposition . thus the optical gap of hydrogenated a - si prepared by glow discharge decomposition of silane can be varied over the range 1 . 6 to 1 . 9 ev by varying the incorporated hydrogen content ( h . fritzsche , solar energy materials 3 , 447 ( 1980 )). the hydrogen content in turn is a function of numerous deposition parameters , including substrate temperature , substrate bias , rf power level , silane concentration and flow rate , and residual system pressure ( j . c . knights , jpn . j . appl . phys . 18 , suppl . 18 - 1 , 101 ( 1979 ), h . okamoto , t . hamaguchi , y . nitta , and y . hamakawa , j . non - cryst . solids 35 - 36 , 201 ( 1980 )). still further variations can be produced by introducing halogens such as fluorine during deposition ( a . madan , s . r . ovshinsky , and e . benn , phil . mag . b40 , 259 ( 1979 )), or by the use of alternative deposition processes such as reactive sputtering ( f . r . feffrey , h . r . shanks , and g . c . danielson , j . non - cryst . solids 35 - 36 , 261 ( 1980 )) and chemical vapor deposition ( b . a . scott , in semiconductors and semimetals , vol . 21 , ed . j . pankove ( academic press , new york , 1984 )). it is not completely clear whether the resultant variations in optical gap produce equivalent variations in mobility gap and , if so , how these changes are apportioned between valence and conduction band mobility edges . applicability of this invention is limited to amorphous type semiconductors displaying low carrier mobility , e . g ., less than about 50 cm 2 / vsec . migration of photogenerated carriers is the result of both diffusion and electrostatic field , the former being random in nature and the latter directed and due to the potential distribution within the semiconductor . semiconductors inevitably contain small amounts of h 2 and n 2 due to conditions of manufacture , and the effects of these substances are largely unknown ; however , operation of such devices is probably affected by this fact . this invention is applicable to alloys per se , which must be distinguished from doping . it is helpful to visualize the individual transit of holes and electrons as bubbles and bird shot , respectively . the holes , then , ascend i . e ., ( to the right ) the steep slopes bounding the graded region 11 , fig3 whereas the shot descend , thereby affecting a selective separation of the carriers as hereinbefore described . it will be understood that carriers are created by two principal causes : ( 1 ) thermal energy and ( 2 ) optical energy . in any case , the less the slopes of the equilibrium band diagrams of fig2 a through 2g , and fig3 the smaller is the inherent electric field and the more advantageous the circumstances for the utilization of this invention . by &# 34 ; back - diffusion &# 34 ; is meant carrier diffusion against , or opposite to , the direction of collection due to the electric field present in the same region .	7
fig1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a database system according to one embodiment . as illustrated in the figure , the database system includes a client 10 , servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d , shared information control devices 30 a , 30 b , and a database 40 . furthermore , the client 10 and the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d , are connected by a network 81 . the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d can share information through control devices 30 a , 30 b which are all connected by a first network 82 . the database 40 is connected to the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d and the common information control devices 30 a , 30 b by a second network 83 . in one embodiment , the client 10 is a computer that connects to one of the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d , and issues a structured query language ( sql ) statement that operates a database 40 to the connected server . furthermore , the client 10 has a function that determines a connection destination from among the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d based on load information received therefrom so that load balancing is achieved . the client 10 has also a function that determines the connection destination when a fault occurs in any one of these servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d , based on the load information . alternatively , the client 10 determines the connection destination from among the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d , based on an explicit indication . herein , the client 10 may be a desktop pc ( personal computer ), notebook pc , tablet pc , pda ( personal digital assistant ), smart phone , cellular phone , or the like . the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d share a database 40 , and each of the servers is a computer with a function that accesses the database 40 using an sql statement issued by the client 10 . the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d are configured so as to provide uniform access to the database 40 . note that , in the diagram , the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d are separately shown , but when individual distinguishing is not necessary , the servers are collectively referred to as server 20 . furthermore , in the diagram , four servers 20 are illustrated , but two , three , or five or more servers 20 may be provided . the shared information control devices 30 a , 30 b are devices that control information shared among the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d . herein , the shared information refers to , for example , information related to data locks in the database 40 ( hereinafter referred to as “ lock information ”), usage status of transaction identification information that is unique in the database system ( hereinafter referred to as “ transaction id ”), and the like . note that the shared information control devices 30 a , 30 b are synchronously duplicated in which the shared information control device 30 a functions as a primary shared information control device , and the shared information control device 30 b functions as a secondary shared information control device when a fault occurs in the shared information control device 30 a . however , in the description below , it is assumed that no fault occurs in the shared information control device 30 a and only the device 30 a is used as a shared information control device . the database 40 is shared by the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d , and stores data to be processed when the client 10 issues an sql statement . the network 81 is communication means used for information communication between the client 10 and the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d , which may be the internet . the network 82 is communication means for high - speed data communication between the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d and the shared information control devices 30 a , 30 b . herein , an example of the network 82 is an infiniband ® that utilizes an rdma ( remote direct memory access ) function to directly access the memory of the servers 20 and the shared information control devices 30 . the network 83 is communicating means that is used for information communication between the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d , the shared information control devices 30 a , 30 b , and the database 40 , which may be a san ( storage area network ). first , a general operation of this type of database system is described . note that a unit of reading data stored in the database 40 into a cache is referred to as “ page ”. fig2 is an illustration of an embodiment depicting general operation of an embodiment in an example where the operation involves referencing a page . however , in fig2 , only the servers 20 a , 20 b of the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d of fig1 are shown , and the client 10 is omitted . this is done for clarity and improving understanding . furthermore , an internal storage region is shown for the shared information control device 30 a . a latest data region 31 a is a cache region for storing the latest data shared by the servers 20 a , 20 b , which is an example of a storage region shared by the plurality of servers . a lock information region 32 a is a storage region that stores the lock information shared by the servers 20 a , 20 b , and a shared communication region 33 a is a storage region that stores meta - information shared by the servers 20 a , 20 b . fig2 illustrates an example of the case where page a is referenced using the server 20 a and the server 20 b . herein , it is assumed that page a is not held by any of the server 20 a , server 20 b , and shared information control device 30 a . first , an sql statement is issued to the server 20 a , and a record that satisfies the condition emp = y is requested ( 1 - 1 ). this requires that page a containing the satisfied record should be acquired . since the server 20 a does not hold page a , it issues a read and registration request to the latest data region 31 a of the shared information control device 30 a ( 1 - 2 ). then , the shared information control device 30 a registers that the server 20 a holds page a in a directory ( not shown ) in the latest data region 31 a . in this case , page a is not cached in the latest data region 31 a , so the server 20 a acquires page a from the database 40 ( 1 - 3 ). subsequently , the same sql statement is issued to the server 20 b ( 1 - 4 ) to acquire page a . since the server 20 b also does not hold page a , it issues a read and registration request to the latest data region 31 a of the shared information control device 30 a ( 1 - 5 ). then , the shared information control device 30 a registers that the server 20 b holds page a in a directory ( not shown ) in the latest data region 31 a . in this case , page a is not cached in the latest data region 31 a , so the server 20 b acquires page a from the database 40 ( 1 - 6 ). note that thereafter if the server 20 b references page a again , the server 20 b can reference page a that is held in the cache ( 1 - 7 ). fig3 is an example illustrating general operation in an embodiment where a page is being updated . in fig3 , only the servers 20 a , 20 b of the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d of fig1 are shown , and the client 10 is omitted . furthermore , similar to fig2 , the internal storage region is shown for the shared information control device 30 a . in fig3 , the operation begins from the state where the operation of fig2 was completed . in other words , at the start of the operation , the latest data region 31 a does not hold page a , and the servers 20 a , 20 b hold page a in their caches . as shown , an sql statement is issued to the server 20 a , and the server 20 a executes an updating process ( 2 - 1 ). thereby , page a is updated , and becomes page a ′. next , a commitment is issued to the server 20 a , and updating of page a is confirmed ( 2 - 2 ). the server 20 a issues a write registration request to the latest data region 31 a of the shared information control device 30 a ( 2 - 3 ). then , the shared information control device 30 a writes page a ′ to the latest data region 31 a . thereby , the shared information control device 30 a invalidates ( cross invalidation ) the page a held by the server 20 b ( 2 - 4 ). furthermore , at this time , the shared information control device 30 a deletes the registration of the server 20 b from the directory ( not shown ) in the latest data region 31 a . furthermore , the shared information control device 30 a returns a write registration request response to the server 20 a ( 2 - 5 ). thereby , the server 20 a returns to the client 10 ( not shown ) a response indicating that committing is completed ( 2 - 6 ). subsequently , if the server 20 b needs page a again , the server 20 b issues a new read registration request to the latest data region 31 a of the shared information control device 30 a ( 2 - 7 ). then , the shared information control device 30 a writes page a ′ to the server 20 b . furthermore , at the same time , the fact that the server 20 b holds page a is registered in the directory ( not shown ) in the latest data region 31 a . in the updating operation of fig3 , if a fault occurs in the server 20 a before committing is completed , the updating of page a is rolled back . therefore , even if the same update is performed by the server 20 b , there is a possibility that page a will have already been updated by another server 20 . therefore , with the present embodiment , even if one server 20 in the database system goes down , the lock information for the data of transactions being executed will continue to be held , and the same sql statement will again be issued from the client 10 by the same transaction scope as the transaction that was being executed , using another server 20 . in one embodiment , the operation discussed can be performed in the following manner . first , the client 10 logs the issued sql statement . the client is enabled to identify each transaction by a transaction id or the like . in this situation , even if a server 20 in the database system goes down , the lock information for the transaction being executed by the server 20 will be held , and can be shared by all of the servers 20 . since the client 10 has received notice indicating that a fault had occurred in a server 20 ( or has been detected in the server 20 ), a reexecute operation is performed using the sql statement with the same transaction id using another server 20 . subsequently , the server 20 that has received the sql statement processes the sql statement with the designated transaction id . in the embodiment of fig4 a database system that performs the above mentioned steps is described in more detail . in this embodiment , the software configuration of the database system of fig1 can be described using the illustration of fig4 . fig4 provides for a software configuration depiction for the client 10 in processing communication with servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d as previously discussed in fig1 . as illustrated in fig4 , the client 10 contains a client application 51 and a database client 52 . furthermore , the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d contain a database server 53 a and fault detecting software 54 a , a database server 53 b and fault detecting software 54 b , a database server 53 c and fault detecting software 54 c , and a database server 53 d and fault detecting software 54 d , respectively . the database servers 53 a , 53 b , 53 c , 53 d and provided with fault detecting software 54 a , 54 b , 54 c , 54 d as shown . however , when there is no need to individually identify these software , the software is depicted collectively and referred to as database server 53 and fault detecting software 54 , respectively . the client application 51 issues an sql statement . in this example an sql statement 61 is issued . the database client 52 acquires a transaction id , and executes the sql statement in response to a request from the client application 51 . furthermore , the database client 52 detects faults in the servers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d . in fig4 , when the sql statement 621 is executed for the server 20 a , it is determined that a fault has occurred in the server 20 a . therefore , the database client 52 connects to another normally operating server 20 b , and executes the same sql statement using the same transaction id . later , the unexecuted sql in the sql statement 61 is executed . in other words , the database client 52 executes an sql statement 622 for the server 20 b . the database server 53 returns a transaction id to the database client 52 when the transaction starts . specifically , a next transaction id is returned when connecting to the database 40 ( refer to fig1 ), or when committing a transaction . furthermore , the data lock information is shared among all of the database servers 53 , and the lock is not released even if a fault occurs . furthermore , when a transaction id is designated and a sql statement is received from the database client 52 , the lock information corresponding to the transaction id is taken over . the database server 53 performs at least the following processes before executing the sql statement . namely , if the execution result of the issued sql statement becomes different because of inconsistent data due to the fault , the database server 53 returns the data to the one at the start of the transaction during which the fault occurred , by an existing recovery process , so that the data consistency is maintained . however , these processes are the minimum required processes , and a recovery process for all of the data that have become inconsistent due to the fault may be performed prior to reissuing all of the sql statements . the fault detecting software 54 detects process faults in the database server 53 in the server 20 where the software 54 runs , and hardware faults in the servers 20 other than the server 20 where the software 54 runs . specifically , the fault detecting software 54 detects the former faults by detecting that there is no processing by the database server 53 in the server 20 where the fault detecting software 54 runs . furthermore , the fault detecting software 54 detects the latter faults by detecting that a heartbeat from other fault detecting software 54 in the servers 20 other than the server 20 where the fault detecting software 54 runs has stopped . furthermore , when the fault detecting software 54 detects a fault , it notifies that fact to the other servers 20 and the shared information control device 30 , and automatically performs a recovery process . subsequently , the hardware configuration of the client 10 and the server 20 are described . note that the client 10 and the server 20 have the same hardware configuration , so the description will be for the hardware configuration of a computer 90 . fig5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of this type of computer . as illustrated in fig5 , the computer 90 is provided with a cpu ( central processing unit ) 90 a that is an operating means , main memory 90 c that is connected to the cpu 90 a through a m / b ( motherboard ) chipset 90 b , and a display mechanism 90 d that is also connected to the cpu 90 a through the m / b chipset 90 b . furthermore , the m / b chipset 90 b is connected through a bridge circuit 90 e to a network interface 90 f , a magnetic disk device ( hdd ) 90 g , an audio mechanism 90 h , keyboard / mouse 90 i , and a flexible disk drive 90 j . in fig5 , each of the component elements are connected through a bus . for example , the cpu 90 a and the m / b chipset 90 b , as well as the m / b chipset 90 b and the main memory 90 c are connected through a cpu bus . furthermore , the m / b chipset 90 b and the display mechanism 90 d can be connected through an agp ( accelerated graphics port ), but if the display mechanism 90 d includes a pci express compatible video card , the m / b chipset 90 b and the video card can be connected through a pci express ( pcie ) bus . furthermore , when connecting to the bridge circuit 90 e , the pci express can be used for the network interface 90 f for example . furthermore , serial ata ( at attachment ), parallel transfer ata , or pci ( peripheral component interconnect ) can be used for example for the magnetic disk device 90 g . furthermore , the keyboard / mouse 90 i and the flexible disk drive 90 j can use usb ( universal serial bus ). in fig6 , an embodiment is provided where the functions and operations of the client 10 and server 20 are described in conjunction with an alternate embodiment . in this example , the term “ sql statement ” does not include commit statements and rollback statements ( hereinafter referred to as “ commit statements and the like ”). fig6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the client 10 and the server 20 where the functions of the client 10 other than the client application 51 are depicted as being provided by the database client 52 , and the functions of the server 20 are depicted as being provided by the database server 53 . in this embodiment , the client 10 provides a receiving and transmitting part 11 , a connection processing part 12 , a transaction id storing part 13 , an sql processing part 14 , a transaction log storing part 15 , a fault notification receiving part 16 , a commit rollback processing part 18 , and a transmitting and receiving part 19 . the receiving and transmitting component or part 11 receives database connection requests such as the sql statements , commit statements and the like from the client application 51 . it then returns the results after processing is completed . the receiving and transmitting component 11 provides the same interface as the existing technology . the existing client application 51 can be used without modifying this technology . with the existing technology , a plurality of database connections are assigned identifiers known as connection handles when connecting to the database in order to allow the client application 51 to identify the plurality of database connections . the connection processing component or part 12 instructs the transmitting and receiving part 19 to transmit a database connection request to the database server 53 of the server 20 when the receiving and transmitting part 11 receives the database connection request from the client application 51 . furthermore , the connection processing part 12 stores a connection handle included in a response to the database connection request , the next transaction id , and an identifier of the database server 53 ( such as an ip address ) in the transaction id storing part 13 if a return value showing that the request was properly processed is included in the response when the transmitting and receiving part 19 receives the response from the database server 53 . furthermore , the connection processing component 12 instructs the receiving and transmitting component 11 to transmit a response indicating that the database connection request was properly processed to the client application 51 . with the present embodiment , the connection processing part 12 is provided as an example of a recognizing component / part that recognizes the transaction . furthermore , if a fault or failure occurs in the server 20 during connection processing , the connection processing component 12 instructs the transmitting and receiving component / part 19 to transmit the database connection request to the database server 53 of another server 20 . in this example , the connection processing component / part 12 stores the connection handle and the identifier of the database server 53 in the transaction id storing component / part 13 if a return value indicating that the request was properly processed is included in a response to the database connection request when the transmitting and receiving component / part 19 receives the response from the database server 53 . then , the connection processing component 12 instructs the receiving and transmitting component 11 to transmit a response indicating that the database connection request was properly processed to the client application 51 . furthermore , the connection processing component 12 requests the fault notification receiving component 16 to connect to another server 20 and successively transmit sql statements for all transaction ids that are processed in the database server 53 of the server 20 where the fault occurred , and have processing requesting flags not indicating requests in progress . the transaction id storing component 13 stores transaction ids outputted by the connection processing component 12 . the commit and rollback processing component / part 18 handles connections including setting up a connection and subsequent providing of handles such as used by the client application 51 . it can also provide actual handle used by the database server 53 after a fault occurs as well as provide identifier for the database server 53 . it also provides for the processing requests , requesting flags that indicate whether or not the respective transaction ids are requesting processing to the database server 53 . the transaction id storing component 13 may hold other information required for the connection as well . when the receiving and transmitting component 11 receives a connection handle and an sql statement from the client application 51 , the sql processing component / part 14 stores correspondence with the transaction id . this is stored , in one embodiment , in the transaction id storing component 13 . the sql statement is stored in the transaction log storing component / part 15 . the issuance orders of the sql statements for the same transaction id are also stored . furthermore , the sql processing component 14 instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit the processing request for the sql statement to the database server 53 . furthermore , when the transmitting and receiving component 19 receives a response to the sql statement processing request from the database server 53 , the sql processing component 14 instructs the receiving and transmitting component 11 to transmit a response indicating that the sql statement processing request was properly processed to the client application 51 if a return value indicating that the request was properly processed is included in the response from the database server 53 . with the present embodiment , the sql processing component 14 is provided as an example of the processing requesting part that requests processing by an sql statement and the process controlling component that controls processing of the data . in instances where a failure ( or fault ) occurs in the server 20 during processing , the sql processing component 14 instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit to the database server 53 of another server 20 a processing request for the first sql statement corresponding to the same transaction id that was stored in the transaction log storing component 15 . furthermore , in this case , if a return value indicating that the request was properly processed is included in a response to the processing request for the sql statement when the transmitting and receiving component 19 receives the response from the database server 53 ( and there is an un - transmitted sql statement in the transaction log storing component 15 ) the sql processing component 14 instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit a processing request for the next sql statement to the database server 53 . subsequently , if a return value indicating that the request was properly processed is included in the response but there are no un - transmitted sql statements in the transaction log storing component 15 , the sql processing part 14 instructs the receiving and transmitting component 11 transmits a response indicating that the processing request for the sql statement was properly processed to the client application 51 . after a failure / fault occurs , connections and transactions will occur with another database server 53 , but the connection handle that is used for transactions with the client application 51 will be the same as before the fault occurred . therefore , the information for both the connection handle used by the client application 51 and the actual handle being used by the database server 53 are stored in the transaction id storing component 13 if necessary . in this embodiment , the sql reprocessing component / part 14 is provided as an example of the reprocessing requesting part that requests reprocessing by the sql statement and the reprocessing controlling component that controls the reprocessing of the data . furthermore , the sql processing component 14 requests the fault notification receiving component 16 to connect to another server 20 and successively transmit sql statements for all transaction ids that are processed in the database server 53 of the server 20 where the fault occurred , and have processing requesting flags not indicating requests in progress . the transaction log storing component / part 15 stores correspondence between the transaction id sent by the sql processing component 14 and the response to the sql statement . the transaction log storing component 15 may hold other information required when issuing the sql statement . with the present embodiment , the transaction log storing part 15 is provided as an example of a storing component / part that stores the sql statement . the fault notification receiving component / part 16 receives notification of a fault when a fault in the database server 53 is detected by the fault detecting software 54 or the like . furthermore , the fault notification receiving component 16 receives a notification of a fault in the database server 53 from the connection processing component 12 , the sql processing component 14 , and the commit and rollback processing component 18 . subsequently , the fault notification receiving component 16 performs the following processing for all transaction ids where a processing requesting flag does not indicate a request in progress . the fault notification receiving component 16 first connects to another server 20 and registers its actual handle to the actual handle of the corresponding transaction id in the transaction id storing component 13 . subsequently , the fault notification receiving component 16 instructs the transmitting and receiving component / part 19 to transmit a processing request for a first sql statement corresponding to that transaction id to the database server 53 of another server 20 . furthermore , in this case , if a return value indicating that the request was properly processed is included in a response to the processing request for the sql statement when the transmitting and receiving component 19 receives the response from the database server 53 ( and there is an un - transmitted sql statement in the transaction log storing component 15 ) the fault notification receiving component 16 instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit a processing request for the next sql statement to the database server 53 . in turn , if a return value indicating that the request was properly processed is included in the response but there are no un - transmitted sql statements in the transaction log storing component 15 , the processing related to the transaction id is terminated . the commit and rollback processing component 18 instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit a commit statement to the database server 53 of the server 20 when the receiving and transmitting component 11 receives a commit statement processing request from the client application 51 . furthermore , if a return value indicating that the request was properly processed is included in a response to the commit statement processing request when the transmitting and receiving component 19 receives the response from the database server 53 , the commit and rollback processing part 18 deletes all of the information relating to the current transaction id from the transaction log storing component 15 and the transaction id storing component 13 , and stores the next transaction id included in the response in the transaction id storing component 13 . furthermore , the commit and rollback processing component 18 instructs the receiving and transmitting component 11 to transmit a response indicating that the commit statement processing request was properly processed to the client application 51 . in this embodiment , the commit and rollback processing component 18 is provided as an example of the processing requesting component that requests processing by an sql statement and the processing controlling component that controls the processing of the data . furthermore , if a fault occurs in the server 20 during processing , the commit and rollback processing component 18 instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit to the database server 53 of another server 20 a processing request for the first sql statement corresponding to the same transaction id stored in the transaction log storing part 15 . furthermore , in this case , if a return value indicating that the request was properly processed is included in a response to the processing request for the sql statement when the transmitting and receiving component 19 receives the response from the database server 53 , and there is an un - transmitted sql statement in the transaction log storing part 15 , the commit and rollback processing component 18 instructs the transmitting and receiving part 19 to transmit a processing request for the next sql statement to the database server 53 , and if a return value indicating that the request was properly processed is included in the response but there are no un - transmitted sql statements in the transaction log storing component 15 , the commit and rollback processing component 18 instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit a processing request for a commit statement to the database server 53 . furthermore , if a return value indicating that the request was properly processed is included in the response , the commit and rollback processing component 18 deletes all of the information relating to the current transaction id from the transaction log storing component 15 and the transaction id storing component 13 , and stores the next transaction id included in the response in the transaction id storing component 13 . then , the commit and rollback processing component 18 instructs the receiving and transmitting component 11 to transmit a response indicating that the commit statement processing request was properly processed to the client application 51 . with the present embodiment , the commit and rollback processing component 18 is provided as an example of the processing requesting component that requests processing by an sql statement and the processing controlling component that controls the processing of the data . furthermore , the commit and rollback processing component 18 requests the fault notification receiving component 16 to connect to another server 20 and successively transmit sql statements for all transaction ids that are processed in the database server 53 of the server 20 where the fault occurred , and have processing flags that do not indicate the requests in progress . furthermore , the commit and rollback processing component / part 18 instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit a rollback statement to the database server 53 of the server 20 when the receiving and transmitting component 11 receives a rollback statement processing request from the client application 51 . furthermore , if a return value indicating that the request was properly processed is included in a response to the rollback statement processing request when the transmitting and receiving component 19 receives the from the database server 53 , the commit and rollback processing component 18 deletes all of the information relating to the current transaction id from the transaction log storing component 15 and the transaction id storing component 13 , and stores the next transaction id included in the response in the transaction id storing component 13 . then , the commit and rollback processing component 18 instructs the receiving and transmitting component 11 to transmit a response indicating that the rollback statement processing request was properly processed to the client application 51 . when a failure or fault occurs in the server 20 during rollback processing , the commit and rollback processing component 18 instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit the rollback statement processing request to the database server 53 of another server 20 . furthermore , in this case , if a return value indicating that the request was properly processed is included in a response to the rollback statement processing request when the transmitting and receiving component 19 receives the response from the database server 53 , the commit and rollback processing component 18 deletes all of the information relating to the current transaction id from the transaction log storing component 15 and the transaction id storing component 13 , and stores the next transaction id included in the response in the transaction id storing component 13 . then , the commit and rollback processing component 18 instructs the receiving and transmitting component 11 to transmit a response indicating that the rollback statement processing request was properly processed to the client application 51 . in one embodiment , the commit and rollback processing component 18 is provided as an example of the recognizing component that recognizes a transaction . the transmitting and receiving component 19 transmits a database connection request , a processing request for an sql statement , and a processing request for a commit statement or the like to the database server 53 of the server 20 , and receives a result when processing is completed . the result includes a return value indicating whether or not the request was properly processed , and may include a next transaction id as an argument . in one embodiment , the functional components described above are implemented by the cooperation of hardware and software resources . specifically , in the client 10 , the cpu 90 a implements these functional components , for example the receiving and transmitting component 11 of the database client 52 , connection processing component 12 , sql processing component 14 , fault notification and receiving component 16 , commit and rollback processing component 18 , and transmitting and receiving component 19 by reading corresponding programs from a magnetic disk device 90 g to the main memory 90 c and executing them . the transaction id storing component 13 and the transaction log storing component 15 are implemented by the magnetic disk device 90 g , for example . in on embodiment , the server 20 is provided with the receiving and transmitting component 11 , the connection processing component 12 , the transaction id acquiring component 23 , the sql processing component 24 , the lock information processing component 26 , the updated data information storing component / part 27 , the commit and rollback processing component 18 , and the shared information transmitting and receiving component / part 29 . the receiving and transmitting component 21 receives a database connection request , a processing request for an sql statement , and a processing request for a commit statement or the like from the database client 52 , and returns a result when processing is completed . the connection processing component / part 22 performs connection processing for the database 40 ( refer to fig1 ) when the receiving and transmitting component 21 receives a connection request from the database client 52 . furthermore , the connection processing component 22 makes the transaction id acquiring component / part 23 acquire a unused transaction id from the shared information control device 30 a , and instructs the receiving and transmitting component / part 21 to transmit the transaction id to the database client 52 . the transaction id acquiring component 23 instructs the shared information transmitting and receiving component 29 to transmit a transaction id acquisition request to the shared information control device 30 a in response to a request from the connection processing component 22 or the commit and rollback processing component 28 , and returns the transaction id to the requesting source when the shared information transmitting and receiving component 29 receives the transaction id from the shared information control device 30 a . the sql processing component 24 causes the lock information processing component / part 26 to output a hold request for lock information that associates a transaction id with data to be locked , and stores in the updated data information storing component / part 27 updated data information that associates content updated by an sql statement with information indicating whether the update was confirmed , when the receiving and transmitting component 21 receives a processing request for the sql statement from the database client 52 . then , the sql processing component 24 instructs the receiving and transmitting component 21 to transmit a response to the processing request for the sql statement to the database client 52 . with the present embodiment , the sql processing component / part 24 is provided as an example of the processing component that processes data and the reprocessing component that reprocesses the data . the lock information processing component 26 instructs the shared information transmitting and receiving component 29 to transmit to the shared information control device 30 a a hold request for the lock information that associates a transaction id with data to be locked , in response to a request from the sql processing component 24 , and when the shared information transmitting and receiving component 29 and when the shared information transmitting and receiving component 29 receives a notification from the shared information control device 30 a that it holds the lock information , the lock information processing component 26 notifies it to the sql processing component 24 . furthermore , the lock information processing component 26 instructs the shared information transmitting and receiving component 29 to transmit to the shared information control device 30 a a delete request for the lock information corresponding to the transaction id , in response to a request from the commit and rollback processing component 28 , and when the shared information transmitting and receiving component 92 receives a notification from the shared information control device 30 a that it deleted the lock information , the lock information processing component 26 notifies it to the commit and rollback processing component 24 . the updated data information storing component 27 stores the updated data information that associates content updated by the sql statement transmitted by the sql processing component 24 with information indicating whether the update was confirmed . with the present embodiment , the updated information is used as an example of updated information indicating content of data updated by the sql statement . the commit and rollback processing component 28 outputs a request to delete the lock information corresponding to the transaction id included in the processing request for the commit statement when the receiving and transmitting component 21 receives the processing request for the commit statement from the database client 52 , and confirms the updated data information corresponding to the commit statement . furthermore , the commit and rollback processing component 28 cancels all of the data updates in the transaction and outputs a request to delete the lock information corresponding to the transaction id included in the processing request for the rollback statement , when the receiving and transmitting component 21 receives the processing request for the rollback statement from the database client 52 . the shared information transmitting and receiving component 29 transmit requests from the transaction id acquiring component 23 and the lock information processing component 26 to the shared information control device 30 a , and receives results . in one embodiment , these functional components are implemented by the cooperation of hardware and software resources . specifically , in the server 20 , the cpu 90 a implements these functional components , for example the receiving and transmitting component 21 of the database server 53 , the connection processing component 22 , the transaction id acquiring component 23 , the sql processing component 24 , the lock information processing component 26 , the commit and rollback processing component 28 , and the shared information transmitting and receiving component 29 by reading corresponding programs from the magnetic disk device 90 g to the main memory 90 c , and executing them . the updated data information storing component 27 is implemented , for example , by the magnetic disk device 90 g . fig7 depicts a sequence diagram example and a process flow between a client application 51 , database client 52 , and database server 53 a . herein , the case where a fault does not occur in the server 20 a is described . in this case , the client application 51 transmits a database connection request to the database client 52 ( step 101 ). subsequently , the database client 52 transmits the database connection request to the database server 52 ( step 201 ). specifically , the receiving and transmitting component 11 receives the database connection request from the client application 51 , the connection processing component 12 instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit the database connection request , and the transmitting and receiving component 19 transmits the database connection request to the database server 53 a . the database server 53 a transmits to the database client 52 a response “ connection ok ” including a transaction id “ 10 ” ( step 202 ). specifically , the receiving and transmitting component 21 receives the database connection request , and the connection processing component 22 acquires the transaction id “ 10 ” from the transaction id acquiring component 23 while processing the connection to the database 40 , and instructs the receiving and transmitting component 21 to transmit a response that includes the transaction id “ 10 ” and “ connection ok ” indicating that the database connection request was properly processed , and the receiving and transmitting component 21 transmits the response to the database client 52 . subsequently , the database client 52 transmits the “ ok ” response together with a connection handle obtained by the existing technology to the client application 51 ( step 102 ). at this time , the database client 52 holds the transaction id “ 10 ”, the connection handle and other information , as shown in the transaction id information 131 . specifically , the transmitting and receiving component 19 receives the response to the database connection request from the database server 53 a , the connection processing component 12 stores the transaction id “ 10 ”, the connection handle , the actual handle ( same as the connection handle ), the identifier of the database server 53 a , and the initial value of the processing requesting flag (“ 0 ” indicating that there are no requests in progress ), which are included in the response , to the transaction id storing component 13 , and instructs the receiving and transmitting component 11 to transmit a response of “ ok ” indicating that the request was properly processed , and the receiving and transmitting component 11 transmits the response to the client application 51 . next , it is assumed that the client application 51 transmits the sql statement “ insert into t1 values ( 100 , 200 )” to the database client 52 ( step 103 ). then , the database client 52 holds the sql statement in the row of the transaction id “ 10 ” and the issuance order “ 1 ”, as shown in the transaction log 151 . thereafter , the database client 52 transmits the processing request “ insert into t1 values ( 100 , 200 )” to the database server 53 a ( step 203 ). specifically , the receiving and transmitting component 11 receives the sql statement from the client application 51 , the sql processing component 14 sets the processing requesting flag of that transaction id in the transaction id storing component 13 to “ 1 ” indicating a request in progress , stores in the transaction log storing component 15 the transaction id stored in the transaction id storing component 13 in association with the received sql statement , and instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit a processing request for the sql statement , and the transmitting and receiving component 19 transmits the processing request for the sql statement to the database server 53 a . in this embodiment , the database server 53 a causes the shared information control device 30 a ( refer to fig1 ) to maintain the lock information 261 , while the database server itself maintains the updated data information 271 . in the lock information and the updated data information , table id “ 1 ” indicates table “ t1 ” of the sql statement , and row id “ 123 ” indicates a row where “ values ( 100 , 200 )” in the sql statement is inserted . “ x ” in the “ lock ” column of the lock information indicates that an exclusive lock has been applied , and “ d ” in the “ dirty ” column of the updated data information indicates that the corresponding update is not committed . the database server 53 transmits the response “ ok ” to the database client 52 ( step 204 ). specifically , the receiving and transmitting component 21 receives the sql statement processing request , the sql processing component 24 outputs to the shared information control device 30 a a request to maintain the lock information 261 by the lock information processing component 26 , stores the updated data information 271 in the updated data information storing component 27 , and instructs the receiving and transmitting component 21 to transmit the response “ ok ” indicating that the request was properly processed , and the receiving and transmitting component 21 transmits the response to the database client 52 . subsequently , the database client 52 transmits an “ ok ” response to the client application 51 ( step 104 ). specifically , the transmitting and receiving component 19 receives a response to the sql statement processing request , the sql processing component 14 instructs the receiving and transmitting component 11 to transmit an “ ok ” response indicating that the request was properly processed , the receiving and transmitting component 11 transmits the response to the client application 51 , and the sql processing component 14 sets the processing requesting flag of the transaction id in the transaction id storing component 13 to “ 0 ”. the client application 51 transmits the commit statement to the database client 52 ( step 105 ). then , the database client 52 transmits the commit statement processing request to the database server 52 ( step 205 ). specifically , the receiving and transmitting component 11 receives the commit statement from the client application 51 , the commit and rollback processing component 18 instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit a processing request for the commit statement , and sets the processing requesting flag of the transaction id in the transaction id storing component 13 a to “ 1 ”, and the transmitting and receiving component 19 transmits the processing request for the commit statement to the database server 53 a . in this embodiment , the database server 53 a itself confirms the updated data information 272 . furthermore , the shared information control device 30 a ( refer to fig1 ) releases the lock information 261 of the transaction , leading to the status of the lock information 262 . then , the response of “ ok ” including the next transaction id “ 11 ” is transmitted to the database client 52 ( step 206 ). specifically , the transmitting and receiving component 21 receives the commit statement processing request , the commit and rollback processing component 28 confirms the updated data information 271 stored in the updated data information storing component 27 , outputs to the shared information control device 30 the release request for the lock information 261 by the lock information control component 261 , and instructs the receiving and transmitting component 21 to transmit a response including the next transaction id “ 11 ” and “ ok ” indicating that the request was properly processed , and the receiving and transmitting component 21 transmits the response to the database client 52 . the database client 52 then deletes the retained sql statement as shown in the transaction log 152 , and retains the transaction id “ 11 ” as shown in the transaction id information 132 . furthermore , the database client 52 transmits an “ ok ” response to the client application 51 ( step 106 ). specifically , the transmitting and receiving component 19 receives a response to the commit statement processing request , the commit and rollback processing component 18 deletes the sql statement corresponding to the designated transaction id in the transaction log storing component 15 , stores the transaction id “ 11 ” included in the response in the transaction id storing component 13 , and instructs the receiving and transmitting component 11 to transmit a response of “ ok ” indicating that the commit statement processing request was properly processed , the receiving and transmitting component 11 transmits the response to the client application 51 , and the commit and rollback processing component 18 sets the processing requesting flag of the corresponding transaction id in the transaction id storing component 13 to “ 0 ”. fig8 depicts a sequence diagram example and a process flow between the client application 51 , the database client 52 , and the database server 53 a . herein , the case where a fault occurs in the server 20 a is described . the flow of the process of fig8 assumes that the flow of the process of fig7 has been performed , and therefore at the start of processing , the database client 52 retains the transaction id “ 11 ” as shown in the transaction id information 133 . first , it is assumed that the client application 51 transmits the sql statement “ update t1 set c2 = c2 + 50 where c1 = 100 ” to the database client 52 . then , the database client 52 retains the sql statement in the row of the transaction id “ 11 ” and the issuance order “ 1 ” as shown in the transaction log 154 , and transmits the processing request for the sql statement “ update t1 set c2 = c2 + 50 where c1 = 100 ” to the database server 53 a ( step 211 ). specifically , the receiving and transmitting component 11 receives the sql statement from the client application 51 , the sql processing component 14 sets the processing requesting flag of the corresponding transaction id in the transaction id storing component 13 to “ 1 ”, stores the transaction id stored in the transaction id storing component 13 in the transaction log storing component 15 in association with the received sql statement , and instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit the processing request for the sql statement , and the transmitting and receiving component 19 transmits the processing request for the sql statement to the database server 53 a . the database server 53 a causes the shared information control device 30 a ( refer to fig1 ) to retain the lock information 264 , while the database server itself retains the updated data information 274 . then , the database server 53 a transmits a response “ ok ” to the database client 52 ( step 212 ). specifically , the receiving and transmitting component 21 receives the sql statement processing request , the sql processing component 24 outputs to the shared information control device 30 a a request to retain the lock information 264 by the lock information processing component 26 , stores the updated data information 274 in the updated data information storing component 27 , and instructs the receiving and transmitting component 21 to transmit the response “ ok ” indicating that the request was properly processed , and the receiving and transmitting component 21 transmits the response to the database client 52 . the database client 52 then transmits an “ ok ” response to the client application 51 ( step 112 ). specifically , the transmitting and receiving component 19 receives a response to the sql statement processing request , the sql processing component 14 instructs the receiving and transmitting component 11 to transmit a response of “ ok ” indicating that the request was properly processed , the receiving and transmitting component 11 transmits the response to the client application 51 , and the sql processing component 14 sets the processing requesting flag of the corresponding transaction id in the transaction id storing component 13 to “ 0 ”. subsequently , it is assumed that the client application 51 transmits the sql statement “ insert into t1 values ( 120 , 300 )” to the database client 52 ( step 113 ). then , the database client 52 retains the sql statement in the row of the transaction id “ 11 ” and the issuance order “ 2 ” as shown in the transaction log 155 , and transmits the sql statement processing request to the database server 53 a ( step 213 ). specifically , the receiving and transmitting component 11 receives the sql statement from the client application 51 , the sql processing component 14 sets the processing requesting flag of the corresponding transaction id in the transaction id storing component 13 to “ 1 ”, stores the transaction id stored in the transaction id storing component 13 in the transaction log storing component 15 in association with the received sql statement , and instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit a processing request for the sql statement , and the transmitting and receiving component 19 transmits the processing request for the sql statement to the database server 53 a . the fault in this example is assumed to have occurred in the server 20 a in which the database server 53 a is operating . then , the database server 53 a notifies the database client 52 of the fault occurrence ( step 214 ). however , there are cases when the database server 53 a cannot notify of the fault occurrence in the server 20 a , such as when a hardware fault occurs in the server 20 a . in such cases , the fault detection software 54 that operates in a server 20 other than the server 20 a can detect the fault occurrence in the server 20 a by the interruption of heartbeats from the fault detection software 54 a operating in the server 20 a , and therefore the former fault detection software 54 can notify the database client 52 of the fault occurrence . fig9 depicts an example of a sequence diagram and a process flow between the client application 51 , the database client 52 , and the database server 53 b . herein , because a fault occurs in the server 20 a , the case where the server 20 b is connected is illustrated . first , note that the fault occurrence is reported in step 214 of fig8 , but as illustrated in the lock information 266 , the shared information control device 30 a ( refer to fig1 ) still retains the lock information 264 of fig8 . furthermore , when only the server 20 a retains unconfirmed updated data information , processing of the unconfirmed updated information is not necessary because the information is lost due to the fault in the server 20 a , but when the server 20 b also retains unconfirmed updated data information , execution of a predetermined process is required . the situation where the server 20 b retains the unconfirmed updated data information may result from the server 20 b caching the page that includes the unconfirmed updated data , for example . in such a case , the server 20 b retains the updated data information 267 ( same as the updated data information 272 of fig7 ) which is the updated data information that was previously committed by performing the restoring process . note that the function performing the restoring process is an example of a restoring component restoring the updated information to the state before the transaction is initiated . in instances where the fault occurrence is reported , the database client 52 transmits the connection request with the transaction id “ 11 ” to the database server 53 b ( step 221 ). specifically , the transmitting and receiving component 19 receives the fault occurrence notification from the data base server 53 a , for example , the connection processing component 12 acquires the transaction id “ 11 ” from the transaction id storing component 13 , and instructs transmission of the connection request with the transaction id “ 11 ” to the transmitting and receiving component 19 , and the transmitting and receiving component 19 transmits the connection request with the transaction id “ 11 ” to the database server 53 b . the database server 53 b transmits the “ ok ” response to the database client 52 ( step 222 ). specifically , the receiving and transmitting component 21 receives the connection request , the connection processing component 22 instructs the receiving and transmitting component 21 to transmit the “ ok ” response , which indicates that the request has been processed normally , and the receiving and transmitting component 21 transmits the response to the database client 52 . the database client 52 then updates the actual handle for the corresponding transaction id stored in the transaction id storing component 13 and the identification of the connected database servers 53 , and sequentially issues the sql statements corresponding to the retained transaction id “ 11 ”, as shown in the transaction log 156 . namely , the database client 52 transmits the processing request for the sql statement “ update t1 set c2 = c2 + 50 where c1 + 100 ” to the database server 53 b ( step 223 ). specifically , the sql processing component 14 reads the sql statement having the issuance order “ 1 ” and the transaction id “ 11 ” from the transaction log storing component 15 , and instructs the transmitting and receiving component 19 to transmit the processing request for the sql statement , and the transmitting and receiving component 19 transmits the processing request for the sql statement to the database server 53 b . in this embodiment , the database server 53 b causes the shared information control device 30 a ( refer to fig1 ) to retain the lock information 267 , while the database server itself retains the updated data information 277 , and transmits the response “ ok ” to the database client 52 ( step 224 ). specifically , the receiving and transmitting component 21 receives the sql statement processing request , the sql processing component 24 outputs to the shared information control device 30 a a request to retain the lock information 267 by the lock information processing component 26 , stores the updated data information 277 in the updated data information storing component 27 , and instructs the receiving and transmitting component 21 to transmit the response “ ok ” indicating that the request was properly processed , and the receiving and transmitting component 21 transmits the response to the database client 52 . note that the shared information control device 30 a that received the retaining request for the lock information 267 retains the lock information 266 having the same contents as the lock information 267 , so no processing is performed in particular . furthermore , the database client 52 transmits the processing request for the sql statement “ insert into t1 values ( 120 , 130 )” to the database server 53 b ( step 225 ). specifically , the sql processing component 14 reads the sql statement having the issuance order “ 2 ” and the transaction id “ 11 ” from the transaction log storing component 15 , and instructs transmission of a processing request for the sql statement to the transmitting and receiving component 19 p , and the transmitting and receiving component 19 transmits the processing request for the sql statement to the database server 53 b . the database server 53 b causes the shared information control device 30 a ( refer to fig1 ) to retain the lock information 268 , while the database server itself retains the updated data information 278 , and transmits the response “ ok ” to the database client 52 ( step 226 ). specifically , the receiving and transmitting component 21 receives the sql statement processing request , the sql processing component 24 outputs to the shared information control device 30 a a request to retain the lock information 268 by the lock information processing component 26 , stores the updated data information 278 in the updated data information storing component 27 , and instructs the receiving and transmitting component 21 to transmit the response “ ok ” indicating that the request was properly processed , and the receiving and transmitting component 21 transmits the response to the database client 52 . the database client 52 then transmits an “ ok ” response to the client application 51 ( step 121 ). specifically , the receiving and transmitting component 19 receives the response to the processing request for the sql statement from the database server 53 , and the sql processing component 14 confirms that no unprocessed sql statement corresponding to the transaction id “ 11 ” is stored in the transaction log storing component 15 , and instructs the receiving and transmitting component 11 to transmit the “ ok ” response , which indicates that the request has been processed normally , the receiving and transmitting component 11 transmits the response to the client application 51 , and the sql processing component 14 sets the processing requesting flag of the corresponding transaction id in the transaction id storing component 13 to “ 0 ”. as described above , in one embodiment , the database client 52 logs the sql statement issued by the client application 51 , and when the server 20 a goes down during processing with a certain transaction id , the database client 52 re - executes the logged sql statement with the same transaction id while retaining the lock information corresponding to that transaction id in a state where the information can be shared with another server 20 . thereby , the continuation of execution of the sql statement issued by the client application 51 becomes possible without the client application 51 knowing that there is a fault in the database 40 . the present invention can be implemented completely by the hardware , or can be implemented completely by the software as can be appreciated by those skilled in the art in different embodiments . for example , in on embodiment it is also possible to implement the invention by both the hardware and the software . furthermore , the present invention can be implemented as a computer , a data processing system , or a computer program . the computer program can be provided by storing it in a medium readable by a computer . herein , an electronic type , a magnetic type , an optical type , an electromagnetic type , an infrared or semiconductor system ( device or equipment ), or a transmission type medium can be considered for the medium . furthermore , a semiconductor , a solid state storage device , a magnetic tape , a readable computer diskette , a random access memory ( ram ), a read only memory ( rom ), a rigid magnetic disk , and an optical disk are examples of the medium readable by a computer . at the present time , the example of the optical disk includes a compact disk read only memory ( cd - rom ), a compact disk read / write ( cd - r / w ), and a dvd . some embodiments were described above using sql as an example and other limited other examples to provide clarity of explanation . as can be appreciated by those skilled in the art , however , the technical scope of the present invention is not restricted to the above mentioned examples and embodiments and these were only provided to ease understanding . the fact that various modifications can be made , as well as adoption of alternative embodiments , without deviating from the spirit and scope of the present invention will be clear to persons skilled in the art .	6
reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . wherever possible , the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts . fig2 is a block diagram showing a dual light source voltage - modulated reciprocal control circuit for a scanner according to this invention . as shown in fig2 , an application specific integrated circuit 202 outputs a square wave signal sv to a voltage - modulating circuit 204 . pulse width of the square wave signal sv is adjustable . the higher the pulse width of the square wave signal sv , the greater will be the modulated voltage mv having a direct current ( dc ) profile output from the voltage - modulating circuit 204 . furthermore , the application specific integrated circuit 202 also outputs a reciprocal logic signal f / u lamp to a reciprocal control circuit 206 . the reciprocal logic signal f / u lamp determines if the modulated voltage mv is sent to a back light driving circuit 208 or a cover light driving circuit 210 . the voltage - modulating circuit 204 outputs the modulated - voltage mv to the reciprocal control circuit 206 . the reciprocal control circuit 206 picks up the reciprocal logic signal f / u lamp from the application specific integrated circuit 202 and sends the modulated voltage mv to the back light driving circuit 208 or the cover light driving circuit 210 respectively . the back light driving circuit 208 and the cover light driving circuit 210 are dc - to - ac inverters capable of converting a direct current ( dc ) voltage into an alternating ( ac ) voltage . the back light driving circuit 208 issues an alternating voltage inv 1 to a back light 212 and the cover light driving circuit 210 issues an alternating voltage source inv 2 to a cover light 214 . hence , either the back light 212 or the cover light 214 is triggered to conduct a document scanning but not both . fig3 is a diagram showing a voltage - modulated circuit according to one embodiment of this invention . as shown in fig3 , a first terminal of a resistor r 302 receives the square wave sv from the application specific integrated circuit 202 ( shown in fig2 ). a first terminal of a resistor r 304 is connected to a second terminal of the resistor r 302 and a second terminal of the resistor r 304 is connected to ground . a first terminal of a resistor r 308 is connected to a voltage source at 12v . a first terminal of a resistor r 312 is connected to a second terminal of the resistor r 308 . a voltage source terminal of a transistor 306 is connected to a second terminal of the resistor r 312 . a control terminal of the transistor 306 is connected to the second terminal of the resistor r 302 . a load terminal of the transistor 306 is connected to ground . a voltage terminal of a transistor 310 is connected to a voltage source at 12v . a control terminal of the transistor 310 is connected to a second terminal of the resistor r 308 . the anode of a diode d 314 is connected to ground . a first terminal of an inductor l 316 is connected to the loading terminal of the transistor 310 . the second terminal of the inductor l 316 is an output terminal for outputting the modulated voltage mv . a first terminal of a capacitor c 318 is connected to the first terminal of the inductor l 316 and the second terminal of the capacitor c 318 is connected to ground . in fig3 , the resistors r 302 , 304 , 308 , 312 and the transistors 310 , 306 together constitute a circuit for boosting voltage . each of the resistors r 302 , 304 , 308 and 312 has a different resistance value . the inductor l 316 and the capacitor c 318 serve as energy storage devices and the diode d 314 serves as a circuit bypass . the reciprocal control circuit 206 ( shown in fig2 ) comprises a common emitter circuit and a darlington circuit . fig4 is a diagram showing a reciprocal control circuit according to one preferred embodiment of this invention . as shown in fig4 , the common emitter circuit 402 includes resistors r 404 , r 406 and transistors 408 , 410 . a first terminal of the resistor r 404 receives the reciprocal logic signal f / u lamp from the application specific integrated circuit 202 . a first terminal of the resistor r 406 is connected to a voltage source at 5v . a source terminal of the transistor 408 is coupled to a second terminal of the resistor r 406 . a control terminal of the transistor 408 is coupled to a second terminal of the resistor r 404 . a loading terminal of the transistor 408 is connected to ground . a source terminal of the transistor 410 is coupled to a ground terminal ulamp_gnd of the cover lamp driving circuit 210 . a control terminal of the transistor 410 is coupled to the second terminal of the resistor r 406 . a loading terminal of the transistor 410 is connected to ground . the transistor 410 of the common emitter circuit 402 is designed as a current sink . hence , current specification of the transistor 410 is especially important . input terminals 1 b , 2 b of the integrated circuit ic uln2003 414 are connected in parallel to the application specific integrated circuit 202 for receiving the reciprocal logic signal f / u lamp . output terminals 1 c , 2 c are connected in parallel to the earth terminal flamp_gnd of the back light driving circuit 208 . the e terminal of the integrated circuit ic uln2004 414 is connected to ground . the com terminal of the integrated circuit ic uln2004 414 is connected to a voltage source at 12v . after receiving the modulated voltage mv submitted from the application specific integrated circuit 202 , the reciprocal control circuit 206 outputs the modulated voltage mv to the source terminal ulamp_power of the cover light driving circuit 210 and the source terminal flamp_power of the back light driving circuit 208 . the resistor r 404 and the resistor r 406 have different resistance values . the integrated circuit ic uln2003 414 comprises of seven groups of darlington circuits . the terminals 1 b , 2 b , 3 b , 4 b , 5 b , 6 b , 7 b on the integrated circuit ic uln2003 414 are the input terminals and the terminals 1 c , 2 c , 3 c , 4 c , 5 c , 6 c and 7 c on the integrated circuit ic uln2003 414 are the output terminals of the seven darlington circuits respectively . fig5 is a diagram of a darlington circuit . as shown in fig5 , the darlington circuit 500 has a resistor r 502 with a first terminal connected to the application specific integrated circuit 202 for receiving the reciprocal logic signal f / u lamp . a first terminal of a resistor r 504 is coupled to a second terminal of the resistor r 502 . a first terminal of a resistor r 506 is coupled to a second terminal of the resistor r 504 . a second terminal of the resistor r 506 is connected to ground . a source terminal of a transistor 508 is connected to the ground terminal flamp_gnd of the back light driving circuit 208 ( refer to fig4 ). a control terminal of the transistor 508 is coupled to the second terminal of the resistor r 502 . a loading terminal of the resistor 508 is coupled to the second terminal of the resistor r 504 . a source terminal of a transistor 510 is also coupled to the ground terminal flamp_gnd of the back light driving circuit 208 20 ( refer to fig4 ). a control terminal of the transistor 510 is coupled to the second terminal of the resistor r 504 . a loading terminal of the transistor 510 is connected to ground . each of the resistors r 502 , 504 and 506 has a different resistance value . table 1 shows the logic behind the switching of the light sources according to this invention . refer also to the circuit diagrams shown in fig4 and 5 . when the reciprocal logic signal f / u lamp output from the application specific integrated circuit 202 ( refer to fig2 ) is high and the pulse width modulated square wave sv is pulse / high , the transistor 408 is “ on ” and hence the transistor 410 is “ off ”. an open circuit is formed between the source terminal ulamp_power of the cover light driving circuit 210 and the ground terminal ulamp_gnd . thus , the cover lamp 214 ( refer to fig2 ) is “ off ”. similarly , when the reciprocal logic signal f / u lamp output from the application specific integrated circuit 202 ( refer to fig2 ) is high and the pulse width modulated square wave sv is pulse / high , the transistor 508 and the transistor 510 are “ on ”. the source terminal flamp_power of the back o light driving circuit 208 and the ground terminal flamp_gnd form a conductive path so that the back light driving circuit 208 receives the modulated voltage mv . thus , the back light lamp 212 ( refer to fig2 ) is “ on ”. in like manner , when the reciprocal logic signal f / u lamp output from the application specific integrated circuit 202 ( refer to fig2 ) is low and the pulse width modulated square wave sv is pulse / high , the transistor 408 is “ off ”. the transistor 410 is “ on ” so that a conductive path is formed between the source terminal ulamp_power of the cover light driving circuit 210 and the ground terminal ulamp_gnd . the cover lamp driving circuit 210 receives the modulated voltage mv and hence the cover lamp 214 ( refer to fig2 ) is “ on ”. similarly , when the reciprocal logic signal f / u lamp output from the application specific integrated circuit 202 ( refer to fig2 ) is low and the pulse width modulated square wave sv is pulse / high , the transistor 508 and the transistor 510 are both “ off ”. an open circuit is formed between the source terminal flamp_power of the back light driving circuit 208 and the ground terminal flamp_gnd . thus , the back light lamp 212 ( refer to fig2 ) is “ off ”. in table 1 , the dual light source voltage - modulated reciprocal control circuit may operate in an energy - saving mode . this occurs when the pulse width modulated square wave sv output from the application specific integrated circuit 202 ( refer to fig2 ) is low . under such voltage setting , the reciprocal logic signal f / u lamp from the application specific integrated circuit 202 ( refer to fig2 ) is incapable of triggering the back light 212 or the cover light 214 . in summary , when the reciprocal control circuit picks up reciprocal logic signal from the application specific integrated circuit , the reciprocal control circuit will output a reciprocal logic signal that switches on either the back light or the cover light . hence , one set of voltage - modulating circuit can provide necessary power for driving the back light and the cover light . in addition , the integrated circuit ic uln2003 414 used in fig4 is one of the components inside the scanner and hence no additional ic is required . furthermore , comparing the common emitter circuit 402 and the voltage - modulating circuit shown in fig3 , the common emitter circuit 402 has a simpler configuration , requires fewer electronic devices and occupies less printed circuit board area . since only one set of voltage modulation circuit is required , the circuit demands fewer electronic devices and occupies a smaller printed circuit board area . hence some hardware cost is saved . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention . in view of the foregoing , it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents .	7
[ 0014 ] fig1 depicts an example of a network , which includes several computers labeled 1 - 6 . in the depicted embodiment , the network is observed with an agent manager network management system . one of the computers of the network is a so - called network management station ( nms ) 1 and the computer 4 controls an x - ray device 4 a , by way of example . a manager is stored on the nms 1 communicates with the agents stored on computers 2 - 6 . the manager is an appropriately executed computing program and can send inquiries to the agents and receive messages from the agents based on the inquiries . an agent is also a computing program which is executed in such a way that it monitors the computer on which it is stored , receives sent out inquiries from the manager of the nms 1 , and answers them accordingly . in the depicted embodiment , the software and hardware configuration of the computers 2 - 6 is further imaged on a database of the nms 1 . for this image to be as current as possible , according to an embodiment , the manager of the nms 1 automatically and daily transmits an inquiry to the agents of the computers 2 to 6 , with which the manager inquires the current software and hardware configuration of the computers 2 - 6 . after the agent , of for example computer 2 , receives the inquiry of the manager , it generates , in the case of the present example of execution , a list which includes the current software and hardware configuration of the computer 2 . afterwards , the agent compares this list with a list which the agent had produced the previous day based on a prior inquiry of the manager . the list produced the day before includes a data about the software and hardware configuration of the computer 2 at the time of the inquiry of the previous day . if the result of the comparison of both lists is that neither the software configuration nor the hardware configuration of the computer 2 has changed , then the current software and hardware configuration of the computer 2 is stored in the database of nms 1 . the agent of the computer 2 therefore does not send the produced current list to the manager of the nms 1 . additionally , the agent of the computer 2 stores the produced current list in a memory assigned to the agent and deletes the produced list from the previous day after comparing both lists . in an example embodiment , on computer 2 a new hard disk 2 a was installed into the computer 2 after the inquiry of the manager of nms 1 from the previous day . the hardware configuration of the computer 2 has therefore changed since the inquiry from the previous day . the data of the lists 20 ( fig2 ), updated by the agent of the computer 2 , differ therefore from the data which was produced the previous day . the agent of the computer 2 therefore sends the current list to the manger of the nms 1 so that the image of the software and hardware configuration of the computer 2 , stored on the database 1 a , can be updated . after the agent has compared both lists , it deletes again the list produced the previous day and stores the current list 20 to the memory assigned to the agent . the list disclosed in fig2 includes , in the case of the present example of execution , particular data about the computer , name of the computer 2 , its ip - address , cpu type , number of cpus , clock frequency of the cpu , storage capacity , etc . . . . in case of the present example of execution , an inquiry for the current software and hardware configuration can be manually initiated with each of the computers 2 to 6 . to do this , an operator 7 can for example call a screen mask 30 ( fig3 ) with the nms 1 . the screen mask 30 includes icons 32 - 36 , which represent the computers 2 - 6 of the network . in the current embodiment , the icon 32 represents the computer 2 , the icon 33 the computer 3 , the icon 34 the computer 4 , the icon 35 the computer 5 , and the icon 36 the computer 6 . if a technician would like to now verify the current software and hardware configuration of computer 4 , which controls the x - ray device 4 a and is stored in database 1 a , the technician mouse clicks on icon 34 . following this , the manager stored in the nms 1 , transmits the inquiry for the current software and hardware configuration to the agents of the computer 4 . after the agent of computer 4 has received the inquiry , it determines the current software and hardware configuration of the computer 4 . herein , the software and hardware configuration also includes data about the configuration of the x - ray device 4 a , particularly data about installed components of the x - ray device 4 a . after the agent of the computer 4 has determined the current software and hardware configuration of the computer 4 , it compares this with the earlier determined software and hardware configuration which the agent had determined based on the earlier inquiry from the manager . if the current determined software and hardware configuration does not differ from the earlier determined software and hardware configuration , the agent stored in the computer 4 does not transmit the current determined software and hardware configuration of the computer 4 , because an image of the current software and hardware configuration of the computer 4 is already stored . additionally , the agent of the computer 4 stores again the data about the current software and hardware configuration of the computer 4 in a memory assigned to the agent . if a computing program used for the control of the x - ray device 4 a was modified on computer 4 after the earlier inquiry , the current determined software configuration of computer 4 would therefore differ from the earlier determined software configuration . should this be the case , the agent of computer 4 sends the manager of the nms 1 data about the modified software configuration of the computer 4 , so that the data about the software and hardware configuration of the computer 4 can be updated . furthermore , the agent of the computer 4 stores again the data about the current software and hardware configuration of the computer 4 in a memory assigned to the agent . the invention being thus described , it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways . such variations may include a mixing of elements from the above embodiments . 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 .	7
referring to the fig5 - 8 for a clearer understanding of the invention , it may be seen that the preferred embodiment of the invention contemplates a method for slicing meat tenders or poultry breasts into to strips or tenders having a substantially uniform thickness and weight . it is to be understood that thickness of a resulting tender is always measured on the thickest point , as the tender is lying flat with the longest dimension as the length , the second largest dimension as the width , and the smallest dimension as the thickness . the commercial specifications for sliced chicken tenders require that they have a maximum thickness of 0 . 60 inches =/− 0 . 4 . as you can see in fig5 , the jumbo chicken breast is laid as flat as possible on a supporting surface and a first cut 11 is begun on a side of the breast at a point 13 about two - thirds ( ⅔rds ) of the length of the jumbo tender from the thinner end of the jumbo at a point just below the thickest part of the breast . the cut is made by slicing diagonally across the jumbo with the knife blade inclined from vertical about twenty degrees ( 20 °). this cut creates the first tender 15 , thus the beginning and end points of the cut need to be determined so as to remove a first tender or strip from the jumbo that falls within the specifications for commercial chicken tenders , namely that it have a thickness of between 0 . 30 to 0 . 60 inches and weigh between 20 and 27 grams . as shown in fig6 , the second cut begins substantially at the thickest end of the jumbo and is spaced from first cut a distance that defines the thickness of resulting tender 17 . the knife is drawn along a line parallel to the first cut and the blade is angled to keep the thickness of the resulting tender about the same along the length of the cut . this cut creates the second tender and the third tender , however , the third tender may require some trimming to reduce it to optimum thickness . the savings in waste of the new method is significant . the jumbo &# 39 ; s used to create the tenders as shown in the prior art fig .&# 39 ; s 1 to 3 and in the present embodiment shown on fig5 to 7 each weighed about 82 grams when the cut was started . in the prior art , the cutting method resulted in two tenders each weighing between about 20 and 27 grams and yields a typical waste component that would range from 28 to 40 grams per jumbo . the present method yields three tenders weighing between 20 and 27 grams and yields a typical waste component of between less than 10 grams . it is to be understood that the form of the invention shown is a preferred embodiment thereof and that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope as defined in the following claims .	0
one of the embodiments of the present invention is directed especially for rf interference sensitive environments , such as aircraft and hospitals . the ability to utilise the non - intrusiveness of lprf devices in such a sensitive environment is a significant advantage from technical and user points of view . the present invention provides such a capability and can support existing devices as well as new terminals , including enhanced baseband functionality that make is possibly to control the lprf activity of other units . [ 0024 ] fig1 shows a first terminal 10 which includes bluetooth circuitry and functional logic according to the bluetooth specification , and so is capable of transmitting via a low power rf as specified in bluetooth specification and capable of authorising bluetooth transmission by other devices . a transceiver 20 and a computer 30 , such as a personal computer , function together as a second terminal or an access point 25 . third terminal 15 is a client terminal that can not provide bluetooth transmission unless authorised to do so by another terminal . each of the terminals 10 , 15 includes bluetooth circuitry and control block of the bluetooth protocol . the first terminal 10 is a slave terminal . the second terminal or access point 25 , is a master terminal and connected to a network , such as the internet 40 , through which connection can be made to service providers , such as a publisher 50 from which published products may be offered to paying or otherwise authorised customers . fig1 depicts the second terminal or access point 25 as having a wired connection to the internet , but the network connection can be also wireless , such as a broadcasting connection , a wireless local area network ( wlan ) connection , e . g . adsl ( asymmetric digital subscriber line ) including a radio network access point capable of radio communication towards the terminal . each of the first terminal 10 and the third or client terminal 15 is a wireless terminal , such as a wireless phone , that includes a low power radio transceiver and low power radio transfer capability . fig2 a ) depicts the terminal 10 , 15 more closely in a block diagram . the terminal includes a display 112 , a ram 114 , a rom 116 , an input / output ( i / o ) unit 118 , which might include a keypad e . g . for entering text etc ., a rf transceiver 120 for communication with other transceivers , e . g . transceiver 20 in access points 25 , an antenna 122 , and a controller or cpu 124 for controlling the various functions of the terminal . transceiver 120 is a short - range transceiver for low power radio reception and transmission in the radio spectrum range as specified e . g . in the bluetooth specification . a conventional keypad is not necessary , since in the preferred embodiment the user only needs to accept downloading , make selections from the downloaded items , and possibly browse in the downloaded information . thus , instead of a keypad , only a key with the functionality to control the above operations is enough . further , the terminal may have a card reader 126 . cpu 124 is connected to display 112 , ram 114 , rom 116 , i / o unit 118 , transceiver 120 , and card reader 126 . additionally , the terminal typically includes a battery pack , ( not shown ). preferably , but not necessarily the transceiver 120 enables short range , low power rf communication , like bluetooth , with the access point 25 . the terminal 10 may have a slot ( not shown ) for insertion of an integrated circuit card , such as a smart card , into card reader 126 . access point 25 can be similarly constructed , if desired . [ 0027 ] fig2 b ) depicts a card 138 , such as a smart card , which includes a cpu 140 , a smart card identification code such as a serial number 142 , a tailoring parameters register 144 , and contacts 146 for enabling a link between the card reader 126 and card 138 . when a request for goods / services delivery is placed in the terminal , the terminal has the ability to accept or refuse the request . the validity time of the smart card may be checked with a validity register and with a smart card maintenance and validity table that may be located in access point 25 of the service provider or content provider . the card validity might be based on a fee that has been paid . smart cards have been manufactured and are commercially available from several companies , including gemplus card international , avenue du pic de bertagne , parc d &# 39 ; activites de la plaine de jouques , 13420 gemenos , france . [ 0029 ] fig3 a ) depicts the generic format of the packets that are transmitted between two terminals capable of low power radio transfer according to the bluetooth information transfer scheme , described in the bluetooth specification . each packet consists of three parts — an access code , a header , and a payload . the access code and header are of fixed size — 72 bits and 54 bits , respectively . the payload may vary from zero to a maximum of 2745 bits . different packet types have been defined for use with different payloads and links , including synchronous connection - oriented , ( sco ) link ; symmetric point - to - point between the master and a specific slave terminal , or asynchronous connection - less ( acl ) link ; and asymmetric point - to - multipoint link between the master and all slave terminals . packets may consist of the access code only , such as an identity ( id ) packet , the access code and the header , or the access code , the header and the payload . [ 0030 ] fig3 b ) depicts an id packet , also known as an identity packet . inquiry procedures , as well as the paging procedures , are carried out before any bluetooth piconet is formed between two terminals 10 , 25 and between terminals 10 , 15 . the access code is used in paging and inquiry procedures . before bluetooth transmission including payload and header information takes place , the access code is sent at an inquiry request stage . fig3 c ) depicts in greater detail the id packet including only the access code . the access code consists of a preamble , a sync word , and possibly a trailer . the inquiry access code ( iac ) is sent from the master terminal 25 to the slave terminal 10 at regular intervals . the iac message does not include the trailer , and so the message content is 68 bits long . different access code types , such as channel access code ( coc ), device access code ( dac ), general access code ( giac ), and dedicated access code ( diac ), use different lower access parts ( laps ) to construct the synchronisation ( sync ) word . the lap is the 24 lowest bits of a unique 48 - bit bluetooth device address ( bd_addr ). the device access code is used during page , page scan and page response subsets . the laps , when used in inquiry packets , are used as device type identifiers , i . e . to identify the type of device that should reply to the inquiry request messages . a giac is used for general inquiry operations . the iac type access code is significant because it is used to determine which other bluetooth units are in the operating range of a master bluetooth device . according to the bluetooth standard , described in the bluetooth specification , and as shown in fig4 a 64 bit long sync word is derived that is required , for example , for the access code . the process starts in step 200 , and in step 220 a 24 bit address ( the lap ) is generated . in step 230 , the parity of the most significant bit of the lap is determined ; that is , it is determined whether the most significant bit is 0 or 1 . in either step 235 or step 240 a 6 bits trailer is added to indicate the parity of the most significant bit of the lap . the trailer is of the value 001101 if the most significant bit of the lap is 0 ( step 240 ) or of the value 110010 in the opposite case ( step 235 ). an expurgated 32 bit sequence is added at the head of the sync word in step 250 , resulting in a code word at step 260 . this is overlaid with a pseudo random 64 bit sequence at step 270 . the inquiry process itself consists of a succession of identical id packets . the sync words are based on a ( 64 , 30 ) expurgated block code which is generated at step 250 with an overlay ( bit - wise xor ) of a 64 bit full - length pseudo - noise pn - sequence ( step 270 ). the expurgated code guarantees a large hamming distance between sync words based on different addresses , thus enabling better error - control in radio link reception in an environment including radio disturbance . the pseudo - noise , pn sequence improves the auto - correlation properties of the access code . [ 0035 ] fig5 illustrates a basic identification ( id ) inquiry in which the recipient slave terminal has no restrictions in answering inquiry requests . the left most device is the master device , and the recipient slave device is on the right . the iac is used to discover whether other bluetooth units are in the operating range of a master bluetooth device . laps , when used in inquiry packets , are device type identifiers , used to identify the type of device that should reply to the inquiry request messages . according to an embodiment of the invention using the laps as a parameter to authorise / forbid bluetooth rf activity on a device is equivalent to defining the “ rf activity controlled device ” type of device , which would deprive from the ability to select devices using the classes provided by the bluetooth specification , such as generic access devices , limited access devices , etc . in order to let a device know that it is acceptable to transmit , while keeping the ability to perform device type selection as defined in the bluetooth specification , it is necessary to find another “ channel ”, i . e . another piece of data that can be used before the bluetooth activity starts on the receiving device . this channel is provided by the structure of the id packet itself . fig6 a ) and 6 b ) depict the id packet structure according to an embodiment of the invention . to indicate to a bluetooth device that it is all right to be bluetooth active , i . e ., that the device can be active , successive id packets are modified in the following way : the ( 2n ) th id packet that is transmitted is depicted in fig6 a ) and has a 001101 bit sequence as a trailer if the most significant bit of the iac ( which is the most significant bit of the lap ) is 0 and has a 110010 bit sequence in the opposite case . the ( 2n + 1 ) th id packet that is transmitted is depicted in fig6 b ) and has 110010 as a trailer if the most significant bit of the iac ( and the lap ) is 0 and has 001101 as a trailer in the opposite case . thus , the trailer of the ( 2n + 1 ) th id packet is the opposite of the trailer of the ( 2n ) th id packet . [ 0038 ] fig7 a ) is a flowchart of a method in accordance with an embodiment of the invention for generating a sync word of the access code ( id packet ) of the ( 2n ) th id packet , which enables the transmission of the slave terminal . this method is the same as that of fig4 with the addition of step 380 in which the master terminal 25 sends the just created ( 2n ) th id packet to the slave terminal , for example the first terminal 10 . [ 0039 ] fig7 b ) is a flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the invention for generating a sync word of the access code ( id packet ) of the ( 2n + 1 ) th id packet , which enables the transmission of the slave terminal . this method differs from that of fig7 a ) for generating a sync word of the access code of the ( 2n ) th id packet by interchanging the 6 bit trailer code appended in steps 435 and 440 , in comparison with steps 335 and 340 . the inversion of trailer part has no unwanted impact on the hamming distance between resulting id packets in the sense that the minimum hamming distance between a lap with an even most significant bit and a lap with an odd most significant bit is still 6 . the id inquiry message is sent from the master transceiver to the slave terminal . the ( 2n ) th and ( 2n + 1 ) th id packet pair are received a number ( m + 1 ) times . for example , if m = 2 , the first id packet pair is m 0 , the second pair m 1 , and the third pair m 2 . then the slave terminal can make an inquiry response . this is shown in fig8 in a signalling chart presentation . the receiving device is allowed to transmit only from the moment it has received and detected ( m + 1 ) id packets with the normal trailer scheme and ( m + 1 ) id packets with the opposite trailer scheme . the parameter ( m ) has a constant value that can be chosen depending on the probability of packet corruption or reception error in the environment in which the procedure is to take place . [ 0041 ] fig7 a ) and 7 b ) illustrate the method by which the master transceiver generates the ( 2n ) th id packet ( fig7 a ) add the ( 2n + 1 ) th id packet in ( fig7 b ) in such a way , that the slave terminal is disabled to transmit anything . the next pair of id packets is transmitted according to the method as described in the flowchart of fig7 a ). the next two id packet pairs after the previous may be created by the method to generate ( by the master transceiver ) the ( 2n ) th id packet ( fig7 a ) and the ( 2n + 1 ) th id packet in ( fig7 b ). [ 0042 ] fig8 illustrates a method for the master transceiver ( on the left hand side in the drawing ) to generate the ( 2n ) th id packet and the ( 2n + 1 ) th id packet in such a way that the slave terminal ( on the right hand side in the fig8 ) is enabled to transmit . it is possible that after the id inquiry message is sent from the master transceiver to the slave terminal ( m + 1 ) times , succeeding id packets are arranged in the following way : the ( 2n ) th immediately precedes the ( 2n + 1 ) th id packet in which the trailer is inverted when compared to the ( 2n ) th trailer , and the id packet pairs are ( m + 1 ) times . for example m = 2 , meaning that after the first id packet pair m 0 , the second pair m 1 and the third pair m 2 , the slave terminal can make an inquiry response . the baseband section and protocol of the bluetooth transceiver do the point - to - point or point - to - multipoint transmission link control and use lower protocol layer link routines . the baseband specification of the bluetooth procedure is described in the bluetooth specification . in inquiry procedures , the device about to become the master sends in the inquiry request message an access code that consists of the lower address parts ( laps ) encapsulated in the id packets . the laps , when sent in inquiry packets , are used as device type identifiers , i . e . to identify the type of device that should reply to the inquiry request messages . at this stage and according to the bluetooth specification , devices that are of the relevant type start rf activity and answer back with a frequency hopping spread spectrum ( fhss ) packet that carries information such as the baseband address or the clock offset of the responding device . while there have been shown and described fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof , it will be understood that various omissions , substitutions , and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated , and in their operation , may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention . for example , the roles of the master terminal and a slave may be reversed , with either terminal 10 or 15 being the master and terminal 25 being a slave . it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and / or method steps , which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve substantially the same result , be within the scope of this invention . moreover , it should be recognised that structures and / or elements and / or method steps shown and / or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated .	7
fig1 is a block diagram schematically showing the overall structure of an engine starting system for a vehicle or the like which is a propelled object according to embodiment 1 of the present invention . illustrated in fig1 is an example in which the present invention is applied to a two - wheeled vehicle . in fig1 , the engine starting system includes portable equipment 1 and on - vehicle equipment 2 constituting equipment on the propelled object side . the portable equipment 1 , which is possessed by an authorized driver ( user ), includes a transmitting circuit 10 , a receiving circuit 11 , a control circuit 12 , a memory circuit 13 in which a cipher code is stored , and a battery 14 serving as a power source . the control circuit 12 operates by being supplied with power from the battery 14 , reads the cipher code from the memory circuit 13 , and carries out radio communication with the on - vehicle equipment 2 via the transmitting circuit 10 and the receiving circuit 11 . on the other hand , the on - vehicle equipment 2 installed in the vehicle includes a transmitting circuit 20 , a receiving circuit 21 , a control circuit 22 , a memory circuit 23 in which a cipher code for collation ( herein after , referred to as “ the collation code ”) is stored , and an input / output circuit 24 . the control circuit 22 operates by being supplied with power from an on - vehicle battery 9 , reads the collation code from the memory circuit 23 , and carries out radio communication with the portable equipment 1 via the transmitting circuit 20 and the receiving circuit 21 . the portable equipment 1 and the on - vehicle equipment 2 exchange radio communication signals 101 and 102 with each other via the transmitting circuit 10 and the receiving circuit 11 , and via the transmitting circuit 20 and the receiving circuit 21 . a switch 31 constructed of an external actuating button on the vehicle side is connected to the control circuit 22 in the on - vehicle equipment 2 . in response to an actuation signal of the switch 31 , the control circuit 22 performs calculation based on a driving state and a collation result to obtain a control signal 27 , and outputs the control signal 27 to an external relay or the like ( which will be described later ) via the input / output circuit 24 . further , the control circuit 22 is connected to an engine control unit 8 via the input / output circuit 24 and a communication line 100 . fig2 is a block diagram which concretely shows the structure of the on - vehicle equipment 2 of fig1 in relation to the engine control unit 8 and peripheral equipment . referring to fig2 , connected to the on - vehicle equipment 2 are a system relay 6 , a starter relay 41 for energizing a starter ( motor ) 4 from the on - vehicle battery 9 , a steering unlocking sensor 51 , a steering unlocking section 52 , an indicator lamp 53 for indicating various kinds of information , a hazard relay 54 for triggering an alarm , an alarm buzzer 55 , and an oscillation sensor 56 for detecting theft , as well as the aforementioned components such as the engine control unit 8 , the on - vehicle battery 9 , and the switch 31 . a sensor group and a relay group including the system relay 6 , the starter relay 41 , and the like constitute the peripheral equipment of the on - vehicle equipment 2 . the on - vehicle equipment 2 includes , in addition to the respective circuits 20 to 24 mentioned above , a starter relay driving circuit 25 for driving the starter relay 41 and a power supply circuit 26 connected to the on - vehicle battery 9 to supply power to the control circuit 22 . the starter relay driving circuit 25 , the steering unlocking sensor 51 , and the oscillation sensor 56 are connected to the control circuit 22 in the on - vehicle equipment 2 . further , the control signal 27 from the input / output circuit 24 is input to the system relay 6 , the steering unlocking section 52 , the indicator lamp 53 , the hazard relay 54 , and the alarm buzzer 55 . the engine control unit 8 , which includes an engine control circuit 81 , a power supply circuit 82 connected to the engine control circuit 81 , an input circuit 83 , and an input / output circuit 84 , drivingly controls an engine 70 via each of the various actuators ( an ignition coil , injectors , a fuel pump , and the like ) 71 . in the engine control unit 8 , the power supply circuit 82 is connected to the on - vehicle battery 9 via the system relay 6 and supplies power to the engine control circuit 81 . a tip - over sensor 72 is connected to the input circuit 83 , and the various actuators 71 are connected to the input / output circuit 84 . the engine control unit 8 and the various actuators 71 are supplied with power from the on - vehicle battery 9 via the system relay 6 . the input / output circuit 84 in the engine control unit 8 is connected to the input / output circuit 24 in the on - vehicle equipment 2 via the communication line 100 permitting bidirectional communication . fig3 is a perspective view showing a concrete structural example of the steering unlocking section 52 in fig2 , which is designed for use in a two - wheeled vehicle . referring to fig3 , the steering unlocking section 52 includes an electromagnetic solenoid 521 energized at the time of an unlocking operation , a stopper 522 serving as an operating portion of the electromagnetic solenoid 521 , a lock bar 523 engaging the stopper 522 , a catch portion ( recess ) 524 formed in a central upper face of the lock bar 523 , an operating end portion 525 of the lock bar 523 , a spring 526 urging the lock bar 523 in an unlocking direction ( to the right in fig3 ), and a lock button 527 serving as an actuating portion of the lock bar 523 . when a steering ( handle ) is locked , the stopper 522 of the electromagnetic solenoid 521 is caught in the catch portion 524 of the lock bar 523 , and the operating end portion 525 of the lock bar 523 is caught in a rotational member ( not shown ) of the steering , to thereby lock the steering so as not to rotate . in the engine starting system shown in fig1 and 2 , the on - vehicle equipment 2 transmits an inquiry signal ( trigger signal ) 102 from the transmitting circuit 20 in response to an actuation signal of the switch 31 . the portable equipment 1 possessed by the driver then receives the inquiry signal 102 from the on - vehicle equipment 2 , and returns an answer signal 101 for the inquiry signal 102 to the on - vehicle equipment 2 . as a result , the control circuit 22 in the on - vehicle equipment 2 thereby determines whether or not the answer signal 101 received from the portable equipment 1 corresponds to the inquiry signal 102 . if it is determined that the answer signal 101 is authentic , the control circuit 22 generates and outputs the control signal 27 for unlocking from the input / output circuit 24 , drives the steering unlocking section 52 , unlocks the steering of the vehicle , and permits the engine 70 to be started . at this moment , only by repeatedly actuating ( pushing ) the single switch ( button ) 31 attached to the vehicle , the steering unlocking section 52 is driven , the system relay 6 is turned on , power supply circuits ( vehicular power sources ) 26 and 82 supplied with power from the on - vehicle battery 9 are activated ( the power source for the system is turned on ), and a cranking section is driven ( the engine 70 is started ). a short - time repetitive actuation ( on / off ) or a long - time continuous actuation ( continuous on ) can be selected as an actuation mode of the switch 31 . for example , if a sequential shift of control is made through the short - time repetitive actuation of the switch 31 , a determination on authenticity is made by the inquiry signal 102 and the answer signal 101 every time the switch 31 is actuated . further , if a continuous shift of control is made through the long - time continuous actuation of the switch 31 , a determination on authenticity is made by the inquiry signal 102 and the answer signal 101 at the first time only . still further , the control of turning the power source of the system off ( stopping the engine 70 ) via the system relay 6 can also be performed by actuating the switch 31 . also , the system relay 6 constitutes power activating section , the on - vehicle equipment 2 constitutes the equipment on the propelled object side , the indicator lamp 53 , the hazard relay 54 , the alarm buzzer 55 , and the oscillation sensor 56 constitute alarming section , the transmission circuit 10 and the receiving circuit 11 constitute a transceiver on the portable equipment side , and the transmission circuit 20 and the receiving circuit 21 constitute a transceiver on the propelled object side . next , specific operations of the respective circuits shown in fig1 and 2 will be described . first of all , if the driver ( user ) possessing the authenticated portable equipment 1 enters the vehicle and actuates the switch 31 , the control circuit 22 in the on - vehicle equipment 2 reads the collation code from the memory circuit 23 , and transmits by radio a trigger signal for cipher collation as the inquiry signal 102 via the transmitting circuit 20 . at this moment , if the driver ( user ) possessing the portable equipment 1 exists within a transmission range of the on - vehicle equipment 2 , the receiving circuit 11 in the portable equipment 1 receives the inquiry signal ( trigger signal ) 102 . even if someone who does not possess the portable equipment 1 has actuated the switch 31 , communication , collation , or the like of signals does not occur . the control circuit 12 in the portable equipment 1 then refers to the collation code included in the inquiry signal 102 and determines whether to transmit a cipher code or not . the determination processing performed herein can be replaced with a processing of determining whether or not a so - called id code has been received . in other words , the control circuit 12 can respond only to the collation code transmitted from the driver &# 39 ; s own vehicle by determining from which vehicle the collation code received from the on - vehicle equipment 2 has been transmitted . if it is determined that the received collation code has been transmitted from the driver &# 39 ; s own vehicle , the control circuit 12 invokes the cipher code from the memory circuit 13 and transmits the cipher code by radio as the answer signal 101 via the transmitting circuit 10 . the battery 14 in the portable equipment 1 is a power supply source for operating the respective circuit portions . until the subsequent inquiry signal 102 is received after the answer signal 101 has been transmitted , the battery 14 waits to receive the inquiry signal 102 in a low - consumption mode to prevent power consumption in the power supply source . in order to make power supply possible by activating the battery 14 upon receiving the inquiry signal 102 , the battery 14 is designed as an energy - efficient battery capable of restraining power consumption . the on - vehicle equipment 2 receives the answer signal 101 ( including the cipher code ) from the portable equipment 1 via the receiving circuit 21 . the control circuit 22 in the on - vehicle equipment 2 invokes the collation code stored in the memory circuit 23 and collates the collation code with the received cipher code . if , for example , the steering wheel has been locked when it is determined as a result of collation that the collation code coincides with the cipher code , the control circuit 22 outputs the control signal 27 for “ unlocking ” from the input / output circuit 24 . if the user actuates the switch 31 again at this moment , the collation of id codes is carried out as described above . if it is determined as a result that the id codes ( the cipher code and the collation code ) coincide with each other , the control circuit 22 in the on - vehicle equipment 2 generates and outputs the control signal 27 from the input / output circuit 24 , turns the system relay 6 on , and activates the engine control unit 8 . the control circuit 22 outputs an engine start permitting signal to the engine control unit 8 via the communication line 100 . if the cipher code and the collation code do not coincide with each other , the control signal 27 is not generated from the on - vehicle equipment 2 and the system relay 6 is not turned on . further , as described above , the steering unlocking sensor 51 for detecting the unlocking of the steering and the oscillation sensor 56 sensing the occurrence of theft by detecting oscillation of the vehicle when the engine is not allowed to operate are connected to the control circuit 22 . still further , connected to the input / output circuit 24 are the steering unlocking section 52 for unlocking the steering , the indicator lamp 53 indicating various kinds of information ( e . g ., an abnormality in the steering unlocking section 52 , an abnormality in activation of the engine control unit 8 , a warning in the event of theft ), the hazard relay 54 issuing the same kinds of warnings ( e . g ., using a flasher lamp to provide an answerback indication in response to the coincidence between collation results or driving the flasher lamp to emit flashes of light as a warning in the event of theft ), and the alarm buzzer 55 issuing warning sound in the event of theft . furthermore , the engine control circuit 81 in the engine control unit 8 ( the section for controlling the operation of the engine 70 ) outputs a drive signal corresponding to an operation state of the engine 70 via the input / output circuit 84 , actuates the various actuators 71 , and prohibits the operation of the engine 70 . in addition to the tip - over sensor 72 for detecting tip - over of the vehicle , various sensors ( not shown ) for detecting driving states ( intake air temperature , engine coolant temperature , intake air amount , and the like ) necessary to control the engine are connected to the engine control circuit 81 . an unlocking operation performed by the steering unlocking section 52 in response to the coincidence between cipher collation results will now be described . referring to fig3 , if power is supplied to the electromagnetic solenoid 521 to release the stopper 522 caught in the catch portion 524 of the lock bar 523 in the direction indicated by an arrow c , the lock bar 523 moves toward the lock button 527 ( to the right in fig3 ) due to a restoring force of the spring 526 . then , the operating end portion 525 is released from the catch portion of the rotational member ( not shown ) of the steering , whereby the unlocking operation is completed . it is to be noted herein that the steering is locked manually by pushing the lock button 527 . referring to fig4 as well as fig1 to 3 , it will now be described how the driver unlocks the steering wheel and activates the engine 70 . fig4 is an explanatory diagram showing state transitions during operation of the system according to the first embodiment of the present invention . a flowchart in this drawing shows how the specialized system operation in the two - wheeled vehicle shifts from a steering unlocking mode to the permission of the operation of the engine 70 through an engine starting mode . referring to fig4 , first of all , the system is off in its initial state ( when the steering wheel is locked ) ( step 601 ). at this time , if the switch 31 is pushed for a short time , the control circuit 22 in the on - vehicle equipment 2 responds thereto and compares the cipher code received from the portable equipment 1 with the collation code to authenticate the portable equipment 1 ( step s 1 ). if it is determined in step s 1 that the cipher code coincides with the collation code , the steering wheel is unlocked with the system being off ( step 602 ). on the other hand , if it is determined that the cipher code does not coincide with the collation code , the current mode , that is , the off state of the system ( step 601 ) is maintained . in addition , if the switch 31 is pushed for a short time with the steering wheel being unlocked ( step 602 ), the control circuit 22 in the on - vehicle equipment 2 compares again the cipher code received from the portable equipment 1 with the collation code and authenticates the portable equipment 1 ( step s 2 ). if it is determined in step s 2 that the cipher code coincides with the collation code , the control circuit 22 activates the system relay 6 . in the manner as described above , the system is turned on ( while the engine 70 is still stopped ) ( step 603 ). at this moment , the engine control unit 8 starts up , and at the same time , the control circuit 22 delivers an engine start permitting signal to the engine control unit 8 via the communication line 100 and thus permits the various actuators 71 to be started . further , if it is desired to return the system from on ( step 603 ) to off , the switch 31 is pushed for a long time ( the portable equipment 1 is authenticated ) ( step s 3 ). in response to this , the control circuit 22 stops driving the system relay 6 , and as a result , the system is turned off again ( step 602 ). further , if the system is left to remain on ( step 603 ), the on - vehicle equipment 2 stops driving the system relay 6 after the lapse of a predetermined period of time t [ seconds ] ( e . g ., 600 seconds : fourth predetermined period of time ) ( step 605 ) and shifts the system to the off mode ( step 602 ). on the other hand , if the switch 31 is pushed again for a short time ( step s 5 ) with the system being on ( step 603 ), the control circuit 22 turns the starter relay 41 on via the starter relay driving circuit 25 . as a result , the starter 4 is driven over a predetermined period of time ts [ seconds ] ( e . g ., 3 seconds : fifth predetermined period of time ). thus , the engine 70 can be cranked with the system being on ( step 604 ). if the engine 70 has gone through an explosion stroke immediately after the lapse of the predetermined period of time ts ( 3 seconds ) or within the predetermined period of time ts ( step s 8 ), the engine 70 is started or activated with the system being on ( step 606 ). at this moment , if it is desired to stop only rotation of the engine 70 , stoppage of the engine can be realized by turning a kill switch , that is , an engine stop sw ( not shown ) on ( step s 6 ). on the other hand , in the case where engine stall has occurred ( step s 9 ) with the system being on ( step 604 ) or in the case where the engine is stopped again ( step s 10 ) with the engine 70 being started or activated ( system on ) ( step 606 ), the system returns to the state where the system is turned on while the engine is still stopped ( step 603 ). if it is desired to stop the engine 70 while the engine 70 is rotating ( s 606 ) after cranking ( step 604 ), the system can be switched off ( step 602 ) by pushing the switch 31 for a long time ( step s 7 ). if it is desired to make a shift from the off state of the system with the unlocked steering wheel ( step 602 ) to the off state of the system with the locked steering wheel ( step 601 ), it is sufficient just to push the lock button 527 manually ( see fig3 ) ( step s 11 ). further , if it is desired to make a shift from the off state of the system with the locked steering wheel ( step 601 ) to the on state of the system with the cranking engine ( step 604 ) by starting the engine at once , the switch 31 is pushed for a long time ( the portable equipment 1 is authenticated ) ( step s 4 ). in response to this , the control circuit 22 turns the steering unlocking section 52 and the system relay 6 on and issues a cranking command to the engine control unit 8 almost simultaneously . as a result , a direct shift from the off state of the system ( step 601 ) to the cranking state ( step 604 ) can be made . at this moment , since the control circuit 22 performs , in step s 4 , the processing of comparing the cipher code of the portable equipment 1 with the collation code only once , the time required for a shift to the starting mode can be reduced . next , referring to timing charts shown in fig5 and 6 , it will be described more specifically how the control circuit 22 in the on - vehicle equipment 2 operates depending on how long the switch 31 is actuated ( i . e ., whether the switch 31 is pushed for a short time or for a long time ). fig5 shows how the control circuit 22 operates when the switch 31 is sequentially actuated through a short - time push , and fig6 shows how the control circuit 22 operates when the switch 31 is actuated through a long - time push . in fig5 and 6 , the actuation of the switch 31 by the driver ( user ), the operation of comparing cipher codes in the on - vehicle equipment 2 , the unlocking operation of the steering unlocking section 52 by the control circuit 22 , and the operation of activating and stopping the system relay 6 by the control circuit 22 are illustrated together with changes in the rotational speed of the engine 70 . further , timings for actuating the switch 31 are shown in relation to the respective steps s 1 , s 2 , s 4 , s 5 , and s 7 in fig4 . first , as shown in fig5 , if the switch 31 is repeatedly and sequentially actuated for a short time ( steps s 1 , s 2 , and s 5 ) with the system being off and the steering being locked , the control circuit 22 in the on - vehicle equipment 2 performs the processing of comparing cipher codes every time after the switch 31 has been actuated through a short - time push . if it is determined that the cipher codes coincide with each other , the control circuit 22 performs a processing corresponding to the timing of actuation . that is , in response to the first short - time push ( step s 1 ), the cipher codes are compared with each other and then unlocking operation of the steering unlocking section 52 is performed . in response to the subsequent short - time push ( step s 2 ), the cipher codes are compared with each other and then the system relay 6 is turned on ( activated ). further , in response to the final short - time push ( step s 5 ), the cipher codes are compared with each other and then cranking ( starting of the engine 70 ) is performed . in addition , if the switch 31 is actuated through a long - time push ( step s 7 ) after activation of the system relay 6 , the control circuit 22 compares the cipher codes with each other in response and then turns the system relay 6 off . on the other hand , as shown in fig6 , if the switch 31 is actuated through a long - time push ( step s 4 ) with the system being off and the steering being locked , the control circuit 22 compares the cipher codes with each other and then activates the system relay 6 , performs the unlocking operation of the steering unlocking section 52 , and carries out cranking ( starting of the engine 70 ) almost simultaneously . in this case , since the processing of comparing cipher codes with each other in the on - vehicle equipment 2 is performed only once through a long - time push ( step s 4 ), the time required for a shift to the starting mode can be reduced . hereinbelow , a description will be given of countermeasures against tampering . when the switch 31 in fig1 , fig2 , and fig4 is successively actuated by a malicious third party even if the third party does not possess the portable equipment 1 , the on - vehicle equipment 2 transmits radio waves to communicate with the portable equipment 1 , without performing any specific control , every time the switch 31 is actuated . at this time , the control circuit 22 of the on - vehicle equipment 2 includes actuation signal refusing section 22 a ( refer to fig1 and 2 ) described below , which is used for preventing tampering . fig7 is a time chart for explaining the actuation signal refusing section 22 a , in which the lines denoted by reference symbols a , b , c , d , and e each show actuation of an activation switch , an activation switch monitoring period , how radio waves are transmitted from the on - vehicle equipment side , and an interface circuit current of the switch 31 , respectively . the line denoted by reference symbol a indicates an actuation signal of the switch 31 , in particular , an input signal from the switch 31 , which is on the on side when the switch 31 is pushed . when the switch 31 is pushed , radio waves are transmitted from the on - vehicle equipment 2 side as indicated by the line denoted by reference symbol d , and the interface circuit 22 b ( refer to fig1 and 2 ) in the control circuit 22 for the switch 31 consumes a current . fig7 shows a case where the switch 31 is successively ( repeatedly ) pushed as indicated by the line denoted by reference symbol a . during the activation switch monitoring period tb 1 , the actuation signal refusing section 22 a of the control circuit 22 counts the number of actuation signals , of the actuation signals transmitted from the switch 31 , for each of which no answer signal is obtained from the portable equipment 1 with respect to the inquiry signal transmitted to the portable equipment 1 within a predetermined time period . in other words , the actuation signal refusing section 22 a counts the number of the actuation signals a from the switch 31 . then , in a case where the number of the actuation signals a for each of which no answer signal is obtained is equal to or more than a prescribed number of times ( for example , 10 times ) preset within the monitoring period tb 1 ( for example , 5 to 10 seconds : a first predetermined period ), it is determined that the switch 31 is being tampered , and no answer is given to an actuation signal a from the switch 31 for an activation switch actuation lock period tc 1 ( for example , 10 seconds to 1 minute : a third predetermined period ), to thereby prevent radio waves from being transmitted to the portable equipment 1 . after that , as indicated by reference symbol al , when an authorized user comes to possess the portable equipment 1 and the switch 31 is actuated by the user , an answer signal is received in response to an inquiry signal transmitted , and normal communication is established with respect to the portable equipment 1 and collation is performed on signals . fig8 is also a time chart for explaining the countermeasures against tampering , in which reference symbols a to e denote constituent elements similar to those of fig7 . as indicated by the line denoted by reference symbol a of fig8 , even in a case where the switch 31 is continuously pushed , the interface circuit 22 b on the on - vehicle equipment side 2 consumes a current as indicated by the line denoted by reference symbol e . accordingly , in the case where the switch 31 is continuously pushed generating an actuation signal a , the actuation signal refusing section 22 a measures the duration of time during which no answer signal is obtained from the portable equipment 1 even if an inquiry signal is transmitted to the portable equipment 1 in response to the actuation signal a thus generated . in a case where the duration of time thus measured continues for the activation switch monitoring period tb 2 ( for example , 10 seconds or more : a second predetermined time period ) or more ( in other words , the actuation signal is kept turned on for the monitoring period tb 2 or more ), no answer signal is given to the actuation signal a from the switch 31 during the activation switch actuation lock period tc 1 as described above , to thereby prevent radio waves from being output to the portable equipment 1 . it is also possible to combine the above - mentioned time charts , and in at least one of the cases where actuation signals a for each of which no answer signal are successively obtained prescribed times or more , the prescribed times being predetermined within the monitoring period tb 1 , and where the actuation signal a for which no answer signal is obtained is kept turned on for the monitoring period tb 2 or more , the actuation signal a from the switch 31 may not be responded during the activation switch actuation lock period tc 1 . the monitoring period tb 1 and the monitoring period tb 2 may be set to have different lengths , or have the same length . the number of times of actuation of the switch 31 within the monitoring period tb 1 is equally counted regardless of whether the switch 31 is pushed for a short time or for a long time . also , in order not to respond to the actuation signal a from the switch 31 , during the activation switch actuation lock period tc 1 the interface circuit 22 b for the switch 31 in the control circuit 22 may be turned into a nonresponding state , that is , an off state in which no current flows therethrough . in this manner , power consumption in the interface circuit 22 b can be reduced . the same applies to a modification embodiment described later . further , by assuming a case where the above - mentioned successive actuation of the switch 31 shown in fig7 is repeatedly performed , a plurality of activation switch monitoring periods tb 1 are provided as shown in fig9 . in a case where the number of actuation signals an equal to or more than a prescribed times is counted twice or more , it is determined that the switch 31 is still being tampered . in this case , an activation switch actuation lock period tc 2 ( of , for example , 1 minute to 10 minutes ) longer than the activation switch actuation lock period tc 1 which is originally set may be provided so as not to respond to the actuation signal a . the second activation switch monitoring period tb 1 is started on condition that the switch 31 is actuated within a time t after the expiration of the first activation switch actuation lock period tc 1 and an actuation signal a for which no answer signal is obtained is input . when the switch 31 is actuated after a lapse of the time t , the flow returns to the start of the first activation switch monitoring period tb 1 . after that , as indicated by reference symbol al , when an authenticated user comes to possess the portable equipment 1 and the switch 31 is actuated , an answer signal is received in response to an inquiry signal transmitted , and normal communication is established with respect to the portable equipment 1 and collation is performed on signals . alternatively , by assuming a case where the above - mentioned continuous actuation of the switch 31 shown in fig8 is repeatedly performed , a plurality of activation switch monitoring periods tb 2 are provided as shown in fig1 . in a case where two or more of the actuation signals a which are kept turned on for the monitoring period tb 2 or more are counted , it is determined that the switch 31 is still being tampered . in this case , an activation switch actuation lock period tc 2 ( of , for example , 1 minute to 10 minutes ) longer than the activation switch actuation lock period tc 1 which is originally set may be provided so as not to respond to the actuation signal a . the second activation switch monitoring period tb 2 is started on condition that the switch 31 is actuated within a time t after the expiration of the first activation switch actuation lock period tc 1 and an actuation signal a for which no answer signal is obtained is input . when the switch 31 is actuated after a lapse of the time t , the flow returns to the start of the first activation switch monitoring period tb 2 . after that , as indicated by reference symbol al , when an authenticated user comes to possess the portable equipment 1 and the switch 31 is actuated , an answer signal is received in response to an inquiry signal transmitted , and normal communication is established with respect to the portable equipment 1 and collation is performed on signals . the functions described in fig9 and fig1 may be selectively provided in addition to the functions shown in fig7 and fig8 as necessary . also , in the above description , the activation switch actuation lock periods tc 1 and tc 2 are provided in twofold . the activation switch actuation lock periods , however , may also be provided in threefold or more , and the duration of each of the activation switch actuation lock periods may be increased stepwise along with the increase in the number of times of occurrence of the above - mentioned status . also , the above - mentioned function or construction is not limited to the above - mentioned system , and may also be applicable to a key system used for a glove compartment or a tank cap of a two - wheeled vehicle , which uses an electric key system which is unlocked through the above - mentioned switch actuation . as described above , according to the present invention , it is possible to suppress wasteful consumption of a battery due to an unnecessary operation of an activation switch tampered by a third party and also to prevent the components from being degraded due to overheating of the control circuit . in particular , in a case where the present invention is applied to a two - wheeled vehicle , for which a cost reduction is demanded , the present invention produces a significant effect of preventing , at low cost , a battery from being consumed due to tampering , without additionally providing hardware . in the above , the description has been given of a case where the present invention is applied to a two - wheeled vehicle , but it is of course possible to apply the present invention to another arbitrary propelled object which is propelled by the engine 70 ( for example , an automobile , an atv , a ship , a jet - propulsion watercraft , or the like ).	1
the present invention may be implemented on any data processing system such as , for example a ms - dos ® or windows ® based personal computer using an intel pentium microprocessor cpu . the present invention may also be implemented in a data processing network comprising any number of data processing systems , interconnected by a network . the invention relates to object invocations within an application environment or within an inter - application environment . accordingly , the invention provides a system that is designed to support methods which are implemented in one application , or in multiple , independent applications . the application or applications can reside on a single computer , or on different computers and / or different platforms that are connected by a network . for the purpose of describing the present invention , the terms data processing system and data processing network are used interchangeably , and each is intended to encompass the other . furthermore , the term application is intended to encompass a single application program or a group of interoperating application programs . any language , including higher level languages and machine languages can be used to implement the present invention , for example , c , c ++, forth , java , powerbuilder , basic or visual basic may be used . fig1 is a block diagram schematically depicting a prior art system of object invocation . the application 1000 comprises a plurality of receivers ( objects ) 1150 , 1160 and 1170 . during execution of the application 1000 , a sender 1100 may construct a message 1110 destined for a method 1172 of receiver 1170 . the sender 1100 may send the message specifying an id 1120 of the receiver method 1172 . a conventional messaging system allows the method 1172 of receiver 1170 to respond to messages 1110 from unknown sender 1100 , however , the sender 1100 must know the identity of a receiver method 1172 , prior to sending a message 1110 . turning now to fig2 a block diagram is shown schematically depicting the present invention &# 39 ; s system of invocation that addresses the acquaintance problem and resolves the limitations of prior art systems . the application 1000 comprises a plurality of receivers 1150 , 1160 and 1170 . the receivers 1150 , 1160 , 1170 in turn comprise a plurality of methods 1151 , 1161 , 1171 and 1172 . a messaging mechanism 2000 is also provided . the messaging mechanism comprises a registry 2100 for storing a plurality of registered ids 2061 , 2071 and 2072 . an “ invoke ” function may also be provided ( not shown ) for a sender 1100 to pass a message to the messaging mechanism 2000 . during execution of the application 1000 , the ids of the receiver methods 1161 , 1171 and 1172 are registered in the registry 2100 of the messaging mechanism 2000 . the ids may be registered as registered ids 2061 , 2071 and 2072 . the ids of all of the methods 1151 , 1161 , 1171 , 1172 in the application 1000 may be registered in the registry 2100 ; alternatively , however , as shown in fig2 the ids of only some of the methods 1161 , 1171 , 1172 in the application 1000 may be registered in the registry 2100 . in the latter embodiment , as will be seen from the following discussion , the unregistered methods cannot directly participate in the inventive process . for example , as shown in fig2 method 1151 is not registered , and , consequently , is not directly included in the described process . during execution of the application 1000 , a sender 1100 constructs a message 1110 . in a preferred embodiment , the sender 1100 then passes the message 1110 to the messaging mechanism 2000 . in a preferred embodiment , messaging mechanism 2000 then sends the message 1110 to each of the receiver methods 1161 , 1171 and 1172 having their id registered in the registry 2100 , seriatim , until a termination condition is reached . in one preferred embodiment , a termination condition exists when the messaging mechanism 2000 has sent the message 1110 to each of the receiver methods 1161 , 1171 and 1172 having their id registered in the registry 2100 . each receiver method 1161 , 1171 and 1172 that receives the message 1110 may independently determines whether it should act upon , or otherwise respond to the message 1110 . if none of the methods 1161 , 1171 or 1172 , act upon , or otherwise respond to the message 1110 , the message is then simply ignored . in another preferred embodiment , a termination condition is reached when one of the receivers 1161 , 1171 and 1172 respond to the message 1110 in a predetermined way . such a response could be in the form of a return value ( any return value or a prespecified return value ) to the messaging mechanism 2000 . alternatively , the response could be some other action taken by the receiver such as performing a function , or storing a prespecified value in a variable accessable to the messaging mechanism 2000 . in a preferred embodiment , the message 1110 sent to the messaging mechanism 2000 may itself contain an indication from the sender 1100 that the sender 1100 desires to have the message 1110 broadcast to each receiver method 1161 , 1171 and 1172 . alternatively , the message 1110 itself can contain an indication that the message 1110 should be sent to receiver only until it serviced . it will be apparent to one of skill in the art that the messaging mechanism 2000 can add to the message 1110 a status indicator , for example , to indicate that the message has been serviced or that the message 1110 has already been sent to other receivers . such a status indicator can be inspected by the receiver method 1161 , 1171 and 1172 , which method can make an independent determination of what action to take based upon the status . the status indicator could , for example , comprise the return value from previously sending the message 1110 to another receiver method 1161 , 1171 or 1172 . in a preferred embodiment , the registry 2100 containing id 2061 , 2071 and 2072 of receiver method 1161 , 1171 and 1172 , and may also contain an indication whether a given receiver method 1161 , 1171 , 1172 desires to inspect all messages , or whether it desires to receive only messages not yet responded by other receivers . it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that where the sender 1100 desires to have the message serviced by the first receiver , the messaging mechanism 2000 can use a prioritization scheme to determine an order of the receiver methods 1161 , 1171 and 1172 . in order to implement such a prioritization scheme , information may be stored in the registry 2100 relating to the order in which to send messages 1110 . multiple prioritization schemes may also be maintained to permit prioritization on varying criteria . furthermore , while monitoring for a termination condition , the messaging mechanism 2000 may monitor to determine which of the methods 1161 , 1171 or 1172 responds to a particular kind of message 1110 . as will be readily apparent to one of skill in the art , the messaging mechanism 2000 can then use this information to determine an order of the receiver methods 1161 , 1171 and 1172 . for example , the message 1110 can be sent first to the method 1161 , 1171 and 1172 most likely to respond , thus reducing processing overhead . it will also be apparent to one of skill in the art that this type of monitoring can be dynamically adjusted , for example , when additional receiver methods are registered . the present invention may be implemented as a part of or as an add - on to any sufficiently object - oriented language and for any of these languages it may be implemented in variety of ways . in a preferred embodiment it is implemented in c ++ as shown in the following example : initially , the receiver methods register with the registry by calling a global function , register_receiver ( void * receiver , void ( receiver_class ::* pf )( action_object )). see no . 1 , table 1 . in a preferred embodiment , this function is invoked in the receivers &# 39 ; constructor code . as discussed above , in the present invention , the message constructed by a sender is not sent directly to a receiver . instead , the message is passed to the messaging mechanism and then as a parameter to a specific receiver method . this allows for any type or structure that is consistent and mutually understood . on other hand , since the message may be analyzed by all receiver methods , it has to be generic enough to contain sufficient information for a receiver method to analyze it and respond appropriately . to meet these requirements for this example , a special class , action_object is used for constructing , passing and analyzing messages . in a preferred embodiment , this class provides functionality for storing and obtaining any number of named parameters . to construct a message , sender first creates an object of class action_object . see no . 2 , table 1 . in a preferred embodiment , the sender then stores parameters in this object using the function , set ( string parameter_name , & lt ; type & gt ; parameter_value ). using function overloading , this function can allow for various types of parameter_value . in the table 1 example sender 1100 constructs a message 1110 requesting the average monthly balance for november 1995 . see no . 3 , table 1 . the object is passed to the messaging mechanism by the sender by calling the function , invokes ( ), see no . 4 , table 1 , and eventually passed by the messaging mechanism as parameter to the registered receiver method , balance_calculator ( action_object msg ). in a preferred embodiment , to analyze the message , the receiver method obtains parameter values by names using the function , get ( string parameter_name , & lt ; type & gt ;* returned_value ). using function overloading , this function allows for various types of returned_value . see no . 5 , table 1 . in a preferred embodiment , the receiver methods can pass information back to sender 1100 using the function set to store a return information in the same instance of action_object . see no . 6 , table 1 . preferably , if all of the receiver methods ( to which the messaging mechanism sent the message ) return 0 , i . e . none of them responds to the message , the invoke function returns 0 to the sender . if one or more of the receiver methods responds to the message , the invoke function returns non - zero to the sender . this allows sender to determine whether a response was received , and possibly , to perform default actions . see no . 7 , table 1 . if the sender needs to obtain returned information , in a preferred embodiment , it can use the function get . see no . 89 , table 1 . as this example demonstrates , the sender does not have to be aware of the receiver 1150 , 1160 , 1170 , nor its methods 1151 , 1161 , 1171 , 1172 . the communication is based on the business language of the application , e . g ., “ average balance ,” “ year ,” and “ month ,” which relate to the application &# 39 ; s 1000 functionality , and not its implementation . accordingly , in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the methods 1151 , 1161 , 1171 , 1172 of various receivers 1150 , 1160 , 1170 collectively form the functional language of the application 1000 . each sender 1100 relates to the whole application 1000 by sending messages 1110 . it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that most objects are both senders and receivers , and the designation herein is merely for clarity of the description . it is both contemplated , and within the scope of the invention , to have senders comprise methods to receive messages from the messaging mechanism . the inventive approach to messaging encapsulates object existence as well as the association between objects and messages . thus , not only are a receivers &# 39 ; methods transparent to a sender but so is the receiver itself . parts of the application 1000 need not be aware of the objects comprising the application 1000 or the architecture or construction of the application 1000 in general beyond what functions or services are or intended to be available in the application 1000 . it does not matter which object methods 1151 , 1161 , 1171 , 1172 , respond to which messages 1110 . this allows the association of messages with object methods to be changed transparently . the messaging mechanism 2000 is not involved in determining the receiver method 1151 , 1161 , 1171 , 1172 for a message 1110 . instead , the messaging mechanism 2000 may send a message to all registered receiver methods 1161 , 1171 , 1172 , or until the receiver method 1161 , 1171 , 1172 generates a termination condition , i . e ., the receiver method 1161 , 1171 , 1172 invokes the appropriate response . this leaves the determination of whether or not to handle a given message 1110 and what is the appropriate response to the receiver methods . since each receiver method 1161 , 1171 , 1172 may analyze the received message 1110 independently according to its own criteria , the message analysis algorithm of each receiver method 1161 , 1171 , 1172 may be tuned independently to optimize performance of the process . in summary , to participate in and receive messages 1110 from the messaging mechanism 2000 , a receiver method 1151 , 1161 , 1171 , 1172 has only to identify itself ( i . e ., register ). the messaging mechanism 2000 passes each message 1110 to each registered receiver method 1161 , 1171 , 1172 until an appropriate response , i . e ., a termination condition , is reached . although the present invention has been described in relation to particular preferred embodiments thereof , many variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art . the present invention , therefore , is not intended to be limited to the specific disclosed embodiments , but its scope is described only by the appended claims .	6
as mentioned above , the present invention is directed to a conductive , light absorbing praseodymium - manganese oxide layer for use within an fed . this layer serves to bleed off surface charge associated with stray electrons within the fed , and must have a resistivity no greater than 1 × 10 5 ω · cm , preferably no greater than 1 × 10 4 ω · cm , and more preferably no greater than 1 × 10 3 ω · cm . furthermore , the praseodymium - manganese oxide layer also serves to absorb back - emitted photons ( i . e ., photons emitted from the faceplate in the direction of the baseplate ). due to its very dark color , the praseodymium - manganese oxide layer readily absorbs light ( i . e ., the light absorption coefficient of praseodymium - manganese oxide is on the order of 1 × 10 5 cm - 1 ), which provides a number of benefits to the fed . one of these benefits is that it minimizes the photoelectric effect in the underlying circuitry due to stray photons striking the baseplate of the fed . a further beneficial property is that it provides better contrast between the emitted light and the ambient background reflection from the cathode surface . the problems associated with existing fed screens is illustrated by reference to the prior art screen of fig1 . specifically , fig1 is a cross - sectional view of an fed screen 2 which is comprised of baseplate 3 and faceplate 4 . faceplate 4 includes an array of pixels 6 in contact with conductive layer 9 , which in turn is in contact with a transparent material 5 . baseplate 3 includes an array of emitter tips 10 which protrude from a silicon substrate 12 . a conductive layer 14 contacts the emitter tips to an addressing scheme ( not shown ) that selectively connects each of the emitter tips to a power supply ( not shown ). an insulating layer 16 surrounds each of the emitter tips 10 . a conductive gate 18 also surrounds the emitter tips and is separated from conductive layer 14 and substrate 12 by insulating layer 16 . conductive grid 18 is connected to the positive terminal of a power supply through a similar addressing scheme ( not shown ) as that of the emitter tips . when a particular emitter tip is addressed , such as emitter tip 11 in fig1 an electric field is placed between the appropriate conductive gate and emitter tip . this electric field causes emitter tip 11 to release a stream of electrons ( represented by arrows 17 and 19 ) toward pixel 7 located on faceplate 4 . for purpose of clarity , fig1 depicts a single pixel corresponding to each emitter tip . however , it should be recognized that more than one emitter tip may be associated with a single pixel . furthermore , the distance between faceplate 4 and baseplate 3 may be fixed by use of suitable supporting elements ( not shown ), and faceplate 4 and baseplate 3 are sealed along their edges and a high vacuum ( e . g ., 1 × 10 - 5 to 1 × 10 - 8 torr ) is maintained therein . when an electron ( as depicted by arrow 19 of fig1 ) strikes phosphor pixel 7 , the phosphor is elevated to an excited state and emits photon 8 as it drops back to a ground state . photon 8 is seen by the viewer as a point of light . however , it is equally likely that the photon will be released back toward baseplate 3 , as represented by photon 15 . in this instance , photon 15 may create a photoelectric effect which leads to undesirable electrons and holes in the components of baseplate 3 . fig1 also illustrates a further problem associated with existing fed screens . rather than exciting the phosphor pixel causing release of photons , electrons directed to a targeted pixel may be reflected , scattered or absorbed by the pixel . some of these reflected electrons ( as depicted by arrow 13 of fig1 ) and / or those produced by secondary emissions may travel back in the direction of baseplate 3 , again resulting in unwanted electrons and producing holes in baseplate 3 . the present invention overcomes the above problems by employing a baseplate having a layer of praseodymium - manganese oxide upon the interior surface of the baseplate ( i . e ., the surface opposite the faceplate ). as illustrated in fig2 an fed screen 20 of this invention contains faceplate 4 and baseplate 3 . a praseodymium - manganese oxide layer 22 is in contact with conducting gate 18 which , in turn , is in contact with insulating layer 16 on conductive layer 14 and substrate 12 . emitter tips 10 and faceplate 4 ( containing pixels 6 , conductive layer 9 and transparent material 5 ) are the same as described above for fig1 . when a photon ( as depicted by arrow 15 in fig2 ) strikes praseodymium - manganese oxide layer 22 it is absorbed , thus obviating the photoelectric effect and improving contrast of the fed . electrons that are reflected back toward baseplate 3 ( as depicted by arrow 13 in fig2 ) also impinge upon by the praseodymium - manganese oxide layer . because the praseodymium - manganese oxide layer 22 is conductive , captured electrons are discharged through the conductivity gate 18 when the conductivity gate 18 is positively biased . alternatively , if the praseodymium - manganese oxide layer 22 is electrically isolated from the conductivity gate 18 , for example , by an intermediate insulative layer ( not shown ), the praseodymium - manganese oxide layer 22 could be grounded . in any event , the praseodymium - manganese oxide layer sharply reduces the number of electrons that impinge on components of baseplate 3 , thus eliminating undesirable electron holes therein . accordingly , in one embodiment of this invention , a praseodymium - manganese oxide material is disclosed which is suitable for depositing upon the interior surface of a baseplate of an fed . the praseodymium - manganese oxide material may be represented by the formula pr : mn : o 3 , wherein the molar ratio of praseodymium to manganese ( pr : mn ) may generally range from 0 . 1 : 1 to 1 : 0 . 1 , and preferably from 0 . 5 : 1 to 1 : 0 . 5 . this molar ratio has been found to yield suitable conductivity for the resulting praseodymium - manganese oxide layer . furthermore , by increasing the amount of manganese in relation to praseodymium , conductivity is increased ( i . e ., resistivity is decreased ). the praseodymium - manganese oxide material may be made by combining pr 6 o 11 with mno 2 ( or mnco 3 ) in a mill jar , and milling the same to a powder containing particles having an average diameter of approximately 2 μm . this powder is then heated at a temperature ranging from 1200 °- 1500 ° c ., preferably from 1250 °- 1430 ° c ., for about 4 hours . after heating , the resulting material is very dark colored , essentially matte black . the heated material may then be re - crushed and milled to again yield a powder having an average particle diameter of about 2 μm . as mentioned above , the ratio of pr to mn influences the conductivity of the resulting praseodymium - manganese oxide layer . such a ratio may be controlled by the relative amounts of the components pr 6 o 11 and mno 2 ( or mnco 3 ). thus , these components are mixed in amounts sufficient to yield the pr : mn ratio disclosed above . the praseodymium - manganese oxide material may be deposited on the interior surface of the baseplate by any number of techniques to a thickness ranging from 1 , 000 å to 15 , 000 å . such deposition techniques are known to those skilled in this field , and include ( but are not limited to ) radio frequency ( rf ) sputtering , laser ablation , plasma deposition , chemical vapor deposition ( cvd ) and electron beam evaporation . for example , in the case of rf sputtering , the praseodymium - manganese oxide material is compressed to make a planar target , which is then mounted within a suitable backing plate for rf sputtering . sputtering may then be carried out in an rf sputterer using argon or argon and oxygen gas , with a substrate temperature of 200 °- 350 ° c . and a sputtering pressure of about 6 × 10 - 3 to about 3 × 10 - 2 torr . with regard to cvd , organometallic precursors for pr and mn would be employed , such as pr acetate , pr oxalate or pr ( thd ) 3 , as well as mn acetate , mn carbonyl , mn methoxide and mn oxalate . the resistivity of the praseodymium - manganese oxide material may also be controlled by , for example , firing the material ( after deposited as a layer on the interior surface of the baseplate ) in a reducing atmosphere , such as hydrogen and / or carbon monoxide . such treatment serves to increase conductivity ( reducing resistivity ) to levels suitable for use in the practice of this invention . alternatively , additional components may be added to the material , such as conductive ions and / or metals , to further enhance conductivity . the resulting praseodymium - manganese oxide layer on the interior surface of the baseplate shields the underlying circuitry from photons and stray electrons as discussed above . since the praseodymium - manganese oxide layer is very dark colored , it also yields high contrast to the fed . furthermore , an fed which employs the present invention possess high legibility under ambient lighting conditions , and are particularly suited for use as screens for televisions , portable computers and as displays for outdoor use , such as avionics and automobiles . the following examples are presented for purpose of illustration , not limitation . pr 6 o 11 and mno 2 were purchased from a commercial source ( cerac , la puente , calif .) and used without further purification . both components were placed in a mill jar ( 510 . 72 grams pr 6 o 11 and 86 . 94 grams mno 2 ), 500 ml of isopropyl alcohol was added , and the resulting slurry milled for 24 hours at 100 rpm . the slurry was dried in an oven under a nitrogen atmosphere . the dried material was fired at 1350 ° c . for 4 hours , and then cooled . the cooled material was ground to small particles ( average diameter of about 2 μm ) using a suitable grinding technique . the resulting powdered material of example 1 may be deposited on the baseplate by any of a variety of acceptable techniques . for example , in the case of rf sputtering , the powdered material may be sintered to form a planar sputter target . sputtering may then be carried out in an rf sputterer using argon or argon and oxygen gas , with a substrate temperature of 200 °- 350 ° c ., and a pressure of about 6 × 10 - 3 to 3 × 10 - 2 torr . the baseplate of example 2 may used in the manufacture an fed screen using known techniques . the resulting fed has a number of advantages over existing products , including : reduced photoelectric effect ; reduced damage by reflected electrons from the faceplate to the baseplate components ; and improved display image and contrast due to absorption of any ambient light reaching the baseplate and / or by absorption of any photons emitted by the faceplate in the direction of the baseplate . from the foregoing it will be appreciated that , although specific embodiments of this invention have been described herein for the purpose of illustration , various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of this invention . accordingly , this invention is not limited except as by the appended claims .	7
fig1 depicts post - surgery brassiere 100 . in the illustrative embodiment , bra 100 includes cups 102 a and 102 b , shoulder straps 104 a and 104 b , back band 108 , and base band 112 . cups 102 a and 102 b and back band 108 comprise a compressive fabric , such as , without limitation , lycra ® brand spandex fiber or tencel ® brand fiber . using a compression - type material promotes healing and reduces the risk of seroma formation . in some embodiments , the compressive fabric includes an anti - stain treatment . in some further embodiments , the brassiere comprises a fabric liner that is resistant to serous and serosanguinous staining . in yet some additional embodiments , the brassiere comprises a removable fabric liner , which can be disposed of or washed . brassiere 100 is readily removable to provide for wound - site care and is capable of machine washing so that blood , bacteria , and fluids draining from the wound can be removed from the garment . this reduces the risk of bacteria harboring in the surgical garment . it also reduces the need for excess gauze and padding because the bra can be readily removed and washed . such removability is facilitated in brassiere 100 by one or more release points ; the illustrative embodiment has three . one release point is medial closure 110 , which is disposed between cups 102 a and 102 b . in the illustrative embodiment , medial closure 110 is a hook - and - eye fastener ; in some other embodiments , other fastening arrangements ( e . g ., hook - and - loop , etc .) may suitably be used . the other two release points are superior closures 106 a and 106 b , which are situated along respective shoulder straps 104 a and 104 b . in the illustrative embodiment , superior closures 106 a and 106 b comprise paired strips of hook - and - loop fastener , such as velcro ® brand , available from velcro co . of manchester , n . h . in some alternative embodiments , superior closures 106 a and 106 b can be situated between each cup 102 a and 102 b and the respective shoulder strap 104 a and 104 b . base band 112 comprises an elastic material that is attached to the bottom edge of the cups 102 a and 102 b and back band 108 . by virtue of its elasticity , band 118 ensures that the bottom of the bra remains tight to the body . aperture 114 is disposed in back band 108 ; it is sited so that when the brassiere is in use , the aperture aligns with the side of the wearer underneath the axilla ( i . e ., arm pit ). in the illustrative embodiment , aperture 114 is a placket , which is arranged to open through base band 112 . the aperture is closed by closure 116 , which in the illustrative embodiment is implemented as a strip of hook - and - loop fastener that couples to piece of hook - and - loop fastener disposed on base band 118 . alternatively , base band 112 or a portion thereof can be formed of a “ hook - compatible fabric ” ( i . e ., velcro ® receptive ). in other words , closure 116 , when implemented as hook - and - loop fastener , will simply “ stick ” to the fabric . such fabric is commercially available from darlington fabrics of westerly , r . i ., and others . in some other embodiments , other types of closure mechanisms known to those skilled in the art can suitably be used . although brassiere 100 depicts a single aperture 114 , in some other embodiments , a second aperture , typically in the form of a placket , is disposed on the opposite side of the brassiere . the second aperture is situated so that when the bra is worn , the second aperture aligns generally with a wearer &# 39 ; s other axilla . aperture 114 enables the tubes from a boost - treatment device to pass through the brassiere . to the extent it is present , the flexible tubing of a drain , such as a jp drain , can pass through aperture 114 as well . the inventor recognized that using a placket , as opposed a hole through the side band , enables a user to put on or take off the brassiere without removing the drain &# 39 ; s collection bulb . also , if a discrete hole / opening is sized to permit passage of a collection bulb for a specific type of drain , it might be undersized to permit the passage of other bulbs from other drains . the boost - treatment device tubes and jp drain tube extending from aperture 114 raise different concerns . as previously indicated , the boost - treatment tubes must be immobilized to prevent rotation or any movement thereof . the collection bulb and tubing of the jp drain , on the other hand , must simply be supported below the heart in as unobtrusive a manner as possible . in accordance with embodiments of the invention , to address the boost - treatment device tubes , the brassiere includes fixation element 120 for immobilizing the catheters / tubes of the boost - treatment devices . in the illustrative embodiment , fixation element 120 is situated a short distance ( e . g ., typically ½ to 1½ inches ) from aperture 114 and is oriented , as appropriate , to receive and fully immobilize the catheters / tubes . in the illustrative embodiment , fixation element 120 comprises a first strip of material that is attached ( e . g ., sewn , etc .) to the back band . the first strip of material includes the female half of each of several ( three in the illustrative embodiment ) snaps 121 . the fixation element 120 also includes a second strip of material having the male half of each of several snaps 121 . the first and second strip of material can be snapped together . the distance between adjacent snaps 121 is quite small , such that the tubes of boost - treatment devices , once positioned between adjacent snaps , are tightly compressed against one another so that they are effectively immobilized . in some other embodiments , the female and male portions of snaps can be replaced , for example , with several pieces of hook - and - loop fastener . in the illustrative embodiment , fixation device 120 is oriented substantially parallel to aperture 114 . that is , in such embodiments , fixation device 120 has a generally vertical orientation , such that it is substantially orthogonal to base band 112 of the brassiere . this orientation places the tubes of boost - treatment devices exiting protruding from aperture 114 under the least amount of stress / tension ( i . e ., from bending ), making it relatively easier to immobilize the tubes . to support the extracorporeal portions of a jp drain , in the illustrative embodiment , brassiere 100 includes two loops 122 of material , such as ribbon , etc ., one of which hangs from base band 112 below each cup 102 a and 102 b . one retaining ring 124 couples from each loop 122 . in the illustrative embodiment , retaining rings 124 comprises plastic . the retaining rings can be opened and closed to support the collection bulb and a drain and the associated tubing . markings 118 , which in the illustrative embodiment are a series of parallel vertical lines printed or otherwise appearing on base band 112 , serve as a scale for repeated , consistent positioning of closure 116 . fig2 depicts post - surgery brassiere 100 in use ( patient &# 39 ; s body is not depicted for clarity ). two boost - treatment - device tubes 230 and tube 232 of a jp drain are shown protruding from aperture 114 . those skilled in the art will appreciate that a boost - treatment device and a jp drain would typically not be used in a patient at the same time ; they are shown together in fig2 for convenience . as depicted in fig2 , fixation element 120 immobilizes tubes 230 of a boost - treatment device against back band 108 of brassiere 100 . drain tube 232 couples to collection bulb 234 of a jp drain . the collection bulb collects excess lymphatic fluid that is withdrawn from the body via tube 230 . retaining ring 124 is coupled to loop 236 of collection bulb 234 . as previously discussed , to couple retaining ring 124 to loop 236 , the ring is opened , the loop 236 is positioned on the opened ring , and then the ring is closed . as appropriate , fixation element 120 can be used to provide additional support to tube 232 of the jp drain . it is to be understood that the disclosure teaches just one example of the illustrative embodiment and that many variations of the invention can easily be devised by those skilled in the art after reading this disclosure and that the scope of the present invention is to be determined by the following claims .	0
referring first to fig1 there is shown a perspective , exploded view of the apparatus which employs and constitutes a preferred embodiment of the invention . an enclosed chamber 10 formed from walls 12 , 14 , 16 , 18 and others not shown is designed for holding fluids for any purpose suitable to the user . wall 18 has opening 20 extending transverse the wall with adjacent recesses 22 and 24 at opposite sides of the opening . gasket 26 , approximately equal to or just slightly thicker than wall 18 and consisting of body portion 26 and tab members 28 and 30 , is arranged to fit into opening 20 and recesses 22 and 24 . the tab portions are adapted to deform slightly to fit securely in the recesses at their extremities or interface points but it is not required or desired that the tabs completely fill the recesses . in the embodiment illustrated , the surface of the gasket and those of the corresponding opening and recesses are planar . although this is the most likely configuration , any surface shape , a curved surface for example , should function equally well providing the surface of the gasket and opening and recesses closely mate . upon positioning gasket 26 in opening 20 , edges 32 , 34 , and 36 of tab 28 and edges 38 , 40 , and 42 of tab 30 will press firmly against the peripheral surfaces of their corresponding recesses 22 and 24 . sheet gasket 44 and side plate 46 are secured to the side of the chamber by bolts 48 and 50 and others not shown to complete the enclosure . although substantial sealing is accomplished by the initial force fit of the tabs within the recesses , anchoring the plate squeezes the surface of gasket 26 causing the tabs to deform further and press more securely against the recess surfaces further accomplishing the sealing of the chamber against leakage past the interface of the tab edges and the recesses . although practically all leakage is stopped at edges 32 and 38 , any fluid flow outward past edges 32 and 38 would be further inhibited by the seal provided by edges 34 and 40 , as edges 36 and 42 would further act to prevent leakage of any fluid which escaped the seal at edges 34 and 40 . conduits 52 and 54 passing through gasket body 26 provide , for example , an inlet and outlet for controlled fluid flow as would be appropriate to the designated use of the chamber . similarly , an electrode terminal may pass through the gasket as is required in the electrodialysis apparatus shown in fig2 . fig2 illustrates an expanded portion of an electrodialysis filter press consisting of an end block 56 , an end block gasket 58 , a cathode frame 60 , a cathode 62 , cathode ion exchange membrane 64 , central membrane 66 , gasket frames 68 and 70 , anode ion exchange membrane 72 , and anode frame 74 and anode 76 . futher cells are added to the apparatus by supplying additional sets of the components delineated above . in operation , the entire assembly is forced together by hydraulic press means not shown , and appropriate solutions are injected into and withdrawn from the apparatus by pump and piping not shown . internal flow of the chemical solution is controlled and organized by the plurality of rectangular ports visible in each of the gaskets and frames . depending upon the desired routing , some ports have access to the interior of the frames by channels in the bodies of the frames , also not shown . thus solutions undergoing chemical change by electrodialysis , flow through the press and are acted upon by the electrical states of the cathode and anode and by the differentiating abilities of the ion exchange membranes . the end block is comprised of a hard material such as pvc , the gaskets of a flexible material , noeprene for example , and the electrodes of porous expanded metal , such as nickel . gaskets 78 and 80 are of the type which comprise the invention as described above and function in an entirely similar nature , i . e . transverse or interior to exterior leakage of solutions passing through the press is prevented at the electrode - frame interface by interposing gaskets 78 and 80 between those components . anode terminal 82 and cathode terminal 84 pass through their respective gaskets for connection to an appropriate power source not shown . the gaskets are shown in more detail in fig3 wherein tabs 86 and 88 extend from the main body 90 which has a substantial aperture 92 for receiving an electrode terminal . the tabs are shown as having four edges for interfacing with an appropriate frame recess . fig4 illustrates an alternative tab configuration for the type of gasket described in the previous figures . tab 100 attached to body 101 fits into recess 102 contacting the recess at points 104 and 106 . the gasket may be made of any of a variety of elastic materials . neoprene rubber of a durometer of 60 has been found to perform well . conduits or terminals passing through the gasket may be attached by appropriate adhesives having some ability to fill any uneven spaces which may occur between the two . neoprene trowelling compound may be used as well as any of a variety of materials which would be appropriate to those skilled in the art . having described the concept of the device , the scope of the invention is defined by the following claims .	1
preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the annexed drawings . in the following description , a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein has been omitted for clarity and conciseness . the present invention relates to a hybrid - mode terminal ( or hybrid terminal ) in which several types of communication systems supported by the terminal time - share hardware resources such as radio frequency unit ( rf ) and modem , and in particular , to controller software that simultaneously processes sleep processors of several communication systems using one sleep controller hardware . the terminal includes ‘ n ’ system protocol stacks ( ps ) 305 to 310 , one hybrid sleep controller ( hsc ) 315 , one sleep controller 320 and a shared hardware 325 . hsc 315 is a software module , and sleep controller 320 is a hardware module . in the present invention , all sleep and wake - up related hardware interfaces , which were conventionally performed in the system pss , are performed by hsc 315 . system pss 305 and 310 do not need to perform a monitoring operation and a control operation for the sleep controller and the hardware such as the clock and rf , and when a sleep condition is satisfied , system pss 305 and 310 are allowed to send a sleep request to hsc 315 or perform the next software process upon receipt of a wake - up command from hsc 315 . herein , hsc 315 controls sleep and wake - up of several systems using one sleep controller 320 and a timer ( not shown ). a detailed description will now be made of an example of sleep / wake - up processes of the hybrid terminal . in the terminal where two systems 305 and 310 operate , it is assumed that a system - 1 ps 305 performs a wake - up process and a system - 2 ps 310 performs a sleep process . if system - 2 ps 310 sends in step 1 a sleep request to the hybrid sleep controller 315 as it is in a sleep condition , hybrid sleep controller 315 informs in ; step 2 system - 2 ps 310 whether it will turn off the hardware , depending on the entire system situation . when there is a need to turn off hardware 325 , hybrid sleep controller 315 directly turns off hardware 325 in step 3 . sleep controller 320 , when a wake - up interrupt has occurred therein , reports in step 4 the occurrence of the wake - up interrupt to hybrid sleep controller 315 and hybrid sleep controller 315 informs whether it can wake up or it should turn on the hardware , depending on the entire system situation . when wake - up is possible , hsc 315 sends a wake - up command to system - 1 ps 305 in step 5 . however , when wake - up is not possible , hsc 315 calculates the next sleep interval and re - sets sleep controller 320 in step 6 . when there is a need to turn on the hardware , system - 1 ps 305 turns on the hardware in step 7 . the present invention classifies the sleep mode into a real sleep mode and a virtual sleep mode . when all systems of the terminal have entered the sleep mode , i . e . when there is no system using hardware of the terminal , the terminal operates in the real sleep mode of turning off the hardware . however , when there is any system in waiting or in operation , the terminal does not enter the sleep mode but operates in the virtual sleep mode in which the terminal counts sleep time of the sleep requesting system using a timer and reports arrival of wake - up time at the wake - up time . determination and execution of real sleep and virtual sleep are both achieved by hsc 315 . upon receipt of a sleep request message from an arbitrary system , hsc 315 analyzes states of other systems , and when there are other systems waiting to use the hardware , hsc 315 allocates hardware to the systems that wait for the hardware while performing virtual sleep . when all other systems are in the sleep state , i . e . in the virtual sleep state , hsc 315 calculates the sleep interval taking into account wake - up times of all systems , and then performs the real sleep mode . the conventional terminal needs 5 interfaces for each individual system in this way , but the terminal according to the present invention can perform the sleep mode only with 2 interfaces separately for each individual system , in addition to 3 shared interfaces . in addition , when the number of interfaces between blocks decreases , the number of exceptional cases decreases and debugging is easy to perform . hsc 315 analyzes states of all systems only with the sleep request and appropriately controls the state of each system , so there is no need for additional interfaces from each system to the hsc 315 . a description will now be made of an example of a real sleep mode and a virtual sleep mode in a terminal that simultaneously supports two systems . it is assumed herein that as a system 1 is higher in priority than a system 2 , when the system 1 should operate in an active state , the system 2 , even though it is using hardware in the active state , should make a concession for the hardware and wait until the process of the system 1 is ended . in the case of fig4 , two systems both repeat sleep and wake - up in the idle state . system 2 is already in the sleep state at the time system 1 intends to sleep after completing its processing , and the wake - up time closest to the current time is the wake - up time of system 2 . the hsc calculates a sleep interval taking into account the current time and the wake - up time of system 2 , and performs real sleep for the sleep interval . because terminal 1 enters the real sleep , system 2 , although it was in virtual sleep , has no more need for virtual sleep , so it disables the timer . in the case of fig5 , a system 1 is in an idle state and a system 2 is in an active state . when system 1 wakes up , system 2 stops its use of the hardware and waits until the process of system 1 is completed . after completing its process , system 1 sends a sleep request to the hsc . the hsc , because system 2 is in a waiting state , performs virtual sleep for the sleep interval of system 1 , and informs system 2 of availability of the hardware . in fig6 a , because the system ps has no need for monitoring or control for a sleep controller or hardware such as clock and rf , when a sleep condition is satisfied in step 610 , the system ps sends a sleep request message to the hsc in step 620 . in step fig6 b , upon receipt of a wake - up command from the hsc in step 650 , the system ps wakes up by performing a software wake - up process in step 660 . in this manner , because the system ps has no interface to the sleep controller , when the system ps is in the sleep state , it provides the corresponding information to the hsc , and performs a wake - up process upon receipt of a wake - up command from the hsc . in fig7 a to 7c , upon receipt of a sleep request message from an arbitrary system , the hsc determines whether the current state is a real sleep state or a virtual sleep state , and determines the system that it should drive when a sleep timer expires or when it receives a wake - up signal from the sleep controller . to this end , upon receipt of a sleep request from each system , the hsc stores a wake - up time of the system and stores a sleep related status . referring to fig7 a , upon receipt of a sleep request message from an arbitrary system in step 702 , hsc analyzes in step 704 states of other systems and checks whether they are waiting for processing . in step 706 , the hsc determines presence / absence of any waiting system . if it is determined in step 706 that there is no waiting system , the usc calculates in step 714 a hardware sleep interval to perform real sleep . in this calculation , the usc compares a wake - up time of the sleep requesting system with wake - up times of other systems currently in sleep , to select the earliest wake - up time , and calculates a hardware sleep interval from a sleep setting start time until the selected wake - up time . in step 716 , the usc sets the calculated sleep interval , and simultaneously sets the sleep controller so that it may turn off the main clock of the modem . thereafter , in step 718 , the usc turns off the hardware power . at this time , if a virtual sleep timer is in operation , the usc releases the timer . however , if it is determined in step 706 that a particular system is waiting for hardware allocation thereto , the usc performs virtual sleep through steps 708 to 712 . that is , in step 708 , the usc sends an active command to the particular system waiting for the hardware allocation . in step 710 , the usc compares wake - up times of all systems except for the system waiting for hardware allocation , to select the earliest wake - up time , and then calculates a sleep interval from the sleep setting start time until the selected wake - up time . thereafter , in step 712 , the usc sets a sleep timer for the calculated sleep interval , and informs the allocation - waiting system that hardware has been allocated thereto . when more than one system is waiting for hardware allocation , the usc selects an appropriate system according to priority of the systems and the requirement of the terminal , and allocates the hardware to the selected system . referring to fig7 b , when a wake - up interrupt has occurred from a sleep controller in step 730 , the usc sends in step 732 a wake - up command indicating the wake - up situation to the corresponding system . in step 734 , the usc provides the sleep controller with information indicating a timing offset between a main clock and a slow clock , and the sleep controller compensates for the timing offset and then turns on the main clock of the modem at the set time . in step 736 , the usc turns on power of the hardware . in step 738 , the hsc determines whether there is any system requiring virtual sleep among the systems other than the waked - up ( awaken ) system , and if needed , the usc compares wake - up times of the systems to select the earliest wake - up time , and calculates a sleep interval from the sleep setting start time until the selected wake - up time . thereafter , the hsc sets a sleep timer in step 740 . the reason for setting the timer during wake - up is because when the system allocated hardware continues its processing without sleeping until the time that another system should wake up , in order to perform access or handover , the hsc cannot recognize the time that another system should wake up . in addition , the hsc sets the timer because there is a possible case in which it should wake up another system after stopping the system currently in operation according to the requirement of the terminal . when the currently awaken system sleeps before expiration of the timer , the hsc compulsorily releases the timer as described above , and then performs real sleep processing . referring to fig7 c , if the virtual sleep timer has expired in step 750 , i . e . if another system is operating at a wake - up time of one system , the hsc determines in step 752 if the system should be allocated hardware , according to priority of two systems and the requirement of the terminal . if it is determined in step 752 that the system currently in operation has higher priority , the hsc continuously maintains the hardware allocation and calculates the next wake - up time for the wake - up requesting system , in step 754 . thereafter , in step 756 , the hsc selects the earliest wake - up time among the calculated wake - up times , and re - sets the sleep timer . however , if it is determined in step 752 that the wake - up requesting system has higher priority , the hsc sends in step 758 a hold command to the system currently , in operation to stop its use of the hardware . in step 760 , the hsc sends a wake - up command indicating the wake - up situation to the wake - up requesting system . thereafter , in step 762 , the hsc calculates the next wake - up times for the systems except for the current system and the awaken system . in step 756 , the hsc selects the earliest wake - up time among the calculated wake - up times , and re - sets the sleep timer . with use of the hsc operating procedures of fig7 a to 7c , several systems of the hybrid terminal can control the slotted mode function . as is apparent from the foregoing description , the present invention can realize slotted mode control of the hybrid terminal simultaneously supporting several communication systems , using one sleep controller and a timer , so the present invention is simple in terms of the inter - system control path compared to the prior art , thereby contributing to a reduction in the sleep and wake - up processing time . in this case , the idle time for which the terminal is awaken decreases , and the sleep time increases , thus contributing to a reduction in the power consumption of the terminal . while the invention has been shown and described with reference to a certain preferred embodiment 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 spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .	8
referring to the drawings , in fig1 and 2 an end view and top plan view respectively of a plastic container is shown , having an improved hinge . the plastic container 10 has a cover portion 12 and a body portion 14 , with a front wall ( not shown ) having suitable latching means , and a rear wall 16 . the hinge is mounted , preferably moldably mounted , on rear wall 16 . thus , the improved hinge arrangement preferably forms an integral part of the rear wall 16 of the cover portion 12 and body portion 14 of container 10 , and the hinge portions can be , for example , blow - molded at the same time the plastic container is formed by a blow molding or other suitable process . the improved hinge includes a first hinge portion 18 forming an integral part of the rear wall 16 of body portion 14 , and disposed at or near a first corner 20 of body portion 14 . a second hinge portion 22 extends from the center of the rear wall 16 of body portion 14 and towards a second corner 24 of the body portion 14 , and spaced from the second corner 24 a distance substantially equal to the sum of the length of the first hinge portion 18 and the distance of the first hinge portion 18 from the first corner 20 of body portion 14 . the cover portion 12 of container 10 has along rear wall 16 a similar hinge arrangement to the arrangement described above . a third hinge portion 26 is disposed near a first corner 28 of cover portion 12 , and a fourth hinge portion 30 extends from the center of the rear wall 16 of cover portion 12 , and towards a second corner 32 of cover portion 12 and spaced from second corner 32 a distance substantially equal to the sum of the length of the third hinge portion 26 , and the distance of the third hinge portion 26 from the first corner 28 of the cover portion 12 . each of hinge portions 18 , 22 , 26 , and 30 includes fixing means to permit easy assembly of the container , yet provide an interlocking feature making inadvertent disassembly of the container very difficult . the fixing means includes a first protrusion 34 extending from an end of first hinge portion 18 , and towards the second hinge portion 22 , i . e . towards the center edge of the rear wall 16 . this protrusion is preferably a pin or similar device which is accommodated during assembly into a first recess 36 disposed in a facing end of fourth hinge portion 30 . likewise , hinge portions 22 and 26 have a protrusion 38 and recess 40 respectively , which interlock during assembly of the container . second protrusion 38 is also preferably a pin or similar device . the protrusions 34 and 38 are substantially parallel to the rear wall 16 of the container 10 . the improved hinge arrangement as described above results in a body portion 14 having a hinge portion with a protrusion , and another hinge portion with a recess . cover portion 12 also has a similar arrangement , one hinge portion having a protrusion and one hinge portion having a recess . hinge portions 18 , 22 , 26 and 30 may be of equal length , although for ease of assembly it is preferred that first hinge portion 18 and third hinge portion 26 are shorter in length , for example 1 / 2 to 1 / 3 the length of second hinge portion 22 and fourth hinge portion 30 . first and third hinge portions 18 and 26 are substantially the same length , as are second and fourth hinge portions 22 and 30 . an advantage of the present invention is the ease with which the cover portion 12 and body portion 14 of the plastic container may be assembled . the respective parts of the container are brought together , and the first protrusion 34 of first hinge portion 18 is inserted into the first recess 36 of fourth hinge portion 30 . before this step is completed , i . e . before the entire length of first protrusion 34 is inserted into first recess 36 , second protrusion 38 of third hinge portion 26 is inserted into second recess 40 of second hinge portion 22 . this second step involves some flexing of the cover portion 12 and body portion 14 of container 10 . the cover and body portions 12 and 14 are then slid together to completely engage the protrusion / recess pairs , and the adjacent surfaces of second and fourth hinge portions 22 and 30 are then displaced to lock the respective hinge portions in place to form a pivotal hinge . to facilitate assembly , first protrusion 34 is preferably somewhat longer than second protrusion 38 . this assembly results in a hinge means having four pivotally interlocking hinge portions which prevent separation of the body and cover portions of the container , yet permit opening and closing of the container . second hinge portion 22 can include a tapered section 42 which tapers into the body portion 14 of container 10 . fourth hinge portion 30 can also include a tapered section 44 which tapers into the cover portion 12 . although the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the principles and scope of the invention , as those skilled in the art will readily understand after the review of the invention . for example , the location of protrusions and recesses as described above may be interchanged . such changes and modifications may be practiced within the scope of the following claims :	1
referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views , there is shown in fig1 an energy transformer system which embodies the principles of the instant invention . as shown in fig1 the system includes a transformer 10 which includes a flux receiver 12 coupled with a heat operated engine 14 . the transformer 10 is disposed along the axis of a parabolic reflector , generally designated 16 . the reflector 16 serves to direct a highly concentrated beam of solar flux through an aperture 18 defined within the receiver 12 , having an entry plane 20 . the function of the aperture 18 will hereinafter become more readily apparent . as shown in the drawings , the heat operated engine comprises a typical beal version of a stirling engine power unit . in this type of engine , energy input is applied directly through the engine &# 39 ; s head , as best illustrated in fig2 . as shown , the heat operated engine 14 includes a dome - shaped head 22 , formed of a heat conductive metal , the purpose of which is to serve as a heat transfer wall . it will be appreciated , therefore , that heat is , in operation , delivered through the wall to an expansion chamber , designated 24 , of the engine 14 . since stirling engine power units are well known , and the particular engine employed forms no part of the instant invention , a detailed description of the engine 14 is omitted in the interest of brevity . however , it will be appreciated that the receiver 12 of the transformer 10 is mounted on the engine 14 employing any suitable means such as nut and bolt assemblies , and serves as a source of heat for the chamber 24 which serves to operate the engine 14 in accordance with the principles of known engines . the efficiency of the system may be enhanced simply by providing expansion holes 27 in the head 22 , as shown in fig3 which maximizes the area for heat exchange , while maintaining minimum resistance to flow as gas within the expansion chamber 24 expands and contracts throughout cyclic operations . the flux receiver 12 preferably is of integral construction and comprises a wall 28 stamped , molded , or otherwise fabricated to form a radiation absorption cavity 30 communicating with the aperture 18 , the purpose of which is to receive and entrap solar flux passed through the aperture 18 from the reflector 16 . as shown , the wall 28 forming the cavity 30 includes a plurality of planar segments 28a which collectively impart a curved configuration to the wall of the cavity . as a practical matter , the overall configuration of the wall forming the cavity generally conforms to a segment of an oblate sphere . it should at this juncture be noted that the diameter of the radiation absorption cavity 30 is greater than the diameter of the aperture 18 , while the diameter of the aperture 18 is such as to receive rays of solar flux from the extreme edge of the reflector 16 . by establishing a ratio for the focal length of the reflector 16 to the diameter of the cavity 30 , on the order of 1 : 2 , a highly concentrated beam of solar flux can be introduced into the cavity through a relatively small aperture . the beam of flux , of course , diverges rapidly after entry into the cavity and is reflected back and forth until the energy is completely absorbed . however , in order to enhance the absorptivity of the cavity 30 , the surface of the cavity is coated with a lining 32 of anti - reflective material , such as carbon black , whereby the cavity 30 is caused to function as a black box cavity . consequently , due to the relatively small diameter of the aperture 18 and the lining 32 of anti - reflective material , re - radiation from the cavity 30 is minimized . thus a relatively high percentage of the available thermal energy obtained from the solar flux is made available for transfer to the heat operated engine 14 . transfer of heat from the cavity 30 to the heat operated engine 14 is achieved through a heat pipe chamber 34 which communicates with both the external wall of the radiation absorption cavity 30 and the heat transfer wall 22 . the heat pipe chamber 34 , as a practical matter , is a closed chamber lined with a material comprising a wick , designated 36 . the relative thickness dimension of the wick 36 , as shown , is exaggerated for the sake of clarity . the wick 36 , where desired , comprises a ceramic coating and serves to conduct a working fluid along the surface of the chamber 34 from the cooler heat transfer wall 22 of the heat operated engine 14 to the external surface of the wall 28 . within the heat pipe chamber 34 , there is deposited a suitable working fluid 38 , such as sodium liquid . the working fluid , of course , must have a capability of advancing along the wick 36 by capillary action toward the radiation absorption cavity 30 , and yet be capable of being evaporated and condensed at operating temperatures . therefore , the particular wick and working fluid employed are varied as desired . since the function and operation of heat pipes is a well understood phenomenon , a detailed description of the heat pipe chamber 34 is omitted in the interest of brevity . it suffices to understand that the heat transfer wall 22 comprises the cooler wall and normally is maintained at a temperature at which the working fluid in its vapor phase is condensed to its liquid phase , while the external surface of the wall defining the radiation absorption cavity 30 comprises the warmer wall and is maintained at temperatures sufficient to cause the working fluid to vaporize within the chamber 34 . the wick 36 , of course , serves as a conduit through which the working fluid in its liquid phase is delivered to the warmer external surface of the cavity 30 , at which the working fluid is vaporized , while the volumetric space of the chamber provides a path for the working fluid to be returned and condensed at the heat transfer wall 22 . the cyclic operation continues as long as sufficient solar flux impinges against the internal surfaces of the radiation absorption cavity to sufficiently elevate the temperature of the wall defining the cavity 30 . while not shown , it is to be understood that where desired , the receiver 12 is provided with an outer layer of insulation for further preventing loss of thermal energy from the system . in view of the foregoing , it should readily be apparent that the receiver 12 and heat pipe chamber 34 , in effect , function as a transformer , because the heat received at the relatively large surface area , which defines the radiation absorption cavity 30 , is transferred to a much smaller work producing area , such as the heat transfer wall 22 , at such a high transfer rate that virtually no temperature drop is experienced . because of this high rate of energy transfer , a high degree of efficiency is achieved . it is believed that in view of the foregoing description , the operation of the system will readily be understood and it will be briefly reviewed at this point . the system hereinbefore described is so configured that the aperture 18 is positioned along the axis of the parabolic reflector 16 in a manner such that the virtual image of the sun appears in the entry plane 20 of the aperture 18 , and the ratio of the focal length of the reflector to the diameter of the cavity is relatively small , on the order of 1 : 2 . consequently , a highly concentrated beam of solar flux , depicted by arrows in the drawings , passes through the aperture 18 and diverges rapidly within the radiation absorption cavity 30 . due to the anti - reflective nature of the lining 32 and the ratio of the diameter of the aperture 18 to the diameter of the radiation absorption cavity 30 , re - radiation from the radiation absorption cavity 30 is minimized , if not totally eliminated . since re - radiation from the radiation absorption cavity 30 is substantially precluded , a very high percentage of the solar thermal energy is made available for heat transfer purposes . the heat energy received at the internal surface of the radiation absorption cavity 30 is transmitted by conduction through the wall of the cavity . as the exterior surface of the wall of the radiation absorption cavity 30 is elevated to a temperature at or above that at which vaporization of the working fluid within the chamber 34 occurs , the working fluid undergoes a phase change to its vapor state , and a cycle of heat pipe operation is thus initiated . the working fluid circulates as a gas within the heat pipe chamber 34 and travels to the cooler heat transfer wall 22 , located at the bottom of the chamber . heat thus transported by the vapor is then extracted therefrom and conducted to the expansion chamber 24 of the heat operated engine 14 by the heat transfer wall 22 , whereupon the working fluid returns to its liquid phase or state . the heat thus transferred to the engine 14 causes the engine to function in a known manner which forms no specific part of the instant invention . it will , of course , be appreciated that as the vaporized working fluid , upon giving up heat energy to the engine , again reverts to its liquid phase and is returned to the surfaces of the wall defining the radiation absorption chamber 30 through the capillary action of the wick 36 . thus a full cycle of operation for the system is completed . in view of the foregoing , it should readily be apparent that the system which embodies the principles of the instant invention provides a practical and economical solution to the problem of coupling solar thermal energy collectors with heat operated engines and the like . although the invention has been herein shown and described in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment , it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention , which is not to be limited to the illustrative details disclosed .	8
referring now to the drawings , fig1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a brake system 10 for a wheel of a four wheel motorcycle type vehicle in accordance with the present invention . brake system 10 includes a central knuckle and hub assembly 20 which includes a front wheel spindle 30 for supporting a front wheel 40 . front wheel 40 further includes a plurality of rotor clips 50 for attaching rotor 60 to wheel 40 at a radial outboard edge of rotor 60 . front wheel 40 also supports tire 70 in a convention manner as is known in the art . hub assembly 20 further includes a mounting bracket 80 extending substantially vertically from hub assembly 20 for mounting and supporting brake calipers 90 . brake calipers 90 house friction elements 100 which operatively engage rotor 60 via hydraulic pressure from brake fluid lines 110 . [ 0016 ] fig2 shows the brake system 10 of fig1 for both front tires of an exemplary embodiment of a four wheel motorcycle type vehicle in accordance with the present invention . it should be appreciated that the close proximity of the wheels to each other precludes packaging of a brake system on an inside ( axle side ) of each front tire . in addition , a conventional type fork arrangement with a solid axle between the forks would not provide for the capability of an independent front suspension system . therefore , the brake system configuration in accordance with the present invention provides a hub mounted caliper that is arranged to engage a rotor attached to a radially outboard edge of the wheel . such an arrangement provides design flexibility so that the calipers and rotor can be located solely on an outward face of the wheel . referring now to fig3 and 4 , a brake master cylinder arrangement and actuation mechanism 200 is shown in accordance with the present invention . the arrangement includes a brake lever 205 pivotably connected to handle bar assembly 210 and operably coupled through mechanical linkage assembly 220 to master brake cylinder assembly 230 . mechanical linkage assembly 220 includes a linking member 225 pivotably connected to brake lever 205 and bell crank 240 . bell crank 250 is pivotably connected at one end to bell crank 240 and at the other end to master cylinder piston 260 . master cylinder 260 is attached to a handle bar mounting plate 270 that is attached to the base of a handle bar shaft 275 that rotates with the handle bar assembly 210 as represented by the arrow in fig4 . mounting the brake master cylinder to the handle bar mounting plate 270 as opposed to conventional mounting on the handle bars , provides for protection of the master cylinder and accompanying fluid lines from the elements as well as for greater design flexibility for the handle bars . in operation , brake lever 220 is drawn towards handlebar assembly 210 via driver input . this in turn draws linking member 230 in the direction of arrow a which rotates bell crank 240 in the direction of arrow b . the rotation of bell crank 240 in turn rotates bell crank 250 causing it to act as a lever arm and compress piston 260 into master cylinder assembly 230 in the direction of arrow c and displace a corresponding amount of brake fluid through brake fluid line 110 . the hydraulic pressure of the displaced brake fluid operates to compress friction elements 100 against rotor 80 which is attached to and rotates with wheel 40 . likewise , as also shown in fig3 and 4 , a similar cylinder arrangement 280 can be actuated by lever 285 to operate a hydraulic clutch arrangement ( not shown ) for shifting of transmission gears during operation of the vehicle . the foregoing description constitutes the embodiments devised by the inventors for practicing the invention . it is apparent , however , that the invention is susceptible to modification , variation , and change that will become obvious to those skilled in the art . inasmuch as the foregoing description is intended to enable one skilled in the pertinent art to practice the invention , it should not be construed to be limited thereby but should be construed to include such aforementioned obvious variations and be limited only by the proper scope or fair meaning of the accompanying claims .	5
a stretcher 10 according to the present invention , as shown in fig1 - 5 is particularly adapted for a patient 12 having suffered trauma to his spine . the stretcher 10 comprises a rigid board 14 , a pad 16 on top of the board , a plurality of straps 18 , and a traction device 20 at the head end 22 of the stretcher . with reference to fig5 and 10 , the board 14 comprises a laminate having a central core of foam 24 and an outer skin 26 of graphite reinforced epoxy material , i . e ., the foam is sandwiched between two layers or laminates 26 of graphite reinforced epoxy material . for texture and appearance , both layers or skin 26 of epoxy can be covered with textured decorative paper 28 . preferably the foam 24 is a rigid foam , and more preferably polyimide foam . the paper 28 , graphite / epoxy skin 26 , and polyimide foam 24 can be laminated together under pressure and elevated temperature as the epoxy resin is cured . a suitable &# 34 ; prepreg &# 34 ; graphite reinforced epoxy resin is commercially available from fiberite of winonia , minn . under the tradename hye 1048 a1e . suitable polyimide foam is available from cyro industries of stanford , conn . under the tradename rohacell 71 wf . this board 12 has many advantages for use in a stretcher . it is lightweight , has a low aluminum equivalency and a low ct number . this means that it is useable in both conventional x - ray machines and ct scanners without introducing artifacts . aluminum equivalency values presented herein are those determined in accordance with title 21 , section 1020 . 30n of the code of federal regulations and are determined by x - ray measurements made at 100 kvp with a minimum first half - value layer of 2 . 7 mm aluminum . the aluminum equivalency of a board according to the present invention , made of polyimide foam and graphite reinforced epoxy resin , was less than 0 . 5 mm . the federal standard for a movable table - top is 1 . 5 mm . the stretcher 10 and board 14 are rigid . a board 14 0 . 775 inch thick comprising foam about 0 . 695 inch thick and each graphite layer about 0 . 04 inch thick can easily serve as a stretcher for a 250 pound patient . the term &# 34 ; ct &# 34 ; value refers to the number measured when comparing the absorption and refraction of x - rays in various materials when compared to a known substance , air or water . all of the components of the stretcher 10 , other than the metallic traction device 20 , have a ct value less than 50 . a particular advanatage of using a polyimide core is that such a core can be subject to high temperatures and pressures to allow lamination with the epoxy resin / graphite layers while the epoxy resin is cured . other materials , such as polyurethane foam , would collapse under the pressures and temperatures used for curing the graphite reinforced epoxy , and most would have a higher aluminum equivalence . however , the present invention is not limited to the use of polyimide foam cores ; another material that can be used is nomex ( dupont trademark ) honeycomb core . a board with a polyimide core and graphite reinforced epoxy skin is sufficiently rigid that it can support a 250 pound patient when the board is lifted at each end with less than 1 / 2 inch maximum deflection . further , the board is sufficiently rigid that when the stretcher is lifted at each end with a 300 pound weight at its center , there is less than one inch deflection at the middle of the stretcher . when the board is picked up with handles 44 , there is literally no deflection . the entire peripheral edge of the board 14 is covered with an extruded bumper 30 made of polyurethane that is located between the graphite / epoxy skins 26 and bonded to the polyimide foam core 24 with an epoxy adhesive . the pad 16 is included in the stretcher 10 so that the patient lays on a comfortable surface . the pad 16 is generally the same shape as the board 14 , but is smaller in all directions so that the edges of the pad 16 are not exposed . as shown in fig5 the pad 16 comprises a bottom layer 32 of non - skid rubber , and a top layer 34 of polyester sponge . the top of the sponge and the edges of both the sponge layer 34 and rubber layer 32 are covered with a durable vinyl material 35 such as naugahyde ™. a suitable pad 16 can be obtained fron contour fabricators , incorporated , located in grand blanc , mich . a pad about one inch thick has a low aluminum equivalence of about 0 . 6 mm of aluminum and a low ct number of less than 50 . the stetcher 10 has a leg portion 36 and a torso portion 38 . the torso portion 38 is narrower than the leg portion 36 and generally at least about three inches narrower . preferably the torso portion is sufficiently narrow to pass into the gantry of a ct scanner . the leg portion is wider to support the pelvis , the forearms , and hands . preferably the leg portion is sufficiently narrow to fit between the clamps which secure the feet to commonly used fluoroscopic tables ; if the stretcher is too wide it does not fit between the clamps and cannot rest on the foot plate . preferably the torso section is more than 15 inches wide because anything less narrow would not function well as a stretcher and would be undesirable with patients with multiple injuries . preferably the torso section is about 18 inches wide to fit through the gantry of commonly used scanners . preferably the torso section is at least 42 inches long because this permits the lowest lumbar vertebrae , even in very tall patients , to pass into a ct scanner gantry . preferably the leg section is at least 38 inches long so the stretcher is long enough to support the entire patient , injuries of the lower spine , pelvis , or legs are immobilized better when the legs are supported . preferably the leg section is less than 22 inches wide to fit between the clamps which secure the foot plate to commonly used fluoroscopic tables . the straps 18 are bonded to the underside of the board 14 with an adhesive such as polyurethane adhesive . a satisfactory adhesive is made by hexcel of chatsworth , calif . and sold under the tradename uralite xw20 - 42 - 4 . the straps are provided with male 40 and female 42 buckles with the location of the male buckle 40 on the straps being adjustable . four straps are provided for securing the patient across the shins , the thighs , the hips , and the torso . the straps can be made of polyester fiber or nylon and the buckles of a strong polymeric material . the stretcher 10 is provided with eight handles 44 . the handles 44 are secured to webbing 46 that is sewn to the straps 18 . two handles are attached to each of the four straps on opposite sides of the stretcher . the webbing 46 can be made of a strong , flexible fabric material such as polyester or nylon and the handles 44 can be formed from a strong polymeric material such as nylon , abs , or high impact polystyrene . the underside of the board 14 is provided with eight feet or stops , four feet 48 laterally inwardly and four feet 50 laterally outwardly . the stops are provided in pairs along the lower portion of the board 14 . preferably they are made from a tough polymeric material having a relatively low aluminum equivalency such as cast polyurethane . these stops allow the board to sit on a concave surface even though the bottom of the board is flat . for example , with reference to fig3 the four inner stops 48 are positioned to hug the cradle 52 of a scanner having a low radius of curvature such as the general electric model 8800 ct scanner , while the four outer stops 50 are positioned to hug the cradle 54 of a scanner having a larger radius of curvature such as the general electric model 9800 ct scanner . the stops can be located wherever desired to accommodate the curvature of the scanner with which the board is to be used . the only metallic part of the stretcher 10 is the traction device 20 . the traction device comprises a pair of aluminum support plates 56 , one on the top and one on the bottom of the rigid board 14 , and held to the board by a screw 58 and epoxy adhesive . mounted on the screw 58 on top of the upper support plate is a base 60 on which there is rotatably mounted a collar 62 . the collar 62 includes an ear 64 on which is pivotally mounted a traction bar 66 , held on the ear with a pivot pin 68 . a handle 69 with a sunburst clamp 70 holds the traction bar 66 in position . the traction bar 66 is centrally located at the head of the stretcher . the traction device is an adaptation of a gardener skull clamp adaptor made by mayfield and available from codman and shurtleff , inc . of randolf , mass . 1 . it is exceptionally radiolucent so that good quality x - ray and ct images of the entire spine can be obtained without taking the patient off it . 2 . it is large , strong and stiff enough to serve as a stretcher and to allow lifting at the ends with even a 250 pound patient lying on the board , even though it is light - weight , less than 25 pounds . 3 . it is narrow enough to fit through the aperture of commonly used ct scanners along the entire length of the spine . 4 . it includes a cervical traction device which can accommodate up to 80 pounds of traction at variable angles . 5 . it is stable when secured to a fluoroscopy table even when tilted upwardly during myelography . paralyzed patients have been elevated as high as 60 degrees in order to return the contrast medium to the lower spinal canal following completion of myelographic studies , when the patient &# 39 ; s feet and the lower edge of the board were rested against the foot plate of the fluorscopic table and a retractable binder was tightened over the patient &# 39 ; s knees and secured to the fluoroscopic table . 6 . a paralyzed patient can be securely attached to the stretcher by means of the straps . 7 . the stretcher is padded to protect a paralyzed against the development of decubiti . 8 . because of the feet , the stretcher fits onto a concave ct cradle securely to reduce the chance of movement of the stretcher in relation to the cradle . in addition , the stretcher sits securely on flat tables including x - ray tables . 9 . it has excellent hand grips to permit lifting from the sides . in short , once a patient is placed on the stretcher 10 it is possible to safely conduct a complete radiographic evaluation of the spine and spinal cord . these and other features of the present invention will become better understood from the following example . a stretcher according to the present invention had a total thickness of about 1 . 8 inches , with the pad 1 inch thick and the board 0 . 8 inch thick . the stretcher was 80 inches in length , 18 inches wide in the torso portion , and 211 / 2 inches wide in the leg portion . the torso portion was 42 inches long and the leg portion was 38 inches long . the pad was only 14 inches wide in the leg portion to minimize the artifacts produced by the pad in an x - ray device . the board included straps , handles , and a traction device as shown in fig1 . with reference to fig7 - 11 , the board 14 was formed from laminates 26 made from seven layers of graphite reinforced resin placed on a lay up table 70 . the alternating layers were oriented 90 degrees relative to each other . the bottom , third , fifth and top layers 72 were oriented in one direction while the second , fourth and sixth layers 74 were oriented 90 degrees relative to layers 72 . the direction of a layer is determined by the direction in which the graphite fibers are layed in the epoxy matrix . the material for layers 72 and 74 was graphite reinforced epoxy resin prepreg obtained from fiberite , catalog no . hye 1048 a1e . with reference to fig7 the layers 72 were formed by butt splicing two segments 76 to the sides of elongated segments 78 . with reference to fig8 the layers 74 were made by butt splicing a narrower segment 80 to a broader segment 82 . with reference to fig1 , a polyimide foam core 24 was sandwiched between two of these graphite epoxy preplies 26 . the polyimide foam was catalog part no . 71 - wf from cyro industries of clifton , n . j . then on top of both of the preplies , there was placed a layer of paper . the paper used was moroccan leather available from carolina gravure of lexington , s . c ., catalog no . c - 65 - 349 - xl . it was 65 pound paper and had a thickness of 4 mils . both sides of this assembly were covered with one ply of mylar ™ 92 , which is a polyester resin , one ply of remay ™, which is a breather . this assembly was placed on an aluminum caul plate with a mold release agent therebetween . an aluminum caul plate 100 , 0 . 125 inch thick , was placed on top of the assembly with a two ply remay breather 102 on top of the caul plate . the entire assembly was covered with a nylon vacuum bag 104 provided with a vacuum sealant 106 . to cure the epoxy / graphite and to achieve the necessary lamination , the following cure cycle was used . the vacuum bagged parts were run under full vacuum for at least 30 minutes at a vacuum of 25 inches of mercury with a maximum leak rate of 1 inch per minute . the parts were then heated by raising the temperature to 175 ° f .± 5 ° f . at a rate of 2 °- 5 ° f . per minute . when the part temperature reached 175 ° f ., the pressure was set at 50 psi . when 50 psi was reached , it was held there for 15 minutes . then the temperature was raised to 250 ° f .± 5 ° f . at 2 °- 5 ° f . increase per minute . after the part reached a temperature of 250 ° f ., it was held there for 11 / 2 hours . the temperature was then quckly decreased . the pressure was released when the part temperature was below 175 ° f . the total cycle time was about 3 hours . the thickness of the various layers are not shown to scale in the figures . although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions , other versions are possible . for example , the traction bar 62 need not rotate on the base 60 . therefore , the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not necessarily be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein .	0
turning now to the drawings and more specifically to fig3 a first embodiment according to the present invention is shown . as shown in fig3 a damper comprises armatures 1 , 2 , wherein the armature 1 is fixedly connected to an engine ( not shown ) and the armature 2 is fixedly connected to a vehicle structure ( not shown ), such as a vehicle body frame . a tubular elastic block 3 of an elastomer is interposed between both of the armatures 1 , 2 . the armatures 1 , 2 and elastic block 3 cooperate to define a bore . a partition plate 5 is fixed to the armature 1 to divide the bore into two chambers a , b . the partition plate 5 has an orifice tube 10 fixedly attached thereto to extend through a center portion thereof to provide a restricted flow communication between both of the chambers a , b . the partition plate 5 is formed with communicating holes 14 , 14 . ring shaped rubber seat 15a , 15b are fixedly attached to upper and lower surfaces of the partition plate 5 in a manner to surround the communicating holes 14 , 14 . arranged above the upper end surface of the seat 15a is a thin valve plate 16a . the thin valve plate 16a is axially slidably mounted on the orifice tube 10 and is supported relative to the partition plate 5 by an elastomer 17 and is spaced a distance h from the seat 15a . arranged below the bottom end surface of the seat 15b is a thin valve plate 16b . the thin valve plate 16b is axially slidably mounted on the orifice tube 10 and is supported by an emboss 10a and is spaced a distance h from the seat 15b . thus , the seats 15a , 15b and the thin valve plates 16a , 16b cooperate with each other to form valves 18a , 18b for the communicating holes 14 , 14 . 4 designates an orifice hole formed through the orifice tube . a diaphragm 8 is pressed against the upper end surface of the elastic block 3 by a pressure plate 9 , thus defining the chamber b . the chambers a , b are filled with a working fluid . the elastic block 3 resiliently suspends the engine on the vehicle structure . although the block 3 elastically deforms in response to such small vibrations of the engine as to cause volume changes in the chambers a , b , since the thin valve plates 16a , 16b moving in response to such volume changes do not come into contact with the seats 15a , 15b , the working fluid is allowed to flow through the communicating holes 14 in two ways between the chambers a , b . because , under this circumstance , the working fluid does not flow through the orifice hole 4 of the orifice tube 10 , the interior pressures within the chambers a , b balance so that the transmitting force to the vehicle body of the vibration is dampened by the elastic deformation of the elastic block 3 , alone . during the occurence of vibrations having great amplitudes caused by roughness of a road surface , the volume change within each of the chambers a , b is large , thus causing a large pressure difference between the both chambers a , b . for example , when a load large enough to raise the armature 2 is imposed on the damper , the elastic block 3 is compressed from its lower end , causing a high pressure rise in the working fluid within the chamber a . then , the working fluid within the chamber a tends to flow through the communicating holes 14 , 14 toward the chamber b , but the thin valve plate 16b moves to abut with the seat 15b due to the force of the working fluid , thus causing the valve 18b to close the communicating holes 14 , 14 . thus , the working fluid within the chamber a must flow through the orifice hole 4 of the orifice tube 10 toward the chamber b . due to the passage of the working fluid through the orifice hole 4 , the pressure rise within the chamber a is dampened . when a load is imposed on the damper to cause the armature 2 to move downwardly , the elastic block 3 stretches downwardly , resulting in a pressure drop within the chamber a as compared to a pressure drop in the chamber b . this causes the thin valve plate 16a to move downwardly deforming the elastomer 17 to come into contact with the seat 15a , thus closing the valve 18a to close the communicating holes 14 , 14 . under this circumstance , the orifice hole 4 of the orifice tube allows the working fluid to flow toward the chamber a , thus dampening the pressure variation in the chamber b . among all kinds of vibrations induced by the engine and / or induced by the other sources , a vibration having a great amplitude is converted into a change in volume in the chamber a , b disposed within the elastic block 3 and the variation in pressure in one of the chambers a , b caused by same is dampened by the passage of the working fluid through the orifice hole 4 of the orifice tube 10 toward the other one of the chambers b , a . since the moving parts movable in response to the pressure variation within the chambers a , b are the thin valve plates 16a , 16b , the weight of these parts may be reduced . referring to fig4 a second embodiment is shown , this embodiment being different from the first embodiment in the structure of valves 18a , 18b . as shown , the rims of thin valve plates 16a , 16b are curved toward the partition plate 5 , and the seats 15a , 15b are formed with concave grooves 15c , 15d , to respectively receive the rims of the thin valve plates 16a , 16b with a distance h between the rim of each thin plate and the bottom of each concave groove . both of the thin valve plates 16a , 16b are supported on the partition plate 5 by supporting elastomers 17a , 17b . the partition plate 5 is formed with an orifice hole 4 and communicating holes 14 . this embodiment does not employ such an orifice tube 10 as one used in the previous embodiment . therefore , this embodiment is suitable for the application wherein a low dampening characteristic is enough and there is not space to arrange such orifice tube 10 . of course , such orifice tube 10 may be employed , if desired . to provide the flow passage to the orifice hole 4 formed through the partition plate 5 , the thin valve plates 16a , 16b are formed with central apertures 16c , 16d and the elastomers 17a , 17b surround the orifice hole 4 and the apertures 16c , 16d . the other structure and operation are substantially the same as the previous embodiment . referring to fig5 a third embodiment is shown which is different from the fig3 embodiment in that the thin valve plates 16a , 16b are fixed to an orifice tube 10 by means of caulking or press fitting or welding , and they are made of a material having an appropriate elasticity . the thin elastic valve plates 16a , 16b are flexed to the position shown by the phantom lines to close the communicating holes 14 , 14 in response to the variation is pressure in the chambers a , b . the other structure and operation are substantially the same as that of the fig3 embodiment . referring to fig6 a fourth embodiment is shown . in this embodiment , thin valve plates 16a , 16b are fixed to an orifice tube 10 by means of caulking or press fitting or welding , and the orifice tube 10 is mounted for slidable movement with respect to a partition plate 5 and they are supported on the partition plate 5 by means of an elastomer 17 . as shown , valve seats 15a , 15b in the form a sheet of an elastomer are fixedly attached to the opposite surfaces of the partition plate 5 . in this case , if an orifice tube 10 is made of a light material , this embodiment can operate in the same manner as the other embodiments . as described according to the present invention , the valve means is light in weight and has a small inertia so that it is sensitive and accurately responsive to a small difference in pressure across the partiton plate which is fixed to the armature . the valve means is also a separate piece from the partition plate ; and the setting of the timing of opening and closing of the valve means relative to the fluid pressure can be carried out accurately without any difficulty . moreover , the assembly of a damper according to the present invention is easy because of its simple structure .	5
referring now to fig1 - 4 , a liquid coating cart 28 has a frame 30 for containing many of its components . attached to the frame 30 at a rear end 31 are rear wheels 34 , which are capable of resting on the inside surface of a pipe 70 . attached proximal to a front end 33 are front wheels ( not shown , but placed at or near front wheel placement 32 ). the front wheels are far enough back from the front end 33 so that they are not sprayed by fluid leaving cup 54 ( described further , below ). also at rear end 31 is coupling 36 for mechanically and electrically connecting the liquid coating cart 28 to a tractor cart used in the field ( not shown ), for example , a battery powered tractor cart . typically , the tractor cart has a control system and communications antenna , and the electrical connection at coupling 36 between the liquid coating cart 28 and the tractor cart provides a common network between the tractor cart , the liquid coating cart , and a remote control unit ( not shown ) on which an operator can control the operations of the carts . optionally ( not shown ), the liquid coating cart 28 may be mechanically and electrically connected but have its own , separate , control system and communications antenna ( not shown ), with the electrical connection simply used to provide power to the components of the liquid coating cart 28 . alternatively , but not shown , the coupling may be optional , with the liquid coating cart having its own power supply , control system , and communications antenna , and not relying on a tractor cart . the liquid coating cart 28 is equipped with a controller 38 , such as a programmable logic controller , capable of controlling the various motors and elements of the liquid coating cart 28 , as described further below . the controller 38 can receive instructions from the remote control unit ( not shown ) via the tractor cart communications antenna , and can send information received from the various elements of the liquid coating cart 28 ( for example , the camera 42 , described further below ) in the same manner . alternatively , the controller 38 can receive instructions from the remote control unit ( not shown ) via its own communications antenna ( not shown ), on the liquid coating cart 28 . the frame 30 also houses camera 42 and lights 44 , which can be used to locate holidays or defects in the pipe coating . camera 42 can send image signals to a user through the programmable logic controller 38 , and the communications antenna of the tractor cart . camera 42 can be used to confirm that the liquid coating cart 28 is working properly , and can ensure that sufficient coating of the pipe has occurred . frame 30 also houses platform 41 which can be displaced laterally in relation to frame 30 by electric linear activator 40 . attached to platform 41 is a heated cartridge containment block 50 , which houses one or more ( as shown , two ) optionally disposable , fluid cartridges ( not shown ). the fluid cartridges contain the fluid that is to coat the inside of the pipe . the cartridge containment block 50 is capable of heating the fluid contained in the fluid cartridges . fluid contained in the fluid cartridges is forced out by rams 46 which are displaced using linear stepper drive 48 . optionally , there are multiple rams 46 which allow displacement of fluid from multiple fluid cartridges . as shown , there are two rams 46 , which allow displacement of two different fluids from the fluid cartridges into static mixer 52 . for example , and as shown , each fluid cartridge hold one part of a two part epoxy . the rams 46 displace the fluid from the fluid cartridges , and the two parts of the epoxy are mixed in static mixer 52 . the mixed two part epoxy solution exits static mixer 52 through nozzle 53 and onto the inner surface of cup 54 . cup 54 rotates around axle 56 at high speed , driven by cup drive motor 58 , as shown being a direct connect motor . centrifugal force forces the solution to the side wall 60 of the cup 54 , which is angled to facilitate expulsion of liquid out of the top of the cup 54 . optionally ( not shown ), the fluid containment block 50 can hold an additional fluid cartridge for solvent or other cleaning fluid , which can be used to clean the static mixer 52 , nozzle 53 , and / or cup 54 in situ . displacement of fluid from this cartridge would be performed in a manner similar to that described above . also optionally ( not shown ), instead of or in addition to having a platform 41 laterally displaceable on frame 30 , the entire liquid coating cart 28 can be laterally displaced along the pipe when coating , either utilizing the power of the tractor cart or under its own power . cup 54 location relative to nozzles 53 can be adjusted through cup and motor slide axis 62 . frame 30 also comprises a distance measuring encoder wheel 66 to help determine the approximate location of the liquid coating cart 28 within the pipe . fig5 shows a front view of the liquid coating cart 28 within the environment of a pipe 70 . pipe 70 is a 16 ″ pipe . preferably , and as shown , the liquid coating cart 28 is located such that the axel 56 and cup 54 are located at or around the center of the pipe 70 . this allows for even coating of the pipe by liquid expulsed from the top of cup 54 . not shown , but as would be evident to a person of skill in the art , the liquid coating cart 28 could also be used within a larger pipe , for example , a 20 ″ pipe 72 or a 24 ″ pipe 74 simply by replacing or adjusting the length of the axles of rear wheels 34 and front wheels ( not shown ). the wheels 34 themselves may also be replaced in order to have the desired angle of contact between the wheels 34 and the pipe 72 or 74 . for example , the liquid coating cart 28 can come equipped with three sets of wheel 34 , each having axles of different lengths and different angles of contact between the wheel 34 and the pipe 70 , 72 , 74 , to optimize fitting the liquid coating cart 28 in pipes of different diameters . other pipe widths , for example pipes of 4 or 6 feet in diameter can also be coated , using a similar device to that shown , but made to a larger scale . fig6 shows a schematic view of the liquid coating cart 28 , showing aspects not shown in fig1 - 5 . here , one can see rams 46 which are capable of lateral displacement . rams 46 can enter fluid containers 51 , forcing fluid out of the opposing end of fluid containers 51 ( for example a fluid cartridge ) and into static mixer 52 . using this same force ( the lateral displacement of rams 46 ) the mixed fluid is then forced out of the nozzle 53 of static mixer 52 and into cup 54 , which is rotating along axle 56 powered by cup drive motor 58 . not shown in fig1 - 5 is waste catch 67 . when spraying fluid , nozzle 53 is at the location shown in the figures , and proximal to cup 54 . however , when the liquid coating cart 28 is being transported from one location to another , or when it is not desired to spray fluid , platform 41 is displaced relative to cup 54 , and the nozzle 53 is positioned to be directly above waste catch 67 . during transport or otherwise when the liquid spray cart 28 is not spraying liquid , rams 46 continue to push fluid through static mixer 52 , and out of nozzle 53 , but at a reduced rate . this prevents fluid from curing or hardening within static mixer 52 , since the fluid in the static mixer 52 is constantly in a state of motion . also shown in fig6 is heating element 64 , which , in fig1 - 5 , is present , but incorporated within heated cartridge containment block 50 . this heating element 64 serves to heat the fluid within fluid container 51 . fig6 also shows air blowoff 76 which is capable of blasting air against the interior pipe wall , clearing it of debris or dust before application of the fluid coating . fig7 is a photograph showing the cup 54 and other aspects of the liquid coating cart 28 . fig8 a is a schematic of a liquid coating cart 28 control system . an alternative liquid coating cart 28 control system is shown in fig8 b . as shown in fig8 a , a user operates control panel 78 , which has a screen 80 ( for example , an lcd panel ), and a variety of controls 82 , 84 . through the control panel 78 , the user can view what is being seen by camera 42 , as well as operate the various elements of the liquid control cart 28 . the control panel 78 is connected , through a computer 86 , to a telecommunications antenna 88 , capable of sending and receiving signal to the liquid coating cart 28 , through tractor cart 90 . an antenna 92 on the tractor cart 90 receives and sends this signal to telecommunications antenna 88 . antenna 92 is connected to a controller 94 which operates the tractor cart 90 functions , for example , the activation of motor 96 for operating the wheels of the tractor cart 90 . controller 94 is also connected , through connector 98 and through coupling 36 to controller 38 on the liquid coating cart 28 . through the controller 38 , a user operating the control panel 78 is able to control various aspects of the liquid coating cart 28 , such as camera 42 , lights 44 , activation and speed of linear stepper drive 48 , activation of the electric linear activator 40 , activation and speed of cup drive motor 58 , heating element 64 , and activation of air blowoff 76 . as shown in fig8 b , the user operates control panel 78 in a manner similar to that shown in fig8 a . however , the telecommunications antenna 88 is capable of sending and receiving signal to the liquid coating cart 28 directly , instead of through tractor cart 90 . an antenna 93 on the liquid coating cart receives and sends this signal to telecommunications antenna 88 . antenna 93 is connected to controller 38 on the liquid coating cart 28 ; through the controller 38 , the user operating the control panel 78 is able to control various aspects of the liquid coating cart 28 , in a manner similar to that shown in fig8 a . the liquid coating cart 28 is used in the following manner . a holiday / defect location is identified with other , known , inspection equipment . the liquid coating cart 28 is mechanically and electrically connected to a battery powered tractor cart through coupling 36 . the tractor cart has a control system and a communications antenna attached , and communicates via said communications antenna with a mobile control unit which is operated by a user . once the liquid coating cart 28 is thus connected , communications are established between the liquid coating cart 28 and the mobile user interface via the wireless communications system . fluid containers 51 , which may be in the form of a disposable , proprietary cartridge , containing fluid , are loaded onto the liquid coating cart 28 , within the cartridge containment block 50 . optionally , static mixers 52 are also loaded , in the case ( as shown ) where static mixers 52 are a disposable consumable . optionally , depending on what kind of liquid is contained within the fluid containers 52 , the liquid in the fluid containers 51 , and , again optionally , the static mixers 52 and the cup 54 , are heated by activation of the heating element 64 . the liquid coating cart 28 is placed into an open end , or an access panel , of a pipeline . the liquid coating cart 28 is then driven to the defect furthest from the insertion point in the particular string of pipe , optionally using distance measuring encoder wheel 66 to track the distance . in some cases tractor cart 90 may also have a distance measuring system , such as an electronic encoder , in which case , this may be used instead of distance measuring encoder wheel 66 . the precise defect location is then optionally located and verified manually by way of visual confirmation utilizing camera 42 , in conjunction with distance measuring encoder wheel 66 . an air blast against the base of the pipe is provided to move any large debris or dust from the coating area , through the activation of air blowoff 76 . the coating procedure is then initiated , as follows . the dispensing cup 54 is retracted to the operating position , proximal to mixer nozzle 53 . this allows the mixer nozzle 53 to deposit material within the cup 54 . the cup is then spun at high speed through the activation of cup drive motor 58 . the platform 41 which holds the cartridge containment block 50 , the mixer 52 , and the cup 54 is then moved in a reciprocating fashion by way of electric linear activator 40 . the total stroke of travel is approximately 10 ″ or less ; the rate of travel is adjustable and based on the viscocity and other characteristics of the fluid , and can be approximately 1 ″ per second . this allows the cup 54 to coat / overcoat a section of pipe approximately 10 ″ in length , more than sufficient for covering any coating defect . the user then activates the linear stepper drive 48 , a mechanical screw mechanism driven by a motor , which moves rams 46 , which are moved forward at a controlled rate . the rams 46 force liquid out of fluid container 51 and into mixer 52 , and then out of mixer 52 through nozzle 53 and into cup 54 , which expels the mixed liquid onto the interior wall of the pipe . the rams 46 can be moved separately or independently , for example , where it is desired to use more fluid from one fluid container 51 than the other ( for a specific fluid ratio mix ), this can be done . based on feedback from an linear variable differential transformer sensor ( not shown ), the rams 46 are stopped after the desired distance of travel has been achieved , said distance relating to the total volume of epoxy dispensed . optionally , instead of stopping completely , the rams 46 are slowed down to a much slower speed . cup 54 continues to rotate for a period of time , to ensure the fluid dose is fully dispensed ; the cup 54 is then stopped , as is the platform travel . the platform is then moved back to a retracted position , and the cup 54 is moved to the extended position , approximately 3 ″ from the retracted position . this enables the mixer nozzle 53 to overhang waste catch 67 , for collection of leakage and purged epoxy . the static mixer 52 is periodically purged , through motion of rams 46 a small , measured amount , or , as described above , through the continual motion of rams 46 at a much slower than standard operational speed . this prevents the fluid in the static mixer from curing , hardening , or otherwise thickening to the point where it no longer dispenses satisfactorily . accordingly , small volumes of fluid are dispensed through nozzle 53 and into waste catch 67 . once coating has been achieved , the user can perform a visual verification of overcoat utilizing camera 42 . a photo of the joint is taken for the data log . the liquid coating cart 28 is then driven to the defect location second furthest from the insertion point , and the process repeated . the process is repeated again for each defect , until all defects are repaired or resources are depleted .	1
referring now to the drawings , and to fig1 and 2 in particular , a set - up assembly constructed in accordance with the present invention is generally designated by reference 10 . the set - up 10 is generally comprised of a center support member 11 and a plurality of models 12 clustered around the outside of the support member . as shown , the support member 11 is in the form of a hollow cylinder . it is to be understood , however , that the support member 11 may be solid and that it may be of any desired cross - sectional shape , such as rectangular , triangular , square , hexagonal , etc . the models 12 comprise refractory casts 13 of oral structures . these casts are made in accordance with conventional practices and do not form a part of the present invention . a pattern 15 of any desired shape duplicating the particular dental appliance to be cast in metal is carried by each of the refractory casts 13 , as is best shown in fig2 and 3 . the patterns 15 may be formed of any suitable expendable material used in the investment casting industry , preferably a soft , pliable wax or the like . a gating system 16 is connected to each of the patterns 15 . each gating system 16 is preferably formed by laying down strips of wax or the like along a face of the cast 13 . as is shown most clearly in fig3 the exemplary gating system 16 is generally y - shaped and comprises a pair of arms 17 which terminate in a stem 18 located at one end of the cast 13 . the models 12 , each including the cast 13 , the pattern 15 and the gating system 16 , are arranged about the support member 11 so that adjacent models along the length of the support member are circumferentially offset with respect to one another . it will be seen from fig1 that this arrangement provides open areas above and below each model . these open areas assure that refractory investment material can be filled in around the models to form a strong , void - free mold . referring now to fig5 - 7 , the illustrated support member 11 is comprised of a plurality of identical cylindrical segments 25 fitted together in end - to - end relation . the segments 25 may be injection molded from an expendable material , such as wax , a synthetic resin , or a wax and synthetic resin combination . as shown , the inner surfaces of the segments 25 taper axially radially inwardly from each end . the purpose of the double taper is to facilitate removal of the segments from the injection die . it is to be understood , however , that the taper could be eliminated if desired . each of the cylindrical segments 25 has a neck 26 at one end and is notched to form a circular recess 27 at the other end . the recesses 27 are shaped to receive the necks 26 so that the segments 25 can be fitted together to form a continuous tube . each segment 25 further includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced protrusions 28 projecting from its outer surface . as shown , the protrusions on each segment are circumferentially aligned and are located next to the end having the recess 27 . the protrusions 28 engage the undersurfaces of the models 12 to at least partially support their weight when the set - up 10 is assembled . in the illustrated embodiment of the invention , the segments 25 are provided with indexing structure which cooperates , when adjacent segments are fitted together , to locate them in a predetermined angular position relative to each other . this indexing structure is shown to comprise a notch or keyway 30 in each of the neck portions 26 and a key 31 extending inwardly from the axial wall of the recess 27 . in the illustrated construction wherein each segment 25 has four equally spaced protrusions 28 about its circumference , the key 31 is offset 45 ° from the notch 30 about the longitudinal axis of the segment . it will be understood that with constructions in which the segments carry a different number of protrusions 28 , the keys and notches will be suitably positioned to assure the desired circumferential offset of adjacent protrusions along the length of the assembled segments . the procedure of assembling the set - up 10 will be largely apparent from the foregoing description . in summary , the models 12 , including casts 13 , the patterns 15 and the gating systems 16 , are connected to the individual segments 25 before they are fitted together . this is accomplished by resting the models 12 on the protrusions 28 so that the terminating portions 18 of the gating systems 16 are next to the outer surfaces of the segments . the models 12 are firmly secured to the protrusions 28 and the outer surfaces of the segments in any suitable manner , as by application of a hot melt adhesive . as explained above , the protrusions provide the support necessary to prevent the relatively heavy dental models from becoming detached from the support member 11 when it is handled . the segmental construction of the support member 11 facilitates the described assembly operation . after the models 12 have been connected to the segments 25 , the segments are fitted together by locating the necks 26 in the recesses 27 and engaging the keys 31 in the notches 30 . if desired , the segments may be held together by an adhesive or the like . a pouring cup pattern ( not shown ) is preferably attached to the lower end of the set - up 10 as viewed in fig1 before using it to make an investment mold . an investment mold made by use of the set - up 10 is illustrated in fig8 and designated by reference numeral 40 . the mold 40 is produced by placing the set - up 10 in a flask 41 so that the set - up is in the upright position shown in fig1 with the pouring cup pattern ( not shown ) down . the set - up is then invested by filling the flask with refractory slurry which is packed around each of the models 12 and allowed to harden to form a refractory mold body 42 . in the production of the illustrated mold 40 , the slurry is allowed to fill the inside and cover the top of the support member 11 so that the mold 40 has a closed end 42a and a center core - like portion 42b . after the slurry has hardened , the support member 10 , the patterns 15 , the gating systems 16 and the pouring cup pattern are removed or eliminated from the mold 40 , as by heating and melting . the elimination of the pouring cup pattern produces a pouring cup 43 which communicates with a generally tubular sprue 44 formed by elimination of the support member 11 . the elimination of the patterns 15 and the gating systems 16 produces pattern cavities 45 connected by gates 46 to the sprue 44 . it will be understood by those skilled in the art that different variations of molds can be made using the set - up 10 . for example , the open end of the support member 11 can be closed before investing it to prevent the formation of the core - like portion 42b . in some instances , a separate core can then be placed into the mold to form the tubular sprue . alternatively , the center passage of the mold can be filled solid with metal during casting . it will be seen that the support member 11 is uniquely characterized by its segmental construction which lends itself to an economical injection molding operation using inexpensive tooling and by the presence of the protrusions 28 which make it possible to support a multiple number of the relatively heavy models 12 . it will also be seen that circumferential offsetting of the protrusions along the length of the support member facilities assembly of the set - up and the production of a sound investment mold . many modifications and variations of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing detailed disclosure . therefore , it is to be understood that , within the scope of appended claims , the invention can be practiced otherwise than as specifically shown and described .	0
the cervix monitoring system is comprised of a gauge and a monitoring unit . the gauge may be manually used to measure the cervical diameter using the routine digital probing method . the monitoring unit may be used to automatically read the measurement of the gauge , record consecutive cervical diameter measurements , calculate the cervical dilatation rate , and display a partogram . a preferred embodiment of the disposable gauge 100 is shown in fig1 and fig2 . the gauge 100 may be composed of an anchor patch 102 and an indicator patch 104 that are interconnected with a measurement string 106 . the patches 102 and 104 are preferably thin and flexible and may be made of a soft material such as , for example , polyethylene , nylon , or silicone . the patches 102 and 104 may include an embedded fiber mesh ( not shown ) for structural reinforcement and to provide strong attachment points to the endings 150 and 152 of the string 106 . the patches 102 and 104 may have a typical diameter of about 1 . 5 - cm while the string 106 may have a typical length of about 10 - cm . the patches 102 and 104 may have a back surface 103 and 105 covered with an adhesive material 107 to enable their attachment to the material of the examination glove as described below . the adhesive material 107 may be of any kind that would allow a fast and a firm attachment of the patches 102 and 104 to the material of the examination glove . the adhesive 107 may be a pressure sensitive adhesive ( psa ). the patch 102 may provide an anchor point 154 for the ending 150 of the string 106 . the indicator patch 104 may provide an anchor point 156 for the ending 152 of the string 106 but it may also include an additional portion of the string 106 packed in a zigzag or sawtooth pattern 122 between an optically transparent window 124 and a reflective background sheet 126 . the string may be arranged in the zigzag pattern 122 and stabilized in that form using a thin layer of a transparent pressure sensitive adhesive ( not shown ) placed between the transparent window 124 and a reflective background sheet 126 . the pressure sensitive adhesive ( not shown ) stabilizes the string 106 to maintain its zigzag pattern 122 without preventing the string 106 from being pulled out of the zigzag pattern 122 when the anchor patch 102 is moved away from the indicator patch 104 . the string 106 may be selected of a color that is highly contrasting with the color of the reflective background sheet 126 . for example , the color of the string 106 may be matte black , while the color of the reflective background sheet 126 may be bright white . the design and dimensions of the zigzag pattern 122 may be configured such that pulling out the string 106 from the indicator patch 104 may cause the sequential disappearance of the corners 128 of the zigzag pattern 122 . each zigzag corner 128 may have an adjacent number 130 imprinted on the transparent window 124 or the reflective background sheet 126 . the largest numeral from the set 130 which does not have a zigzag corner 128 pointing to it represents the distance between the fingertips or the diameter 116 as illustrated by the example shown in fig3 . the gage 100 in fig3 a shows that the zigzag corner pointing to number 3 is missing which indicates that the distance 160 between the fingertips is about 3 - cm . the gage 100 in fig3 b shows that all the zigzag corners pointing to all numbers up to 5 are missing which indicates that the distance 160 between the fingertips is about 5 - cm . the gage 100 in fig3 c shows that all the zigzag corners pointing to all numbers up to 8 is missing which indicates that the distance 160 between the fingertips is about 8 - cm . in a typical application , the user may wear an examination glove and press the anterior fingertip 108 of the middle finger 109 and the anterior fingertip 110 of the index finger 111 against the adhesive - covered back surface 103 of the patches 102 and the back surface 105 of the patch 104 , respectively . the patches 102 and 104 become attached to the anterior ( or palmer ) fingertips 108 and 110 of the fingers 109 and 111 of the gloved examiner hand 112 , respectively as shown in fig2 . the gloved fingers 109 and 111 may be inserted into the vagina 114 and spread opened until their tips 108 and 110 contact ( or palpate ) the lips ( or rim ) of the cervix 115 to measure the diameter 116 of the cervix opening 118 . the spreading action of the fingers 109 and 111 moves the patches 102 and 104 away from each other thereby pulling the string 106 out of the indicator patch 104 , which indicates the length of the pulled - out string as described below . the length of the pulled - out string corresponds to the distance between the fingertips 108 and 112 or equivalently the diameter 116 of the cervical opening 118 . alternative to the numbers 130 , other representing alphanumeric symbols , color - coded spots , drawings , or measurement tick marks may be used . an alternative embodiment of the disposable gauge is shown in fig4 . the gauge 200 may have an anchor patch 202 and an indicator patch 204 that are initially connected together by a perforated line of separation 232 . the patches 202 and 204 may separate along the line of separation 232 only upon an intentional forcible opening of the fingers 109 and 111 . the initial force needed to separate anchor patch 202 from the indicator patch 204 may be adjusted by the shape and number of the perforations along the separation line 232 . this configuration may safeguard against unintentional opening of the fingers 109 and 111 prior to their proper positioning on the lips ( or rim ) of the cervix 115 . alternative gauge embodiments may utilize geometrical patterns other than the zigzag pattern 122 such as , for example , the star pattern 522 shown in fig5 a , the fan pattern 533 shown in fig5 b , the sinusoidal pattern 544 shown in fig5 c , and the coil pattern 555 shown in fig5 d . the string 106 arranged in the uneven sinusoidal pattern 546 shown in fig5 e may have unequal separation distances 160 between its turns . these unequal distances between the turns of the sting 106 may produce electrical pulses of unequal timing 162 as shown in fig5 f when scanned by an optical reflectance sensor such as a barcode reader . the distances 160 may be configured to generate a timing 162 that is representative of the distance between the fingertips or the diameter 116 . the monitor 600 shown in fig6 may include an automatic gauge dispenser 602 , a gauge reader 604 , a display screen 606 , a measurement reminder light 608 , and a processor ( not shown ). the automatic gauge dispenser 602 may utilize a bilayer roll of non - stick tape ( not shown ) with the gauges 100 sandwiched in - between the two layers of the tape . the tape may be automatically advanced and its layers separated to offer the user one gauge at a time . the gauge 100 may be offered with its adhesive covered surfaces 103 and 105 facing upwards . the gauge reader 604 may be used to automatically read the measurement of the gauge 100 . the machine reader may utilize barcode reading technology ; fingerprint reading technology , or optical imaging with image recognition techniques . the reading technology or the image analysis method will depend on the type of the geometrical pattern used in the indicator patch 104 of the gauge 100 . the gauge reader 604 transmits its reading to the processor which processes the diameter measurement with the time of the reading and compares it to previous diameter - time measurements to calculate the current dilatation rate and generate a partogram . the partogram is a graphical display of the cervical dilation versus time and may be used for the assessment of labor . the processor may display the information on the display screen 606 . a detailed view of the display screen is shown in fig7 . the processor may also trigger a reminder light 608 to alert the attending clinician to take a measurement of the cervical diameter . the light 608 may be turned on at a preselected time interval following the last reading to attract attention of the attending clinician that a new measurement is due to be taken . the reminder alert may be preferably of the silent visual type such as the reminder light 608 . however , reminder alert may be also of the audio type . the alert may be also an electronic signal transmitted to the local nursing station of the labor and delivery ward .	0
referring to fig1 , a personal security system makes use of personal mobile handsets 128 coupled to a mobile communication system 120 . each handset 128 is associated with a corresponding user of the system . in some examples , the handsets are cellular telephones that are coupled by a mobile telephone system , such as a gsm , cdma or and iden based system . very generally , the system makes use of a communication server 110 , one function of which is to determine when a security situation may exist for one of the users , and to then alert an appropriate security service 134 . the security service then determines if there is truly a security situation , for example , by communicating with the user over the handset or investigating in person . in order to aid the security service , examples of the system make use of various types of location based services . for example , the mobile communication system includes or has associated with it a location based server ( lbs ) 124 , which is able to determine the location of a particular handset 128 . the communication server 110 can query the lbs 124 ( e . g ., as a software based request over the internet ) to determine the location of a particular handset . different examples of the security system make use of one or more types of location determination approaches . one type of location determination approach uses global positioning system ( gps ) functionality that is built into the handset , optionally assisted by fixed elements of the mobile communication system 120 in an assisted gps ( agps ) approach . other location determination approaches use signal strength and / or direction information in triangulation approaches based on transmitted or received radio signals from the mobile communication system . yet other approaches are based on cell identification in a cellular telephone network . some examples of the system provide services to multiple different communities 130 of users . communities can be various associations of users , which may each be served by their own security service 134 . an example of a community is a university , with the security service being the campus police service for that university . in such an example , different universities typically have separate campus police services . note that in some examples , the communities may not be geographically separated . for example , urban universities may have student communities that are very close to one another ( e . g ., students of new york university and columbia university ), and the users is such communities may operate in overlapping geographic regions . the system supports configurations in which the users are serviced by the security service for their community , regardless of their actual geographic location . in some examples , the personal security system supports a personal security button on the handset . various approaches to configuring the handset to provide such a button are possible , including through provisioning by the operator of the mobile communication system and by downloading software to a configurable device . for example , the “ home ” or “ dashboard ” screen of a mobile telephone can provide direct “ one touch ” access to security services . when a user activates the personal security button , the handset 128 sends a message to the communication server 110 . various approaches to sending the message are used in different examples of the system . some examples use a short message service ( sms ) provided through the mobile communication system . when the communication server 110 receives the message , it queries the lbs 124 to determine the location of the sending handset . in some examples the lbs already has access to location information for the handset that is maintained by the communication system , while in other examples , it in turn queries the communication system which determines the handset &# 39 ; s location . the lbs returns the handset &# 39 ; s location to the communication server 110 , which then contacts the appropriate security service 134 for the user &# 39 ; s community . different examples of the system use various approaches to enrollment of users . in some approaches , a web - based approach is used in which a user provides enrollment information to the communication server . such information includes an identification of the user &# 39 ; s community 130 , and optionally personal information that might be useful to the security service in an emergency . in other examples , the users enroll through a system operated by the community , and personal information is maintained privately within the community . the community provides the communication server with identifications of the handsets within its community . example of personal information that may be useful to a security service is a photograph of the user and physical data ( e . g ., gender , height , weight , hair color , etc .) some mobile communication systems 120 require that a user authorize particular parties so that they can access their location information , for example , through the lbs 124 . in such systems , as part of the enrollment process the users provide the necessary authorization , which is communicated to the lbs and / or the mobile communication system . in some examples , the personal security system supports a mode that can be used when a user expects to be at some risk for an upcoming interval of time . for example , a university student may need to cross a campus late at night and feel at risk walking along isolated paths . some examples of such a mode use a timer - based approach . generally , when the user is about to initiate an interval of time during which they may feel at risk , they initiate the timing of an interval by the security system . if the user “ checks in ” before the expiry of the interval , or alternatively in response to a prompt by the system at the end of the interval , the user is deemed to be safe . on the other hand , if the user does not check in or does not respond to a prompt , or optionally if the handset is not accessible from the communication system 120 during the interval , the security service for that user &# 39 ; s community is notified along with the last known location of the handset . referring to fig1 , a sequence of steps for a previously registered user of the system are described in such an example : step 1 : the user notifies the communication server 110 that they are about to start an at - risk interval . in different examples , this step is carried out in a variety of ways . for example , the handset may have a browser ( e . g ., a wireless application protocol , wap , browser ) that accesses an application at the communication server that provides a graphical interface for display on the handset . the graphical interface permits the user to enter the duration of the interval ( or alternatively the end time of the interval ). in some examples , the user has provided a personal identification number ( pin ) to be used to check in — in other examples the user provides a check - in pin at the start of the interval . in some examples , a software application has already been loaded on the handset , and the application sends data messages to the communication server 110 to initiate the interval . in other examples , communication techniques such as sms , or voice based ( e . g ., using speech recognition ) or touch - tone ( dtmf ) based interfaces are user by the user to inform the communication server that the interval is about to start . in some examples , the communication between the handset and the communication server is direct , while in other examples , the communication is mediated by a system operated by the user &# 39 ; s community . when the communication server determines that the user has started an interval , it begins a count - down timer that will expire at the end of the interval . step 2 a : prior to the end of the interval , the user can communicate with the communication server to check in and terminate the interval . with pin - based approaches , the user enters their secret pin , which was recorded as part of a registration procedure , or was provided at the start of the interval . in some examples , the user has the option of entering a special pin that indicates that they are in danger . for example , suppose an attacker forces a user to terminate the interval , the user can enter a special pin , such a pre - arranged pin or the normal pin with a special suffix ( e . g ., adding a 1 at the end of the pin ). this can signal the communication server that the user is in danger without alerting the attacker . step 2 b : if at the end of the interval the user has not yet check in , the communication server can act on the possibility that the user is in danger . in some examples , the server first communicates automatically with the user . for example , the server may interact with an application executing on the handset , send a sms - based message that needs to be responded to , or may a telephone call requiring voice or text entry of the pin . step 3 : if the user has not checked in prior to the expiry of the planned interval , or has not responded to the prompt from the system at the end of the interval in examples that are configured to provide such a prompt , the communication server 110 requests location information for the user &# 39 ; s handset . step 4 : the lbs 124 determines the last known location of the user , optionally with the time the location determination was made . the lbs then send this location information to the communication server 110 . the location information may take various forms , such as latitude and longitude . step 5 : the communication server 110 notifies the security service 134 for the user . in examples in which the communication server 110 serves many communities , the server has been configured with at least information identifying the particular security service to notify ( or alternatively , multiple security services may be notified and only the one responsible for that handset acts on the notification ). in examples in which the communication server has additional personal information related to the user ( e . g ., name , photo , etc .) it sends this information along with the notification . in examples in which the security service has access to personal information for that user , it accesses that information in response to the notification . in some examples , security personnel , for example at a command station or at a mobile device for personnel on patrol , are provided with a display associated with the user and the current risk . for example , referring to fig2 , a graphical display with a map showing the user &# 39 ; s location ( or last known location ), a photograph of the user , as well as text - based personal information are displayed to the security personnel . step 6 : the security personnel attempt to interact with the user , for example , by calling their handset to establish person - to - person communication , and / or by dispatching personnel to the user &# 39 ; s location to provide assistance . when appropriate , the security service may notify other security organizations , such as a local police department , to help handle the incident . in some examples , when a user initiates an at - risk interval , the communication server may initially inform the security service and provide location information obtained from the lbs on an ongoing basis . the security service can maintain a display , for example showing their locations on a map , of users as they travel . in some examples , users may have the option of permitting or denying such tracking , for example , for privacy reasons . a concentration of users in a particular area may be addressed by dispatching preventive patrols into the area . also , historical information may be logged , for example , to identify areas and time in which users feel at risk or in which incidents actually occur . such historical information may used , for example , to improve users &# 39 ; sense of security in those areas , for example though physical improvements ( e . g ., lighting ) or increased patrols . in some examples , the security period may be defined using other and / or additional criteria than time duration or end time . for example , a user may identify a route ( e . g ., using a destination building number ) and the security period is defined as the time until the user reaches the destination . in such an example , the end of the security period may be defined by the server as a reasonable time needed to reach the destination . in some examples , the communication server may determine that there may be a possible security condition if the user deviates significantly from a path to the declared destination . in some examples , security periods may be initiated or defined by entities other than the user . for example , a parent may require that a child check in at a particular time ( e . g ., at midnight ) or at a set of prespecified times ( e . g ., every two hours ). in addition or instead of notifying a security service , the parent may be notified if the child fails to check in . that is , the parent may serve the role of the security service . similarly , an elderly parent may need to check in periodically or else their adult child or other caregiver is notified with information about their location . in some examples , a child may initiate the security period with the parent being notified if they fail to terminate the period or check in when prompted . in some examples , a security period may be initiated by a passive activity of the user . for example , a system may detect that a user has entered a predefined geographic area ( e . g ., going off campus , leaving a nursing home ) and may have to check in within a certain period of time ( e . g ., within one hour ). in some examples , the user &# 39 ; s community security service is notified regardless of the user &# 39 ; s geographic location . for example , a user from a university in california may be visiting new york city yet their security - related notifications are sent back to california . this approach can permit their university security service to provide additional information to local new york police . in other examples , the security service that is notified may depend on the user &# 39 ; s geographic location . for example , universities may cooperate and a student visiting another university &# 39 ; s campus may result in a notification to the security service of the visited university in addition or instead of the user &# 39 ; s home university . in some examples , one communication server 110 may interact with multiple mobile communication systems . for example , users in a single community 130 or in different communities 130 may be served by different mobile telephone carriers . in some version of the system , additional community services 136 may take advantage of the capabilities of the communication server . for example in a university situation , a community service may include an academic group that provides class - related notifications ( e . g ., class cancellation , in - class surveys , etc .). another community service may include access to transportation information , such a campus bus routes , schedules , and expected arrival time information . other examples include broadcasting of campus - wide alerts , which may be security related . in the description above , in some examples of the system a university student community is provided as an example of users served by the system . other examples of communities may be served by examples of the system . for example , personnel on a military base , a special interest group , a church group , residents of a housing development , inhabitants of cities , towns , hotel guests , etc . can each form a community served by an example of a personal security system . in some examples , capabilities described are implemented in software , which may be stored on computer readable media or embodied on signals propagating through communication media ( e . g ., over wired or wireless networks ). the software may include instructions , such as machine instructions , programming language or interpreter statements , instructions for virtual machines ( e . g ., java ), or other forms of instructions . the software may be distributed , for example , with some components execution on the handsets and other components executing at fixed servers . it is to be understood that the foregoing description is intended to illustrate and not to limit the scope of the invention , which is defined by the scope of the appended claims . other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims .	7
the alternative tangential flow perfusion bioreactor was operated without cell bleeding under metabolic control . perfusion culturing of cells has its conventional meaning in the art , i . e . it means that during culturing cells are retained by a filter module in which there is an outflow of liquid void of cells “ the perfusate ”. a person skilled in the art knows how to determine the outflow or perfusion rate . perfusion culturing results in the production of a continuous flow . filter modules comprising tubular membranes are commercially available from for example spectrum laboratories ( spectrumlabs ). with “ alternating tangential flow within the filter module ” is meant that there is one flow in the same direction as ( i . e . tangential to ) the membrane surfaces of the hollow fibers , which flow is going back and forth , and that there is another flow in a direction substantially perpendicular to said filter surface . tangential flow can be achieved according to methods known to the person skilled in the art . for example , in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 544 , 424 it is described that alternating tangential flow can be achieved using one pump to circulate the cell culture over a filter module comprising hollow fibers and another pump to remove the liquid having a lower cell density than prior to the filter separation . in the process of the present invention , the separation device is a filter module comprising hollow fibers . with the term “ hollow fiber ” is meant a tubular membrane . preferably , the mesh size in the membrane is chosen such that the size of the pores in the mesh is close to the diameter of the cells , ensuring a high retention of cells while cell debris can pass the filter . preferably , the mesh size is between 0 . 2 and 30 microns . cells which can be used to produce the biological substance are in principle all cells known to the person skilled in the art , which have the ability to produce a biological product . preferably , the cells that are used in the process of the present invention are animal cells , in particular mammalian cells . examples of mammalian cells include cho ( chinese hamster ovary ) cells , hybridomas , mdck ( madin derby canine kidney ) cells , myeloma cells , human cells , for example hek - 293 cells , hela cells , human lymphoblastoid cells , e1 immortalized her cells and per . c6 cells . cho cells have a diameter of approximately 13 microns , hek cells a diameter of 15 microns and hela cells of 20 microns ( milo et al ., 2010 ). in yet another embodiment of the invention , a biological substance is produced by the cells . the biological substances that can suitably be produced in the perfusion culturing of the cell are in principle all biological substances that can be produced by animal , especially mammalian , and yeast cells , for example therapeutic and diagnostic proteins , such as monoclonal antibodies , growth factors or peptide hormones , enzymes , polynucleotides , live viruses and genetically - engineered viral vectors ( viral particles ) used in gene therapy , recombinant proteins used in vaccines , etc . according to the process of the invention , a high viable cell density is a density of at least 40 . times . 10 . sup . 6 cells per ml , preferably at least 50 . times . 10 . sup . 6 cells per ml , more preferably at least 60 . times . 10 . sup . 6 cells per ml . typically , a suitable upper limit in the cell density may lie around 70 . times . 10 . sup . 6 cells per ml . surprisingly , the extremely high cell density of the process of the invention is accompanied by a high cell viability . a high cell viability is a viability of at least 90 %, preferably at least 95 %, more preferably at least 97 %, most preferably at least 99 %. it is to be understood that high viable cell density and high cell viability are reached after a certain period of perfusion culturing , generally when the cells have reached a steady state , for mammalian cells typically 12 to 25 days after the initiation of perfusion culturing . the ph , temperature , dissolved oxygen concentration and osmolarity of the cell culture medium are in principle not critical and depend on the type of cell chosen . preferably , the ph , temperature , dissolved oxygen concentration and osmolarity are chosen such that it is optimal for the growth and productivity of the cells . usually , the optimal ph is between 6 . 8 and 7 . 2 , the optimal temperature between 32 and 39 . degree . c ., the optimal osmolarity between 260 and 400 mosm / kg . generally , a cell culture medium for mammalian cells comprises amino acids , vitamins , lipids , salts , detergents , buffers , growth factors , hormones , cytokines , trace elements and carbohydrates . examples of amino acids are all 20 known proteinogenic amino acids , for example histidine , glutamine , threonine , serine , methionine . examples of vitamins include : ascorbate , biotin , choline . cl , myo - inositol , d - panthothenate , riboflavin . examples of lipids include fatty acids , for example linoleic acid and oleic acid ; soy peptone and ethanol amine . examples of salts include magnesium salts , for example mgcl . sub . 2 . 6h . sub . 20 , mgso . sub . 4 and mgso . sub . 4 . 7h . sub . 20 iron salts , for example feso . sub . 4 . 7h . sub . 20 , potassium salts , for example kh . sub . 2po . sub . 4 , kcl ; sodium salts , for example nah . sub . 2po . sub . 4 , na . sub . 2hpo . sub . 4 and calcium salts , for example cacl . sub . 2 . 2h . sub . 20 . examples of detergents include tween 80 and pluronic f68 . an example of a buffer is hepes . examples of growth factors / hormones / cytokines include igf , hydrocortisone and ( recombinant ) insulin . examples of trace elements are known to the person skilled in the art and include zn , mg and se . examples of carbohydrates include glucose , fructose , galactose and pyruvate . in one embodiment , metabolic control allows high cell viability greater than 95 % and high cell density under steady state conditions in the range of 40 . times . 10 . sup . 6 to 70 . times . 10 . sup . 6 cells / ml by using low perfusion flow rates of one vessel volume per day ( vvd ) or less . metabolic control is obtained by the addition of key nutrients such as glucose and glutamine and the removal of key toxic metabolites such as lactate and ammonia , metabolites affect the viability and viable cell density of the perfusion cell culture . the monitoring of metabolites such as glucose and glutamine can be obtained in real time by the use of biosensors in flow injection analysis ( fia ) mode . ( cattaneo et al , 1992 ; cattaneo et al , 1993 ). metabolic control promotes high cell viabilities under low perfusion conditions approaching one bioreactor vessel volume per day ( vvd ), perfusion conditions which would normally result in low cell viabilities and low cell viable cell densities . high cell viabilities are necessary to maintain high cell productivity and to minimize cell death which results in cell debris which causes the perfusion filter to clog , as described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 544 , 424 . it was surprisingly found that perfusing at low 1 vvd while controlling the level of glucose between 1 g / l and 3 g / l and the lactate levels below 3 g / l ( fig2 a ) with an antibody - producing cho - k1 cell line with the glutamine synthetase selection system resulted in viable cell densities between 40 . times . 10 . sup . 6 and 70 . times . 10 . sup6 and cell viabilities exceeding 96 % perfusion and antibodies titers of 2 - 3 g / l for over 20 days of continuous production starting at day 10 ( fig2 b ). preferably , the process according to the invention is used for the production of a biopharmaceutical product , which is a biological substance with a medical application . examples of biopharmaceutical products are as follows ( with examples of brand names of the corresponding biopharmaceutical product between brackets ): adalimumab ( humira ™), bevacizumab ( avastin ™) ( recombinant ) antihemophilic factor ( refacto ™) lymphoblastoid interferon . alpha .- n1 ( wellferon ™), ( recombinant ) coagulation factor ( novoseven ™), etanercept , ( enbrel ™), trastuzumab ( herceptin ™), infliximab ( remicade ™), basiliximab ( simulect ™), daclizumab ( zenapaz ™), ( recombinant ) coagulation factor ix ( benefix ™), erythropoietin alpha ( epogen ®), g - csf ( neupogen ® filgrastim ), interferon alpha - 2b ( infergen ®), recombinant insulin ( humulin ®), interferon beta 1a ( avonex ®), factor viii ( kogenate ®), glucocerebrosidase ( cerezyme ™), interferon beta 1b ( betaseron ®), tnf alpha receptor ( enbrel ®), follicle stimulating hormone ( gonal - f ®), palivizumab ( synagis ®, reopro ®), rituximab ( rituxan ®), tissue plasminogen activator ( activase ®, actilyase ®), human growth hormone ( protropin ®, norditropin ®, genotropin ™). examples of polynucleotides with a possible medical application are gene therapeutic plasmid dnas . examples of vaccines are live , oral , tetravalent rotavirus vaccine ( rotashield ™), rabies vaccine ( ranavert ™) viral vectors are presently tested in clinical trials for their medical application in restoring genetic defects . in one preferred embodiment a therapeutic mab was produced from cho - k1 cells under perfusion in a 2 l bioreactor for 35 days . the growth profile and perfusion rate values are shown in fig3 . as mentioned earlier , media optimization techniques allowed for maintaining perfusion rates at one vessel volume / day on average throughout the run . critical nutrient and wastes control over the run are also shown in fig3 . by carefully controlling media components , the levels of critical nutrients in the bioreactor were kept at adequate levels . this tight control of nutrients ensured production of material within acceptable product quality requirements . for the production phase of the cell culture metabolic control based on glucose levels to maintain the cell density between 40 million cell / ml and 60 million cells / ml while keeping the perfusion rate constant at 1 vessel volume per day was employed throughout the 35 - day run . as shown in fig2 a , the growth phase of the cell culture which lasted 10 days using 1 vvd perfusion rate achieved cell densities of 60 million cells / ml . on day 15 after seeding the bioreactor we reduced the level of glucose from 3 g / l down to 0 g / l to limit cell growth to around 60 million cells / ml , which occurred on day 20 as shown in fig2 b . additionally , this metabolic control strategy can also be applied by controlling concentration of other essential nutrients such as glutamine , other amino acids , growth factors , etc . alone or in combination , while keeping the perfusion rate constant at 1 vvd ( vessel volume per day ). this novel approach , which aims to control stable , optimal cell density and protein production through metabolic control , eliminates the need for repetitively removing cells from the bioreactor ( i . e . bleeding ). regular bleeding of the bioreactor in continuous manufacturing is a standard required protocol and a well known high risk factor for microbial contamination , which is the main cause of failed bioreactor runs . thus , by applying metabolic control through addition and / or removal of key nutrient ( s ) to keep cell densities and viability at ideal values for protein production bleeding is no longer necessary . the biological substance in the outflow of the perfusion filter may be further purified in so - called downstream processing . downstream processing usually comprises several purification steps in varying combinations and order . examples of purification steps in the downstream processing are separation steps ( e . g . by affinity chromatography or hydrophobic interaction chromatography ), steps for the concentration of the biological substance ( e . g . by ultrafiltration or diafiltration ), steps to exchange buffers and / or steps to remove viruses ( e . g . by virus filtration and / or ph shift ). an additional benefit of using metabolite control to limit the perfusion rate to 1 vvd or less is the ability to load the perfusate directly onto a single chromatography capture column . multiple column chromatography systems such as simulated moving beds ( smb ), periodic counter current chromatography ( pcc ) and two column chromatography ( tcc ) can be replaced by the one - column continuous chromatography ( occ ) system described herein because of the low perfusate flow coming from the perfusion bioreactor . the bind / elute cycle of the occ can be synchronized to the perfusion rate exiting the perfusion filter . in one preferred embodiment the low flow of the perfusate of 1 vvd corresponds to a flow velocity of 100 cm / hour or a residence time of 1 minute or less for a 5 ml column results in high dynamic binding capacities approaching 40 g of antibody per liter of protein a resin as shown in fig4 . by running at low rates of perfusion the dynamic binding capacity of the protein a column is significantly increased compared to a high - flow condition typical of batch operations , where dynamic binding capacities of 10 g of antibody per liter are common . the lower the flow of the perfusate ( conditioned or spent media that contains the desired secreted protein product such as an antibody ), the higher the dynamic binding capacity of the capture column such as protein a for capturing antibodies or hic ( hydrophobic interaction column ) for capturing recombinant proteins . by using low perfusate flows such as one vessel volume per day or less ( 0 . 5 - 1 vvd ) we obtain a high dynamic binding capacity and therefore we maximize the utilization of the capture column such as protein a or hic per cycle . in one preferred embodiment , the synchronization between upstream and downstream was performed using a single protein a column for capture of monoclonal antibodies . this one column system was preferred because of its simplicity and ease of implementation especially in manufacturing environments . compared to other approaches developed so far , no new hardware or software will have to be developed to implement this new platform process . column operations were optimized to ensure that the total time for a single cycle was equivalent to the rate of production of perfusate from the reactor . as shown in fig6 , purification begins with about 20 ml perfusate in the holding bottle . the cycle begins at the end of a load ( l ) cycle and a beginning of the wash ( w ) cycle . the wash cycle is done with 10 column volumes for 5 mins ( 7 ml collected in holding bottle ). after wash is clution with 5 column volumes for 5 mins ( 14 ml total perfusate collected ). the equilibration step takes another 10 column volumes for 5 more minutes ( 21 ml total collected in holding bottle ). the load step takes 9 mins to load 35 ml of perfusate ( 12 . 6 + 21 ml = 33 . 6 ml total collected ). the excess load over perfused is compensated for during the three 20 mins sanitization steps that occur once every 20 cycles . a very important aspect of the current approach is the column switching strategy . prepacked mabselect columns ( ge corporation ) are usually rated to two hundred cycles . however , there has to be a rigorous monitoring technique designed to detect and even predict when the protein a column begins to fail . in the current occ approach , upstream and downstream synchronization is so tightly controlled , that traditional pulse testing approaches are not practical . to achieve column monitoring , a real - time transition analysis of spectral data of each cycle was performed to provide an hetp value using a modified larson approach ( larson et al . 2003 ). the occ approach therefore makes column monitoring very practical despite existing infrastructure and reduces the number of failure modes . for instance with a different continuous chromatography approach such as simulated moving beds ( smb ), monitoring all six columns remains very cumbersome and the failure of any one of the columns will result in a disruption in the process in order to execute a replacement . in another embodiment the last twenty four hours prior to column failure . fig7 shows that by visual observation , the column failed at around 160 cycles ( 72 hrs including sanitization / regeneration steps ), however , from the modified larson approach , the column failure was predicted about 20 cycles earlier ( 64 hrs ). the conductivity of the protein a column drops from around 48 ms down to 40 ms on day 20 after seeding the bioreactor . a reduction in conductivity of 20 %± 5 % is an indicator of the exhaustion of the protein capture column and a signal that it needs to be replaced with a new column to continue operations in an uninterrupted manner . this distinct signal allows the repetitive use of a much smaller column compared to batch operation where larger diameter columns are required to satisfy the much larger spent media production flows . the use of many smaller columns reduces the quantity of protein capture resin by an order of magnitude or more compared to a batch process . as shown in fig8 another important advantage of the continuous bioprocess outlined in this invention is the very low level of host cell protein ( hcp ) in the bioreactor and purified material . since the bioreactor is operating under perfusion , which averts accumulation , there are already low levels of hcp in the perfusate . moreover , affinity chromatography is an excellent method for eliminating the bulk hcp from the perfusate ( hogwood et al . 2013 ; nian et al . 2016 ). in this approach , triplicate samples from the bioreactor and from the purified product were taken and analyze for hcp content . fig8 shows a fifty fold lower hcp content than acceptable . the industry hcp content typically allowed in antibody products is 100 ppm ( champion et al . 2001 ; wang et al . 2009 ). thus even after concentrating the protein a purified material by five - fold for next step purification , the hcp concentration will still be at allowable limits . this makes the current approach and excellent candidate for human studies . perfusion mode cell culture using was conducted on bioreactors with 2 l working volume using an atf2 system equipped with a 0 . 2 μm hollow fiber filter . dissolved oxygen was controlled using o 2 gas via a sintered sparger . cell density ( life technologies , grand island , n . y . ), nutrients and waste were monitored by offline measurements . chemically defined media was modified via internal experiments to optimize bioreactor performance and proprietary cho cell lines producing biosimilars were used . the cells were seeded at 0 . 5 million cells / ml . cell growth and waste were controlled by perfusion rate and nutrients were controlled by media optimization . the process was optimized to an average perfusion rate of one reactor volume / day . ph was controlled around 7 . 2 with sodium bicarbonate and co 2 gas . do was kept above 40 %. the harvest was loaded directly onto a single protein a column without additional clarification . using the 2 l bioreactor , the perfusion rate was optimized during the antibody production phase to 1 vv / day corresponding to 2000 ml of spent media every 24 hours . a single column operation was optimized to 24 minutes with a 35 ml load of perfusate per cycle . a 20 minute cleaning / sanitization cycle was conducted after every 20 cycles . this results in 60 complete cycles every 24 hours or 2000 ml every 24 hours , equivalent to the perfusion rate . the synchronization of perfusion rates and antibody capture rates while maintaining glucose and lactate levels at desired rates was thus achieved . titer was quantified using elisa . mouse anti - human capture igg ( 100 μl per well ) was used to coat a flat bottom 96 - well plate overnight at 4 ° c . the wells were washed three times with 200 μl of washing buffer . the plate was blocked with 200 μl of blocking buffer at 37 ° c . for 1 hour and washed three times with 200 μl of washing buffer . to each well was added 100 of standards , samples and control with corresponding dilutions and the plate was incubated at room temperature for 1 hr . the samples were washed three times with 200 μl of washing buffer and 100 pt of the secondary antibody was added and incubated at 37 ° c . for an additional 0 . 5 hrs . the plates were washed three times with 200 μl of washing buffer and 100 μl of tetramethylbenzidine ( tmb ) solution was added . plate was incubated for about 5 to 15 minutes at room temperature and developed blue color was read at 655 nm . host cell protein in the bioreactor sample and purified sample was quantified by elisa using commercial kits ( cygnus technologies , plainville , mass .). the standard provided by the manufacturer was used to build the calibration curve between 2 and 100 ng / ml . a single protein a cycle involves an equilibration , a load , a wash and an elution step . the occ approach is summarized in fig6 . while the wash , elute and equilibration steps are progressing , enough perfusate for a single chromatographic cycle load step accumulates in the holding surge container . actually , a slightly smaller amount than that perfused is loaded to account for the accumulation that occurs during the sanitization / regeneration steps that are performed after 20 cycles . the amount of material in the surge container can be minimized to near zero . the unique feature of this approach is the perfect synchronization with the perfusion rate upstream . a single chromatographic cycle was optimized to 24 minutes with the flow rate for loading only half of those for the other steps . the low loading flow rates increased dynamic binding capacities to levels very close to the static binding capacities , a feature that will be very useful as upstream future process optimizations for perfusion cell cultures enhances antibody productivity . antibody capture was done with a 5 ml prepacked mabselect column ( ge healthcare , pittsburgh , pa .) connected to a quantasep1000 unit ( sepragen , hayward , calif .). each column operation consisted of an equilibration , a load , a wash , an elute and a regeneration step . although the unit did not provide a sterile operation , there are readily available newer units with the same specifications that offer complete single use flow lines which can be used during gmp manufacturing . in this example , the first successful attempt at using a one - column continuous chromatography ( occ ) for the continuous capture of therapeutic antibodies produced through atf perfusion is presented . a 3 l perfusion reactor was used in combination with a single 5 ml prepacked protein a column for the continuous capture of a therapeutic antibody . the upstream atf perfusion was optimized to one reactor volume / day . the media was also optimized for excellent product quality . a prepacked protein - a column , less than 1 % the size of the bioreactor was used to continuously capture perfused antibody under low flow rates . the column was switched after 120 - 140 cycles . this approach is the first and only attempt at using a single column for the implementation of a truly integrated continuous biomanufacturing platform . this approach offers a cost effective and flexible platform process for the manufacture of both stable and unstable therapeutic agents . a proof of concept perfusion mode cell culture was conducted on pilot bioreactors with 2 l working volume using an atf2 system equipped with a 0 . 2 μm hollow fiber filter . dissolved oxygen was controlled using o 2 gas via a sintered sparger . cell density ( life technologies , grand island , n . y . ), nutrients and waste were monitored by offline measurements . chemically defined media was modified via internal experiments to optimize bioreactor performance and proprietary cho cell lines producing biosimilars were used . the cells were seeded at 0 . 5 million cells / ml . cell growth and waste were controlled by perfusion rate and nutrients were controlled by media optimization . the process was optimized to an average perfusion rate of one reactor volume / day . ph was controlled around 6 . 8 - 7 . 2 with sodium bicarbonate and co 2 gas . do was kept above 40 %. the harvest was loaded directly onto a single protein a column without additional clarification . the continuous process includes a bioreactor for growing mammalian cells which produce recombinant proteins , monoclonal antibody or viral vectors , a perfusion filter operated in alternating tangential flow and a capture column for binding the product . the mass flow controller ( mfc ) controlled the perfusate and feed flows in and out of the bioreactor . dissolved oxygen was controlled by the mfc using an o2 gas sparger . carbon dioxide gas and sodium bicarbonate was used to control ph . cell density , nutrients and waste metabolites were monitored by offline measurements . chemically defined , serum - free media was modified via internal experiments to optimize bioreactor performance and proprietary cho cell lines producing monoclonal antibodies were used . the cells were seeded at 0 . 5 million cells / ml . cell growth and waste were controlled by adjusting perfusion rate , and nutrients were controlled by media optimization as shown in fig2 b . the process was optimized to an average perfusion rate of one reactor volume / day . ph was controlled around 7 . 2 with sodium bicarbonate and co2 gas . do was kept above 40 %. the perfusate was loaded directly onto a single protein a column without additional clarification . the perfusion rate was monitored in real time and was controlled to maintain a stable high cell density , viability and protein production in the bioreactor . after the “ growth phase ” started which occurred on day 10 after seeding the bioreactor , we switched to the “ production phase ” when the cells produce and secrete high levels of protein such as antibodies used in therapies or viral proteins used in vaccines . the growth phase typically uses a nutrient rich media such as cd - cho ( chemically defined , serum - free media especially designed for suspension cho cell growth ). it was surprising that if the cell viability fell below 95 % this had a detrimental impact on the perfusion filter due to cell debris plugging the filter pores , thereby preventing the free flow of perfusate through the perfusion filter . the perfusion rate had to be increased from 1 vvd to 2 vvd to keep the cell viability above 95 % as shown in fig3 . the perfusion mode cell culture was conducted on bioreactors with 2 l working volume using an atf2 system ( refinetech ) equipped with a 0 . 2 micron hollow fiber perfusion filter to retain the cells in the bioreactor . the produced , secreted protein such as an antibody passes through the filter and goes directly into the protein capture column with no harvesting step in between . harvesting is now considered a major bottleneck to biomanufacturing . good harvesting filters that can process large amounts of spent media are not readily available . by avoiding the harvesting step the amount of cell debris , which includes residual host cell protein ( hcp ) and dna , is now greatly reduced . the hcp levels were found to be below 10 ppm . the level of cell debris significantly affects the lifespan of the protein capture column downstream , high levels reducing the number of possible purification cycles of the protein capture column . it is standard practice in a batch operation to recycle the protein a column about 4 times per day . however , by maintaining cell viability at about 95 %, as many as 200 recycle times for a single protein a column were achieved . our continuous manufacturing system produces impurities in low amounts such as host cell protein ( hcp & lt ; 10 ppm ) compared to a fed - batch process where the hcp exceeds 1000 ppm . in the case of a batch operation , which includes a harvesting step , the cell debris in the harvest is inherently much higher because there is considerable shear ( hcp & gt ; 1 , 000 ppm ). the higher content of cell debris causes accelerated plugging of the protein capture column , thus reducing the number of capture column cycles that can be obtained with the column . we have been able to increase the number of column cycles from 50 to 200 cycles . a complete protein capture column cycle consisted of an equilibration , a load , a wash , an elute and a regeneration step . low flow antibody capture was done with a 5 ml prepacked mabselect column ( ge healthcare ) connected to a quantasep1000 unit ( sepragen , hayward , calif .). antibody capture was done with a 5 ml prepacked mabselect column ( ge healthcare ) connected to a quantasep1000 unit ( sepragen , hayward , calif .). each column operation consisted of an equilibration , a load , a wash , an elute and a regeneration step . a cleaning / sanitization step was done every 20 cycles and a new column was installed after every 200 cycles . although the unit did not provide a sterile operation , there are readily available newer units with the same specifications that offer complete single use flow lines which can be used during gmp manufacturing . cattaneo et al . ( 1992 ). “ monitoring glutamine in mammalian cell cultures using an amperometric biosensor .” biosens bioelectron 7 ( 5 ): 329 - 34 . cattaneo and luong ( 1993 ) “ monitoring glutamine in animal cell cultures using a chemiluminescence fiber optic biosensor ”. biotech bioeng 03 , 41 ( 6 ): 659 - 65 . aldington s and bonnerjea j . ( 2007 ). “ scale - up of monoclonal antibody purification processes .” j chromatogr b analyt technol biomed life sci 848 ( 1 ): 64 - 78 . angarita m , muller - spath t , baur d , lievrouw r , lissens g and morbidelli m . ( 2015 ). “ twin - column capture smb : a novel cyclic process for protein a affinity chromatography .” j chromatogr a 1389 : 85 - 95 . birch j r and racher a j . ( 2006 ). “ antibody production .” adv drug deliv rev 58 ( 5 - 6 ): 671 - 85 . champion k m , nishihara j c , joly j c and arnott d . ( 2001 ). “ similarity of the escherichia coli proteome upon completion of different biopharmaceutical fermentation processes .” proteomics 1 ( 9 ): 1133 - 1148 . girard v , hilbold n j , ng c k , pegon l , chahim w , rousset f and monchois v . ( 2015 ). “ large - scale monoclonal antibody purification by continuous chromatography . from process design to scale - up .” j biotechnol 213 : 65 - 73 . hober s , nord k and linhult m . ( 2007 ). “ protein a chromatography for antibody purification .” j chromatogr b analyt technol biomed life sci 848 ( 1 ): 40 - 7 . hogwood c e , tait a s , koloteva - levine n , bracewell d g and smales c m . ( 2013 ). “ the dynamics of the cho host cell protein profile during clarification and protein a capture in a platform antibody purification process .” biotechnol bioeng 110 ( 1 ): 240 - 51 . keβler l c , gueorguieva l , rinas u and seidel - morgenstern a . ( 2007 ). “ step gradients in 3 - zone simulated moving bed chromatography . application to the purification of antibodies and bone morphogenetic protein - 2 .” j chromatogr a 1176 ( 1 - 2 ): 69 - 78 . konstantinov k b and cooney c l . ( 2015 ). “ white paper on continuous bioprocessing . may 20 - 21 , 2014 continuous manufacturing symposium .” j pharm sci 104 ( 3 ): 813 - 20 . larson t m , davis j , lam h and cacia j . ( 2003 ). “ use of process data to assess chromatographic performance in production - scale protein purification columns .” biotechnology progress 19 ( 2 ): 485 - 492 . milo et al ., ( 2010 ) nucl . acids res 38 , suppl 1 : d750 - d753 natarajan v and zydney a l . 2013 . “ protein a chromatography at high titers .” biotechnol bioeng 110 ( 9 ): 2445 - 51 . ng c k s , rousset f , valery e , bracewell d g and sorensen e . ( 2014 ). “ design of high productivity sequential multi - column chromatography for antibody capture .” food and bioproducts processing 92 ( 2 ): 233 - 241 . nian r , zhang w , tan l , lee j , bi x , yang y , gan h t and gagnon p . ( 2016 ) “ advance chromatin extraction improves capture performance of protein a affinity chromatography .” j chromatogr a 1431 : 1 - 7 . pollock j , ho s v and farid s s . ( 2013 ). “ fed - batch and perfusion culture processes : economic , environmental , and operational feasibility under uncertainty .” biotechnol bioeng 110 ( 1 ): 206 - 19 . schaber s d , gerogiorgis d i , ramachandran r , evans j m b , barton p i and trout b l . ( 2011 ). “ economic analysis of integrated continuous and batch pharmaceutical manufacturing : a case study .” industrial & amp ; engineering chemistry research 50 ( 17 ): 10083 - 10092 . walther j , godawat r , hwang c , abe y , sinclair a and konstantinov k . ( 2015 ). “ the business impact of an integrated continuous biomanufacturing platform for recombinant protein production .” j biotechnol 213 : 3 - 12 . wang x , hunter a and mozier n m . ( 2009 ). “ host cell proteins in biologics development : identification , quantitation and risk assessment .” biotechnol bioeng 103 ( 3 ): 446 - 458 . warikoo v , godawat r , brower k , jain s , cummings d , simons e , johnson t , walther j , yu m , wright b , mclarty j , karey k p , hwang c , zhou w , riske f and konstantinov k . ( 2012 ). “ integrated continuous production of recombinant therapeutic proteins .” biotechnol bioeng 109 ( 12 ): 3018 - 29 . xenopoulos a . ( 2015 ). “ a new , integrated , continuous purification process template for monoclonal antibodies : process modeling and cost of goods studies .” j biotechnol 213 : 42 - 53 . zydney a l . ( 2015 ). “ perspectives on integrated continuous bioprocessing — opportunities and challenges .” current opinion in chemical engineering 10 : 8 - 13 jordan , et al . ( 1992 ). “ tuning of shear sensitivity of cho cells and its correlation with the size distribution of cell aggregates ”. animal cell technology : developments , processes and products , eds . spier , r . e ., griffiths , j . b . and macdonald , c . london : butteworth - heinemann , pp . 418 - 420 . cited by applicant . shevitz , et al . ( 1989 ). “ stirred tank perfusion reactors for cell propagation and monoclonal antibody production ” in “ advances in biotechnological processes ”. furey , j . ( 2002 ). genetic engineering news 22 ( 7 ): 62 - 63 . cited by applicant . filet , and cooney . ( 1990 ). “ mammalian cell and protein distributions in ultrafiltration hollow fiber bioreactors .” biotechnology and bioengineering , 36 : 902 - 910 . cited by applicant . xie , et al . ( 2002 ). biotechnology and bioengineering . 80 ( 5 ): 569 - 579 . cited by applicant . horwath . ( 1995 ). “ facility design and validation considerations for continuous cell culture processes .” animal cell technology : developments towards the 21st century , springer , eds . reuvery , et al ., p . 553 - 559 . cited by applicant . norris , et al ., ( 2002 ). “ growth of cell lines in bioreactors ,” basic methods in antibody production and characterization , crc press , eds . howard , et al ., pp . 87 - 103 . cited by applicant . furey , j ., “ continuous cell culture using the atf system ”, ( 2000 ). genetic engineering news 20 ( 10 , 15 ), 52 - 53 cited by applicant . voisard , d ., et al . ( 2003 ). “ potential of cell retention techniques for large - scale high - density perfusion culture of suspended mammalian cells .” biotechnology and bioengineering . 82 ( 7 ) 751 - 765 . cited by applicant . woodside s . m . et al . ( 1998 ). “ mammalian cell retention devices for stirred perfusion bioreactors ” cytotechnology 28 ( 1 - 3 ) 163 - 175 . cited by applicant . banik , et al . ( 1995 ). “ partial and total cell retention in a filtration - based homogeneous perfusion reactor .” biotechnology prog . 11 , pp . 584 - 588 . cited by applicant john r . w . masters ( 2000 ). “ animal cell culture : a practical approach , oxford university press , 2000 (“ masters ( 2000 )”); p . 59 . cited by applicant . shevitz et al . ( 1989 ). “ stirred tank perfusion reactors for cell propagation and monoclonal antibody production .” in “ monoclonal antibodies : production and application ” advances in biotechnological processes , 11 : 81 - 106 . cited by applicant .	1
we have found that when a furnace is operated continuously by plasma arc melting ( pam ) or by electron beam melting ( ebm ) processes , or when rapid solidification plasma deposition ( rspd ) is carried out , particulate matter which is generated from these processes deposits on interior surfaces within the enclosure . these deposits occur on essentially all internal surfaces of the enclosure including on internal surfaces located over rspd deposited surface layers as well as over molten metal pools . in time the deposits become thick enough to break loose and flake off and to drop into the metal pool . some of these deposits are rich in oxygen . others have disproportionate concentrations of ingredients as explained above . the finely divided material formed by the plasma arc melting or electron beam melting processes absorbs or reacts with oxygen readily and the oxide bearing deposit is rarely , if ever , identical in composition to the composition of the final alloy or deposit to be produced by the processing and in this sense represent an unwanted and potentially harmful addition to the alloy pool or to an rspd receiving surface . efforts have been made heretofore to reduce or eliminate such &# 34 ; fall back &# 34 ; contamination . in a number of pam furnaces , constant flowthrough of gas removes a portion of the particulate matter formed but such gas throughput would have to be increased many times in order to eliminate such deposits . in the ebm processing , a grate has been positioned over the melt in order to capture particulate matter and to provide a more reliable bond of the deposited particulate to the surfaces over the melt pool . the idea is that if the particulate matter adheres more strongly to the grate surface as it has a larger collection surface and , there is therefore a reduced chance that it will break loose and fall into the melt pool . these passive techniques , such as positioning a grate over the melt pool or large volume gas purging , has met with limited success and improvements in the processing and in the apparatus used for these techniques are needed . in the rspd processing , the danger is that surface deposits will flake off the enclosure interior and will fall onto the receiving surface and be embedded in the rspd surface deposit thus creating an inclusion or defect in the surface structure or alloy composition . based on the experimental work we have done we deem it possible to substantially avoid the formation of particulate deposits on a surface over the melt or over an rspd surface deposit . this reduction in the deposit of vaporous and particulate material on surfaces of a processing enclosure from which such deposit may fall onto and / or into and contaminate the melt or plasma deposit may be accomplished by placing at least one electrode in the enclosure at a position directly above the melt surface . we found the particulate in the furnace chamber to be charged . we inferred the existence of the charge from the fact that the particulate matter is attracted to an oppositely charged plate . accordingly , we concluded that we would be able to influence the disposition of the particulate matter by inducing an electric field within the chamber to apply attractive and / or repulsive force to the particulate matter . based on our experiments , we have found that the particulate matter in the processing furnaces is very fine and that , to a large degree , the fine particles carry a charge . our experiments have demonstrated that in certain processing apparatus the particulate material is almost exclusively negatively charged and the application is described in terms of a negatively changed particulate material . however , the principal experimental finding is that the particles are predominantly of a single charge , and the particulate matter may be dealt with effectively because it bears a single charge . the particle size of the particulate matter is to a large degree smaller than one micron . based on the combination of particle size and charges which are carried by the particles , we have succeeded in attracting a significant fraction of the particles to a charged plate . conversely , we have been successful in repelling essentially all charged particles from a plate charged to bear the same electric charge as that on the particles . to our knowledge , no effort has been made heretofore to repel particulate matter from surfaces directly above the exposed surface of a melt by use of an electrically charged plate or other electrode of a configuration to generate an electric field which repels such particles . in order to accomplish or to influence the particle repulsion , at least one conductive electrode must be located within the furnace enclosure directly over the melt surface or over the rspd deposit surface . at least one such conductive electrode is so positioned although more than one may be used . a conductive electrode was charged with relatively high voltage , of the range of 10 - 30 kilovolts , in an experimental apparatus , and a power supply was provided capable of delivering relatively small currents of the order of milliamps to the conductive surface . the charge on a repelling conductive electrode must be the same as that on the particles . the higher the voltage employed the higher the degree of particle repulsion but the voltage should not be so high as to cause undesirable side effects such as arcing or the like . such arcing or breakdown is a function of the type of atmosphere , the pressure , the temperature and other factors as well as the particle density , particle type and other like factors . care must also be exercised in the use of magnetic or electric fields in connection with electron beam heating to avoid redirecting the beam from the intended target . we have found that a negatively charged electrode , such as the surface of a plate in our experiments , remained very clean . however , a substantial fraction of the particles in the enclosure appeared to be deposited on a positively charged plate . for convenience of reference as used herein the term furnace enclosure designates an enclosure in which high intensity heating of metal specimens takes place . the high intensity heating can be by pam , by ebm , by rspd or by any other method which delivers high temperature heat rapidly to a metal surface , whether liquid , solid or solid particulate . high intensity heating by a plasma flame occurs because the plasma flame involves high temperature ionization of gas and the operating temperature of a plasma is usually over 10 , 000 ° c . and contact of such a plasma flame with a metal specimen delivers heat to the metal specimen at high temperature and accordingly at a high rate . the same high rate of heating occurs when the heating is done by transferred arc . the method by which the invention is carried out may be described by referring to the accompanying fig1 . the figure is schematic in that the relation of various parts of an apparatus are depicted but the details of mechanical support of the various mechanical parts are not included as they are readily apparent to those skilled in the art and are not essential to practice of the invention . referring now to the figure an enclosure 10 houses an apparatus for the high intensity heating of a metal specimen . the metal 12 to be heated is contained within a hearth 14 . the hearth is made up of a copper crucible 16 having cooling tubes 18 embedded in the base 20 and positioned about the sides 17 to cool the copper body of the hearth 14 . the cooling results in the formation of a skull 22 surrounding the melt 12 and thereby avoiding contamination of the melt by material of the hearth . the hearth 14 is supported on a frame 24 . the frame 24 is grounded by ground wire 26 , and also the hearth 14 is grounded by ground wire 28 . heat is supplied by a plasma torch 30 positioned above the melt so as to direct the heat of the torch onto the upper surface of melt 12 . the current supply and gas supply to torch 30 are not illustrated as they play no part in the subject invention . when ignited the torch has an arc extending between elements internal to the torch . the torch flame extends from the gun due to the flow of gas through the arc . however , after ignition the arc may extend from the cathode of the gun to the surface of the melt by a transfer arc operation to continue the high intensity heating at the upper surface of the metal . this high intensity heating occurs because the temperature of the plasma from the torch is at 10 , 000 ° c . or higher and there is accordingly an application of high intensity heating to the surface of the melt because of the very high temperature at which heat is delivered to the melt surface . what attends the high intensity heating of the melt surface is a generation of vapor and particulate material of very fine particle size . similar generation of vapors and particulate material accompanies other forms of high intensity heating such as heating with electron beam or other means . in addition , the same type of vapors and particulate matter is generated when a plasma arc is operated to plasma spray deposit particles of a material which are passed through the plasma flame onto a receiving surface . for each of these melt processing operations which involve the application of high intensity heat to a metal surface there is an accompanying production of vapors and particulate material for which the subject invention provides some advantages . it is recognized by those who employ equipment for melt processing of high melting alloys through the application of high intensity heating that the vaporous and particulate material which is formed as a by - product of such processing has a tendency to deposit on all exposed internal surfaces within the chamber where such processing takes place . a recognized undesirable side effect of such deposit is the flaking off of the deposit to form contaminating flakes . where such flakes fall from directly above the melt surface contamination of the melt results . to overcome such contamination pursuant to the present invention a charged electrode is disposed above the melt surface in a position where it will repel deposit of the vaporous and particulate matter from an area as large as or larger than the melt surface . such an electrode may have the form of a plate , a screen , a grid or a shaped rod capable of generating a strong radial electric field . in this way , the formation of contaminating flakes of particulate matter is largely avoided and precluded . with reference again to the figure 1 , a charged plate 32 , which serves as a repulsion electrode , is positioned above the melt 12 . the plate is charged from the power supply 36 and the charge is made the same as the charge on the particles within chamber 10 . the charge is applied to plate 32 through conductor 38 . an annular collection shield 42 may have an opposite charge to that on plate 20 and may be helpful in this way in inducing a collection of particles repelled from plate 32 . collection shield 42 is charged by conductor 40 from power source 36 . an annular ground 44 is illustrated as disposed about the collection shield . a ground wire 46 connects ground 44 to the enclosure 10 . annular insulators 48 and 50 provide the insulating action by which the voltage is maintained at one value on electrode 32 and at a different valve on a collection shield 42 and at a still different valve on ground shield 44 . an electric field is formed in the chamber between the three differently charged shields , i . e ., the repulsion shield 30 ; the collection shield 42 , and the ground shield 44 . this electric field acts on the charged particles within the chamber . a high voltage of 5 kv to 30 kv or higher may be used in charging the plate 32 within the apparatus . an industrial apparatus could beneficially use voltages of 50 or 80 kv or higher . the charge polarity on plate 32 must be the same as the charge polarity on the particles to be repelled . when the charge on the particles is found to be negative , the charge placed on plate 32 is likewise negative . conversely , where the particles are positively charged the plate 32 is positively charged . we have found surprisingly that while the surface of the plate facing the melt repels particles , the back face of the plate does collect a deposit of particles . this has been inferred to be a collection of particles which lose their charge at the chamber wall or elsewhere and then are attracted to the reverse side of plate 32 .	7
referring initially to fig1 a existing solid state circuit breaker ( sscb ) 10 is illustrated . sscb 10 is shown connected in series with a load 12 fed by a high - voltage dc voltage bus 14 , which may provide a supply voltage of about 350 volts dc . the sscb 10 features a current controller 11 , comprising an n - channel , enhancement mode power mosfet ( fet ) q1 having a source terminal connected to current sensing resistor r s , and a drain terminal connected to load 12 . the gate of q1 is connected to the output of a buffer element 16 , which provides a driving voltage to the gate of q1 in response to an input signal applied thereto . field effect transistors such as depicted by q1 are commonly used in sscbs due to their low “ on ” resistances , which help to maintain good efficiency . a first current sensor 18 includes a differential amplifier 20 having a noninverting terminal (+) connected to a first reference voltage , v1 ref . the inverting terminal (−) of the differential amplifier is connected to the source terminal of q1 and r s though resistor 22 . the output of differential amplifier 20 is fed to an overcurrent timer 24 , as well as to the input of buffer element 16 , through resistor 26 . in addition , the output of differential amplifier 20 is also fed back to the inverting terminal (−) thereof through a zener diode 28 . finally , a shutdown latch 30 receives an input signal from the overcurrent timer 24 and has an output connected to the input of buffer element 16 through diode 32 . during normal operation of the sscb 10 in fig1 q1 is fully turned on as a result of a high output state of differential amplifier 20 . differential amplifier 20 is in a high output state during normal operation , since the current flowing through rs is less than the set threshold level of differential amplifier 20 as determined by v1 ref / r s . typically , v1 ref is on the order of a few tenths of a volt in order to minimize the power lost in r s . zener diode 28 regulates the output voltage of differential amplifier 20 , keeping it in the linear region and preventing it from saturating , thereby allowing differential amplifier 20 to quickly respond to an overload condition . furthermore , zener diode 28 limits the gate voltage applied to q1 . in doing so , zener diode 28 thus limits the amount of charge that must be removed from the gate of q1 in order to turn q1 off during an overload . in the event that an overload condition occurs , an increased current initially flows through r s which triggers a change ( decrease ) in the output voltage of differential amplifier 20 . as a result , differential amplifier 20 adjusts the gate voltage of q1 in order to maintain the fault current at the desired value determined by v1 ref / r s . for example , the desired maximum fault current value may be about 12 . 5 amperes ( a ). at the same time , overcurrent timer 24 is triggered to begin timing the duration that the overcurrent condition exists . if the overcurrent condition continues to exist after a predetermined or “ hold ” period , the overcurrent timer 24 will send a signal to shutdown latch 30 , which then completely shuts off q1 by providing a path from the gate of q1 to ground through diode 32 . one problem with the above described sscb 10 , however , arises in the situation where a severe overload condition occurs , such as a short circuit . in such a case , the resulting fault current will actually exceed the maximum desired value for a certain period of time due to the finite time delay inherent in the sscb 10 , which delay prevents an instantaneous response . a resulting current overshoot could then damage the voltage bus 14 or the sscb 10 itself . by way of example , fig2 illustrates a current waveform 34 generated in response to a sudden short circuit condition when the voltage bus 14 is protected by the sscb 10 shown in fig1 . prior to t = 0 seconds , no current is flowing though load 12 or bus 14 , as the bus 14 is disconnected from load . then , at t = 0 seconds , a short circuit condition is introduced on bus 14 and through sscb 10 . as is evident from viewing fig2 a large current spike 36 results immediately upon the short circuit condition . although the graph shown in fig2 only goes up to 70 amperes ( a ), the actual peak value of the current spike was approximately 81 . 2 a . after approximately t = 8 μs , the fault current drops to a steady state value of approximately 12 . 5 a , as defined by v1 ref / r s . finally , after the overcurrent timer 24 has detected a fault level amount of current for a predetermined period of time , it sends a signal to shutdown latch 30 to completely turn off q1 at about t = 128 μs . because of the inherent delay in the response of the first current sensor 18 , and in particular differential amplifier 20 , the sscb 10 and voltage bus 14 sustained a current spike of about 81 amperes for a duration of nearly 8 μs , before differential amplifier 20 was able to regulate the fault current at the desired level . this condition is undesirable and can potentially result in damage to the voltage bus 14 or sscb 10 , as explained earlier . accordingly , in response to the aforementioned drawbacks , an improved sscb 40 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention is shown in fig3 . for ease of description , like elements appearing in fig . i and fig3 are shown with the same reference numerals and component designations . in addition to the elements previously described , sscb 40 further includes a second current sensor 42 having a voltage comparator 44 connected in parallel with differential amplifier 20 . specifically , voltage comparator 44 has an inverting terminal (−) connected to the inverting terminal (−) of differential amplifier 20 , and an output connected to the input of buffer element 16 . however , voltage comparator 44 has its non - inverting terminal (+) connected to a second reference voltage , v2 ref , which is approximately twice the value of v1 ref . thus configured , voltage comparator 44 is an amplifier which operates in the saturation region . an inductor , l s , is connected between q1 and r s . the inductance value of l s is preferably on the order of about 20 nanohenries ( nh ), which is roughly equivalent to the inductance of an inch of wire . accordingly , this inductance value may be attained by appropriately increasing the length of the associated printed circuit board wiring trace . alternatively , a powdered - iron toroid core having a single turn can provide sufficient inductance . finally , a third current sensor 46 includes bipolar transistor q2 having its base terminal connected the source terminal of q1 , while the collector of q2 is connected to the gate of q1 . the emitter of q2 is connected to ground so that the gate of q1 is pulled to ground whenever q2 is switched on . q2 is switched on when its base to emitter voltage v be exceeds a threshold value of approximately 0 . 7 volts . with the configuration of the sscb 40 as shown in fig3 an improved current limiting function is realized . inductor l s , resisting any sudden changes in current , provides a back electromotive force proportional to the rate of change of current ( di / dt ). as such , differential amplifier 20 will begin to reduce the gate voltage at q1 , even before the current level reaches the programmed threshold , if a sudden increase in current is detected . however , in the event that the rate of current increase exceeds v 2 ref / l s , then the voltage comparator 44 will act more quickly than differential amplifier 20 to adjust the gate voltage at q1 and hold the fault current to the desired value . finally , for yet an even faster rate of current change that exceeds v be / l s , q2 will immediately turn on and pull the gate of q1 to ground . referring now to fig4 the performance of the sscb 40 in accordance with the schematic in fig3 is illustrated . once again , a short circuit condition is introduced into high - voltage bus 14 at t = 0 seconds . this time , however , the resulting current spike 48 has peaked at about 16 . 4 amperes for approximately 2 μs . immediately thereafter , the current is completely pinched off since the back electromotive force created by the current spike 48 through l s drives v be of q2 to its threshold value , turning q2 on and q1 off . at approximately t = 10 μs , the current begins to rise to the desired fault current level . because there is no longer a rapid change in current through l s , the voltage thereacross will drop until q2 is switched off . at the same time , differential amplifier 20 and / or voltage comparator 44 will have had the opportunity to regulate the input voltage applied to q1 for operation in the linear region . thus , as q2 is turned off , q1 will turn on again , but will only conduct current to the extent allowed by amplifier 20 . a smooth rise in current is seen after q1 is turned on in its linear region . at about t = 28 μs , the current reaches a steady state value of about 12 . 5 a ( again , defined by v1 ref / r s ), until the overcurrent timer 24 causes the shutdown latch 30 to completely cut off q1 at about t = 140 μs . it will readily be appreciated that by adding the second & amp ; third current sensors 42 , 46 , while at the same time improving the response performance of the first current sensor 18 with inductor l s , the presently disclosed sscb 40 provides improved protection against the high current transients associated with severe faults such as short circuit conditions . while the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention . in addition , many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof . therefore , it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention , but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims .	7
the systems and methods of the present disclosure address the needs of the art by providing tomosynthesis apparatus and techniques for imaging breast specimens that overcome the shortfall of the data received from two - dimensional imaging systems . the aspects of the present disclosure enable the use of tomosynthesis to efficiently provide accurate three - dimensional imaging of a specimen in which overlapping images having differing attenuation characteristics by applying a three - dimensional reconstruction algorithm , all in an x - ray cabinet . as used herein , the term “ computer ,” “ computer system ” or “ processor ” refers to any suitable device operable to accept input , process the input according to predefined rules , and produce output , including , for example , a server , workstation , personal computer , network computer , wireless telephone , personal digital assistant , one or more microprocessors within these or other devices , or any other suitable processing device with accessible memory . the term “ computer program ” or “ software ” refers to any non - transitory machine readable instructions , program or library of routines capable of executing on a computer or computer system including computer readable program code . specimen tomography is a three - dimensional specimen imaging system . it involves acquiring images of a sample at multiple viewpoints , typically over an arc or linear path . the three - dimensional ( 3 - d ) image is constructed by the reconstruction of the multiple image data set . one embodiment of a system 100 incorporating aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated in fig1 the system 100 is totally enclosed or housed in an x - ray cabinet 22 . in accordance with the aspects of the disclosed embodiments , the x - ray source 10 moves around the stationary sample 18 , typically , but not necessarily , in an arc . references 12 , 14 and 16 of fig1 illustrate exemplary positions of the x - ray source 10 within the cabinet 22 . the reference “ c ” at each of the positions 12 , 14 , 16 of the source 10 in fig1 refers to the point source of the x - ray beam . the reference “ m ” refers to the spread or fan of the x - ray beam . while the detector 20 may move or rotate , in accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure , the detector 20 remains stationary relative to the sample 18 and source 10 to maintain an equidistant center point . the x - ray data taken at each of a number of exemplary positions 12 , 14 , 16 of the source 10 relative to the sample 18 within the cabinet 22 is processed to form images , where two or more of the differing imaging positions are utilized to form a digital tomosynthesis image . in one embodiment , the aspects of the present disclosure limit the arc or linear travel of the x - ray source 10 over about a 20 ° to about a 50 ° arc , preferably about 30 °, more preferably about 20 °. the movement can be clockwise or counter clockwise along a path , which includes for example , one or more , or a combination thereof , of the following exemplary ranges : between approximately 350 ° ( reference position 12 ), to 0 ° ( reference position 14 ) to 10 ° ( reference position 16 ), or between approximately 340 ° ( reference position 12 ) to 0 ° ( reference position 14 ) to 20 ° ( reference position 16 ) and or between approximately 335 ° ( reference position 12 ) to 0 ° ( reference position 14 ) to 25 ° ( reference position 16 ). the ranges recited herein are intended to be approximate and inclusive of start and endpoints . in the example of fig1 the detector 20 is stationary as is the sample 18 . the sample 18 , also referred to as the “ object ” or “ imaging object ” is disposed on or rests on the protective cover 19 or other surface of the detector 20 . in operation , source 10 is energized to emit an x - ray beam , generally throughout its travel along one or more of the paths or positions described above . the x - ray beam travels through the sample 18 to the detector 20 and the multiple images collected at varying angles are stored and then utilized for the tomosynthesis reconstruction . the x - ray source 10 may range from about 0 kvp to about 90 kvp , preferably a 50 kvp 1000 μa x - ray source . different embodiments of the present disclosure can utilize different ranges of motion of one or more of the source 10 and detector 20 as well as changing the angularity of one or both . the inventive aspects of the present disclosure differ from the prior art in that in prior art systems either the detector and source move and / or the isocenter is above the sample and not at the detector surface . in accordance with the aspects of the present disclosure , in one embodiment , the source 10 is configured to move , as is described herein , while the detector 20 is configured to remain stationary or in a fixed position . the detector 20 and associated electronics generate image data in digital form for each pixel at each of the angular positions 12 , 14 , 16 of source 10 and translation positions of the detector 20 relative to the sample 18 . while only three positions 12 , 14 , 16 are illustrated in fig1 , in practice more images are taken at differing angles . for example , in one embodiment , images can be taken at approximately every 1 ° of rotation or motion of source 10 . fig2 schematically illustrates one embodiment of the orientation of the source 10 as seen when the door 24 is opened and the source 10 is locate at approximately 0 °, reference point 14 in this example , within the cabinet 22 . in this embodiment , the motion of the source 10 can generally occur from the back to the front of the cabinet 22 with the detector 20 orientated , or otherwise disposed , at the base 26 of the cabinet 22 , within the cabinet chamber 28 . in one embodiment , the detector 20 is suitably coupled to the base 26 of the cabinet 22 . the x - ray spread in this example can be from about 0 kvp to about 50 kvp with the system preferably utilizing an aec ( automatic exposure control ) to ascertain the optimal setting to image the object or sample 18 being examined . in one embodiment , the detector 20 , x - ray source 10 , and the swing arm 50 ( fig5 ) servo mechanism are controlled via a combination of one or more of software and hardware , such as non - transitory machine readable instructions stored in a memory that are executable by one or more processors . on example of such a configuration can include controller cards of a computer 470 ( fig4 ), such as a ms windows based computer . in one embodiment , non - transitory machine readable instructions being executed by one or more processors of the computer 470 is utilized to compile data received from the detector 20 and present resulting images to a suitable display or monitor 472 ( fig4 ). t each imaging position , such as positions 12 , 14 and 16 shown in fig1 , the detector 20 generates the respective digital values for the pixels in a two - dimensional array . the size of detector 20 may range , for example , from about 2 inches by 2 inches to about 16 inches by 16 inches , preferably about 5 inches by 6 inches . in one example , detector 20 has a rectangular array of approximately 1536 × 1944 pixels with a pixel size of 74 . 8 micrometers . the image dataset attained at each respective position may be processed either at the full spatial resolution of detector 20 or at a lower spatial resolution by overlapping or binning a specified number of pixels in a single combined pixel value . for example , if we bin at a 2 × 2 ratio , then there would be an effective spatial resolution of approximately 149 . 6 micrometers . this binning may be achieved within the original programming of the detector 20 or within the computer 470 providing the tomosynthetic compilation and image . fig3 illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary workflow from initiating 302 the system 100 through imaging , reconstruction and display 324 of data images collected of the sample 18 . as will be generally understood , the system 100 is initiated 302 , the cabinet door 24 opened 304 , and the sample 18 placed into 306 the chamber 28 . as shown in fig2 , for example , the sample 18 is positioned on the detector 20 in a suitable manner . the door 24 is closed 308 . the data and information regarding the subject , including any other suitable information or settings relevant to the imaging process and procedure , is entered 310 into the computer 470 . the scan is initiated 312 . the system 100 will take 314 scout or 2 - d images at top dead center , which for purposes of this example is location 14 of fig1 and 2 . the source 10 can then be moved to other locations , such as locations 12 and 16 , and the detector 20 can be used to capture 316 images at various increments along the travel path of the source 10 , such as about every 1 degree . the captured images are stored 318 and digital tomosynthesis is performed 320 . the tomosynthesis image is then displayed 324 . fig4 shows one embodiment of an x - ray cabinet system 400 incorporating aspects of the present disclosure . in this embodiment , the x - ray cabinet system 400 is mounted on wheels 458 to allow easy portability . in alternate embodiments , the cabinet system can be mounted on any suitable base or transport mechanism . the cabinet 422 in this example , similar to the exemplary cabinet 22 of fig1 , is constructed of a suitable material such as steel . in one embodiment , the cabinet 422 comprises painted steel defining a walled enclosure with an opening or cabinet chamber 428 . within the cabinet chamber 428 , behind door 424 , resides an interior space forming a sample chamber 444 , which in this example is constructed of stainless steel . access to the sample chamber 444 is via an opening 446 . in one embodiment , the opening 446 of the sample chamber 444 has a suitable door or cover , such as a moveable cover 448 . in one embodiment , the moveable cover 448 comprises a door which has a window of leaded glass . between the outer wall 421 of cabinet 422 and the sample chamber 444 are sheets of lead 452 that serve as shielding to reduce radiation leakage emitted from the x - ray source 10 . in the example of fig4 , the x - ray source 10 is located in the upper part 456 of the cabinet 422 , in the source enclosure 468 . the detector 20 is housed in the detector enclosure 460 at an approximate midpoint 462 of the cabinet 422 . in one embodiment , a controller or computer 470 controls the collection of data from the detector 20 , controls the swing arm 60 shown in fig5 & amp ; 6 , and x - ray source 10 . a monitor 472 displays the compiled data and can , for example , be mounted on an articulating arm 474 that is attached to the cabinet 422 . the computer 470 receives commands and other input information entered by the operator via a user interface 476 , such as a keyboard and mouse for example . in one embodiment , the computer 470 can comprise a touch screen or near touch screen device . although the aspects of the disclosed embodiments will generally be described with respect to a computer , it will be understood that the computer 470 can comprise any suitable controller or computing device . such computing devices can include , but are not limited to , laptop computers , mini computers , tablets and pad devices . the computer 470 can be configured to communicate with the components of the system 400 in any suitable manner , including hardwired and wireless communication . in one embodiment , the computer 470 can be configured to communicate over a network , such as a local area network or the internet . fig5 shows a front interior view and fig6 shows a lateral interior view of the sample chamber of imaging unit cabinet of fig4 . in this embodiment , a sample 18 is placed or otherwise disposed onto the detector 20 . using the computer system 470 shown in fig4 , the operator enters in the parameters for the scan via the user interface 476 , which can be displayed on the monitor 472 . as used herein , the term “ display ” or “ monitor ” means any type of device adapted to display information , including without limitation crts , lcds , tfts , plasma displays , leds , and fluorescent devices . the computer system 470 then sends the appropriate commands to the x - ray source 10 and detector 20 to activate image collection while the swing arm 60 is moving along a path or arc from location 14 to 12 to 16 ( which are shown in fig1 and 5 ) or vice versa as described , which in this embodiment are at 345 °, 0 °, and 15 ° respectively with 0 ° at top dead center . at the end of the travel of the swing arm 60 at either position 12 or 16 , the computer 470 issues the command to the x - ray source 10 and the detector 20 to cease operating . the individual 2 - dimensional ( 2 - d ) images which were collected , in this example at 1 ° increments , are then tabulated in the computer 470 to create the tomosynthetic images . in one embodiment , the operator may select which images they wish via the user interface 476 as they are being displayed on the monitor 472 . in one embodiment , the devices and components of the cabinet system 400 are suitably communicatively coupled together , including one or more of hard wire connections or wireless connections using a suitable wireless connection and communication transmission protocol , as will generally be understood . the system 400 can also be configured to transfer images via usb , cd - rom , or wifi . the dynamic imaging software of the disclosed embodiments reconstructs three - dimensional images ( tomosynthesis ) from two - dimensional projection images in real - time and on - demand . the software offers the ability to examine any slice depth , tilt the reconstruction plane for multiplanar views and gives higher resolution magnifications . fig7 a , 7 b , and 7 c illustrate exemplary images of an apple using the above process . fig7 a is an image of a slice of the apple at it &# 39 ; s very top . 59 mm from the bottom . fig7 b is an image of an apple computed at 30 . 5 mm up from the detector , and fig7 c is a view of the apple computed at 13 . 5 mm from the bottom . the real - time image reconstruction of the present disclosure enables immediate review , higher throughput , and more efficient interventional procedures reducing patient call backs and data storage needs . multiplanar reconstruction enables reconstruction to any depth , magnification and plane , giving the viewer the greater ability to view and interrogate image data , thereby reducing the likelihood of missing small structures . built - in filters allow higher in - plane resolution and image quality during magnification for greater diagnostic confidence . software is optimized for performance using gpu technology . the reconstruction software used in conjunction with the aspects of the present disclosure provides the users greater flexibility and improved visibility of the image data . it reconstructs images at any depth specified by the user , rather than at fixed slice increments . with fixed slice increments , an object located between two reconstructed slices , such as a calcification , is blurred and can be potentially missed . the aspects of the present disclosure provide for positioning the reconstruction plane so that any object is exactly in focus . this includes objects that are oriented at an angle to the detector 20 . the aspects of the present disclosure provide for the reconstruction plane to be angled with respect to the detector plane . thus , while there have been shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to the exemplary embodiments thereof , it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of devices illustrated , and in their operation , may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention . for example , it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and / or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention . moreover , it should be recognized that structures and / or elements and / or method steps shown and / or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice . it is the intention , therefore , to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto .	0
the present inventors have now isolated a biologically - pure culture of a previously undescribed strain of pseudomonas alcaligenes . the organism is a natural isolate and has been deposited with the american type culture collection ( atcc ), having been assigned the accession number atcc 53877 . this novel strain sd2 was found to produce a novel lipase . the microorganism of the invention , p . alcaligenes strain sd2 was isolated from a shower drain by direct isolation on a tryptone - soytone - olive oil isolation medium . the isolation medium employed is more fully described in table i below . table i______________________________________isolation medium percent by weight______________________________________ammonium sulfate 0 . 5potassium phosphate , dibasic 0 . 05magnesium sulfate , heptahydrate 0 . 025tryptone ( difco ) 1 . 7soytone ( difco ) 0 . 3olive oil 1 . 0rhodamine b 0 . 001agar 1 . 5______________________________________ the rhodamine b dye in the isolation medium causes lipase - producing bacterial colonies to fluoresce an orange color when irradiated with long wavelength ultraviolet light ( kouker , g . and k .- e . jaeger , 1987 , appl . environ . microbiol ., 53 : 211 - 3 ). this fluorescence permits the easy identification of lipase - producers . colonies so identified were purified by restreaking onto similar media . stock cultures were maintained on difco tsa slants . the bacterial isolate of the invention was identified using standard taxonomic procedures from bergey &# 39 ; s manual of systematic bacteriology ( williams & amp ; wilkins , baltimore , 1984 ). the results of applicable physiological characterization tests of p . alcaligenes strain sd2 are presented in table ii and compared with characteristics of p . alcaligenes and p . pseudoalcaligenes published in bergey &# 39 ; s manual . table ii______________________________________substrate utilization of p . alcaligenesstrain sd2 , p . alcaligenes , and p . pseudoalicaligenes strain * sd2 p . alcaligenes p . pseudoalcaligenes______________________________________fructose - - + l - aspartate + - - l - glutamate - + + d - gluconate - - dl - histidine - d dethanolamine - - + n - butanol - d + isobutanol + d - citrate - d dbetaine - - + glycerol - - dsorbitol - - ditaconate - - d______________________________________ abbreviation : d ( 11 - 80 percent of strain positive ); + ( strain was able to utilize the indicated chemical for growth ); - ( strain did not utilize the chemical for growth ). * data for p . alcaligenes and p . pseudoalcaligenes are from bergey &# 39 ; s manua of systematic bacteriology ( williams & amp ; wilkins [ baltimore , 1984 ]). compounds utilized by all strains include : dllactate , succinate , fumarate acetate , larginine , caprate , and lmalate . compounds not utilized by any strain include : dglucose , larabinose , dmannose , dmannitol , al - rhamnose , d (+) galactose , d (-) ribose , minositol , lthreonine , mtartrate , adipate , phenylacetate , nicotinate , sebacate , suberate , benzoate , and pimelate . this table illustrates nutritional capabilities of the indicated strains and further illustrates their differences . for example , sd2 utilized l - aspartate , while the two other pseudomonas species did not . several lipase - producing strains of p . pseudoalcaligenes are disclosed in international publication no . wo 87 / 00859 published under the patent cooperation treaty . table iii presents certain morphological and physiological characteristics of p . alcaligenes strain sd2 , as compared to the characteristics of four strains of p . pseudoalcaligenes disclosed in international publication no . wo 87 / 00859 . differences between the sd2 strain of the present invention and the other strains are readily apparent . table iii______________________________________characteristics of p . alcaligenes strain sd2 and selectedlipase - producing strains of p . pseudoalcaligenes . ( the cbs strain accession numbers correspond to thosereferenced in international publication no . wo 87 / 00859 ) strain of comparison strains invention cbs cbs cbs cbscharacteristic sd2 467 . 85 468 . 85 471 . 85 473 . 85______________________________________cell shape rod rod rod rod rodmotility + + + + + spores - - - - - gram strain - - - - - oxidase + + + + + anaerobic - - - - - glucoseaerobic - - - - - glucoseaerobic - - - - - maltoseaerobic - - - - - sucroseaerobic - - - - + d - xylosearginine + + + - + dihydrolasegelatin - - - - - hydrolysisstarch - - - - - hydrolysisno . sub . 3 → no . sub . 2 + + + + + no . sub . 2 → n . sub . 2 + - - - - citrate - + + + + utilizationcatalase + + + + + growth at + + + + + 41 ° c . ______________________________________ strain sd2 of the present invention can be grown in various types of culture media under conditions suitable for growth of pseudomonads . typically , such media contain assimilable sources of carbon , nitrogen , and various inorganic mineral nutrients . by way of illustration , p . alcaligenes strain sd2 was grown in tryptone medium having the formulation as shown in table iv . table iv______________________________________culture mediumingredient percent by weight______________________________________ammonium sulfate 0 . 5potassium phosphate , dibasic 0 . 05magnesium sulfate , heptahydrate 0 . 025tryptone ( difco ) 2 . 0brij ® 58 1 . 0 mm______________________________________ the lipase of the invention is found in culture media , preferably liquid media , containing p . alcaligenes strain sd2 . quantities of this enzyme can be obtained by culturing p . alcaligenes strain sd2 in liquid culture and under culture conditions suitable for growth of organisms of this type . for example , an actively growing aliquot of p . alcaligenes strain sd2 is suitably used as an innoculum and introduced into erlenmeyer flasks containing tryptone medium ( c . f . table iv ). cultures are incubated with shaking for about 16 to 18 hours at a temperature of about 30 ° c . following this culture growth period , the bacterial cells are removed by centrifugation or filtration or other suitable techniques . the lipase which is found in the resultant clarified culture liquor is then generally concentrated prior to use . several methods may be used to concentrate this enzyme , including ultrafiltration as discussed in example 1 . it is desirable that lipases intended for commercial utilization be stable in the presence of various surfactants commonly found in cleaning product formulations . advantageously , the lipase of p . alcaligenes strain sd2 was found to be functional in the presence of commercial surfactants such as dodecylbenzene sulfonate and fatty alcohol ethoxylates . in addition , the inclusion of the non - ionic surfactants , such as brij ® 58 [ polyoxyethylene ( 20 ) cetyl ether ] or brij 35 [ polyoxyethylene ( 23 ) lauryl ether ] in liquid growth medium containing p . alcaligenes strain sd2 at a 1 - 10 mm concentration , preferably 1 mm , increased the yield of the lipase by a factor of two - fold or more in contrast to control cultures without this surfactant . regarding the stability of the lipase produced by p . alcaligenes strain sd2 , this enzyme loses activity during storage at a rate that is directly proportional to temperature . for example , during accelerated aging tests conducted at a temperature of 37 ° c . and a ph of 7 . 0 , the lipase of the invention demonstrated a half - life of about 5 days in the absence of surfactants . the addition of calcium , in the form of cacl 2 , stabilized the sd2 lipase and increased its half - life to over 80 days at suitable cacl 2 concentrations . the concentration of cacl 2 required to enhance such enzyme longevity is related to the particular lipase formulation . for example , in simple buffered enzyme solutions lacking surfactants , where the buffer is , for example , 50 mm bes [ n , n - bis ( 2 - hydroxyethyl )- 2 - amino - ethanesulfonic acid ] at ph 7 . 0 , the addition of 5 mm cacl 2 , preferably 10 mm , is sufficient . the optimum concentration of cacl 2 in the presence of preferred surfactants is about 25 mm or more . in formulations of the lipase of p . alcaligenes strain sd2 , various surfactants can be used in view of this lipase &# 39 ; s stability in the presence of surfactants as illustrated in table vi below . examples of preferred surfactants include the nonionic surfactant brij ® 35 [ polyoxyethylene ( 23 ) lauryl ether ] and the anionic surfactant sandopon ® dtc gel . preferred nonionic surfactants are those having a hydrophobic end containing 12 - 16 carbon units , and a polyoxyethylene chain size of about 20 - 23 ethylene oxide units . in general , anionic surfactants of the carboxylated type are preferred and are most compatible with the novel lipase of p . alcaligenes strain sd2 . the following examples further serve to illustrate the invention , but are not intended to be limitative thereof . the microorganism of the invention , p . alcaligenes sd2 , was conveniently grown in the culture medium previously presented in table iv . a 50 ml starter culture of p . alcaligenes sd2 in a 250 ml erlenmeyer flask was grown for about 16 hours at a temperature of 30 ° c . at 175 rpm on a gyratory shaker . this starter culture was then used to inoculate 8 liters of culture medium which was in turn placed in 4 and 6 l fluted erlenmeyer flasks such that no individual flask contained more than 25 percent flask capacity as liquid . the culture flasks thus prepared were incubated for 24 hours at a temperature of 30 ° c . with gyratory shaking at 150 rpm . following the culture period , the lipase of the invention is harvested and concentrated by first removing the bacterial cells from the 8 liters of liquid culture by tangential flow filtration using pharmacia 10 6 ( nmwc ) omega membrane cassettes . the resultant cell - free filtrate was then concentrated by tangential flow ultrafiltration using pharmacia 30 , 000 ( nmwc ) omega membrane cassettes . thereafter , the concentrate was diafiltered at 3 ° c . with about 10 volumes of 50 mm bes , ph 7 . 0 , supplemented with 10 mm cacl 2 in order to eliminate all low molecular weight contaminants ( those with molecular weights less than or equal to 30 , 000 ), and to change the lipase solvent to one with buffer and stabilizing cacl 2 . the yields of enzyme from three separate batch cultures are presented in table v . table v______________________________________yields of lipase produced by culturesof p . alcaligenes strain sd2batch no . units / ml . sup . ( 1 ) total units______________________________________20 39 . 15 10 , 57121 34 . 69 7 , 84022 37 . 41 6 , 172______________________________________ . sup . ( 1 ) 1 unit is the amount of lipase which produces 1 microequivalent of fatty acid from olive oil per minute at 37 ° c . and at ph 10 . determination of characteristics of the lipase p . alcaligenes strain sd2 : molecular weight , and the effects of temperature and ph on lipolytic activity quantities of the lipase of p . alcaligenes strain sd2 were obtained by culturing of the organism in the medium of table iv , removing the bacterial cells by filtration , concentrating the enzyme by ultrafiltration as already described . lipolytic activity was assayed using the following standard composition : ( i ) 2 . 5 ml substrate [ 10 percent ( w / v ) olive oil in 10 percent ( w / v ) gum arabic ]; ( ii ) 2 . 0 ml buffer [ 1 . 0 m ches ( 2 [ n - cyclohexylamino ]- ethane sulfonic acid ), ph 10 . 0 ]; ( iii ) enzyme ; and ( iv ) distilled water added to a final volume of 6 . 0 ml . enzymatic assays were conducted at a temperature of 37 ° c . the fatty acids formed during the hydrolytic enzymatic reaction were extracted with an organic solvent and titrated following the procedure described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 283 , 494 . a quantity of the lipase of the invention was used to determine its molecular weight . the molecular weight of the lipase of p . alcaligenes was found to be about 30 , 000 using sodium dodecylsulfate - polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis ( sds - page ) and comparing the retention time of the lipase with molecular weight calibration standards . using the standard procedure for determination of lipolytic activity as described above , the effects of ph as well as temperature on the activity of the lipase of the invention were determined . results of these experiments are presented in fig1 and 2 . fig1 shows the effect of ph on activity of the p . alcaligenes strain sd2 lipase . it can be seen that this lipase is active in the ph range from less than ph 6 . 0 to over ph 11 . 0 , and has an optimum ph of 10 . 0 ( c . f . fig1 ). fig2 shows the effect of temperature on activity of the p . alcaligenes strain sd2 lipase . results of these experiments show that the lipase of the invention is active from a temperature of less than 25 ° c . to over 50 ° c . and has a preferred temperature for optimum activity of about 50 ° c . ( c . f . fig2 ). comparison of characteristics of the lipase of p . alcaligenes strain sd2 with other selected lipases the lipase of p . alcaligenes was contrasted with lipases known to be produced by the type strain of pseudomonas alcaligenes ( american type culture collection no . 14909 ), the alcaligenes sp . of u . s . pat . no . 4 , 283 , 494 ( american type culture collection no . 31372 ) and the novo lipolase ™. samples of these enzymes were obtained by culturing the respective source organisms and extracting the enzyme from the culture media as described in example 2 above . stability of these enzymes in the surfactants brij ® 35 and sandopan ® dtc was determined . in addition to the determination of surfactant stability , the following characteristics of the four microbial lipases were evaluated : optimum ph for enzymatic activity ; optimum ph for enzyme stability ; optimum temperature for enzymatic activity ; and molecular weight . results of this comparison and associated experiments are presented in table vi . table vi______________________________________lipase characteristics strain atcc atcc novocharacteristic sd2 14909 . sup . ( 1 ) 31371 . sup . ( 2 ) lipolase ™ ______________________________________ph optimum 10 10 9 11 ( activity ) ph optimum 7 -- -- --( stability ) temperature ° c . 45 - 55 45 - 55 40 - 48 30 - 40optimum ( activity ) molecular 3 . 0 × 10 . sup . 4 8 . 8 × 10 . sup . 4 ( 4 ) 30 - -- weight 40 × 10 . sup . 4 ( 4 ) surfactant stability ( mean half - life in days ): brij ® 35 , 60 5 -- 1110 %. sup . ( 3 ) sandopan ® 28 5 -- 11dtc 20 %. sup . ( 3 ) ______________________________________ . sup . ( 1 ) pseudomonas alcaligenes type strain . sup . ( 2 ) alcaligenes sp . ( ref . u . s . pat . no . 4 , 283 , 494 ) . sup . ( 3 ) 25 mm cacl . sub . 2 added as stabilizer . sup . ( 4 ) determined by gel filtration chromatography it can be seen that the lipase of invention produced by p . alcaligenes strain sd2 is novel and differentiable from other known lipases . the sd2 lipase differs from the novo lipolase ™ and the lipase of alcaligenes sp . ( atcc no . 31371 ) with respect to optimum ph for activity , optimum temperature for activity , surfactant stability , and molecular weight ( with respect to atcc no . 31372 ; the molecular weight of novo lipolase ™ is not known ). the lipase of p . alcaligenes strain sd2 is comparable to the lipase of the p . alcaligenes type strain ( atcc no . 14909 ) with respect to all characteristics evaluated with the notable exception of surfactant stability . the lipase of the invention produced by p . alcaligenes strain sd2 shows exceptionally good stability in certain surfactants tested . the stability of the sd2 lipase in surfactants is unique among the microbial lipases tested . comparison of characteristics of the lipase of p . alcaligenes strain sd2 with a lipase of kokusho et al an evaluation was made of the characteristics of a lipase as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 283 , 494 ( to kokusho et al ) as compared to the results obtained for the same characteristics measured for the sd2 lipase of the present invention . measurements for each characteristic were made by following the procedures of the kokusho et al &# 39 ; 494 patent , except that the assay protocol for the sd2 lipase employed the buffer described in example 2 hereinabove and the molecular weight was determined by sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis ( sds - page ). the results for four characteristics , as compared to the respective results reported in the kokusho et al &# 39 ; 494 patent , are provided in table vii below . table vii______________________________________comparison of sd2 lipase characteristics vs kokusho et alcharacteristic sd2 kokusho______________________________________ph optimum ( activity ) 10 . 0 +- 0 . 5 9 . 0 +- 0 . 5molecular weight 30 × 10 . sup . 3 30 - 40 × 10 . sup . 4activity relative toolive oil ( 100 % standard ) castor oil : 130 85tricaproin : 80 52______________________________________ the results for the comparison of the characteristics presented in table vii above show that the sd2 lipase of the present invention is distinctly different from the lipase of kokusho et al , and the lipolytic activity of the sd2 lipase is improved relative to the lipolytic activity reported for the kokusho et al lipase . determination of n - terminal amino acid sequence of the lipase of p . alcaligenes strain sd2 and comparison with sequences of other known pseudomonas lipases lipase was isolated from culture media of p . alcaligenes strain sd2 and concentrated by tangential flow ultrafiltration , as described in example 1 . the lipase was then precipitated by the addition of ammonium sulfate ( 45 % saturation ), dissolved in buffer ( 250 mm ammonium acetate , 10 mm cacl 2 ), and applied to a sephacryl s - 300 hr column ( pharmacia lkb biotechnology , piscataway , nj ). the eluted proteins were fractionated by phase separation in triton x - 114 [ 3 . 9 % ( w / v )] solution ( bordier , c ., 1981 , j . biol . chem . 256 : 1604 - 1607 ). the lipase was recovered in the detergent phase with a purity of & gt ; 90 %, as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate ( sds )- polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis . the lipase was further purified for sequencing by electrophoresis on an sds - polyacrylamide gel , electroblotting onto an immobilon - p membrane ( millipore , bedford , ma ), staining with coomassie brilliant blue r - 250 , and excising the section of membrane that contains the lipase band ( molecular weight = 30 , 000 ), as described by legendre and matsudaira ( in p . t . matsudaira ( ed . ), a practical guide to protein and peptide purification for microsequencing , p . 49 - 69 . academic press , inc ., san diego ). the n - terminal amino acid sequence of this sd2 lipase sample was determined by automated sequential edman degradation at the yale university protein and nucleic acid chemistry facility ( new haven , ct ). the results showed that the first 15 n - terminal amino acids of sd2 lipase are gly - leu - phe - gly - pro - ser - gly - tyr - thr - lys - thr - lys - tyr - pro - ile . the n - terminal amino acid sequence of sd2 lipase was compared to the corresponding sequences of known lipases from the following pseudomonas species : p . pseudoalcaligenes ( wo pct patent application ser . no . 89 / 09263 a1 ), p . fragi ( ep patent application ser . no . 0318775 a2 ), p . aeruginosa ( ihara et al ., 1991 , j . biol . chem . 266 : 18135 - 18140 ; wohlfarth et al ., 1992 , j . gen microbiol . 138 : 1325 - 1335 ; chihara - siomi et al ., 1992 , arch . biochem . biophys . 296 : 505 - 513 ), p . glumae ( ep patent application ser . no . 0407225 al ), p . cepacia dsm 3959 ( wo pct patent application ser . no . 91 / 00908 al ; jorgensen et al ., 1991 , j . bacteriol . 173 : 559 - 567 ), and p . cepacia m - 12 - 33 ( ep patent application ser . no . 0331376 a2 ). the sequence comparisons presented in table viii show that sd2 lipase is distinctly differenct from all the other pseudomonas lipases whose sequences have been determined . table viii__________________________________________________________________________comparison of n - terminal amino acid sequences of lipases from pseudomonasspecies n - terminal amino acid sequence of lipase . sup . 1species 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15__________________________________________________________________________p . alcaligenes sd2 gly leu phe gly pro ser gly tyr thr lys thr lys tyr pro ilep . pseudoalcaligenes gly leu phe gly ser thr gly tyr thr lys thr lys tyr pro ilep . fragi gly leu phe gly phe asp arg ile gly ser his his tyr phe hisp . aeruginosa ser thr tyr thr gln thr lys tyr pro ile val leu ala his glyp . glumae ala asp thr tyr ala ala thr arg tyr pro val ile leu val hisp . cepacia dsm 3959 ala ala gly tyr ala ala thr arg tyr pro ile ile leu val hisp . cepacia m - 12 - 33 ala asp asn tyr ala ala thr arg tyr pro ile ile leu val his__________________________________________________________________________ . sup . 1 all nterminal amino acid sequences , except that for the p . fragi lipase , are based on amino acid sequence determinations of the purified lipases ; the sequence for the p . fragi lipase was predicted from the nucleotide sequence of the gene .	2
the following description of the preferred embodiment ( s ) is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention , its application , or uses . by way of overview the present invention provides a solution that fulfills the aforementioned needs by using multicasting server proxies ; in particular , the provided solution targets applications where multicast membership is dynamic , and member subnets are many , thereby making it undesirable ( cost , network administration and management ) to deploy multicast relaying proxies at every candidate site . the proposed solution advantageously requires no setup of fixed proxy servers that is local to each subnet , and is adaptive in regard to dynamic receiving application membership . fig1 illustrates an inter - subnet multicasting relay service implemented in a wan 10 in accordance with the present invention . wan 10 includes various subnets 12 a - 12 e , that are separated by routers 14 a - 14 d that do not provide multicasting pass - through service . it should be readily understood that subnet 12 e may correspond to any communications subnet , and need not necessarily correspond to a subnet as defined with respect to the present invention . inter - subnet multicasting relay service ( imrs ) server 16 is connected to subnet 12 e , as are remote access users 18 . various multicast sources 20 a - 20 d and multicast receivers 22 a - 22 d are disposed within subnets 12 a - 12 d adjacent to subnet 12 e . in accordance with the present invention , server 16 provides a relay point that essentially relays multicast data from one of multicast sources 20 a - 20 d to one or more of multicast receivers 22 a - 22 d . server 16 provides this service by receiving a unicast of the multicast data from a multicast source , and by unicasting the multicast data to a multicasting server proxy within each subnet subscribing to the multicasting channel specified by the multicast data , and the multicasting server proxy multicasts the received data on a multicast address within the subnet within which it resides . fig2 illustrates components of an imrs system wherein a multicasting server 24 residing within subnet 12 a has multicast media content datastore 26 and is adapted by virtue of application program interface 25 to utilize sending multicasting application 27 to multicast data within its own subnet 12 a , and to also unicast multicast data to server 16 . interface 25 further causes server 24 to register with server 16 via multicast application registration module 34 as a sending multicasting application in sources datastore 35 . server 24 coordinates with multicasting session management server 28 as known in the art , such that server 28 utilizes multicasting session management module 31 to maintain catalog datastore 29 of available multicasting sessions and assigned multicasting channels . receiving application hosts 30 a and 30 b residing in subnet 12 b may thus utilize receiving multicasting applications 42 a and 42 b to access catalog datastore 29 and identify an available multicasting session and assigned multicasting channel . receiving multicasting applications 42 a and 42 b each have application program interfaces 40 a and 40 b , which are adapted to cause applications 42 a and 42 b to register as candidate multicasting server proxies for subnet 12 b with server 16 via multicast application registration module 34 . thus , server 16 may elect one of applications 42 a and 42 b as the multicasting server proxy for subnet 12 b via subnet multicasting proxy election module 36 , and relay multicast data received from server 24 to the elected application . each of interfaces 40 a and 40 b further enable applications 42 a and 42 b to simultaneously listen for multicast data at a designated receive queue , and listen at a multicast channel on subnet 12 b for multicast data . each of interfaces 40 a and 40 b further enable applications 42 a and 42 b to multicast on the multicast address any data received on a designated receive queue , thereby multicasting the data within subnet 12 b . it should be readily understood that server 24 is adapted to unicast the multicast data to server 16 instead of attempting to multicast it to subnet 12 b , and that server 16 may obtain this adaptation through a registration process that provides appropriate software components to supply sending multicasting application 27 to server 24 in accordance with one or more business methods . it should also be readily understood that software components providing receiving multicasting applications having the application program interface in accordance with the present invention may be supplied to hosts by a multicasting service and / or a multicasting relay service in accordance with one or more business methods . fig3 illustrates the application program interface 40 between a network application layer 42 and a network transport layer 44 in accordance with the present invention . therein , the application program interface 40 is adapted to utilize the message queue service ( mqs ) 46 of the transport layer 44 providing transmission control protocol ( tcp ), internet protocol ( ip ), and / or user datagram protocol ( udp ) functions . essentially , the imrs 48 within the larger multicast platform 50 interfaces directly with the mqs 44 , and therefore can operate within the larger environs of a wan in accordance with established protocols . fig4 illustrates operation of the receiving application host 30 implementing the receiving multicasting application 42 having the application program interface 40 . the application 42 identifies a multicasting channel assigned to a multicasting session , and the channel information may include multicast address 52 and udp port 53 ; it should be noted that multicasting channel may optionally include the source address wherever it is referred to within the meaning of the present invention . interface 40 opens a designated send queue 58 and receive queue 60 , and further obtains relevant host information such as the host ip address 62 , and the host subnet address 64 . it still further causes application 42 to register itself as a candidate multicasting ser proxy for the subnet within which it resides by communicating a registration request 66 to the imrs server ( not shown ). this request 66 includes the receiving application &# 39 ; s designated receive queue identity 68 , the host ip address 62 , the host subnet address 64 , and the multicast channel 70 , which includes the udp port number and the multicast address 52 provided by the multicasting session management server ( not shown ). fig5 illustrates the operation of the imrs server 16 receiving registration request 66 and source registration request 67 as at request 69 . for example , multicast application registration management module 34 is adapted to place the receiver &# 39 ; s receive queue identity in candidate multicasting server proxy datastore 32 as a proxy send queue in association with the subnet in which it resides , which is identified by host subnet address 64 , and the multicasting channel 70 it wishes to receive . thus , a multicasting channel datastore 72 relates a plurality of subnets in a subnet datastore 74 a - 74 b to a particular multicasting channel , which in turn relate a plurality of proxy send queues 76 a - 76 d to particular subnets . for example , datastore 32 may correspond to a hash table having multicasting channels at a first level , subnets at a second level , and proxy send queues at a third level . one skilled in the art will recognize that other implementations are possible that may vary the operation of server 16 in one or more ways . for example , the hash table implementation renders it likely that an elected proxy will only receive on its receive queue multicast data which it has requested . other implementations , such as shared vectors , may result in an elected proxy receiving all multicast data for a subnet , regardless of which multicast channel it wishes to receive . these alternative implementations should be considered within the scope of the present invention . when server 16 receives a transmission from a multicasting server ( not shown ) registered as a source in datastore 35 , wherein the transmission includes multicasting data 80 specifying the multicast channel 70 , then subnet multicasting proxy election module 36 may access data store 32 based on the multicast channel 70 and retrieve one proxy send queue registered to each subnet registered to the multicasting channel 70 . it should be readily understood that transmission 70 may specify additional multicasting channels which will result in retrieval of additional send proxy send queues for those channels . the multicasting data relay module assembles a unicast transmission 84 of the multicast data 80 for each retrieved proxy send queue identity 82 and routes the transmission 84 to application receive queue 60 ( fig4 ) utilizing the proxy send queue identity 82 . interface 40 adapts application 42 to listen at designated receive queue 60 , unpack transmission 84 , and multicast the multicast data 80 received on the receive queue 60 on the subnet within which it resides . the multicast data 80 is thus output to the multicast address 52 for the subnet , and all of the receiving applications on the subnet , including application 42 , are adapted to listen at the multicast address 52 and therefore receive the multicast data 80 . it should be readily understood that interface 40 may be alternatively adapted to allow application 42 to stop listening at address 52 when transmission 84 is received on queue 60 , and simply to utilize the data 80 that it also multicasts on address 52 . when application 42 leaves the session , it may be adapted by virtue of interface 40 to issue an end leave ( not shown ) to relay module 38 ( fig4 ). in turn , relay module 38 may be adapted to throw an exception ( not shown ) to subnet multicasting proxy election module 36 . in turn , the session module 36 may be adapted to remove the related proxy send queue from datastore 32 and elect a new proxy for the subnet from those available , if any . it should be readily understood that application 42 may alternatively be adapted to leave a session silently , and that connections may be disconnected involuntarily . thus , module 36 may be alternatively or additionally adapted to detect disconnection via the mqs , and throw an exception resulting in equivalent update procedures . if no candidate proxies for the subnet are then available , then module 36 is adapted to remove the subnet from the multicasting channel . further , if no subnets remain for the channel , then module 36 is adapted to remove the channel . as a result , either a new proxy send queue identity for the subnet 82 , a channel removal indicator , or a null value are returned to relay module 38 . in response , relay module may be adapted to either continue relaying the multicast data 80 to the newly elected proxy , or to inform the multicasting server that no subscribers to the channel remain as appropriate . the new proxy for the subnet , which has been listening to the multicasting address and the designated receive queue , merely begins multicasting the multicast data as it is received . the result is dynamic provision of multicast server proxies according to application need without requiring permanent establishment of dedicated proxies in various subnets . fig6 illustrates a relay server - side multicast relay method in accordance with the present invention . the relay method assumes that candidate multicasting server proxies are being added by a second process performed in parallel with the relay method . beginning at 86 , the method includes receiving a multicast transmission specifying a multicast channel from a multicast source at step 88 . this step may include receiving a unicast directly from the source , receiving a multicast or broadcast transmission at a multicast or broadcast address , and / or receiving the transmission through a relay mechanism instead of from the original source . the multicast channel specifies the multicast address and the user datagram port , and the method includes getting the multicast channel information at step 90 . the method further includes determining at 94 whether any receivers are registered to the channel of the multicast transmission received in step 88 . if so , then a registered multicast receiver is selected for each subnet associated with the channel at step 96 , and the multicast data is transmitted to each selected receiver at step 98 . this transmission continues until it is determined at 100 that a selected receiver has left the session . in such case , processing for that subnet proceeds to step 101 , wherein the receiver is unregistered from the subnet . then , if more receivers are registered to the subnet as at 102 , then processing for the subnet returns to step 96 , and a new receiver is selected and utilized according to steps 98 - 102 . if it is determined that no receiver is registered to the subnet at 102 , then the subnet is removed from the table as being in association with the channel . if at any time no receivers are deemed registered to the channel as at 94 , then the method may further include notifying the multicasting source and / or multicasting session management system for the source of the multicasting transmission . fig7 illustrates a receiver - side multicasting server proxy method in accordance with the present invention . beginning at 104 , the method includes acquiring a multicast channel from a multicasting session management server or other source of multicast channels at step 106 . the method also includes opening a receive queue designated for receiving a unicast of multicast data from a multicast relay service at step 108 . the method further includes obtaining relevant subnet information , such as host subnet and / or ip address , for transmission to the imrs server in step 112 to accomplish registration as a multicast receiver for a subnet and multicasting channel . the method still further includes listening at the designated receive queue for the multicast transmission , and , if the connection is not terminated at 116 and the transmission is received at 118 , then the method includes multicasting on the multicasting channel at step 120 any transmission received on the designated receive queue . the method further includes listening at the multicast address of the multicast channel at step 122 , whether or not the transmission is received at the receive queue . it should also be understood that step 122 can alternatively be dependent on whether the transmission is received at 118 , such that the address is not listened at when the transmission is received at the receive queue . however , the method includes substantially simultaneously listening at the receive queue and the designated receive queue whenever multicast data is not received on the receive queue . if the connection is terminated at 116 , then the method ends at 124 , and / or the method includes communicating an end leave notification to the imrs server . 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 . for example , the receiving application program interface in accordance with the present invention may be adapted to selectively allow the receiving application to deliver data received from the relay server directly to the application without transmitting the data via multicast for dialup or any other case that covers a single receiver in a subnet . this shortcut mode provides improved efficiency in such cases and also handles cases where multicasting is not feasible , as with dialup . also , a sending multicasting application may be adapted to perform the basic functions of a relay service , including registering and electing receivers disposed in various subnets , and unicasting the multicast data to the elected proxies . further , receiving multicasting applications may be adapted to register with a sending multicasting application rather than a third party provider , in which case the sending application may be considered a relay service . such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention .	7
[ 0028 ] fig1 shows in schematic fashion the cross section of a small portion of an integrated circuit ( ic ) fabricated on the active surface 101 of a semiconductor wafer . the ic has copper interconnecting metallization , which also provides the metallization for the plurality of bond pads 102 . actually , the copper traces are imbedded in a refractory metal shield ( not shown in fig1 ), which prevents the diffusion of copper into parts of the ic . typical shield materials include tantalum nitride , tantalum silicon nitride , tungsten nitride , tungsten silicon nitride , titanium , titanium nitride , or titanium tungsten . bond pads 102 are surrounded by dielectric ic portions 103 , only summarily indicated in fig1 . these electrically insulating portions may include not only the traditional plasma - enhanced chemical vapor deposited dielectrics such as silicon dioxide , but also newer dielectric materials having lower dielectric constants , such as silicon - containing hydrogen silsesquioxane , organic polyimides , aerogels , and parylenes , or stacks of dielectric layers including plasma - generated or ozone tetraethylorthosilicate oxide . since these materials are less dense and mechanically weaker than the previous standard insulators , the dielectric under the copper is often reinforced . examples can be found in u . s . patent application no . 60 / 085 , 876 , filed on may 18 , 1998 ( saran et al ., “ fine pitch system and method for reinforcing bond pads in semiconductors ”), and no . 60 / 092 , 961 , filed jul . 14 , 1998 ( saran , “ system and method for bonding over active integrated circuits ”). the surface 101 of the semiconductor wafer is covered by a moisture - impenetrable protective overcoat 104 . this overcoat is usually made of silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride , commonly 0 . 5 to 1 . 0 μm thick . windows 105 are opened in the overcoat in order to expose portion of the copper metallization 102 . the copper exposed by these openings is commonly referred to as the bond pad metallization . since copper is susceptible to corrosion and even thin copper ( i ) oxide films are difficult to bond to , the u . s . patent application no . 60 / 183 , 405 , filed on feb . 18 , 2000 ( to which the present invention is related ) provides structures and processes of a cap formed over the exposed copper . according to that application , the cap consists of a metal and has a coordinated thickness such that it satisfies three requirements : the cap acts as a barrier against the up - diffusion of copper to the surface of the cap where the copper might impede the subsequent wire bonding operation . specifically , for the cap the metal selection and thickness are coordinated such that the cap reduces the up - difusion of copper at 250 ° c . by more than 80 % compared with the absence of the barrier metal . the cap is fabricated by a technique , which avoids expensive photolithographic steps . specifically , an electroless process is used to deposit the cap metal layer . the cap metal has a surface which is bondable . specifically , conventional ball and wedge bonding techniques can be used to connect metal wires and other coupling members metallurgically to the bond pad . [ 0035 ] fig1 depicts examples of bond pad caps designed to be a stack of three metal layers , each layer deposited by an electroless plating process . bond pad 106 shows a satisfactory cap : all three layers are deposited in their predetermined respective thickness ranges . layer 110 is positioned over copper area 102 , sometimes deposited on a seed metal layer ( not shown in fig1 ). layer 110 consists of a metal acting as a diffusion barrier against copper . examples for layer 110 are nickel , cobalt , chromium , molybdenum , titanium , tungsten , and alloys thereof . these metals are inexpensive and can be deposited by electroless plating ; however , they are poorly bondable . as mentioned above , in these metals copper has a diffusions coefficient of less than 1 × 10e - 23 cm 2 / s at 250 ° c . consequently , these metals are good copper diffusion barriers . the layer thicknesses , required to reduce copper diffusion by more than 80 % compared to the absence of the layers , are obtained by diffusion calculations . generally , a barrier thickness from about 0 . 5 to 1 . 5 μm will safely meet the copper reduction criterion . layer 111 is positioned over layer 110 as an effective diffusion barrier against the up - diffusing metal used in layer 110 . the intent is to de - emphasize the barrier function of the outermost layer 112 , and rather emphasize its bondability function . consequently , the thickness required for the outermost layer 112 can be reduced , thus saving cost . examples for layer 111 are palladium , cobalt , platinum , and osmium . examples for layer 112 are gold , platinum , and silver . metals used for layer 111 ( such as palladium ) have a diffusion coefficient for the metals used in barrier layer 110 ( such as nickel ) of less than 1 × 10e - 14 cm 2 / s at 250 ° c . the layer thicknesses required to reduce the diffusion of metal used in layer 110 by more than 80 % compared to the absence of layer 111 are obtained from diffusion calculations . generally , a thickness of layer 111 of about 0 . 4 to 1 . 5 μm will safely meet the reduction criterion for metal diffusing from layer 110 . the thickness of the bondable outermost layer 112 ( such as gold ) is in the range from about 0 . 02 to 0 . 1 μm . the preferred process of depositing layers 110 , 111 and 112 is by electroless plating . an example of an electroless plating process flow is described in the u . s . patent application quoted above . in general , electroless plating is well controlled and offers high process yield . however , it is known that some misprocessing may occasionally happen . as a result , the plated layers may have characteristics outside of the specification window . for instance , in fig1 bond pad 107 shows the correct thickness for layer 110 , however an off - spec thickness for layer 121 ( too thin compared to layer 111 , though same material ), and again the correct thickness for layer 112 . as another example in fig1 bond pad 108 shows all three layer missing . whenever any layer deposition of the bond pad cap falls outside of specifications , it affects the ic wafer in its process flow close to the finish of a long and expensive series of manufacturing steps , i . e ., it affects a wafer of very high value . consequently , it is economically advantageous to reprocess the wafer in order to eliminate the off - spec layers , repeat the deposition , and obtain bond pad caps within specifications . according to the first embodiment of the invention , the method for reworking of misprocessed metal caps over copper - metallized bond pads comprises the following steps : after completing the electroless plating process steps for the metal layers capping the bond pad copper metallization , the wafer is inspected for the quality of the deposited layers . inspection techniques may utilize a high - magnification microscope , x - ray fluorescence equipment , and / or a profilometer based on stylus or reflected light beam . the inspection detects missing , incomplete , non - uniform , defective , or otherwise off - spec layers . examples are given in fig1 and 2 : the cap metal layers are missing in bond pad 108 , at least one layer is incomplete ( too thin ) in bond pad 107 . the off - spec wafers receive a coating with spin - on glass in order to create a substantially planar surface . several types of glasses may be used , including teos ( tetraethylorthosilicate ). the result is schematically shown in fig2 . the spin - on glass 201 covers the well - processed metal layers of bond pad 106 and surrounding surfaces of overcoat 104 with a relatively thin buffer . however , the spin - on glass covers bond pads such as 107 , having cap metal layer too thin , or especially bond pads such 108 , having no cap metal layers at all , with a relatively thick buffer . the spin - on glass is capable to fill - in low spots and voids and thus creates a substantially planar surface across the whole wafer . subjecting the glass - covered wafer surface to the process of chemical - mechanical polishing ( cmp ) requires the process steps of : mixing an abrasive slurry so that it polishes the metal layers ( 110 , 111 , 112 , and 121 in fig3 ) at approximately the same rate as the protective overcoat of the wafer ( 104 in fig3 ). in fig3 the slurry 301 is shown to fill - in the space between the spin - on glass 201 and the polishing plate 302 . applying the slurry 301 for grinding the metal layers as well as the protective overcoat until the appearance of the copper metallization ( 102 in fig3 ) and its surrounding dielectric 103 is indicated . this appearance is indicated by an optical reflectivity monitor or a mechanical roughness sensor , which are suitable for identifying the boundary 401 of the bond pad copper 102 and its surrounding dielectric 103 . usually , the boundary 401 is identical with the surface 101 of the wafer discussed in fig1 . abrasive slurries with either standardized or customized characteristics are commercially available from suppliers such as cabot corporation , boston , mass ., u . s . a ., or rodel , inc ., newark , del ., u . s . a . these suppliers are capable of mixing the slurries from components , having oxidizing or hydroxylating characteristics and mechanically abrasive characteristics , in water so that the slurries become suitable for polishing oxidizable and non - oxidizable metals , hard and soft metals , as well as inorganic dielectrics ( such as silicon nitride or oxynitride ) at approximately the same rate . a number of specific slurry compositions and characteristics have been described in patents , together with their target metals and dielectrics to be polished . examples are the following : u . s . pat . no . 5 , 954 , 997 , issued on sep . 21 , 1999 ( kaufman et al , “ chemical mechanical polishing slurry useful for copper substrates ”). u . s . pat . no . 5 , 527 , 423 , issued on jun . 18 , 1996 ( neville et al ., “ chemical mechanical . polishing slurry for metal layers ”). u . s . pat . no . 5 , 958 , 288 , issued on sep . 28 , 1999 ( mueller et al ., “ composition and slurry useful for metal cmp ”). u . s . pat . no . 5 , 897 , 375 , issued on apr . 27 , 1999 ( watts et al ., “ chemical mechanical polishing slurry for copper and method of use in integrated circuit manufacture ”). u . s . pat . no . 6 , 001 , 730 , issued on dec . 14 , 1999 ( farkas et al ., “ chemical mechanical polishing slurry for polishing copper interconnects which use tantalum - based barrier layers ”). u . s . pat . no . 6 , 027 , 997 , issued on feb . 22 , 2000 ( yu et al ., “ method for chemical mechanical polishing a semiconductor device using slurry ”). u . s . pat . no . 5 , 225 , 034 , issued on jul . 6 , 1993 ( yu et al ., “ method of chemical mechanical polishing predominantly copper containing metal layers in semiconductor processing ”). u . s . pat . no . 5 , 354 , 490 , issued on oct . 11 , 1994 ( yu et al ., “ slurries for chemical mechanical polishing copper containing metal layers ”). u . s . pat . no . 5 , 567 , 300 , issued on oct . 22 , 1996 ( datta et al ., “ electrochemical metal removal technique for planarization of surfaces ”). u . s . pat . no . 5 , 840 , 629 , issued on nov . 24 , 1998 ( carpio , “ copper chemical mechanical polishing slurry utilizing a chromate oxidant ”). u . s . pat . no . 5 , 863 , 307 , issued on jan . 26 , 1999 ( zhou et al ., “ method and slurry composition for chemical - mechanical polish planarizing for copper containing conductor layers ”). u . s . pat . no . 5 , 948 , 697 , issued on sep . 7 , 1999 ( hata , “ catalytic acceleration and electric bias control of cmp processing ”). u . s . pat . no . 6 , 030 , 425 , issued on feb . 29 , 2000 ( hata , “ catalytic acceleration and electrical bias control of cmp processing ”). in combination with the slurry , the polishing pad 302 in fig3 is selected so that scratches of copper 102 or dielectrics 103 are minimized . preferably , a soft poromeric polishing pad is used . after completing the polishing process , the reworked wafer surface may look like shown schematically in fig4 with only small , thin and irregular remnants 402 of the protective overcoat remaining , or none at all . this reworked wafer surface is now ready for the final process steps of the method : the second embodiment of the invention addresses the reworking of the bond pad metal caps , when the inspection step indicates a misprocessed wafer having some cap metal layers in all bond pad openings ( i . e ., no bond pad without metal layers ), but pads with non - uniform , incomplete , defective , or insufficiently thick layers . in this case , the corrective step of depositing a glass cover by spin - on coating can be omitted . instead , the cmp slurry , nonselective for the silicon nitride / oxynitride overcoat and the misprocessed cap metal layers , is used directly . as described above , care still needs to be taken to mix the slurry for approximately equal polishing speeds of the overcoat material and the different cap metals , such as nickel and palladium ( the gold film is too thin to be of much concern ). after polishing and reworking in this somewhat simplified process flow , the reworked wafer looks , similar to the case shown in fig4 and the corrective reprocessing can proceed as described above . while this invention has been described in reference to illustrative embodiments , this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense . various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments , as well as other embodiments of the invention , will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description . as an example , the invention can be applied to ic bond pad metallizations other than copper , which are difficult or impossible to bond by conventional ball or wedge bonding techniques , such as alloys of refractory metals and noble metals . as another example , the invention may use a hard rather than a soft poromeric polishing pad in order to minimize scratches or other damage to the bond pad metallization or dielectric materials surrounding the bond pads . as another example , the invention applies to any sort of glass buffer or organic buffer layer , independent of the method of depositing the buffer . it is therefore intended that the appended claims encompass any such modifications or embodiments .	7
fig1 is a schematic illustrating the concept of operation of an active inceptor hands - off tactile cueing rate limit in the context of a structural load limiting tactile cueing system as applied to a helicopter . the flight control computer 20 receives load information from the load cell sensor 22 to generate a tactile limit cue command 24 on a parallel actuator 40 that prevents the pilot from inadvertently commanding the aerodynamic control surface 26 to a position that exceeds the allowable limit load . a fast moving but limited travel series actuator 28 is also provided to enhance stability and aid in transient load limiting . the collective stick 30 is the active inceptor . in most cases , the pilot holds the inceptor in his hands in the “ hands - on ” state represented by position 32 . however , there are instances when the pilot may take his hands off the inceptor briefly in steady flight conditions to perform routine tasks such as writing a note as illustrated by the “ hands - off ” state represented by position 34 . when the pilot is operating in the “ hands - off ” state 34 , there is generally no need for a tactile cue to move rapidly because the aircraft is in a relatively steady condition . hence the time rate of change of a tactile cue driving the control inceptor 30 , such as a tactile cue soft stop command 24 from the flight control computer , can be limited to the relatively slow 36 maximum rate without loss of performance . if an erroneous signal were to be received from the load sensor 22 while the pilot is operating in the hands - off state ( 34 ), the consequences of the failure would be mild because the relatively slow “ hands - off ” state rate limit 36 would prevent the inceptor 30 from moving very far before the pilot has a chance to respond to the failure . when the pilot is operating in the “ hands - on ” state 32 , and there is need for the tactile limit cue command 24 to move rapidly in response to an aggressive pilot input or rapid change in aircraft flight condition , the fast “ hands - on ” state rate limit 38 is engaged to provide effective tactile limit cueing . while the preceding discussion addresses the possibility of an erroneous signal from the load cell sensor 22 , it should be recognized that the possibility of an unforeseen or anomalous tactile cue command 24 from the relatively complex limit prediction and avoidance software implemented in the flight control computer 20 must also be regarded as an extremely unlikely , but possible , functional hazard . fig2 is a plot of example inceptor force feel characteristics such as force detent 42 , breakout force 44 , basic force gradient 46 , and soft stop 48 and hardstop 50 tactile cueing profiles . the force detent position 42 is the position that the inceptor will return to if the operator applies no force to the inceptor . the breakout force 44 counters small force offsets such as friction , gravity , or acceleration forces to ensure that the inceptor will always return to a position within the range of the force detent 42 when the operator relaxes inceptor force or operates in a “ hands - off ” state . hence a potential “ hands - off ” state operating regime can be recognized when the inceptor is located within the force detent range 42 . when the operator has his “ hands - on ” the inceptor , he can move the inceptor outside of the detent by applying force to overcome the breakout force 44 and counter the effect of the basic inceptor force gradient profile 46 . the tactile cue soft stop profile 48 indicates an inceptor position beyond which the inceptor should not be moved inadvertently . the tactile cue hardstop profile 50 acts to inhibit inceptor motion beyond a “ never - exceed ” position . fig3 is an illustration of a system 10 for rate limiting force feedback on an active inceptor 12 , in accordance with a first exemplary embodiment . the system 10 contains the active inceptor 12 having mobility in a first direction 14 . a feedback mechanism 16 is in communication with the active inceptor 12 . the feedback mechanism 16 , which may utilize , e . g ., a motor or other structure such as , for example , a magnetic force feedback system , provides a variable level of force to the active inceptor 12 in the first direction 14 . a programmable device 18 communicates with the feedback mechanism 16 . the programmable device 18 controls the level of force provided to the active inceptor 12 from the feedback mechanism 16 . the programmable device 18 limits the rate of change of the level of force provided to the active inceptor 12 . the active inceptor 12 may be mobile in a plurality of directions , although only a first direction 14 is shown in the illustration . the first direction 14 , for example , may be rotational , linear , or angular . the first direction 14 may include both forward and back , which can be considered a negative of a forward direction , and is demonstrated by the dual arrows in fig3 . the programmable device 18 may be a computer or similar device that is programmable at least for the purpose of exerting a level of control over the feedback mechanism 16 . the programmable device 18 may be integral with the feedback mechanism 16 , may be wirelessly connected to the feedback mechanism 16 , or , as shown in fig3 , may be connected to the feedback mechanism by a wire 19 . by limiting the rate of change of the level of force provided to the active inceptor 12 , software or programs run on the programmable device 18 that suffer a glitch or unforeseen event , which would otherwise spike the force applied by the feedback mechanism 16 , can be tempered . even a split - second spike in force applied by the feedback mechanism 16 could cause a fatal fault in a motor vehicle if the spike were to occur when the operator has his “ hands - off ” the inceptor . thus , the rate limit for changing force applied by the feedback mechanism 16 may be related to the associated risk of a significant application of force balanced against the risk associated with impeding the feedback mechanism 16 to allow the active inceptor to operate as intended . fortunately , conditions where the pilot is “ hands - off ” the inceptor are steady , non - maneuvering flight conditions where a restrictive rate limit on inceptor force changes can be employed without impeding the tactile cueing capabilities of the feedback mechanism 16 . fig4 is an illustration of a system 110 for rate limiting force feedback on an active inceptor 112 , in accordance with a second exemplary embodiment . the system 110 contains the active inceptor 112 having mobility in a first direction 114 . a feedback mechanism 116 is in communication with the active inceptor 112 . the feedback mechanism 116 provides a variable level of force to the active inceptor 112 in the first direction 114 . a programmable device 118 communicates with the feedback mechanism 116 . the programmable device 118 controls the level of force provided to the active inceptor 112 from the feedback mechanism 116 . the programmable device 118 limits the rate at which the level of force provided to the active inceptor 112 is changed . the system 110 also includes a first sensor 120 in communication with the active inceptor 112 and the programmable device 118 . the first sensor 120 detects whether a user is engaging the active inceptor 112 . the first sensor 120 can be any of a number of constructs that would be devised by one having ordinary skill in the art , and may include , for example , a pressure sensor on the active inceptor 112 , a heat sensor on the active inceptor 112 , or a positional sensor that determines whether the active inceptor 112 is moving solely in response to the feedback mechanism 116 . the first sensor 120 may also include a simple indicator of whether an autopilot is engaged . if the first sensor 120 does not detect a user engaging the active inceptor 112 , it may be useful to further limit a rate of change in the feedback force from the feedback mechanism 116 , as it would suggest there is no human biomechanical or decision - making element to otherwise help temper preprogrammed decision - making of the programmable device 118 . in this sense , the limit on the rate of change for the force of the feedback mechanism 116 may be variable , dependent on any of a number of situations . a first rate limit may be employed if the first sensor 120 detects the user engaging the active inceptor 112 (“ hands - on ” state ) and a second rate may be employed if the first sensor 120 detects the user is not engaging the active inceptor 112 (“ hands - off ” state ). fig5 is an illustration of a system 210 for rate limiting force feedback on an active inceptor 212 , in accordance with a third exemplary embodiment . the system 210 contains the active inceptor 212 having mobility in a first direction 214 . a feedback mechanism 216 is in communication with the active inceptor 212 . the feedback mechanism 216 provides a variable level of force to the active inceptor 212 in the first direction 214 . a programmable device 218 communicates with the feedback mechanism 216 . the programmable device 218 controls the level of force provided to the active inceptor 212 from the feedback mechanism 216 . the programmable device 218 limits a rate at which the level of force provided to the active inceptor 212 is changed . the system 210 also includes a second sensor 222 in communication with the active inceptor 212 and the programmable device 218 . the second sensor 222 detects a position of the active inceptor 212 relative to the first direction 214 . a memory 224 is in communication with the programmable device 218 . the memory 224 stores at least one tactile - cue position of the active inceptor 214 . the programmable device 218 determines from information communicated by the second sensor 222 and the memory 224 whether the position of the active inceptor 212 is one of the stored tactile - cue positions . tactile - cue positions may include hard stops ( intended to avoid what could be a catastrophic human error with the active inceptor 212 ), soft stops ( an easily overridable warning to the user that manually proceeding further with the active inceptor 212 could be dangerous ) and detents ( signaling to the user that certain thresholds are being crossed ). the tactile - cue positions could be broken down into subcategories and other categories of tactile - cue positions may be devised by those having ordinary skill in the art . the rate limited by the programmable device 218 may be variable . the rate limit may be a first rate limit if the programmable device 218 determines , from the information communicated by the second sensor 222 and the memory 224 , that the position of the active inceptor 212 is one of the stored tactile - cue positions . the rate limit may be a second rate limit if the programmable device 218 determines , from the information communicated by the second sensor 222 and the memory 224 , that the position of the active inceptor 212 is not one of the stored tactile - cue positions . the first rate limit may also be varied dependent upon the type of tactile - cue position identified . for instance , a hard stop may require more significant action than a soft stop and , as such , a hard stop may be less rate limited than a soft stop . thus , the first rate limit may be varied respective of the significance of the tactile - cue position . amalgamations of the first , second , and third exemplary embodiments may be developed . for instance , the detent referenced in the third exemplary embodiment is a signal to a user that a specific threshold is being crossed . if , under the second exemplary embodiment , the system determines a user is not engaging the active inceptor , the purpose of the detent is obviated and may be avoided . similarly , rate limits in the third exemplary embodiment may be modified dependent on whether a user is engaging the system , as discussed with regards to the second exemplary embodiment . fig6 is a flowchart 200 illustrating a method for rate limiting force feedback on an active inceptor 12 having mobility in a first direction 14 in accordance with the first exemplary embodiment . it should be noted that any process descriptions or blocks in flow charts should be understood as representing modules , segments , portions of code , or steps that include one or more instructions for implementing specific logical functions in the process , and alternate implementations are included within the scope of the present disclosure in which functions may be executed out of order from that shown or discussed , including substantially concurrently or in reverse order , depending on the functionality involved , as would be understood by those reasonably skilled in the art of the present disclosure . as shown by block 202 , a first signal allowing discrimination between “ hands - off ” and “ hands - on ” operating states is received by a programmable device . the signal is used in block 204 to decide if the operator is “ hands - off ” or “ hands - on ”. if the operator is “ hands - on ”, the actions in block 206 are taken . if the operator is “ hands - off ”, the actions in block 208 are taken . as shown in block 206 , when the operator is “ hands - on ” a second signal from a programmable device is communicated to a first mechanism used to bypass or declutch a second mechanism for restricting the maximum rate of displacement of the active inceptor . the function of the second mechanism is to restrict the maximum rate of displacement of the inceptor to a specified value in response to any possible variation in forces applied by a third feedback mechanism for actively varying the force feel characteristics of the inceptor . the actions of block 206 allow inceptor force feel characteristics to vary rapidly enough to provide effective tactile cues during maneuvering flight . as shown in block 208 , when the operator is “ hands - off ”, a third signal from a programmable device is communicated to a second mechanism that restricts the maximum rate of displacement of an active inceptor to a specified safe and slow rate limit value no matter what forces are applied by the third feedback mechanism for actively varying the force feel characteristics of the inceptor . the actions of block 208 prevent the active inceptor from ever moving fast enough to be a safety hazard in the event of hardware failures or software anomalies . it should be emphasized that the above - described embodiments , particularly , any “ preferred ” embodiments , are merely possible examples of implementations , merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure . many variations and modifications may be made to the above - described embodiments . all such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and the present disclosure and protected by the following claims .	1
in fig1 a , the bottom 2 , which faces the field of operation of the illuminating device 1 accommodates four light - emitting areas 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 distributed from each other at angles of 90 °. associated with the first three light - emitting areas , areas 3 , 4 and 5 , are three conventional halide incandescent lamps 7 , 8 and 9 . each lamp 7 , 8 and 9 is mounted in a reflector 11 , 12 and 13 , respectively . each reflector reflects infrared light , which is removed by filters over light - emitting areas 3 , 4 and 5 . associated with light - emitting area 6 is a reflector 14 . reflector 14 accommodates a halide - metal high - pressure discharge lamp 10 . since the electrodes in lamp 10 are only 5 to 9 mm apart , it acts as a point source . to allow generation of visible light , discharge lamp 10 is filled with mercury and one or more iodides to a cold - filling pressure of 200 to 300 mbars . iodides of sodium , thallium , dysprosium , thulium , or holmium are particularly advantageous . since little infrared radiation is to be expected from such a lamp , light - emitting area 6 is provided with a weak filter or ordinary glass transmitting light in the range of approximately 380 to 780 nm . the lamps 7 , 8 , 9 and 10 associated with light - emitting areas 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 can have focusing or pivoting reflectors 11 , 12 , 13 and 14 , allowing the beams to overlap in the unillustrated field of operation and dissolve any shadows . the open section in fig1 b illustrates a light - emitting area 4 associated with a halide incandescent lamp 8 diametrically opposite a light - emitting area 6 associated with a discharge lamp 10 . area 4 is covered with a powerful infrared - absorbing filter 16 and light - emitting area 6 with a weak infrared - absorbing filter 18 . it is on the other hand also possible , depending on the type of lamp 10 , to eliminate its filter entirely . the reflectors can be installed and adjusted as disclosed in german patent 37 23 009 . the bottom 2 , which faces the field of operation , of the illuminating device 1 illustrated in fig2 a is provided with five light - emitting areas , four of them , areas 3 , 4 , 5 and 19 , distributed around the periphery at angles of 90 ° from each other , and the fifth , light - emitting area 20 , at the center . light - emitting areas 3 , 4 , 5 and 19 are provided with halide incandescent lamps 7 , 8 , 9 and 21 , each in its own reflector 11 , 12 , 13 and 22 . each light - emitting area is covered with an infrared - absorbing filter 15 , 16 , 17 and 23 . associated with light - emitting area 20 is a reflector 24 that accommodates a source of light in the form of a halide - metal vapor high - pressure discharge lamp 10 . since the electrodes in lamp 10 are as described above , only 5 to 9 mm apart , it can be considered a point source . to allow the generation of visible light , the lamp is filled with mercury and an iodide as specified with reference to fig1 a . central light - emitting area 20 is also provided with a weak infrared - absorbing filter 25 . since area 20 is responsible for almost half the total intensity of the device , it is particularly effective in illuminating the depths of incisions and is accordingly rigidly mounted , without means of adjustment . the halide incandescent lamps 7 , 8 , 9 and 21 associated with the four peripheral light - emitting areas , areas 3 , 4 , 5 and 19 , together account for approximately 50 % of the total intensity . these lamps will continue to operate uninterruptedly in the event of a power outage , whereas discharge lamp 10 will first cool and then be re - ignited . the light - emitting areas 4 and 19 illustrated in fig2 b are provided with halide incandescent lamps 8 and 21 mounted in reflectors 12 and 22 and are diametrically opposite each other . at the center is light - emitting area 20 , which is provided with a discharge lamp 10 mounted in a reflector 24 . area 20 is provided with a filter 25 similar to the weak infrared - absorbing filter 18 illustrated in fig1 a and 1b . fig3 a is a block diagram illustrating a power supply circuit . the individual components set forth in fig3 a would be known to those of ordinary skill in the art . the housing of the field - of - operation illuminating device 1 accommodates three incandescent lamps 7 , 8 and 9 connected to the output terminal 30 of a switch 31 by way of a contact 27 , a line 28 and a junction 29 . the housing also accommodates a discharge lamp 10 . lamp 10 is connected to output terminal 30 by way of a starter 33 , a ballast 34 , and junction 29 . switch 31 has two input terminals 35 and 36 . input terminal 35 is connected secondarily to the stationary mains 40 by way of a transformer 37 , operating switch 38 and a junction 39 . the moving contact 32 of switch 31 can be shifted between two stationary contacts 42 and 43 . moving contact 32 is controlled by an exciter coil 44 . contact 42 is connected to the first input terminal 35 and contact 43 to the second input terminal 36 of switch 31 . coil 44 is either connected to the secondary end of transformer 37 by way of a control input terminal 57 or is subjected to a special voltage of its own . transformer 37 is actuated by outside power . in the event of a power failure , moving contact 32 is disconnected from stationary contact 42 and connected to stationary contact 43 , connecting the second input terminal 36 of switch 31 to the output terminal 47 of emergency power supply 45 by way of operating switch 38 . emergency power supply 45 supplies power for operating the field - of - operation illuminating device in the event of a power outage . the input terminal 46 of emergency power supply 45 is connected to the junction 39 with mains 40 . the primary end of a transformer 48 is also connected to input terminal 46 . the secondary end of transformer 48 is connected to a battery charger 49 . battery charger 49 charges a battery or accumulator 50 that acts a source of power in an emergency . a rectifier 52 is connected to the input terminal 51 of ballast 34 . rectifier 52 is also connected to an inverter 53 . an inductance coil 54 is connected to the output terminal of the inverter 53 . the output terminal of ballast 34 is connected to starter 33 . the primary ends of transformers 37 and 48 are designed for a mains potential of 110 to 240 v at 50 hz , and their secondary ends for one of 24 to 28 v . the first input terminal , terminal 35 , of switch 31 is accordingly provided with alternating current at approximately 24 v in normal operation . its other input terminal , terminal 36 , which is connected to the output terminal 60 of emergency power supply 45 , is provided with direct current at approximately 24 v in the event of a power outage . in normal operation , emergency power supply 45 is constantly provided with power from the mains , and battery or accumulator 50 is constantly being charged by way of transformer 48 , the primary end of which is connected to the mains , and of charger 49 . when operating switch 38 is actuated , illuminating device 1 is powered by way of transformer 37 , switch 31 , and junction 29 , through line 28 to incandescent lamps 7 , 8 , and 9 , and through ballast 34 to discharge lamp 10 . when exciter coil 44 is activated , it will connect moving contact 32 to stationary contact 42 . in the event of a power outage or other problem , the coil will not be activated , and moving contact 32 will be connected to stationary contact 43 , coupling the device to emergency power supply 45 . in this event , battery or accumulator 50 will provide power to junction 29 . incandescent lamps 7 , 8 , and 9 will , due to their thermal inertia , will continue to burn almost uninterruptedly throughout the switching procedure . discharge lamp 10 will cool - off for approximately two to four minutes and be turned on again by starter 33 , subsequent to which it will be provided with power again by ballast 34 . it is also possible to design switch 31 such that exciter coil 44 is actuated by a threshold circuit through control input terminal 57 . when in this event the voltage does not attain a certain threshold , the device is switched to emergency operation in order to prevent fluctuations in intensity due to instabilities in the mains . the system can be restored to normal mains operation once the threshold has been maintained for a prescribed period . the halide incandescent lamps 7 , 8 and 9 in the illuminating device 1 illustrated in fig3 b are , like those in fig3 a , connected to a switch 31 by way of contact 27 and line 28 . switch 31 is operated by mains power or by a sentry circuit . in normal operation , switch 31 is directly connected to the secondary end of a transformer 55 . transformer 55 itself is connected to mains 40 that supply alternating current . the housing of the device also contains a discharge lamp 10 . lamp 10 is connected to a starter 33 and to a ballast 34 &# 39 ;. ballast 34 &# 39 ; is outside the housing and connected by way of switch 31 and operating switch 38 to the secondary end of transformer 55 . transformer 55 is connected by way of junction 56 and operating switch 38 to the first input terminal , terminal 35 , of a switch 31 . switch 31 is actuated by a sentry circuit in accordance with the mains situation . switch 31 has a control input terminal 57 . the output terminal 30 of switch 31 is connected by way of junction 29 to the ballast 34 &# 39 ; of discharge lamp 10 . ballast 34 &# 39 ; is connected to the discharge lamp 10 inside illuminating device 1 by way of starter 33 and line 59 . the other input terminal , terminal 36 , of switch 31 is connected to the output terminal 47 &# 39 ; of a substitute power supply 45 &# 39 ;. power supply 45 &# 39 ; includes an accumulator or rechargeable battery 50 &# 39 ;. battery 50 &# 39 ; is connected to a rectifier 58 . the output terminal of rectifier 58 is also the output terminal 47 &# 39 ; of substitute power supply 45 &# 39 ;. accumulator or rechargeable battery 50 &# 39 ; is charged by a battery charger in the form of a rectifier 49 &# 39 ;. rectifier 49 &# 39 ; is connected to the input terminal 46 &# 39 ; of substitute power supply 45 &# 39 ;. input terminal 46 is directly connected to the junction 56 at the secondary end of transformer 55 . switch 31 is thrown by an exciter coil 44 acting on a moving contact 32 , connecting input terminal 35 to output terminal 30 in the presence of mains power , whereby both incandescent lamps 7 , 8 and 9 and ballast 34 &# 39 ; are supplied directly from the junction 56 at the secondary end of transformer 55 . since input terminal 36 is connected to output terminal 30 in the event of a power failure , incandescent lamps 7 , 8 , and 9 and ballast 34 &# 39 ; are connected to accumulator or rechargeable battery 50 &# 39 ; by way of the output terminal 47 &# 39 ; of substitute power supply 45 &# 39 ; and operating switch 38 . discharge lamp 10 is also , as specified with reference to fig3 a , provided with a starter 33 accommodated in the housing of the device . in normal operation , with power supplied by the mains , transformer 55 , ballast 34 &# 39 ;, and starter 33 are powered by mains power , and accumulator or rechargeable battery 50 &# 39 ; is simultaneously charged by rectifier 49 &# 39 ;. in the event of power outage or decrease below the prescribed threshold , the moving contact 32 in switch 31 will be connected to the output terminal 47 &# 39 ; of substitute power supply 45 &# 39 ; byway of input terminal 36 . substitute power supply 45 &# 39 ; will begin to supply direct current to illuminating device 1 . the switching procedure , however , will be almost imperceptible due to the thermal inertia of the halide incandescent lamps , and at least 50 % of the normal intensity will be immediately available . the discharge lamp on the other hand will need to briefly turn - off and cool before it can be started again . during this period , however , the field of operation will be illuminated by the aforesaid at least 50 % of the normal intensity . once the discharge lamp has had time to cool - off , it will turn on again and the device will return to normal operation . when one of incandescent lamps 7 , 8 and 9 burns out , the field will be darkened only slightly , whereas failure of discharge lamp 10 can result in a darkening of 40 to 50 %. there will in any event still be enough light as a rule to continue the operation without any problem , because the decrease in light will , due to the logarithmic sensitivity of the human eye , be perceived as only slight . it will be appreciated that the instant specification is set forth by way of illustration and not limitation , and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention .	8
the preferred material for the layered , solid lubricant is mos 2 rather than the other known layered materials , such as ws 2 or graphite . however , graphite may be used as may other transition metal dichalcogenides having the formula ab 2 , wherein a is mo , w , ti or ta and b is s or se . the solid lubricant with magnetic properties is prepared by starting with as - received mos 2 powder ( or other powdered lubricants ), which is impregnated with an aqueous solution of fe , ni or co , preferably in the chloride form . the mixture is slowly but continuously mixed and dried at about 120 ° c . the resulting well - mixed powder is ground to a fine powder having particles a few microns in size and then the metallic salt is reduced , in this case by heating in hydrogen at a temperature of about 280 ° c . this converts the salt into the metallic form , so that metallic particles are included between the lubricant layers . the metallic particles are therefore covered and protected against oxidation in air . the heat treatment also stabilized the overall structure of the prepared material . the movement of the lubricant layers can be observed under a magnetic field . the resulting composition maintains the layered form of mos 2 , or other layered compositions employed , but results in the inclusion of microscopic size magnetic particles of fe , ni or co between the sliding layers of the solid lubricant . when such a magnetic lubricant is applied to ferromagnetic surfaces , the lubricant is highly dispersed , and the magnetic particles covered with the layers of the lubricant material are held in place firmly over the surface . this prevents or highly reduces the movement of the lubricant particles away from the contact points between the two moving surfaces . obviously at least one of the surfaces must be ferromagnetic in order to hold the lubricant . the lubricant spreads evenly over the surface of the ferromagnetic material . the sliding surfaces move against each other with a constant coefficient of friction . the addition of the magnetic particles to the lubricant layers increases the coefficient of friction compared with pure mos 2 . moreover , the coefficient of friction increases as the fe / mo ratio increases . the smaller the size of the fe ( or other magnetic metal ) clusters , and the lower the fe content , the closer the friction coefficient comes to that of pure mos 2 . therefore , it is desirable to choose fe / mo ratios with the lowest possible value . the solid lubricant with magnetic inclusion may also be combined with liquid or semi - liquid lubricants such as mineral oils or greases . referring to the drawings , 98 . 5 percent purity mos 2 powder from mrc inc . was mixed with a 1 molar solution of fecl 2 . 4h 2 o in different proportions to find the minimum amount of fe required to be magnetically effective . fig1 shows the plot of mos 2 loading with fecl 2 versus the analyzed fe / mo atomic ratios of the mixtures . the shaded area represents the effective fe / mo ratios for which the prepared mos 2 covered fe particles are affected by the magnetic field . in this example , the fe / mo ratio selected was 0 . 6 for 4 g mos 2 / 20 ml of 1 molar solution fecl 2 . 4 h 2 o . the mixture was stirred continuously and heated until the slurry was dried . the dried mixture was then ground into fine particles of a few microns in size . the powder was heat - treated and reduced in hydrogen gas in a furnace at about 285 ° c . for a minimum of about 5 hours . fig2 a , 2b and 2c show the x - ray diffraction patterns for the sample at different stages of preparation . fig2 a represents the x - ray diffraction pattern for pure mos 2 . fig2 b is the x - ray diffraction pattern for the sample mixture before reduction in hydrogen . fig2 c shows the pattern for the mixture after reduction of the magnetic metal in the hydrogen . the principal alpha iron lines are clearly visible in this pattern . it is these iron particles that are responsible for the magnetic properties of the lubricant layers . fig3 shows the results of friction tests on the samples . the tests were carried out with respect to flat - on - flat reciprocation sliding . it may be seen that the friction coefficient increases as the fe / mo ratio becomes greater than 1 . the shaded area is the region for which the lubricant layers are magnetic and the friction coefficient is close to that of pure mos 2 . fig4 a , 4b and 4c are photographs of the surfaces of three samples with different lubricants used . fig4 a shows the sliding surfaces with the use of pure mos 2 lubricant . fig4 b shows the surfaces having mos 2 with the magnetic inclusion and a fe / mo ratio of 4 . 3 . finally , fig4 c represents the sliding surfaces where the lubricant has an fe / mo ratio of 1 . 1 . it is evident from the photographs that the surfaces in fig4 a and 4c are very similar and are quite different from the surface of fig4 b where the fe / mo ratio is 4 times that of fig4 c . fig5 is a scanning electron micrograph of the solid lubricant . the fe or other magnetic metal is near edges of the platelets of the mos 2 or other layered material . this is because the s - mo bond on the edges of mos 2 , or equivalent bonds for the other materials , are broken and form some unsaturated dangling mo bonds that are susceptible to attract matching d - orbitals such as fe , ni or co particles . the basal planes of mos 2 have strong s - mo - s bonds ( which are responsible for the lubricating characteristics ). thus the basal planes have saturated bonds and are free of magnetic particles , at least theoretically . in the powder form the newly modified layers overlap each other so the edges are protected from oxidation . it will be understood by someone skilled in the art that many of the details provided above are by way of example only and can be varied or omitted without departing from the scope of the invention which is to be interpreted with reference to the following claims :	2
the present invention is directed to systems and methods to automatically guide duplicate detection according to file operations dynamics . depending on the situation at hand , one may want to detect particular kinds of duplicates and , in some case , wish to purge these duplicates in a specific manner and frequency . the present system provides intelligent or adaptive handling of many different kinds of duplicates and uses a plurality of methods for such handling . the present system is more than just a hybrid duplicate management scheme — it offers a unified approach to several aspects of duplicate management . moreover , the present system enables one to scale the implementation of the detection and purging processes , within the range between “ after - the - fact ” and “ on - the - fly ,” using specific aspects of file operation dynamics to guide these processes . initially , it is advantageous to provide a rigorous and general definition of duplication , formalizing the idea that most notions of duplication can be translated as equality of some aspect of the information the duplicates carry . the definition of duplication as used herein subsumes most of the definitions mentioned in the background of the invention . this allows the present system to be designed in a flexible manner , which is readily scalable to numerous , sensible characterizations of duplicates and management thereof . defining duplicates and receiving input into the system of a customized definition affects only the initial steps of the duplicate detection process , thus , no reconfiguration of subsequent processes is necessary to accommodate new definitions . using a broad definition of duplication also enables a broad range of manners in which purging can be performed . in one aspect of the invention , deciding if two files are duplicates boils down to deciding if two blocks of data ( hereinafter “ pertinent data ”) are identical on a byte by byte comparison ( i . e ., “ byte - wise identical ”). preferably , detecting duplicates in a set of files is performed by grouping these files according to their “ pertinent data ” identity . methods to do this efficiently are described in greater detail hereinafter . in order to group identical blocks of data , the system uses “ cyclic ( or recursive ) hash sieving .” in this scheme , a collection of blocks is gradually divided into groups according to their hash value . since two blocks that hash with different hash values are certainly non - identical , the next “ hash sieving cycle ” only needs to be performed on the individual groups that have more than one block . the choice of the hash function used during each cycle of this hash sieving process can be done automatically and adaptively using standard machine learning techniques . the system uses file operation dynamics information to perform duplicate management on - the - fly and / or guide after - the - fact duplicate detection . to guide duplicate detection and to reduce the amount of time required to find duplicates , the present system preferably uses a “ duplicate density map .” a duplicate density map can have many different embodiments and forms — from the attribution of a probability of duplication for given sets of pairs of files to a list of groups of highly probable duplicates and anything in between . these duplicate density maps use information on certain file operations that effect duplication . this information may be more or less complete and may be obtained through a monitoring process or simply by reading logs already existing in the file server . missing information is approximated using statistical methods . as stated previously , there are many possible causes of duplication , such as file copying , downloading of identical files from the web , and downloading of attachments sent between users of a same file system . it is possible for a process to maintain a duplicate - free space by disallowing any duplicates to be created in the first place . alternatively , it is possible for a process to keep track of all duplicates , along with their location , so that it may clean the file system efficiently when instructed to . this can be done , for example , by monitoring each and every system call . yet detecting and managing duplication on - the - fly requires a significant amount of intrusiveness to the operating system , memory , and processing time ; thus , such an approach is often undesirable . it is often more advantageous to perform duplicate detection only “ after - the fact ,” when computing resources are more available . during “ after - the - fact ” duplicate detection , it is beneficial to find as many duplicates early on . indeed , if the time allocated for duplicate detection is restricted , this approach allows the file system to be as “ clean ” as possible when the process is terminated . furthermore , in the frequent case where duplication defines an equivalence relation , only one file of a set of files already determined to be duplicates needs to be compared to the other files of the file system . thus , finding duplicates early on reduces the total number of comparisons that need to be made . for this reason , it is advantageous to know , at the time when duplicate detection is performed , which parts of the file system are more likely to contain duplicates . as discussed herein , the present system enables the creation and dynamic updating of a “ probability of duplication ” ( or , equivalently “ duplicate density ”) map of the file system , using observed and inferred information of file operation dynamics . fig1 illustrates a high level , exemplary implementation framework for the present system . a plurality of users 31 a , 31 b . . . 31 n operate ( e . g ., create , edit , delete , copy , move , etc .) on files 32 a , 32 b . . . 32 n managed by central processor / file server 60 in a distributed network environment . files are stored on one or more central file repositories 101 a . . . 101 n . these central file repositories 101 are independent of one another and do not have to have common hardware . in addition to creating new documents and manipulating them , each of the users is able to download documents from the internet through a firewall 853 . documents are also shared between users via e - mail communication , managed by an email server 852 . email attached documents may be resaved by the recipient and , again , stored on one of the central repositories 101 a . . . 101 n . web downloads are managed by a network firewall 853 . it will also be appreciated that users 31 may visit the same websites and download identical documents . since copies of documents exchanged by e - mail communications and internet downloads are stored in a distributed environment or on multiple repositories or databases , it is not easy to detect duplicates . a duplicate management system residing on central processor / file server 60 is designed to capture and analyze the file operations performed by users 31 a , 31 b . . . 31 n , as well as e - mail exchanges and internet downloads by such users . by doing so , the duplicate management system is able to identify the approximate or exact location of duplicate documents based upon file operations performed by each user . the system establishes a map of data repositories that facilitates the efficient processing of duplicates , as will be described hereinafter . fig2 illustrates the general components of the present invention as well as the process flow between such components . data is originally created and transformed by file operations 800 . these file operations 800 may be generated by processes and / or the users of the file system / server . data is stored 100 in central repositories or databases , which may include an array of storage devices having different physical locations . the duplicate management system 1000 manages how such data is stored and maintained in such repositories , preferably by purging the stored data of duplicates by altering the representation of the stored data . note that in the case of “ on - the - fly ” management of duplicates , it would be more natural to place the duplicate management system 1000 between the file operations 800 and the data storage 100 . this scenario can also be represented in fig2 by nullifying the direct influence of the file operations 800 on the stored data 100 , having the duplicate management system 1000 manage all stored data ( acting as “ middleware ”). the duplicate management system 1000 uses rules set 3000 to determine what it must consider to be a “ duplicate ” and what it must do with the duplicates it finds . rules set 3000 includes a plurality of duplicate definitions ( definition of what it means to be a duplicate ) 3021 a , 3021 b . . . 3021 n and corresponding “ purging actions ” ( specifies what to do with such duplicates when found ) 3022 a , 3022 b . . . 3022 n . it should be understood that a “ duplicate definition ” can specify what regions of the file system it must be applied to , what type of files it must apply to ( e . g . media , text , etc . ), or other relevant information . also , the “ purging actions ” can specify when and / or how to handle the purging ( e . g . on - the - fly , every day , once a month , etc .). the duplicate management system 1000 uses file operations information 850 to guide its process of duplicate detection and purging . eventually , the duplicate management system 1000 will take some purging actions 3020 on the stored data 100 , as directed by the rules set 3000 . one has to take care , when implementing this system , to treat the actions taken by the duplicate management system 1000 ( which are , in effect , “ file operations ”) differently than normal file operations of 800 . since “ duplication ” is an important concept for the present system , a more precise definition of such term is warranted . any sensible mathematical definition of duplication should describe a reflexive and symmetric relation on the pairs of files of a file system . that is , if is the set of all files of the file system , and xdy denotes the statement “ file x and file y are duplicates ”, then for every xε we should have the reason for reflexivity is that a file is naturally a duplicate of itself . further , symmetry is a natural property for duplication since if x is a duplicate of y then y is perforce a duplicate of x . we will also add the transitive property to our definition of duplication . the relation d is said to be reflexive when , for all x , y , zε , the transitive property is justified when we think of a set of duplicate files as a cluster of files , all duplicates of each other , and disjoint from other clusters of duplicates . this is the case of many characterizations of duplication , but some do not fall into this category . for example , if we understand duplication as “ highly similar ,” it may be that a chain of files are successively duplicates of each other — yet the first and the last are not since they are not similar enough . relations which are reflexive , symmetric and transitive are called equivalence relations . we will restrict ourselves to this class of relations when defining duplication , and call this transitive duplication . it is not sufficient for a relation on a set of files to be an equivalence relation in order for it to convey our conventional intuition of duplication . indeed , any partition of the set of files defines an equivalence relation ; thus , we need to define the relation so as to impart our understanding of what it means for two files to be duplicates . in order to do so , we refer back to the earlier concept of duplicate purging where a set of files is considered to be duplicates if they could be recovered from a common file c and a set of files specific to the original files . this leads to the following definition : definition 1 let s and c be sets of files and f : s × c → be a surjective function onto the set of files of the file system . two files f 1 , f 2 ε are said to be ƒ - duplicates if there exists s 1 , s 2 εs and cεc such that ƒ ( s 1 , c )= f 1 and ƒ ( s 2 , c )= f 2 . the files of s are called specific files and those of c , common files . observe that duplication is here defined by the function ƒ , including its domain . this illustrates that the conception of duplication depends on how the files of the file system are represented with the prescribed specific and common file sets . it may be that , according to the type of files or the file system in question , different functions ƒ are chosen to define duplication . when the choice of ƒ is understood , it may be omitted as a prefix of “ duplicate .” two files are ( ƒ -) duplicates if they can be represented using the same common file . it is easy to verify that ƒ - duplication is a reflexive and symmetric relation . again , one may choose ƒ so that ƒ - duplication conveys nothing of one &# 39 ; s natural intuition of duplication . 1 . s to files that are small compared to those of c , and 2 . ƒ to functions that are “ simple ” and efficiently implementable , then ƒ - duplication will resemble the present conception of duplication . condition 1 ensures that , since s 1 and s 2 — the files that encode the difference of f 1 and f 2 — are small compared to c means , f 1 and f 2 will enjoy a high degree of similarity . condition 2 ensures that this similarity is not obscure and that the alternate ( purged ) representation of the files is impermeable to the user ( since the system can quickly recover the original data from the common file and the specific file ). it should also be noted that condition 1 shows that the purged representation of the file system indeed saves space . these extra conditions are not included in the definition because the way one defines “ small ”, “ simple ” and “ efficiently implementable ”, depends on the goals a particular duplication purging scheme attempts to achieve and the way this scheme is implemented . observe that , in the spirit of the unix operating system , where everything is considered to be a file , the word file is loosely defined to be any sequence of bytes . for example , a “ file ” of a given file system is considered here to be the sequence of bytes representing its information entirely . this includes contents , but also metadata . fig3 illustrates definition 1 . 100 represents the set of all possible files . s 200 is the set of specific files , and c 300 is the set of common files that are used to represent the files of 100 . the function ƒ 10 is the function defining how to combine a common ( c ) and specific ( s ) file to ( re ) create a given file that has been represented with these common and specific files . in this sense , this function is a “ recovering ” function since it shows how one can reconstruct an original file that has been represented by a pair of files ( one from c 300 and one from s 200 ). for example , common file c 301 is combined ( through ƒ ) with a specific file s 1 201 to produce file f 1 101 . on the other hand , the same common file c 301 , when combined with specific file s 2 202 , produces the file f 2 102 . though files f 1 101 and f 2 102 are not byte - wise identical , they are considered to be duplicates from the point of view of the “ recovering ” function ƒ 10 . definition 1 describes all of the duplication concepts mentioned earlier . for example , the specific files may encode the “ difference files ” of “ single instance storage in windows 2000 ” by william bolosky and u . s . pat . no . 6 , 477 , 544 , or the “ edit operations ” of “ string techniques for detecting duplicates in document databases ” or “ a comparison of text - based methods for detecting duplicates in scanned document databases ,” both authored by daniel lopresti . the function ƒ 10 then recovers the original files by transforming ( or “ enhancing ”) the common file c according to the specific files s 1 or s 2 . in the case of document images , the common files c play the role of textual content and the specific files s of noise / distortions . it should be noted that when duplication is viewed , as described in definition 1 , it is not necessarily an equivalence relation since it is not necessarily transitive . on the other hand , if one only considers functions ƒ that are injective , then the relation must be transitive . indeed , in this case , every file fε has a unique inverse function ƒ − 1 ( f ) in s × c , so verifying if two files f 1 and f 2 are duplicates consists of verifying if ƒ − 1 ( f 1 )= ƒ − 1 ( f 2 ), which is obviously transitive . this shows that by choosing an appropriate bijective function g : → s × c , one may define ( a transitive ) ƒ - duplication by setting ƒ = g − 1 . two files f 1 and f 2 are hence ( ƒ -) duplicates if g c ( f 1 )= g c ( f 2 ), where g c ( f ) indicates the second coordinate of g ( f ), i . e . the ( unique ) common file of f . however , since the focus of the present system is on transitive duplication , this is the definition that will be used hereinafter . fig4 illustrates this transitive case . a file 101 is processed through function g 20 to produce a specific file 201 and a common file 301 . the function g could , for example , simply retrieve the “ duplication pertinent ” data from file 101 ( for example , the contents ), which will correspond to common file 301 , and the “ duplication irrelevant ” data of file 101 ( for example , the metadata ), which will correspond to specific file 201 . yet , function g 20 may be defined in a more complex way to represent other given conceptions of duplication . when the file 102 is processed through function g 20 , it produces the specific file 202 and a common file 301 , the same common file 301 that file 101 produced . therefore , under this particular definition , files 101 and 102 are deemed to be duplicates . it should be understood that the latter g ( f )=( s , c ) function can encode many of the notions of duplication that have been presented earlier . but first , it is helpful to review an informal explanation of this function . if one regards two objects to be duplicates , one is projecting on these two objects the idea that they are “ identical .” but no two things are exactly identical . for example , two boxes of cereal may seem identical , but if one looks very closely , one will always find some kind of discrepancies at some level . so really , one can only examine a set of aspects of these objects when deciding if they are duplicates ( maybe the shape , size , color , brand , taste of contents , etc .). the purpose of the g ( f )=( s , c ) function is to separate the information that is relevant to the definition of duplication and that which is not . preferably , g ( f )=( s , c ) is set so that c , the common file , corresponds to the relevant information of f , and s to the rest of the ( irrelevant ) information . with this arrangement or setting , two files are considered duplicates if their relevant information is identical . this is the most widespread understanding of file duplication ( or “ content duplication ”) in the art when one compares a combination of metadata and content information . in the case of document images , if the idea of duplication is to mean “ same text ,” then the images can be processed by an optical character recognition ( ocr ) module to produce files holding the text contents of the images , and duplicate detection can then be performed on these text files . in this situation , the ocr module plays the role of g , where the common file c corresponds to the text file . the function g corresponds to the computation of the “ convergent encryption ,” as described in “ reclaiming space from duplicate files in a serverless distributed file system ,” by john douceur et al . in this situation , all files are encrypted according to a key that is specific to each user . if the administrating entity has access to these keys , these keys can be used to decrypt the files of the users and perform duplicate detection on the decrypted versions of the files . in this case , the keys ( and perhaps some other meta - data ) would be considered as the “ specific data ” and the decrypted versions of the content as “ common data .” douceur , in contrast , describes a method that does not require the keys of the users . instead , each file is processed in a way so as to produce an alternate file ( corresponding to “ common file ” of the present system ) that can be used to check for duplication . in a scenario in which files have been created or saved under different versions of the same software application , thus exhibiting representational discrepancies , the function g corresponds to saving all files under the same version , so that identical files will be represented identically . in general , g computes the semantics of a file when duplication is viewed as semantic identity . hereinafter , the task of deciding on duplication is reduced to deciding on byte - wise identity of the files obtained through the function g c ( the part of the output of the function g that is in c ). if any of the corresponding bytes disagree , the files are not duplicates ; otherwise , they are deemed to be duplicates . in storage management , the goal of locating duplicates is often to purge the file system of needless redundancy . the term “ purging duplicates ” is used herein to extend the approach consisting of straightforward deletion of duplicates . indeed , though simply deleting duplicates may be appropriate in some situations , it can be problematic to do so since this would negate the user &# 39 ; s ability to retrieve a file from the location in which he had placed it . purging duplicates , on the other hand , involves expunging the bulk of the data of a duplicate file , keeping only one copy , but taking the necessary steps so that the file may still be readily accessed ; just as if the user owned his own copy . more formally , if f 1 , . . . , f n are duplicate files , purging these consists of creating n “ specific files ” s 1 , . . . , s n corresponding to the f i files , and a “ common file ” c , such that each original file f i may be recovered from its specific file s i and the common file c . for example , if two files having equal contents are regarded as duplicates , the common file c will correspond to the ( common ) contents of the files and the specific files will correspond to the ( individual ) metadata of the files . many questions arise as to how to purge duplicates . for example , should a pair ( s i , c ) be copied out of its cluster of duplicates as soon as the user makes changes affecting the common file c (“ copy - on write ” or should this separation happen only when the changes are saved ? fig5 illustrates a symbolic process flow of duplicate detection and purging of the present invention . a collection of files 110 is first input into the duplicate detection process 400 . the particular definition of duplication 21 that the duplicate detection process 400 should use is also provided . it is assumed that the files in the collection of files 110 are of the type imposed or handled by the duplication definition ( e . g . if this particular duplication definition relates to mp3 files , all the files of the collection of files 110 should be mp3s ). once all the collection of files 110 have been fed to the duplicate detection process 400 , a group 410 of files 411 , or groups of file identification numbers , or in general , any structure specifying the clusters of duplicate files that were found in the file collection 110 are output by the duplicate detection process 400 . this information allows one to take whatever action is needed to be taken on duplicates . for example , this information may be fed into the duplicate purging process 900 , which purges these groups into a space saving representation 120 , by storing the common files 201 only once and keeping the specific files 301 around so as to be able to recover any original file 411 exactly . note that the duplicate detection process 400 expresses all files as common and specific files so that it can detect duplication ; thus , this information can be passed to the purging process 900 . in alternative embodiments , the duplicate detection process 400 and purging process 900 can be integrated into a single , comprehensive process so that no data needs to be passed between the two processes . also , it should be noted that file collection can , and preferably should , be pipelined into the process flow just described . fig6 illustrates a more detailed description of one exemplary duplication detection process 400 . a collection 110 of files 101 is input to a process 25 , which computes the “ pertinent data ”, i . e . “ the common files ” 210 of the files of this collection . for example , the common file 201 of the set of blocks 210 corresponds to the pertinent data of file 101 . for simplicity , these common files are called “ blocks ( of pertinent data ),” but this should not be confused with the usual understanding of this term , which often designates an atomic read / write byte sequence of a hard disk . also , it should be noted that “ common files ” and “ blocks of pertinent data ” designate the same data . the process 25 takes a file and computes the “ block of data ” that will be “ pertinent ” to the duplication detection process . this same block of data will constitute the “ common file ” of a group of duplicates — once the purging process is initiated . how the blocks are computed — or , in the case of simple definitions of duplication , “ retrieved ”— from a given file is determined by a definition of ( transitive ) duplication 20 , which is also provided or input to process 25 . then the process 2000 assembles the collection of blocks into groups of blocks having identical byte sequences . this means that these groups correspond to groups of duplicate files , hence the output 510 . next , the system determines , in a timely manner , if two blocks ( byte sequences ) are identical . note , first , that a necessary condition for a and b to be identical is that they be of equal size — this is hereinafter assumed to be true . in fact , since the size of a file is readily accessible , it can be assumed that the size of its image through g c is as well . at least it may be assumed this size may be computed while g c is . for example , in the widespread case where g c simply extracts relevant information from the original file f ( e . g . contents and name ), the size of f itself may be used for purposes of comparison , since this size relates to that of g c ( f ) by an additive constant . note that one can in principle , and in practice , include the size of g c ( f ) in g c ( f ) itself . several approaches in the at include the byte - wise comparison of files for the purposes of duplicate detection , but it is believed that all of these implicitly refer to a sequential comparison . that is , if the n bytes composing blocks a and b are respectively designated by a 1 , . . . , a n and b 1 , . . . , b n , in that order , then a byte - wise comparison would refer to the process of comparing a 1 to b 1 , then a 2 to b 2 , etc . the process being terminated as soon as two disagreeing bytes are found , since a and b are then determined to be non - identical . each and every pair of bytes must be compared , and determined to be equal , in order to decide on identity . yet , as soon as a pair of ( corresponding ) non - identical bytes is found , this comparison process can terminate — since the blocks are then certainly non - identical . therefore , it is desirable to find such a pair as soon as possible , if it exists . in light of this , one may wonder if a sequential comparison of the pair of bytes of two blocks is as good as any other order of comparison , and if not , what would be a better order of comparison . sequential comparison has advantages on some level . for example , sequential disk reads are faster than random ones . yet , this fact must be weighed with the advantage that non - sequential comparisons can offer . indeed , the internal representation of files conforms to a given syntax particular to the type of the file in question . sometimes , this syntax may exhibit some level of regularity in the sequence of bytes . for example , many files of a same type will have identical headers ; others may have identical “ keywords ” in precise positions of the file — as is often the case in system files . whether this regularity is deterministic or statistical , it may be used to accelerate the process of determining whether two ( or more ) files are identical or not . fig7 illustrates a process for comparing two blocks to determine if they are identical . a pair of blocks 220 is provided or input to a process 2611 that retrieves two corresponding sections of these blocks ( one from block 221 and one from block 222 ). the section to be retrieved is determined by the section order 2610 , which is also provided to or input to process 2611 . the sections are then at step 2621 . if the sections are different ( i . e . at least one byte is different ), the process ends at step 2640 a with the decision that the blocks are not identical . if both sections are identical , the system next checks to see if there are any non - compared sections left at step 2630 . if there are no sections left to be compared , the process ends at step 2640 b with the decision that the blocks are identical . if there are still sections left to be compared , as determined at step 2630 , the system retrieves ( step 2611 ) the next pair of sections of the blocks . again , the inputted section order 2610 determines what the next pair of sections should be . the section order 2610 can be “ learned ” ( with respect to the type of file , and other properties ) automatically by the system , using standard statistical and artificial intelligence techniques . for example , some files may include a standard header format that does not provide any distinguishing information even between non - identical files . in such situations , to speed up the comparison process , it makes no sense to check this section of the file or , alternatively , such section should not be checked until the rest of the file has been checked . moreover , through some statistical experiments on computer files of several types , it has been discovered ( without much surprise ) that , in many cases , the bytes ( or chunks of bytes ) follow sequential patterns ( for example , a markov model ). in short , this means that statistically , the bytes of a given section of data are more strongly related to neighboring sections of the data than to sections further away . when this is the case , considering and comparing sections in an order in which each next checked section is as far away as possible from all the previously checked sections will determine if two blocks are non - identical ( if they are ) faster than the standard or sequential order would ( if there is little over head for retrieving these sections in a non - sequential fashion ). for example , if two blocks to be compared are divided into nine sections ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , and 9 ), the comparison order of & lt ; 1 , 9 , 5 , 3 , 7 , 2 , 4 , 6 , 8 & gt ; would perform better than a comparison order of , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 & gt ; on average . the above process just describes the comparison of two files . one could always use such a two - file comparison process on all pairs of a larger collection of files , but when the collection of files to be processed becomes larger , this becomes rapidly inefficient . handling and comparing a large plurality of files can be done effectively using a methodology known as “ divide and conquer .” this methodology is similar to divide and conquer principles used in sorting algorithms and data structure management . fig8 shows the steps of the hash - sieve process described earlier . this process starts with a collection of blocks 230 . if the collection contains only one block ( checked for at step 2710 ), then the process ends ( at step 2711 ). however , if the collection more than one block , the collection is sorted , using hash sort function 2600 , which performs a hash on each block , using hash function 2612 . this results in the grouping 240 of the blocks of the original collection into buckets of blocks having the same hash value . each one of these buckets 240 a is a collection of blocks that will , in turn , be processed back through the process described in fig8 using another hash . for example , the collection 240 a is input in 230 and processed in the manner as just described . the hash - sieve process of fig8 expresses many existing approaches to duplicate detection . the first hash function could be , for example , the size of the block , and the resulting buckets are , hence , the groups of same - size blocks . the next hash function could be the identity , in which case a byte - to - byte comparison is performed , and the resulting buckets are then the groups of identical blocks , hence , indicating the groups of duplicate files . before performing a byte - to - byte comparison , many existing schemes choose to perform a few other hash passes — using , for example , crc or md5 hash functions . the reason for performing several hash passes before doing the byte - to - byte comparison is that doing so separates blocks into ( hopefully ) small buckets of blocks , the blocks of different buckets being non - identical . this allows duplicate detection to be performed on smaller groups of blocks , and even to take out a significant number of blocks from the pool of comparison when they have a unique hash . there is a tradeoff here . hashing the blocks allows the system to lower the expected number of comparisons during duplicate detection , but computing the hash of blocks requires a certain amount of computation . in other words , using such hashes as crc and md5 may in some cases actually increase the time needed for duplicate detection . in the general hash - sieve approach presented here , the hash function may be automatically selected according to the situation at hand , in order to minimize the expected time needed for duplicate detection . for example , if the number of blocks in the collection is small , one may choose to perform a section - wise comparison as described ( for the case of two blocks ) in fig7 and for larger collections , some other carefully chosen hash function , as will be appreciated and understood by one skilled in the art . note that , in fact , even byte - wise comparison can be expressed as multiple passes through a hash - sieve process . for example , consider the task of carrying out a byte - wise comparison of a batch of blocks . given the limited bandwidth and processing power of a conventional cpu , it is generally not preferable to compare two blocks in one step , but rather to compare pairs of corresponding sections sequentially . further , it is more efficient to sort the entire batch according to one section , then sort the smaller ( equal section value ) batches thus obtained according to another section , etc . as in fig7 , the section order is chosen so as to optimize the process by maximizing the chances of section discrepancy , thus minimizing the sizes of the batches . the process just described is a hash - sieve process where a block is hashed to a given section . a few data structures used in the hash sort process can now be considered . in a naïve approach , a quadratic number of pairs of files ( or hashes thereof ) would have to be compared to each other to group these files into duplicate ( or potentially duplicate ) groups . more precisely , if one needed to process n files , the naïve approach would compare n ( n − 1 )/ 2 files . on the other hand , if these files are , instead , “ sorted ” according to their hashes , one can process all n files with only nlog 2 n , which is a significant improvement when n is large . fig9 illustrates a data structure that can be used to perform the hash sort in o ( nlog 2 n ) time ( using such known sorting algorithms as merge - sort or quick - sort ). this “ hash - sort ” data structure is a linked list of linked lists . the cells of the lists are of two types : a hash cell ( e . g . 2651 ) and a fid cell ( e . g . 2660 ). a hash cell has a hash value 2651 b and a pointer 2651 a to the next cell ( or a null pointer 2651 a ′ if the cell is the last of the list ). and fid cell has a file identification ( fid ) field 2660 a and a pointer 2660 c to the next cell ( or a null pointer 2652 c ′ if the cell is the last of the list ). the hash cells ( sorted ) record the hash values that have been encountered in the considered collection of blocks and the fid cells record the file identification numbers of the files having a particular hash value ( e . g . 2671 ). fig1 shows a data structure that keeps track of the different hash values of the blocks during several hash - sieve passes . at each pass , one need only consider the same - hash batches produced by the previous pass and , thus , keeping track of the different hash values of each pass may be unnecessary . on the other hand , keeping record of these different hash values is advantageous if later duplicate detection would need to compute these hash values . this is , for example , the case when one considers duplicate detection over a distributed file system . in such a situation , several duplicated detection agents communicate with each other these hash sort structures so as to share the computational load of a distributed duplication detection process . the data structure of fig1 is obtained from the data structure described in fig9 by creating a hash - sort data structure for each list of fid cells , using a second hash function . the hash cells ( e . g . 2651 ) of the original data structure are kept , but the list of fid cells it points to with a hash - sort data structure , which uses the new hash function in question , are replaced . in other words , a hash cell ( e . g . 2651 ) will now point to another ( new hash function ) hash cell ( e . g . 2652 ) indicating the beginning of the new hash - sort data structure . note that for the immediate purpose of determining block identity , it is unnecessary to compute the new hash of batches having only one block . these may be computed later , if needed for other purposes . the linked - list 2672 corresponds to the linked list 2671 of fig9 that has been processed with the new hash function . fig1 exhibits an alternate data structure that can be used instead of that described in fig1 . in this data structure , instead of breaking up the linked list of fid cells into a hash - sort data structure , the hash cells 2651 ′ are expanded to contain the new hash values , and the list 2673 is restructured , keeping it sorted first according to the first hash , and second according to the second hash . next , it is advantageous to have a method for determining where duplicates might be found — so as to guide duplicate detection — from ( possibly partial ) knowledge of the file operation dynamics of the file server users . more precisely , it is possible to assign a probability indicating the likelihood that a pair of distinct files are duplicates . maintaining a separate probability for each pair of files would typically require an impracticable amount of memory and processing . instead , the present system maintains duplicate densities of sets of pairs — or “ cells ”)— indicating the percentage of pairs that are pairs of duplicates . this number provides the probability that a randomly chosen pair of the given set of pairs will be a pair of duplicates . smaller granularity ( i . e . bigger cells ) does not burden the computing resources as much , but yields less precise estimates , so an appropriate tradeoff must be decided upon . again , this granularity may be determined by the administrator in the settings of the supplicate management system , or dynamically adapted to the situation at hand , using standard artificial intelligence techniques . fig1 shows an example of a duplicate density map 651 . this map is obtained by partitioning the search space ( the subset of the file system is which duplicate detection will be performed ) into so called sections and taking the set of ( unordered ) pairs of sections to be the domain ( set of cells ) of the map . in this example , the search space 751 is divided into six pieces ( called sections ) labeled s 1 ( 751 a ) through s 6 . the domain of the density map corresponds then to the pairs { s 1 , s 1 }, { s 1 , s 2 }, . . . , { s 6 , s 6 }, depicted by the un - shaded squares of the map 651 . the cell corresponding to { s 1 , s 6 } is depicted by cell 651 a and by cell 651 b , which are , in fact , the same cell . thus , the shaded cells are not included as describing the domain of the density map 651 . the numbers contained in a cell ( square ) represent the duplicate density forecasted for that cell ( i . e . the forecasted percentage of pairs of files of the cell that are duplicates ). fig1 shows another instance of a duplicate density map , where the cells are not simple pairs of files of two sections — thus producing a grid - like domain . for example , cell 651 c contains pairs of { s 1 , s 5 }, { s 1 , s 6 }, and { s 2 , s 5 } and 651 d contains files of { s 2 , s 2 }, { s 2 , s 3 }, and { s 3 , s 3 }. in general , the cells could be any sets of pairs of files which partition the search space — not necessarily sets obtained by pairs of sections . it may be useful to allow more complex cell shapes in order to create higher discrepancies of density . indeed , if all cells have more or less the same density , ordering the duplicate detection will not have much effect . on the other hand , if many cells have high density , and many others have low density , then taking care of the high density ones first will reduce the duplicate detection processing time . this is the case of the duplicate density map depicted in fig1 — which was obtained using the densities of fig1 — where for example 651 c is projected to have 28 % of duplicate pairs whereas 651 d is projected to only have 6 %. the model adjustment process 700 , which is described hereinafter with reference to fig1 , can eventually adapt the granularity dynamically in order to create these higher density discrepancies . fig1 illustrates one possible implementation of the duplication detection and duplicate density map feedback process . though this is only one possible implementation , it is fairly general , and instances and variations of this design will be used and described hereinafter in exemplary embodiments of the present invention . the duplicate density map creation process 600 uses a file operations log 850 ( provided by a file operations and monitoring process 820 ) and model variables 750 to create a duplicate density map 650 , which is inputted into the duplicate detection process 400 . as described previously , the density map 650 is used to guide the duplicate detection process 400 — and by thus doing , optimize it . further , information 450 about the actual number and location of duplicates are then fed into a model adjustment process 700 , which uses this information to create new model variables 750 to be fed into the duplicate density map creation process 600 so that the next density map can be more accurate , given that it will take into account the difference between a history of forecasted and actual densities . the model adjustment process 700 also uses the file operations log 850 to better approximate the densities . additionally , the duplicate location information 450 may be used by another process to perform whatever actions are desired to be performed with the duplicates , such as , for example , use by a duplicate purging process 900 , which tells the file system in question how to represent the duplicate files . the duplicate detection process 400 is able to use the density map 650 in many ways according to the parameters that one wishes to optimize , and what the implementation environment is . one way of optimizing duplicate detection in a large file system , having too many files to process in one batch , is to process batches of files having many duplicates first . by so doing , many duplicates will be found early on , hence maximizing the number of duplicates found if the time allocated to duplicate detection is limited , and further reducing the total time of duplicate detection since many files will be taken out of the search space at an early stage . these batches may be chosen by taking sets of cells of the duplicate density map 650 that have high density first , and batches of cells with lower density later on . in the extreme case , the density map can indicate precisely where the duplicates are . the process flow described in fig1 expresses a wide range of approaches according to how the different constituent processes are implemented . for instance , the file operations log 850 may be — and remain — empty , meaning that the method described works solely on statistical inference , without any information on the actual dynamics of the file operations . on the other hand , the file operations log 850 may keep track of all file operations , thereby providing the duplicate detection process 400 with exact information of which files are duplicates . in this case , the duplicate density map is , in fact , a “ duplicate map ” ( i . e . an exhaustive list of duplicate pairs ) and the duplicate detection process is trivial ( thus can be bypassed ) since the precision of the duplicate map is in itself the result sought by detection . also , in this case , the model adjustment process 700 is not needed as the file operations log 850 provides perfect information on the location of duplicates . in short , when the file operations log 850 provides perfect information , it may be in effect communicate directly with the duplicate purging process 900 . when it is not desirable for the file operations log 850 to be made to exhaustively keep track of all low level operations that create and modify the duplicate constitution of the file system , it may be desirable to infer some probabilistic knowledge of the location of duplicates from whatever information is made available . in this case , the file operations log 850 constitutes the observational component of the probabilistic inference , meaning that it carries information of events that affect duplication . this information is enhanced by a statistical component encoded in the model variables 750 . these model variables 750 influence the construction of the duplicate density map by the duplicate density map creation process 600 by approximating the information not contained in the file operations log 750 . the first embodiment , which is described herein , presents a few ways to carry out this approach . in this first embodiment , a few simplifying assumptions ( that are often valid ) are made of the dynamics of duplication . these assumptions basically imply that most duplicates are created by email exchanges and web downloads ; therefore , this first embodiment need only keep track of these file operation dynamics . further , the granularity of the duplicate map of this first embodiment is composed of pairs of user spaces . there are also many choices for the contents of the model variables 750 and the way the duplicate density map creation process 600 integrates the model variables 750 and the file operations log 850 to create a density map 650 . one main aspect of a model is its granularity , which refers to the specification of the cells of the duplicate density map ( i . e . the domain of the density function ). the granularity of the model can be fixed or variable . in the latter case , a specification of the granularity should be contained in the model variables 750 . the second embodiment described herein presents ways to modify the specification of the density map cells dynamically . in a third embodiment , variable granularity arises when the exact location of duplicates is maintained . in this embodiment , the duplicate density map probabilities will be binary — either 0 , indicating a null ( or nearly null ) probability of a duplicate pair , or 1 , indicating absolute ( or near absolute ) certainty that the pair of files is a duplicate pair . in the case , the duplicate map is in effect a list of file pairs that are ( almost ) certain to be duplicates . a fourth embodiment is directed to the situation in which tracking of file operations allows the system to pinpoint duplicates exactly as in the third embodiment (“ on - the - fly ” duplicate detection ) but in which management of the duplicates occurs immediately (“ on - the - fly ” duplicate purging ). in order to facilitate the following discussion , many simplifications will be made . it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the scope of the present invention is in no way limited by the following , simplified example . in this embodiment , the search space of the file server is divided into m sections s 1 , . . . , s m ; one section per user this means that a cell c i , j will contain all pairs { f i , f j } of files such that f i εs i is a file of user i and f j εs j is a file of user j . one advantage of this choice for granularity is that one does not have to take into account the move operation . indeed , the move operation , being here a compounded copy and delete inside a same section , does not change any of the densities ( the d ij ). in this example , it is assumed that most file creations and copies are promptly ( before the next duplicate detection ) followed by an edit and that the number of duplicates created by downloads from external sites is negligible . under these assumptions , there will never be any duplicates in a same user &# 39 ; s space , or at least these will account for a negligible proportion of the total count . this implies that the duplicates will appear in pairs inside a same cell . another way to ensure that no duplicates are present in a same user &# 39 ; s space is by detecting and purging duplicates in the c i , i cells “ on - the - fly ” ( see fourth embodiment ) or before further duplicate detection . let t 1 , . . . , t k , . . . be the times at which duplication detection and purging will be performed . at every given time t k , it is desirable to have an idea of the duplicate density d ij ( t k ) of every c i , j cell . the setup and assumptions imply that the bulk of the duplicates will have been created by file transmissions ( i . e . the downloading of attachments from emails sent between several users of the same file server ); thus , it is desirable to estimate at t ij ( k ), the number of files that have been sent by user i to user j during the [ t k - 1 , t k ] period . often , a file server will keep track of the number of attachments sent from user to user , but not whether a user has actually saved the attachment , nor if a saved attachment is later edited or deleted . in this case , it is desirable to estimate the actual number of transmitted files from the total number of files that have been sent between both users . let a ij ( k ) be the number of attachments sent from user i to user j during the [ t k - 1 , t k ] period . in order to estimate t ij ( k ) the system maintains and updates a set of numbers representing the estimated proportion of received attachments that were actually saved and not edited . let a ij ( k ) be the estimated proportion of attachments sent from user i to user j that contribute towards the duplicate count during the [ t k - 1 , t k ] period . that is , t ij ( k ) is estimated to be a ij ( k )′ a ij ( k ), therefore estimating the density of cell c i , j at time t k to be d ij = α ij ⁡ ( k ) × a ij ⁡ ( k ) × α ij ⁡ ( k ) × a ij ⁡ ( k )  s i ⁡ ( k )  ×  s j ⁡ ( k )  , where \| s i ( k )\| and \| s j ( k )\| are respectively the number of files section s i ( k ) ( files of user i ) and section s j ( k ) ( files of user j ) at time t k . these can be readily obtained from the file server . referring back to fig1 , it is evident in the present embodiment , file operations monitoring process 820 only needs to obtain — or keep track of — the number of files in each user &# 39 ; s space and how many attachments are sent between each pair of users . at time t k , file operations monitoring process 820 communicates a ij ( k ), s j ( k ), and s j ( k ) to the duplication density map creation process 600 ( through log 850 ), which in turn uses the a ij ratios provided by model adjustment process 700 ( through model variables 750 ) to estimate the duplicate density in each cell d ij ( k ) at that point . note that the a ij constitute the only model variables ( the granularity is fixed and constant in this embodiment ). when the process flow fig1 is first started ( at time t 1 ), initial values are assigned to the a ij . these could be , for example , constant over all pairs of users , or alternatively biased according to some known transmission dynamics . the objective then is to design an algorithm for the model adjustment process 700 that will be able to produce values for a ij that will be increasingly close to the actual ratio there are many ways one can infer the values of the a ij by incorporating information on the dynamics of the file operations , the previous ( actual ) duplicate counts , and / or the previous inferred values of the a ij . if duplicate detection has been carried out on all cells at time t k , then the actual proportion of attachments that contribute to the duplicate count for each pair of users in the [ t k - 1 , t k ] period is known . let b ij ( k ) be this proportion ( for attachments sent by user i to user j ). if it is believed that the a ij ( k ) proportions depend strongly on the most recent dynamics , these may be defined to be equal to the previous actual proportion ; namely b ij ( k − 1 ). on the other hand , if it is believed that these proportions are highly dependent on antecedent proportions , a ij ( k ) may be defined to be the average of all previous actual proportions ; namely a ij ⁡ ( k ) = ∑ l = 1 l = k - 1 ⁢ b ij ⁡ ( l ) k - 1 . these are two extreme choices of a large class of possibilities for forecasting new values of a sequence from the knowledge of previous values . in the same vain , one could choose to set a ij ( k ) to be a weighted average of the previous actual values b ij ( 1 ), . . . , b ij ( k − 1 ). there are many other choices for forecasting these proportions , which may be found in the dynamical systems , statistics , or time series literature , for example . fig1 is similar to fig1 in the context of the present first embodiment . here , the file server 821 provides the number of attachments sent between every pair of users in any given time frame , along with the total number of files in every section . this information , contained in 851 , is fed into 601 which , along with the newest model variables a ij ( k ) ( see 751 ), computes the densities d ij ( see 651 ). these densities are fed into the duplicate detection process 400 . once process 400 finds all duplicates in the cells of the duplicate map , it can communicate the number of duplicates b ij of these cells ( see 451 ) to the model adjustment process 701 , which then compute the a ij ( see 751 ) and provides it to process 601 for the next cycle . in the first embodiment of the present invention , the granularity was fixed to be composed of all pairs of different users &# 39 ; space . in order to attain more precision , it is possible to divide each user space into several sections , taking the cells of the density map to be all pairs of these sections . or , if there are many users , it may be advantageous to group users into same sections . the idea is to define the cells of the density map so that they will exhibit large differences of densities . in the previous scheme , these cells were fixed in advance . this second embodiment shows how the “ shape ” of these cells can be changed dynamically so as to adapt to present and / or forecasted densities . this technique is illustrated using the simple directory structure depicted in fig1 . the directory structure is represented by a rooted tree where the root node 2 is the highest level directory , containing one directory per user . these user directories are represented as children nodes of the root node : node 33 for user 1 and node 34 for user 2 . the remaining of the nodes ( for example , node 752 ) represent directories contained by these users , in the standard tree - like fashion . in the previous embodiment of the present invention , the cells of the density map were defined by taking pairs of users . such a cell is represented in fig1 : the polygon 761 of fig1 contains both node 33 and node 34 indicating that this cell is composed of all pairs of files ( f 1 , f 2 ) where f 1 is a file of user 1 and f 1 is a file of user 2 . the density attached to this cell may be thought of as the ( projected ) probability that any given pair of the cell is a duplicate pair . every pair of the cell is given an equal probability . if there are not too many users , it is possible to divide this cell into smaller parts , allowing the system to have a finer knowledge of where the duplicates might be . for example , in fig1 , instead of one cell , four cells define all possible pairs from the subdirectories of both users . user 1 has three directories ( named d 1 , d 2 , and d 3 ) in his home directory . user 2 has two directories ( named d 4 and d 5 ) in his home directory . cell 763 , for example , contains all ( d 3 , d 5 ) pairs : i . e . all pairs of files where one is in d 3 ( or in subdirectories thereof ), and the other in d 5 ( or in subdirectories thereof ). further , cell 762 contains all ( d 1 , d 4 ) and ( d 2 , d 4 ) pairs , cell 764 contains all ( d 1 , d 5 ) and ( d 2 , d 5 ) pairs , and cell 765 contains all ( d 3 , d 4 ) pairs . these cells are also depicted in fig1 , in a manner similar to that of fig1 and fig1 . suppose the cell 761 of fig1 ( or fig1 ) has a density of , say , 0 . 1 . this means that , according to this density map , all pairs of files between two users have a 10 % chance of being duplicates . yet , with the finer granularity depicted in fig1 , we may see that cells 762 and 764 have a density of 0 . 05 each , cell 763 a density of 0 . 3 , and cell 765 a density of 0 . 6 . this means that in the case depicted in fig1 , the duplicate detection can concentrate on cells 763 and 765 first , finding many duplicates early on . with only the info about total density of 761 in fig1 , there is no indication of what pairs of this cell ( including all pairs described by the cells of fig1 ) we should try first . the granularity in fig1 is finer than that in fig1 , implying extra duplicate detection efficiency . finer granularity increases both the computational and memory requirements of the scheme , thus it is necessary to decided in advance how many cells the density map will have . yet , if the knowledge of duplicate formation allows , one may choose to define these cells so that many of them will have high densities and others low density . in this case , the duplicate detection process will be able to catch many duplicates early on by focusing on high density cells first . the existence of work groups is one instance where one can infer a probable density structure that can guide the choice of cell definition . indeed , it is likely that users of a same group will share files and own identical documents in their workspace ; at least more so than users of different groups . another way to determine a good cell structure is to have the model adjustment process 700 ( fig1 ) adjust the cells of the density map dynamically , adapting to previous duplicate location findings ( provided by 450 ). generally , it should be decided in advance how many cells one wants to use in the density map since the greater number of cells , the bigger the load on memory and computing time of the scheme . but once the number of cells has been decided , it must then be determined what pairs they should contain . as mentioned above , the cells may be defined according to some prior conception of where duplicates might be created ( according to groups , etc . ), yet this biased choice may not actually yield good results if it is , or becomes , unjustified . one object of the present embodiment is , therefore , to introduce dynamically changing cells which adapt to the fluctuation of the location of duplicates . the general idea is to acquire a scheme that will compel cells to “ close in ” on areas that have high duplicate density . consider the cells , as defined in fig1 and in fig1 . suppose that duplicate detection is performed and the findings indicate that cells 762 and 764 have low density , whereas 765 has high density . if one believes that duplicates tend to be created in same areas — or at least that areas of high density do not tend to shift too fast over time — then it would make sense to force the density map to focus more on areas that were recently dense . this means that it would be advantageous to modify the cells so that previous cells of low density are grouped into fewer cells , and use the savings thus made ( since the number of cells to be used in the model is fixed in advance ) to break up cells that had high density into smaller pieces . for example , in the present example , it would be advantageous to merge cells 762 and 764 and break up cell 765 into two cells . a cell 766 containing all ( d 31 , d 41 ) pairs and a cell 767 containing all ( d 31 , d 42 ) and ( d 31 , d 43 ) pairs is illustrated in fig2 and fig2 . with reference again to fig1 , the model adjustment process 700 is responsible for redefining the cells of the model according to the information provided to it by the duplicate location information 450 and , possibly , the file operations log 850 . as in the first embodiment , there are many ways process 700 may use this information to adapt the model . these two possibilities are presented hereinafter . both of these schemes use solely the duplicate location information provided by duplicate location information 450 . it must be indicated that it is possible to modify these schemes in order to integrate a history of duplicate findings and / or the recent file operations provided by file operations log 850 and duplicate location information 450 is assumed to provide a set of groups of locations of duplicate files . having the exact location of duplicates and being able to access the total number of files in each directory , the model adjustment process may compute the actual ( recent ) duplicate densities of the current cells . it could then merge low density cells and break up high density cells , as exemplified in the example just presented . in an alternative embodiment , the cells are redefined completely , by grouping pairs of directories according to their recent densities in a way that will maximize the density differences between cells . techniques helping to adapt cells dynamically ( for example , variable - grid and particle filters ) can be found in the applied dynamical systems literature . in the two previous embodiments , the operations monitoring process 820 obtained its information only from records readily available from the file server . this allows for a non - intrusive application . yet , much more efficient duplicate detection is possible if the operations monitoring process is made aware of all or most of the file operations that take place in the file server . such an approach has several advantages . first , this system is able to pinpoint the exact location of most duplicates since it is aware of many of the operations that create these . pinpointing the exact location of duplicates corresponds to having a precise ( albeit perhaps approximate ) binary density map , that is , one in which , for each pair of files in the system , a 1 is attached if it is believed that the pair is a pair of duplicates , and 0 if not . given that most pairs of files of the system are not duplicates , this “ density map ” should be represented as a list of those pairs that are duplicates , as will be shown later . a second advantage is that this system , if desired , also manages a purged representation of the files “ on - the - fly .” in other words , if a list of duplicates is maintained , idle cpu cycles may be used to purge these duplicates , if purging duplicates is desired . this third embodiment of the present invention , that is described hereinafter , is not as precise as the “ ideal ” system just described , but it affords many of its advantages . in this embodiment , the file operations monitoring process only monitors retrieval , store , filename change , copy , and deletion of files . further , the list of pairs of files ( exactly “ file locations ”) that it maintains are not duplicates with absolute certainty , but with a scalable high probability . this probability can be chosen to be arbitrarily high according to hash functions that are used , at the expense of the necessity for more space and computation time to implement the method . the “ suspected ” duplicate pairs are then be fed to a duplicate detection process for a final decision or determination . advantageously , this third embodiment maintains a hashed representation of all files that are manipulated in a recent past , each hash value being linked to the locations of the files having this hash value . files having the same hash are likely to be duplicates . these hash values may be computed promptly if this is done while the file is in memory . with reference again to fig1 , processes 700 and 750 may be eliminated from this embodiment since the model parameters will not be adjusted dynamically . also , the data 850 , 650 , and 450 communicated between the processes should be placed in memory shared between the relevant processes . this allows this third embodiment to streamline and buffer its tasks , so that the process may be interrupted at any point , and resumed when the cpu load allows . fig2 is similar to fig1 but customized for the third embodiment . here , the file operations monitoring process 823 is responsible for “ catching ” all retrieval , store , filename change , copy , and deletion operations . it does so , preferably , by causing a copy of given communications between a user and the file server to be sent to the monitoring process . this can also be done by having the monitoring process regularly check the file server log of operations . the monitoring process should update a file operations log 853 , which is read by the update table process 603 , which , in turn , updates a potential duplicates table 653 . once a log entry is read , this entry is deleted from the file operations log 853 . if duplicate detection and purging “ on - the - fly ” is to be performed , when cpu activity allows , the duplication detection process 403 reads off ( highly ) probable duplicate groups from table 653 and performs a more thorough check ( if desired ). a list of actual duplicates may be maintained in database 453 , which the duplicate purging process 900 accesses in order to identify duplicates for purging . if the table 653 does not have any candidate groups of duplicates , the duplicate detection process 403 continues checking other pairs of files to find duplicates that may have not been caught earlier . the file operations log 853 should contain all mentioned file operations ( retrieval , store , etc .) along with the location of the file in question and a hash value for this file for all but the delete and filename change operation . this location must be an exact , non - ambiguous specification of where the file in question is located ( for example , the full path of the file , if none of these may clash in the file system in question ). in the case of a copy operation , the relevant file operations log field should specify both the location of the original and the location of the copy . in the case of a filename change , the relevant file operations log field should specify the new name if the location specification depends on the latter . in this third embodiment , the duplicate density map may be thought of as a table 653 having two columns : one for hash values , and another for locations of files having this hash value . though this density map is represented as a table here , any format or data structure can be used as long as the system is able efficiently to read and update this data structure according to both hash values and file locations . examples of these tables are given in fig2 . the following illustrates what actions must be taken by the density map creation process 603 on the table 653 depending upon which operations are read from the file operations log 853 . these operations are described in a pseudo - language for the file operations log and the actions to be taken on the table . retrieve ( loc , hash ) will indicate that a file whose location is “ loc ” and whose hash value is “ hash ” was retrieved store ( loc , hash ) will indicate that a file whose hash value is “ hash ”, at location “ loc ” was stored . delete ( loc ) will indicate that a file located at “ loc ” was deleted . copy ( loc1 , loc2 , hash ) will indicate that a file located at “ loc1 ” was copied to location “ loc2 ”. change ( loc1 , loc2 ) will indicate a filename change . the file is located at “ loc1 ”, and after the filename change , the location ( of the same file ) was then in location “ loc2 ” ( since location includes the file name in its description ). as one skilled in the art will appreciate , the copy operation may be eliminated if such operation will be “ caught ” by the file server as a retrieve ( loc1 , hash ) followed by a store ( loc2 , hash ). similarly , a move operation can be represented by a copy followed by a delete . in general , the above list of operations is merely representative . not all of these operations need to be included and , if desired , additional operations can be included . the exact operations chosen by the system operator merely affect the precision of the resulting table of potential duplicates . now , the two actions that will be taken on the table are described . for example , if the table starts out empty ( which it will ), then none of these actions will lead to more than one row indexed by the same hash value , nor will they lead to having a same location specification in several rows ( i . e . with different hash values ). insert ( hash , loc ) indicates the insertion of the pair “( hash , loc )” into the table . more precisely , if the table has a row indexed by “ hash ”, then “ loc ” will be added to the list of locations there ( if it is not already there ). if the table has neither a row indexed by “ hash ”, nor a location “ loc ” anywhere , a new row should be created , indexed by “ hash ” and containing “ loc ” as a ( singular ) list of locations . remove ( loc ) indicates the removal of the pair “ loc ” from the table . more precisely , “ loc ” is removed from the corresponding from the ( unique ) list it is contained in , if there is such a list . if “ loc ” was the only location of this list , the whole row is removed from the table . replace ( loc1 , loc2 ) replaces “ loc1 ” with “ loc2 ” in the list where “ loc1 ” is contained , if there is such a list . fig2 illustrates the different file operations that will appear in the file operations log 853 ( fig2 ) with the corresponding actions that should be taken on the table 653 . a feature of this third embodiment is the grouping of all manipulated files according to their hash value so as to keep record of the locations of files that are highly likely to be duplicates . with this in mind , the following paragraphs explain the rationale for the various table actions shown in fig2 : if a file is deleted , it is no longer a duplicate of any other file , so must be removed from the “ potential duplicates ” list . further , if no other file had a same hash value , the row that contained the hash and location of the deleted file is preferably removed to save space . if a file is copied , a pair of duplicates is created , and will appear in a same row of the table . if other recently - manipulated files have the same hash value as these copies , the whole group is a potentially a group of duplicates . if a filename changes and its location appears in the table , this location must be changed to reflect the filename change . this should be done in general with any operation that effects the location of files . if a file f is retrieved , it may be later edited , or sent by email , etc . thus , the table must keep record of it so that later retrieved or stored duplicates of f may be matched with it . this is done with the retrieve ( hash , loc ) operation . if “ loc ” is not found in the table , it is inserted into a pre - existing row indexed by “ hash ”— which means that some file ( s ) that are potentially duplicates of f ( since they had the same hash value as f ) were earlier retrieved or stored . if no row is indexed by “ hash ”, a new row is created to accommodate the pair ( hash , loc ). if “ loc ” is found but “ hash ” is not , that means that the file at location “ loc ” was changed and this change was not caught by the file operations monitor . preferably , the system keeps a record of the file just retrieved instead of the earlier file . this is done by removing “ loc ” from the row where it was , and creating a new row to accommodate the “ loc ” with the new hash value of the file to which it points . if “ hash ” and “ loc ” are found in the same row , there is nothing to do . if a file f is stored , it may be that a new file was created , or f was downloaded from an email attachment or from the internet , or it may have been earlier retrieved , edited , and now stored . if “ loc ” is not found , it probably was not retrieved earlier since the table would indeed contain “ loc .” thus , the system keeps a record of it so as to group it with earlier duplicate files downloaded by other users and / or to make sure that later duplicate files that will be stored will be able to be grouped with it . if “ loc ” is found but the corresponding “ hash ” is not ( or if “ hash ” appears in a different row ), it is likely that that a file was earlier retrieved from this location , then edited ( thus changing its hash value ), and now stored . in this situation , the system simply removes “ loc ” from the row in which it appears ( removing the entire row if “ loc ” was the single location in the list ). if “ hash ” and “ loc ” are found in the same row , there is nothing to do . fig2 illustrates how a density map table is updated , given an exemplary sequence of file operations . in this example , the table starts out empty and the file operations log 853 shows the following operations : op . 1 retrieve ( loc1 , hash1 ) op . 2 copy ( loc2 , loc3 , hash2 ) op . 3 delete ( loc2 ) op . 4 retrieve ( loc4 , hash3 ) op . 5 store ( loc1 , hash4 ) op . 6 store ( loc5 , hash3 ) op . 7 store ( loc6 , hash5 ) op . 8 store ( loc7 , hash3 ) op . 9 retrieve ( loc5 , hash3 ) op . 10 store ( loc5 , hash6 ) op . 11 change ( loc3 , loc8 ) op . 12 store ( loc9 , hash5 ) table 851 a of fig2 illustrates the density map table after op . 1 and op . 2 are integrated . table 851 b then shows the effect of op . 3 and op . 4 ; table 851 c after op . 5 and op . 6 are integrated , table 851 d after op . 7 and op . 8 are integrated , table 851 e after op . 9 and op . 10 are integrated , and , finally table 840 f after op . 11 and op . 12 are integrated . as will be appreciated , since records may be inserted in the table 851 and never have a chance to be removed , it is advantageous for there to be a method for automatic removal of these records . for example , a file may be retrieved , but unless it is edited and then stored , the above system has no way of removing this record . one solution for addressing this situation is to run a clean up process based on the amount of time these records are present in the table . for example , when inserting a new record , a time stamp can be attached to the location that is being stored . the process 653 , which updates the table of potential duplicates , is programmed to get rid of records that have been in the table too long ( this being specified by a max - time parameter ). further , there are scenarios in which certain records may need to kept longer than others . for example , if a file is simply retrieved , it should probably remain a shorter amount of time than if it were later sent to other users as an attachment or if this file was stored from a web download . in this is desired , file type properties can be maintained and associated with the recorded locations , so that such properties can be used to determine when files can be removed from the table . in the third embodiment , and with reference to fig1 , file operations records were buffered in the file operations log 850 , read by process 600 , which would update a table indicating where likely duplicates might be . once determined to actually be duplicates by process 400 , the duplicate purging process 900 took care of purging these duplicates . one may make the communication between components 820 , 600 , 400 , and 900 direct , thus , performing “ on - the - fly ” duplicate purging process . if , instead of being passed directly to the file server for immediate action , the file operations were passed through the on - the - fly purging process , one could constantly maintain a purged representation of the files of the system . such an approach would only be feasible if the purging process were fast enough not to create any lag of response during the users &# 39 ; actions . here , some operations may be directly communicated to the purging process , thus avoiding any lag . this method makes advantageous use of a special file system — or an application layer on top of the files system — in the server . hereinafter , this layer is referred to as duplicate detection middleware — or simply “ middleware .” certain file operations performed by users are passed to the middleware . the middleware is responsible for recognizing duplicates and managing a purged representation of the files ( storing only one common file of each file together with the specific files ). in this sense , the middleware acts both as a “ file operations monitoring process ” and a “ duplicate purging / managing process .” there are several file operations which can be handled by the middleware efficiently without running the duplicate detection process ; namely : copy , move , and delete . if a file is copied , only the specific file has to be copied because the common file remains the same . if a file is moved , only a move of a specific file is required . the delete operation only deletes the corresponding specific file . in the case of the edit and transmission operations , it is more difficult to manage directly the appearance and disappearance of duplicates : here some “ after - the - fact ” duplicate detection may be opportune . yet since the middleware is aware of all file operations , it can determine the location of duplicates with much more precision than the earlier approaches afforded . the copy operation is outlined in fig2 . the file server 1 contains all unique common files 202 and also their corresponding specific files 302 in a special file system . the duplicate detection functionality is provided via the middleware 810 and all file operations are passed through the middleware 810 . the special file system may be also any standard file system , but the middleware 810 is responsible for associating the files to their common 202 and specific 302 . the user 30 sends a request 40 to the middleware 810 for a copy of file a . the request is transparent to the user in the sense that he uses standard file management tools and the requests are translated and sent on a lower level . the request is in the next step handled by the 810 and translated to an inner action 910 and a new instance of a specific file 303 is ultimately created and pointed to the same common file . note that this “ purged ” way of copying prevents a user from creating actual duplicates in his allocated space by a copy operation ; hence , the only way he can create duplicates is by downloading several times a same file . the delete operation is outlined in fig2 . the user 30 again initiates the delete request 920 . the request is translated via the middleware to an internal sequence of commands 304 and the corresponding specific file is deleted . the move operation , being in effect a copy followed by a delete , is hence managed by the middleware as well . in view of the foregoing detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention , it readily will be understood by those persons skilled in the art that the present invention is susceptible to broad utility and application . while various aspects have been described in the context of screen shots , additional aspects , features , and methodologies of the present invention will be readily discernable therefrom . many embodiments and adaptations of the present invention other than those herein described , as well as many variations , modifications , and equivalent arrangements and methodologies , will be apparent from or reasonably suggested by the present invention and the foregoing description thereof , without departing from the substance or scope of the present invention . furthermore , any sequence ( s ) and / or temporal order of steps of various processes described and claimed herein are those considered to be the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention . it should also be understood that , although steps of various processes may be shown and described as being in a preferred sequence or temporal order , the steps of any such processes are not limited to being carried out in any particular sequence or order , absent a specific indication of such to achieve a particular intended result . in most cases , the steps of such processes may be carried out in various different sequences and orders , while still falling within the scope of the present inventions . in addition , some steps may be carried out simultaneously . accordingly , while the present invention has been described herein in detail in relation to preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that this disclosure is only illustrative and exemplary of the present invention and is made merely for purposes of providing a full and enabling disclosure of the invention . the foregoing disclosure is not intended nor is to be construed to limit the present invention or otherwise to exclude any such other embodiments , adaptations , variations , modifications and equivalent arrangements , the present invention being limited only by the claims appended hereto and the equivalents thereof .	6
this invention relates to hmg - coa reductase inhibitors of structural formulae ( i ) and ( ii ), and to processes and intermediates for forming compounds of formula ( i ): ## str11 ## wherein : r 1 is selected from : ( 2 ) substituted c 1 - 10 alkyl in which one or more substitutent ( s ) is selected from ( h ) substituted phenyl in which the substitutents are x and y , ( i ) c 1 - 10 alkyls ( o ) n in which n is 0 to 2 , ( l ) substituted phenyls ( o ) n in which the substituents are x and y , and ( 6 ) substituted c 3 - 8 cycloalkyl in which one substituent is selected from ( b ) substituted c 1 - 10 alkyl in which the substituent is selected from ( vii ) substituted phenyl in which the substituents are x and y ( xi ) substituted phenyls ( o ) n in which the substituents are x and y , and ( f ) substituted phenyls ( o ) n in which the substituents are x and y , ( m ) substituted phenyl in which the substituents are x and y ; ( 8 ) substituted phenyl in which the substituents are x and y ; ( 13 ) substituted phenylamino in which the substituents are x and y ; ( 15 ) substituted phenyl c 1 - 10 alkylamino in which the substituents are x and y ; ( c ) substituted phenyl in which the substituents are x and y ; ( 3 ) substituted c 1 - 5 alkyl in which the substituent is selected from a is a single bond or a double bond ; and pharmaceutically acceptable salts of the compound ( ii ) in which z is hydrogen . except where specifically defined to the contrary , the terms &# 34 ; alkyl &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; alkenyl &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; acyl &# 34 ; &# 34 ; aryloxy &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; alkoxy &# 34 ; include both the straight - chain and branched - chain species of the term . one embodiment of this invention is the class of compounds of formulae ( i ) and ( ii ) and the processes and intermediates for forming this class of compounds of the formula ( i ) wherein : ( 2 ) substituted c 1 - 10 alkyl in which one or more substituent ( s ) is selected from ( h ) substituted phenyl in which the substituents are x and y , and ( 4 ) substituted c 3 - 8 cycloalkyl in which one substituent is selected from ( b ) substituted c 1 - 10 alkyl in which the substituent is selected from ( vii ) substituted phenyl in which the substituents are x and y , and ( i ) substituted phenyl in which the substituents are x and y ; ( 6 ) substituted phenylamino in which the substituents are x and y ; ( 8 ) substituted phenyl c 1 - 10 alkylamino in which the substituents are x and y ; in one subclass are the compounds of formulae ( i ) and ( ii ) and the processes and intermediates for forming compounds of formula ( i ) wherein r 1 is c 1 - 10 alkyl . illustrating this subclass are those compounds of formulae ( i ) and ( ii ) and the processes and intermediates wherein : the compounds of formulae ( i ) and ( ii ) wherein r 2 is methyl and a is a double bond , may be prepared from lovastain or simvastatin or its analogs having a 6 - methyl group by one of the following microbiological procedures : ( a ) adding the substrate to a growing culture of nocardia autotrophica for a suitable incubation period followed by isolation , and derivatization if desired ; ( b ) collecting a culture of the bioconverting microorganism and contacting the collected cells with the substrate ; or ( c ) preparing a cell - free , enzyme - containing extract from the cells of the bioconverting microorganism and contacting this extract with the substrate . cultivation of the bioconverting microorganism of the genus nocardia can be carried out by conventional means in a conventional culture medium containing nutrients well known for use with such microorganisms . thus , as is well known , such culture media contain sources of assimilable carbon and of assimilable nitrogen and often inorganic salts . examples of sources of assimilable carbon include glucose , sucrose , starch , glycerin , millet jelly , molasses and soybean oil . examples of sources of assimilable nitrogen include soybean solids ( including soybean meal and soybean flour ), wheat germ , meat extracts , peptone , corn steep liquor , dried yeast and ammonium salts , such as ammonium sulphate . if required , inorganic salts , such as sodium chloride , potassium chloride , calcium carbonate or phosphates , may also be included . also , if desired , other additives capable of promoting the production of hydroxylation enzymes may be employed in appropriate combinations . the particular cultivation technique is not critical to the process of the invention and any techniques conventionally used for the cultivation of microorganisms may equally be employed with the present invention . in general , of course , the techniques employed will be chosen having regard to industrial efficiency . thus , liquid culture is generally preferred and the deep culture method is most convenient from the industrial point of view . cultivation will normally be carried out under aerobic conditions and at a temperature within the range from 20 ° to 37 ° c ., more preferably from 26 ° to 28 ° c . method ( a ) is carried out by adding the substrate to the culture medium in the course of cultivation . the precise point during the cultivation at which the starting compound is added will vary depending upon the cultivation equipment , composition of the medium , temperature of the culture medium and other factors , but it is preferably at the time when the hydroxylation capacity of the microorganism begins to increase and this is usually 1 or 2 days after beginning cultivation of the microorganism . the amount of the substrate added is preferably from 0 . 01 to 5 . 0 % by weight of the medium , more preferably from 0 . 05 to 0 . 5 %, e . g ., from 0 . 05 to 0 . 1 % by weight . after addition of the substrate , cultivation is continued aerobically , normally at a temperature within the ranges proposed above . cultivation is normally continued for a period of from 1 to 2 days after addition of the substrate . in method ( b ), cultivation of the microorganism is first carried out under conditions such as to achieve its maximum hydroxylation capacity ; this capacity usually reaches a maximum between 4 and 5 days after beginning the cultivation , although this period is variable , depending upon the nature and temperature of the medium , the species of microorganism and other factors . the hydroxylation capacity of the culture can be monitored by taking samples of the culture at suitable intervals , determining the hydroxylation capacity of the samples by contacting them with a substrate under standard conditions and determining the quantity of product obtained and plotting this capacity against time as a graph . when the hydroxylation capacity has reached its maximum point , cultivation is stopped and the microbial cells are collected . this may be achieved by subjecting the culture to centrifugal separation , filtration or similar known separation methods . the whole cells of the cultivating microorganism thus collected , preferably , are then washed with a suitable washing liquid , such as physiological saline or an appropriate buffer solution . contact of the collected cells of the microorganism of the genus nocardia with the substrate is generally effected in an aqueous medium , for example in a phosphate buffer solution at a ph value of from 5 to 9 . the reaction temperature is preferably within the range from 20 ° to 45 ° c ., more preferably from 25 ° to 30 ° c . the concentration of the substrate in the reaction medium is preferably within the range from 0 . 01 to 5 . 0 % weight . the time allowed for the reaction is preferably from 1 to 5 days , although this may vary depending upon the concentration of the substrate in the reaction mixture , the reaction temperature , the hydroxylation capacity of the microorganism ( which may , of course , vary from species to species and will also , as explained above , depend upon the cultivation time ) and other factors . the cell - free , enzyme - containing extract employed in method ( c ) may be obtained by breaking down the whole cells of the microorganism obtained as described in relation to method ( b ) by physical or chemical means , for example by grinding or ultrasonic treatment to provide a disintegrated cellular mass or by treatment with a surface active agent or an enzyme to produce a cellular solution . the resulting cell - free extract is then contacted with the substrate under the same conditions as are described above in relation to method ( b ). the microorganism useful in the novel process of this invention is of the genus nocardia . of particular importance are the known strains of microorganism , nocardia autotrophica , subspecies canberrica , attcc 35203 of the culture ma - 6181 and subspecies amethystina atcc 35204 of the culture ma - 6180 of the culture collection of merck & amp ; co ., inc ., rahway , n . j . a sample of the culture designated atcc 35203 and atcc 35204 is available in the permanent culture collection of the american type culture collection at 12301 parklawn drive , rockville , md . 20852 . after completion of the conversion reaction by any of the above methods , the desired compound can be directly isolated , separated or purified by conventional means . for example , separation and purification ca be effected by filtering the reaction mixture , extracting the resulting filtrate with a water - immiscible organic solvent ( such as ethyl acetate ), distilling the solvent from the extract , subjecting the resulting crude compound to column chromatography , ( for example on silica gel or alumina ) and eluting the column with an appropriate eluent , especially in an hplc apparatus . where the acyl moiety of formulae ( i ) or ( ii ) is other than 2 - methylbutyryl or 2 , 2 - dimethylbutyryl , the acyl moiety of lovastatin may be hydrolyzed and the hydroxyl group reesterified with an appropriate alkanoyl halide following the procedure in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 444 , 784 . the alkanoyl halide can be formed by standard transformations such as substitution with an alkyl halide or other appropriate electrophile at an acidic c - h site on an available starting material . see for example u . s . pat . no . 4 , 766 , 145 and allowed pending applications ser . no . 205 , 406 and ser . no . 205 , 407 filed june 10 , 1988 . starting material ( 1 ) wherein r 2 is ch 2 oh may be prepared following the procedures in copending application ser . no . 254 , 525 filed oct . 6 , 1988 . the compounds of formulae ( i ) and ( ii ) may also be prepared following the synthetic methodology in scheme 1 . ## str12 ## starting material ( 1 ) is treated with a reagent suitable for protecting the alcohol group at the lactone 4 - position . examples of suitable reagents are trialkylsilyl chlorides , dialkylarylsilyl chlorides and dihydropyran . the diene ( 2 ) is treated with a halogenating agent such as phenylselenyl chloride or bromide or phenylsulfinyl chloride , preferably phenylselenyl chloride , in an approximately equimolar ratio in an inert solvent at about - 80 ° c , for approximately 20 minutes ; illustrative of such inert solvents are methylene chloride , ether and the like . after a standard workup the product residue is dissolved in an ethereal solvent , chilled to about 0 ° c . and oxidized with an agent such as 30 % hydrogen peroxide or a peroxy acid such as peroxybenzoic acid to yield a haloghydrin analog ( 3 ). intermediate ( 3 ) is treated with a halide reducing agent such as a trialkyltin hydride or a triaryltin hydride , preferably tri - n - butyltin hydride and a radical initiator such as azobisisobutyronitrile ( aibn ) in an inert solvent such as benzene at a temperature between 70 ° c . and 100 ° c . preferably about 90 ° c . for 0 . 5 to 5 hours preferably 2 hours , to yield compound ( 4 ). compound ( 4 ) is treated with pyridinium chlorochromate ( pcc ) on aluminum oxide in toluene to yield the enone ( 5 ). compound ( 5 ) is contacted with trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate and an amine to yield the trimethylsilyl ether diene ( 6 ). compound ( 6 ) is treated with palladium acetate in acetonitrile to form dienone ( 7 ). hydroxyl protecting groups are removed by treatment with tetrabutyl ammonium fluoride and acetic acid in tetrahydrofuran or aqueous hydrofluoric acid in acetonitrile to yield product ( i ). enone ( 5 ) can be converted to compounds of formula ( i ) wherein a is a single bond by treatment with tetrabutyl ammonium fluoride in acetic acid . alternatively the compounds of formulae ( i ) can be prepared following the synthetic outline of scheme 2 . ## str13 ## diene starting material ( 1 ) is converted to epoxides ( 8 ) and ( 9 ) by treatment with m - chloroperoxybenzoic acid at about 0 ° c . the mixture of epoxides is then contacted with tris ( dibenzylideneacetone )- dipalladium ( o ) and triisopropoxy phosphine to yield the mixture of hydroxy dienes ( 10 ) and ( 11 ). this mixture is then oxidized with pcc attenuated with 3 , 5 dimethylpyrazole to yield 5 - one compound ( 12 ) and product ( i ). enone ( 5 ) of scheme 1 can also be formed from hydroxyl protected epoxide ( 9 ) or the mixture of epoxides ( 8 ) and ( 9 ) as shown below : ## str14 ## compound ( 5 ) can then be employed in scheme 1 to form product ( i ). where the reaction conditions of the above noted chemical transformations would be deleterious to the substituents in the 8 - acyloxy moiety , the acetoxy group can be employed as a protecting group which after the elaboration elsewhere in the molecule can be removed by hydrolysis to give the 8 - hydroxy derivative which then can be acylated according to the general procedures described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 661 , 483 . where the product formed by the above described synthetic pathways is not the desired form of that compound , then that product may be subjected to one or more further reactions such as hydrolysis , disilylation , salification , esterification , acylation , ammonolysis or lactonization by conventional methods . preferred metal salts are salts with alkali metals , such as sodium or potassium , salts with alkaline earth metals , such as calcium , or salts with other metals such as magnesium , aluminum , iron , zinc , copper , nickel or cobalt , of which the alkali metal , alkaline earth metal , magnesium and aluminum salts are preferred , the sodium , calcium and aluminum salts being most preferred . preferred amino acids to form amino acid salts are basic amino acids , such as arginine , lysine , α , β - diaiminobutyric acid or ornithine . preferred amines to form amine salts include t - octylamine , dibenzylamine , ethylenediamine , morpholine , and tris ( hydroxymethyl ) aminomethane . also preferred is ammonia to form the ammonium salt . esters are preferably the alkyl esters , such as the methyl , ethyl , propyl , isopropyl , butyl , isobutyl , or pentyl esters , of which the methyl ester is preferred . however , other esters such as phenyl - c 1 - 5 alkyl , dimethylamino - c 1 - 5 alkyl , or acetylamino - c 1 - 5 alkyl may be employed if desired . metal salts of the carboxylic acids of formula ( ii ) may be obtained by contacting a hydroxide , carbonate or similar solvent with the carboxylic acid of formula ( ii ). the aqueous solvent employed is preferably water , or it may be a mixture of water with an organic solvent , preferably an alcohol ( such as methanol or ethanol ), a ketone ( such as acetone ), an aliphatic hydrocarbon ( such as hexane ) or an ester ( such as ethyl acetate ). it is preferred to use a mixture of a hydrophilic organic solvent with water . such reactions are normally conducted at ambient temperature but they may , if desired , be conducted with heating or cooling . amine salts of the carboxylic acids of formula ( ii ) may be obtained by contacting an amine in an aqueous solvent with the carboxylic acid of formula ( ii ). suitable aqueous solvents include water and mixtures of water with alcohols ( such as methanol or ethanol ), ethers ( such as diethyl ether and tetrahydrofuran ), nitriles ( such as acetonitrile ) or ketones ( such as acetone ); it is preferred to use aqueous acetone as the solvent for this reaction . the reaction is preferably carried out at a temperature of ambient or below , more preferably a temperature of from 5 ° to 10 ° c . the reaction immediately goes to completion . alternatively , a metal salt of the carboxylic acid of formula ( ii ) ( which may have been obtained as described above ) can be dissolved in an aqueous solvent , after which a mineral acid salt ( for example the hydrochloride ) of the desired amine is added , employing the same reaction conditions as when the amine itself is reacted with the carboxylic acid of formula ( ii ) and the desired product is then obtained by metathesis . amino acid salts of the carboxylic acids of formula ( ii ) may be obtained by contacting an amino acid in aqueous solution with the carboxylic acid of formula ( ii ). suitable aqueous solvents include water and mixtures of water with alcohols ( such as methanol or ethanol ) or ethers ( such as tetrahydrofuran ). esters , preferably alkyl esters , of the carboxylic acids of formula ( ii ) may be obtained by contacting the carboxylic acid of formula ( ii ) with an appropriate alcohol , preferably in the presence of an acid catalyst , for example a mineral acid ( such as hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid ), a lewis acid ( for example boron trifluoride ) or an acidic ion exchange resin . the solvent employed for this reaction is not critical , provided that it does not adversely affect the reaction ; suitable solvents include the alcohol itself , benzene , chloroform , ethers and the like . alternatively , the desired product may be obtained by contacting the carboxylic acid of formula ( ii ) with a diazoalkane , in which the alkane moiety may be substituted or unsubstituted . this reaction is usually effected by contacting the acid with an ethereal solution of the diazoalkane . as a further alternative , the ester may be obtained by contacting a metal salt of the carboxylic acid of formula ( ii ) with a halide , preferably an alkyl halide , in a suitable solvent ; preferred solvents include dimethylformamide , tetrahydrofuran , dimethylsulfoxide and acetone . finally , esters may also be obtained from the lactone of formula ( i ) by reaction with an appropriate alkoxide in an absolute alkanol . all of the reactions for producing esters are preferably effected at about ambient temperature , but , if required by the nature of the reaction system , the reactions may be conducted with heating or cooling . lactones of the carboxylic acids of formula ( i ) may be obtained by lactonizing the carboxylic acids of formula ( ii ) under ordinary conditions known to one skilled in the art . the intrinsic hmg - coa reductase inhibition activity of the claimed compounds is measured in the in vitro protocol published in j . med . chem ., 28 , p . 347 - 358 ( 1985 ). included within the scope of this invention are the intermediates and processes for forming compounds of formula ( i ). the compounds of this invention are useful as antihypercholesterolemic agents for the treatment of arteriosclerosis , hyperlipidemia , familial hypercholesterolemia and the like diseases in humans . they may be administered orally or parenterally in the form of a capsule , a tablet , an injectable preparation or the like . it is usually desirable to use the oral route . doses may be varied , depending on the age , severity , body weight and other conditions of human patients but daily dosage for adults is within a range of from about 2 mg to 2000 mg ( preferably 10 to 100 mg ) which may be given in two to four divided doses . higher doses may be favorably employed as required . the compounds of this invention may also be coadministered with pharmaceutically acceptable nontoxic cationic polymers capable of binding bile acids in a non - reabsorbable form in the gastrointestinal tract . examples of such polymers include cholestyramine , colestipol and poly [ methyl -( 3 - trimethylaminopropyl ) imino - trimethylene dihalide ]. the relative amounts of the compounds of this invention and these polymers is between 1 : 100 and 1 : 15 , 000 . included within the scope of this invention is the method of treating arteriosclerosis , familial hypercholesterolemia or hyperlipidemia which comprises administering to a subject in need of such treatment a nontoxic , therapeutically - effective amount of the compounds of formulae ( i ) or ( ii ) or pharmaceutical compositions thereof . the following examples illustrate the preparation of the compounds of the formulae ( i ) and ( ii ) and their incorporation into pharmaceutical compositions and as such are not to be considered as limiting the invention set forth in the claims appended hereto . utilizing the general procedure for the bioconversion of sodium salt of 7 -[ 1 , 2 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 8a ( r )- hexahydro - 2 ( s ), 6 ( r )- dimethyl - 8 ( s )-( 2 , 2 - dimethylbutyryloxy )- 1 ( s )- naphthyl ]- 3 ( r ), 5 ( r )- dihydroxyheptanoic acid as described in co - pending patent application ser . no . 254 , 525 , filed oct . 6 , 1988 the above titled compound was isolated as a minor product . the following media are utilized in the bioconversion reactions described below : ______________________________________ grams per liter distilled water______________________________________medium ayeast extract 4 . 0malt extract 10 . 0nutrient broth 4 . 0dextrose 4 . 0ph 7 . 4medium sterilized for 20 min . at 121 ° c . medium bdextrose 10 . 0polypeptone 2 . 0meat extract 1 . 0corn steep liquor 3 . 0ph 7 . 0medium sterilized for 20 min . at 121 ° c . ______________________________________ a lyophilized tube of nocardia autotrophica subsp . canberrica atcc 35204 ( ma - 6180 ) was used to inoculate 18 × 175 agar slants ( medium a ) which were incubated at 27 ° c . for 7 days . the slant culture was washed with 5 ml of sterile medium b and transferred to a 250 ml flask containing 50 ml of sterile medium b . this first stage seed was grown at 27 ° c . on a 220 rpm shaker and , after 24 hours , 2 ml was transferred to another flask of sterile medium b . grown under the above conditions , the second seed was used to start the bioconversion culture : 20 ml of the seed culture was placed in 400 ml of sterile medium b is a 2l flask . after the culture had grown for 24 hours , 80 mg of the sodium salt of 7 -[ 1 , 2 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 8a ( r )- hexahydro - 2 ( s ), 6 ( r )- dimethyl - 8 ( s )-( 2 , 2 - dimethylbutyryloxy )- 1 ( s )- naphthyl ]- 3 ( r ), 5 ( r )- dihydroxyheptanoic acid was added to each flask . the incubation was continued for 28 hours or until no 7 -[ 1 , 2 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 8a ( r )- hexahydro - 2 ( s ), 6 ( r )- dimethyl - 8 ( s )-( 2 , 2 - dimethylbutyryloxy )- 1 ( s )- naphthyl ]- 3 ( r ), 5 ( r )- dihydroxyheptanoic acid could be detected by hplc . the whole broth was clarified by centrifugation followed by filtration through whatman no . 2 filter paper . aliquots of whole broth could be analyzed for 7 -[ 1 , 2 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 8a ( r )- hexahydro - 2 ( s ), 6 ( r )- dimethyl - 8 ( s )-( 2 , 2 - dimethylbutyryloxy )- 1 ( s )- naphthyl ]- 3 ( r ), 5 ( r )- dihydroxyheptanoic acid derivatives by hplc . filtered broth could be injected directly ( 10 to 20 μl ) or after dilution with methanol . the compounds were separated on reversed phase columns utilizing a gradient from 35 to 45 percent aqueous acetonitrile at flow rates ranging between 1 and 3 ml / min . addition of glacial acetic acid or h 3 po 4 ( 0 . 1 ml / l mobile phase ) was required for the separation of the free acids . derivatives of 7 -[ 1 , 2 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 8a ( r )- hexahydro - 2 ( s ), 6 ( r )- dimethyl - 8 ( s )-( 2 , 2 - dimethylbutyryloxy )- 1 ( s )- naphthyl ]- 3 -( r ), 5 ( r )- dihydroxyheptanoic acid were detected by monitoring the absorbance at 238 nm , as well as the absorbance ratio of 238 nm / 228 nm . the desired products , 6 ( r )-[ 2 -[ 8 ( s )-( 2 - alkylacyloxy )- 2 ( s ), 6 - dimethyl - 3 - oxo - 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , 8 , 8a ( r )- hexahydronaphthyl - 1 ( s )] ethyl ]- 4 ( r )- hydroxy - 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 - tetrahydro - 2h - pyran - 2 - one , were detected by monitoring the absorbance at 293 nm . following the general procedure described above , the ph of the whole broth from the bioconversion of twenty kilograms of the sodium salt of 7 -[ 1 , 2 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 8a ( r )- hexahydro - 2 ( s ), 6 ( r )- dimethyl - 8 ( s )-( 2 , 2 - dimethylbutyryloxy )- 1 ( s )- naphthyl ]- 3 ( r ), 5 ( r )- dihydroxyheptanoic acid ( 12 , 700 liters ) was adjusted to 4 . 0 with 2n sulfuric acid and was then extracted with ethyl acetate ( 2 × 4500 l .). the whole broth extraction was followed by an extraction into 1n sodium bicarbonate ( 20 % by volume ) and the aqueous extract was then washed with ethyl acetate . to the aqueous extract was then added methylisobutylketone ( mibk , 570 l .) and the ph of the aqueous phase adjusted to 3 . 1 using 7 . 2n sulfuric acid . the mibk extract of the acidified aqueous phase was then separated from the aqueous phase which was then extracted with a second time mibk ( 570 l .). the mibk extracts are combined , filtered through diatomaceous earth , azeotropically dried and concentrated in vacuo to 870 liters . the mibk solution was heated to 95 ° c ., and then treated with trifluoroacetic acid ( 0 . 9 l .) in mibk ( 23 l .). after about 15 minutes , the mixture was cooled to 25 ° c . and washed successively with 1n sodium bicarbonate ( 0 . 5 volumes ) and water ( 2 × 0 . 5 volumes ). the organic phase was concentrated in vacuo and the residue dissolved in acetonitrile , which was then diluted to 30 % acetonitrile using 0 . 02m phosphate buffer at ph = 7 . aliquots ( 1 / 3 ) which contain approximately 700 gm . of 6 ( r )-[ 2 -[ 8 ( s )-( 2 , 2 - dimethylbutyryloxy )- 6 - hydroxymethyl - 2 ( s )- methyl - 1 , 2 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 8a ( r )- hexahydronaphthyl - 1 ( s )] ethyl ]- 4 ( r )- hydroxy - 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 - tetrahydro - 2h - pyran - 2 - one were chromatographed over an sp - 207 ( 300 l , brominated copolymer of styrene and divinylbenzene , mitsubishi co .) column elution with acetonitrile / buffer ( 30 %, 37 %, 47 %, 57 %,) and acetonitrile / water ( 67 %) gave the above titled product and the 6 - hydroxymethyl compound as a mixture . the desired product may be further purified by removing most of the 6 - hydroxymethyl compound by crystallization by dissolving the mixture in isopropyl acetate ( ipac ) or methyl - t - butyl ether ( mtbe ) and then adding the solution to a non - polar solvent ( n - heptane , cyclohexane or petroleum ether ). the crystallization mother liquors from step iii were concentrated to an oil and then dissolved in toluene : methanol : acetonitrile ( 8 : 1 : 1 , v : v : v ) to a final volume of 100 ml . this solution was charged to a 10 liter column of sephadex lh - 20 ( pharmacia inc .) equilibrated with hexane : toluene : methanol ( 3 : 1 : 1 , v : v : v ) and eluted with this solvent at a flow rate of 100 ml / min . the desired compound eluted between 11 and 14 column volumes and the rich cut eluant was concentrated to a solid . the product was further purified by preparative reverse phase hplc on a c 18 column ( 21 . 4 mm id × 30 cm ) eluted with a linear gradient starting 10 minutes after injection from 25 % acetonitrile in water to 75 % acetonitrile in water over 40 minutes at a flow rate of 10 ml / min . the fractions containing the desired product ( eluting at 29 minutes ) were combined and concentrated to yield about 400 mg . of the desired product in crystalline form . 13 c nmr data ( cd 2 cl 2 , δ c = 53 . 8 ppm ) ______________________________________ppm ppm ppm______________________________________9 . 4 36 . 5 67 . 010 . 6 36 . 8 76 . 024 . 1 37 . 7 123 . 124 . 3 39 . 0 124 . 524 . 4 39 . 6 144 . 324 . 9 42 . 7 154 . 932 . 9 43 . 3 170 . 233 . 4 63 . 1 177 . 6 203 . 4______________________________________ ms analysis showed a weak m + ion at m / z 432 and fragment ions at m / z 316 and 173 ( base ). uv spectrum exhibited a γ max = 290 nm , with ε = 21 , 900 . in a similar fashion nocardia autotrophica subsp . canberrica atcc 35203 ( ma6181 ) was utilized in the bioconversion reaction with the sodium salt of 7 -[ 1 , 2 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 8a ( r )- hexahydro2 ( s ), 6 ( r )- dimethyl - 8 ( s )-( 2 , 2 - dimethylbutyryloxy )- 1 ( s )- naphthyl ]- 3 ( r ), 5 ( r )- dihydroxyheptanoic acid to afford the desired products . additionally , the sodium salt of 7 -[ 1 , 2 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 8a ( r )- hexahydro - 2 ( s ), 6 ( r )- dimethyl - 8 ( s )-( 2 - methylbutyryloxy )- 1 ( s )- naphthyl ]- 3 ( r ), 5 ( r )- dihydroxyheptanoic acid , the sodium salt of ring opened lovastatin , was subjected to analogous biconversion reactions utilizing both n . autotrophic subsp . amethystina atcc 35204 ( ma6180 ) and n . autotrophic subsp . canberrica atcc 35203 ( ma6181 ) to afford 6 ( r )-[ 2 -[ 8 ( s )-( 2 - methylbutyryloxy )- 2 ( s ), 6dimethyl - 3 - oxo - 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , 8 , 8a ( r )- hexahydronaphthyl - 1 ( s )]- ethyl ]- 4 ( r )- hydroxy - 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 - tetrahydro - 2h - pyran - 2 - one thirty milligrams of the dieneone product of example 1 ( r 1 = 2 - methyl - 2 - butyl , a = double bond ), dissolved in 3 ml of ethyl acetate , was hydrogenated ( 1 atm h 2 , room temperature ) over 6 mg of 10 % palladium on carbon for 30 hours . removal of the catalyst by filtration and evaporation of the solvent afforded the title compound . ir ( film ): 1718 cm - 1 , 1665 cm - 1 . ms ( ei ): m / z 434 ( m + ). tert - butyldimethylsilyl chloride ( 8 g , 52 mmol ) was added to a stirred solution of 6 ( r )-[ 2 -[ 8 ( s )-( 2 , 2 - dimethylbutyryloxy )- 2 ( s ), 6 ( r )- dimethyl - 1 , 2 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 8a ( r )- hexahydronaphthyl - 1 ( s )] ethyl ]- 4 ( r )- hydroxy - 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 - tetrahydro - 2h - pyran - 2 - one ( 20 g , 48 mmol ) and imidazole ( 6 . 8 g , 0 . 1 mol ) in dmf ( 150 ml ) at 0 ° c . the resulting mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . for 5 minutes , then warmed to room temperature and stirred for 5 hours . tlc analysis of an aliquot indicated that the reaction was complete . the reaction mixture was poured into cold water and extracted with ether . the ethereal extract was washed with dilute hydrochloric acid , water and 5 % sodium bicarbonate solution . after drying over mgso 4 , the organic extract was filtered and the filtrate was concentrated in vacuo to afford the desired product as a colorless , viscous oil : nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ 0 . 84 ( 3h , t , j = 7 hz ), 0 . 89 ( 3h , d , j = 7 hz ), 0 . 90 ( 9h , s ), 1 . 09 ( 3h , d , j = 7 hz ), 1 . 11 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 12 ( 3h , s ), 4 . 30 ( h , m ), 4 . 60 ( h , m ), 5 . 33 ( h , m ), 5 . 51 ( h , m ), 5 . 77 ( h , d of d , j = 10 , 6 hz ), 5 . 98 ( h , d , j = 10 hz ). a solution of phenylselenyl chloride ( 10 g , 52 mmol ) in methylene chloride ( 50 ml ) was added dropwise to a stirred solution of compound 2 &# 39 ; ( 25 . 2 g , 48 mmol ) in methylene chloride ( 350 ml ) cooled in a dry ice / i - propanol bath (- 78 ° c .). the resulting mixture was stirred at - 78 ° c . for 20 minutes , poured into cold water ( 300 ml ) and extracted with ether twice ( 400 ml , then 150 ml ). the combined extracts were dried ( mgso 4 ), filtered and concentrated to afford an oily residue which was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran ( 300 ml ). this solution was chilled in an ice bath ( 0 ° c . ), and 30 % hydrogen peroxide ( 15 ml ) was added . the resulting mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . for 5 minutes , then warmed to room temperature and stirring continued for 1 hour . the reaction mixture was poured into cold water and extracted with chloroform three times ( 400 ml , then 2 × 100 ml ). the combined extracts were dried ( mgso 4 ), filtered and concentrated to yield a residue which was purified by flash chromatography on a silica gel column . elution with hexane : ethyl acetate ( 5 : 1 / v : v ) removed the impurities . further elution with hexane : ethyl acetate ( 4 : 1 / v : v ) provided the title compound as a pale yellow gum which later solidified on standing : mp 117 °- 8 ° c ., nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ 0 . 075 ( 3h , s ), 0 . 08 ( 3h , s ), 0 . 85 ( 3h , t , j = 7 hz ), 0 . 88 ( 9h , s ), 0 . 89 ( 3h , d , j = 7 hz ), 1 . 15 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 16 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 32 ( 3h , d , j = 7 hz ), 1 . 58 ( 2h , q , j = 7 hz ), 3 . 39 ( h , s ), 4 . 05 ( h , bs ), 4 . 30 ( h , m ), 4 . 60 ( h , m ), 5 . 32 ( h , m ), 5 . 59 ( h , d , j = 11 hz ), 5 . 79 ( h , d or d , j = 11 , 6 hz ). anal . calcd . for c 31 h 53 clo 6 si : c , 63 . 61 ; h , 9 . 13 . found : c , 63 . 80 ; h , 9 . 04 . tributyltin hydride ( 7 . 06 ml , 26 . 25 mmol ) and azobisisobutyronitrile ( aibn ) ( 0 . 82 g , 5 . 0 mmol ) were added to a magnetically stirred solution of chlorohydrin 3 &# 39 ; ( 8 . 78 g , 15 mmol ) in benzene ( 100 ml ). the resulting solution was refluxed for 2 hours , cooled and concentrated in vacuo to a viscous yellow oil which was stirred with pet ether ( 200 ml ) at - 15 ° c . ( ice / acetone bath ) to provide 4 &# 39 ; as a fluffy , colorless solid ( 6 . 9 g , mp 97 °- 9 ° c .). the filtrate was extracted with ch 3 cn ( 4 × 50 ml ) to remove all of the product contained in the pet ether . the ch 3 cn extracts were combined and concentrated to a colorless oil which was purified by flash chromatography on a silica gel column . elution with ethyl acetone / hexane ( 1 : 3 / v : v ) gave a colorless solid ( 1 . 0 g ) which was stirred in pet ether ( 25 ml ) at 0 ° c . to remove some tin residues . the mixture was filtered to provide the product 4 &# 39 ; as a colorless solid . m . p . 103 °- 4 ° c ., nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ 0 . 07 ( 3h , s ), 0 . 08 ( 3h , s ), 0 . 88 ( 9h , s ), 1 . 15 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 16 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 20 ( 3h , d , j = 7 hz ), 2 . 78 ( h , s ), 4 . 28 ( h , m ), 4 . 58 ( h , m ), 5 . 30 ( h , m ), 5 . 58 ( h , d , j = 10 hz ), 5 . 67 ( h , dd , j = 10 , 5 hz ). anal . calcd . for c 31 h 54 o 6 si : c , 67 . 59 ; h , 9 . 88 . found : c , 67 . 20 ; h , 9 . 99 . 7 . 2 g ( 12 mmol ) of compound ( 4 &# 39 ;) was combined with 60 ml of toluene and 42 g of pyridinum chlorochromate / aluminum oxide . the mixture was stirred and heated on a steam bath for 20 minutes after which time tlc showed the reaction to be complete . the mixture was cooled , filtered and the solids washed with warm toluene ( 4 × 50 ml ). the solvent was evaporated to yield an amber gum . nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ 0 . 073 ( 3h , s ), 0 . 079 ( 3h , s ), 0 . 804 ( 3h , t , j = 7 hz ), 0 . 881 ( 9h , s ), 1 . 026 ( 2h , d , j = 6 hz ), 1 . 036 ( 3h , d , j = 6 hz ), 1 . 10 ( 6h , brs ), 2 . 55 - 2 . 66 ( 3h , m ), 4 . 276 ( h , m ), 4 . 588 ( h , m ) 5 . 42 ( h , m ), 5 . 910 ( h , d , j = 1 . 5 hz ) the amber gum product of step 3d was dissolved in methylene chloride and cooled to 0 ° c . under argon . the solution was treated with triethylamine ( 7 . 2 ml , 50 mmol ) followed by slow addition of trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate ( 5 . 4 ml , 28 mmol ) while maintaining the temperature below 3 ° c . after stirring at 0 ° c . for 15 minutes ( tlc showed the reaction to be complete by 5 minutes ) the dark solution was diluted with methylene chloride ( 100 ml ), washed with st . nahco 3 ( 100 ml ), dried and the solvent evaporated . the dark - amber residue of step ( 2e ) was dissolved in acetonitrile / tetrahydrofuran . palladium ( ii ) acetate ( 3 . 0 g , 13 . 0 mmol ) was added to the mixture and the mixture stirred at room temperature for 22 hours , at which time tlc showed the reaction to be complete . the mixture was filtered through a 3 cm pad , of silica gel and then washed with ethyl acetate ( 150 ml ), and the solvent evaporated . nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ 0 . 076 ( 3h , s ) 0 . 082 ( b 3h , s ) 0 . 752 ( 3h , t , j = 7 hz ) 0 . 883 ( 9h , s ) 1 . 033 ( 3h , d , j = 7 hz ) 1 . 059 ( 3h , s ) 1 . 065 ( 3h , s ) 1 . 804 ( 3h , s ) 4 . 295 ( h , m ) 4 . 606 ( h , m ) 5 . 408 ( h , m ) 5 . 781 ( h , brs ), 6 . 136 ( h , br s ) the dark brown gum of step ( 3f ) was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran , and to this was added a mixture of tetra - n - butyl ammonium fluoride ( 30 ml ) and acetic acid ( 5 . 6 ml ). the combined mixture was stirred at 50 ° c . for 4 hours , cooled , diluted with ethyl ether ( 400 ml ) washed with water ( 5 × 100 ml ), dried and the solvent evaporated . the residue solidified to a brown mass . the brown mass was chromatographed on a 50 mm lp column using hexane - ethylacetate , 1 : 1 for the first 10 fractions ( 25 ml fractions ) then 1 : 2 for 11 , then 1 : 4 . the titled product was found in fractions 25 - 53 , m . p . 160 °- 174 ° c . this chromatographed product was then recrystallized from ethyl acetate ( 30 ml )- hexane ( 30 ml ). after drying at 60 ° c . for 2 hours under a vacuum the titled product was obtained with m . p . 179 °- 180 ° c . nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ 0 . 758 ( 3h , t , j = 7 . 4 hz ) 1 . 035 ( 3h , d , j = 7 . 4 hz ) 1 . 063 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 069 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 867 ( 3h , s ), 2 . 63 ( h , ddd , j = 1 . 47 , 3 . 64 , 12 . 6 hz ), 2 . 749 ( h , dd , 4 . 94 , 12 , 6 hz ) 4 . 398 ( h , m ), 4 . 645 ( h , m ), 5 . 424 ( h , m ), 5 . 781 ( h , br s ), 6 . 138 ( h , br s ) anal . calcd . for c 25 h 36 o 6 : c , 69 . 42 ; h , 8 . 39 a solution of compound ( 5 &# 39 ;) ( 500 mg , 0 . 9 mmol ) of example 3 in acetic acid ( 42 ml ) and water ( 15 ml ) was heated at 70 ° c . for 3 hours . after cooling , the reaction mixture was diluted with water and extracted with ether . the ethanol extract was washed with water five times , then washed with aqueous sodium bicarbonate and brine . after drying and filtration , the filtrate was evaporated to afford a residue which was purified by flash chromatography on silica gel column . elution of the column with 30 % of acetone in methylene chloride gave the title compound as a solid : mp 117 °- 118 ° c . ; nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ 0 . 80 ( 3h , t , j = 7 hz ), 1 . 02 ( 3h , d , j = 7 hz ), 1 . 04 ( 3h , d , j = 7 hz ), 1 . 10 ( 6h , s ), 2 . 64 ( h , m of d , j = 18 hz ), 2 . 72 ( h , d of d , j = 18 , 4 hz ), 4 . 3h ( h , m ), 4 . 65 ( h , m ), 5 . 44 ( h , m ), 5 . 92 ( h , bs ). anal . calcd . for c 25 h 38 o 6 : c , 69 . 09 ; h , 8 . 81 found : c , 68 . 85 ; h , 8 . 65 following the procedure of example 3 and substituting equivalent amount of reactant ( a ) for simvastatin in step ( a ), the product ( b ) is formed . ______________________________________ ## str15 ## a ## str16 ## bexample______________________________________5 r . sub . 1 = 2 - butyl , r . sub . 2 = ch . sub . 3 ; 6 r . sub . 1 = 2 - butyl , r . sub . 2 = h ; 7 r . sub . 1 = 2 - methyl - 2 - butyl , r . sub . 2 = h ; 8 r . sub . 1 = 2 - methyl - 2 - butyl , r . sub . 2ch . sub . 2 oh ; 9 r . sub . 1 = 2 - butyl , r . sub . 2 = ch . sub . 2 oh . ______________________________________ the lactone ( 1 . 0 mmol ) from example 1 is dissolved with stirring in 0 . 1n naoh ( 1 . 1mmol ) at ambient temperature . the resulting solution is cooled and acidified by the dropwise addition of 1n hcl . the resulting mixture is extracted with diethyl ether and the extract washed with brine and dried ( mgso 4 ). the mgso 4 is removed by filtration and the filtrate saturated with ammonia ( gas ) to give a gum which solidified to provide the ammonium salt . to a solution of 42 mg of lactone from example 1 in 2 ml of ethanol is added 1 ml of aqueous naoh ( 1 equivalent ). after one hour at room temperature , the mixture is taken to dryness in vacuo to yield the desired sodium salt . in like manner , the potassium salt is prepared using one equivalent of potassium hydroxide , and the calcium salt , using one equivalent of cao . to a solution of 0 . 50 g of the ammonium salt from example 10 in 10 ml of methanol is added 0 . 75 ml of ethylenediamine . the methanol is stripped off under vacuum to obtain the desired ethylenediamine salt . to a solution of 202 mg of the ammonium salt from example 10 in 5 ml of methanol is added a solution of 60 . 5 mg of tris ( hydroxymethyl ) aminomethane in 5 ml of methanol . the solvent is removed in vacuo to afford the desired tris ( hydroxymethyl ) aminomethane salt . a solution of 0 . 001 mole of l - lysine and 0 . 0011 mole of the ammonium salt from example 10 in 15 ml of 85 % ethanol is concentrated to dryness in vacuo to give the desired l - lysine salt . a mixture of 68 mg of ammonium salt from example 10 in 2 ml of methylene chloride and 0 . 08 ml of 24 % tetramethylammonium hydroxide in methanol is diluted with ether to yield the desired tetramethylammonium salt . to a solution of 400 mg of lactone from example 1 in 100 ml of absolute methanol is added 10 ml 0 . 1m sodium methoxide in absolute methanol . this solution is allowed to stand at room temperature for one hour , then is diluted with water and extracted twice with ethyl acetate . the organic phase is separated , dried ( na 2 so 4 ), filtered and evaporated in vacuo to yield the desired methyl ester . in like manner , by the use of equivalent amounts of propanol , butanol , isobutanol , t - butanol , amylalcohol , isoamylalcohol , 2 - dimethylaminoethanol , benzylalcohol , 2 - acetamidoethanol and the like , the corresponding esters are obtained . the sodium salt of the compound ii from example 11 is dissolved in 2 ml of ethanol - water ( 1 : 1 ; v : v ) and added to 10 ml of 1n hydrochloric acid from which the dihydroxy acid is extracted with ethyl acetate . the organic extract is washed once with water , dried ( na 2 so 4 ), and evaporated in vacuo with a bath temperature not exceeding 30 ° c . the dihydroxy acid derivative slowly reverts to the corresponding , parent lactone on standing , but is stable at a ph above 7 . as a specific embodiment of a composition of this invention , 20 mg of lactone from example 1 , is formulated with sufficient finely divided lactose to provide a total amount of 580 to 590 mg to fill a size 0 , hard - gelatin capsule .	2
fig1 illustrates in a fragmentary manner an axially movable wormed camshaft 1 , rotatably mounted on fixed camshaft supports 7 , and driven by a timing gear 5 , which gear has a splined opening at one end to receive slidably the splines 10 at one end of the camshaft 1 . the base of the camshaft support 7 is affixed to the engine body while the timing gear 5 is rotatably supported by the timing gear support 6 , through the medium of bearings 4 . the timing gear support 6 is also affixed to the engine body . the engine , by means of linkage , turns the timing gear 5 , which by the mating of its splined opening with the splines 10 on the end of the camshaft 1 , thusly imparts a rotational movement to the camshaft 1 . on the wormed camshaft 1 is a series of cam assemblies , each such cam assembly splitable into two cam elements , the primary cam 2 , and the secondary cam 3 , both cam elements operating on a single valve . the primary cam 2 is affixed to ( or integral with ) the camshaft 1 , while the secondary cam 3 is rotatably mounted ( fig5 ) on the camshaft support 7 by means of sleeve bearings 12 and is held axially within the camshaft support 7 by a raised bead 13 , said raised bead 13 drawn about a circular portion of the secondary cam 3 . the raised bead 13 fits within a corresponding groove 14 set into sleeve bearings 12 . thus , the secondary cam 3 is trapped by , and rotatable within the sleeve bearings 12 , said sleeve bearings 12 set fixedly within the camshaft support 7 . the wormed camshaft 1 fits precisely within and through a corresponding wormed opening through the center of the secondary cam 3 , and is spirally movable within , with the aforementioned circular portion of the secondary cam 3 thus acting as a rotatable support for the camshaft 1 . the oblique angle of the raised worming on the camshaft 1 acts as a diagonal spline on the corresponding worming through the opening of the secondary cam 3 , and since the secondary cam 3 can only move rotatably about the sleeve bearings 12 locked onto the camshaft support 7 , the secondary cam 3 must rotate in place in time with the rotation of the camshaft 1 . in the low speed mode ( fig1 ), the camshaft 1 is held fully seated within the splined opening of the timing gear 5 by means of the camshaft return spring 9 , through the intercession of a roller bearing 8 . the camshaft return spring 9 is held within a housing 11 , said housing 11 affixed to the engine body . in this mode , the primary cam 2 sits directly next to the secondary cam 3 with the high points of both cam noses aligned , as in fig2 . thus , at low speed ( or idle ), the cam nose engagement with the cam follower of the valve operating assembly is of minimal duration . in the high speed mode , as shown in fig3 centrifugal force comes into play . the combination of camshaft speed , direction of camshaft worming , direction of camshaft rotation , and camshaft weight , reacts against the drag induced by the trapped secondary cam 3 , and urges the camshaft 1 axially away from , and partly out of , the splined opening in the timing gear 5 , in the process compressing the camshaft return spring 9 . the camshaft return spring 9 is designed to exactly offset such induced centrifugal force as a function of engine speed , being at maximum extension at rest , idle , or very low speed , compressing progressively as engine speed increases , becoming fully compressed at generally maximum speed . as the camshaft 1 shifts axially , the primary cam 2 , which is solidly affixed to ( or integral with ) the camshaft 1 , shifts axially along with the camshaft 1 , thus moving apart from the secondary cam 3 , which is trapped rotatably in place by the fixed camshaft support 7 . because of the positive engagement of the raised worming on the camshaft 1 with the corresponding worming of the opening through the center of the secondary cam 3 , the axial shifting of the camshaft 1 imparts a slightly retrograde movement rotatably to the secondary cam 3 , thereby moving the secondary cam nose out of alignment with the primary cam nose , as shown in fig4 . since both the primary cam 2 and the secondary cam 3 operate collectively on each individual valve , the misaligned cam noses serve to hold the said individual valve open for a longer period of time relative to a complete engine revolution , as illustrated in fig7 . while not shown as a part of this invention , it is understood that the cam follower , of whichever design , must be of sufficient width to accomodate the axial shift of the primary cam 2 while continuing to accomodate the axially stationary secondary cam 3 . a cam follower of sufficient width is indicated by broken lines encompassing the entire splitable cam assembly in fig1 and fig3 the cam follower in this particular embodiment being an element of a rocker arm assembly . it should be noted that the primary cam 2 , which is pinned to or integral with the camshaft 1 , is functionally as rigid as in any conventional cam - camshaft design and that it is the primary cam nose which ( through the valve operating mechanism ) accepts the load of each valve opening , the less rigid secondary cam nose engaging , and extending the moment of , an already depressed valve . thus , the faster the engine speed , the greater the axial shift of the camshaft 1 away from the timing gear 5 , the greater the misalignment of the primary and secondary cam noses ( up to a maximum misalignment of approximately 45 degrees circular ), and the longer the valve event relative to a complete engine revolution . conversely , the slower the engine speed , the shorter the valve event relative to a complete engine revolution , with a stepped progression of valve moments in between , such a condition fulfilling the intent of this invention . in another embodiment of this invention , the camshaft return spring 9 and the camshaft return spring housing 11 are deleted and replaced by other means , such means comprising any suitable controlled power source 15 , such means 15 affixed to the engine body and rotatably coupled to an end of the camshaft 1 through the medium of a roller bearing 8 . by a pushing or pulling action , the controlled power source means 15 forcibly shifts the camshaft 1 axially , said axial shift working with or against , but generally irrespective of , the said centrifugal forces generated within the invention , said axial shifting of the camshaft 1 controlling the valve timing . said controllable power source means 15 would thus enable , through suitable linkage and preprogramming , the valve timing to be varied as a function of such diverse factors as engine speed , engine and ambient temperature , engine load , acceleration , decelleration , braking , emissions control , and other relevant factors . another embodiment of the invention employs twin variable camshafts as described in the invention , one such variable camshaft used to operate the intake valves only in a given engine , the second such variable camshaft used to operate the exhaust valves only in the same engine , such twin variable camshafts capable of operating independently or in synchronization according to a program controlling the power source means 15 . while the above description contains many specifities , these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention , but rather as preferred embodiments thereof . other variations are possible . for instance ; a twin variable camshaft arrangement as described above but with individual camshaft return springs 9 in place of the controlled power source means . in one embodiment , said individual camshaft return springs 9 are of matched compression strength while in another embodiment the individual camshaft return springs 9 are of slightly different compression strengths , thereby allowing the intake valves to operate in a slightly different cycle from the exhaust valves , such difference according to efficiency considerations and the intended use of the engine . further , although the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings depicts the variable camshaft comprising this invention in an overhead position and acting on a valve train employing rocker arms , it should be understood that the invention may be situated in any conventional camshaft location , and may work on any conventional valve operating mechanism , provided only that the said valve operating mechanism incorporate a cam follower of sufficient width to accomodate the maximum displacement between the primary cam 2 and the secondary cam 3 in the high speed mode . note also that the method shown for rotatably securing the the secondary cam 2 to the camshaft support 7 by means of a bead 13 and groove 14 is similarly a preferred embodiment and that many other simple and obvious means exist for acheiving a like result . also , let it be noted that the word ` wormed `, as applied to the camshaft of this invention , includes such obvious reconfigurations as threading , beading , or other spiral shaping of the camshaft of the invention in order to acheive the same result .	5
the present invention provides a unique locking system for use with a double articulating hook lift apparatus which can be mounted upon a vehicle such as a truck or trailer for facilitating handling of containers 88 designed for removable mounting thereupon . commonly , trucks include a fixed or main frame 1 with an independently movable pivot frame 2 pivotally secured with respect to the rear portion thereof . in this embodiment the pivot frame 2 will include an arm 3 which is pivotally movably attached with respect to the pivot frame 2 and a jib 4 movably attached with respect to the arm 3 . preferably the jib 4 is movably engaged with respect to the arm such as to be slidably movably relative thereto . this slidable movement capability can be provided by many different constructions , however with this embodiment of the present invention , a telescopingly movable means of engagement is provided . fig1 shows the construction of this embodiment of the present invention as it moves through the various steps of operation according to a defined sequence for the purpose of container loading and container unloading as well as container dumping . loading of a container 88 onto the vehicle 106 is shown by the sequence starting at fig1 a and running through fig1 k . unloading of the container 88 is shown in the operational steps performed in the opposite sequence starting at fig1 k through fig1 a . during both of these sequential operations , the double articulation capability of the relative movement of the arm 3 with respect to the pivot frame 2 and of the pivot frame 2 with respect to the main fixed frame 1 are clearly shown . the first mode of articulation is shown being performed about the first articulation axis or first pivot axis 84 and the second mode of articulation is shown being conducted through the second articulation axis or second pivot axis 86 . the first articulation axis 84 provides the axis of relative pivotal movement of the pivot frame 2 with respect to the fixed frame 1 whereas the second articulation axis 86 provides the axis of relative pivotal movement of the combined assembly including the arm 3 and jib 4 with respect to the pivot frame 2 . fig1 d shows the pivot frame 2 rotated about the first pivot axis 84 relative to the fixed main frame 1 and extending forwardly toward the truck cab 108 extending the rear portion of the frame 1 . this figure also shows the arm 3 and the jib 4 in a position pivoted about the second pivot axis 86 to extend rearwardly from the pivot frame 2 with the jib 4 extending further outwardly rearwardly therefrom to facilitate engagement of the hook 82 with respect to a container 88 positioned rearwardly therefrom to facilitate moving it on or off of the vehicle 106 . another mode of operation of the apparatus of the present invention , other than loading and unloading is the dumping operation which is shown by the fig1 k to 11l . once dumping is completed then the movement sequence is reversed as shown from fig1 l to 11k which returns the container 88 to the level position retained on the vehicle . during dumping it is important that the second mode of articulation around the second pivot axis 86 be prevented which allows pivoting of the jib 4 and arm 3 together as a single unit along with the pivot frame 2 between the positions defined by fig1 l and 11k . as such , the locking mechanism of the present invention is important for selectively restricting such pivotal movement during dumping . as can be seen in the dumping operation between steps shown in fig1 k and fig1 l , the pivot frame 2 , the arm 3 and the jib 4 should all pivot together as a single locked assembly about the first pivot axis 84 . the jib 4 of the present invention is slidably mounted with respect to the arm 3 such as to be longitudinally slidable with respect thereto . the sliding movement is preferably facilitated by a utilizing a construction which engages the arm 3 to the jib 4 in a telescopingly moveable manner . this sliding movement normally occurs as the first or last step in the sequence for container loading or unloading . the jib 4 can telescopingly slide further into the arm 3 in a direction away from the cab 108 as shown by movement from the position of fig1 a through fig1 c . alternatively , the jib 4 can telescopingly slide further away from the arm 3 in a direction toward cab 108 as shown by movement from the position of fig1 j through fig1 k . jib 4 and arm 3 can pivot along with the pivot frame 2 as a single unit during dumping by mutual rotation therewith about the first pivot axis 84 . alternatively the jib 4 and the arm 3 can pivot together in a manner which is independent of any movement of the pivot frame 2 by rotation thereof around the second pivot axis 86 . this second pivot axis 86 is defined as the second mode of articulation of the present invention which is usable only during loading and unloading of containers onto and off of the main frame 1 of a vehicle and is not used during dumping . the locking means 114 of the present invention is novel in the construction and the means of powering thereof . in particular powering of the locking means 114 is achieved by the configuration of the locking means 114 itself as well as by the movement of the jib 4 with respect to the arm 3 which in this embodiment results from the telescopingly movable relative construction between these two parts . the initial movement of the jib 4 to the right as shown in fig1 a , b and c illustrates the various stages of movement of the jib 4 as it moves from the fully extended position shown in fig1 a to the fully retracted position shown in fig1 c . when the jib 4 is in the extended position shown in fig1 a the arm 3 will be locked with respect to the pivot frame 2 thereby preventing relative rotation therebetween through the first articulation axis 84 . on the other hand when the jib 4 moves to the right as shown in fig1 c to the retracted position the locking means 114 will be disengaged by the portion 24 of jib 4 which is designed to be brought into contact with rollers 90 . this movement will cause the locking means 114 to move to the unlocked position which facilitates the material handling steps for loading and unloading of a container as shown in fig1 c through 11j . it should be appreciated that the actual configuration of the locking means 114 of the present invention can be of many different embodiments . however , one particular embodiment is shown in the present invention . with this embodiment a link arm 6 is pivotally mounted about an axis 92 relative to the container engaging mechanism 116 . container engaging mechanism 116 defines those components which are vertically movable responsive to longitudinal extension or contraction of the lift cylinder 9 . as the jib 4 moves to the right relative to the arm 3 as shown in fig1 a , b and c , the roller contact surface 24 of jib 4 will also move to the right as shown best in fig3 and will come into abutment with respect to the rollers 90 . rollers 90 are mounted on the link arm 6 . link arm 6 is rotatably mounted with respect to the container engaging mechanism 116 along an axis 92 of a link arm pin 57 . link arm pin 57 extends through the container engaging mechanism 116 and through the link arm 6 to facilitate rotational movement of link arm 6 responsive to the jib 4 being brought into contact with the rollers 90 . as shown in fig3 this abutment and continuous movement will cause the link arm 6 to rotate in a clockwise direction about axis 92 of the link arm pin 57 . this rotation will be connected through linkage 5 to a pusher rod 52 . pusher rod 52 includes a pusher member 53 positioned on the forwardmost end shown to the left in fig3 . this pusher member 53 is positioned to be selectively engageable with respect to a locking stud 110 which is fixedly secured with respect to the locking plate 98 . it is the locking plate 98 that is movable to the left from the position shown in fig3 for selectively engaging and locking of the arm 3 with respect to the pivot frame 2 to selectively prevent or allow relative pivotal movement relative to one another about the second pivot axis or second articulation axis 86 . the locking plate 98 is shown in the locked position in fig3 but is also shown in the locked position in fig4 . a locking plate return spring rod 104 is secured to the container engaging mechanism 116 and is also secured to the locking stud 110 extending outwardly from the locking plate 98 . this locking plate return spring rod 104 includes a locking plate engagement spring 94 extending therearound which is adapted to compress responsive to movement of the locking plate 98 to the left as shown in fig3 . this compression will be operative to continuously urge locking plate 98 to move to the right as shown in fig3 to the locked position . the force exerted by the first spring 94 or locking plate engagement spring 94 will be overcome by the pressure exerted by the jib contact surface 24 against rollers 90 whenever the jib 4 is located in the fully retracted position . however , once the jib 4 initiates movement to the left shown by the sequence of steps from fig1 c through b through a , then the first spring or locking plate engagement spring 94 will exert a pressure along the axis of locking plate return spring rod 104 to urge the locking plate 98 to move to the right as shown in fig3 which corresponds to the locked position . the linkage 5 extending from the link arm 6 to the pusher rod 52 achieves accurate control of the pusher member 53 for selectively and periodically urging of the locking plate 98 to the left as shown in fig3 which corresponds to the unlocked position . an intermediate link 54 is preferably pivotally secured with respect to the link arm 6 at one end and with respect to the pusher rod 52 at the other end . in this manner the rotational movement capability of the link arm 6 can easily be transformed into the linear movement of the pusher rod 52 . a first pusher rod ring 17 is preferably fixedly secured to the pusher rod 52 to move therewith . a second pusher rod ring 19 is preferably fixedly secured to the container engaging mechanism 116 adjacent to the pusher rod 52 and defines an aperture through which the pusher rod 52 is movable . a second spring or pusher return spring 96 is positioned coiled about the outside of pusher rod 52 between the first pusher rod ring 17 and the second pusher rod ring 19 . as such , as the roller contact surface 24 of jib 4 moves to the right as shown in fig3 the link arm 6 will rotate clockwise because of the force exerted on the rollers 90 by the surface 24 . this will cause intermediate link 54 to move to the left and will urge the pusher rod 52 to move to the left . the pusher member 53 will move to the left along with the pusher rod 52 and will be brought into abutting contact with the locking stud 110 fixedly secured to the locking plate 98 . this will cause the locking plate 98 to move from the locking position shown in fig3 to the left or unlocked position wherein the locking means 114 becomes disengaged and pivotal movement of the arm 3 relative to the pivot frame 2 is again made possible . thereafter when the jib 4 moves to the left relative to arm 3 as shown in fig3 and the roller contact surface 24 releases from the rollers 90 then the force stored in the pusher return spring 96 will cause the pusher rod 52 to move to the right and the intermediate link 54 to move to the right causing counterclockwise rotation of link arm 6 around the axis 92 of the link arm pin 57 about which it is rotatable . in this manner the pusher rod 52 and the pusher member 53 secured thereto will be released from abutting forcible contact with the locking stud 110 which in this manner allows the locking plate 98 to again return to the locked position engaging the arm 3 with respect to the pivot frame 2 for preventing relative rotation therebetween . to be assured that the locking plate 98 will move to the fully engaged locking position , the locking plate engagement spring 94 which extends around the locking plate return spring rod 104 will exert force against the locking stud 110 to the right to further assure that the locking plate 98 will return to the locked or fully engaged position . thus , with this configuration for the locking means 114 whenever the jib 4 is in the retracted position shown in fig1 c the locking means 114 will be in the unlocked position . also whenever the jib 4 is in the extended position as shown in fig1 a the locking means 114 will be in the fully engaged or locked position . this is an important operational characteristic of the present invention . a jib cylinder 10 is also included for powering relative movement of jib 4 with respect to the arm 3 such that the apparatus of the present invention can move between the position shown in fig1 a , b and c . the sole purpose of the jib cylinder 10 in this embodiment is to move the jib 4 between the retracted and extended positions , respectively . the longitudinally extendable lifting means 9 preferably comprises two separate lift cylinders 21 and 22 . the first lift cylinder 21 and the second lift cylinder 22 are best shown in fig1 , 2 and 11 a - l . to further facilitate operational use of the present invention it is preferable that a container engaging hook member 82 be included on the outermost portion of the jib 4 . this hook 82 is operational to engage a container to facilitate handling thereof as the container engaging mechanism 116 of the present invention moves through the various positions shown in the various stations displayed in the various figures in fig1 . in this preferred configuration of the present invention the first and second articulation axis 84 and 86 respectively are located in the rearward direction 112 from the point of securement of the first and second lift cylinders 21 and 22 with respect to the fixed or main frame 1 . in this manner operation of the container engaging mechanism 116 and general overall handling of containers 88 is facilitated . while particular embodiments of this invention have been shown in the drawings and described above , it will be apparent , that many changes may be made in the form , arrangement and positioning of the various elements of the combination . in consideration thereof it should be understood that preferred embodiments of this invention disclosed herein are intended to be illustrative only and not intended to limit the scope of the invention .	1
fig1 shows a cross - section of a human eye 10 having an intraocular ring 12 , in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention , installed in place of the original material in a lens capsule 16 . in this and all other cross - sectional diagrams of the eye and structures therein , the cornea and other anterior portions of the eye are at the left of the figure , and the retina and posterior portions of the eye are to the right . lens capsule 16 , from which the original lens material has been removed , includes an outer edge 18 , which is left intact and , optionally , a posterior wall 19 at least a portion of which may be left intact . at least a portion of the original anterior wall of the capsule is generally removed during the operation for removal of the lens material leaving an opening 20 , through which the intraocular ring 12 and normally an intraocular lens system ( not shown ) is installed . the outer edge 18 of the capsule is termed the &# 34 ; equator &# 34 ;. normally there is present along an interior surface of the equator a band of living cells 22 . it is a particular feature of the present invention that the width of intraocular ring 12 is sufficient to overlie the band of living cells 22 with sufficient margin as to suffocate such cells , thereby preventing cell growth onto an intraocular optic system inserted into the capsule and to kill existing cells in band 22 . as shown more clearly in fig3 a and 3b , intraocular ring 12 includes a generally cylindrical portion 24 and a pair of spaced ribs 26 for providing structural support to cylindrical portion 24 . as seen particularly in fig3 b , upon insertion of the ring 12 in the capsule 16 , the capsule tends to bend the outer edges of the cylindrical portion 24 inwardly . as shown in fig3 b , one end of zonular fibers 28 , also known as zonules , is attached to edge 18 of lens capsule 16 . as seen in fig1 the other end of the zonules is attached to the sclera 30 of the eye . intermediate their ends , the zonular fibers are acted upon by ligaments or the like 32 which are controlled by ciliary muscle 34 . the portion of the eye comprising the ciliary muscle and the volume it encloses is also known as the ciliary body . fig4 a and 4b correspond to fig3 a and 3b and illustrate an alternative ring configuration which may be identical to that of fig3 a and 3b , with the elimination of ribs 26 . thus , it can be seen from a consideration of fig4 a and 4b that the ring comprises a generally cylindrical portion 38 , at least a portion of which is typically somewhat thicker than the corresponding cylindrical portion 24 of the ring of fig3 a and 3b . fig2 shows a cross - section of a human eye 40 having an integrated intraocular lens system 42 , in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention , installed in place of the original material in a lens capsule 56 . as seen in fig5 a - 5c , intraocular lens system 42 comprises an optic 46 mounted via integrally formed haptics 48 on an intraocular ring 50 , all preferably formed as one piece and placed within lens capsule 56 . lens capsule 56 , from which the original lens material has been removed , includes an outer edge 58 , which is left intact and , optionally , a posterior wall 59 at least a portion of which may be left intact . at least a portion of the original anterior wall of the capsule is generally removed during the operation for removal of the lens material leaving an opening 60 , through which the lens system is installed . ring 50 preferably comprises a cylindrical portion 62 , from interior central surface locations thereof extend haptics 48 which support optic 46 . as seen particularly in fig5 b , insertion of the ring 50 in the capsule 56 , tends to bend the outer edges of the cylindrical portion 62 inwardly . as shown in fig2 one end of zonular fibers 68 , also known as zonules , is attached to edge 58 of lens capsule 56 . the other end of the zonules is attached to the sclera 70 of the eye . intermediate their ends , the zonular fibers are acted upon by ligaments or the like 72 which are controlled by ciliary muscle 74 . the portion of the eye comprising the ciliary muscle and the volume it encloses is also known as the ciliary body . the intraocular lens system may be formed as one piece from plural materials or reinforced , so as to cause various portions thereof to have greater or lesser rigidity . it will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove . rather the scope of the present invention includes both combinations and subcombinations of the features described hereinabove as well as variations and modifications thereof which would occur to a person of skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description , and which are not in the prior art .	0
the invention will now be described with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings . a tire curing bladder in accordance with the invention is shown broadly as 2 in partial cutaway in fig1 . the bladder 2 is an open cylinder comprising outer and inner layers 4 and 6 , respectively , of rubber sheet between which are sandwiched a plurality of reinforcing cords 8 . the latter are disposed in parallel relationship and each follows a spiral path as illustrated . advantageously the path followed by cords 8 is inclined at an angle of about 0 ° to about 60 ° with respect to the longitudinal axis of the bladder 2 . preferably the angle of inclination of the cords with respect to said axis is in the range of about 20 ° to about 45 °. the number of cords per inch of the circumference of the bladder 2 is advantageously of the order of about 2 to about 50 and preferably is of the order of about 10 to about 32 . the thickness a of the wall of the membrane bladder 2 is advantageously of the order of about 0 . 075 inches to about 0 . 2 inches and preferably of the order of about 0 . 09 to about 0 . 12 inches . the thickness chosen in any given instance is a function of the size of tire carcass to be cured . the cords 8 can be of any of a variety of materials such as steel wire , glass fiber , polymeric materials such as polyamides , polyimides and the like . advantageously the cords 8 are of a denier of the order of about 400 to about 3500 and are composed of polymeric fibers . in a preferred embodiment of the invention the cords 8 are composed of aramid fibers of which those available under the trademarks &# 34 ; fiber b &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; kevlar &# 34 ; are typical . aramid is a generic name for the condensation product of isophthalic or terephthalic acid and m - or p - phenylene diamine . the length l of the tire bladder 2 is so chosen as to be equal to or slightly less than that of the inside cross - sectional periphery of the tire which is to be cured , as will be discussed in more detail below . the method of fabricating a reinforced tire membrane bladder in accordance with the invention is illustrated in fig2 and 3 . in the first step of the process a rubber layer 6 is assembled on a forming drum 10 . the rubber employed in layer 6 advantageously is butyl rubber . the two ends of the layer are overlapped slightly as shown at 12 to form a seam . in the second step of the method , the reinforcing cords 8 are assembled in parallel spiral paths over the entire length of the layer 6 . optionally the cords 8 have been coated previously with rubber or like bonding agents to ensure satisfactory adhesion of the reinforcing material , in the ultimate curing step , to the layer 6 and a second layer 4 which is to be assembled in the next step . advantageously the cords 8 are calendered on to the layer 6 using conventional calendering means and techniques . the cords 8 are aligned in paths which form an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the forming drum 10 as discussed above . a second rubber layer 4 which also is advantageously butyl rubber is then assembled over the cords 8 and layer 6 . the ends of the second layer overlap slightly to form a seam in the same manner as shown and described for layer 6 . the location of the same is so chosen that it does not coincide with the seam 12 on layer 6 . preferably the two seams are located in diametrically opposed positions in the finished tire bladder or membrane . the final step of the process comprises curing the tire bladder assembly using conventional procedures such as heat , time and pressure . fig4 shows the tire membrane bladder 2 in accordance with the invention mounted on the centerpost assembly of a conventional automatic tire curing apparatus . one end of the membrane bladder 2 is secured around its periphery between the outer locking flange 14 and the cooperating inner flange 18 . the other end of tire membrane or bladder 2 is secured in similar manner around its periphery between the outer flange 22 and the inner cooperating flange 26 . both cooperating pairs of flanges are held securely together by fastening means such as nuts and bolts ( not shown ). the flange 14 and cooperating flange 18 can be moved downwardly to the position shown in dotted lines by operating the automatic press or centerpost 30 . as the flange 14 / 18 assembly is lowered in this manner the walls of the membrane or bladder 2 gradually assume the toroidal cross - sectional profile as internal pressure is introduced as shown in dotted lines in the final downward position of the flange 14 / 18 assembly . the membrane bladder is thereby disposed within the interior of uncured tire carcass 34 which is held between the two halves 36 and 38 of a tire mold . the upper half 38 of the mold is brought into cooperation with the lower half 36 at the same time as the flange 14 / 18 assembly is lowered into the position shown in dotted lines or subsequently thereto . the membrane bladder 2 , when it has assumed the configuration shown in dotted lines , is in contact with the inner wall of the tire carcass 34 . when the mold halves 36 and 38 have been brought together and secured in place , the tire bladder 2 is inflated , using steam and like fluids through inlet nozzle 40 , so as to make contact with the inner wall of the tire carcass over all the abutting surfaces of the two members . the pressure thus exerted on the inner wall of the carcass serves to hold the outer surface of the latter in intimate contact with the inner wall of the mold . the tire carcass 34 , having been encapsulated in the above manner in the mold and secured therein by inflation of membrane bladder 2 is then cured by application of heat to , and through , the mold . one of the advantages of the membrane bladder 2 of the invention is that , because of its thin walls , it is a very satisfactory conductor of heat . heat can thereby be transmitted to the carcass 34 by introducing steam or other heat medium via inlet nozzle 40 with controlled venting through exit nozzle 42 . a further advantage of the membrane bladder 2 is that inflation thereof in the curing step tends to cause the spirally wound reinforcing cords 8 ( see fig1 ) to straighten out and assume or seek to assume a configuration which parallels the longitudinal axis of the bladder . this re - orientation of the reinforcing cords permits the side wall of the membrane bladder to be extended by a limited , controlled amount . in general the amount by which the bladder can be extended in this manner depends upon the particular initial configuration and angle of the spirally wound reinforcing cords . because the amount of extension is controlled in this manner it is possible to choose the appropriate length l ( see fig1 ) of the membrane bladder which is to be used in the curing of any given size tire interior periphery . thus , in general the desirable length l of the membrane bladder may be equal to or less than the inside cross - sectional periphery of the tire in its cured configuration . in a preferred embodiment which has been found to give optimum results the length l of the membrane bladder has a specific dimension , depending on the particular orientation of reinforcing cords , which equals or is less than the inside cross - sectional peripheral dimension of the cured tire . however , other valves of l ranging from a length equal to that of the inside peripheral dimension of the tire to a length substantially less than said dimension can be employed , if desired . thus the length of curing membrane bladder used in any given instance can be tailored to fit the particular size of tire being cured . in a particular embodiment of the invention , an extended length of reinforced cylindrical curing membrane bladder prepared in accordance with the invention is provided from which appropriate lengths can be cut for use in curing any given size of tire carcass . further , the nature and particular configuration of the reinforcing cords 8 employed in the curing membrane bladders of the invention serve to ensure that the configuration of the bladder assumed upon inflation thereof is uniform and does not change even after repeated use . it is found that the average working life of a curing membrane bladder in accordance with the invention is significantly greater than that of bladders previously employed whether these be unreinforced or reinforced with knitted fabric and like types of reinforcement previously employed in the art . by reason of the increased heat conductivity of the curing membrane bladders of the invention , which permits transmittal of heat to the tire carcass from the inside in addition to heat supplied through the tire mold , it is possible to reduce the overall time required to cure the tire carcass . the overall productivity of the given tire curing process is thereby increased . these advantages , and other advantages which will be apparent to one skilled in the art , are clearly beneficial and enable the process of curing tire carcasses to be carried out with a marked increase in productivity coupled with reduced complexity of equipment required in the curing process without sacrifice of quality and accuracy of configuration of the tires so cured . while the invention has been described with reference to certain specific embodiments thereof it is to be understood that these have been given for purposes of illustration only and are nor to be construed as limiting . modifications which can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art .	1
reference will now be made to fig1 wherein there is illustrated a detecting apparatus embodying the present invention . the apparatus comprises a detecting arrangement at each detecting position p1 , p2 . the first arrangement at the position p1 comprises a mirror 13 having a reflective surface facing downward and disposed parallel to a virtual plane in which a slide 10 continuously moves in the direction indicated by arrows , a laser 14 disposed to the upper left of the mirror 13 as seen in the figure , a photoelectric element 17 disposed to the upper right of the mirror 13 as seen in the figure , and a diaphragm 16 with a small hole 16a therein . these constructional elements are so arranged that , when the slide 10 is in the illustrated position , the laser beam 15 from the laser 14 impinges on the upper surface of the slide 10 at an angle with respect thereto , is repeatedly reflected between the mirror 13 and the slide 10 , and then travels toward the diaphragm 16 . however , the diaphragm 16 is so disposed as to block the main reflected laser beam 15 , but to allow scattered light surrounding the main beam 15 , if in fact the laser beam is scattered , to pass through the hole 16a and impinge on the photoelectric element 17 . on the other hand , the second arrangement , which is arranged at the position p2 , has just the same construction and functions as the first arrangement except that it is disposed under the virtual plane in order to measure the scattering of light reflected from the back surface of the slide 10 . the slide 10 , which comprises a processed reversal film 12 in a cardboard mounting 11 , is continuously moved in any well known manner in the direction of the arrows , past the measuring positions p1 and p2 . as is well known in the at , the reversal process forms a positive dye image in relief on a gelatin layer of the film 12 . the film 12 , in general , comprises a film base 12a of cellulose triacetate and a gelatin layer 12b coated the film base 12a ( see fig2 ). as is well known in the art , the reversal processing forms a positive image in relief on the gelatin layer 12b of the film 12 . therefore , the measurement of reflected light from the gelatin layer 12b is very sensitive to the pattern of the image formed on the gelatin layer 12b . in order to compensate the influence of image , however , in this embodiment , the repeated reflections between the mirror 13 , 20 and the film 12 is very advantageous . in addition , as a result of this compensation , the s / n ratio , which is a measure of scattering , is increased . referring to fig2 there is shown a schematic diagram of the apparatus of fig1 as viewed from the front . the film base 12a has a flat and smooth surface , and is capable of reflecting the laser beam 24 with little scattering . contrary to the film base 12a , the gelatin layer 12b , which is formed with a positive dye image in relief on its surface , scatters the laser beam 15 much more than the film base 12a . consequently , the intensity of scattered light surrounding the main laser beam after the repeated reflections depends on the surface characteristics of the film 12 by which the laser beam is repeated reflected . as was previously mentioned , in order to allow only scattered light to impinge on the photoelectric element , each diaphragm 16 , 23 is so disposed that the main laser beam 15 , 24 misses the hole 16a , 22a . this disposition of the diaphragms 16 , 22 ensures that the higher output is always provided from one photoelectric element which receives the light scattered by the gelatin layer 12b than from the other . in the illustrative embodiment in fig2 the photoelectric element 17 has an output higher than that fro the other element 23 , because it receives the light scattered by the gelatin layer 12b . referring now to fig3 there is shown a judging circuit in a block diagram . outputs from the photoelectric elements 17 , 23 are transmitted to memories 26 , 27 , respectively , for temporary storage . the outputs are later read out and transmitted to a comparator 28 for comparison . the comparator 28 is adapted to judge that the slide 10 is positioned with the gelatin layer 12b , namely the front surface , up in the case of the output stored in the memory 26 being higher than that in memory 27 , and vice versa . in accordance with the result of this judgment , the comparator 28 provides a judging signal which desirably gives an indication in either visible or audible form , or both . reference will now be made to fig4 wherein there is illustrated a slide printing apparatus embodying the method of the present invention . the apparatus comprises a housing 30 and magazines 31 and 39 detachably mounted on opposite sides of the housing 30 . in the magazine 31 there is a stack of slides 32 from which prints are to be made and which are withdrawn therefrom one by one to be sent in any well known manner to a judging section 33 including at least the measuring apparatus of fig1 and the judging circuit of fig3 for the detection of the orientation of the slides . a slide 32 is moved through the judging section to pass the measuring positions p1 and p2 , successively . at each measuring position p1 , p2 , as was described above , the light scattered by the surface of the slide 32 is detected by the photoelectric element 17 , 23 and output therefrom as an electric signal which in turn is stored in the memory 26 , 27 . the comparator 28 retrieves the electric signals from the memories 26 , 27 to compare the signals with each other in order to judge which signal is stronger . if the signal from the memory 27 is judged to be stronger than the other , that is to say that the slide 32 is disposed upside down , namely , with the back surface ( the film base ) up , the judging section 33 produces a turn - over signal which in turn is transmitted to a turn - over section 34 . corresponding to the arrival of the slide 32 in the turn - over section 34 , the turn - over signal previously transmitted thereto causes the slide to be turned over in any well known manner into the correct position . if there is no turn - over signal transmitted to the turn - over section 34 , the slide 34 will pass through the turn - over section 34 without being turned over . after having passed through the turn - over section 34 , the slide 32 is positioned in a printing station and there illuminated by a white light 34 disposed below the printing station . the printing light passes through the slide 32 and travels to a photographic paper 38 after passing through a lens 36 while a shutter 37 is open to form a latent image on the photographic paper 38 in a well known manner . having completed printing , the slide 32 is moved from the printing station into a storing rack ( not shown ) inside the magazine 39 . it is permissible in this embodiment to omit one of the detection arrangements in the case of providing a turn - over mechanism at the detection position p1 for turning over slides . although the above description has been directed to an embodiment wherein a reversal film is judged as to its orientation , it should be understood that the present invention is applicable with the same result to the detection of the orientation of negative films .	6
referring to the drawings , fig1 shows a front perspective view and fig3 shows a perspective rear or back view of the doll house embodying the unique features of the invention . both views show the doll house fully assembled and ready for use as a recreational device or as a model house for display purposes with miniature furniture arrangements , etc . fig5 is an exploded perspective rear view disclosing the manner in which the various parts are assembled together . in the subsequent discussion of the doll house reference to left and right is as seen from the rear of the doll house . the doll house generally comprises four floors 22 , 24 , 26 and 30 ; a mansard type - roof comprising roof members 36 and side roof panels 34 , 50 and 60 ; front wall 32 and side walls 46 and 64 ; a center wall divider 62 ; two left side rooms ; two right side rooms ; front porch 66 , entrance doors 68 , and balcony 76 ; typical windows 72 , 74 and 337 ; chimney 70 ; typical staircase 81 and guard rail 82 ; balcony and roof guard rails 78 , 79 and 772 ; and typical decorative molding 87 . the first floor member 22 comprises a rectangular base with sides 220 , 221 , 222 and 223 having grooves 224 , 225 with holes 234 and 235 , 226 , 227 , 228 , with hole 232 , 229 , 230 , with hole 233 and 231 in the top surface . second floor member 24 comprises a rear beam 240 ; left side beam 241 with grooves 252 and 251 , and right side beam 245 with grooves 256 and 255 ; front beam member 242 with groove 242a and beam 244 with groove 244a ; forward edge member 243 with sides 253 and 254 having slots 249 and 250 respectively , extending inwardly therefrom ; stairwell 246 with rear slot 248 ; open end forward slot 247 , and landing 247a ; and hole 257 . third floor member 26 comprises a rear beam 260 ; left side beam 261 with groove 262 ; right side beam 268 with groove 275 ; front beam members 263 and 267 ; forward edge member 264 with sides 273 and 274 having slots 271 and 272 , respectively extending inwardly therefrom ; stairwell 269 with rear slot 270 , open end forward slot 266 , and landing 266a ; and hole 265 . fourth floor member 30 comprises a rear beam 300 ; left side beam 301 with grooves 302 and 303 ; right side beam 305 with grooves 311 and 312 ; front edge 304 ; stairwell 306 with rear slot 308 , open end forward slot 307 and landing 307a ; and holes 309 and 310 . the main roof structure is a mansard type and comprises roof member 36 , front roof panel 34 , and side roof panels 50 and 60 . roof 36 comprises rear beam 360 ; left side beam 361 with groove 362 and right side beam 364 with groove 365 ; front beam 363 with groove 367 , and chimney opening 366 . side roof panel 50 comprises edges 500 to 503 and similarly roof panel 60 comprises edges 600 to 603 . front roof panel 34 comprises top and bottom edges 344 and 340 , left side edges 342 and 343 and l - beam 341 , right side edges 346 and 347 and l - beam 345 , and windows 72 . front wall 32 comprises a bottom edge 320 containing a recessed edge portion 339 ; left side edges 333 and 334 with l - beam 321 ; right side edges 324 and 325 with l - beam 323 ; top beam 322 having grooves 322a and 338 , slot 330 , and holes 335 and 336 ; second floor beam 328 having groove 329 , slot 332 and hole 328a ; third floor beam 326 having groove 327 , slot 331 and hole 331a ; doorway frames 687 , 688 and 686 with french doors 68 comprising door members 680 and 681 having a knob 682 ; windows 74 and 337 , and the front wall on the outside contains a beam member 761 containing holes 761a and 761b ( fig2 ). left side wall 46 comprises bottom edge 460 , top edge 462 , side edges 461 and 463 , intermediate slots 464 and 465 , beam 468 with groove 468a , beam 469 with groove 469a , window 470 , doorways 466 and 467 , and hole 471 . similarly , right side wall 64 comprises bottom edge 640 , top edge 642 , side edges 641 and 643 , intermediate slots 644 and 645 , beam 648 with groove 648a , beam 649 with groove 649a , window 650 , doorways 646 and 647 , and hole 651 . the center wall partition 62 comprises bottom edge 62 , top edge 622 , leading edge 624 and side edges 623 and 621 , and hole 628 . the two left side rooms comprise the overhangs of floors 24 and 26 ; upper side wall 40 with edges 400 - 463 ; lower side wall 38 with edges 381 - 384 and window 385 ; upper front wall 44 having edges 440 , 442 , 443 , 444 , 445 and l - beam 441 ; and lower front wall 42 having edges 420 , 422 , 423 , 424 , 425 , l - beam 421 and window 426 . the two right side rooms comprise the overhangs of floors 24 and 26 ; upper side wall 54 with edges 541 - 544 ; lower side wall 52 with edges 521 - 524 and window 525 ; upper front wall 58 having edges 580 , 581 , 582 , 584 and 585 , and l - beam 583 ; and lower front wall 56 having edges 560 , 561 , 562 , 564 , 565 , l - beam 563 and window 566 . the porch 66 comprises front steps 660 on the front of the porch , landing 663 , steps 660a leading to the interior of the house , and porch foundation member 662 containing groove 661 and holes 664a , b , c and d . balcony 76 comprises a rail ledge 771 , rail 772 , landing 773 , holes 764 and 765 and columns 766 - 769 with rails 770 , 770a . the various members of the doll house are adapted to be assembled together and held together with pegs as follows . the first floor 22 is placed on a level surface , porch 66 is placed across groove 225 , and bottom edge 320 of front wall 32 is inserted in groove 225 while at the same time inserting edge 339 into groove 661 of the porch . the front wall and porch are then secured in place by inserting pegs 93 and 97 in holes 93a and 97a of wall 32 and holes 234 and 235 of the first floor . the bottom edge 460 of side wall 46 is inserted in groove 228 and edge 463 is abutted against the inside of l - beam 321 . peg 95 is inserted in hole 471 and hole 232 of groove 228 , and peg 100 ( fig1 ) is inserted in hole 472 and hole 100a in the left end of beam 326 . similarly , bottom edge 640 of side wall 64 is inserted in groove 230 and edge 643 is abutted against the inside of l - beam 323 . peg 94 is inserted in hole 471 and hole 233 of groove 230 , and peg 101 ( fig1 ) is inserted in hole 652 and hole 101a in the right end of beam 326 . the front wall 32 and side walls 46 and 64 are now secured together to the first floor . the edge 620 of center wall partition 62 is installed in groove 229 of the first floor and edge 623 are inserted into slots 330 , 331 and 332 of the front wall beams which retain the divider in a firm vertical position . the second floor 24 is installed by engaging and sliding slots 249 and 250 into slot 465 of left side wall 46 and into slot 645 of right side wall 64 , respectively , and at the same time engaging and sliding slot 247 into slot 627 of divider 62 . the entire floor is moved forward until edge 243 engages groove 329 of beam 328 , slot 248 is firmly engaged in the end of slot 627 , and beam 240 abuts edges 461 and 641 of the side walls . peg 92 is then inserted in hole 257 and hole 328a of beam 328 to retain the second floor firmly in place . the third floor 26 is installed similarly as the second floor by engaging and sliding slots 271 and 272 into slot 464 of left side wall 46 and into slot 644 of right side wall 64 , respectively , and at the same time engaging and sliding slot 266 into slot 626 of divider 62 . the entire floor is moved forward until edge 264 engages groove 327 of beam 326 , slot 270 is firmly engaged in the end of slot 626 , and beam 260 abuts edges 461 and 641 of the side walls . peg 90 is inserted in hole 265 and hole 331a of beam 331 to retain the third floor firmly in place . at this stage of construction , the two left side rooms and the two right side rooms are constructed . with the second and third floors installed as above set forth , each extends and overhangs beyond the side walls 46 and 64 . the left side of first floor 24 is flexed slightly upwardly and left lower front wall 42 is installed by inserting edge 420 in groove 224 of the first floor , edge 424 in groove 242b of beam 242 of the second floor , and edge 425 in groove 469a of beam 469 of left side wall 46 . lower left side wall 38 is installed by inserting edge 383 in groove 227 of the first floor and edge 381 in groove 252 of beam 241 of the second floor . by pushing edge 382 , edge 384 of wall 38 is eventually engages the inner part of l - beam 421 , whereby walls 42 and 38 are firmly secured in place . similarly left upper front wall 44 is installed by flexing the left side of third floor 26 and slightly upwardly and edge 440 is inserted in groove 242a , edge 444 in groove 263a of beam 263 of the third floor , and edge 445 in groove 468a of beam 468 of the left sidewall 46 . upper left side wall 40 is installed by inserting edge 400 in groove 251 of beam 241 , edge 402 in groove 262 of beam 261 , and sliding wall 40 forward by pushing edge 401 until edge 403 engages the inner part of l - beam 441 , whereby walls 40 and 44 are firmly secured in place . the two right side rooms are installed similarly as the two left side rooms . right lower front wall 56 edges 560 , 561 and 562 are inserted in grooves 226 , 649a , and 244b respectively . lower right side wall 52 edges 523 , 524 , and 521 are inserted in groove 231 , l - beam 563 , and groove 256 , respectively . right upper front wall 58 edges 580 , 582 and 581 are inserted in grooves 244a , 267a , and 648a , respectively . upper right side wall 54 edges 543 , 542 , and 541 are inserted in groove 255 , l - beam 583 , and groove 275 . the fourth floor 30 is next installed by engaging and sliding slot 307 in slot 625 of divider 62 , edge 462 of left side wall 46 in groove 303 of beam 301 , and edge 642 of right side wall 64 in groove 312 of beam 305 . the entire floor is moved forward until edge 304 engages groove 322a of beam 322 of front wall 32 , slot 308 engages the end of slot 625 , and the mitered left and right ends of beam 322 engage the mitered forward ends of beams 301 and 305 , respectively . peg 91 is inserted in hole 309 of floor 30 and hole 335 of beam 322 of the front wall 32 . similarly , peg 96 is inserted in hole 310 and hole 336 . peg 105 is inserted in hole 46a of left side wall 46 and hole 303a in groove 303 of beam 301 , and similarly peg 106 is inserted in hole 64a of right side wall 64 and hole 312a in groove 312 of beam 305 . pegs , 91 , 96 , 105 and 106 retain the fourth floor firmly in place . the mansard roof structure is next installed ( see fig4 and 10 ) by inserting bottom edge 340 of front roof panel 34 in groove 322a of beam 322 . the panel 34 is designed to slant about 15 ° from the vertical in groove 322a , abuts against leading edge 624 of divider 62 , and comprises left and right l - beams 341 and 345 , respectively . roof 36 is installed by inserting top edge 344 of panel 34 into groove 367 of beam 363 and in so doing the forward part of edge 622 of divider 62 is inserted in slot 367a of beam 363 . the underside of roof panel 36 rests on edge 622 of divider 62 , and edge 622 bisects chimney opening 366 . chimney structure 70 comprises two downwardly projecting parallel members 700 and 701 having holes 702 and 703 , respectively , and spaced apart a distance a little greater than the thickness of divider 62 . chimney 70 is installed in the chimney opening 366 whereby members 700 and 701 straddle divider 62 . holes 702 and 703 are adapted to be aligned together and with hole 628 of the divider when the chimney is installed . a peg 704 ( fig4 ) is inserted through the three aligned holes , which provides rigidity and stability to the roof structure . left side roof panel 50 is installed by inserting edge 500 into angled groove 302 of beam 301 and edge 502 into angled groove 362 of beam 361 , and by pushing edge 501 whereby edge 503 eventually engages the inner part of l - beam 341 . similarly right side roof panel 60 is installed by inserting edge 600 in angled groove 311 of beam 305 , edge 602 in angled groove 365 of beam 364 , and edge 603 within l - beam 345 . the front porch and balcony are next assembled on the front wall 32 ( see fig1 , 3 , 4 and 6 ). porch landing 663 has already been installed . the bottom pegs of the four posts 766 - 769 are installed in the respective holes 664a , b , c , d of the landing 663 , e . g . peg 766b is installed in hole 664b of the landing . the balcony has matching holes at the underneath surface of landing 773 and the top pegs of posts 766 - 769 are inserted therein respectively , e . g . 766a in hole 766d ( fig4 ). the rear edge of landing 773 abuts the front surface of wall 32 and rests on a horizontal beam member 761 ( fig4 ) secured to front wall 32 , which has a pair of holes ( not shown ), and pegs 762 and 763 are inserted in holes 764 and 765 of the landing and the pair of holes of the beam 761 , respectively . this construction secures the porch and balcony together . rails 770 and 770c can be installed between the posts , e . g . rail 770 has pins 770a and 770b which are inserted in respective holes of the posts such as hole 766c of post 766 . a decorative rail 772 can also be placed on ledge 771 of the balcony . similarly , decorative rails 78 and 79 can be placed on the top end surfaces of the third floor 26 . rail 78 , for example , is constructed by joining sectional rails 781 and 782 together by inserting pegs 784 and 785 in respective holes of rail post 783 . as shown in fig3 , 5 and 14 , unitary staircases and guard rails are installed between the second , third and fourth floors against divider 62 . for example , bottom 811 of staircase 81 installed between the third and fourth floors rests on third floor 26 and the upper landing 810 has been inserted in stairwell 306 and rests on floor portion 307a . similarly , staircase 83 rests on second floor 24 and extends into stairwell 269 and rests on floor portion 266a . guard rails 82 and 84 are installed on each floor adjacent the respective stairwells . rail 82 is secured to staircase 81 by means of a pin 821 in hole 812 in the side of the staircase . similarly , rail 84 is secured to staircase 83 by means of a pin 841 in a hole ( not shown ) in the side of the staircase . the staircase between the first and second floors comprises an intermediate landing 861 formed from the two staircases 85 and 86 . staircase 86 with integral rail 862 is installed against divider 62 , and staircase 85 is installed by placing its bottom 851 on the landing 861 and inserting the upper portion into stairwell 246 so that the landing thereof rests on second floor portion 247a . a guard rail 80 is also installed on the fourth floor around stairwell 306 . the several outside walls of the doll house comprise a unique series of window constructions . a typical window for the front roof panel 34 is denoted by the numeral 72 ( see fig4 and 12 ) and comprises dormer window framework members 721 , 723 , 727 and 728 , and an integral window pane 731 having frame members 732 - 735 . the two side framework 723 and 727 each comprise grooves 724 , 725 and 727a , 727c , respectively , and a rear edge surface 727b and 726 , respectively . framework member 721 comprises a rearward projecting edge portion 722 and a bottom surface 721a . framework member 728 comprises a rearward projecting portion 729 and a top surface 730 . the window 72 is installed permanently as by glueing , etc . in a rectangular window opening in roof panel 34 by inserting edge portion 722 of member 721 into the top of the window opening , and edge portion 729 of member 728 into the bottom of the window opening . framework member 723 is permanently installed by inserting groove 724 onto the right side of the window opening , and similarly member 727 is installed by inserting groove 727a onto the left side of the window opening . window pane 731 is installed by being flexed and inserting frame 735 into groove 725 , frame 733 into groove 727c , edge of frame 732 abuts surface 721a , and edge 734 abuts surface 730 . the inner wall of panel 34 around the window is trimmed by permanently installing inner trim members such as 722a and 736 . typical window 74 ( fig4 and 13 ) is installed on the vertical walls of the doll house such as on front wall 32 , and comprises an outer framework 741 - 744 and an inner integral window pane and frame including window pane 749 with recessed frame members 745 , 747 , 751 and 752 bounded by an inner rectangular frame 748 and trim members 746 and 750 . the integral window pane and associated framework are permanently installed from the inside of wall 32 into a window opening with frame 745 , 747 , 751 and 752 within the opening and the outer framework is permanently installed around the outside of the window opening . typical double window 337 is similar in construction to window 74 with the exception that two integral window panes are used with a central vertical member . decorative molding members such as 87 , 88 ( fig8 ) 871 , 872 , 873 , 891 are permanently secured to various areas of the outside walls of the doll house . the above description of the invention is deemed to be the most practical and efficient embodiment and it should be understood that the invention is not limited to such embodiment as there might be changes made in the arrangement , disposition and form of the parts without departing from the principle of the present invention within the scope of the accompanying claims .	0
referring to fig1 - 3 , a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been depicted as a cordless electric drill 20 with an integral lighting assembly 22 . as shown in the figures , the preferred embodiment of the drill 20 conventionally includes a detachable and rechargeable battery 24 or other electric power source , a generally hollow outer casing 26 , and a standard chuck 28 for selective connection to various rotary tool attachments such as drill bits , screw drivers , and the like . as will be understood by those of skill in the art , the casing 26 generally contains and supports an electric rotary motor ( not shown ) therein . the electric motor is conventionally connected to the battery 24 for selectively driving the standard chuck 28 in response to depression of the trigger - like switch . as shown in fig3 the outer casing 26 includes two shells 30 , 32 , that may be formed of durable plastic or other acceptable durable material . as shown in fig1 the shells 30 , 32 are affixed together by a plurality of screws 34 or other suitable fasteners . in accordance with the aim of providing a convenient and efficient way to illuminate working surfaces , the preferred embodiment includes the lighting assembly 22 which directs light generally toward the chuck 28 and in front of the chuck 28 . referring to fig4 and 6 , the lighting assembly 22 of the preferred embodiment includes a housing 38 , a light bulb 40 or other lighting device , a transparent cover plate 42 and a concave or partially spherical reflector cup 44 . the light bulb 40 is inserted in a conventional light socket 46 , which is mounted on the housing 38 , and is powered by the detachable battery 24 as will be explained in greater detail below . the lighting device is encased and protected between the housing 38 and the transparent cover plate 42 . the transparent cover plate 42 may be made of plastic and snaps into and out of the housing 38 . the reflector cup 44 is situated outboard of the light bulb 40 for reflecting light towards the chuck 28 and to the work surface . a bracket 45 may also be mounted on the housing 38 for conveniently holding replacement light bulbs . in accordance with the object of providing a light mechanism which is durable and does not break during normal drill usage , the lighting assembly 22 is movable between an open position as shown in fig1 and a closed position as shown in fig2 . in the closed position , the light bulb is enclosed between the outer casing 26 and the housing 38 . the top surface of the casing 26 has a channel for receiving and enclosing the light source . in the closed position , the peripheral edge of the housing 38 generally fits and mates with the corresponding top surface of the outer casing 26 so that accidental dropping or rough transportation of the drill does not damage the lighting assembly 22 or the drill 20 . in the preferred embodiment , the housing may be formed of the same material as the shells 30 and is pivotably connected by a screw 34 , pin or other fastener at a pivot point between the shells 30 , 32 . the open position of the lighting assembly 22 is maintained because of friction between the housing 38 and the shells 30 , 32 . the open position corresponds to about 90 degrees of rotation and is limited by an integrally formed mechanical stop generally indicated at 48 on the casing 26 . the housing 38 also includes a hook portion 50 ( fig3 ) to snap into the casing 26 in the closed position . in accordance with the object of providing a light on an electric drill which can be selectively operated by a drill operator , and referring to fig4 and 5 , the drill 20 includes a light assembly which may be activated and deactivated in response to movement of the housing between the open and closed positions . in the closed position , the light is deactivated and is off . in the open position , the light is activated and operating . the light assembly includes a switch 52 that switches the light bulb 40 off and on . the switch 52 has an input wire 53 connected to the positive terminal of the battery 24 , and an output wire 54 connected to the socket 46 . the socket 46 also has a return wire 56 connected to the negative terminal of the battery 24 . it will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the circuit may also include a transformer ( not shown ) for adjusting or reducing the voltage to the light bulb . in the preferred embodiment , the switch includes two conductive contacts 58 , 60 . the contacts 58 , 60 are secured on inner shoulder portions 62 , 64 of shell 32 and connected to the input and output wires 52 , 54 , respectively . contact 60 is made of resilient material and is movable towards contact 58 by rotation of the lighting assembly 22 . more specifically , the housing 38 includes a finger portion 66 that pushes the resilient contact 60 toward the stationary contact 58 as the housing is pivoted from the open to the closed position . in the open position the resilient contact 60 is touching the stationary contact as seen in fig5 a , while in the closed position the resilient contact 60 is separated or disconnected from the stationary contact 58 as seen in fig5 b . it is an advantage that the light bulb 40 is off while in the closed position so that the battery 24 is not unnecessarily drained .	1
although the disclosure hereof is detailed and exact to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention the physical embodiments herein disclosed merely exemplify the invention which may be embodied in other specific structures . while the preferred embodiment has been described , the details may be changed without departing from the invention which is defined by the claims . fig1 is an illustration of a system 2309 including a generator 2301 , applicator 2320 ( which may also be referred to as re - usable ) and disposable 2363 according to an embodiment of the invention . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator 2320 and disposable 2363 may comprise a medical treatment device 2300 . according to an embodiment of the invention generator 2301 may operate in the ism band of 5 . 775 to 5 . 825 ghz . according to an embodiment of the invention generator 2301 may have a frequency centered at approximately 5 . 8 ghz . according to an embodiment of the invention generator 2301 includes circuitry for setting and controlling output power ; measuring forward and reverse power and setting alarms . according to an embodiment of the invention generator 2301 may have a power output of between approximately 40 watts and approximately 100 watts . according to an embodiment of the invention generator 2301 may have a power output of between approximately 40 watts and approximately 100 watts where said output is measured into a 50 ohm load . according to an embodiment of the invention generator 2301 may have a power output of approximately 55 watts measured into a 50 ohm load . according to an embodiment of the invention disposable 2363 and applicator 2320 may be formed into two separable units . according to an embodiment of the invention disposable 2363 and applicator 2320 may be formed into a single unit . according to an embodiment of the invention when combined disposable 2363 and applicator 2320 may form a medical treatment device 2300 . according to an embodiment of the invention generator 2301 may be a microwave generator . according to an embodiment of the invention in system 2309 applicator 2320 may be connected to generator 2301 by applicator cable 2334 . according to an embodiment of the invention in system 2309 applicator cable 2334 may include coolant conduit 2324 , energy cable 2322 , coolant thermocouple wires 2331 , cooling plate thermocouple wires 2330 and antenna switch signal 2481 . according to an embodiment of the invention in system 2309 coolant conduit 2324 may be connected to a coolant source 2310 ( which may be , for example , a nanotherm industrial recirculation chiller with 8 pounds per square inch pump output pressure available from thermotek , inc ). according to an embodiment of the invention in system 2309 energy cable 2322 may be connected to generator 2301 by microwave output connector 2443 . according to an embodiment of the invention in system 2309 antenna switch signal 2481 may be connected to generator 2301 by antenna switch connector 2480 . according to an embodiment of the invention in system 2309 disposable 2363 may be connected to generator 2301 by vacuum tubing 2319 which may include generator bio - barrier 2317 , which may be , for example , a hydrophobic filter . according to an embodiment of the invention in system 2309 vacuum tubing 2319 may be connected to generator 2301 by vacuum port connector 2484 . according to an embodiment of the invention in system 2309 front panel 2305 of generator 2301 may include power control knob 2454 , vacuum control knob 2456 , antenna select switch 2462 ( which may include both display elements and selection switches ), vacuum meter 2486 , antenna temperature display 2458 , coolant temperature display 2460 , pre - cool timer 2468 ( which may include both display elements and time set elements ), energy timer 2470 ( which may include both display elements and time set elements ), post - cool timer 2472 ( which may include both display elements and time set elements ), start button 2464 , stop button 2466 , ready indicator 2476 and fault indicator 2474 . according to an embodiment of the invention an error signal is sent to generator 2301 if a measured signal is outside of the specification for the requested power set by the power control knob 2454 on front panel 2305 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum tube 2319 may include a flexible vacuum hose 2329 and a generator bio - barrier 2317 . according to an embodiment of the invention flexible vacuum hose 2329 is adapted to collect fluids , such as , for example sweat or blood , which may escape disposable 2363 so that such fluids do not reach generator 2301 . according to an embodiment of the invention generator bio - barrier 2317 may include a hydrophobic filter to keep fluids out of vacuum port connector 2484 of generator 2301 . according to an embodiment of the invention generator bio - barrier 2317 may include a hydrophobic filter , such as , for example , a millex fh filter made of 0 . 45 micrometer hydrophobic ptfe which is available from milipore . according to an embodiment of the invention generator bio - barrier 2317 may be positioned in vacuum tube 2319 between flexible vacuum hose 2329 and vacuum port connector 2484 . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator cable 2334 may connect generator 2301 to applicator 2320 . according to an embodiment of the invention cooling plate thermocouple wires 2330 and coolant thermocouple wires 2331 may be connected to generator 2301 by temperature connector 2482 . according to an embodiment of the invention coolant conduit 2324 may convey cooling fluid from a coolant source 2310 to applicator 2320 . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator cable 2334 may convey microwave switch selection data to applicator 2320 and temperature data from thermocouples in applicator 2320 to generator 2301 . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator cable 2334 may comprise one or more separate cables and connectors . according to an embodiment of the invention a generator connector may be designed and adapted to connect applicator cable 2334 to generator 2301 , including connections for cooling conduit 2324 , antenna switch signal 2481 , energy cable 2322 , cooling plate thermocouple wires 2330 and coolant thermocouple wires 2331 . fig2 is a perspective view of a medical treatment device 2300 including an applicator 2320 and disposable 2363 according to an embodiment of the invention . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator 2320 may be attached to disposable 2363 by latching mechanism 2365 . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator 2320 may include applicator cable 2334 . according to an embodiment of the invention disposable 2363 may include vacuum tubing 2319 , tissue chamber 2338 and tissue interface surface 2336 . fig3 is an end on view of a distal end of a medical treatment device 2300 including an applicator 2320 and disposable 2363 according to an embodiment of the invention . according to an embodiment of the invention disposable 2363 may include tissue bio - barrier 2337 . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator 2320 may include cooling plate 2340 , which may be , for example , positioned behind tissue bio - barrier 2337 . according to an embodiment of the invention tissue bio - barrier 2337 may form a portion of tissue interface surface 2336 . according to an embodiment of the invention latching mechanism 2365 may be used to facilitate the connection of disposable 2363 to applicator 2320 . fig4 is a perspective view of a medical treatment device 2300 including an exploded perspective view of an applicator 2320 and a view of disposable 2363 according to the present invention . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator 2320 may include a cooling plate 2340 , separation ribs 2393 , intermediate scattering elements 3393 , antenna cradle 2374 , waveguide assembly 2358 and antenna switch 2357 . according to an embodiment of the invention waveguide assembly 2358 may include antennas 2364 ( a - d ). according to an embodiment of the invention disposable 2363 may include vacuum tubing 2319 , latching elements 2359 and vacuum seal 2348 . fig5 is a view of a medical treatment device 2300 according to an embodiment of the present invention including a cutaway view of applicator 2320 and disposable 2363 . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator 2320 may include antenna array 2355 , antenna switch 2357 and applicator cable 2334 . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator cable 2334 may include cooling plate thermocouple wires 2330 , coolant thermocouple wires 2331 , coolant supply tubing 2312 , coolant return tubing 2313 , antenna switch signal 2481 , energy cable 2322 . according to an embodiment of the invention cooling plate thermocouple wires 2330 may include one or more thermocouple wires which may be attached to an or more thermocouples positioned opposite an output of antenna array 2355 . according to an embodiment of the invention coolant thermocouple wires 2331 may include one or more thermocouple wires attached to an or more cooling path thermocouples 2326 which may be positioned to measure coolant fluid , such as , for example , in coolant return tubing 2313 . according to an embodiment of the invention one or more cooling path thermocouples 2326 may be positioned to measure the temperature of cooling fluid 2361 after it passes through coolant chamber 2360 . according to an embodiment of the invention one or more cooling path thermocouples 2326 may be located in coolant return tubing 2313 . according to an embodiment of the invention cooling path thermocouples 2326 may function to provide feedback to generator 2301 indicative of the temperature of cooling fluid 2361 after cooling fluid 2361 passes through coolant chamber 2360 . according to an embodiment of the invention disposable 2363 may include latching element 2359 . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator cable 2334 may include interconnect cables 2372 to transmit signals to antenna array 2355 . according to an embodiment of the invention antenna array 2355 may include antenna cradle 2374 . fig6 is a perspective view of disposable 2363 according to an embodiment of the invention . fig7 is a view of the proximal side of disposable 2363 according to an embodiment of the invention . fig8 is a side view of one end of disposable 2363 according to an embodiment of the invention . fig9 is a side view of one end of disposable 2363 according to an embodiment of the invention . fig1 is a view of the distal side of disposable 2363 according to an embodiment of the invention . fig1 is a side view of disposable 2363 according to an embodiment of the invention . fig1 is a cutaway side view of disposable 2363 according to an embodiment of the invention . fig1 is a cutaway side view of disposable 2363 according to an embodiment of the invention . fig1 is a cutaway perspective view of disposable 2363 according to an embodiment of the invention . fig1 is a top perspective view of a proximal end of disposable 2363 according to an embodiment of the invention . according to an embodiment of the invention disposable 2363 may include tissue interface surface 2336 , tissue chamber 2338 and alignment features 3352 . according to an embodiment of the invention tissue interface surface 2336 may form a back wall of tissue chamber 2338 . according to an embodiment of the invention tissue interface surface 2336 may include tissue bio - barrier 2337 and vacuum passage 3333 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum passage 3333 may also be referred to as a lip or rim . according to an embodiment of the invention disposable 2363 may include alignment features 3352 and vacuum tubing 2319 . according to an embodiment of the invention disposable 2363 may include compliant member 2375 . according to an embodiment of the invention chamber walls 2354 may include a compliant member 2375 . according to an embodiment of the invention compliant member 2375 may be formed from a compliant material , such as , for example , rubber , coated urethane foam ( with a compliant plastic or rubber seal coating ), silicone , polyurethane or heat sealed open cell foam . according to an embodiment of the invention compliant member 2375 may be positioned around the outer edge of tissue chamber 2338 to facilitate the acquisition of tissue . according to an embodiment of the invention compliant member 2375 may be positioned around the outer edge of chamber opening 2339 to facilitate the acquisition of tissue . according to an embodiment of the invention compliant member 2375 may facilitate the engagement of tissue which is not flat , such as , for example tissue in the axilla . according to an embodiment of the invention compliant member 2375 may facilitate the engagement of tissue which is not flat , such as , for example tissue in the outer regions of the axilla . according to an embodiment of the invention compliant member 2375 may provide improved sealing characteristics between the skin and tissue chamber 2338 , particularly where the skin is not flat . according to an embodiment of the invention compliant member 2375 may speed the acquisition of tissue in tissue chamber 2338 , particularly where the skin is not flat . according to an embodiment of the invention compliant member 2375 may have a height of between approximately 0 . 15 inches and approximately 0 . 40 inches above chamber opening 2339 when compliant member 2375 is not compressed . according to an embodiment of the invention compliant member 2375 may have a height of approximately 0 . 25 inches above chamber opening 2339 when compliant member 2375 is not compressed . according to an embodiment of the invention alignment features 3352 may be positioned at a distance which facilitate appropriate placement of applicator 2320 during treatment . according to an embodiment of the invention alignment features 3352 may be positioned approximately 30 . 7 millimeters apart . according to an embodiment of the invention alignment features 3352 may be further positioned and may be designed to assist a physician in positioning applicator 2320 prior to the application of energy . according to an embodiment of the invention alignment features 3352 on disposable 2363 assist the user in properly positioning the applicator prior to treatment and in moving the applicator to the next treatment region during a procedure . according to an embodiment of the invention alignment features 3352 on disposable 2363 , when used with marks or landmarks in a treatment region facilitate the creation of a continuous lesion . according to an embodiment of the invention alignment features 3352 may be used to align medical treatment device 2300 before suction is applied . according to an embodiment of the invention an outer edge of compliant member 2375 may assist a user in aligning medical treatment device 2300 . according to an embodiment of the invention compliant member 2375 , which may also be referred to as a skirt or flexible skirt , may be manufactured from silicone . according to an embodiment of the invention compliant member 2375 may extend approximately 0 . 25 ″ from rigid surface 3500 . according to an embodiment of the invention a counter sink or dovetail notch 2356 may be positioned in rigid disposable surface 3500 around the outer edge of chamber opening 2339 to assist in alignment of compliant member 2375 . according to an embodiment of the invention the compliant member 2375 may have a durometer density rating ( softness ) of approximately a60 which may help compliant member 2375 to maintain its shape better while being easier to mold . according to an embodiment of the invention colorant may be used in compliant member 2375 to contrast with skin viewed through compliant member 2375 , making it easier for user , such as a physician to distinguish between skin and a distal surface of compliant member 2375 . according to an embodiment of the invention colorant may be used in compliant member 2375 to make it easier for user , such as a physician to distinguish between skin and an outer edge of compliant member 2375 . according to an embodiment of the invention colorant may be used in compliant member 2375 to help a user distinguish an edge of compliant member 2375 from surrounding skin and assist in aligning of medical treatment device 2300 . according to an embodiment of the invention the angle of compliant member 2375 relative to rigid surface 3500 may be approximately 53 degrees when compliant member 2375 is not compressed . according to an embodiment of the invention disposable 2363 includes applicator chamber 2346 . according to an embodiment of the invention disposable 2363 may include an applicator chamber 2346 which may be formed , at least in part , by tissue bio - barrier 2337 . according to an embodiment of the invention disposable 2363 may include applicator bio - barrier 2332 ( which may be , for example , a polyethylene film , available from fisher scientific ), and vacuum passage 3333 . according to an embodiment of the invention a counter bore may positioned between applicator bio - barrier 2332 and applicator chamber 2346 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum passage 3333 connects vacuum channel 3350 to tissue chamber 2338 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum channel 3350 may also be referred to as a reservoir or vacuum reservoir . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum connector 2328 is connected to vacuum passage 3333 through vacuum channel 3350 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum channel 3350 may connect vacuum passages 3333 connect vacuum connector 2328 in tissue chamber 2338 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum passages 3333 form a direct path to tissue interface surface 2336 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum passages 3333 and vacuum channel 3350 may be adapted to restrict the movement of fluids from tissue chamber 2338 to applicator bio - barrier 2332 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum connector 2328 may be positioned on the same side of disposable 2363 as applicator bio - barrier 2332 . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator bio - barrier 2332 may be designed to prevent fluids from tissue chamber 2338 from reaching applicator chamber 2346 , particularly when there is back pressure caused by , for example , a vacuum created in tissue chamber 2338 as tissue is pulled away from tissue interface surface 2336 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum pressure may be used to support tissue acquisition in tissue chamber 2338 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum pressure may be used to pull tissue into tissue chamber 2338 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum pressure may be used to maintain tissue in tissue chamber 2338 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum channel 2350 may surround tissue interface surface 2336 . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator bio - barrier 2332 may be positioned between vacuum passages 3333 and applicator chamber 2346 . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator bio - barrier 2332 may be a membrane which may be adapted to be permeable to air but substantially impermeable to biological fluids such as , for example , blood and sweat . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator bio - barrier 2332 may be a hydrophobic membrane filter . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator bio - barrier 2332 may be made of polyethylene film , nylon or other suitable materials . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator bio - barrier 2332 may include pores having sizes sufficient to pass enough air to substantially equalize the vacuum pressure in applicator chamber 2346 and in tissue chamber 2338 without passing biological fluids from tissue chamber 2338 to applicator chamber 2346 . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator bio - barrier 2332 may include pores having sizes of approximately 0 . 45 micrometers . according to an embodiment of the invention when the vacuum is turned on , and before pressure is equalized , applicator bio - barrier 2332 may induce a minimal pressure drop between vacuum passages 3333 and the applicator chamber 2346 . according to an embodiment of the invention applicator chamber 2346 and tissue chamber 2338 may be separated , at least in part , by tissue bio - barrier 2337 . according to an embodiment of the invention tissue chamber 2338 may include tissue interface surface 2336 and chamber wall 2354 . according to an embodiment of the invention tissue chamber opening 2339 has dimensions which facilitate the acquisition of tissue . according to an embodiment of the invention tissue chamber 2339 may be sized to facilitate tissue acquisition while being large enough to prevent interference with energy radiated from waveguide antennas 2364 in antenna array 2355 when applicator 2320 is attached to disposable 2363 . according to an embodiment of the invention a vacuum circuit 3341 may include vacuum passages 3333 , vacuum channel 3350 and may encircle tissue chamber 3338 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum channel 3350 may be positioned around tissue chamber 2338 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum passage 3333 may be positioned around a proximal end of tissue chamber 2338 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum passage 3333 may be positioned around a proximal end of tissue chamber 2338 between tissue bio - barrier 2337 and a proximal end of chamber wall 2354 . according to an embodiment of the invention an opening to vacuum passage 3333 may be approximately 0 . 020 inches in height . according to an embodiment of the invention an opening to vacuum passage 3333 may be approximately 0 . 010 inches in height when disposable 2363 is attached to applicator 2320 and tissue bio - barrier 2337 is stretched into tissue chamber 2338 by a distal end of applicator 2320 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum passage 3333 may have an opening height which is too small for tissue to invade when a vacuum is applied . according to an embodiment of the invention disposable 2363 may be manufactured from a clear or substantially clear material to assist a user , such as a physician in viewing tissue engagement . according to an embodiment of the invention the disposable 2363 may have an outer angle to allow a user to see alignment features 3352 on compliant member 2375 to assist a user in aligning medical treatment device 2300 . according to an embodiment of the invention an angle around the outside of disposable 2363 provides a user with a direct view of alignment features 3352 . according to an embodiment of the invention tissue chamber 2338 may have dimensions of approximately 1 . 54 inches by approximately 0 . 7 inches . according to an embodiment of the invention the 4 corners of tissue chamber 2338 may have a radius of 0 . 1875 inches . according to an embodiment of the invention antenna array 2335 may include four antennas and may have dimensions of approximately 1 . 34 inches by approximately 0 . 628 inches . according to an embodiment of the invention the dimensions of the waveguide array 2335 and tissue chamber 2338 may be optimized to minimizing stray fields forming at the edges of waveguide array 2335 as well as optimizing the effective cooling area of tissue interface surface 2336 . according to an embodiment of the invention tissue chamber 2338 may be optimized to facilitate tissue acquisition without adversely impacting cooling or energy transmission . fig1 is a perspective view of antenna array 2355 according to an embodiment of the invention . according to an embodiment of the invention antenna array 2355 may include antenna cradle 2374 . according to an embodiment of the invention antenna cradle 2374 may include reservoir inlet 2384 and antenna chamber 2377 . according to an embodiment of the invention waveguide assembly 2358 may include one or more spacer 3391 ( which may be , for example , copper shims ) positioned between waveguide antennas 2364 . according to an embodiment of the invention spacer 3391 may be positioned between waveguide antenna 2364 a and waveguide antenna 2364 b . according to an embodiment of the invention spacer 3391 may be positioned between waveguide antenna 2364 b and waveguide antenna 2364 c . according to an embodiment of the invention spacer 3391 may be positioned between waveguide antenna 2364 c and waveguide antenna 2364 d . according to an embodiment of the invention microwave energy may be supplied to each waveguide antenna through feed connectors 2388 . according to an embodiment of the invention waveguide assembly 2358 may be held together by a waveguide assembly frame 2353 . according to an embodiment of the invention waveguide assembly frame 2353 may include feed brackets 2351 and assembly bolts 2349 . according to an embodiment of the invention antenna array 2355 may include antenna cradle 2374 and least one waveguide antenna 2364 . according to an embodiment of the invention antenna array 2355 may include one or more spacer 3391 . according to an embodiment of the invention antenna array 2355 may include four waveguide antennas 2364 a , 2364 b , 2364 c and 2364 d . according to an embodiment of the invention the heights of waveguide antennas 2364 in antenna array 2355 may be staggered to facilitate access to feed connectors 2388 . according to an embodiment of the invention one or more waveguide antenna 2364 in antenna array 2355 may include tuning element 2390 . fig1 is an end view of a portion of antenna array 2355 according to an embodiment of the invention . fig1 is a cutaway side view of a portion antenna array 2355 according to an embodiment of the invention . fig1 is a cutaway side view of a portion antenna array 2355 according to an embodiment of the invention . according to an embodiment of the invention antenna array 2355 includes coolant chambers 2360 ( for example coolant chambers 2360 a , 2360 b , 2360 c and 2360 d ), intermediate scattering elements 3393 , separation ribs 2393 and scattering elements 2378 ( for example scattering elements 2378 a , 2378 b , 2378 c and 2378 d ). according to an embodiment of the invention scattering elements 2378 may also be referred to as central scattering elements . according to an embodiment of the invention coolant chambers 2360 a - 2360 d may be located beneath waveguide antenna 2364 a - 2364 d . according to an embodiment of the invention coolant chambers 2360 may include separation ribs 2393 on either side of antenna array 2355 and intermediate scattering elements 3393 between antennas 2364 . according to an embodiment of the invention an intermediate scattering element 3393 may be positioned between waveguide antenna 2364 a and waveguide antenna 2364 b . according to an embodiment of the invention an intermediate scattering element 3393 may be positioned between waveguide antenna 2364 b and waveguide antenna 2364 c . according to an embodiment of the invention an intermediate scattering element 3393 may be positioned between waveguide antenna 2364 c and waveguide antenna 2364 d . according to an embodiment of the invention cooling fluid flowing through coolant chambers 2360 may have a flow rate of between approximately 200 milliliters per minute and approximately 450 milliliters per minute and preferably approximately 430 milliliters per minute . according to an embodiment of the invention coolant chambers 2360 may be designed to ensure that the flow rate through each coolant chamber 2360 is substantially the same . according to an embodiment of the invention coolant the flow rate of cooling fluid through coolant chamber 2360 a is the same as the flow rate of cooling fluid through coolant chamber 2360 b . according to an embodiment of the invention coolant the flow rate of cooling fluid through coolant chamber 2360 a is the same as the flow rate of cooling fluid through coolant chambers 2360 b , 2360 c and 2360 d . according to an embodiment of the invention cooling fluid flowing through coolant chamber 2360 may have a temperature of between approximately 8 degrees centigrade and approximately 22 degrees centigrade and preferably approximately 15 degrees centigrade . according to an embodiment of the invention coolant chambers 2360 may be positioned between an aperture of waveguide antenna 2364 cooling plate 2340 . according to an embodiment of the invention scattering elements 2378 may extend into at least a portion of coolant chambers 2360 . according to an embodiment of the invention scattering elements 2378 may extend through coolant chambers 2360 . according to an embodiment of the invention scattering elements 2378 and intermediate scattering elements 3393 may extend through coolant chambers 2360 to contact a proximal surface of cooling plate 2340 . according to an embodiment of the invention elements of coolant chamber 2360 may be smoothed or rounded to promote laminar fluid flow through coolant chambers 2360 . according to an embodiment of the invention elements of coolant chambers 2360 may be smoothed to reduce the generation of air bubbles in coolant chamber 2360 . according to an embodiment of the invention scattering elements 2378 which extend into coolant chambers 2360 may be rounded to promote laminar flow and prevent the buildup of bubbles in coolant chamber 2360 . according to an embodiment of the invention scattering elements 2378 may be formed in the shape of ovals or racetracks . according to an embodiment of the invention square edges or sharp corners in coolant chamber 2360 may result in undesirable flow characteristics , including the generation of air bubbles , as cooling fluid moves through coolant chamber 2360 . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be positioned between separate individual coolant chambers 2360 . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be positioned such that they facilitate equalized cooling across cooling plate 2340 . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be sized such that they have a width which is equal to or less than the separation distance between apertures of waveguide antennas 2364 . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be sized and positioned such that they are not positioned an aperture of waveguide antenna 2364 . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be sized and positioned such that they modify a microwave field as it travels through coolant chamber 2360 . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be sized and positioned such that they modify a microwave field radiated from waveguide antenna 2364 . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be sized and positioned such that they spread out a microwave field as it travels through coolant chamber 2360 . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may cause disruption or perturbation of microwave energy radiated from waveguide antenna 2364 . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be made of materials which will not rust or degrade in cooling fluid . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be made of materials which improve the sar pattern in tissue . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be made of materials , such as dielectric materials , which are used to form scattering elements 2378 . according to an embodiment of the invention fig1 through 19 may also include waveguide assembly 2358 , feed connectors 2388 , antenna chamber 2377 , spacers 3391 , cradle channels 2389 and antenna cradle 2374 . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be positioned between waveguide antennas 2364 . according to an embodiment of the invention the size and shape of the intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be designed to optimize the size and shape of lesions developed in the skin between waveguide antennas 2364 . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may make lesions created in tissue between waveguide antennas 2364 larger and more spread out . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may make lesions created in tissue between waveguide antennas 2364 narrower . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may have an optimal length which is shorter than the length of scattering elements 2378 . according to an embodiment of the invention scattering elements 2378 may be approximately 7 millimeters in length . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may have an optimal length which is approximately 6 . 8 millimeters . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be manufactured from , for example , alumina . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be manufactured from , for example , a material which is approximately 96 % alumina . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be manufactured from , for example , silicone . according to an embodiment of the invention the intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be manufactured from a material having the same dielectric constant as scattering elements 2378 . according to an embodiment of the invention the intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be manufactured from a material having approximately the same dielectric constant as scattering elements 2378 . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be manufactured from a material having a dielectric constant of approximately 10 . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be manufactured from a material having a dielectric constant of approximately 3 . according to an embodiment of the invention increasing the dielectric constant of intermediate scattering element 3393 may reduce the size of a lesion created in skin between waveguide antennas 2364 . according to an embodiment of the invention intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be inserted into tung and grove slots between wave antennas 2364 . according to an embodiment of the invention thermocouples may be positioned beneath one or more of intermediate scattering elements 3393 . according to an embodiment of the invention thermocouples may be positioned each of intermediate scattering elements 3393 . fig2 , 21 and 22 are simplified cutaway views of a medical treatment device 2300 with tissue engaged according to an embodiment of the invention . according to an embodiment of the invention skin 1307 is engaged in treatment device 2300 . according to an embodiment of the invention dermis 1305 and hypodermis 1303 are engaged in medical treatment device 2300 . according to an embodiment of the invention skin surface 1306 is engaged in medical treatment device 2300 such that skin surface 1306 is in thermal contact with at least a portion of cooling plate 2340 . according to an embodiment of the invention skin surface 1306 is engaged in medical treatment device 2300 such that skin surface 1306 is in contact with at least a portion of tissue interface 2336 . according to an embodiment of the invention a vacuum pressure may be used to elevate dermis 1305 and hypodermis 1303 , separating dermis 1305 and hypodermis 1303 from muscle 1301 . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum pressure may be used to elevate dermis 1305 and hypodermis 1303 , separating dermis 1305 and hypodermis 1303 from muscle 1301 to , for example , protect muscle 1301 by limiting or eliminating the electromagnetic energy which reaches muscle 1301 . according to an embodiment of the invention waveguide assembly 2358 may include one or more waveguide antennas 2364 . according to an embodiment of the invention electromagnetic energy , such as , for example , microwave energy may be radiated into dermis 1305 by medical treatment device 2300 . according to an embodiment of the invention medical treatment device 2300 may include coolant chamber 2360 and cooling plate 2340 . according to an embodiment of the invention a peak which may be , for example , a peak sar , peak power loss density or peak temperature , is generated in first tissue region 1309 . according to an embodiment of the invention first tissue region 1309 may represent a lesion created by energy , such as , for example , microwave energy radiated from medical treatment device 2300 . according to an embodiment of the invention first tissue region 1309 may represent a lesion created by microwave energy radiated from one or more of waveguide antennas 2364 . according to an embodiment of the invention first tissue region 1309 may be initiated in skin 1307 between first waveguide antenna 2364 and a second waveguide antenna 2364 . according to an embodiment of the invention first tissue region 1309 may be initiated in skin 1307 between first waveguide antenna 2364 a and a second waveguide antenna 2364 b . according to an embodiment of the invention first tissue region 1309 may be initiated in skin 1307 underlying intermediate scattering element 3393 . according to an embodiment of the invention a reduced magnitude which may be , for example , a reduced sar , reduced power loss density or reduced temperature , is generated in second tissue region 1311 with further reduced magnitudes in third tissue region 1313 and fourth tissue region 1315 . as illustrated in fig2 through 22 , dermis 1305 is separated from hypodermis 1303 by interface 1308 . as illustrated in fig2 through 22 interface 1308 may be idealized as a substantially straight line for the purposes of simplified illustration however in actual tissue , interface 1308 may be a non - linear , non continuous , rough interface which may also include many tissue structures and groups of tissue structures which cross and interrupt tissue interface 1308 . according to an embodiment of the invention electromagnetic radiation may be radiated at a frequency of , for example , between 5 and 6 . 5 ghz . according to an embodiment of the invention electromagnetic radiation may be radiated at a frequency of , for example , approximately 5 . 8 ghz . according to an embodiment of the invention scattering element 2378 may be located in coolant chamber 2360 and intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be located between coolant chambers 2360 . according to an embodiment of the invention scattering element 2378 and intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be used to , for example , spread and flatten first tissue region 1309 . according to an embodiment of the invention scattering element 2378 and intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be used to , for example , spread and flatten a region , such as first tissue region 1309 , of peak sar in tissue . according to an embodiment of the invention scattering element 2378 and intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be used to , for example , spread and flatten a region , such as first tissue region 1309 , of peak power loss density in tissue . according to an embodiment of the invention scattering element 2378 and intermediate scattering elements 3393 may be used to , for example , spread and flatten a region , such as first tissue region 1309 , of peak temperature in tissue . according to an embodiment of the invention scattering element 2378 and scattering elements 3393 may be used to , for example , spread and flatten lesions formed in first tissue region 1309 . according to an embodiment of the invention the creation of lesions , such as for example , a lesion in tissue region 1309 may be used to treat the skin of patients . according to an embodiment of the invention the creation of lesions , such as for example , a lesion in tissue region 1309 may be used to damage or destroy structures , such as , for example , sweat glands in the skin of a patient . fig2 is a graphical illustration of a pattern of lesions in tissue according to an embodiment of the invention . according to an embodiment of the invention lesions may be created in a predetermined order , such as , for example a - b - c - d where : a represents a lesion initiated directly under waveguide antenna 2364 a ; b represents a lesion initiated directly under waveguide antenna 2364 b ; c represents a lesion initiated directly under waveguide antenna 2364 c ; d represents a lesion initiated directly under waveguide antenna 2364 d . according to an embodiment of the invention lesions may be created in a predetermined order such as , for example , a - ab - b - bc - c - cd - d where : a represents a lesion initiated directly under waveguide antenna 2364 a ; ab represents a lesion initiated under the intersection between waveguide antenna 2364 a and waveguide antenna 2364 b ; b represents a lesion initiated directly under waveguide antenna 2364 b ; bc represents a lesion initiated under the intersection between waveguide antenna 2364 b and waveguide antenna 2364 c ; c represents a lesion initiated directly under waveguide antenna 2364 c ; cd represents a lesion initiated under the intersection between waveguide antenna 2364 c and waveguide antenna 2364 d ; and d represents a lesion initiated directly under waveguide antenna 2364 d . according to an embodiment of the invention a lesion ab may be created between waveguide antenna 2364 a and waveguide antenna 2364 b , by driving waveguide antenna 2364 a and waveguide antenna 2364 b simultaneously in phase and with a balanced output from each antenna . according to an embodiment of the invention a lesion bc may be created between waveguide antenna 2364 b and waveguide antenna 2364 c , by driving waveguide antenna 2364 b and waveguide antenna 2364 c simultaneously in phase and with a balanced output from each waveguide antenna . according to an embodiment of the invention a lesion cd may be created between waveguide antenna 2364 c and waveguide antenna 2364 d , by driving waveguide antenna 2364 c and waveguide antenna 2364 d simultaneously in phase and with a balanced output from each waveguide antenna . fig2 is a treatment template 2483 according to an embodiment of the invention . according to an embodiment of the invention treatment template 2483 may include axilla outline 2497 , anesthesia injection sites 2485 , landmark alignment marks 2497 , device alignment points 2498 and device alignment lines 2499 . according to an embodiment of the invention axilla outline 2497 may be matched to the hair bearing area of a patient to select an appropriate treatment template 2483 . according to an embodiment of the invention anesthesia injection sites 2485 may be used to identify appropriate points in the axilla for the injection of anesthesia . according to an embodiment of the invention landmark alignment marks may be used to align treatment template 2483 to landmarks , such as , for example , tattoos or moles on the axilla . according to an embodiment of the invention device alignment points 2498 may be used in conjunction with alignment features 3352 to properly align medical treatment device 2300 . according to an embodiment of the invention device alignment lines 2499 may be used in conjunction with an outer edge of compliant member 2375 to properly align medical treatment device 2300 . according to an embodiment of the invention treatment template 2384 provides guidance and placement information for medical treatment device 2300 in matrix format . according to an embodiment of the invention a medical device disposable may include : a tissue chamber may have a tissue opening at a distal end and a rigid surface surrounding the tissue opening ; an applicator chamber ; a flexible bio - barrier at a proximal end of the tissue chamber the flexible bio - barrier separating the tissue chamber and the applicator chamber , a portion of the flexible bio - barrier forming a tissue contacting surface ; a compliant member surrounding the tissue opening , the compliant member may have a proximal opening adjacent the tissue opening and a distal opening , wherein the distal opening may be larger than the proximal opening . according to an embodiment of the invention the medical device disposable compliant member may be positioned at an angle of approximately fifty - three degrees with respect to the rigid surface . according to an embodiment of the invention the compliant member may include a wall connecting the proximal opening and the distal opening and the wall may be angled approximately fifty - three degrees with respect to the rigid surface . according to an embodiment of the invention the compliant member may further include an outer rim positioned around the distal opening . according to an embodiment of the invention : the outer rim may extend a distance of approximately 0 . 033 inches from the distal opening ; the compliant member may have a height of approximately 0 . 25 inches ; the tissue opening may have a long axis and a short axis , the tissue opening long axis may be approximately 1 . 875 inches and the tissue opening short axis may be approximately 1 . 055 inches ; the distal opening in the compliant member may have a long axis and a short axis , the distal opening long axis may be approximately 2 . 429 inches and the distal opening short axis may be approximately 1 . 609 inches ; the tissue contact surface may have a long axis and a short axis , the long axis may be approximately 1 . 54 inches and the short axis may be approximately 0 . 700 inches . according to an embodiment of the invention the wall may be substantially straight . according to an embodiment of the invention the compliant member may include one or more alignment marks , at least one of the alignment marks may be positioned on a long side of the compliant member . according to an embodiment of the invention the alignment marks may be positioned on a wall of the skirt and may extend from approximately the rim toward the tissue opening . according to an embodiment of the invention the alignment marks may move with respect to an applicator positioned in the applicator chamber when the medical device disposable is pressed against tissue with sufficient pressure to compress the compliant member . according to an embodiment of the invention the wall may have a thickness of approximately 0 . 050 inches . according to an embodiment of the invention the tissue chamber may include a chamber wall extending from the tissue opening to approximately the tissue contact surface , the wall may also include a substantially smooth , radiused surface . according to an embodiment of the invention the radiused surface may have a radius of approximately three - sixteenths of an inch . according to an embodiment of the invention the compliant member may have durometer density rating of approximately a60 . according to an embodiment of the invention a medical device disposable may include : a tissue chamber including a tissue contact surface at a proximal end of the tissue chamber and a tissue opening at a distal end of the tissue chamber ; an applicator chamber ; a flexible bio - barrier at a proximal end of the tissue chamber the flexible bio - barrier separating the tissue chamber and the applicator chamber , the flexible bio - barrier forming at least a portion of the tissue contact surface ; a vacuum port ; a vacuum circuit connecting the tissue chamber , the applicator chamber and the vacuum port , the vacuum circuit including a vacuum passage . according to an embodiment of the invention the vacuum circuit may include : a vacuum passage positioned around the tissue contact surface ; a vacuum channel positioned around the vacuum passage , the vacuum channel positioned between the vacuum passage and the vacuum port ; an applicator bio - barrier positioned between the vacuum port and the applicator chamber , the applicator bio - barrier being substantially permeable to air and substantially impermeable to fluids . according to an embodiment of the invention the vacuum passage may completely surround the tissue interface surface . according to an embodiment of the invention the vacuum passage may substantially surrounds the tissue interface surface . according to an embodiment of the invention the vacuum passage may be positioned in a wall of the tissue chamber adjacent the tissue contact surface . according to an embodiment of the invention vacuum port may be connected to a vacuum tube . according to an embodiment of the invention the vacuum tube may include a generator bio - barrier . according to an embodiment of the invention the generator bio - barrier may be substantially permeable to air and being substantially impermeable to fluids . according to an embodiment of the invention the vacuum channel may include a well region adapted to collect fluids from the tissue chamber . according to an embodiment of the invention a compliant member may surround the tissue opening , the compliant member may have a proximal opening adjacent the tissue opening and a distal opening , wherein the distal opening may be larger than the proximal opening . according to an embodiment of the invention the vacuum passage may be an opening between a wall of the tissue chamber and the tissue bio - barrier . according to an embodiment of the invention the vacuum passage may be approximately 0 . 020 ″ inches wide . according to an embodiment of the invention the vacuum passage may be greater than approximately 0 . 010 ″ inches when the medical device disposable may be attached to an applicator . according to an embodiment of the invention the tissue surface may have an area greater than an outer area of an antenna array in an applicator affixed to the medical device disposable . according to an embodiment of the invention the tissue surface may have an area greater than an aperture area of an antenna array in an applicator affixed to the medical device disposable . according to an embodiment of the invention a method of creating a lesion in skin is described , the method including the steps of : positioning an apparatus including a plurality of antennas adjacent a skin surface ; supplying energy to a first antenna at a first power level for a first time period ; supplying energy to a second antenna at a second power level for a second time period ; supplying energy simultaneously to both the first antenna and the second antenna for a third time period , wherein , during the third time period the energy may be supplied to the first antenna at a third power level and the energy may be supplied to the second antenna at a fourth power level . according to an embodiment of the invention the energy supplied to the first antenna may be in phase with the energy supplied to the second antenna . according to an embodiment of the invention the energy supplied to the first antenna may be phase shifted from the energy supplied to the second antenna . according to an embodiment of the invention the energy supplied to the first antenna may be phase shifted approximately one hundred eighty degrees from the energy supplied to the second antenna . according to an embodiment of the invention the energy supplied to the first antenna may be phase shifted between one and one hundred eighty degrees from the energy supplied to the second antenna . according to an embodiment of the invention the energy output from the first antenna may be substantially in phase with energy output from the second antenna . according to an embodiment of the invention the energy supplied to the first antenna may be phase shifted from the energy supplied to the second antenna , the phase shift being sufficient to cause energy output from the first antenna to be in phase with energy output from the second antenna . according to an embodiment of the invention the energy supplied to the first and second antennas may be microwave energy having a frequency of approximately 5 . 8 ghz . according to an embodiment of the invention the first and second antennas may be microwave antennas . according to an embodiment of the invention the first and second antennas may be waveguide antennas . according to an embodiment of the invention the first and the second power levels may be substantially equal . according to an embodiment of the invention the first power level may be greater than the second power level . according to an embodiment of the invention the power emitted by the first antenna may be substantially equal to power emitted by the second antenna . according to an embodiment of the invention a medical device applicator may include : an antenna array including at least two antenna apertures ; at least one intermediate scattering element positioned outside the apertures wherein the at least one intermediate scattering element may be further positioned between the apertures . according to an embodiment of the invention each of the apertures may be substantially rectangular in shape , the apertures including a long axis and a short axis . according to an embodiment of the invention each of the intermediate scattering elements may include a long axis and a short axis wherein the long axis of the at least one intermediate scattering element may be substantially parallel to the long axis of the aperture . according to an embodiment of the invention the medical device applicator may include a cooling plate and the intermediate scattering element may be positioned between the antenna apertures and the cooling plate . according to an embodiment of the invention the medical device applicator may further include one or more coolant chambers positioned between the cooling plate and the antenna aperture . according to an embodiment of the invention the medical device applicator may include at least two central scattering elements positioned under the aperture wherein the at least one intermediate scattering element may be positioned between the central scattering elements . according to an embodiment of the invention the central scattering elements may be positioned substantially in a center of one of the antenna apertures . according to an embodiment of the invention the long axis of the intermediate scattering element may be shorter than the longest dimension of the central scattering element . according to an embodiment of the invention the intermediate scattering element may be manufactured from a material which may have the same dielectric constant as the central scattering element . according to an embodiment of the invention the intermediate scattering element may be made from alumina . according to an embodiment of the invention the intermediate scattering element may be made from a material which may be more than 90 percent alumina . according to an embodiment of the invention the intermediate scattering element may be made from a material which may be approximately 96 percent alumina . according to an embodiment of the invention the intermediate scattering element may be made from , for example silicone . according to an embodiment of the invention one or more temperature measurement devices may be positioned on the cooling plate under the intermediate scattering element . according to an embodiment of the invention the one or more temperature measurement device may be one or more thermocouples . according to an embodiment of the invention a medical device applicator may include at least a first and a second waveguide antenna and at least a first electrically conductive shim positioned between the waveguide antennas . according to an embodiment of the invention each of the waveguide antennas may include : a dielectric core having four sides ; metal plating on three sides of the dielectric core , the fourth side of the dielectric core forming an antenna aperture . according to an embodiment of the invention the electrically conductive shim may be copper . according to an embodiment of the invention the electrically conductive shim may be approximately 0 . 025 inches thick . according to an embodiment of the invention the electrically conductive shim may be positioned between the first and second waveguide antennas such that an edge of the electrically conductive shim may be adjacent the antenna apertures . according to an embodiment of the invention an intermediate scattering element may be positioned under the conductive shim . according to an embodiment of the invention central scattering elements may be positioned under the antenna apertures . according to an embodiment of the invention the medical device applicator may include a cooling plate . according to an embodiment of the invention the intermediate scattering element and the central scattering element may be positioned between the antenna apertures and the cooling plate . according to an embodiment of the invention the medical device applicator may include a coolant chamber positioned between the antenna apertures and the cooling plate . according to an embodiment of the invention the medical device applicator may include temperature sensors positioned on the cooling plate .	0
the processes described below are equally suitable for spinning yarns of polyester or polyamide . a polyester may be in particular polyethylene terephthalate . used as polyamides are in particular nylon 6 ( perlon ™) and nylon 6 . 6 . it should be expressly remarked that the process data indicated below are for polyester . they apply accordingly to polyamide yarns with deviations that are to be established by tests . described below is the spinning process . this description of the spinning process applies to both the embodiment of fig1 and the embodiment of fig2 except deviations as will be expressly identified . a yarn 1 is spun from a thermoplastic material . the thermoplastic material is supplied through a hopper 2 to an extruder 3 . the extruder 3 is driven by a motor 4 , which is controlled by a control unit 8 . in the extruder , the thermoplastic material is melted . the work of deformation , which is applied by the extruder , assists in the melting process on the one hand . in addition , a heater 5 in the form of a resistance heater is provided , which is controlled by a heating control unit 43 . through a melt line , the melt reaches a gear pump 9 , which is controlled by a pump motor 44 . the melt pressure before the pump is detected by a pressure sensor 7 , and maintained constant by feeding the pressure signal back to motor control unit 8 . the pump motor is controlled by a control unit 45 such as to permit a very fine adjustment of the pump speed . the pump 9 transports the melt flow to a heated spin box 10 , the underside of which mounts a spinneret 11 accommodated in a spin pack 53 ( note fig4 ). from spinneret 11 , the melt emerges in the form of fine filament strands 12 . the filament strands advance through a cooling shaft 14 . in the cooling shaft 14 , an air current 15 is directed transversely or radially to the web of filaments , thereby cooling the filaments . at the outlet of cooling shaft 14 , the web of filaments is combined by an applicator roll 13 to a yarn 1 , thereby receiving a liquid spin finish . the yarn is withdrawn from cooling shaft 14 and from spinneret 11 by a godet 16 . the yarn loops several times about the godet . to this end , a guide roll 17 is used , which is axially inclined relative to godet 16 the guide roll 17 is freely rotatable . the godet 16 is driven at a preadjustable speed by a motor 18 and a frequency changer 22 . this withdrawal speed is by a multiple higher than the natural exit speed of the filaments from spinneret 11 . the adjustment of the input frequency of frequency changer 22 allows to adjust the rotational speed of godet 16 , thereby determining the withdrawal speed of yarn 1 from spinneret 11 . up to this point , the description applies in like manner to the spinning process shown in fig2 . for the drawing step in the schematic illustration of fig1 the following description applies : downstream of godet 16 is a draw roll or godet 19 with a further guide roll 20 . with respect to their arrangement , both correspond to that of godet 16 with guide roll 17 . draw roll 19 is driven by a motor 21 with a frequency changer 23 . the input frequency of frequency changers 22 and 23 is evenly preset by a controllable frequency changer 24 . in this manner , it is possible to individually adjust on frequency changers 22 and 23 the speed of godet 16 and draw roll 19 respectively , whereas the speed level of godet 16 and draw roll 19 is adjusted collectively on frequency changer 24 . from draw roll 19 , the yarn 1 advances to a so - called &# 34 ; apex yarn guide &# 34 ; 25 , and thence into a traversing triangle 26 . the following description will apply in like manner to the takeup step in the process of fig1 and in the process of fig2 . in both figures , the yarn traversing mechanism is not shown . the traversing mechanism may be , for example , a cross - spiralled roll with a yarn guide traversing therein and reciprocating the yarn over the length of a package 33 . in so doing , the yarn loops about a contact roll 28 downstream of yarn traversing mechanism 27 . the contact roll 28 rests against the surface of package 33 . it is used to measure the surface speed of package 33 . the package 33 is wound on a tube 35 , which is clamped on a winding spindle 34 . the spindle 34 is driven by a motor 36 and a spindle control unit 37 such that the surface speed of package 33 remains constant . to this end and for use as a control variable , the speed of freely rotatable contact roll 28 is sensed and corrected by means of a ferromagnetic insert 30 and a magnetic pulse transmitter 31 . in the process of fig1 the adjustment of spindle control unit 37 allows to adapt the takeup speed to the circumferential speed of draw roll 19 . in the embodiment of fig2 the yarn advancing from godet 16 moves on directly to apex yarn guide 25 and into the traversing triangle 26 . in this embodiment , an adaptation occurs in corresponding manner between the circumferential speed of package 33 and the withdrawal speed , which is predetermined by godet 16 . in both cases , the circumferential speed of package 33 , which is sensed and corrected by contact roll 28 , is slightly lower than the circumferential speed of preceding godets 16 or 19 , since the takeup speed of the yarn results as a geometric sum from the circumferential speed of package 33 and the traversing speed of yarn traversing mechanism 27 which is not shown . fig3 is a schematic illustration of a draw - texturing process . the package 33 with a partially oriented yarn , which was produced by the spin process of fig2 is supplied to a draw - texturing machine . yarn guides 38 advance the partially oriented yarn to a first feed system 39 , from where the yarn passes through a heater 46 , a cooling rail 47 , a friction false twist unit 48 , to a second feed system 50 , so as to be subsequently wound to a package 52 . the feed systems 39 and 50 are driven at different speeds . as a result , the necessary drawing occurs in the false twist zone between these feed systems along with a heating and a false twist texturing . in the following , the processes of fig1 and 2 or 3 are described in more detail . referring now to fig1 a continuous spin - draw process is shown . in this process , the total denier results from the takeup speed and the flow rate of the melt . for example , a yarn having a total denier of 2 denier per filament is to be produced . the withdrawal speed is to be 3000 m / min . under normal circumstances , i . e . without heating the spinneret , this results in an elongation at break of the produced yarn of 120 %. in other words , this means that the withdrawn , partially oriented yarn can be drawn to 220 % of its length before breaking . as a consequence thereof , the draw ratio is about two thirds of this value , namely , for example 1 : 1 . 6 . this results in a withdrawal speed of 4800 m / min . ( 3000 m / min × 1 . 6 = 4800 m / min ). with a filament having , as aforesaid , a weight per unit length measure of 2 denier per filament and a number of 72 filaments , the result is a total denier of 150 . from this , the flow rate of the melt for each spinning position is 150 g / 9000 m × 4800 m / min = 80 g / min . assuming now that the withdrawal speed for the production of the same yarn is increased to 4000 m / min , the elongation at break will be 80 %, i . e ., the yarn can be drawn to 180 % of its length before breaking . when a draw ratio having again an approximate range of two thirds is selected , the draw ratio will be 1 : 1 . 2 . this means that the withdrawal speed is not increased . it is obvious that the flow rate of the melt discharged from the pump cannot be increased in the production of the same total denier . therefore , the increase in production or productivity is irrelevant . for this reason , a radiation heater is used below the spinneret , as shown in fig4 . in the following this radiation heater is described in like manner for the process of fig1 and 2 . the spinneret 11 is located in a nozzle pack 53 . the nozzle pack 53 is accommodated in spin box 10 , which is heated . details are not shown . arranged below the spinneret and directly adjacent thereto is a radiation heater 56 , which is constructed as a ring and made of steel . its inside surface 58 directed toward the center is formed by a conical surface , which faces the spinneret . a suitable angle of cone ( total angle ) is , for example , from 30 ° to 40 °. inserted into the radiation heater is an annular heating strip 57 , which may be a resistance heating wire . this resistance heating wire permits to heat the radiation heater to redness at temperatures from above 300 ° to about 800 ° c . very effective temperatures are in a range from 450 ° to 700 ° c . subjacent the radiation heater is air cooling 51 as has been described above . it shows now that at the same withdrawal speed of 3000 m / min and with a radiation toward the spinneret by means of the heated element , a substantial increase in the elongation at break will occur and , as a result , likewise an increase in the draw ratio of the yarn . with a radiation from the heater heated to 550 ° c ., it was possible to increase in the example the elongation at break and , thus , the draw ratio by 5 %. thus , a withdrawal speed of 3000 m / min resulted in a takeup speed likewise increased by 5 %, namely of 5040 m / min . in the production of the initially indicated yarn denier , this increased takeup speed requires an increase of the melt delivery by discharge pump 9 to 84 g / min . as a result , the productivity of the system can be increased by 5 %, by the simple measure of radiating heat toward the spinneret . as shown in the diagram of fig6 the extent of the increased productivity is dependent , on the one hand , on the radiation temperature , and on the other hand on the yarn denier . at higher yarn deniers , the effect is less , or it will be necessary to select a higher radiation temperature . in the individual case , the correlation is to be determined by test . the procedure in the method shown in fig2 is as follows : for example , a 55 f 109 textured yarn , namely a yarn having 55 denier and 109 individual filaments is to be produced . this means that each yarn has 0 . 5 denier per filament ( dpf ). a draw ratio of 1 . 6 is determined to be optimal for the draw texturing process . this draw ratio permits a good crimping and a reliable texturing process without filament breakages . this draw ratio means that a partially oriented yarn having a denier of 88 and 109 filaments is to be supplied from feed yarn package 33 . to partially orient such a yarn , so as to be able to maintain the draw ratio of 1 . 6 , it will be necessary to adjust a 1 / 2 to 1 / 3 higher elongation at break . at a draw ratio of 1 . 6 , the elongation at break must be 120 %. from the diagram of fig5 or the table , the corresponding withdrawal speed is 2600 m / min , which must be adjusted in a method according to fig2 at draw rolls 16 . to produce an 88 - denier , partially oriented yarn at 2600 m / min , it is necessary to adjust the flow rate of the melt on the pump to 25 . 5 g / min for each spinning position . an increase in the flow rate of the melt is not possible , since it will change likewise the withdrawal speed and , thus , the draw ratio . thus , the draw ratio that is predetermined by the texturer or throwster , limits the productivity of the producer of the partially oriented yarn . however , it is a different matter , when a radiation heater as shown in fig4 is used . at the same draw ratio , it is possible to achieve an increase in the withdrawal speed by 20 %, namely to 3360 m / min , in that heat is radiated toward the spinneret by the heater of fig4 at a temperature of approximately 550 ° c . the flow rate of the melt is to be increased accordingly to 32 . 9 m / min . as a result , productivity is increased by more than 20 % with an otherwise unchanged machine layout . alternatively , a textured yarn of 55 denier and 109 filaments is to be produced , however , without exceeding in the takeup zone the withdrawal speed and the takeup speed of 3000 m / min . the reason for such limitations lies in occasional process problems with sensitive yarns . such problems may however be caused by the mechanical layout of the takeup machine , whose maximum speed is limited . as can be noted from table 1 or the diagram of fig5 this yarn has an elongation at break of 96 %. therefore , the draw ratio to be selected in the draw zone is about two thirds of the breaking length of 196 %. selected is a draw ratio of 1 . 3 : 1 . it results therefrom that the denier of the partially oriented yarn , that is supplied as feed yarn in the draw texturing process , must amount to 55 dtex × 1 . 3 = 71 . 5 denier . from this , it results again that this yarn is produced in the spin zone at a flow rate of the melt amounting to 71 . 5 g / 9000 m × 3000 m / min = 23 . 8 g / min per spinning position . when a radiation heater of fig4 is now used again , and operated at a temperature of 550 ° c ., a 20 % increased elongation at break of 96 %× 1 . 2 %= 115 % is obtained at a withdrawal speed of 3000 m / min , namely a breaking length of 215 %. thus , in the subsequent drawing phase , it is possible to adjust the draw ratio at about two thirds of this value , i . e . to 1 . 45 . this again means that to produce a total denier of 55 denier , it is necessary to supply as feed yarn a partially oriented yarn with a denier of 55 × 1 . 45 = 79 denier . to produce a 79 denier yarn at a withdrawal speed of 3000 m / min , it is necessary to adjust the flow rate of the melt to 26 . 3 g / min per spinning position . as a result , the productivity in the spinning phase can be increased by 26 . 3 - 23 . 8 / 23 . 8 = 10 %. it should be remarked that individual values forming the basis for the preceding calculation and examples were determined for a certain polymer ( polyester ). as a function of origin and the kind of polymer in use , deviations may result for the individual values , which are to be determined by test . this applies on the one hand to the determined elongations at break , the dependence of the draw ratio on the determined elongation at break , the correlation of elongation at break and denier of individual filaments , the correlation of radiation temperature and increase in the elongation at break , and likewise to the denier - related increase in productivity . thus , an important characteristic of the invention is the fact that the melt is heated in the spinneret . to this end , the spinneret is heated in addition to the heat , which it receives from the melt , the surrounding spin pack , and the surrounding spin box . preferably , the temperature of the spinneret is increased by at least 5 ° c . and up to 40 ° c . in tests , increases in the temperature by 8 ° to 20 ° c . have shown to be advantageous . the basis to proceed from is always the temperature that results from the melt contacting the spinneret and the heated spin box . normally , at a relatively low temperature of the spinneret , the heating must accordingly be greater by an additional supply of heat . compensated for are not only losses in heat radiation on the underside of the spinneret , but also an additional increase in temperature occurs . whereas in a conventional process , temperatures of about 290 ° c . were measured on the underside of the spinneret , a radiation from a radiator heated to 550 ° c . resulted in an increased temperature of 310 ° c . the radiation heater has shown to be especially reliable in operation . however , it is also to presume that resistance heating wires may be laid in the spinneret , which permit a corresponding heating of the spinneret . the disadvantages of such a realization , in particular the problems in the manufacture are obvious . on the other hand , the spinneret is easy to clean in this instance . in comparison therewith , the annular radiation heater has the advantage that it prevents on the one hand the spinneret and in particular its underside from being directly exposed to the subjacent air cooling . on the other hand , an adequate air exchange occurs inside the annular radiation heater , so as to remove vapors , in particular monomer and oligomers , and to prevent unacceptable deposits on the underside of the spinneret . for cleaning the underside of the spinneret , the radiation heater is unilaterally arranged on a hinge , so that it can be opened downward .	3
reference will now be made to the drawings to describe exemplary embodiments of the present of a driver assistance system and method for vision based pedestrian detection , in detail . the following description is given by way of example , and not limitation . referring to fig1 a and 1 b , a pedestrian detection system is provided according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the pedestrian system comprises a camera module 10 and a process module 20 . the camera module 10 , which is mounted a vehicle 4 , captures an image around the vehicle 4 . the process module 20 has two feature extraction modules 201 , 202 and a classifier 203 , and receiving and analyzing the image so as to determine whether having a pedestrian in the image , and wherein each feature capturing module adopts the histogram of oriented gradients and the histogram of gradient of granule feature to capture features of the pedestrian . in the preferred embodiment , besides the camera module 10 is mounted in a driving mirror in the vehicle 4 to capture the image in front of the vehicle 4 ( as shown in fig1 a ), the camera module 10 also can be mounted at back of the vehicle , or in roof of the vehicle to capture the images in any direction , as shown in fig1 b . in the preferred embodiment , the process module 20 generates a display signal according to a analyze result of the image , and sends the display signal to the display module 30 . thereby , the process module 20 not only shows the image , but also marks the pedestrian illustrated in the image . in the preferred embodiment , the feature capturing module 201 , 202 in the process module 20 respectively adopts histogram of oriented gradients ( hog ) and histogram of gradient of granule feature ( hogg ) to capture features of the image , and the classifier 203 adopts a supported vector machine ( svm ) to determine whether having pedestrians in the image . referring to fig2 , a pedestrian detection method is provided according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , and steps of the pedestrian detection methods as follow . step s 11 : capturing an image from a camera module 10 . then , proceeding to step s 12 . step s 12 : capturing gradient of granule feature of the image by a process module 20 , and converting the image to a hogg image . then proceeding to step s 13 . step s 13 : classifying the hogg image by a classifier in the process module 20 , and determining whether having features of the pedestrian in the hogg image . in the preferred embodiment , when the process module 20 captures the gradient of granule feature in the image signal in step s 12 , it simultaneously performs step 14 ( as shown in fig3 ). as shown in fig3 , in step s 14 , the process module 20 captures the feature of oriented gradient in the image signal , and converts the image to hog features , and then the hog feature and the hogg feature are catenated ( step s 15 ), that means , the dimension of the combined feature is equal to the dimension of the feature of hogg and hog . as far as hogg is concerned , the image is divided to a plurality of cells 5 ′, and each cell 5 ′ further comprises a plurality of granules 5 ″, as shown in fig5 , a single cell 5 ′ is composed of 2 × 2 cells 5 ″ ( step s 121 ). g 1 represents area of the each cell 5 ″, for example , area g 1 , g 2 , g 3 and g 4 described in fig5 a , and supposing that magnitude of the image in the coordinates ( u , v ) represents i ( u , v ), and the formula as below is applied to obtain the magnitude average value of each granule f ( g 1 ) ( step s 122 ). the formula is : wherein \| g i \| represents the size of area of each cell 5 ″. subsequently , after obtaining the magnitude average value of each granule 5 ″, it obtains feature vector of each granule 5 ″ by f ( g 1 )− f ( g 4 ) and f ( g 2 )− f ( g 3 ), and the feature vector consists of a magnitude and a orientation , as below . magnitude : \|∇ cell \|=√{ square root over ((( f ( g i )− f ( g 4 )) 2 −( f ( g 2 )− f ( g 3 )) 2 )}{ square root over ((( f ( g i )− f ( g 4 )) 2 −( f ( g 2 )− f ( g 3 )) 2 )}{ square root over ((( f ( g i )− f ( g 4 )) 2 −( f ( g 2 )− f ( g 3 )) 2 )}{ square root over ((( f ( g i )− f ( g 4 )) 2 −( f ( g 2 )− f ( g 3 )) 2 )} ( 2 ) orientation : θ cell = a tan 2 ( f ( g 1 )− f ( g 4 ), f ( g 2 )− f ( g 3 )) ( 3 ) supposing that a block 5 consists of 4 × 4 cells , as shown in fig5 b . the block 5 can take the cell 5 ′ as the unit to perform the scan so as to box select out 9 cells 5 ′ to perform the calculation , and obtain 9 feature vectors . if the block 5 is located in angle range 0 degree ˜ 180 degree , the block 5 is divided to 9 portions per 20 degree , and the 9 portions are used as 9 bins , and it performs the voting according to orientation of feature vector of each cell 5 ′, and the magnitude of the feature vector represents the vote , and the vote is counted in the each block 5 . in another embodiment , a 128 × 64 pixel image is divided to overlapping 16 × 16 pixel block 5 , to generate 15 × 7 voting results , that means , the dimension of the feature vector is 105 time 9 given a 128 × 64 pixel image . thereby , the image containing cells 5 ′ may be obtained a representative feature vector , and the image is converted to the hogg feature by the regional counting ( step s 124 ). additionally , as far as the hog is concerned , it also divides the image to cells 5 ′, and the combination of the cells 5 ′ forms the block 5 to obtain the feature vector . the difference is that hog uses the difference of the magnitude average value between the single cell 5 ′ and the other cells 5 ′ around the single cell to obtain the feature vector . and it also can use the vote counting to obtain the hog feature , and the methods and steps about hog will not discussed herein . moreover , as shown in fig3 , the hogg feature and the hog feature are combined to a feature of hogg + hog by a feature combination module ( step s 15 ). in the preferred embodiment , it adopts a training template to perform the training in advance before performing the image classification by the classifier 203 . specifically , the training samples comprise the pedestrian images ( the positive example image ) and the non - pedestrian images ( the negative example image ). the classifier 203 determines that there is a pedestrian in the image according to the pedestrian image , and outputs a positive value signal ; otherwise , the classifier 203 determines that there is no pedestrian in the image according to the non - pedestrian image , and outputs a negative value signal . in the preferred embodiment , the classifier 203 uses a svm to perform the training in advance at off - line , and builds a multi - dimensional place by the training template , and builds a hyper plane between the positive example image and the negative example image as the judgment of the imaging pedestrian . however , the svm is a used as a tool for classification , and the operation method of svm will not discussed herein . moreover , the process module 20 mark the pedestrian location in the image according to the positive signal and the negative signal and it performs the display by the display module 30 when the classifier 203 outputs the positive signal and the negative signal . therefore , the pedestrian detection system and method of the present invention uses the camera module 10 to capture the image , and uses the process module 20 to capture the features and compare the classification , so as to determine whether having the features of the pedestrian . due to the hog cannot solve the clutter line environment , the present invention simultaneously take the advantage of the hogg technology . the hogg technology of the present invention comprises : the image is divided to a plurality of granules in each cell 5 ′, and a magnitude average difference value in diagonal orientation of the each granule in the plurality of cells is obtained to obtain the feature vector of each cell 5 ′. then , the image is converted to hogg feature by counting the block 5 , and the hog feature and hogg feature are combined to an image containing hog + hogg to enhance the quality of the pedestrian detection . many changes and modifications in the above described embodiment of the invention can , of course , be carried out without departing from the scope thereof . accordingly , to promote the progress in science and the useful arts , the invention is disclosed and is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims .	6
fig1 schematically illustrates a magnetic recording disk 11 having a recording surface 11a over which a slider member 12 carrying a pair of transducers 13 is supported in an air bearing relationship closely adjacent surface 11a . slider 12 may be of the type shown in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 855 , 625 , while transducers 13 may be of the type shown in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 190 , 872 . slider 12 and transducers 13 are moved radially on surface 11a by an access mechanism shown schematically at 14 . in practice , the access mechanism may be of the voice coil motor type shown in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 190 , 870 , with slider 12 mounted to the access mechanism 14 by a suspension as shown in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 167 , 765 . and only one of the transducers 13 is active . additionally , disk 11 may be one of a number of such disks mounted in a common head - disk assembly ( hda ) such as embodied in the ibm 3350 , 3370 , and 3380 disk storage units , each of the operative disk surfaces therein having an associated slider and transducer which are moved in common by the access mechanism to position the transducers over different concentric magnetic recording tracks on the disk surfaces . such hdas and drives have their own air filtering system to eliminate contaminants , but it has been found that these are not always totally effective . the preferred embodiment of slider 12 and transducer 13 are shown in fig2 a and 2b . slider 12 is generally rectangular in shape and has a pair of side rails 16 and 17 ( fig2 b ) extending in the direction of disk motion . transducers 13 are bonded to the trailing edge of slider 12 , and as shown by broken line 11b in fig1 transducers 13 and the trailing edge of slider 12 are aligned radially with the center of disk 11 . the leading edges of side rails 16 , 17 terminate in tapered portions 18 and 19 , respectively , for aerodynamic purposes , and it is these tapered portions which can produce the contaminant imbedding discussed above . slider 12 also includes a leading edge cross rail 21 , as shown in fig2 b , and a hollow portion 22 bounded by side rails 16 , 17 and cross rail 21 . disk 11 is shown in fig2 a comprising a magnetic recording layer 11c carried on a suitable substrate 11d . fig3 illustrates the operation of the invention to clean contaminant particles from a disk surface . fig3 illustrates ( on a scale which is exaggerated for purposes of clarity ) the skew of the leading edge of slider 12 resulting from the fact that the slider trailing edge and active transducer 13 are aligned radially of the center of disk 11 . because of this skew , it can be seen from fig3 that an incremental area of disk surface 11a encounters the side rail 16 before it encounters tapered portion 18 . this incremental area , identified as having a width χ in fig3 and fig4 represents the increments of area which are cleaned of contaminant particles in accordance with the present invention . it will be apparent from fig3 that if access mechanism 14 moves slider 12 radially inward from the disk od at its normal high speed , some of the contaminant particles carried on disk surface 11a may first encounter tapered portions 18 or 19 and become embedded in surface 11a from the resulting wedging . however , in accordance with this invention , such embedding is substantially reduced or eliminated by moving access mechanism 14 and slider 12 from the od to the id in increments of motion no greater than width χ and maintaining slider 12 at each incremental position for a sufficient number of rotations of disk surface 11a to ensure cleaning of each incremental area on surface 11a . from fig3 it is clear that if slider 12 is moved radially on disk 11 from od to id in increments of motion no larger than χ and is maintained at each such incremented position for at least one rotation of surface 11a , then each incremental area of surface 11a will first encounter the straight side rail 16 and be swept clear of any contaminant particles by contact of such particles with rail 16 . that is , the entire disk surface will be effectively cleaned of debris by side rail 16 so that such debris does not encounter tapered portions 18 , 19 of slider 12 . a number of tests were conducted to test the efficacy of the present technique . an hda with 16 mechanically good disk surfaces labeled 1 - 16 was purposely contaminated with 12μ al 2 o 3 particles . this amount of contamination , although several orders of magnitude worse than is experienced with the current hdas was located in a small 1 cm 2 area . all moving head surfaces were contaminated except those against the servo arms , surfaces 3 , 4 , 11 and 12 . the heads that were used were standard current data and servo sliders as shown in the above - identified u . s . pat . no . 3 , 855 , 625 . the complete hda was then mounted in a drive having an a actuator and a b actuator and fitted with a &# 34 ; star - box &# 34 ;, a programmable servo system controller which was used to drive the a actuator . the a and b actuators were unlocked and the following &# 34 ; cleaning &# 34 ; sequence was run on the a actuator : from the od crash stop position , the actuator moved to track 0 , the outermost track , without going into the data zones . then on track zero and all subsequent tracks , the actuator ( i ) track - followed for 100 msec on track , ( the period of revolution is 16 msec ), ( iv ) did a single track access toward the id and repeated ( i ). when the inner guard band was reached near the id , the actuator re - zeroed to the od and the sequence was repeated two times to account for a total of 300 msec spent track - following on each track . if the slider had impressed any defect into the disk , this is ample time to scratch the trailing edge alumina of the slider . this is an implementation of the invention for the a actuator . the b actuator did not follow the cleaning sequence of actuation . after the a actuator was locked , the b actuator did 10 re - zeros , from outer guard band to inner guard band back to outer guard band , each taking on the order of one second . starting then at track zero , the b actuator repeatedly track - followed for 300 msec and did a single - track - access until it reached the inner guard band . after a re - zero , the actuator was locked and the hda was taken apart for inspection and testing . should either actuator have heads that trap debris and cause fixed defects in the disk , it is known that one effect is that the heads become scratched on a pitch equal to the track spacing . the results of inspection and testing are summarized below : ______________________________________a actuator ( with cleaning ) b actuator ( without cleaning ) ______________________________________1 . of the 6 od heads and all 4 od heads had severe6 id heads , only 2 od heads scratching ( more than 30had any scratches and these scratches each ). id headshad only 2 centrally had less , 1 or 2 sets oflocated scratches . this scratches extending fromusually indicates that air the inside edge of theborn contamination has rail . this indicates thatbecome trapped . thus debris loosely stuck todebris initially stuck to the disk was embedded bythe disk was cleaned by the head during the actuationthe actuation sequence . sequence . 2 . several disk surfaces the surfaces associatedserviced by the a - actuator with the od heads showedwere re - glide - height - more new glide heighttested . no new defects defects ( 20 ) than did thewere seen in the area id portions of the disk ( 6 ). cleaned by the head . the source of the id / od differences is unclear , but they are still significantly worse than the a actuator . this also shows that scratch - ing underestimates the effectiveness of the cleaning . 3 . randomly positioned the scratching was sosingle scratches were ob - severe that it was im - served on the heads of the possible to discerna actuator . the worst random scratches fromhead ( od on surface 1 ) had track pitch scratches on20 . 12 were found on all the od heads . the remaining heads . re - glide height testing ofthis disk showed defectsoutside the cleaned areawhere the heads flew withthe actuator locked . this area was not cleanedby the actuating sequence . 4 . the servo head ( an od the servo head had nohead ) had no new scratches . new scratches . thus , cross contamination from the a to the b actuator was probably not a problem . ______________________________________ this data illustrates the effectiveness of this cleaning technique in removing loosely stuck debris .	6
examples of the compounds represented by formula ( i ) include but are not limited to the following : ## str11 ## of the compounds represented by formulae i -( 1 ) to i -( 25 ), the compound of formula i -( 20 ) is preferred . these compounds represented by formula ( i ) can be readily obtained as shown in the following reaction equation . in particularly , compounds represented by formula ( io ) and malonitrile are heated under reflux in a solvent such as pyridine to form compounds represented by formula ( i &# 39 ; o ) which , if desired , are hydrolyzed , and undergo esterification or undergo condensation with malonic acid ester , thereby forming the compounds represented by formula ( i ). ## str12 ## wherein r 1 i , r 2 i , a i , x i , m , and n are previously defined in formula ( i ). the following examples illustrate the various methods to prepare the compounds represented by formula ( i ). although , only a few of the compounds encompassed by formula ( i ) are illustratively prepared below , method similar to the methods described below can be used to synthesize the other compounds of formula ( i ). a compound having the following formula was made by a condensation reaction between p - nitrobenzoyl chloride and diphenylmethane : ## str13 ## into a 100 ml , three - necked , flask were poured 10 . 0 g ( 21 . 4 mmol ) of the compound thus prepared above , 5 . 7 g ( 85 . 8 mmol ) of malonitrile , and 80 ml of pyridine . the reaction mixture was refluxed in a stream of nitrogen for 3 hours , followed by removal of the pyridine under reduced pressure . the residue was dissolved in methylene chloride , and then washed with successive , dilute hydrochloric acid , and water , followed by drying with na 2 so 4 . the dried product was then purified by the use of a short column of silica gel ( in which methylene chloride was used as a solvent ). after removal of the solvent , recrystallization from ethyl acetate gave 5 . 3 g ( a 44 . 1 % yield ) of the compound i -( 20 ) as light pink acicular crystals , the melting point of which was 226 ° to 228 ° c . compounds i -( 2 ) was produced as light yellow tabular crystals in the same manner as in synthesis example i - a except that a compound having the following formula , which was produced by a condensation reaction between terephthaloyl chloride and n - butylbenzene , was used : ## str14 ## the compound i -( 2 ) thus produced had a melting point of 201 ° to 202 . 5 ° c . compound i -( 13 ) was produced as light yellow powders in the same manner as in synthesis example i - a except that a compound having the following formula , which was produced by a condensation reaction between 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- dinitrobiphenyl - 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- carboxylic acid chloride and n - butylbenzene , was used : ## str15 ## the compound i -( 13 ) thus produced had a melting point of 231 ° to 232 ° c . examples of the compounds represented by formula ( ii ) include but are not limited to the following : ## str16 ## of the compounds represented by formulae ii -( 1 ) to ii -( 19 ), the compound of formula ii -( 1 ) is preferred . the compounds represented by formula ( ii ) can be synthesized by various methods . for example , the compounds wherein x ii is c ( cn ) 2 can be synthesized by treating xanthone derivatives with thionyl chloride , followed by reaction with malonitrile . the compounds in which x ii is c ( co 2 r ii ) 2 can be made by hydrolyzing a compound wherein x ii is c ( cn ) 2 , followed by esterification . the following is a synthesis example illustrating the preparation of a compound of formula ( ii ). however , although only one of the compounds encompassed by formula ( ii ) is illustratively prepared below , methods similar to the method described can be used to synthesize the other compounds of formula ( ii ). into a 200 ml round - bottomed flask were placed 20 g of xanthone and 100 ml of thionyl chloride . the reaction mixture was stirred under a stream of nitrogen for 3 hours , followed by removal of the thionyl chloride under reduced pressure . to the residue was added 10 g of malonitrile . this mixture was heated to 100 ° c for one hour with vigorous stirring , followed by cooling , and by dissolving the mixture in methylene chloride . the resulting methylene chloride solution was purified by the use of a short column of silica gel , followed by removal of the methylene chloride under reduced pressure . the residue was washed twice with small amounts of cold ethyl acetate . finally , recrystallization from toluene gave 15 . 1 g ( a yield of 61 %) of compound ii -( 1 ) as yellow powders , a melting point of 252 °- 255 ° c . examples of the compounds represented by formula ( iii ) include but are not limited to the following : ## str17 ## of the compounds represented by formulae iii -( 1 ) to iii -( 24 ), the compound of formulae iii -( 12 ) and iii -( 19 ) are preferred . the compound represented by formula ( iii ) can be synthesized by various methods . for example , the compound wherein a iii is constituent ( 1 ) or constituent ( 2 ) of formula ( iii ) can be produced by a condensation reaction between terephthaloyl chloride derivatives or biphenyl - 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dicarboxylic acid chloride derivatives and benzene derivatives . the compound wherein a iii is constituent ( 3 ) of formula ( iii ) can be synthesized by a condensation reaction between diphenylmethane derivatives and benzoyl chloride derivatives . oxidation of the compound yields constituent ( 4 ) of formula ( iii ). the following examples illustrate the various methods to prepare the compounds represented by formula ( iii ). although only a few of the compounds encompassed by formula ( iii ) are illustratively prepared below , methods similar to the methods described below can be used to synthesize the other compounds of formula ( iii ). into a 500 ml , three - necked , flask were placed 25 . 0 g ( 135 mmol ) of p - nitrobenzoyl chloride , 20 . 0 g ( 150 mmol ) of aluminum chloride , and 200 ml of methylene chloride . the mixture was stirred at - 10 ° c . under a stream of nitrogen for 5 hours . a solution consisting of 9 . 25 g ( 55 mmol ) of diphenylmethane and 50 ml of methylene chloride was slowly added dropwise over a period of about 40 minutes to the reaction mixture , followed by stirring for 2 hours . the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 15 hours and 10 . 0 g ( 75 ml ) of aluminum chloride was added thereto , followed by refluxing for 24 hours . the reaction mixture was cooled and then was added to 300 g of ice . a 20 % by weight of an aqueous potassium hydroxide solution was added to the reaction mixture until the aluminum hydroxide was dissolved . the organic layers were separated and the water phases were extracted with methylene chloride . all organic phases were collected and the solvent was removed under reduced pressure , followed by addition of about 300 ml of a 7 % by weight of an aqueous potassium hydroxide solution . the mixture was heated for about one hour at about 70 ° c . on a water bath to decompose acid chlorides . the resulting precipitates were filtered off , and washed with ethyl acetate , thereby obtaining light yellow powders . finally , recrystallization from ethanol and methylene chloride gave 11 . 8 g ( a yield of 46 . 0 %) of compound iii -( 19 ), a melting point of 193 ° to 195 ° c . into a 500 ml , three - necked , flask were placed 25 . 0 g ( 123 mmol ) of terephthaloyl chloride , 40 . 0 g ( 300 mmol ) of aluminum chloride , and 200 ml of methylene chloride . the mixture was stirred at - 10 ° c . under a stream of nitrogen for 5 hours . a solution consisting of 35 g ( 261 mmol ) of n - butylbenzene and 50 ml of methylene chloride was slowly added dropwise over a period of about one hour to the reaction mixture , followed by stirring for 30 minutes . to ice ( 200 g ) was added the reaction mixture . a 20 % by weight of an aqueous potassium hydroxide solution was added to the reaction mixture until the aluminum hydroxide was dissolved . the organic phases were separated and the water phases were extracted with methylene chloride . all organic layers were collected , and dried with na 2 so 4 , followed by removal of the solvent under reduced pressure . finally , recrystallization of the residue from ethanol gave 39 . 0 g ( a yield of 79 . 4 %) of compound iii -( 2 ) as colorless tabular crystals , a melting point of 111 ° to 112 ° c . into a 500 ml , three - necked , flask were placed 20 g ( 60 . 2 mmol ) of a dicarboxylic acid having the following formula and 220 ml of thionyl chloride . ## str18 ## the reaction mixture was refluxed in a stream of nitrogen for 24 hours , followed by removal of the thionyl chloride . 50 ml of 1 , 2 - dichloroethane was added to the reaction mixture , and the remained thionyl chloride was removed , thereby obtaining chlorides of the dicarboxylic acid as crude products . to the chlorides of dicarboxylic acid were added 33 g ( 248 mmol ) of aluminum chloride and 200 ml of methylene chloride , followed by stirring at - 20 ° c . under a stream of nitrogen for 5 hours . a solution consisting of 17 . 4 g ( 130 mmol ) of n - butylbenzene and 30 ml of methylene chloride was added dropwise to the reaction mixture for about 15 minutes . the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 15 hours . to ice ( 200 g ) was added the reaction mixture . a 20 % by weight of an aqueous potassium hydroxide solution was then added to the reaction mixture until the aluminum hydroxide was dissolved . the organic phases were separated and the water phases were extracted with methylene chloride . all organic layers were collected , and dried with na 2 so 4 . the dried product was then purified by the use of a short column of silica gel ( in which methylene chloride was used as a solvent ). after removal of the solvent under reduced pressure , recrystallization of the residue from methylene chloride and methanol was carried out . further recrystallization from acetone and ethanol gave 17 . 3 g ( 51 % yield ) of compound iii -( 12 ) as light yellow acicular crystals , the melting point of 115 ° to 116 . 5 ° c . in the electrophotographic photoreceptor of the present invention , the conductive substrate can be , for example , a metal pipe , a metal plate , a metal sheet , a metal film ( foil ), a polymer film conductive - treated , a polymer film provided with an evaporation layer of metal such as al , metal oxides such as sno 2 , or a polymer film or paper coated with quaternary ammonium salts . in the electrophotographic photoreceptor of the present invention , a photosensitive layer is formed on the conductive substrate . the photosensitive layer can be a single layer type , or a laminate layer type comprising a charge generating layer and a change transporting layer . a photosensitive layer of a single layer type includes , for example , a photosensitive layer comprising conventional materials such as polyvinylcarbazole and containing at least one of the compounds of formula ( i ), ( ii ), or ( iii ) as a sensitizer ; or a photosensitive layer comprising a binder resin layer containing a conventional charge generating agent and containing at least one of the compounds of formula ( i ), ( ii ), or ( iii ) as an electron transporting agent . in a laminated photosensitive layer , the charge generating layer can be obtained by various methods . for examples , the charge generating layer can be obtained by vapor - depositing a charge generating agent on a conductive substrate . also , the charge generating layer can be formed by coating a solution containing a charge generating agent and a binder resin as main components on a conductive substrate . any conventional charge generating agents and binder resins can be used . suitable charge generating agents include inorganic semiconductor materials such as tri - se , organic semiconductor materials such as polyvinyl carbazole , bis - azo compounds , tris - azo type compounds , phthalocyanines , pyrylium compounds , and organic pigments such as squarylium compounds . suitable binder resins include polystyrenes , silicone resins , polycarbonate resins , acryl resins , methacrylate resins , polyesters , vinyl polymer , celluloses , and alkyd resins . the thickness of the charge generating layer is from about 0 . 05 to 10 microns and preferably from about 0 . 05 to 5 microns . the charge transporting layer is formed on the charge generating layer . the charge transporting layer comprises at least one of compounds represented by formula ( i ), ( ii ), or ( iii ) and a binder resin . in particular , the charge transporting layer is formed by coating on a charge generating layer a solution comprising at least one of compounds represented by formula ( i ), ( ii ), or ( iii ), a binder , and suitable solvents by the use of applicators , bar coaters , dip coaters , etc . for photosensitive layers of both the single layer type and the laminate type , it is preferred that the ratio of the compound of formula ( i ), ( ii ), or ( iii ) to the binder resin is from about 1 / 20 to about 20 / 1 and most preferably from about 3 / 10 to 3 / 2 . the binder resin used in the charge transporting layer , can be of any conventional type . examples of binder resins include styrene / butadiene copolymers , vinyltoluene / styrene copolymers , styrene modified alkyd resins , silicone modified alkyd resins , soybean oil modified alkyd resins , vinylidene chloride / vinyl chloride copolymers , polyvinyl butyrals , nitrated polystyrenes , polymethylstyrenes , polyisobutylenes , polyesters , phenolic resins , ketone resins , polyamides , polycarbonates , polythiocarbonates , polyvinyl haloallylates , vinyl acetate resins , polystyrenes , polyvinylacrylates , polysulfones , and polymethacrylates . in a preferred embodiment , an electron donating material may be added to the charge transporting layer . the thickness of the charge transporting layer is from about 2 to about 100 microns and preferably from about 10 to about 30 microns . in the electrophotographic photoreceptor of the present invention , a barrier layer may be formed on the conductive substrate . the barrier layer prevents an injection of an undesirable charge from the conductive substrate and thus improves picture quality . the barrier layer can be made of such materials such as metal oxides ( e . g ., aluminum oxide ), acrylic resins , phenolic resins , polyester resins , or polyurethanes . the present invention will be illustrated in more detail by the following examples . a charge generating layer ( 2 . 5 microns ) comprising trigonal system selenium / polyvinylcarbazole ( trigonal system selenium content : 7 % by volume ) was formed on a conductive substrate . a solution made by dissolving 0 . 5 g of compound i -( 2 ) and 0 . 75 g of bisphenol a polycarbonate ( makrolon 5705 produced by bayer co .) in 7 g of methylene chloride was coated thereon in a wet thickness of 5 mil ( i . e ., a gap : 5 mil ), and was then dried for one hour at 80 ° c ., thereby obtaining an electrophotographic photoreceptor . using an electrostatic copying paper testing device (&# 34 ; sp428 &# 34 ; produced by kawaguchi denki manufacturing co ., ltd . ), the electrophotographic photoreceptor was charged to + 800 v and - 800 v , and was then exposed to a white light of 5 luxes , thereby measuring sensitivity ( dv / dt ). the results were as follows : ______________________________________charged potential + 800 v - 800 vinitial sensitivity ( v / sec ) 85 -- ______________________________________ samples of electrophotographic photoreceptors were produced and their sensitivities were measured , respectively , in the same manner as in example i - 1 except that compounds represented by the above formulae i -( 3 ), i -( 4 ), i -( 8 ), i -( 11 ), i -( 13 ), i -( 18 ), i -( 20 ), i -( 22 ), and i -( 24 ) were used in place of compound i -( 2 ). the results are shown in table i - 1 . a sample of electrophotographic photoreceptor was produced and its sensitivity was measured , respectively , in the same manner as in example i - 1 except that 2 , 4 , 7 - trinitrofluorenone ( tnf ) was used in place of compound i -( 2 ). the result is shown in table i - 1 . table i - 1______________________________________ compound added ( compound ) initial sensitivity no . + 800 v - 800 v______________________________________example i - 2 i -( 3 ) 215 -- example i - 3 i -( 4 ) 253 -- example i - 4 i -( 8 ) 203 -- example i - 5 i -( 11 ) 198 -- example i - 6 i -( 13 ) 175 -- example i - 7 i -( 18 ) 154 -- example i - 8 i -( 20 ) 534 -- example i - 9 i -( 22 ) 431 -- example i - 10 i -( 24 ) 213 -- comparative i - 1 tnf 66 -- example______________________________________ a solution made by dissolving 0 . 5 g of compound i -( 2 ) and 0 . 75 g of polyvinylcarbazole in 7 g of methylene chloride was coated on a conductive substrate in a wet thickness of 5 mil ( i . e ., a gap : 5 mil ), and was then dried for one hour at 80 ° c ., thereby obtaining an electrophotographic photoreceptor . using an electrostatic copying paper testing device (&# 34 ; sp428 &# 34 ; produced by kawaguchi denki manufacturing co ., ltd . ), the electrophotographic photoreceptor was charged to + 800 v and - 800 v , and was then exposed to a white light of 5 luxes , thereby measuring the sensitivity ( dv / dt ). the results were as follows : ______________________________________charged potential + 800 v - 800 vinitial sensitivity ( v / sec ) 195 164______________________________________ samples of electrophotographic photoreceptors were produced and their sensitivities were measured , respectively , in the same manner as in example i - 11 except that compounds represented by the above formula i -( 3 ), i -( 4 ), i -( 8 ), i -( 11 ), i -( 13 ), i -( 18 ), i -( 20 ), i -( 22 ), and i -( 24 ) were used in place of compound i -( 2 ). the results are shown in table i - 2 . a sample of electrophotographic photoreceptor was produced and its sensitivity was measured , respectively , in the same manner as in example i - 11 except that 2 , 4 , 7 - trinitrofluorenone ( tnf ) was used in place of compound i -( 2 ). the result is shown in table i - 2 . table i - 2______________________________________ compound added ( compound ) initial sensitivity no . + 800 v - 800 v______________________________________example i - 12 i -( 3 ) 352 159example i - 13 i -( 4 ) 385 178example i - 14 i -( 8 ) 401 181example i - 15 i -( 11 ) 350 181example i - 16 i -( 13 ) 255 162example i - 17 i -( 18 ) 212 154example i - 18 i -( 20 ) 575 193example i - 19 i -( 22 ) 529 172example i - 20 i -( 24 ) 314 185comparative i - 2 tnf 154 165example______________________________________ as is apparent from a comparison between examples i - 1 to i - 20 and comparative examples i - 1 to i - 2 , the compounds of formula ( i ) which are used in the present invention exhibit greatly improved charge transporting ability as compared with tfn which is already known as having good change transporting ability . accordingly , the electrophotographic photoreceptors containing the compounds of formula ( i ) exhibit excellent electrophotographic properties . in particular , when the compounds of formula ( i ) are used as charge transporting agents in the charge transporting layer of a laminate type electrophotographic photoreceptor , a positive charged type electrophotographic photoreceptor having excellent electrophotographic properties can be obtained . a charge generating layer ( 2 . 5 microns ) comprising trigonal system selenium / polyvinylcarbazole ( trigonal system selenium content : 7 % by volume ) was formed on a conductive substrate . a solution made by dissolving 0 . 5 g of compound ii -( 1 ) and 0 . 75 grams of bisphenol a polycarbonate ( makrolon 5705 by bayer co .) in 7 g of methylene chloride was coated thereon in a wet thickness of 5 mil ( i . e ., a gap : 5 mil ), and was then dried for one hour at 80 ° c ., thereby obtaining an electrophotographic photoreceptor . using an electrostatic copying paper testing device (&# 34 ; sp428 &# 34 ; produced by kawaguchi denki manufacturing co ., ltd . ), the electrophotographic photoreceptor was charged to + 800 v and - 800 v , and was then exposed to a white light of 5 luxes , thereby measuring sensitivity ( dv / dt ). the results were as follows : ______________________________________charged potential + 800 v - 800 vinitial sensitivity ( v / sec ) 93 -- ______________________________________ samples of electrophotographic photoreceptors were produced and their sensitivities were measured , respectively , in the same manner as in example ii - 1 except that compounds represented by the above formulae ii -( 3 ), ii -( 9 ), and ii -( 13 ) were used in place of compound ii -( 1 ). the results are shown in table ii - 1 . a sample of electrophotographic photoreceptor was produced , and its sensitivity was measured , respectively , in the same manner as in example ii - 1 except that 2 , 4 , 7 - trinitrofluorenone ( tnf ) was used in place of compound ii -( 1 ). the result is shown in table ii - 1 . table ii - 1______________________________________ compound added ( compound ) initial sensitivity no . + 800 v - 800 v______________________________________example ii - 2 i -( 3 ) 82 -- example ii - 3 i -( 9 ) 115 -- example ii - 4 i -( 13 ) 71 -- comparative ii - 1 tnf 66 -- example______________________________________ a solution made by dissolving 0 . 5 g of compound ii -( 1 ) and 0 . 75 g of polyvinylcarbazole in 7 g of methylene chloride was coated on a conductive substrate in a wet thickness of 5 mil ( i . e ., a gap : 5 mil ), and was then dried for one hour at 80 ° c ., thereby obtaining an electrophotographic photoreseptor . using an electrostatic copying paper testing device (&# 34 ; sp428 &# 34 ; produced by kawaguchi denki manufacturing co ., ltd . ), the electrophotographic photoreceptor was charged to + 800 v and - 800 v , and was then exposed to a white light of 5 luxes , thereby measuring sensitivity ( dv / dt ). the results were as follows : ______________________________________charged potential + 800 v - 800 vinitial sensitivity ( v / sec ) 195 184______________________________________ samples of electrophotographic photoreceptors were produced and their sensitivities were measured , respectively , in the same manner as in example ii - 5 except that compounds represented by the above formulae ii -( 3 ), ii -( 9 ), and ii -( 13 ) were used in place of compound ii -( 1 ). the results are shown in table ii - 2 . an electrophotographic photoreceptor was produced and its sensitivity was measured , respectively , in the same manner as in example ii - 5 except that 2 , 4 , 7 - trinitrofluorenone ( tnf ) was used in place of compound ii -( 1 ). the result is shown in table ii - 2 . table ii - 2______________________________________ compound added ( compound ) initial sensitivity no . + 800 v - 800 v______________________________________example ii - 6 i -( 3 ) 175 170example ii - 7 i -( 9 ) 234 184example ii - 8 i -( 13 ) 169 152comparative ii - 2 tnf 154 165example______________________________________ as is apparent from a comparison between examples ii - 1 to ii - s and comparative examples ii - 1 to ii - 2 , the compounds of formula ( ii ) which are used in the present invention exhibit greatly improved charge transporting ability as compared with tnf which is already known as having good charge transporting ability . accordingly , the electrophotographic photoreceptors containing the compounds of formula ( ii ) exhibit excellent electrophotographic properties . in particular , when the compounds of formula ( ii ) are used as charge transporting agents in the charge transporting layer of a laminate type electrophotographic photoreceptor , a positive charged type electrophotographic photoreceptor having excellent electrophotographic properties can be obtained . a charge generating layer ( 2 . 5 microns ) comprising trigonal system selenium / polyvinylcarbazole ( trigonal system selenium content : 7 % by volume ) was formed on a conductive substrate . a solution made by dissolving 0 . 5 g of compound iii -( 2 ) and 0 . 75 g of in 7 g of methylene chloride was coated thereon in a wet thickness of 5 mil ( i . e ., a gap : 5 mil ), and was then dried for one hour at 80 ° c ., thereby obtaining an electrophotographic photoreceptor . using an electrostatic copying paper testing device (&# 34 ; sp428 &# 34 ; produced by kawaguchi denki manufacturing co ., ltd . ), the electrophotographic photoreceptor was charged to + 800 v and - 800 v , and was then exposed to a white light of 5 luxes , thereby measuring sensitivity ( dv / dt ). the results were as follows : ______________________________________charged potential + 800 v - 800 vinitial sensitivity ( v / sec ) 84 -- ______________________________________ samples of electrophotographic photoreceptors were produced and their sensitivities were measured , respectively , in the same manner as in example iii - 1 except that compounds represented by the above formulae iii -( 3 ), iii -( 4 ), iii -( 10 ), iii -( 12 ), iii -( 17 ), iii -( 19 ), iii -( 21 ), and i -( 24 ) were used in place of compound iii -( 2 ). the results are shown in table iii - 1 . an electrophotographic photoreceptor was produced and its sensitivity was measured , respectively , in the same manner as in example iii - 1 except that 2 , 4 , 7 - trinitrofluorenone ( tnf ) was used in place of compound iii -( 2 ). the result is shown in table iii - 1 . table iii - 1______________________________________ compound added ( compound ) initial sensitivity no . + 800 v - 800 v______________________________________example iii - 2 iii -( 3 ) 175 -- example iii - 3 iii -( 4 ) 189 -- example iii - 4 iii -( 10 ) 165 -- example iii - 5 iii -( 12 ) 154 -- example iii - 6 iii -( 17 ) 193 -- example iii - 7 iii -( 19 ) 254 -- example iii - 8 iii -( 21 ) 234 -- example iii - 9 iii -( 24 ) 147 -- comparative iii - 1 tnf 66 -- example______________________________________ a solution made by dissolving 0 . 5 g of compound iii -( 2 ) and 0 . 75 g of polyvinylcaraozole in 7 g of methylene chloride was coated on a conductive substrate in a wet thickness of 5 mil , and was then dried for one hour at 80 ° c ., thereby obtaining an electrophotographic photoreceptor . using an electrostatic copying paper testing device (&# 34 ; sp428 &# 34 ; produced by kawaguchi denki manufacturing co ., ltd . ), the electrophotographic photoreceptor was charged to + 800 v and - 800 v , and was then exposed to a white light of 5 luxes , thereby measuring the sensitivity ( dv / dt ). the results were as follows : ______________________________________charged potential + 800 v - 800 vinitial sensitivity ( v / sec ) 174 171______________________________________ samples of electrophotographic photoreceptors were produced and their sensitivities were measured , respectively , in the same manner as in example iii - 10 except that compounds represented by the above formula iii -( 3 ), iii -( 4 ), iii -( 10 ), iii -( 12 ), iii -( 17 ), iii -( 19 ), iii -( 21 ), and iii -( 24 ) were used in place of compound iii -( 2 ). the results are shown in table iii - 2 . an electrophotographic photoreceptor was produced and its sensitivity was measured , respectively , in the same manner as in example iii - 10 except that 2 , 4 , 7 - trinitrofluorenone ( tnf ) was used in place of compound iii -( 2 ). the result is shown in table iii - 2 . table iii - 2______________________________________ compound added ( compound ) initial sensitivity no . + 800 v - 800 v______________________________________example iii - 11 iii -( 3 ) 205 183example iii - 12 iii -( 4 ) 234 162example iii - 13 iii -( 10 ) 172 154example iii - 14 iii -( 12 ) 155 163example iii - 15 iii -( 17 ) 206 170example iii - 16 iii -( 19 ) 305 155example iii - 17 iii -( 21 ) 298 159example iii - 18 iii -( 24 ) 162 175comparative iii - 2 tnf 154 165example______________________________________ as is apparent from a comparison between examples iii - 1 to iii - 18 and comparative examples iii - 1 to iii - 2 , the compounds of formula ( iii ) which are used in the present invention exhibit greatly improved charge transporting ability as compared with tfn which is already known as having good change transporting ability . accordingly , the electrophotographic photoreceptors containing the compounds of formula ( iii ) exhibit excellent electrophotographic properties . in particular , when the compounds of formula ( iii ) are used as charge transporting agents in the charge transporting layer of a laminate type electrophotographic photoreceptor , a positive charged type electrophotographic photoreceptor having excellent electrophotographic properties can be obtained . while the invention has been described in detail and with reference to specific embodiments thereof , it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof .	6
fig1 illustrates a system according to an embodiment of the invention , the system comprising one or more mobile imaging phones 101 , 102 , which comprise a camera module 111 , 112 . the system further comprises a server 106 and a communication network 103 . an image produced by the mobile imaging phone 101 , 102 can be transmitted over the network 103 to a server 106 , which can store the image in a storage medium 108 , or print the image by a printer 107 . the system may also comprise e . g . a communication device 110 , which can communicate over the network 103 , and a computer 104 , which can receive the image produced by the mobile imaging device 101 , 102 e . g . over the network 103 and e . g . print the image by a printer 105 . a camera module ( references 109 , 113 ) can be connected to the communication device 110 and the computer 104 for transmitting the image produced over the communication network 103 to a server 106 , for example . the image correcting information of the camera module 109 , 113 is stored in the memory of the server 106 preferably during the manufacture of the camera module . the image correcting information of the camera module 113 can also be stored in the memory of the computer 104 , for example , and the image correcting information of the camera module 109 in the memory of the communication device 110 , for example . the image correcting information of the camera module 111 , 112 is stored in the memory 108 of the server 106 preferably during the manufacture of the camera module or the mobile imaging phone 101 , 102 . the image correcting information of the camera module 111 , 112 can also be stored in the memory of the mobile imaging phone 101 , 102 or the computer 104 . the mobile imaging phone 102 can receive and transmit images produced by the camera module to another mobile imaging phone 101 , computer 104 , or server 106 e . g . over a bluetooth connection or a communication network 103 , such as a mobile communication network or the internet . the image produced by the camera module 112 of the mobile imaging phone 102 can be transmitted to the server 106 , for example . the image to be transmitted is also provided with an identifier by means of which the server 106 can identify the mobile imaging phone 112 that has transmitted the image and perform an image improvement operation on the image received using the image correcting information that corresponds to the identifying information and is stored in the memory 108 . the server 106 can store the improved image in the memory 108 , or if the user of the mobile imaging device 112 so wishes , transmit the image to a printing service for printing by a printer 107 . the printing service can be implemented e . g . as follows : the user of the mobile imaging phone 112 informs the server 106 of his / her name and address when transmitting an image , after which the printed image can be mailed to the user of the mobile imaging phone 112 , for example . the user of the mobile imaging phone 102 can , if he / she so wishes , retrieve the improved image from the memory 108 for the computer 104 later e . g . via the internet network and print the image by the printer 105 . the camera module 109 can be connected to the communication device 110 e . g . by a cable , a bluetooth connection or an optical connection , such as an infrared connection . the image produced by the camera module 109 can be transmitted e . g . by the communication device 110 over the communication network 103 to the server 106 . the identifier of the camera module 109 is also transmitted at the same time so that the server 106 can perform an image improvement operation on the basis of the image correcting information related to the identifier of the camera module 109 . the camera module 113 can be connected to the computer e . g . by a cable , a bluetooth connection or an optical connection , such as an infrared connection . the image produced by the camera module 113 can be transmitted e . g . by the computer 104 over the communication network 103 to the server 106 . the identifier of the camera module 113 is also transmitted at the same time so that the server 106 can perform an image improvement operation on the basis of the image correcting information related to the identifier of the camera module 113 . alternatively , the image correcting information corresponding to the identifier of the camera module 113 can be retrieved for the computer 104 , and thus the computer 104 can perform an image improvement operation on the image produced by the camera module 113 . the computer 104 may be a portable computer or a workstation and it is capable of receiving images produced by the mobile imaging phone 102 either via a communication network 103 , e . g . the internet , or on the bluetooth connection or on a similar wireless connection , or over a cable connecting the devices . from the image information the computer 104 receives it can separate camera information which is associated with image information in the mobile imaging phone . the computer 104 can process the images to be displayed on the basis of the above - mentioned camera information . a printer 105 can also be connected to the computer 104 for printing the images . the computer can display the processed images by means of a monitor or the above - mentioned printer . fig2 shows a method according to an embodiment of the invention . in step 201 image correcting information of the camera module is produced , preferably during the manufacture of the camera module . if the camera module is integrated into an electronic device , such as a mobile imaging phone , the image correcting information can be produced during the manufacture of said mobile imaging phone . alternatively , said image correcting information can be produced e . g . when the camera module or the mobile imaging phone is used for the first time . the image correcting information is produced by comparing the image taken by the camera module with a test image , and image correcting parameters can be generated on the basis of this comparison according to the error type . the correcting information may include optical errors or image correcting parameters for correcting errors resulting from the quality of the camera module . optical errors include faults the camera module lens causes in the image and colours . errors resulting from the quality of the camera module include fixed pattern noise caused by the pixel structure , i . e . thermal noise , which increases as the amount of light decreases . focus errors , i . e . crispening errors , occur particularly in connection with lenses with a fixed focus , e . g . the whole image is not focused . in that case the centre of the image , for example , can be sharp whereas the edges are fuzzy . noise and sharpness are geometrical distortions that change radially from the centre of the optics , in which case the image correcting parameters are expressed as the centre of distortion and elliptic form for each colour component r , g and b ( red , green and blue ). the darkness of the image also changes radially towards the image edges . darkness can be eliminated e . g . using a function of the 6 th order having the form 1 + ar 2 + br 4 + cr 6 , where r is the distance from the centre and constants a , b and c are numbers that are defined on the basis of the test image . in step 202 the correcting information is stored preferably in the memory of the peripheral device , such as a server , a mobile imaging phone or a computer , but it can also be stored in the memory of the camera module . the identifying information of the camera module is stored at the same time . alternatively , the correcting information can be transferred from the memory of the camera module , mobile imaging phone or computer into the memory of the server e . g . by transmitting the correcting information and identifying information of the camera module , mobile imaging phone or computer to the server . the server stores the correcting information and identifying information and links these data with each other . the server can perform an image improvement operation on the image information it has received on the basis of the correcting information stored in advance and the identifier it has received . in step 203 an image is produced in the camera module or mobile imaging phone . the image can be a still image or a video image which can be stored e . g . in the memory of said mobile imaging phone . in step 204 the identifying information of the camera module or the mobile imaging phone and the image information are transmitted to a peripheral device , such as a server or a computer . the identifying information can alternatively be inserted into the above - mentioned image information in the mobile imaging phone , for example . in step 205 the image information and correcting information are received by a peripheral device , such as a server or a computer , and the image improvement operation is performed on the basis of the correcting information . fig3 illustrates a camera module 300 according to an embodiment of the invention . the camera module comprises a memory or a similar dataslot 301 for the image correcting information , one or more optical lenses 302 , a photosensitive cmos element or a ccd sensor element 303 , a control unit 304 for controlling the sensor element , a programmable analogue amplifier 305 ( programmable gain amplifier pga ). an analogue image signal is converted into a digital format by an ad converter 306 , after which it can be processed ( reference 307 ) by different image processing operations e . g . by adjusting the colour balance and / or the white balance . via the connection 308 the image signal is transmitted e . g . into the memory of the electronic device , such as the mobile imaging phone , or for display on the screen of the mobile imaging phone . the correcting information is stored in the memory 301 of the camera module , preferably during its manufacture . the memory 301 also comprises the identifier of the camera module , by means of which the peripheral device can identify the camera module and perform an image improvement operation on the image information corresponding to the identifying information . fig4 illustrates a communication device 400 according to an embodiment of the invention , the communication device comprising a camera module 300 for producing an image onto a screen 406 or into a memory 404 , a transceiver 402 and an antenna 408 for transmitting and receiving data , e . g . image information , wirelessly , at least one application 405 for carrying out operations of the communication device , a processor 403 and a memory 404 for performing operations of the communication device 400 and the application 405 , a keyboard 407 for feeding commands into the communication device 400 . in addition , the communication device 400 comprises image correcting information stored in the memory or in a similar storage medium 409 . the memory 404 may further comprise the identifier of the communication device , by means of which the peripheral device can identify the image information transmitted by the communication device and associate the image information with the corresponding image correcting information . the image correcting information is stored in the memory 409 preferably during the manufacture of the communication device or it can be stored in a storage medium , such as a cd , a dvd , a floppy disk or the like , in advance in some other manner . alternatively , the correcting information can be produced afterwards , e . g . when the communication device is used for the first time . the camera module of the communication device 400 is used for producing image information which is compared with the test image . the comparison can be performed and the image correcting information produced e . g . by a computer or a similar device . the result of the comparison is used for producing image correcting information , which comprises at least one parameter that describes the interference in the image . the image information produced by the communication device is transmitted together with the image correcting information to a peripheral device , such as a server or a computer , which performs an image improvement operation on said image information on the basis of said image correcting information . if the image correcting information is already stored in the peripheral device , the identifying information of the communication device can be optionally transmitted with the image information . fig5 illustrates a peripheral device 500 according to an embodiment of the invention . the peripheral device is preferably a server , but it may also be a computer . the peripheral device 500 comprises a storage medium 501 for storing image correcting information , a processor 502 and a memory 504 for controlling the operations of the peripheral device , a network interface 507 for receiving the image information and the correcting information and for transmitting corrected image information . the peripheral device 500 also includes a storage interface for storing the received correcting information and the image information in a mass memory , such as a hard disk , and a printing interface 509 for printing the corrected image information received by a printer . the peripheral device 500 may also comprise a keyboard 506 for feeding commands into the peripheral device , a monitor 503 for displaying the image information in visual form and at least one application 505 e . g . for performing an image improvement operation on the received image information on the basis of the image correcting information that corresponds to the image information and is already stored in the memory 501 of the peripheral device . the peripheral device 500 receives the image correcting information of the camera module , which is preferably produced already during the manufacture of the camera module or an electronic device , such as a mobile imaging phone , into which the camera module is integrated . at the same time the peripheral device 500 also receives identifying information related to said camera module , electronic device or both . the identifying information can also be a serial number or another similar identifying code . the identifying information and image correcting information received are stored in the memory 501 of the peripheral device and linked with each other . when the peripheral device receives an image produced by the camera module , it also receives identifying information , which is preferably related to the camera module , for example . the peripheral device compares the identifying information it has received with the identifying information stored in the memory 501 , and if the identifying information received is found in the memory 501 , the peripheral device performs an image improvement operation on the image it has received based on the image correcting information to which said identifying information received and stored in the memory 501 relates . the implementation and embodiments of the invention were described by means of examples above . it is obvious to a person skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the details of the embodiments described above and that the invention can be implemented otherwise without deviating from the characteristics of the invention . the embodiments shown should be regarded as illustrative only , i . e . the embodiments and applications of the invention are limited only by the appended claims . consequently , different optional embodiments of the invention defined in the claims , including equivalent embodiments , fall within the scope of the invention .	7
various aspects of the present invention will evolve from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof which should be taken in conjunction with the prior described drawings . the invention as a whole is shown in the drawings by reference character 10 . photometer 10 includes as one of its elements , a source 12 of electromagnetic radiation . source 12 may possess a broad wavelength band source of light , such as tungsten lamp 14 . however , it should be understood that any source of electromagnetic radiation in the visible or non - visible spectrum may be employed in this regard . for example , ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths are particularly useful for certain analyses employing photometer 10 . lamp 14 includes stabilizing means 16 for maintaining a predetermined intensity of source 12 . turning to fig2 it may be observed that stabilizing means 16 is shown inspecific detail . optically stabilized light source 14 includes a feedback circuit 18 which essentially controls the voltage to lamp 14 , minimizing intensity variations over time . the power source 20 is switched to connector 22 through single pole switch 24 . photo diode , pd 26 optically connects to lamp 14 , indicated by dash line on fig2 . photo diode , pd 26 regulates a current to laser diode driver , ldd , a commercially available product . ldd , in turn , sends a signal to the base of transistor q2 which serves as a lamp driver . it should be noted that the current collector of driver q2 provides energy to lamp 14 via connector j2 , p2 . connector block28 receives a control voltage ( v +) which , in turn , passes to the base of solenoid and driver q1 , a pnp transistor . optional solenoid 30 , in turn , is capable of moving mask 32 in front of lamp 14 for specialty measuring techniques , i . e ., to measure dark characteristics of photometer 10 . feedback damping resistor r1 detects analog hysteresis in the system and limits isolations therein . this damping effect is particularly helpful when the stabilizing means 16 is in its start - up mode . photometer 10 also includes as one of its elements , conduit means 34 for transmitting electromagnetic radiation from source 12 to sensing means 36 . conduit means 34 may be a fiber optic cable or any suitable conduit of electromagnetic radiation . sensing means 36 , in fig1 and 4 is essentially depicted in the form of a flow cell 37 . flow cell 37 is diagramed in fig4 . however , sensing means 36 may take the form of a cuvette cell , fiber - optic probe , reflectance device , such as a reflectanceprobe and the like . for example , a planar wavelength internal reflectance probe manufactured by optical solutions , inc . of folsom , calif . would suffice in this regard . that is to say , directional arrow 38 depicts electromagnetic radiation emitting from lamp 14 and carried via conduit means 34 . optional lens 40 collimates the electromagnetic radiation from conduit means 34 through or to a sample cell 42 which is substantially transparent to such electromagnetic radiation . lens 44 again focuses the electromagnetic radiation after interaction or modification by sample 46 within flow cell 42 , producing an electromagnetic signal . directional arrow 48 represents electromagnetic radiation which has interacted with sample 46 and is capable of revealing a property of the sample such as theabsorbance , fluorescence , transmission , turbidity , optical density , and thelike . absorbance is known to be directly related to concentration of a particular sample 46 within cell 42 ( beers law ). returning to fig1 conduit means 50 directs the electromagnetic radiationrepresented by directional arrow 38 to collimating lens 52 . electromagneticradiation exiting collimating lens 52 is directed to detecting means 54 . detecting means 54 converts the electromagnetic signal from sensing means 36 to electrical signals . detecting means 54 utilizes a housing 56 which is shown schematically on fig1 . housing 56 includes beam splitters 58 and 60 , as well as mirror 62 . beam splitter 58 reflects a first beam 64 and transmits a second beam 66 . second beam 66 passes to beam splitter 60 which reflects a third beam 68 and transmits a fourth beam 70 . first beam 64 passes to a first detector 72 having a lens 74 and a wavelength filter 76 . the wavelength filter 76 may be of any bandwidth suitable for the analysis of sample 46 within cell 42 . likewise , third beam 68 reflected from beam splitter 60 passes to second detector 78 after passing through lens 80 and second wavelength filter 82 . second filter 82 may possess the same or a different wavelength band than the first wavelength filter 76 . finally , fourth beam 70 is reflected from mirror 62 into a fifth beam 84 which passes through lens 86 and third wavelength filter 88 , to third detector 90 . it should be noted that the lens - filter combinations 74 , 76 ; 80 , 82 ; 86 , 88 may be reversed from the positions shown in fig1 . for example , lens 74 may lie immediately adjacent detector 72 . detectors 72 , 78 and 90 each produce an output signal which is passed to analyzing means92 for quantification and display . any one of the detectors , 72 , 78 or 90 may be used as a reference signal in the present system . generally , where absorbance is measured in the present photometer 10 , the reference signal is chosen at a wavelength where sample 46 exhibits minimal absorbance or change in absorbance . in fact , although a pair of beam splitters 58 and 60are shown in fig1 further beam splitters may be employed in tandem with beam splitters 58 and 60 prior to mirror 62 in the present system . of course , the use of multiple beam splitters corresponds to the intensity ofthe light entering detecting means 54 . it should be noted that filters 76 , 82 and 88 are easily interchanged in the present system . thus , the absorbances of sample 46 may be analyzed at a multiplicity of particular wavelengths at the same time . turning to fig3 analyzing means 92 is shown in conjunction with wavelength filters 76 , 82 and 88 , and an additional wavelength filter 94 , not shown in fig1 . the circuitry associated with filter 76 is employed in fig3 as a reference signal . the circuitry employed in relation to filter 82 processes light from source 14 for the purpose of analysis . analysis circuits 98 and 100 are essentially similar to circuit 96 used inconjunction with wavelength filter 82 . returning to fig1 optical filters76 and 82 , associated detectors 72 and 78 feed the transduced electrical signals into the input of high gain transimpedance amplifiers u1 and u2 . detectors 72 and 78 may take the form of silicon , germanium , and ingaas , graded or extended ingaas types , and the like . the reference signal from u1 is amplified by u11 and fed to one side of differential log amplifier u31 . the sample detector signal from detector 78 is amplified by u13 . u30 in combination with an optically coupled switch determines low light condition of the reference signal . resistor pairs r6 , r7 , r9 and r10 offset and correct the signal prior to being sent to differential log amplifier u31 . the output of u13 is compared to the output of u11 , the reference signal i . e ., ( log - reference ) minus ( log - sample ). the output of differential log amplifier u31 is gain and temperature corrected by a postamplifier u12 . this signal is sent to the proportional integrating differentiating controller , pid , for display , signal conditioning , scale conversion , and / or translation . terminal block ( tb ) provides user access to analyzing means 92 . gain changes on the input to differential log amplifier u31 will show as an offset ( zero adjust ) resistor by r18 . after passing through differential log - amplifier u31 , gain resistor r21 providesfor scale adjustment , which is initially set to absorbance units . the temperature of u31 is thermostatically controlled by heater 102 . the following is a list of components used in the circuit of fig3 . ______________________________________table of components______________________________________1 . filters 76 , 82 , 88 , 94 cvi laser albuquerque , nm2 . op amps u1 , and u2 , burr brown phoenix , azu11 , u12 , u133 . d . l . a . u31 analog devices norwood , mass4 . p . i . d . sixth sense williston , ut5 . thermistors th1 , th2 and keystone therm st . marys , path3 , 10 , kohm6 . comparitor u30 national semi santa clara , ca conductor7 . detectors 72 , 78 , 90 epitaxx ( ingaas ) princeton , nj eg & amp ; g ( silicon ) santa clara , ca8 . beam splitters 58 , 60 edmunds scient - barrington , nj ific9 . lamp 14 welch allen skaneateles falls ny10 . flow cell 37 c . i . c . photonics albuquerque , nm______________________________________resistors : ______________________________________r1 1 - 500 mohm phillips , sunnyvale , car2 1 - 500 mohm phillips , sunnyvale , car5 10 kohm phillips , sunnyvale , car50 49 . 9 kohm phillips , sunnyvale , car6 10 ohm phillips , sunnyvale , car7 10 - 100 kohm phillips , sunnyvale , car8 10 kohm phillips , sunnyvale , car80 49 . 9 kohm phillips , sunnyvale , car9 10 - 100 kohm phillips , sunnyvale , car10 10 kohm phillips , sunnyvale , car17 20 - 100 kohm phillips , sunnyvale , car18 0 - 100 kohm bourns , riverside , car21 0 - 5 kohm bourns , riverside , car24 3 kohm phillips , sunnyvale , car26 0 - 100 kohm bourns , riverside , car27 200 ohm phillips , sunnyvale , car31 10 - 30 kohm phillips , sunnyvale , car41 10 kohm phillips , sunnyvale , ca______________________________________capacitors : ______________________________________c1 openc2 openbp1 , bp2 , murata , smyma , gabp3 and bp4 1 . 0 μfc11 and c12 10 pf murata , smyma , gac13 open μc31 0 . 1 μf murata , smyma , ga______________________________________ while , in the foregoing , embodiments of the present invention have been setforth in considerable detail for the purposes of making a complete disclosure of the invention , it may be apparent to those of skill in the art that numerous changes may be made in such detail without departing from the spirit and principles of the invention . the following example is meant to further illustrate the invention , but is not deemed to limit the invention in any manner . the photometer of fig1 was employed using a reference wavelength filter 76 of 520 nm and an analyzing wavelength of 400 nm through filter 82 . detectors 72 and 78 , as used in this example , were silicon . each wavelength filter had a bandwidth of 10 nm . one meter of 500 micrometer core silica - cladded , silica core fibers were used to serve as conduit means 34 and 50 . in other words , sensing means 36 was connected by one cable from light source 14 , and to lens 52 of detecting means 54 by the other cable leading from sensing means 36 . sensing means 36 had two lens barrels separated by 0 . 75 mm to hold the liquid sample 46 therewithin . using analyzing means 92 of fig1 and fig3 the scaling factors on the proportional controller were adjusted . the analog current output from the pid ( 4 - 20 ma ) was read with a fluke 97 scopemeter and plotted against the known concentration of additive , as shown in fig5 . in this example , an organic liquid additive was analyzed and had an absorption with a peak centered in the uv area of electromagnetic radiation . the additive was measured on the high wavelength side of this uv peak at 400 nm in the bluevisible . by doing so , sample dilution was avoided for the much stronger uv peak . table 1 represents the data obtained . the correlation coefficient was greater than 0 . 99 for this calibration . table 1______________________________________ % additive ma output______________________________________ 62 4 . 58 64 6 . 92 68 12 . 00 72 16 . 65 74 19 . 03______________________________________	6
the present invention will be described below with reference to the figures . fig1 is a horizontally sectional view showing a polishing machine 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention . the polishing machine 20 comprises a lower surface plate 30 provided at a lower surface wb side of a disc - like wafer w which is a work piece , an upper surface plate 40 provided at an upper surface wa side of the wafer w , a wafer supporting unit 50 for supporting an outer peripheral edge wc of the wafer w , a lower polishing plate mechanism 60 provided at the lower surface plate 30 side , and an upper polishing plate mechanism 70 provided at the upper surface plate 40 side . the lower surface plate 30 is constituted by overlapping a disc - like metal plate 31 and an elastic plate 32 formed of a material more flexible than the metal plate 31 , and a cutaway portion 33 is formed from the outer periphery side to the center side of the lower surface plate 30 as shown in fig2 . a polishing liquid supply hole 34 is provided at the elastic plate 32 to supply a polishing liquid onto the lower surface wb of the wafer w . if abrasive grains agreeing with the work piece and a suspended magnetic fluid are used for the polishing liquid , the polishing efficiency is improved . for example , for polishing of glass or an oxide film , a colloidal magnetic fluid including ceo 2 , ferrite or the like as the abrasive grain material is used . a colloidal magnetic fluid including ferrite containing colloidal silica as a polishing material is used here as the work piece is an si wafer w . the upper surface plate 40 is constituted by overlapping a disc - like metal plate 41 and an elastic plate 42 obtained by applying cloth onto a surface of sponge or rubber , and a cutaway portion 43 corresponding to the above - mentioned cutaway portion 33 is formed at the upper surface plate 40 . a polishing liquid supply hole 44 is provided at the elastic plate 42 to supply a polishing liquid onto the upper surface wa of the wafer w . the wafer supporting unit 50 comprises four guides 51a to 51d holding the outer peripheral edge wc of the wafer w to be freely rotatable and rotating themselves around an axis g in fig1 and a work piece rotating motor 52 for driving the rotation of the guide 51a . the lower polishing plate mechanism 60 comprises a lower polishing plate reciprocating guide 61 provided in the direction of the diameter of the wafer w , i . e . from the lower side of a central axis c to the lower side of outer peripheral edge wc , a polishing cloth rotating motor 62 provided to freely reciprocate along the guide 61 , a lower polishing plate reciprocating motor 63 for reciprocating the motor 62 , and a lower polishing plate 64 provided at a shaft unit 62a of the motor 62 to face the lower surface wb of the wafer w . an electromagnet 65 and polishing cloth 66 are provided on the lower polishing plate 64 . the electromagnet 65 as the magnetic unit applying a magnetic force onto the work piece is constituted such that the n pole and the s pole are arranged alternately as shown in fig3 . the upper polishing plate mechanism 70 comprises an upper polishing plate reciprocating guide 71 provided in the direction of the diameter of the wafer w , i . e . from the upper side of the central axis c to the upper side of the outer peripheral edge wc , a pressure adding mechanism 72 provided to freely reciprocate along the guide 71 , for generating a pressing force downward in fig1 on an upper polishing plate 74 described later , and an upper polishing plate 74 provided at the pressure adding mechanism 72 via a flexible joint 73 to face the upper surface wa of the wafer w . an electromagnet 75 and polishing cloth 76 are provided at the upper polishing plate 74 . in the polishing machine 20 thus constituted , the wafer w is polished in the following manners . first , the wafer w is held by the guides 51a to 51d . then , the elastic plates 32 and 42 are positioned so that much pressure is not applied to the wafer w . thus , it is possible to prevent the wafer w from shaking during the polishing process and stably rotate the wafer w . in addition , a current is made to pass through the electromagnets 65 and 75 . at this time , they are controlled so that the magnet poles at the opposite positions of the electromagnets 65 and 75 can be reverse to one another . thus , the sucking force from the lower polishing plate 64 is applied to the upper polishing plate 74 , the upper polishing plate 74 follows the lower polishing plate 64 , and the wafer w can be prevented from being scratched and can be polished effectively . the upper polishing plate 74 is made to approach the wafer w by means of the lower polishing plate 64 and the pressure adding mechanism 72 and the polishing cloths 66 and 76 are pressed onto the lower surface wb and upper surface wa of the wafer w . then , the motor 52 is operated to rotate the wafer w around its central axis c and also rotate the motor 62 . thus , the polishing cloth 66 is rotated and the polishing cloth 76 is also rotated . by reciprocating the motor 62 by means of the motor 63 , the polishing cloth 66 is reciprocated along a direction represented by an arrow α in fig2 and the polishing cloth 76 is also reciprocated . on the other hand , a polishing liquid is supplied from the polishing liquid supply holes 34 and 44 . even if abrasive grains enter the elastic plates 32 and 42 during the work , they do not influence the polishing process , the surface of the wafer w is not thereby scratched . when a magnetic fluid is used as the polishing liquid , the polishing liquid is collected near the polishing cloths 66 and 76 by the electromagnets 65 and 75 , the polishing liquid can be used efficiently and the polishing efficiency can be enhanced . as described above , the polishing machine 10 according to the present embodiment polishes the wafer w one by one , and even if the thicknesses of the wafers w before polished are different , parallel and flat processing can be carried out at high accuracy . the machine can be thereby miniaturized . furthermore , by transferring the shape of the polishing plates which influences the accuracy in the polishing onto a work piece , parallel and flat processing can be carried out at high accuracy even if a work piece having a large diameter is polished . the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and , of course , can be modified variously in a range which does not exceed the gist of the present invention . additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art . therefore , the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein . accordingly , various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents .	1
an exemplary embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to drawings . as shown in fig2 , in order to cut a glass sheet g conveyed in a shape of a broad ribbon with a predetermined size , groove - shaped cutting lines ( refer to fig3 ) in a conveying direction of the glass sheet ( a longitudinal cutting line 7 ) and in a width direction thereof ( a lateral cutting line 7 ′) are in advance provided on an upper surface of the glass sheet by pressing a wheel chip 29 of a cutter onto a glass sheet surface . next , by a bend - cutting roll 40 provided on a downstream side , the glass sheet is bent and cut off along the widthwise cutting line 7 ′. thereafter , the glass sheet is bent and cut off along the lengthwise cutting line 7 in the not - shown subsequent step . in result , a glass sheet of a desired size is obtained . in the exemplary embodiment of the invention , a cutting line providing apparatus 1 which provides cutting lines 7 , 7 ′ on the ribbon - shaped glass sheet g conveyed on carrying rollers 31 , 31 . . . as shown in fig2 includes , as shown in fig1 , a cutter 28 which provides the cutting line 7 on the surface of the glass sheet g ; a ball slide device 20 which makes the cutter 28 for providing the cutting line 7 move freely up and down very smoothly with slight power so that the cutter 28 can respond to height variation in the up - down direction produced by the wave of the ribbon - shaped glass sheet g conveyed on the carrying rollers 31 , 31 , . . . , and which absorbs an excessive pressing force during pressing the cutter 28 against the glass sheet surface , thereby to keep the pressing force contact ; a spring 24 which applies an appropriate cutter pressure onto the glass sheet surface ; and a pressing device 10 which presses an arm 15 that supports the ball slide device 20 , the spring 24 and the cutter 28 toward the glass sheet surface . as shown in fig2 , the cutting line providing apparatus 1 also include guides 4 , each of which slides so as to freely adjust its attachment position on rails 3 , 3 provided on a frame 2 provided in the direction orthogonal to a conveying direction of the ribbon - shaped glass sheet g . a desired number of the guides 4 are provided in desired positions so that the positions can be adjusted . therefore , the lengthwise cutting lines 7 , 7 are provided . as shown in fig2 , in case that a cutting line providing apparatus 1 ′ is constituted so as to be able to reciprocate on a not - shown rail of a frame 2 ′ provided so as to traverse obliquely to the glass conveying direction , the cutting line 7 ′ orthogonal to the conveying direction of the glass sheet is obtained . since the cutting line providing apparatus 1 ′ for providing the cutting line 7 ′ runs on the rail of the frame 2 ′ in synchronization with the conveying speed of the glass ribbon , it can provide the cutting line 7 ′ orthogonal to the conveying direction of the glass sheet . thus , by the cutting line providing apparatus 1 and the cutting line providing apparatus 1 ′, the glass sheet having the longitudinal and lateral cutting lines 7 ′, 7 including the cutting line 7 in the conveying direction is obtained . in the pressing device 10 , as shown in fig1 , from an mounting member 13 secured extendingly from the vicinity of the upper end of the guide 4 provided for the frame 2 in the horizontal direction , a pressing cylinder 11 is hung . near the substantially central portion of the arm 15 attached pivotally to the vicinity of the lower end of the guide 4 , a leading end of a rod 12 of the pressing cylinder 11 is attached pivotally by a shaft 16 . by extension and contraction of the pressing cylinder 11 , the arm 15 moves rotationally up and down with a shaft 5 provided at one end of the arm 15 as a rotational axis . a hollow bolt 17 which is inserted into a hole portion provided on the other end side of the arm 15 is fixed by nuts 18 , 18 ′. to the lower end portion of the hollow bolt 17 , a ball slide device 20 is attached and fixed through an l - shaped mounting member 19 . the hollow bolt 17 and the l - shaped mounting member 19 are fixed to each other by a nut . the ball slide device 20 is composed of a rail portion 21 a and an lm block 21 b which has a substantially c - shaped section and can slide linearly on the rail portion . between the rail portion 21 a and the lm block 21 b , a not - shown ball bearing is incorporated . therefore , the lm block 21 b can slide very smoothly on the rail portion 21 a by slight power . further , the side surface of the rail portion 21 a of the lm ball slide 21 is fixed through the l - shaped mounting member 19 by a not - shown bolt . also onto the lower end side surface of the rail portion 21 a , an l - shaped spring fixing member 26 is secured by a not - shown bolt . onto the upper portion of a horizontal portion of the spring fixing member 26 , a spring lower end hook 25 is screwed up . on the other hand , onto the side surface of the lm block 21 b , an l - shaped spring hanging member 22 is secured . onto the lower surface side of a horizontal tip portion of the spring hanging member 22 , a spring hanging hook 23 is screwed up . between the spring hanging hook 23 and the spring lower end hook 25 , a spring 24 is disposed . furthermore , onto the side surface of the lm block 21 b , a plate - shaped cutter holder 27 supporting a cutter is secured . at the leading end portion of the cutter holder 27 , a cutter 28 is detachably installed . to the lower end of the cutter 28 , a wheel chip 29 which provides a cutting line by contact with the glass sheet is rotatably attached . further , from a not - shown oil tank located on the upper side of the cutting line providing apparatus 1 , a small tube 6 is disposed through the inside of the tubular bolt 17 and the cutter holder 27 up to the vicinity immediately above the wheel chip 29 of the cutter . through the tube 6 , the appropriate amount of cutter oil can be supplied to the wheel chip 29 . the glass sheet g is a strip - shaped glass ribbon formed by a float method and conveyed . a product portion of this glass ribbon is 0 . 4 to 1 . 1 mm in thickness . however , the thickness near the end portion in the width direction of the glass ribbon is about 2 mm since the glass ribbon is formed by the float method . in case that the cutting line providing apparatus described in fig1 is fixedly provided for the frame 2 , it can provide the cutting line 7 in the conveying direction of the glass ribbon , that is , the longitudinal cutting line . further , in case that the cutting line providing apparatus is disposed in the oblique direction like the frame 2 ′ in fig2 and moved in synchronization with the conveying speed of the glass sheet g , it can be used as a lateral cutting machine , so that it can provide the cutting line 7 ′ in the lateral direction . next , the operation of the cutting line providing apparatus of the invention will be described . for a continuous glass ribbon carried from a not - shown glass melting furnace through a predetermined forming step to a cutting step , of the longitudinal cutting machines 1 , 1 . . . disposed in the plural desired positions of the frame 2 , only the desired longitudinal cutting machine is actuated in consideration of the width of a product potion which has the thickness - in - standard of the center portion of the glass ribbon . the unused longitudinal cutting machines 1 , 1 , . . . are moved up by putting the pressing cylinders 11 , 11 , . . . in a non - operating state . when the pressing cylinder 11 of the pressing device 10 is operated , the rod 12 of the cylinder extends downward , whereby the arm 15 coupled to the shaft 16 located at the leading end of the rod 12 is pressed down . when the arm 15 moves rotationally downward with the shaft 5 as a rotation axis , the ball slide device 20 is also pressed down with the downward movement of the arm 15 . hereby , the wheel chip 29 of the cutter 28 is pressed down toward the glass surface . in a state where the wheel chip 29 of the cutter is not pressed on the glass sheet surface , by the spring 24 provided between the spring fixing member 26 fixed to the rail portion 21 a of the lm ball slide 21 and the spring hanging member 22 attached and fixed onto the side surface of the lm block 21 b , the rail portion 21 a and the lm block 21 b keep balance and are put in a state of balance . in case that such the pressing power that the wheel chip 29 of the cutter 28 is pressed to a position lower than the glass sheet surface is applied by the pressing device 10 , the wheel chip 29 stops at the glass sheet surface . in this time , the lm block 21 b moves up by the excessive pressing power , and the excessive pressing power is absorbed by the lm ball slide 21 and the spring 24 . thus , the spring 24 applies the appropriate cutter pressure . further , also in case that the glass sheet is conveyed in a state where the glass sheet surface rises by wave , the wheel chip 29 of the cutter 28 rises by the rising height of the glass sheet surface . with rising of the wheel chip 29 , the lm block 21 b moves up . the excessive pressing power is absorbed by the lm ball slide 21 and the spring 24 so as to prevent the wheel chip 29 of the cutter 28 from pressing the glass sheet surface excessively . generally , even in case that there are rising of the glass sheet surface due to the wave and the excessive pressing power on the glass sheet surface due to the excessive pressing power by the cylinder , as long as the thickness of the glass sheet is 2 mm or more , the glass sheet is not broken even in case that the ball chip 29 is raised by the glass sheet . however , in case of a super - thin glass sheet having the thickness of 0 . 4 to 1 . 1 mm , when the glass sheet g is going to raise the wheel chip 29 due to the wave , the cutter cannot frequently rise smoothly under the structure in which the excessive pressing power is absorbed by only the spring . in this case , before the cutter rises completely , the pressure between the cutter and the glass sheet surface increases , so that the glass sheet breaks . therefore , in the exemplary embodiment of the invention , using the lm ball slide 21 which is very small in sliding resistance due to a not - shown ball bearing together with the elastic spring 24 enables the cutter 28 to rise smoothly in a moment , whereby the excessive pressure is not applied to the glass sheet surface for even a moment . incase of a sheet thickness of 2 to 5 mm which is thickness of usual structural glass or of vehicle glass , the pressure of the cutter onto the glass sheet surface is , for example , 1 . 0 to 4 . 0 kg / cm 2 . on the other hand , in case of a sheet thickness of 1 . 1 mm , the pressure is 0 . 5 to 1 . 0 kg / cm 2 which is ½ or less of the usual pressure ; and in case of the thickness of 0 . 7 mm , the pressure is 0 . 3 to 0 . 8 kg / cm 2 which is ½ or less of the usual pressure . while the invention has been described in detail and with reference to the specific embodiment thereof , it would be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modification may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention . the present invention is based on japanese patent application no . 2007 - 282879 , filed on oct . 31 , 2007 , the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference . the invention can be used in an apparatus for providing a cutting line on a glass sheet which provides a uniform cutting line without damaging the glass sheet .	8
referring now to the drawings in more detail , in fig1 a and fig1 b there is shown a cylindrical block 1 having , in its preferred embodiment , multiple peripheral holes as spiraling tunnels 2 with inlet and outlet ends . an inner shaft 3 provides rotation guide and torque to spin the cylindrical block . fluid guide structures 4 , 5 are located at each end . the cylindrical structure on its preferred embodiment ends on a conical or spherical structure 6 , the lines a - b , c - d , e - f defines a reference plane perpendicular to the rotational axis which cross - section is detailed on fig1 c , fig1 d and fig1 e , the illustrator also depicts the active dynamic imbalance means , comprised by mass 9 , ring 8 , actuator 7 and the control hub 10 . in more detail , still referring to the same embodiment , fig1 c depicts the tunnel &# 39 ; s cross section 2 as circular at the a - b line ( input end ), fig1 d depicts the cross - section of the same tunnel cross - section 2 semi - circular at the c - d line , fig1 e depicts the cross - section 2 as irregular ellipsoidal flattened in direction to the rotational axis in the same tunnel at the e - f line ( output end ). the shape of each tunnel section 2 at the a - b line , c - d line or the e - f line is measured in perpendicular plane to the rotational axis , while this embodiment names it as a irregular ellipse as final shape , is understood that the final shape could be any ellipse variation or ellipse - like shape , in the preferred embodiment the ellipsoidal shape is relatively flatten in direction to the propeller &# 39 ; s rotational axis , fig1 e also depicts the actuator 7 positioned between a pair of adjacent tunnel inside the gap among them . fig2 depicts an embodiment for a multifunction dynamic balance or imbalance / torque modulation means as a movable mass 9 mounted on a ring 8 distributed about the propeller block 1 ( shown in fig1 a , 1 b ) along with its actuators or reposition means 7 , and controls hub 10 ( where the accelerometer are installed to monitor the propeller balance and calculate then the right mass position to balance the system ), the power means is not shown ( i . e . electrical control means or mechanic linkages ) but is understood the device should be powered properly , while this preferred embodiment depicts an multifunction dynamic balance or imbalance / torque modulation means specific to be installed on configurations like peripheral tunnels propellers taking advantage of the gap among adjacent tunnels and its external cylindrical perimeter , is understood this feature could be implemented with almost any active dynamic imbalance system suitable to modify its control means , as long it can fit inside the gap among adjacent tunnels and the cylinder perimeter , in this propeller among the multi purpose characteristic of the active dynamic imbalance device , another novelty is to install such devices using the gap space among each tunnel pairs avoids operational turbulence and protects the system from damage due contact on or with external objects . still referring to the multifunction dynamic imbalance or balance system , this specific configuration being installed two sets of active dynamic imbalance system near each end is due the specific and particular characteristic inherent to all the peripheral tunnel propellers , the imbalance could vary along the propeller chord , being more imbalanced near some end than the other , so for a proper effective imbalance , the system requires specific balance actions different at each end , the location of the multifunction dynamic imbalance system control hub unit is shown here close to the propeller shaft behind the cone , while this is an ideal location for such system is understood other suitable arrangements are possible as distributing the unit along the actuators or in other locations attached or not to the propeller , even at remote locations outside the propeller itself . referring to fig3 a there is shown a truncated substantially conical block propeller , in its preferred embodiment : multiple peripheral holes 11 as spiraling tunnels with inlet and outlet ends . the lines g - h , i - j , k - l defines a reference plane perpendicular to the rotational axis which cross - section related to tunnel 11 is detailed on fig3 b , fig3 c and fig3 d . referring to fig4 a there is shown a truncated substantially conical block having , in its preferred embodiment , multiple peripheral holes 12 as spiraling tunnels with inlet and outlet ends . the lines m - n , o - p , q - r defines a reference plane perpendicular to the rotational axis which cross - section related to tunnel 12 is detailed on fig4 b , fig4 c and fig4 d . in more detail , still referring to the same embodiment of fig4 c , fig4 d and fig4 e depicts the tunnel &# 39 ; s cross section 12 as circular at the m - n , o - p , q - r line ( from end to end ). the invention achieves its goal to accelerate a fluid by spinning it inside a camber ( tunnel 2 , 11 , 12 ) driven by shaft 3 and by both combined centrifugal and axial movement it accelerates the mass of fluid from the input end to the output end . the tunnels have the particularity that each section matches the circular momentum of the molecules , avoiding parasite sound waves due to wall collision , and thus keeping reynolds numbers at laminar flow levels . the input and output structures 4 and 5 provide paths for input and output of the fluids through the tunnels 2 , 11 , 22 and blend smoothly with the environment . the physical structure of the cylindrical block is inherently so strong that material stress just can &# 39 ; t make sound waves or the environment easily attenuates such waves at elevated frequency and low decibels . other elements such as the conical structure 6 help to keeps the fluid at laminar flow conditions . the multifunction dynamic balance or imbalance / torque modulation means 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 consist on any active dynamic balancer device suitable to be permanently installed on the propeller and suitable to have a modified control system which modification consist that at certain propeller angles or sectors generates arbitrary balance or un - balance conditions so the active dynamic balancer corrects this actually inexistent un - balance or balance conditions which periodical harmonic imbalance , this imbalance could be used as source for sound - waves which are useful either to disguise the machine or to cancel or disguise some of the machine natural sounds , i . e . from propeller rotating from 0 ° to 90 ° the balancers is set to balance the propeller , from 90 ° to 180 ° the balancer control unit is modified to imbalance the propeller by 0 . 1 g then from 180 ° to 270 ° the balancer is set again to balance the propeller and so on , thus the propeller having two times per revolution a 0 . 1 g vibration also its possible on some active dynamic balancer to induce “ virtual un - balance ” without actually imbalance the propeller but inducing variation on the propeller momentum this way effectively modulating only the torque with similar goals create specific sound waves on the propeller for either disguise or cancelation of the machine natural sound , this functionality requires a propeller where it can be embedded without modification to its functional shape as the peripheral tunnel propeller aforementioned . although the embodiments shown include all features , the applicant specifically contemplates that features 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 and 10 disclosed herein may be used together or in combination with any other feature on any embodiment of the invention . it is also contemplated that any of the cited features may be specifically excluded from any embodiment of an invention . the construction details of the invention as shown in fig1 a , fig3 a and fig4 a are the block 1 could be made from fiber glass reinforced composites , metal alloy , ceramics , reinforced concrete , and any material suitable for fabrication of such pieces . the shaft 3 could be made of the same material as the block 1 or from higher strength materials such as steel . if made from a different material , the block 1 must be build around a previously machined shaft 3 . the input and output structures 4 and 5 maybe made from the same material the cylindrical block 1 . conical structure 6 is made from the same material as the cylindrical block 1 . in the preferred embodiment , the cylindrical block 1 and the intake and exhaust structures 4 and 5 and the conical structure 6 all are build as a single body . the cylindrical block 1 could if desired be integrated with an the multifunction dynamic balance or imbalance / torque modulation means , as the basic active dynamic balancer system 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 optimally installed using the gap among each pair of adjacent tunnels , but its control system is modified to receive periodic arbitrary input signals by suitable means according the desired sound , the balancer / un balancer system maybe mechanical , fluidic or electro - mechanical as on as the balancer system from prior art , but this system besides the desired imbalance patterns receives indication from a sensor on the propeller shaft about the propeller rotational angle , then compares it to the desired un - balance or un - balance and introduces signal to the balancers system accordingly the opposite desired un - balance , suitable active dynamical balancer system suitable for this purpose include without limitation those in prior art with : moving masses , reciprocating masses , rods pulley , liquid masses , as long those system receive some input suitable to be modified on described purpose . intake and exhaust structures 4 and 5 maybe defined as a aerodynamically contoured chamfer , having a shape extended among the middle section from adjacent tunnels , said shape at its base correspond to the gap among the adjacent tunnels where it is disposed , as the structure extends from its base , the shape in parallel plane the structure &# 39 ; s base is progressively reshaped and its cross - sections is reduced until it conforms a single edge with the shape of a line equidistant to the adjacent tunnels , this line maybe symmetrically or asymmetrically disposed among the tunnels . the advantages of the present invention include , without limitation : quieter operation , very strong structure on a wide variety of materials not suitable on other designs , resiliency to damage due the permanent availability of an active balance system and the materials it allow to use on its manufacture , capability to generate specific sound waves useful to disguise other noises or cancel it . the present invention is environmentally friendly minimizing injuries to humans or animals in the surrounding environment by presenting continuous surfaces on both the exterior structure and interior tunnels . the invention size depends on specific applications : the cylindrical block 1 maybe as small as 2 millimeters or less , and as big as 50 meters or more limited only by the fabrication process . the longitudinal proportion depends on the length of tunnels 2 , 11 , 12 required to accelerate the fluid just below the cavitation inertial limit . the number of tunnels 2 , 11 , 12 in the preferred embodiment , are six in a single row not being limited to these numbers and maybe one or more tunnels , distributed on one or more tunnel rows . while the foregoing written description of the invention enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be the best mode thereof , those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations , combinations , and equivalents of the specific embodiment , method , and examples herein . the invention should therefore not be limited by the above described embodiment , method , and examples , but by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the invention .	1
various embodiments and aspects of the inventions will be described with reference to details discussed below , and the accompanying drawings will illustrate the various embodiments . the following description and drawings are illustrative of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention . numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of the present invention . however , in certain instances , well - known or conventional details are not described in order to provide a concise discussion of embodiments of the present inventions . reference in the specification to “ one embodiment ” or “ an embodiment ” means that a particular feature , structure , or characteristic described in conjunction with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the invention . the appearances of the phrase “ in one embodiment ” in various places in the specification do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment . according to some embodiments , during a two - way real - time conference , such as an audio or video conference , conference data to be transmitted to a remote device is buffered for a predetermined period of time as a delay time period . during the predetermined period of time , the transmission path of the local device is inactive . after the predetermined period of time lapses , the transmission path of the local device is then turned active and the buffered conference data is then transmitted to the remote device . thus , a longer inactive time period for the transmission path can be maintained with a longer delay of the real - time conference data transmission . as a result , radio power in the local device may be saved . according to one embodiment , the data transmitted is bundled into a data bundle that contains the audio data and the video data that are synchronized with each other to increase the inactive time period . as a result , radio power in the local device may be saved . according to one embodiment , when the real - time conference data is received , audio portion of the data is examined to determine an audio energy level . if the audio energy level is below a predetermined threshold ( e . g ., no conversation occurs during the conference ), the delay time period can be dynamically extended , which in turn extends the inactive period of the transmission path of the device . similarly , if the real - time conference is a video conference , the video frames are analyzed to determine the amount of motion . if the amount of detected motion is smaller than a predetermined threshold ( e . g ., not much movement between the video frames ), the delay time period can also be extended . during the delay time period , at least the transmission path of the device is in an inactive state . as a result , radio power in the local device may be saved . according to one embodiment , the transmission data is synchronized with receiving data from the remote device . data of the local device would not be transmitted to the remote device until some data has been received from the remote device . if there is no data received from the remote device , after a period of time , the transmission data is then transmitted to the remote device , in order to avoid a deadlock situation in which both ends are waiting for data received from their counterpart . with this transmission / reception synchronization , the inactive time period could be increased or maximized and as a result , radio power in the device may be further saved by entering into a c - drx mode for example . fig1 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication system . it is noted that the system of fig1 is merely one example of a possible system , and embodiments may be implemented in any of various systems , as desired . as shown , the wireless communication system includes a basestation 102 which communicates over a transmission medium with one or more user devices 106 - 1 through 106 - n . each of the user devices may be referred to herein as a “ user equipment ” ( ue ). thus , the user devices 106 are referred to as ues or ue devices . the basestation 102 may be a base transceiver station ( bts ) or cell site , and may include hardware that enables wireless communication with the ues 106 a through 106 n . the basestation 102 may also be equipped to communicate with a network 100 . thus , the basestation 102 may facilitate communication between the ues , between the ues and the network 100 and / or between the ues 106 a through 106 n and other ues handled by another basestation connected to network 100 . the communication area ( or coverage area ) of the basestation may be referred to as a “ cell .” the basestation 102 and the ues may be configured to communicate over the transmission medium using any of various wireless communication technologies such as global system for mobile communications ( gsm ), code division multiple access ( cdma ), wireless local loop ( wll ), wide area network ( wan ), wifi , wimax , etc . the basestation 102 and other similar basestations operating according to the same or a different cellular communication standard may thus be provided as a network of cells , which may provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to ue 106 and similar devices over a wide geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards . ue 106 may be capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards . for example , the ue 106 might be configured to communicate using two or more of gsm , universal mobile telecommunications system ( umts ), cdma200 , wimax , lte , wireless local area network ( wlan ), bluetooth , one or more global navigational satellite systems ( gnss , e . g ., gps or glonass ), one and / or more mobile television broadcasting standards ( e . g ., atsc - m / h or dvb - h ), etc . other combinations of wireless communication standards ( including more than two wireless communication standards ) are also possible . the ue 106 may be a device with wireless network connectivity such as a mobile phone , a hand - held device , a computer or a tablet , or virtually any type of wireless device . the ue 106 may include a processor that is configured to execute program instructions stored in memory . the ue 106 may perform any of the methods embodiments described herein by executing such stored instructions . in some embodiments , the ue 106 may include a programmable hardware element such as a field - programmable gate array ( fpga ) that is configured to perform any of the method embodiments described herein , or any portion of any of the method embodiments described herein . the ue 106 may be configured to communicate using any of multiple wireless communication protocols . for example , the ue 106 may be configured to communicate using two or more of umts , cdma 2000 , lte , wlan , or gnss . other combinations of wireless communication standards are also possible . the ue 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols . in some embodiments , the ue 106 may share one or more parts of a receive and / or transmit chain between multiple wireless communication standards . the shared radio may include a single antenna , or may include multiple antennas ( e . g ., for mimo ) for performing wireless communications . alternatively , the ue 106 may include separate transmit and / or receive chains ( e . g ., including separate antennas and other radio components ) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate . as another alternative , the ue 106 may include one or more radios which are shared between multiple wireless communication protocols , and one or more radios which are used exclusively by a single wireless communication protocol . for example , the ue 106 may include a shared radio for communicating using either of lte or 1xrtt , and separate radios for communicating using each of wi - fi and bluetooth . other configurations are also possible . the ue 106 may also be configured to synchronize uplink transmissions with downlink transmissions . in particular , according to some embodiments the ue 106 may support connected mode discontinuous reception ( c - drx ) for data communications between the ue 106 and the bs 102 , and may be configured to synchronize uplink transmissions with downlink transmissions in a manner adapted to maximize the amount of time that the ue 106 spends in a reduced - power state as part of c - drx . fig2 a is a block diagram illustrating an example of real - time communications between two user equipments according to one embodiment of the invention . note that the communications between two ues can be potentially done directly without a basestation or indirectly via at least one basestation . referring to fig2 a , any of ues 201 - 202 can represent any of ues 106 a - 106 n of fig1 . each of the ues 201 - 202 has the same or similar architecture . in this example , ue 201 includes video conferencing logic 203 having an encoder 207 and decoder 209 , while ue 202 includes video conferencing logic 204 having encoder 208 and decoder 210 . note that throughout this application , video conferencing applications are utilized as an example of two - way real - time communications software . video conferencing logic 203 - 204 can be implemented within a video conferencing application , a network stack of the corresponding ue , a baseband layer , and / or hardware . video conferencing logic 203 - 204 can be implemented in software , hardware , or a combination thereof . referring to fig2 a , encoder 207 of ue 201 is to encode video conferencing data into a bundle and transmit the bundle in a delay fashion to ue 202 to be decoded by decoder 210 , while encoder 208 of ue 202 is to encode video conferencing data into a bundle and transmit the bundle in a delay fashion to ue 201 to be decoded by decoder 209 during a video conferencing session between ues 201 - 202 . when encoder 207 receives video conferencing data from a video application , encoder 207 of ue 201 is to buffer the video conferencing data in buffer 205 without immediately transmitting the video conferencing data to ue 202 . while the video conferencing data is being buffered in buffer 205 , at least certain components of the transmission path of ue 201 ( e . g ., a radio frequency ( rf ) frontend such as transceiver , antenna , and / or amplifier ) can be maintained in an inactive state , for example , to allow ue 201 to enter a c - drx mode . as a result , the power consumption of ue 201 can be reduced . similarly , encoder 208 of ue 202 is to perform in a similar manner as ue 201 . for the purpose of illustration , the operations of ue 201 are described herein . the same or similar techniques can be equally applied to ue 202 . according to one embodiment , encoder 207 is to buffer the video conferencing data in buffer 205 for a predetermined delay time period , where the delay time period may be user configurable dependent upon the specific operating environment . during the predetermined period of time , at least certain components of the transmission path of ue 201 remain . after the predetermined period of time lapses , the transmission path of ue 201 is then turned active and the buffered conference data is then transmitted to ue 202 . thus , a longer inactive time period for the transmission path can be maintained with a longer delay of the real - time conference data transmission . according to one embodiment , when the video conferencing data is received , encoder 207 examines audio portion of the video conferencing data to determine an audio energy level . if the audio energy level is below a predetermined threshold ( e . g ., no conversation occurs during the conference ), encoder 207 is to dynamically extend or increase a duration of the delay time period , which in turn extends the inactive period of the transmission path of ue 201 . similarly , if the real - time conference is a video conference , the video frames are analyzed by encoder 207 to determine the amount of motion . if the amount of detected motion is smaller than a predetermined threshold ( e . g ., no significant motion in the video frames ), the delay time period can also dynamically be extended . during the delay time period , at least the transmission path of the device is in an inactive state . according to one embodiment , the transmission data is synchronized with receiving data from the remote device . data of ue 201 would not be transmitted to ue 202 until some data has been received by decoder 209 from encoder 208 of ue 202 . if there is no data received from ue 202 , after a period of time , the buffered data is then transmitted to ue 202 anyway , in order to avoid a deadlock situation in which both ues 201 - 202 are waiting for data received from their counterpart . in one embodiment , the data transmitted is bundled into a data bundle that contains the audio data and the video data that are synchronized with each other . fig2 b is a flow diagram illustrating a method for processing real - time conferencing data according to one embodiment of the invention . method 250 may be performed by any of ues 201 - 202 of fig2 a . referring to fig2 b , at block 251 , video conferencing data is received at conferencing logic of a first ue , where the conferencing data is to be transmitted to a second ue over a wireless network . at block 252 , at least the audio portion of the conferencing data is buffered in to a bundle in a buffer of the first ue without immediately transmitting to the second ue . at block 253 , at least a portion of a video portion of the conferencing data is bundled that is synchronized with the audio portion of the bundle . at block 254 , the bundle is transmitted to the second ue over the wireless network after a predetermined delay time period , during which at least a portion of a transmission path of the first ue remains inactive . fig3 is a block diagram of an example implementation of a mobile device according to one embodiment of the invention . for example , mobile device 300 may represent any of ues 201 - 202 of fig1 b . referring to fig3 , the mobile device 300 can include a memory interface 302 , one or more data processors , image processors and / or central processing units 304 , and a peripherals interface 306 . the memory interface 302 , the one or more processors 304 and / or the peripherals interface 306 can be separate components or can be integrated in one or more integrated circuits . the various components in the mobile device can be coupled by one or more communication buses or signal lines . sensors , devices , and subsystems can be coupled to the peripherals interface 306 to facilitate multiple functionalities . for example , a motion sensor 310 , a light sensor 312 , and a proximity sensor 311 can be coupled to the peripherals interface 306 to facilitate the orientation , lighting , and proximity functions described with respect to fig2 a . other sensors 316 can also be connected to the peripherals interface 306 , such as a positioning system ( e . g ., gps receiver ), a temperature sensor , a biometric sensor , or other sensing device , to facilitate related functionalities . a camera subsystem 320 and an optical sensor 322 , e . g ., a charged coupled device ( ccd ) or a complementary metal - oxide semiconductor ( cmos ) optical sensor , can be utilized to facilitate camera functions , such as recording photographs and video clips . communication functions can be facilitated through one or more wireless communication subsystems 324 , which can include radio frequency receivers and transmitters and / or optical ( e . g ., infrared ) receivers and transmitters . the specific design and implementation of the communication subsystem 324 can depend on the communication network ( s ) over which the mobile device is intended to operate . for example , a mobile device can include communication subsystems 324 designed to operate over a gsm network , a gprs network , an edge network , a wi - fi or wimax network , and a bluetooth ™ network . in particular , the wireless communication subsystems 324 may include hosting protocols such that the mobile device may be configured as a basestation for other wireless devices . an audio subsystem 326 can be coupled to a speaker 328 and a microphone 330 to facilitate voice - enabled functions , such as voice recognition , voice replication , digital recording , and telephony functions . the i / o subsystem 340 can include a touch screen controller 342 and / or other input controller ( s ) 344 . the touch - screen controller 342 can be coupled to a touch screen 346 . the touch screen 346 and touch screen controller 342 can , for example , detect contact and movement or break thereof using any of a plurality of touch sensitivity technologies , including but not limited to capacitive , resistive , infrared , and surface acoustic wave technologies , as well as other proximity sensor arrays or other elements for determining one or more points of contact with the touch screen 346 . the other input controller ( s ) 344 can be coupled to other input / control devices 348 , such as one or more buttons , rocker switches , thumb - wheel , infrared port , usb port , and / or a pointer device such as a stylus . the one or more buttons ( not shown ) can include an up / down button for volume control of the speaker 328 and / or the microphone 330 . in one implementation , a pressing of the button for a first duration may disengage a lock of the touch screen 346 ; and a pressing of the button for a second duration that is longer than the first duration may turn power to the mobile device on or off . the user may be able to customize a functionality of one or more of the buttons . the touch screen 346 can , for example , also be used to implement virtual or soft buttons and / or a keyboard . in some implementations , the mobile device can present recorded audio and / or video files , such as mp3 , aac , and mpeg files . in some implementations , the mobile device can include the functionality of an mp3 player , such as an ipod ™. the mobile device may , therefore , include a 32 - pin connector that is compatible with the ipod ™. other input / output and control devices can also be used . the memory interface 302 can be coupled to memory 350 . the memory 350 can include high - speed random access memory and / or non - volatile memory , such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices , one or more optical storage devices , and / or flash memory ( e . g ., nand , nor ). the memory 350 can store an operating system 352 , such as darwin , rtxc , linux , unix , os x , windows , or an embedded operating system such as vxworks . the operating system 352 may include instructions for handling basic system services and for performing hardware dependent tasks . in some implementations , the operating system 352 can be a kernel ( e . g ., unix kernel ). the memory 350 may also store communication instructions 354 to facilitate communicating with one or more additional devices , one or more computers and / or one or more servers . the memory 350 may include graphical user interface instructions 356 to facilitate graphic user interface processing ; sensor processing instructions 358 to facilitate sensor - related processing and functions ; phone instructions 360 to facilitate phone - related processes and functions ; electronic messaging instructions 362 to facilitate electronic - messaging related processes and functions ; web browsing instructions 364 to facilitate web browsing - related processes and functions ; media processing instructions 366 to facilitate media processing - related processes and functions ; gps / navigation instructions 368 to facilitate gps and navigation - related processes and instructions ; camera instructions 370 to facilitate camera - related processes and functions ; and / or other software instructions 372 to facilitate other processes and functions , e . g ., access control management functions . the memory 350 may also store other software instructions ( not shown ), such as web video instructions to facilitate web video - related processes and functions ; and / or web shopping instructions to facilitate web shopping - related processes and functions . in some implementations , the media processing instructions 366 are divided into audio processing instructions and video processing instructions to facilitate audio processing - related processes and functions and video processing - related processes and functions , respectively . an activation record and international mobile equipment identity ( imei ) 374 or similar hardware identifier can also be stored in memory 350 . each of the above identified instructions and applications can correspond to a set of instructions for performing one or more functions described above . these instructions need not be implemented as separate software programs , procedures , or modules . the memory 350 can include additional instructions or fewer instructions . furthermore , various functions of the mobile device may be implemented in hardware and / or in software , including in one or more signal processing and / or application specific integrated circuits . fig4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for processing conferencing data according to another embodiment of the invention . method 400 may be performed by any of ues 201 - 202 of fig2 a . referring to fig4 , at block 401 , video conferencing data is received at a first ue , where the video conference data is part of a video conference to be transmitted to a second ue over a wireless network . at block 402 , the video conferencing data is buffered within the first ue for a predetermined delay time period without immediately transmitting to the second ue . at block 403 , processing logic determines an audio energy level of the audio portion of the video conferencing data . at block 404 , the delay time period is dynamically extended or increased if the audio energy level is below a predetermined threshold . at block 405 , the buffered video conferencing data is then transmitted to the second ue after the extended delay time period . fig5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for processing conferencing data according to another embodiment of the invention . method 500 may be performed by any of ues 201 - 202 of fig2 a . referring to fig5 , at block 501 , video conferencing data is received at a first ue , where the video conference data is part of a video conference to be transmitted to a second ue over a wireless network . at block 502 , the video conferencing data is buffered within the first ue for a predetermined delay time period without immediately transmitting to the second ue . at block 503 , processing logic determines the amount of motion in the video frames of the video conferencing data . at block 504 , the delay time period is dynamically extended or increased if the amount of detected motion is below a predetermined threshold . at block 505 , the buffered video conferencing data is then transmitted to the second ue after the extended delay time period . fig6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for processing conference data according to another embodiment of the invention . method 600 may be performed by any of ues 201 - 202 of fig2 a . referring to fig6 , at block 601 , video conferencing data is received at a first ue , where the video conference data is part of a video conference to be transmitted to a second ue over a wireless network . at block 602 , the video conferencing data is buffered within the first ue without immediately transmitting to the second ue for a predetermined delay time period or until the first ue receives video conferencing data from the second ue . at block 603 , the first ue can optionally buffer more video conferencing data for a dynamically configured delay time period to allow the second ue observe a longer inactive time . the dynamically configured delay time could be determined by network conditions such as communication speed and latency , and can potentially let the second ue enter into a c - drx mode . at block 604 , the buffered video conferencing data is then transmitted to the second ue after the extended delay time period . the optional additional data buffering can also be done in the basestation to allow both communicating ues observe a longer inactive time . some portions of the preceding detailed descriptions have been presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory . these algorithmic descriptions and representations are the ways used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art . an algorithm is here , and generally , conceived to be a self - consistent sequence of operations leading to a desired result . the operations are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities . it should be borne in mind , however , that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities . unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the above discussion , it is appreciated that throughout the description , discussions utilizing terms such as those set forth in the claims below , refer to the action and processes of a computer system , or similar electronic computing device , that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical ( electronic ) quantities within the computer system &# 39 ; s registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage , transmission or display devices . the techniques shown in the figures can be implemented using code and data stored and executed on one or more electronic devices . such electronic devices store and communicate ( internally and / or with other electronic devices over a network ) code and data using computer - readable media , such as non - transitory computer - readable storage media ( e . g ., magnetic disks ; optical disks ; random access memory ; read only memory ; flash memory devices ; phase - change memory ) and transitory computer - readable transmission media ( e . g ., electrical , optical , acoustical or other form of propagated signals — such as carrier waves , infrared signals , digital signals ). the processes or methods depicted in the preceding figures may be performed by processing logic that comprises hardware ( e . g . circuitry , dedicated logic , etc . ), firmware , software ( e . g ., embodied on a non - transitory computer readable medium ), or a combination of both . although the processes or methods are described above in terms of some sequential operations , it should be appreciated that some of the operations described may be performed in a different order . moreover , some operations may be performed in parallel rather than sequentially . in the foregoing specification , embodiments of the invention have been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof . it will be evident that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims . the specification and drawings are , accordingly , to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense .	8
as regards the possible fluorinated comonomer , it is advantageously chosen from the compounds which comprise a vinyl group capable of opening by the action of free radicals to polymerize and which comprise , directly attached to this vinyl group , at least one fluorine atom , one fluoroalkyl group or one fluoroalkoxy group . mention may be made , by way of example of comonomer , of vinyl fluoride ; trifluoroethylene ( trfe ); chlorotrifluoroethylene ( ctfe ); 1 , 2 - difluoroethylene ; tetrafluoroethylene ( tfe ); hexafluoropropylene ( hfp ); perfluoro ( alkyl vinyl ether ) s , such as perfluoro ( methyl vinyl ether ) ( pmve ), perfluoro ( ethyl vinyl ether ) ( peve ) and perfluoro ( propyl vinyl ether ) ( ppve ); perfluoro ( 1 , 3 - dioxole ); perfluoro ( 2 , 2 - dimethyl - 1 , 3 - dioxole ) ( pdd ); the product of formula cf 2 ═ cfocf 2 cf ( cf 3 ) ocf 2 cf 2 x in which x is so 2 f , co 2 h , ch 2 oh , ch 2 ocn or ch 2 opo 3 h ; the product of formula cf 2 ═ cfocf 2 cf 2 so 2 f ; the product of formula f ( cf 2 ) n ch 2 ocf ═ cf 2 in which n is 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 or 5 ; the product of formula r1ch 2 ocf ═ cf 2 in which r1 is hydrogen or f ( cf 2 ) z and z has the value 1 , 2 , 3 or 4 ; the product of formula r3ocf ═ ch 2 in which r3 is f ( cf 2 ) z — and z is 1 , 2 , 3 or 4 ; perfluorobutylethylene ( pfbe ); 3 , 3 , 3 - trifluoropropene and 2 - trifluoromethyl - 3 , 3 , 3 - trifluoro - 1 - propene . several comonomers can be used . as regards the pvdf copolymer , the proportion of vdf is at least 60 % by weight per 40 % of comonomer and preferably at least 85 % by weight per 15 % of comonomer . the comonomer is advantageously chosen from hfp , ctfe , tfe and trfe . as regards the surfactant , in the emulsion processes , use is advantageously made of an ionic surfactant derived from an acid or one from a base which is organic . patents u . s . pat . no . 4 , 025 , 709 , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 569 , 978 , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 360 , 652 , ep 626 396 and ep 0 655 468 disclose processes for the synthesis of pvdf by aqueous emulsification of vf 2 and its polymerization ; numerous formulae for surfactants are found therein . mention may be made , by way of example , of those of general formula : zc n f 2n coom in which z is a fluorine or chlorine atom , n is an integer with a value from 6 to 13 and m is a hydrogen or alkali metal atom or an ammonium group or an ammonium group comprising at least one lower alkyl substituent . mention may also be made of lithium perfluoroalkanoates of formula f 3 c ( cf 2 ) n − 2 co 2 li where n = 7 , 8 , 9 and 10 . the total amount of surfactant introduced , at the start of or during polymerization , can be between 0 and 5000 ppm of the pvdf manufactured ( substantially equal to the total charge of fluoromonomers employed ). use is advantageously made of ammonium perfluorooctanoate and ammonium perfluorononanoate or their mixtures , that is to say the product of formula zc n f 2n coom in which z is f , m is ammonium and mean n is between 8 and 9 . the proportion of surfactant in the pvdf is determined by nmr analysis . advantageously , in addition to the surfactant , a paraffin wax is also added . the paraffin wax employed has a melting point ranging from 40 to 70 ° c . and represents from 0 . 005 to 0 . 05 % by weight with respect to the total weight of the fluoromonomers . as regards the initiator and therefore the persulphate , this is advantageously an alkaline persulphate and preferably a potassium or ammonium persulphate . advantageously , the radical initiator employed represents from 50 to 600 ppm and preferably 100 to 400 ppm by weight with respect to the total weight of the fluoromonomer or fluoromonomers employed . it is possible to quantify the number of these chain ends by the ratio of their number per 1000 vdf units . this level depends on the molecular masses and on the amount of persulphate used . the polymer according to the invention has a level of chain ends as mentioned above of between 0 . 01 and 0 . 08 per 1000 vdf units . as regards the transfer agent , this term is used to denote any product which makes it possible to limit the molar mass of the polymer while propagating the polymerization reaction . the transfer agents disclosed in the prior art for the preparation of pvdf are suitable . it generally exhibits a hydrogen bond sensitive to radical attack . mention may be made , by way of example , of acetone , isopropanol , methyl acetate , ethyl acetate , diethyl ether , methyl tert - butyl ether , n - butyl acetate , diethyl malonate and diethyl carbonate and various chlorofluorocarbon compounds . the amount of transfer agent depends essentially on its nature and on the average molar mass desired for the polymer fraction obtained in its presence , which conditions the average viscosity of the final product . preferably , the transfer agent employed represents from 0 . 05 to 5 % by weight with respect to the pvdf manufactured . advantageously , ethyl acetate is used . the phenomenon of chain termination generates fully identifiable — ch 2 — cf 2 h and — cf 2 — ch 3 endings the radical resulting from the transfer reaction reinitiates new chains in higher proportions than the radicals generated by the decomposition of the persulphate . this is the reason why the ends : only represent 0 . 3 to 1 % of all the chain ends detectable . as regards the sodium acetate , use is advantageously made of the acetate trihydrate ch 3 — coona . 3h 2 o . the proportion , expressed as trihydrate , is advantageously between 50 and 600 ppm with respect to the pvdf manufactured . the sodium introduced by the sodium acetate can be measured by x - ray fluorescence . it is expressed in table 2 as ppm by weight of sodium with respect to the pvdf . as regards the potassium alkylsulphonate ( r — so 3 k ), the proportion by weight with respect to the pvdf manufactured can be between 0 and 300 ppm . the alkyl groups r of this sulphonate are linear or branched and have from 1 to 11 carbon atoms . ethyl , methyl , isopropyl and n - propyl are preferred . the proportion of alkylsulphonate in the pvdf is determined by nmr analysis . evaluation of the heat stability : a 260 × 20 × 4 mm plaque is formed from 40 g of ( pvdf ) powder by compression moulding under 30 bar and at 205 ° c . for 6 minutes and is subjected to quenching in water at 20 ° c . the plaque is subsequently reheated in a metrastat ® psd 260 oven at 265 ° c . for 1 h . after this heat treatment , the plaque may be more or less coloured . the colour is determined by a yellowing measurement . the plaque is placed on a calibrated white ceramic and the yellowing index is measured with the help of a minolta ® cr 200 colorimeter using the astm d 1925 standard for the calculation of the yellow index . the heat stability is also evaluated by a plaque moulding . the powder resulting from the drying of the latex is granulated in a clextral ® bc 21 twin - screw corotating extruder at a temperature of 230 ° c . and a rotational speed of 120 revolutions per minute . a rod die makes it possible to prepare granules with a size of 4 mm . using these granules , plaques with a diameter of 65 mm and a thickness of 3 mm are compressed at 230 ° c . for 9 min and 120 min at a pressure of 20 bar . the coloration of the plaques is measured with the help of a minolta ® cr 200 colorimeter using the astm d 1925 standard for the calculation of the yellow index . the following are introduced at ambient temperature into a 30 liter reactor : 17 liters of deionized water , 2 g of paraffin wax with a melting point of 60 ° c ., 52 . 8 g of a 15 % solution of ammonium perfluorooctanoate . after closing and deaerating , stirring is begun and the reactor is heated to 83 ° c . after introducing 88 g of ethyl acetate , the reactor is pressurized to 45 bar with vdf . after injecting 300 g of a 0 . 5 % by weight potassium persulphate solution , the polymerization begins and the pressure is maintained at 45 bar with vdf . after introducing 1500 g of vdf , a further 100 g of a 0 . 5 % by weight potassium persulphate solution are added . after introducing a total of 8500 g of vdf ( time = 4 h 30 ), the pressure is allowed to fall to 15 bar and the residual monomer is degassed . the latex is filtered . the weight of latex obtained is 26 . 4 kg . the level of dry matter ( or solids content ) is 30 %. the latex is coagulated and washed before being atomized , which frees it from all the water - soluble polymerization residues . the coagulation and the washing are carried out according to the teaching of patent u . s . pat . no . 4 , 128 , 517 . the latex is diluted , so as to have a level of solids of 12 %, and is then introduced into a coagulator with a capacity of 12 liters at a flow rate of 18 l / h . air is introduced simultaneously with a flow rate of 15 l / h . the latex is coagulated by the shearing produced by the turbine mixer ( blade tip speed 12 m / s ) and is converted to a cream with a density lower than that of water . this cream is introduced into a washing column with a capacity of 14 liters fed at the top with a flow rate of 140 l / h . the slurry of coagulated and washed latex exiting from the washing column is introduced into an intermediate container , from which it is conveyed to a 1 m3 atomizer . the temperature of the air at the inlet of the atomizer is 140 ° c . and 85 ° c . at the outlet . the powder obtained is subsequently granulated using a clextral ® bc 21 extruder at 230 ° c . and 120 rev / min . the latex is the same as in comparative example 1 and is subjected to a coagulation / washing operation . the only difference is that , after coagulation and washing , an aqueous solution comprising 15 g per liter of sodium acetate trihydrate and 5 g per liter of potassium ethylsulphonate is added continuously in the pipe for feeding the atomizer . the feed rate of this solution is proportional to the feed rate of pvdf , so as to observe a ratio of sodium acetate trihydrate to pvdf of 0 . 00025 . the latex is first of all coagulated . it is diluted , so as to have a level of solids of 12 %, and is then introduced into a coagulator with a capacity of 12 liters at a flow rate of 18 l / h . air is introduced simultaneously with a flow rate of 15 l / h . the latex is coagulated by the shearing produced by the turbine mixer ( blade tip speed 12 m / s ) and is converted to a cream with a density lower than that of water . the coagulated dispersion is subsequently diluted , so as to bring the level of solids to 6 %. the slurry of coagulated latex is concentrated by gravity up to a level of solids at 20 % above an aqueous phase , which is subsequently removed by withdrawing . operating in this way is not efficient enough to reduce the level of residual emulsifier to less than 300 ppm . an aqueous solution comprising 15 g per liter of sodium acetate trihydrate and 5 g per liter of potassium ethylsulphonate is added to the dispersion thus obtained . the amount of solution added is 0 . 017 liter per kilogram of dry pvdf . the dispersion , thus additivated , is dried in a ventilated oven at 80 ° c . for 12 hours . the following are introduced at ambient temperature into a 30 liter reactor : 17 liters of deionized water , 2 g of paraffin wax with a melting point of 60 ° c ., 52 . 8 g of a 15 % solution of ammonium perfluorooctanoate . after closing and deaerating , stirring is begun and the reactor is heated to 83 ° c . after introducing 22 . 5 g of ethyl acetate , the reactor is pressurized to 45 bar with vdf . after injecting 300 g of a 0 . 5 % by weight potassium persulphate solution , the polymerization begins and the pressure is maintained at 45 bar with vdf . during polymerization , 125 g of ethyl acetate and 220 g of a 0 . 5 % solution of potassium persulphate are introduced . after introducing a total of 8500 g of vdf ( time = 4 h 20 ), the pressure is allowed to fall to 15 bar and the residual monomer is degassed . the latex is filtered . the weight of latex obtained is 26 kg . the level of dry matter ( or solids content ) is 29 %. after coagulation and washing , which are carried out as in comparative example 1 , an aqueous solution comprising 15 g per liter of sodium acetate trihydrate and 7 . 5 g per liter of potassium ethylsulphonate is added continuously in the pipe for feeding the atomizer . the feed rate of this solution is proportional to the feed rate of pvdf , so as to observe a ratio of sodium acetate trihydrate to pvdf of 0 . 00025 . the pvdf slurry is atomized under the same conditions as in comparative example 1 .	2
it has now been found that the intermediates ( v ) can be recovered in high yield and purity as the salts with ammonia or organic bases , in inert organic solvents of common industrial use , thus remarkably improving the manufacture of cefdinir in terms of time , costs and quality of the end product . r 1 is hydrogen or an amino - protecting group , for example a c 1 — c 6 acyl group optionally substituted with one or more fluorine or chlorine atoms , preferably formyl , an alkyl - or aryl - oxycarbonyl group , preferably tert - butoxycarbonyl and p - methoxybenzyloxycarbonyl , or a trityl group wherein each benzene ring is optionally substituted with one or more methoxy and / or methyl groups , preferably trityl ; r 2 is a hydroxy - protecting group , for example a straight or branched c 1 - c 6 alkyl group , preferably tert - butyl , a benzyl , benzhydryl or trityl group wherein each benzene ring is optionally substituted with one or more methoxy , nitro and / or methyl group , preferably p - methoxybenzyl , 3 , 4 - dimethoxybenzyl , benzhydryl , bis ( p - methoxyphenyl ) methyl and trityl ; b is ammonia or an organic base selected from primary amines , preferably cyclohexylamine , 2 - ethylhexylamine , benzylamine , α - methylbenzylamine and tert - octylamine ; secondary amines , preferably diethylamine , morpholine , dicyclohexylamine , n , n - methylbenzylamine or n , n ′- dibenzylethylenediamine ; tertiary amines , preferably triethylamine , tributylamine , triisooctylamine , ethyldiisopropylamine , n - methylmorpholine , pyridine , 2 , 6 - lutidine or quinoline ; guanidine , preferably 1 , 1 , 3 , 3 - tetramethylguanidine ; amidines , preferably 1 , 5 - diazabicyclo [ 4 . 3 . 0 ] non - 5 - ene ( dbn ) or 1 , 8 - diazabicyclo [ 5 . 4 . 0 ] undec - 7 - ene ( dbu ); hydrates , solvates or adducts thereof . a preferred salt according to the invention is the dicyclohexylamine salt of the formula ( ia ) the salts of formula ( i ) are obtained through a process which envisages three possible alternatives , whose common feature is that the acids of the formula ( v ) are not isolated . the alternatives are illustrated in the following scheme . in a first embodiment of the invention ( method 1 ), an activated 2 -( aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 -( hydroxyimino ) acetic acid derivative of formula ( ii ) wherein r 1 and r 2 are as defined above and z is a carboxy - activating group selected from — cl , — s - mercaptobenzothiazolyl , — o — p + ( ph ) 3 cl 31 , — o — p ( s )( oet ) 2 , — o — p ( o )( oet ) 2 , — o — so 2 me , — o — so 2 ph , — o — so 2 - ptol , — o — cotbu , — o — c ( o ) oet , — o - benzotriazol - 1 - yl , — s -( 2 - methyl - thiadiazol - 5 - yl ), — o — ch = n + ( ch 3 ) 2 cl 31 or benzotriazol - 1 - yl - 3 - oxide , in the presence of ammonia or an organic base selected from those listed above . the compounds ( ii ) and ( iii ) comprise also their hydrates and solvates . the reaction is carried out in an organic solvent selected from : halogenated hydrocarbons , preferably methylene chloride ; carboxylic acid esters , preferably dimethylcarbonate , ethyl acetate and butyl acetate ; ketones , preferably acetone , methyl ethyl ketone and methyl isobutyl ketone ; nitriles , preferably acetonitrile or propionitrile ; amides , preferably n , n - dimethylformamide , n , n - dimethylacetamide , n - methylpyrrolidone ; aromatic hydrocarbons , preferably toluene and xylene ; ethers , preferably tetrahydrofuran , dioxane or ethylene glycol dimethyl ether ; sulfoxides or sulfones , preferably dimethylsulfoxide , dimethyl sulfone and sulfolane ; alcohols , preferably methanol or ethanol , or mixtures thereof , optionally in the presence of water , at a temperature ranging from − 20 ° c . to + 80 ° c ., preferably from 0 ° c . to 40 ° c . preferred solvents according to the invention are n , n - dimethylformamide and n , n - dimethylacetamide . the amount of base can be stoichiometric to the compound of formula ( iii ) or in molar excess up to 3 times , preferably ranging from 1 to 2 equivalents . the resulting salts of the formula ( i ) precipitate by addition of an anti - solvent selected from those listed above . the crystallization temperature may range from − 20 ° c . to 50 ° c ., preferably from − 10 ° c . to 30 ° c . in a second embodiment of the invention ( method 2 ) the reaction is carried out as described above , but the salts ( i ) are not immediately precipitated , rather converted to an acid of the formula ( v ), which is extracted from the reaction mixture and precipitated from the extraction solvent by treatment with ammonia or an amine selected from those listed above , which can be the same or different from that used in the previous step . the salt is precipitated using an amount of base stoichiometric to the acid of the formula ( v ) or in molar excess up to two times , preferably ranging from 1 to 1 , 5 equivalents . also in this case the crystallization temperature may range from − 20 ° c . to 50 ° c ., preferably from − 10 ° c . to 30 ° c . according to a preferred embodiment of this method , compounds ( ii ) and ( iii ) are reacted with 1 , 1 , 3 , 3 - tetramethylguanidine or triethylamine . preferably , the compound of formula ( ii ) is the s - mercaptobenzothiazolyl thioester ( iia ) in a third embodiment of the invention ( method 3 ), the reaction between the compounds ( ii ) and ( iii ) is carried out in the presence of a silylating agent , preferably n , o - bis - trimethylsilylacetamide . the acid of formula ( v ) obtained after hydrolysis is extracted and precipitated as a salt of formula ( i ) by treatment with ammonia or with an amine selected from those listed above . also in this case , use will be made of an amount of base stoichiometric to the acid of formula ( v ) or in molar excess up to two times , preferably ranging from 1 to 1 , 5 equivalents . according to a preferred embodiment of this method , the ester ( iia ) is reacted with the acid ( iiia ) in the presence of n , o - bis - trimethylsilylacetamide , to give , after hydrolysis , the acid ( va ) among the three methods disclosed above , the second and the third ones are particularly preferred , as they allow to obtain the salts of formula ( i ) with higher purity . the salts ( i ) precipitate as crystals from the reaction mixture and can be easily recovered by filtration or centrifugation . through crystallization of the salts ( i ), the intermediates ( v ) are removed off the reaction medium ; degradation is thus remarkably reduced , while the yield and quality of the intermediates are increased . the salts ( i ) can be obtained in the anhydrous form , or as hydrates , or can also be recovered as solvates . hydration water or solvation solvent can be sometimes removed in part or almost completely by drying under reduced pressure , which increases the stability of the product . typically , a salt having a water content of 0 . 5 % or lower and a solvent content of 3 % or lower can be obtained after drying . the salts of formula ( i ) can also be recovered as adducts with derivatives of formula h - z , wherein z is as defined above . the derivatives of formula h - z can be present in a molar ratio of 1 : 1 or lower . the conversion of the salts ( i ) to cefdinir ( iv ) by removal of the protecting groups can be carried out according to methods already known in the literature ( wo 0179211 , wo 9724358 , kamachi , h . et al ., j . antibiot . 1988 41 ( 11 ), 1602 - 16 ). 1 , 1 , 3 , 3 - tetramethylguanidine ( 35 . 8 ml ) is added in 15 min to a suspension of 7 - amino - 3 - vinyl - 3 - cephem - 4 - carboxylic acid ( 65 . 0 g ) in n , n - dimethylformamide ( 0 . 78 l ) previously cooled to 10 ° c . and the mixture is stirred at this temperature until complete dissolution . 2 -( aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 -( trityloxyimino ) acetic acid s - mercaptobenzothiazolic ester ( 172 . 7 g ) is added thereto in 15 min and the mixture is stirred at this temperature until complete conversion of 7 - amino - 3 - vinyl - 3 - cephem - 4 - carboxylic acid ( hplc analysis ). after completion of the reaction , water ( 1 . 7 l ) and ethyl acetate ( 2 . 2 l ) are added and the ph is adjusted to 3 . 0 with diluted hydrochloric acid . the phases are separated and the organic one is washed with a 20 % sodium chloride solution in water ( 0 . 86 l ). the phases are separated and dicyclohexylamine ( 54 . 1 ml ) is added in 30 min to the organic one . formation of crystals is observed . after further 15 min the mixture is cooled to 0 ° c ., stirred at this temperature for 1 hour , thereafter the precipitate is filtered , washed with ethyl acetate ( 1 . 7 l ) and dried . 226 . 0 g of the title compound are obtained . 1 h - nmr ( dmso - d 6 , 300 mhz ): 9 . 86 ( 1h , d , j = 8 . 3 hz , — conh —), 7 . 34 - 7 . 20 ( 15h , m , ph 3 ), 7 . 01 ( 1h , dd , j = 17 . 9 e 11 . 6 hz , — ch ═ ch 2 ), 6 . 59 ( 1h , s , h - heteroaryl ), 5 . 78 ( 1h , dd , j = 8 . 3 and 5 . 0 hz , — conh — ch —), 5 . 24 ( 1h , d , j = 17 . 9 hz , — ch ═ chh trans ), 5 . 15 ( 1h , d , j - 5 . 0hz , — con — ch —), 5 . 00 ( 1h , d , j = 11 . 6 hz , — ch ═ chh cis ), 3 . 61 ( 1h , ab system , j ab = 17 . 0 hz , — sch 2 ), 3 , 46 ( 1h , ab system , j ab = 17 . 0 hz , — sch 2 ), 3 . 06 − 3 . 00 ( 2h , m , 2 × hn — ch dicyclohexylamine ), 1 . 99 - 1 . 06 ( 20h , m , 10 × ch 2 dicyclohexylamine ). triethylamine ( 9 . 1 ml ) is added in 20 min to a suspension of 7 - amino - 3 - vinyl - 3 - cephem - 4 - carboxylic acid ( 7 . 5 g ) in n , n - dimethylformamide ( 90 ml ) previously cooled to 15 ° c . 2 -( aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 -( trityloxyimino ) acetic acid s - mercaptobenzothiazolic ester ( 19 . 7 g ) is added thereto in 15 min and the mixture is stirred at this temperature until complete conversion of 7 - amino - 3 - vinyl - 3 - cephem - 4 - carboxylic acid ( hplc analysis ). after completion of the reaction water ( 200 ml ) and ethyl acetate ( 250 ml ) are added and the ph is adjusted to 3 . 0 with diluted hydrochloric acid . the phases are separated and the organic one is washed with a 20 % sodium chloride solution in water ( 200 ml ). the phases are separated and dicyclohexylamine ( 7 . 2 ml ) is added to the organic one in 15 min . formation of crystals is observed . after further 15 min the mixture is cooled to 0 ° c ., stirred at this temperature for 1 hour , thereafter the precipitate is filtered , washed with ethyl acetate ( 100 ml ) and dried . 26 . 4 g of the title compound are obtained . n , o - bistrimethylsilylacetamide ( 8 . 0 ml ) is added in 15 min to a suspension of 7 - amino - 3 - vinyl - 3 - cephem - 4 - carboxylic acid ( 7 . 5 g ) in n , n - dimethylacetamide ( 50 ml ) at 25 ° c . after further 20 min , 2 -( aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 -( trityloxyimino ) acetic acid s - mercaptobenzothiazolic ester ( 19 . 8 g ) is added and the mixture is stirred at this temperature until complete conversion of 7 - amino - 3 - vinyl - 3 - cephem - 4 - carboxylic acid ( hplc analysis ). after completion of the reaction , ethyl acetate ( 250 ml ) and methanol ( 3 ml ) are added and the mixture is stirred for 15 minutes . water is then added ( 200 ml ) and stirring is continued for further 15 min . the phases are separated and the organic one is washed with a 20 % sodium chloride solution in water ( 200 ml ). the phases are separated and dicyclohexylamine ( 7 . 2 ml ) is added to the organic phase in 15 min . formation of crystals is observed . the mixture is allowed to stand for further 15 min , cooled to 0 ° c . and stirred at this temperature for 1 hour . the precipitate is filtered , washed with ethyl acetate ( 100 ml ) and dried . 25 . 8 g of the title compound are obtained . the same procedure as example 3 is initially followed . after washing the organic phase with aqueous sodium chloride , ( r )-(+)- α - methylbenzylamine ( 4 . 6 ml ) is added in 15 minutes . formation of crystals is observed . the mixture is allowed to stand for further 15 min , cooled to 0 ° c . and stirred at this temperature for 1 hour . the precipitate is filtered , washed with ethyl acetate ( 100 ml ) and dried . 20 . 4 g of the title compound are obtained . 1 h - nmr ( dmso - d 6 , 300 mhz ): 9 . 84 ( 1h , d , j = 8 . 0 hz , — conh —), 7 . 49 - 7 . 18 ( 20h , m , 4 × ph ), 7 . 01 ( 1h , dd , j = 17 . 6 and 11 . 0 hz , — ch ═ ch 2 ), 6 . 59 ( 1h , s , h - heteroaryl ), 5 . 77 ( 1h , dd , j = 8 . 0 and 5 . 0 hz , — conh — ch —), 5 . 20 ( 1h , d , j = 17 . 6 hz , — ch ═ chh trans ), 5 . 13 ( 1h , d , j = 5 . 0 hz , — con — ch —), 4 . 97 ( 1h , d , j = 11 . 6 hz , — ch ═ chh cis ), 4 . 34 ( 1h , q , j = 6 . 9 hz , chme benzylamine ), 3 . 58 ( 1h , ab system , j ab = 17 . 1 hz , — sch 2 ), 3 . 45 ( 1h , ab system , j ab = 17 . 1 hz , — sch 2 ), 1 . 47 ( 3h , d , j = 6 . 9 hz , me ).	2
in fig4 , reference numeral 10 generally indicates a printer , in accordance with the invention . the printer 10 has a support structure 12 that supports a print assembly 14 , also in accordance with the invention , above a substrate . the support structure 12 includes a pair of spaced feet 16 and a leg 18 extending from each foot 16 . the print assembly 14 is mounted on the legs 18 to span the legs 18 . a media tray 20 is positioned between the legs 18 . the media tray 20 is configured to store suitable print media , such as paper 22 . the paper 22 is fed from a media feed mechanism in the form of a media roll 166 through the print assembly 14 and on to a take up spool 24 . an electronics enclosure 26 is also positioned between the legs 18 to enclose various electronic components that are described below . the print assembly 14 includes a lid 28 , with a handle 30 , and a front cover 32 . the lid 28 and front cover 32 are positioned between a pair of end moldings 34 . the print assembly 14 also includes a color tft lcd 36 with touch screen navigation . a stop button 38 is also provided to enable a user to stop operation of the print assembly 14 . the print assembly 14 and its various components are shown in further detail in the remaining figures . in fig1 to 3 , reference numeral 40 generally indicates a printing mechanism of the print assembly 14 . as can be seen in the drawings , the printing mechanism 40 is segmented . in particular , the printing mechanism 40 includes an image processing apparatus , in accordance with the invention , that includes nine printed circuit boards ( pcb &# 39 ; s ) 42 connected to each other with corresponding connector blocks 44 . the printing mechanism 40 further includes a printhead 41 having seventy - two printhead modules 46 . each pcb 42 is configured to control eight printhead modules 46 . it follows that nine pcb &# 39 ; s 42 are provided . the printhead modules 46 are described in further detail below . each pcb 42 includes a print engine controller ( pec ) 48 . the pec &# 39 ; s 48 are also described in further detail below . each pcb 42 also includes a memory storage device in the form of memory chips and more particularly in the form of 64 mbit external dram chips 50 . the dram chips 50 cooperate with the pec 48 in a manner that is described below . further , each pcb 42 includes a quality authentication ( qa ) chip 52 . details of a suitable qa chip are set out in the above referenced u . s . pat . no . 6 , 362 , 868 and are therefore not set out in this description . the qa chip 52 serves to inhibit unauthorized refilling of ink in the manner described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 362 , 868 , in addition to other functions such as ensuring the quality of print media used with the printer 10 . an endmost pcb 42 includes a serial connector 54 that permits serial data cables 56 to be connected to the pcb &# 39 ; s 42 . each pcb 42 is connected to its associated printhead modules 46 with a flexible pcb 58 . the printing mechanism 40 includes a metal chassis 60 that extends between a pair of side moldings 61 that are positioned in the end moldings 34 . the pcb &# 39 ; s 42 are mounted on the chassis 60 . the chassis 60 has a generally u - shaped cross section . a channel 62 of an invar alloy is positioned on the chassis 60 . a chassis molding 64 of a plastics material is positioned on an outside of the chassis 60 and the channel 62 . each pcb 42 is mounted on the chassis molding 64 . the chassis molding 64 defines a pair of recesses 66 on an outer side of the chassis molding 64 . the recesses 66 extend a length of the chassis molding 64 . a busbar 68 is positioned in each recess 66 . the busbars 68 are configured to supply electrical power to the pcb &# 39 ; s 42 . an ink reservoir assembly 70 is positioned in the invar channel 62 . the ink reservoir assembly 70 includes an ink distribution arrangement 72 . each printhead module 46 is positioned on a respective ink distribution arrangement 72 . in particular , each printhead module 46 is removably mounted on its ink distribution arrangement 72 to facilitate removal and replacement when necessary . the ink reservoir assembly 70 includes a plurality of ink reservoir moldings 76 . each ink reservoir molding 76 corresponds with an associated printhead module 46 . the ink reservoir moldings 76 are positioned end - to - end along and within the invar channel 62 . each ink reservoir molding 76 defines a plurality of elongate ink channels 74 , each accommodating a differently colored ink . thus , effective elongate ink channels extend a length of the invar channel 62 . an end cap molding 78 is positioned on an endmost ink reservoir molding 76 . the end cap molding 78 has a plurality of connectors 80 defined thereon and in alignment with respective ink channels 74 when the end cap molding 78 is positioned on said endmost ink reservoir molding 76 . the connectors 80 are connectable to an ink hose connector 82 . the ink hose connector 82 is , in turn , connected to each of a plurality of ink hoses 84 . it follows that each hose 84 is in fluid communication with a respective ink channel 74 . each hose 84 supplies the ink reservoir assembly 70 with ink of a particular color . for example , the hoses 84 can carry cyan ( c ), magenta ( m ), yellow ( y ) and black ( k ) inks , respectively . in this case , four hoses 84 are provided . also , each reservoir molding 76 defines four ink channels 74 . alternatively , the hoses 84 can carry cyan ( c ), magenta ( m ), yellow ( y ), red ( r ), green ( g ) and blue ( b ) inks , respectively . in this case , six hoses 84 are provided . also , each reservoir molding 76 then defines six ink channels 74 . instead of six differently colored inks , the six hoses 84 can carry cmyk and infrared ( ir ) inks and a fixative ( f ) for high speed printing so that the inks can dry rapidly . each hose 84 is connected to a respective ink container 86 ( fig5 ), so that each hose 84 is connected between an ink container 86 and a particular ink channel 74 . the hoses 84 are connected to their respective containers 86 with t - piece connectors 94 shown in fig1 . the print assembly 14 includes a plurality of capping devices 88 that correspond with respective printhead modules 46 . each capping device 88 is displaceable between an operative position in which it serves to cap its respective printhead module 46 , to inhibit drying of ink , and an inoperative position in which ink can be ejected from the printhead module 46 . a camshaft 90 is positioned in the chassis 60 . a translating member 92 interconnects the camshaft 90 and the capping devices 88 , so that rotational movement of the camshaft 90 results in reciprocal movement of the capping devices 88 between their operative and inoperative positions . the camshaft 90 is driven with a suitable motor , indicated generally at 96 in fig5 . further detail of the print assembly 14 is shown in fig7 . as can be seen in this drawing , the front cover 32 , the lid 28 and a rear cover 98 together define a housing 100 for the print assembly 14 . a plurality of ink cartridges 102 is positioned beneath the lid 28 . each ink cartridge 102 stores one of the inks mentioned above . each ink cartridge 102 is positioned between a pair of clips 104 so that it can be replaced when necessary . each ink cartridge 102 and a respective ink reservoir 86 are in fluid communication with each other , when the ink cartridge 102 is received between the clips 104 . a pair of platens , in the form of an upper platen 106 and a lower platen 108 is positioned within the housing 100 . a pair of spaced primary rollers in the form of an upper primary roller 110 and a lower primary roller 112 is provided to displace the paper 22 through the print assembly 14 . the upper roller 110 is positioned at an upper end of the platens 106 , 108 , while the lower roller 112 is positioned between the platens 106 , 108 . the rollers 110 , 112 are configured to drive a sheet of the paper 22 over , consecutively , an inner surface of the lower platen 108 and an outer surface of the upper platen 106 . thus , the paper 22 passes over the upper roller 110 , while the lower roller 112 is positioned between upwardly and downwardly moving portions of the paper 22 . a brush 114 is pivotally mounted at 116 to the housing 100 . the brush 114 has an arcuate transverse profile that corresponds with the upper primary roller 110 . the brush 114 is positioned in the housing 100 so that the paper 22 can pass between the brush 114 and the housing 100 . a pinch roller 118 is positioned downstream of the brush 114 to bear against the upper primary roller 110 . thus , when the paper 22 is displaced from between the brush 114 and the upper primary roller 110 , the pinch roller 118 retains the paper 22 against lateral movement . the upper platen 106 defines an upper printing zone 120 and a lower cutting zone 122 . a gap 124 is defined between the upper and lower printing zones 120 , 122 . a plurality of spiked wheels 126 is partially received through the gap 124 to engage the paper 22 and the lower primary roller 112 . a crossbar 128 is operatively positioned with respect to the spiked wheels 126 to retain the spiked wheels 126 in position . the spiked wheels 126 and the pinch roller 118 are configured so that a suitable tension is set up in the paper 22 when the paper 22 passes over the printing zone 120 of the upper platen 106 . the chassis 60 and channel 62 are positioned above the printing zone 120 of the upper platen 106 . the chassis 60 and the channel 62 are connected to a displacement mechanism 129 so that the chassis 60 and channel 62 can be displaced from the printing zone 120 when necessary . in particular , the chassis 60 and channel 62 are displaceable between an operative position in which the printhead modules 46 are a distance from the printing zone 120 that is suitable for printing and an inoperative position in which the paper 22 can be released from the printing zone 120 . the chassis 60 and channel 62 are connected to the pinch roller 118 with suitable metalwork 130 . further , the chassis 60 and channel 62 are connected to the crossbar 128 . it follows that , when the displacement mechanism 129 is operated , the pinch roller 118 and the spiked wheels 126 are displaced from the upper platen 106 together with the chassis 60 and the channel 62 . the displacement mechanism 129 includes a camshaft 132 and a pusher 134 . the pusher 134 is connected to the chassis 60 and the channel 62 so that , upon rotation of the camshaft 132 , the chassis 60 and channel 62 are displaced towards and away from the printing zone of the upper platen 106 . upper idler rollers 136 are rotatably mounted above the upper platen 106 so that the paper 22 is received between the upper platen 106 and the upper idler rollers 136 . a lower , sprung idler roller 138 is mounted on the lower platen 108 to be partially received through a gap 140 defined in the lower platen 108 . the sprung idler roller 138 is configured and positioned to bear against the lower primary roller 112 . thus , an upwardly moving portion of the paper 22 is gripped , and passes between , the lower primary roller 112 and the sprung idler roller 138 . the print assembly 14 includes a cutting mechanism 142 that is mounted in the housing 100 above the cutting zone 122 of the upper platen 106 . the cutting mechanism includes a cutter 146 that traverses the paper 22 to cut the paper 22 . the cutting mechanism 142 includes an optical sensor 144 so that the cutter 146 can be stopped when it reaches an end of a cutting stroke . the cutting zone 122 defines a cutting formation 148 that cooperates with the cutter 146 to facilitate cutting of the paper 22 . as can be seen in fig6 , the print assembly 14 includes an air impeller 150 and a motor 152 to drive the air impeller 150 . the air impeller 150 serves to generate an air current within the housing 100 for cooling purposes . an air filter 153 is also positioned in the housing 100 to filter the air passing through the housing 100 . the air impeller 150 also serves to generate the air current to a sufficient extent to minimize the build up of dust on the printhead modules 46 . as can further be seen in fig6 , the primary rollers 110 , 112 are connected to a gearbox 154 that is mounted on a bracket 156 . the gearbox 154 and bracket 156 are positioned on one of the legs 18 and covered with one of the end moldings 34 . thus , the primary rollers 110 , 112 serve to drive the paper 22 through the print assembly 14 . a printhead bracket 157 is positioned in the housing 100 and extends between the legs 18 . the printhead bracket 157 provides a support structure for the chassis 60 and channel 62 . the printhead bracket 157 also provides a support structure for the upper idler rollers 136 . the housing 100 is shaped to define an opening 158 for passage of the paper 22 into and out of the print assembly 14 . feed rollers 162 are rotatably mounted on a tie bar 160 that extends between the legs 18 . the feed rollers 162 are positioned so that the paper 22 passes over the feed rollers 162 when the paper is fed into the print assembly 14 . the tie bar 160 also serves a structural purpose in that it provides structural rigidity to the printer 10 . discharge rollers 164 are rotatably mounted on the upper platen 106 . the discharge rollers 164 are positioned so that the paper 22 passes over the discharge rollers 164 when the paper 22 is fed from the print assembly 14 . both the media roll 166 and the take up spool 24 are driven with a media roll drive motor 168 and a take up spool drive motor 170 , respectively ( fig5 ). the printer 10 includes a power supply unit 172 that is positioned in the electronics enclosure 26 . the power supply unit 172 is configured to be powered by either a 110v or 220v power supply . further , the power supply unit 172 is configured so that up to 90 amps can be drawn from the power supply unit 172 . the power supply unit 172 is connected with power cables 173 to various components of the printer 10 , such as the various drive motors to supply the components with required operational energy . the printer 10 includes an atx motherboard 174 that is also positioned in the electronics enclosure 26 . a printhead interface card 176 is mounted on the motherboard 174 . the printhead interface card 176 is connected to the nine pcb &# 39 ; s 42 with suitable data cables 178 . thus , conventional print data supplied to the interface card 176 from the motherboard 174 can be converted into a suitable form for reading by the various pcb &# 39 ; s 42 . the printer 10 includes a hard drive unit 180 . conveniently , the hard drive unit 180 can have a capacity of 40 gigabytes . this facilitates the storage of entire images to be printed . the hard drive unit 180 is connected to the motherboard 174 in a conventional fashion . the hard drive unit 180 is a conventional hard drive unit and is therefore capable of storing images in any number of formats , such as the well - known jpeg format . the manner in which the image data is read from the hard drive unit 180 is also conventional . as is set out below , printing of the images is digitally controlled as a result of the printhead technology utilized in this invention . it follows that transferal of image data from the hard drive unit 180 to the pcb &# 39 ; s 42 , via the printhead interface card 176 can take place without the requirement of significant data transformation , in particular , without the requirement of digital to analogue signal conversion . the interface card 176 is also connected to a motor and lcd controller pcb 182 to control operation of the various drive motors and the tft lcd . details of such control are set out in the above referenced applications and are therefore not provided in this description . the motor and lcd controller pcb 182 is connected to a cut off switch 184 that is , in turn , connected to the stop button 38 so that operation of the printer 10 can be halted . as can be seen in fig1 , the printhead modules 46 each include a printhead chip 186 . the printhead chip 186 can be in the form of any of the printhead chips described in the above referenced applications / patents . each printhead module 46 includes a carrier 187 in which the printhead chip 186 is positioned . the carrier 187 defines a suitable connection zone for the flexible pcb 58 associated with the printhead chip 186 . fig1 shows a schematic diagram of part of a printhead chip 186 that is suitable for use in the printer 10 . each printhead module 46 includes what are known as on chip fiducials 258 . the on chip fiducials 258 are essentially in the form of markers to facilitate accurate alignment of the printhead modules 46 in the print assembly 14 . the printhead chip 186 is described in detail in the above referenced u . s . pat . no . 6 , 416 , 167 and will therefore not be described in such detail in this specification . briefly , however , the chip 186 includes a wafer substrate 188 . a cmos drive circuitry layer 190 is positioned on the wafer substrate 188 and is connected to the flexible pcb 58 . a plurality of nozzle arrangements 210 is positioned on the cmos drive circuitry layer 190 . for the purposes of convenience , one such nozzle arrangement 210 is shown in fig1 . the printhead chip 186 comprises a multiple replication of the nozzle arrangement 210 on the wafer substrate 188 . as set out in the above referenced applications and patents , the printhead chip 186 is the product of an integrated circuit fabrication technique . replication of components in order to achieve a product is a well - known feature of such a fabrication technique . it follows that the printhead chip 186 can readily be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the field of chip fabrication . each nozzle arrangement 210 includes a thermal bend actuator 192 that is positioned on the cmos layer 190 to receive an actuating signal from the cmos layer 190 . in particular , the thermal bend actuator 192 includes a support post 194 that is mounted on the cmos layer 190 to extend from the cmos layer 190 . the thermal bend actuator 192 includes an actuator arm 196 that is fixed to , and extends from , the support post 194 . the actuator arm 196 includes a heating layer 198 in the form of an electrical heating circuit of a material having a coefficient of thermal expansion that is such that the material is capable of performing useful work on a mems scale as a result of expansion upon heating . the heating layer 198 is positioned on a layer 200 of a material having a coefficient of thermal expansion that is less that that of the heating layer 198 defining the electrical heating circuit . the heating layer 198 is positioned intermediate the layer 200 and the substrate 188 so that the actuator arm 196 is bent away from the substrate 188 when a current is passed through the heating layer 198 . nozzle chamber walls 202 are positioned on the cmos layer 190 . a roof wall 204 is positioned on the nozzle chamber walls 202 . the nozzle chamber walls 202 and the roof wall 204 define a nozzle chamber 206 . the roof wall 204 defines an ink ejection port 208 from which ink is ejected , in use . a paddle member 212 is mounted on the actuator arm 196 to extend into the nozzle chamber 206 . the paddle member 212 is configured and positioned in the nozzle chamber 206 so that , upon displacement of the actuator arm 196 , as described above , ink is ejected from the nozzle chamber 206 . the actuator arm 196 is connected to the cmos layer 190 through the support post 194 so that the heating layer 198 can receive an electrical signal from the cmos layer 190 . as can be seen in fig3 and 9 , the printhead chips 186 are each positioned at an angle with respect to a straight line running the length of the printing zone 120 . this facilitates a measure of overlap at adjacent ends of the printhead chips 186 to ensure printing continuity . it is clear from the above referenced united states applications and patents that a pagewidth printhead including printhead chips as described above can incorporate up to 84 000 nozzle arrangements . it follows that , by using the printhead chips 186 , it is possible for the print assembly 14 to have over as many as 200 000 nozzle arrangements . it follows that over 200 000 dots can be printed on the paper 22 in the printing zone 120 . in one particular example , the seventy - two printhead chips 186 provide a print width of 57 . 6 inches with 552 960 nozzle arrangements 210 . the nozzle arrangements 210 of each chip 186 are positioned side - by - side in two rows in a staggered fashion . it follows that true 1600 dpi printing can be achieved with the printhead chips 186 . each printhead chip 186 therefore includes 7680 nozzle arrangements 210 . each nozzle arrangement 210 is independently controlled by the pcb 42 to eject a 1 - picolitre drop on demand . the integrated circuit fabrication technology used is based on very large scale integration ( vlsi ) technology that is fully described in the above referenced applications and patents . as a result of the manufacturing techniques used , each nozzle arrangement 210 can be as little as 32 microns wide . this allows each printhead chip 186 to have a surface area as little as 21 mm 2 . the characteristics of each nozzle arrangement 210 are such that it is capable of being driven at a cyclical rate of up to 80 khz by its associated pec 48 . this permits printing of up to 21 . 6 billion drops per second that provides thirty - five thousand square feet per hour at 1600 dpi . each printhead chip 186 is connected to its associated pcb 42 with the flexible pcb 58 . it follows that each flexible pcb 58 is connected to the cmos layer 190 of its associated printhead chip 186 . each pec 48 is a page rendering engine application specific integrated circuit ( asic ) that receives input data relating to compressed page images from the printhead interface 176 . the pec 48 produces decompressed page images at up to six channels of bi - level dot data as output . it will be appreciated that each pec 48 communicates with eight printhead chips 186 in this example . each pec 48 is capable , however , of communication with up to sixteen such printhead chips 186 . in particular , each pec 48 can address up to sixteen printhead chips in up to six color channels at 15 000 lines / sec . it follows that each pec 48 allows for a 12 . 8 - inch printhead width for full bleed printing of a3 , a4 and letter pages . each pec 48 is color space agnostic . this means that the pec 48 can accept print data in any color . while each pec 48 can accept contone data as cmyx or rgbx where x is an optional fourth channel , it can also accept contone data in any print color space . additionally , each pec 48 is configured to define a mechanism for arbitrary mapping of input channels to output channels . the pec 48 is also configured for combining dots for ink optimization and the generation of channels based on any number of other channels . in this example , data input is typically based on cmyk for contone printing , k for a bi - level input , fixative , and optional further ink channels . the pec 48 is also configured to generate a fixative channel for fast printing applications . each pec 48 is configured to be resolution agnostic . this means that each pec 48 simply provides a mapping between input resolutions and output resolutions by means of various scale factors . in this example , the expected output resolution is 1600 dpi . however , the pec 48 does not store any data to this effect . each pec 48 is also configured to be page - length agnostic . each pec 48 operates a printing band at a time and a page can have any number of bands . it follows that a “ page ” can have any reasonable length . each pec 48 defines an interface so that it can be synchronized with other pec &# 39 ; s 48 , as is the requirement with this invention . this allows a simple two - pec solution for simultaneous a 3 / a 4 / letter duplex printing . this also allows each pec 48 to be responsible for the printing of only a portion of a page . it will be appreciated that combining synchronization functionality with partial page rendering allows multiple pec &# 39 ; s to be readily combined for alternative printing requirements including simultaneous duplex printing , wide format printing , commercial printing , specialist high contone resolution printing , and printing applications where more than six ink channels are required . the following table sets out the features of each pec 48 and its associated benefits . in fig1 , there is shown a block diagram of the pec 48 . the pec 48 includes a micro controller interface in the form of a high - speed interface 214 through which an external micro controller 216 can write to the 64 mbit dram chip 50 . the high - speed interface 214 forms part of a data input means of the pec 48 . the pec 48 also includes a control circuitry interface in the form of a low speed serial interface 220 through which the micro controller 216 can access registers of the pec 48 and the dram chip 50 . the pec 48 also includes page expansion circuitry in the form of a page expansion unit ( peu ) 222 that receives data relating to compressed pages and renders it into data relating to bi - level dots . line loader and line formatter circuitry in the form of a line loader / formatter unit 224 is also provided that formats dots for a given print line destined for a printhead interface 226 that communicates directly with the printhead chips 186 of each printhead module 46 . as can be seen , the pec 48 performs three basic tasks . these are : a ) accepting register and dram access commands via the low speed interface 220 ( or from the external dram chip 50 ). b ) accepting dram write accesses ( typically compressed page bands and register command blocks ) via the high speed interface 214 . c ) rendering page bands from the external dram chip 50 to the printhead chips 186 . these tasks are independent . however , they do share the external dram chip 50 . it follows that arbitration is required . the pec 48 is configured so that dram accesses required for rendering page bands always have the highest priority . the pec 48 includes control circuitry in the form of a pec controller 228 that provides external clients with the means to read and write pec registers , and read and write dram in single 32 bit data chunks . the dram chip 50 is connected to memory storage control circuitry in the form of an sdram controller 234 . in turn , the sdram controller 234 is connected to memory storage control circuitry in the form of a dram interface unit 236 . the pec 48 includes a data bus 230 and a low speed serial bus 232 . both the sdram controller 234 and the dram interface unit 236 are connected to the low speed serial bus 232 . the pec controller 228 is connected to the data bus 230 . the pec controller 228 is also connected to the low speed serial bus 232 via the low speed interface 220 . the high - speed interface 214 , the peu 222 and the line loader / formatter unit are also connected to the data bus 230 . in use , since the pec 48 prints page bands from dram , a given band b is loaded into dram via the high - speed interface 214 before printing can begin . then , while the pec 48 is rendering band b via the peu , band b + 1 can be loaded to dram . while band b + 1 is being expanded and printed , band b + 2 can be loaded , and so on . in the following table , the various components of the pec 48 mentioned above are described briefly . a first stage in page expansion occurs along a pipeline defined by the cdu 238 / cru 242 , the lbd 250 and the te 254 . the cdu 238 expands a jpeg - compressed contone ( typically cmyk ) layer . the lbd 250 expands a compressed bi - level layer ( typically k ), and the te 254 encodes data tags for rendering ( typically in ir or k ink ) at a later stage . the clbi 240 , the slbi 252 and the tlbi 256 receive output data from this stage . the hcu 248 carries out a second stage . the hcu 248 dithers a contone layer and composites position tags and a bi - level spot 0 layer over a resulting bi - level dithered layer . a data stream generated by the hcu 248 is adjusted to create smooth transitions across overlapping segments or printhead chips 186 . the hcu 248 is configured so that a number of options exist for the way in which compositing occurs . this stage can produce up to six channels of bi - level data . it should be noted that not all six channels might be present on the printhead chips 186 . for example , the printhead chips 186 may be cmy only , with k pushed into the cmy channels and ir ignored . alternatively , the position tags mentioned above may be printed in k if ir ink is not available or for testing purposes . the dnc 244 carries out a third stage . in this stage , the dnc 244 compensates for dead nozzles in the printhead chips 186 by error diffusing dead nozzle data into surrounding dots . bi - level , six channel dot - data ( typically cmyk - irf ) generated in the above stages is buffered and written out to a set of line buffers stored in the off - chip dram via the dwu 246 . in a final stage , the dot - data is loaded back from the dram , formatted for the printhead , and passed to the printhead interface 226 via a dot fifo ( not shown ). the dot fifo accepts data from the line loader / formatter unit 224 at pclk rate , while the printhead interface 226 removes data from the fifo and sends it to the printhead chips 186 at a rate of either pclk / 4 , pclk / 2 or pclk . fig1 simply shows the pec 48 incorporating the exploded peu 222 . the printing benefits associated with the printhead chips 186 are set out in detail in the above referenced applications and patents . however , some benefits are particularly important when applied to wide printing formats . a particular benefit is the high number of nozzle arrangements 210 per printhead chip 186 . this facilitates extremely rapid printing in that a single print cycle can achieve an image band . it follow that it is not necessary for further print cycles to be used to full in “ missing ” dots as is the case with a scanning printhead . the pec &# 39 ; s 48 provide the necessary synchronized control of the printhead chips 186 as described above . furthermore , as is clear from a number of the above referenced applications and patents , for example u . s . pat . no . 6 , 362 , 868 , the printhead chips 186 allow for the conversion from analogue printing processes to fully digital processes . this allows for a substantial amount of flexibility and speed . digital control of the printhead chips 186 is by means of the pec &# 39 ; s 48 . the fact that the pec &# 39 ; s 48 digitally control the printhead chips 186 allows for the high printing speed of up to 21 . 6 billion drops per second . in particular , the need for separate printhead chip drivers is removed , which is key to the high printing speed of the chips 186 . the incorporation of the cmos layer 190 serves to integrate cmos technology with mems technology on each printhead chip 186 . it follows that at least one off - chip connection for each nozzle arrangement 210 is not required . it will be appreciated that such a requirement would make a printhead unreliable and cost - prohibitive to manufacture . a further important advantage associated with the printer 10 is that a width of the printing zone 120 is extremely small when compared to the length . in a particular example , the printing zone 120 can be as little as 0 . 5 mm thick . it will be appreciated that it is necessary to achieve extremely stable paper movement through the printing zone 120 in order to ensure that accurate printing takes place in the printing zone . the narrow width of the printing zone 120 facilitates minimal control over the paper 22 as it passes through the printing zone . in the event that a substantially wider printing zone were provided , it would be necessary to provide further control over movement of the paper 22 through such a printing zone . this would require such devices as vacuum platens to retain the paper 22 against any form of pivotal or lateral movement as the paper 22 moves through the printing zone . this could greatly increase the cost of the wide format printer . this highlights some reasons why thermal or bubble jet and piezoelectric printheads would not be practical choices when attempting to achieve the printing characteristics of the printer 10 . as set out in the above referenced applications and patents , such printheads are not suitable for providing the high density of nozzle arrangements achieved with the printheads of the above referenced matters . it follows that , in attempting to apply thermal and piezoelectric printheads to a wide format printer , it would be necessary to have a relatively wide printing zone so that overlapping of printheads could occur to the necessary extent . this would immediately raise the problem mentioned above . still further , especially with the thermal printheads , a suitable cooling system would be required to keep the temperature in the printing zone at a reasonable level . this would also increase the cost to an unacceptably high level . in order to achieve an appreciation of the speed of the printer 10 at a resolution of 1600 dpi , the following comparative table is set out below . it should be noted that the purpose of the following table is simply to illustrate the speed of printing and is not intended to denigrate the various printers used for comparison . as is known by those of skill in the fabrication of integrated circuits , while a set up cost for the manufacture of an integrated circuit device can be high , the cost of commercial manufacture of such devices is relatively low . it follows that applicant envisages that the cost of manufacture of a wide format printer in accordance with this invention will be comparable to the cost of manufacture of the wide format printers listed in the above table . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many obvious modifications and variations may be made to the embodiments described herein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention .	1
fig1 a - d show the upper portion of a parallelepipedic packaging container of per se known type . this packaging container is marketed under the name tetra brik ® and packaging containers of this type with previously known versions of opening arrangements are described in depth in european patent applications ep 93101724 . 8 and ep 94119148 . 8 , to which reference is now made for further details . the packaging container proper does not form part of the present invention and it is presupposed that the opening arrangement according to the present invention may freely be employed in conjunction with both the illustrated type of packaging container and other suitable types of packaging containers which are wholly or partly manufactured from flexible materials , for example gable - top packages and can - or bottle - shaped packages of the single use disposable type . fig1 a - d show the opening phase of the packaging container in steps , and although the illustrated packaging container is of a first embodiment , the opening procedure for the packaging containers according to the other embodiments of the present invention adhere to the same schematic pattern . the packaging container 1 illustrated in fig1 is provided with an opening arrangement 2 manufactured , for example , from injection moulded thermoplastic , the opening arrangement being shown in fig1 a in the applied and closed state , i . e . at the time when the packaging container 1 has not yet been opened by the consumer . it will be apparent from fig1 b how the opening arrangement 2 includes a pouring device 3 with an edge region 4 which extends in annular form around a pouring opening 5 . the pouring device 3 has a front portion provided with a pouring lip or edge 6 , and a rear portion provided with a hinge 7 . the hinge interconnects the pouring device 3 with a closure device 8 which , in fig1 b , is shown in the partly raised position . the closure device 8 is in the form of a lid whose inner surface displays a projection 9 . it will also be apparent how a pull - tab 12 connected to both the upper wall 10 of the packaging container 1 and to the projection 9 is accessible to the consumer . in fig1 c , the closure device has assumed its fully open position , and the pull - tab has begun to be detached from the projection 9 of the closure device 8 . it will be apparent from fig1 d how the pouring device 3 surrounds an outlet opening 11 provided in the upper packaging container wall 10 of the container , the area of the outlet opening 11 being considerably less than the area of the pouring opening 5 disposed in the pouring device 3 . the difference in area thus exposes a part of the packaging container wall 10 surrounding the outlet opening 11 , this part forming a projecting material edge which is surrounded by the edge region 4 of the pouring device 3 . this material edge is utilised for fixedly sealing the pull - tab 12 whose outer width is such that it is accommodated with a certain tolerance within the pouring opening 5 . the front end of the pull - tab extends in beneath and is fixedly sealed between the front end of the pouring device 3 and the upper side of the packaging container . the front end of the pouring device 3 displays a tear device 14 facing towards the pull - tab 12 , as will be explained in greater detail hereinbelow . the rear end 12 &# 39 ; of the pull - tab 12 is folded double and , in the closed position of the opening arrangement , is sealed to the projection 9 located on the inside of the lid ( fig1 b ). when the packaging container is to be opened , the consumer takes a grip on the front end of the closure device or lid 8 and lifts the lid to the position illustrated in fig1 b . in such instance , the folded , rear portion 12 &# 39 ; of the pull - tab 12 will ( because of the connection with the projection 9 of the closure device 8 ) be raised up from its position abutting against the major portion of the pull - tab to that position which is illustrated in fig1 b , in which the rear strip portion 12 &# 39 ; is stretched until the seal between the projection 9 and the folded portion 12 &# 39 ; of the pull - tab is broken . continued backward bending of the closure device 8 about the hinge 7 results in the position illustrated in fig1 c . in this position , the upwardly projecting rear end 12 &# 39 ; of the pull - tab 12 will be readily accessible to the consumer who grasps the double - folded portion and pulls upwards , whereupon the seal between the pull - tab 12 and the laminate edge of the packaging container located in the pour opening is broken so that the outlet opening 11 is exposed . the front end of the pull - tab fixedly sealed beneath the front edge of the pouring device 3 is severed with the aid of the tear device 14 and remains in place on the packaging container . hereafter , the consumer may pour out the desired quantity of the contents of the packaging container by suitable tilting of the container . the various embodiments of the opening arrangement according to the invention comprise substantially the same parts as the above - disclosed , first embodiment of the opening arrangement , and corresponding parts have therefore been given the same reference numerals . all embodiments are illustrated in a position corresponding to that of fig1 c , i . e . with the closure device 8 bent backwards about the hinge 7 and with the pull - tab 12 in place . as is apparent from fig2 and 4 , the opening arrangement according to the invention differs in a technically fundamental manner from the previously described opening arrangements of this type , by the fact that the covering strip or pull - tab 12 is no longer located in the wholly exposed position within the edge region 4 of the pouring device , but extends with a front portion in beneath this edge region 4 and is fixedly sealed between this region and the outside of the upper packaging container wall 10 . hereby , the requirement on accuracy will be reduced in respect of application of the pouring device 3 , at the same time as the size of the exposed laminate edge surrounding the outlet opening 11 may be substantially reduced . since the pull - tab 12 cannot in its entirety be removed from the packaging container in connection with its opening , the pouring device 3 displays means for facilitating severing or tearing of the strip in connection with opening of the packaging container , as will be described in greater detail hereinbelow , with individual reference to each one of the three described embodiments . in fig2 b , 3b and 4b , a shadowed region indicates the approximate extent of a seal 13 between the pouring device 3 and the upper side of the packaging container 1 . the seal 13 consists , for example , of heat - sealable adhesive , so - called hot - melt , which was applied to the packaging container or pouring device and heated prior to their unification . it will also be apparent from the drawing figures how the front end of the pull - tab 12 extends in beneath the edge region 4 of the pouring device 3 and thus , with the aid of the above - mentioned seal 13 , is permanently sealed between this edge region and the outside of the packaging container . the rear end of the pull - tab 12 provided with the double - folded portion 12 &# 39 ; is , in all embodiments , wholly or partly exposed and is thus accessible to the consumer , as is further facilitated with the aid of the previously described connection with the projection 9 of the closure device 8 which , when the closure device 8 is raised , lifts the double - folded strip portion 12 &# 39 ; to an easy - grip position . at that part of the opening arrangement where the pull - tab extends in beneath the edge region 4 of the pouring device 3 , this is provided with a tear device 14 so as to permit severing of the pull - tab 12 so that the free , released rear portion may be detached from the front end fixedly sealed to the packaging container . in the embodiment shown in fig2 a and b , the tear device 14 is in the form of a toothed , substantially semi - circular region at a tapering , forward tearing portion of the otherwise uniformly wide pouring opening 5 . in the second embodiment of the opening arrangement according to the present invention illustrated in fig3 a and b , the pouring opening 5 and the surrounding seal 13 similarly display a forward , tapering tear portion at which the pull - tab 12 is sealed in between the pouring device 3 and the outside of the packaging container 1 , as well as an access portion located at the opposite , rear part of the pouring device , the width of this portion exceeding the width of corresponding parts of the pull - tab 12 . the double - folded portion 12 &# 39 ; of the pull - tab is located wholly within the above - mentioned , wider access portion , for which reason it is easily accessible . at the transition between the wider access portion of the pouring opening and the narrower tearing portion , the tear device 14 is provided with two teeth 14 &# 39 ; which are directed towards the access portion of the pouring opening 5 . the tearing portion of the pouring opening 5 has been given a width that substantially corresponds to the width of the outlet opening 11 . the third version , illustrated in fig4 a and b , of the opening arrangement according to the present invention corresponds , in certain parts , with the above - described second version . with a view to giving the opening arrangement a purer , more symmetric appearance , the access portion of the pouring opening 5 is , however , here in the form of a recess 15 which is of such height ( exceeds twice the strip thickness ) that it leaves a free space for the end of the pull - tab 12 provided with the double - folded portion 12 &# 39 ;. the width of the recess 15 exceeds the width of the rear end of the pull - tab 12 . the recess 15 will hereby be invisible to the consumer when the opening arrangement is viewed from above , since the visible part of the pouring opening 5 is of substantially the same ( or slightly smaller ) dimensions and configuration as the subjacent outlet opening 11 . when an opening arrangement according to the present invention is to be opened by the consumer , the procedure is followed in the manner as described with reference to the first embodiment of the opening arrangement illustrated in fig1 a - d . in other words , the consumer grasps the forward edge of the closure device 8 or lid and lifts this upwards so that it pivots rearwardly about the hinge 7 . because of the connection between the projection 9 of the closure device 8 and the double - folded , rear portion 12 &# 39 ; of the pull - tab 12 , this is also lifted to the position illustrated in fig1 b , whereafter the seal between the strip and the projection 9 is broken so that the strip remains in this position . after return pivoting of the closure device 8 to the position illustrated in fig1 c , the consumer grasps the upwardly projecting , rear portion 12 &# 39 ; of the pull - tab and pulls this upwards , whereupon the seal between the pull - tab and the upper side of the packaging material is broken so that the pull - tab accompanies this upward movement . when the rear portion of the pull - tab 12 has been pulled loose , further removal is prevented by that part of the edge region 4 of the pouring device 3 beneath which the front end of the pull - tab had been sealed . however , thanks to the tear device 14 , the strip or tab may now be severed so that the portion not covered by the edge region 4 may be removed and thereby expose the outlet opening 11 , while the fixedly sealed part remains in place beneath the portion of the pouring device 3 connected by the seal 13 to the upper side of the packaging container . in the first embodiment , illustrated in fig2 a and b , this severing or separation of the pull - tab 12 takes place along the tapering tearing portion of the pouring opening provided with the teeth of the tear device 14 , while , in the second and third embodiments shown in fig3 and 4 , respectively , this separation is initiated by the teeth 14 &# 39 ; of the tear device 14 , whereafter the severing or separation runs along the possibly toothed edge serving as tear device 14 along the narrower , front end or tearing portion of the pouring opening 5 . in the first and second embodiments ( fig2 fig3 ), lifting of the double - folded rear portion 12 &# 39 ; of the pull - tab 12 is effected in the same manner as in the previously known embodiments , while lifting of the double - folded pull - tab portion 12 &# 39 ; in the third embodiment illustrated in fig4 takes place in that the central section of the double - folded portion is raised with the aid of the projection 9 of the closure device 8 during simultaneous bending of the pull - tab 12 and pulling of the pull - tab partly out of the space created by the recess 15 . when the folded pull - tab portion 12 &# 39 ; is raised to such an extent that it is released from the projection 9 , it will be located in the position illustrated in fig4 a and 4b , i . e . in any event the central section is raised to such an extent that the consumer may simply grasp the end of the pull - tab and continue pulling the pull - tab in the same manner as was described in connection with fig3 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig4 the teeth 14 &# 39 ; are placed at the front end of the recess 15 , i . e . at the transition to the tearing portion of the pouring opening 5 . where opening devices of the described or other types are used it is known to improve the pouring by dividing an outlet opening into two parts , i . e . a bigger , forward pouring opening and a smaller , rewardly positioned inlet opening for air . especially with completely filled packages this will improve the pouring ability , as the outflow of liquid does not prevent the inflow of air needed in order to avoid gulping . a similar arrangement can preferably be used in connection with the present invention , whereby especially the embodiment shown in fig4 is advantageous , as the air inlet hole is possible to hide below the rear part of the recess 15 , which if so desired could be prolonged in the rearward direction of the opening device , i . e . where the pull - tab is folded ( the embodiment with air hole is not shown in the drawings ). obviously , the same pull - tab can be used to cover both the outlet opening and the airhole thus facilitating the opening manouvre for the consumer . the fact that the airhole is hidden below the rear part of the pouring device 3 improves the appearance of the opening device without having any functionally negative influence and thus it presents a clearly positive addition to the earlier described embodiments of the present invention . thus , it is to be understood that throughout the specification and claims the expression outlet opening is also intended to include also the above embodiment with a separate air hole as well as all intermediate versions with for example an outlet opening having an elongated , narrow rear end functioning as an air inlet . in all embodiments according to the present invention , two essential advantages are thus afforded as compared with previously known similar types of opening arrangements . first , the previously high degree of accuracy in the application of the injection moulded pouring device over the pull - tab is no longer necessary , since the pull - tab need not be wholly exposed and accessible within the pouring opening . application is hereby greatly facilitated and application speed in production may thereby be increased . secondly , the present invention affords the advantage that the projecting edge of packaging material in the pouring opening disappears , in any event at the front end ( the tearing end ) of the pouring opening , where the risk is greatest that the edge will entrap droplets of the contents of the package after the pouring operation is completed . as a result , the opening arrangement will also have a more attractive appearance , as is particularly apparent in the embodiment illustrated in fig4 . the present invention should not be considered as restricted to that described above and shown on the drawings , many modifications being conceivable without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims .	1
it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to particular aspects of the present invention described , as such may , of course , vary . it is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular aspects only , and is not intended to be limiting , since the scope of the present invention will be limited only by the appended claims . methods recited herein may be carried out in any order of the recited events which is logically possible , as well as the recited order of events . where a range of values is provided herein , it is understood that each intervening value , to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit unless the context clearly dictates otherwise , between the upper and lower limit of that range and any other stated or intervening value in that stated range , is encompassed within the invention . the upper and lower limits of these smaller ranges may independently be included in the smaller ranges and are also encompassed within the invention , subject to any specifically excluded limit in the stated range . where the stated range includes one or both of the limits ranges excluding either or both of those included limits are also included in the invention . unless defined otherwise , all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs . although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can also be used in the practice or testing of the present invention , the methods and materials are now described . it must be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims , the singular forms “ a ”, “ an ”, and “ the ” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . it is further noted that the claims may be drafted to exclude any optional element . as such , this statement is intended to serve as antecedent basis for use of such exclusive terminology as “ solely ,” “ only ” and the like in connection with the recitation of claim elements , or use of a “ negative ” limitation . referring now to fig1 a a bag 2 is formed by a first sheet 4 a and a second sheet 4 b joined along a seam 6 from a first joining point 8 to a second joining point 10 . the bag 2 may be or comprise paper , plastic , recycled plastic , and / or cellulose . alternatively or additionally , the bag 2 may be or comprise polyethylene or other suitable plastic material known in the art . a first flap 12 is comprised of a portion of the first sheet 4 a extending from the first joining point 8 and the second joining point 10 . a second flap 14 is comprised of a portion of the second sheet 4 b extending from the first joining point 8 and the second joining point 10 . an open pocket 16 is formed defined by the seam 6 . one or more internal adhesive strips 18 a of the first flap 12 and / or one or more internal adhesive strips 18 b of the second flap 14 are located on an internal side 19 of the bag 2 . additionally , alternatively of optionally one or more external adhesive strips 20 a - 20 d are located an external side 21 of either or both the first flap 12 and / or the second flap 14 of the bag 2 . the clips may be or comprise a binder clip product number lop13351 as marketed by legacy office products of indianapolis , ind . the pocket 16 extends from an opening 17 and away from the first flap 12 and the second flap in a depth dimension d . the opening 17 extends from the first joining point 8 and the second joining point 10 . the first flap 12 and the second flap 14 extending from the opening 17 and away from the pocket 16 along the depth dimension d . the first flap 12 and the second flap 14 preferably extend , in various alternate preferred embodiments of the present invention , for a linear length along the depth dimension d selected from the depth range of from one inch to two feet and away from the pocket 16 . the pocket 16 preferably extends , in various yet alternate preferred embodiments of the present invention , along the depth dimension d for a linear length selected from the range of from one inch to two feet and away from the opening 17 , the first flap 12 and the second flap 1 . the pocket 16 , first flap 12 and / or the second flap 14 preferably extend for a linear length of from one inch to two feet along a width dimension win various even alternate preferred embodiments of the present invention , wherein the width dimension w is orthogonal to the depth dimension d . in various other additional alternate preferred embodiments of the present invention , the pocket 16 , first flap 12 and / or the second flap 14 preferably extend for a linear length selected from the range of from one inch or less or two feet or more along the width dimension w and / or the depth dimension d . in various still additional alternate preferred embodiments of the present invention , the pocket 16 , first flap 12 and / or the second flap 14 preferably extend for a linear length selected from the range from 0 . 1 or less to more than two feet along the width dimension w and / or the depth dimension d . referring now to fig1 b is a side view of the bag 2 of fig1 a , where in the first flap 12 and the second flap 14 are separated and the pocket 16 is partially open . the seam 6 maintains the integrity of the pocket 16 in both an open and a closed position . it is understood that the seam 6 may be formed with an adhesive ( not shown ) or a heating and a compression of the first sheet 4 a and the second sheet 4 b . it is further understood that the bag 2 may be formed without the seam 6 and according to suitable means known in the art . referring now to fig1 c is a front view of the bag 2 of fig1 a and 1b containing a waste material 22 sealed in the pocket 16 by one or more internal adhesive strips 18 a . the pocket 16 is thus defined by the seam 6 and a seal formed by a first internal adhesive strip 18 a and a second adhesive strip 18 b , and the first flap 12 and the second flap 14 extend away from the pocket 16 for more acceptable handling of the bag 2 as it encloses the waste material 22 . the waste material 22 may be or comprise animal feces , toxic waste , biological matter , industrial waste , and / or unwanted or undesired material or substance in combination or singularity . referring now to fig2 is a perspective view of a waste capturing device 24 , or “ scooper ” 24 , in an open position . an arm 26 and a plate 28 are configured to allow the arm 26 to be positioned distally from the plate 28 and a housing 30 by movement of a linear actuator 32 ( hereinafter , “ lever ” 32 ). the arm 26 and the lever 32 are coupled by an arm hinge assembly 34 , wherein the arm hinge assembly 34 enables the arm to be rotated along a y - axis . the plate 28 and the housing 30 are coupled by a plate hinge assembly 36 , wherein the plate hinge assembly 36 enables the plate 28 to be rotated about a y - axis . the x - axis and the y - axis are mutually orthogonal to each other and , both the y - axis and the z - axis are mutually orthogonal to a third z - axis . a three state actuation button 38 enables the actuation of a process of positioning the arm 26 relative to the plate 28 as described herein . one or more elements 26 - 38 of the scooper 24 consist of , or comprise , aluminum , iron , stainless steel or other suitable metal , metal alloy or material known in the art . additionally or alternatively , one or more elements 26 - 38 of the scooper 24 may consist of , or comprise polystyrene , polyvinyl chloride , polyethylene , polypropylene , or other suitable thermoplastic polymer or plastic polymer known in the art . preferably the scooper 24 has a total weight of less than five pounds . more preferably the scooper 24 has a total weight of less than two pounds and more than 0 . 25 pounds . most preferably the scooper 24 has a combined weight of less than one pound . preferably the scooper 24 has a total weight of less than five pounds . more preferably the scooper 24 has a total weight of less than two pounds and more than 0 . 25 pounds . most preferably the scooper 24 has a combined weight of less than one pound . in certain applications , preferably the scooper 24 is shaped to fit within a three dimensional volume of less than 0 . 500 cubic feet . in alternate applications and certain other alternate preferred embodiments , the scooper is preferably shaped to fit within a volume defined when the arm 26 is fully extended in by the limits of less than two foot along the x - axis , one foot along the y - axis , and less than one foot along the z - axis . in various alternate preferred embodiments , the arm 26 comprises a shovel plate that ( as deployed in the open position of the device 24 ) has a first dimension along y - axis between eight inches and one inch , a second dimension along the z - axis between eight inches and one inch , and a third dimension along the x - axis of less than 0 . 25 inches ; and / or the plate 28 comprises an flat element that has a first dimension between eight inches and one inch , a second dimension between eight inches and one inch , and a third dimension of less than 0 . 25 inches . the bag 2 is sized and shaped to present an opening when attached the scooper 24 that is approximately as long as the first dimension or second dimension of the plate 28 . the first flap 12 and the first flap 14 may be configured to be as wide along the w axis as the first dimension or second dimension of the plate 28 or the arm 26 referring now to fig3 is a perspective view of the scooper 24 of fig2 with the bag of fig1 a - 1c attached and partially enclosing a waste material 22 . the first flap 12 is held to the arm 26 by a first clip 40 and or one or more external adhesive strips 20 a - 20 d . the second flap 14 is held to the arm 26 by a second clip 42 and or one or more external adhesive strips 20 a - 20 d . the pocket 16 is positioned proximate to and substantially around the waste material 22 . referring now to fig4 is a perspective view of the scooper 24 of fig2 and 3 in a closed positioned , wherein the waste material 22 is substantially enclosed in the pocket 16 . the arm 26 is driven forward along the x - axis and causes the material 22 to be captured by the pocket 16 . one or more internal adhesive strips 18 a and 18 b create and maintain a sealed edge of the pocket 16 . referring now to fig5 is a first alternate variation of the present variation that allows a user 44 to grasp a handle 46 of a pole 48 , wherein the pole 48 is attached to the housing 30 of the scooper 24 . the pole 48 may be configured with a linear length l extending for a length in the range from six inches to five feet in various alternate configurations . preferably the pole 48 presents a cross - sectional diameter in a plane normal to the linear length l in the range of two inches to 0 . 25 inches . more preferably the pole 48 presents a cross - sectional diameter in a plane normal to the linear length l in the range of one inch to 0 . 5 inches . preferably the handle 46 presents a cross - sectional diameter in a plane normal to the linear length l in the range of one inch to 0 . 25 inches . more preferably the handle presents a cross - sectional diameter in a plane normal to the linear length l in the range of one inch to 0 . 5 inches . one or more elements 26 - 38 of the handle 46 and the pole 48 may be consist of , or comprise , aluminum , iron , stainless steel , or other suitable metal , metal alloy or material known in the art . additionally or alternatively the handle 46 and pole 48 may consist of , or comprise polystyrene , polyvinyl chloride , the polyethylene and polypropylene , or other suitable thermoplastic polymer or plastic polymer known in the art . preferably the scooper 24 , pole 48 and handle 46 have a total combined weight of less than five pounds . more preferably the scooper 24 , pole 48 and handle 46 have a total combined weight of less than two pounds and more than 0 . 25 pounds . most preferably the scooper 24 , pole 48 and handle 46 have a combined weight of less than one pound . referring now to fig6 is a schematic diagram of electromechanical aspects of the scooper 24 of fig2 - 5 . an electric battery 50 provides electrical power to an electromagnet assembly 52 and a control circuit 54 . the control circuit 54 is coupled to the control button 38 and the control circuit 54 is configured to cause the electromagnet to spin a magnet 56 of a circular gear 58 to rotate in either a clockwise or a counter clockwise rotation in reference to rotation about the y - axis . the battery 50 , the electromagnetic assembly 52 , the control circuit 54 , the magnet 56 and the circular gear 58 are coupled to the housing 30 . the circular gear 58 engages with a plurality of teeth 60 of the lever 32 , thereby translating the rotational motion about the y - axis of the circular gear 58 into linear motion along the x - axis . the resultant linear motion of the lever 32 along the x axis causes the arm 26 to move toward or away from the plate 28 , whereby the scooper translates to and from open position as illustrated in fig2 and 3 and to the closed positioned of fig4 . one or more elements 50 - 60 of the scooper 24 consist of , or comprise , a magnetized metal , aluminum , iron , stainless steel or other suitable metal , metal alloy or material known in the art . additionally or alternatively , one or more elements 26 - 38 of the scooper 24 may consist of , or comprise polystyrene , polyvinyl chloride , polyethylene , polypropylene , or other suitable thermoplastic polymer or plastic polymer known in the art . the control , button 38 is a three position control that the user 44 manually positions in an off state , a second state and a third state . when the control button 38 is in the off state the control circuit 54 either electrically disconnects or fails to electrically connect the battery 50 to the electromagnet assembly 52 . when the control button 38 is in the second state , the control circuit 54 electrically connects the battery 50 to the electromagnet assembly 52 and / or directs the circular gear 58 to rotate in a first rotational direction about the y - axis that causes the lever 32 to extend out from the housing 30 along the x - axis , and thereby position the arm 28 in the open position . disconnects or fails to electrically connect the battery 50 to the electromagnet assembly 52 . when the control button 38 is in the third state , the control circuit 54 electrically connects the battery 50 to the electromagnet assembly 52 and / or directs the circular gear 58 to rotate in a second rotational direction about the y - axis that causes the lever 32 to move into the housing 30 along the x - axis , and thereby position the arm 28 in the closed position . the circular gear 58 may be rotatably coupled to a fixed axle 61 , wherein the axle 61 is coupled with housing 30 and a magnet field generated by the electromagnet assembly 52 acts upon the magnet 56 to drive the magnet 54 around the axle 61 and thereby cause the circular gear 58 to rotate about the axle 61 . the circular gear 58 engages with the teeth 60 of the lever 32 as the circular gear 58 rotates and thereby drives linear motion of the lever 32 . alternatively the circular gear 58 may be driven as controlled by the control circuit 54 and by a kinmore ™ electric toy motor model number km - 16t050 as marketed by shenzhen kinmore motor co . ltd . of nanshan district , shenzhen , guangdong , people &# 39 ; s republic of china . referring now to fig7 is a perspective view of the scooper 24 of fig2 - 6 in a travel position , wherein the arm 26 and the plate 28 are each positioned to align substantially parallel to an x - y plane defined by the x - axis and the y - axis . the positioning of the arm 26 toward the x - y plane orientation is facilitated by the arm hinge assembly 34 , and the positioning of the lever 28 toward the x - y plane orientation is facilitated by the plate hinge assembly 36 . an optional manual handle 62 further increases the ease with which the scooper 24 may be transported . referring now to fig8 is a schematic of a second alternate variation of the present invention of fig1 - 6 wherein a spring - actuated mechanism is provided . a spring 64 is coupled to the housing 30 by a spring guide 66 . the spring guide 66 is coupled to the housing at a first guide point 66 a and a second guide point 66 b . a trigger 68 is rotatably coupled to the housing 30 by a rotational coupling 70 , and may be rotated to maintain the arm 26 in the open position of fig2 and 3 . the spring 64 directs a spring force to the arm 26 to cause the arm 26 to move along the x - axis and toward the plate 28 and to assume the closed position of fig4 . the user 44 manually rotates the trigger 68 by pressing the trigger end 72 in the up or down direction . pressing the trigger end 72 in the up direction causes the trigger to enable a maintenance of the arm 26 in the open position of fig2 and 3 . pressing the trigger end 72 in the down position causes the trigger 68 to rotate and to enable the spring 64 to drive the arm 26 towards the plate 28 and form the closed position of fig5 . the foregoing disclosures and statements are illustrative only of the present invention , and are not intended to limit or define the scope of the present invention . the above description is intended to be illustrative , and not restrictive . although the examples given include many specificities , they are intended as illustrative of only certain possible applications of the present invention . the examples given should only be interpreted as illustrations of some of the applications of the present invention , and the full scope of the present invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents . those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications of the just - described applications can be configured without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention . therefore , it is to be understood that the present invention may be practiced other than as specifically described herein . the scope of the present invention as disclosed and claimed should , therefore , be determined with reference to the knowledge of one skilled in the art and in light of the disclosures presented above .	4
fig1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a mouse according to the present invention . the mouse has a top , exterior metallic housing 100 . the metallic top housing 100 is mounted over a mouse body 107 . the housing 100 has two extending buttons 102 and 103 , which extend on either side of a island 120 mounted on body 107 . a roller 20 extends through island 120 . metal housing 100 has a rear , curved portion 108 which wraps around the back of the mouse . inside curved portion 108 is a rubber bumper 109 to provide additional impact protection so the mouse can pass a drop test . the metal top housing is flexible , and is secured only toward the back of the mouse . thus , buttons 102 and 103 are free to be depressed , to actuate switches inside mouse body 107 . this structure allows a simple metal top housing that is smooth , without requiring any features to be formed in it , as in prior art keyplates . it has a clean , streamlined look , and no gap is visible between the buttons 102 , 103 and the island 120 because the island has lips extending over the buttons , as will be more clearly shown insubsequent figures . fig2 shows an exploded view of a top interior housing 101 and the metallic exterior housing 100 . as can be seen better here , buttons 102 and 103 extend from the top housing , and are free floating , with the housing only being anchored at the rear of the mouse . fig2 also shows slots 107 and 107 ′ in the top interior housing 101 , through which actuator pips extend as shown in fig3 , below , to actuate the microswitches . when the metal housing 100 is depressed , it presses down on a actuator pips extending through the slots 107 and 107 ′ in the top housing 101 , and causing the arm to depress a microswitch mounted on a circuit board beneath the arm . fig3 illustrates the exterior appearance of the top interior housing 101 . roller 20 extends through the slot 110 of the top interior housing . tabs ( actuator pips ) 17 , 17 ′ on an interior cantilevered arm ( shown below ) for each button also extends through the slot of the top interior housing 101 . when a metal housing mounted over the interior top housing is depressed , it presses down on a actuator pips 17 and 17 ′ and causes the arm to depress a microswitch mounted on a circuit board beneath the arm . fig4 shows another view from the bottom of the metal exterior housing 100 functioning as a button mounted over the top interior housing 101 . the button 100 is attached to the interior housing 101 at one fixing point 119 only . this is shown with a screw or other fastener 118 attaching to fixing point hole 119 . alternately , a press fit against an overhanging ledge of island 120 could be used , or any other form of attachment . in addition , the back of the metal housing wraps around and press - fits , snap attaches , or is loosely located against the back of the mouse . this provides a pivot point for the depression of the front button portions 102 , 103 of the metal housing . it also allows flexion of the back , curved portion to provide a distribution of impact forces in a drop test to avoid damage to the internal components of the mouse . fixing at point 119 and loose location at the back allows flexion of the curved portion which also reduces the overall force required by the user to activate the key . fig5 shows a front exterior view of the metallic top housing 100 with the roller removed . the actuator pips shown in fig3 are hidden by the exterior top housing 100 . the island 120 has ledges or lips 122 and 124 which extend over the edges of buttons 102 and 103 . this elimates any visible gap from above , giving a clean , streamlined look to the mouse . in addition , ledges 122 and 124 limit the upward travel of the buttons 102 and 103 , which are mounted so that their flexion biases them up against the underside of ledges 122 and 124 when the buttons aren &# 39 ; t depressed . alternately , there may be no upward force against the underside of the ledges . this provides a stop for upward travel of the buttons , again simplifying the design compared to prior art keyplates . fig6 is a perspective view of the underside of exterior housing 100 and top interior housing 101 with an internal plastic keyplate 12 mounted on the top interior housing according to one embodiment of the invention . the exterior housing 100 is preferably made of metal , and acts as two buttons in addition to functioning as the exterior housing . the top interior housing 101 has two pegs 105 , 105 ′ proximate the rear of the top housing . the pegs snap fit into the keyplate to attach the keyplate to the interior housing by engaging two sockets 15 in internal keyplate 12 . the pegs are loosely located in the keyplate to avoid the metal popping out in a drop test . the loose location has a benefit of providing the drop test assistance and not requiring precise tolerances . the internal keyplate 12 is formed of three cantilevered arms 14 , 16 , and 18 . the ends of the side arms 16 and 18 serve as side buttons 166 and 188 ( left and right click buttons ) when depressed by a user finger on the corresponding button portion of exterior housing 100 . the cantilevered arms 14 , 16 , and 18 are formed of an integral piece of plastic and are connected proximate the rear of the keyplate 12 and the top housing 100 . middle cantilevered arm 14 supports a roller 20 attached on the end of the arm 14 , proximate the front of the plate 12 and the top housing . the middle arm 14 has a protrusion 144 that serves to activate an underlying microswitch when the roller is depressed . the arm 14 has a spring force to bias the roller upward , eliminating the need for a return spring , in contrast with a typical prior art mouse that has a complex support structure for a roller mounted on the bottom housing and that needs a lift spring to bias the roller upward . the interior plastic housing provides insulation for the mouse . the use of a metal exterior housing presents issues with electrostatic discharge ( esd ) harming the internal electronic components . the use of the interior plastic housing isolates the metal top housing from the internal components . the uses of the interior cantilevered plastic arms isolates the metal buttons from the internal microswitches . the interior housing also provides a stop for downward travel of the metal buttons . fig7 illustrates the layout of a printed circuit board ( pcb ) 44 , outlined in phantom , and mounted on a lower housing 40 of the mouse . on the printed circuit board is mounted a light emitter , such as a light emitting diode ( led ) 48 . led 48 is on one side of the roller , while on the other side , opposite led 48 , is a photo detector 50 . as the roller is rotated , the slots 64 alternately block and let light pass from emitter 48 to detector 50 . fig7 also shows microswitches 52 and 54 which are placed beneath the two side buttons 166 and 188 at the end of each of the cantilevered arms 16 and 18 of fig6 . in addition , a third switch 56 is provided to be activated by a protrusion 144 on the cantilevered arm 14 , that serves as a third button when the roller is depressed , visible in fig6 . the microswitches 52 , 54 and 56 as well as an optical module 47 are mounted on the circuit board 44 . as will be apparent to those skilled in the art , the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the essential characteristics thereof . for example , the exterior top housing functioning as a button could be plastic . also the exterior top housing could have one or three buttons instead of two . the metalic housing could be mounted on a trackball , with a ball extending through a gap in the metal , and an island on the other side of the ball from the anchoring portion of the metal housing . accordingly , the foregoing description is intended to be illustrative , but not limiting , of the scope of the invention which is set forth in the following claims .	6
as described above , embodiments of the invention are concerned with protecting email recipients from maliciously - crafted web links , which , most commonly , are embodied in the form of urls . most conveniently , a system according to an embodiment of the invention is implemented within the normal email delivery path ; referring to fig1 , such a delivery path is shown in the context of sender a creating and sending an email to recipient b : the email is sent from terminal t 1 , at which the sender a has composed the email , and is delivered to a terminal t 2 corresponding to the email address of the email . as is known in the art , the email is sent from terminal t 1 to a local mail server s 1 cooperating with terminal t 1 , which may reside on a local area network or at an isp ; when the local mail server s 1 receives the email , the mail server s 1 queries a domain name server ( dns ) 101 to obtain the internet protocol ( ip ) address for the recipient &# 39 ; s email address . in the delivery path according to a preferred arrangement , the dns record corresponding to the recipient &# 39 ; s address is preconfigured to comprise data identifying a url processing system 103 ( e . g . by modifying the associated mail exchange ( mx ) record ), which means that all emails destined for recipient b are automatically directed to the url processing system 103 instead of to the mail server corresponding to recipient b &# 39 ; s email address . ( a processing system that intercepts emails in the delivery path is commonly referred to as an email relay or a message transfer agent ( mta ); accordingly , it will be appreciated that the url processing system 103 is a type of message transfer agent .) as shown in fig2 the url processing system 103 preferably comprises an application server , a web server , various conventional and bespoke processing components , and can comprise one or a plurality of machines , which collectively analyse emails in accordance with various criteria , as described in more detail below . the url processing system 103 is connected to various servers and gateways , typically via a public network such as the internet n 1 , including the destination email server s 2 corresponding to the recipient &# 39 ; s email address . accordingly , once the url processing system 103 has processed the email , it transmits the processed email to the email server s 2 corresponding to terminal t 2 . as will be described in more detail below , under certain conditions — e . g . when an email contains a url satisfying various conditions — the url processing system 103 selectively modifies the email before sending onto the email server s 2 . the modification involves adding data to the email that enables the recipient b to request information relating to the original url that was included in the email sent by sender a , but that directs the request to a secure processing system rather than to the url specified in the original email . the processing performed by the url processing system 103 in accordance with embodiments will now be described with reference to fig3 and 4 . turning first to fig3 , when an email is received by the url processing system 103 , it is passed to the application server 205 , for processing by the url software component 207 ( step 301 ). once received by the url software component 207 , the email is analysed for the presence of otherwise of one or more web links or hyperlinks ( step 303 ); in the event that no such link is identified , the software component 207 passes the email — unmodified — back to the application server 205 , for routing to server s 2 in the normal manner ( step 305 ). in one embodiment , the presence of a url string may be detected in an email formatted in accordance with a mark - up language ( e . g ., html , xml ) based on formatting data surrounding the url string in the message . as is known in the art , urls can be used to link to various parts within , and images attached to , a document ( in which case the url takes the form of an & lt ; img & gt ; tag ), or to data that is externally accessible ( externally accessible in relation to the email or email system ). in the case of urls that point to externally accessible data , in the html message , the url may have the following format : & lt ; a href =“ http :// www . sesame . com ”& gt ;, in which case the software component 207 is configured to search through the html message for a string comprising “ http :” or “ href =”, extracting the data immediately following this string . in the case where the email is determined to contain a url , the software component 207 can proceed to analyse the email ( step 307 ), either on the basis of attributes of the email alone ( such as subject , format of sender and recipient address , or text within the email , as will be described below ), or on the basis of these attributes and the a review of the url ; methods are known in the art for performing at least some of such analysis of an email , and include those commonly referred to as “ spam detection methods ”. in relation to performing the analysis on the basis of the url , as mentioned above , urls can be used to link either to various parts within ( or of ) the email , or to a site that is externally accessible . the software component 207 is configured to identify the type of link ( internal or external ), and if the link is identified as being of the external type , the software component 207 can further review the url on the basis of one or more of the following parameters , which are stored in storage 209 : domains : urls may include sub - domains and redirections to target urls , and the inclusion of different sub - domains into a url may enable the creation of a unique url which points to the same target url . for example , url “ http :// spamtastic . test . co . uk ” can be specified from urls that include different sub - domains . accordingly the url string can be examined for the presence of different sub - domains ( here there are two : spamtastic . test . co . uk ; test . co . uk ); redirect urls : a url can comprise another url that points to a particular target url ; for example , the url “ http :// random . com / date / 03 /* http :// www . spamtasic . co . uk ” actually points to the target url “ http :// www . spamtasic . co . uk ”. accordingly the url string can be examined for redirection to a different url ; extraneous information within the url : a user name , password , “@” signs , numeric character references ( which specify the code position of a character in the document character set ), character entity references ( which use symbolic names ), buffer overflows , null - padding , and embedded null characters . accordingly the url string can be examined for the presence of such information ; hexadecimal encoded ascii html anchor characters in the url “ http ://% 4 % 4 % 4 . sesame . com ” ( which corresponds to “ http :// www . sesame . com ”), and ip addresses encoded as hexadecimal or decimal representations . accordingly the url string can be examined for the url being encoded in such a format . in addition , the url processing system 103 can maintain , or have access to , a url blacklist that includes urls that are known to be indicative of spam and / or relating to an email virus , and the software component 207 can be arranged to compare the or each url within the email with those listed in the black - list ; when the blacklisted urls are stored as hash values , it is convenient for the software component 207 to generate a hash value of the or each url within the email , enabling the comparison to be performed on the basis of the generated and stored hash values . additionally or alternatively , the software component 207 could be arranged to compare the url with a list of known urls , and the url categorised as either known or unknown . in relation to parameters ( or attributes ) that are intrinsic to the email , these include the following : sender email address or sending system ip address ; objects associated with the email e . g . very small executable file , bayesian match with spam or virus - laden email ; historical behaviour relating to previously seen emails having characteristics matching those of the email under analysis , in particular whether or not the previously seen emails have been categorised as spam ; type of external link : the link , whilst being of a web link format and relating to a system external to the email , corresponds to a system that is not publicly accessible . such types of external links include those generally categorised as an rfc - 1918 ip address , which is not reachable from the internet ; examples include 10 . 192 . 168 .## or 10 . 172 . 16 - 31 .##; and position of the link within the email . in different arrangements , the email is scored on the basis of one , some , or all of the above parameters , and the individual scores combined in dependence on prespecified weightings . in addition to having access to a “ black - list ” of urls , the software component 207 could have access to a “ white - list ” of urls ( each list being mutually exclusive ), and if the url is listed in the “ white - list ”, the scoring be modified accordingly . this could be a particularly useful test criterion for emails that , on the basis of the other analysis techniques , would otherwise appear borderline - suspicious . once an overall score has been evaluated the software component 207 compares the score with a predetermined threshold ( step 309 ); in the event that the score exceeds the threshold , the url is modified ( step 311 ) so as to generate a second url ; otherwise the email is passed to the application server 205 for routing to the recipient ( 305 ). if generated , the second url is subsequently inserted into the email ( step 313 ) in the place of the url included in the original email , and the modified email is transmitted ( step 315 ) to the recipient via the application server 205 . the second url is formulated such that when the recipient of the modified email clicks thereon , the recipient &# 39 ; s browser navigates to a secure processing system , which , in a preferred embodiment , is web server 203 associated with the url processing system 103 itself , but could alternatively be a processing system maintained by a third party ( not shown ), or a web server that is disassociated from the url processing system 103 . the second url is related to the url contained within the original email in such a way that the secure processing system 203 subsequently accesses the url contained within the original email ; this means that it is the secure processing system 203 , not the recipient &# 39 ; s terminal t 2 , which receives data corresponding thereto . the url processing system 103 thus effectively screens the data retrieved from the original url , and , dependent on the result of the screening , allows or otherwise the recipient access thereto . various methods for generating the second url will now be described with reference to fig4 . in a preferred arrangement the software component encodes ( step 401 ) the original url — e . g . by applying strong encryption such as triple des to the combination of the original url plus a small checksum — and then wraps ( step 403 ) the encoded original url within a url that identifies the web server 203 . a benefit of encoding the original url is that it securely insures the second url against tampering ; preferably the encoded original email comprises printable characters in a restricted alphabet , which prevents errors being introduced during delivery by the recipient &# 39 ; s email system . an example of such an encoded and wrapped url is as follows : the software component could alternatively wrap the original url in plain text form , which has the benefit of providing visibility of what the original url intended . in yet another alternative the software component 207 could generate a key ( e . g . the hash value computed for the original url as part of step 307 ), store the original url together with the generated key in a database db 1 , and wrap the generated key within the url that identifies the web server 203 . as a yet further alternative the software component could be arranged to encode the original url if it is less than a specified length , or to generate , store and wrap a key corresponding to the original url if it exceeds the specified length . when the email is received by the recipient , the recipient can elect to click on the second url in the normal way ; as will be appreciated from the foregoing , this causes the browser running on terminal t 2 to attempt to retrieve data from the web server 203 . accordingly , the processing steps carried out by the web server 203 in response to the recipient clicking on the second url will now be described with reference to fig5 . preferably the second url comprises data enabling the web server 203 to identify the format of the request ( i . e . the format of the second url ): accordingly , in response to a request from the browser of terminal t 2 ( step 501 ), the web server 203 is arranged to identify the format of the request ( step 503 ). in the case of the second url comprising a key associated with the original url , the web server 203 accesses the database db 1 so as to retrieve the original url ( step 505 ); in the case of the second url comprising an encoded version of the original url , the process p 1 decodes the encoded data in accordance with an encoding scheme corresponding thereto ( step 507 ). once the original url has been retrieved and / or decoded , information is fetched from a site designated by the original url ( step 509 ). this fetched information can be advantageously cached ( stored locally ) so that the site designated by the url need not be contacted each time a given url is detected in a message . the web server 203 analyzes the fetched data ( step 511 ) in accordance with evaluation criteria stored in storage 209 . the evaluation criteria 209 causes the web server 203 to search for predetermined strings ( e . g ., “ bet ”, “ floan ”, “$$$”, etc . ), each of the predetermined string having been previously rated as indicative of the fetched information being spam . for example , the string “ car ” can be assigned a score of 5 , while the string “$$$” can be a score of 200 , where a higher score indicates a higher likelihood that the string is from a spam website . step 511 can also involve the web server 203 identifying whether the url is linked to an executable , which , when accessed , would result in a process ( e . g . a keyboard logger ) being run on the machine from which the url is accessed . accordingly the web server 203 reviews the format of the fetched data , and , if the site corresponding to the original email tries to download binary data , the web server 203 may quarantine the data for further analysis or alternatively analyse the binary data with an anti - virus tool and , depending on the results of this analysis , choose to quarantine the data . it is to be understood that the nature of this further analysis is not the subject of the present application ; however , if the further analysis indicates that the binary data corresponds to a trojan process such as a keyboard logger , the web server 203 sends a message indicative of same to the recipient and adds data indicative of the url to a repository of “ black - listed ” urls ( step 513 ). in addition the evaluation criteria 209 causes the web server 203 to review the content of the original url to identify whether it is linked to another , different site , in which case the above - mentioned analysis is performed in relation to the linked site . if the original url appears to be authentic , the web server 203 informs the recipient accordingly ( step 515 ) and automatically retrieves data corresponding to the authenticated website for display on the recipient &# 39 ; s browser . preferably the retrieved data are displayed within a frame corresponding to the web server 203 , and the display frame includes means for the recipient to post comments relating to the retrieved data . such a facility would be particularly useful in view of the fact that step 511 is essentially a rules - based process , and therefore only capable of detecting malicious links that conform to established detection patterns and methods ; by providing recipients with a means to report a web site that the web server 203 has identified as be authentic , the repository for evaluation ( 209 ) can be updated . in addition the web server 203 adds data indicative of the url to the repository of “ white - listed ” urls . the data in the black - listed and white - listed repositories can be reviewed by the software component 207 during the initial analysis of the original url at step 307 , as described above , as well as cascaded to other , third party , email analysis systems . whilst the above - embodiments describe modifying the original url in the event that the original url or the email message within which the original url appears to be suspicious , it will be appreciated that the original url could be modified irrespective of the apparent suspiciousness or otherwise of the email . such arrangements would most conveniently be implemented by omitting steps 307 and 309 , so that the url software component 207 automatically modifies any urls detected within an email as per step 311 . an advantage of this arrangement is that the amount of processing in respect of any given intercepted email is reduced , resulting in a higher throughput of email transmission . whilst in the above - described arrangements , the url processing system 103 is described as comprising a particular number and configuration of software components , it will be appreciated that the invention could be embodied as a suite of software components , and written using a procedural or object - oriented programming language . more specifically , the above - described embodiments describe the second url as corresponding to web server 203 , which can be written and implemented in any programming language suitable for development of web - based applications , such as the java ™, perl or php programming language . in one arrangement the url software component 207 is written in the same programming language as that used for the web server 203 , to facilitate conformance to the same format for creation , encryption and decryption of the second url . however , it will be appreciated that the respective software components could be implemented in different programming languages , in which case the url processing system 103 would include a library facilitating translation between the languages ( for the purposes of encrypting and decrypting the second url ). the above embodiments are to be understood as illustrative examples of the invention . it is to be understood that any feature described in relation to any one embodiment may be used alone , or in combination with other features described , and may also be used in combination with one or more features of any other of the embodiments , or any combination of any other of the embodiments . furthermore , equivalents and modifications not described above may also be employed without departing from the scope of the invention , which is defined in the accompanying claims .	7
the following embodiments and aspects thereof are described and illustrated in conjunction with systems and methods which are meant to be illustrative and non - limiting in scope . in a brief overview , an aspect of the present invention relates to a method of supporting a modular building , such as a modular home . modular buildings according to the present invention include modular “ factory built ” buildings and “ site built ” ( stick built ) buildings . modular factory built buildings used with this method include those buildings built in a factory in modules . the modules are then transported to the erection site on temporary “ carrier ” chassis that are removed before the building is completed . after arriving at the erection site , the modules are connected together to form a complete building . site built buildings include those buildings that are constructed using raw materials on the site in which they are intended to remain permanently . both modular factory built buildings and site built buildings include outer , lower framing members that form the outer framing support structure of the building and part of the flooring system . these framing members are substantially planar and located along the outer sides of the buildings . these lower framing members are also positioned proximate the lowest points of the building . as a result , vertical and horizontal support stands can be located under the building and secured to the appropriate framing members in order to hold the building in place . these framing members are typically planar members aligned with the lower surface of the building or vertically spaced from the lower surface of the building . examples of these planar members include wooden boards , such as 2 × 8 &# 39 ; s or 2 × 10 &# 39 ; s . other known framing boards can also be used . alternatively , the framing members can be formed of metal or other materials that can include holes , including threaded holes . fig1 illustrates a support system 10 for a modular building that can be used in a method of the present invention . the modular building is generally constructed and assembled with framing members 80 ( fig2 ) that form the outer lower framework of the modular building and a support structure for the flooring system of the modular building , as discussed above . the support system 10 includes support stands 30 that are spaced about the perimeter of the building . preferably , the support stands 30 are spaced approximately 10 and 12 feet apart , depending on the under structure of the building . however , the number and placement of the stands 30 are typically dictated by local building codes . as illustrated in fig1 - 4a , an embodiment of the support stand 30 includes a clamping assembly 40 , a head unit 45 and base 70 . the base 70 includes base plate 72 and a plurality of fasteners 74 which secure the plate 72 to light - weight concrete footers 20 . the fasteners 74 can include nuts and bolts , masonry screws or other similar fasteners . the footers 20 support the support stands 30 above leveled ground or a poured slab , such as a poured concrete pad . in one embodiment , the plate 72 is 8 ″× 8 ″ and ¼ inch thick . for this embodiment , the footer 20 can be 24 ″ wide × 48 ″ long and is 4 ″ thick in the center . this footer 20 is produced using a concrete mold in a factory under controlled conditions so that the size and shape are controlled . the footer 20 has an 8 ″× 8 ″ flat square top surface that includes two plastic inserts poured into the footer 20 . these plastic inserts receive the fasteners 74 . in an embodiment , the clamping assembly 40 positively locks the support stand 30 to the framing members 80 of the modular building . in an embodiment illustrated in fig1 , the clamping assembly 40 includes a support plate 42 for receiving and supporting the lower surface of at least one framing member 80 and a second plate 43 that can be positioned on an upper surface 82 of the supported framing member 80 . this clamping assembly is similar to that disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 862 , 635 to linse that is herein incorporated by reference . fasteners 41 extend through the framing member 80 and the first and second plates 42 , 43 to secure the framing member 80 to the support stand 30 . in a preferred embodiment , the fasteners 41 include nuts and bolts ; however , any conventional fastener for securing two plates together may be used . if desired , circular rods 44 may be added to the plate 42 . ( fig1 ) in an embodiment illustrated in fig2 , the second plate 43 is not utilized . instead , the fastener 41 is directly in contact with the top side of the framing member 80 . in this embodiment , the bolt or nut head would engage the framing member 80 in place of the second plate 43 . in a third embodiment illustrated in fig3 and 4 a - 4 e , the clamping assembly 40 includes the support plate 42 for at least one framing member 80 and a plurality of fasteners 41 , such as lag bolts , that can extend through the support plate 42 and be secured directly into the framing member ( s ) 80 . in the illustrated embodiment , the first plate 42 is 8 ″× 10 ″× ¼ thick . the top plate has a series of holes or apertures 59 ( see fig4 a - 4e ) formed in a predetermined pattern that , with the fasteners 41 , provides a secure connection between the first plate 42 and the framing member 80 . different hole 59 patterns can be provided for plates 42 used at different locations along the framing member 80 . each hole 59 in the plate 42 receives an elongated threaded fastener 41 , such as a screw . an example of such a screw is a lag screw , also known in the industry as a lag bolt . these screws ( lag bolts ) can be 2½ ″ long × ½ ″ in diameter . as shown in fig1 - 4a , and 4 c , the head unit 45 is positioned below the clamp assembly 40 and attached thereto . the unit 45 includes a u - shaped channel member 46 secured to the underside of the first plate 42 . in a preferred embodiment , the channel member 46 is welded to the first plate 42 , however , other well known securing techniques may be used . the channel member 46 defines a space 47 between its inner bottom floor 48 and the underside of the first plate 42 which contains a support member 49 , an end 52 of a threaded rod 51 and a bushing 57 . the support member 49 is secured to the end 52 of the rod 51 and rotates with the rod on bushing 57 for ease of turning . preferably , support member 49 is a threaded nut that is welded to the end of the threaded rod 51 . as shown in fig2 , tolerance exists between support member 49 and the underside of first plate 42 before the framing member 80 is fully loaded on the first plate 42 so that clamping assembly 40 can tilt slightly relative to support member 49 , thereby facilitating the contact between the first plate 42 and the framing member 80 . when the framing member 80 is properly positioned on first plate 42 , support member 49 contacts first plate 42 and distributes the load of the building over the entire head unit 45 so the forces experienced by any one portion of the support stand 30 are lower when compared to conventional support stands . this distribution of the load extends the life of the support stand 30 and reduces its chance of failure . a fine height adjusting mechanism 50 and a stepwise height adjusting mechanism 60 are provided between the clamping assembly 40 and the base 70 for leveling the building . these mechanisms 50 , 60 vary the distance between the building and the foundation to compensate for uneven terrain or the movement of the foundation over time . the stepwise height adjustment mechanism 60 varies the height of the building in predetermined increments . increments of approximately two to five inches are preferred , with the most preferred increment being approximately three inches . the fine height adjustment mechanism 50 varies the height of the building within the increments of the stepwise adjustment mechanism 60 . fine height adjusting mechanism 50 includes the threaded rod 51 , a tool engaging member 53 secured to rod 51 and a rod receiving member 54 operatively attached to base 70 . the tool engaging member 53 supports the underside of the u - shaped channel member 46 and initially receives the load of the building frame when it is placed on the first plate 42 , to prevent failure of the rod 51 and allow for the clearance discussed above between the underside of the first plate 42 and the support member 49 . in a preferred embodiment , the tool engaging member 53 is a nut secured to the threaded rod 51 by welding or other known techniques . gradual and fine adjustment of the building height relative to the foundation is accomplished by rotating rod 51 within a receiving member 54 using tool engaging member 53 . the tool engaging member 53 receives a wrench or other such tool for rotating the rod 51 . receiving member 54 is preferably a threaded nut which fixed to an upper end 61 an inner tube 62 of the stepwise adjustment mechanism 60 . the receiving member 54 could also be positioned within the inner tubular member 62 . the stepwise height adjusting mechanism 60 includes the inner telescopic tubular member 62 carrying the receiving member 54 and an outer tubular member 64 which telescopically receives inner tubular member 62 . a plurality of apertures 63 are vertically spaced along opposite sides of the inner tubular member 62 at intervals which achieve the predetermined , incremental height adjustment discussed above . as shown , apertures 65 are also located on opposite sides of the outer tubular member 64 . a bayonet pin or bolt 67 is placed through the apertures 65 when they are properly aligned for a given height with a pair of the apertures 63 in the first tubular member 62 . the outer tubular member 64 also includes an anti - rattle aperture 68 . a bolt 69 is inserted through aperture 68 and frictionally engages the inner tubular member 62 to prevent it from rattling within the outer tubular member 64 . it is also contemplated that the telescopic relationship between the tubular members 62 , 64 could be reversed . the method according to the present invention includes a step of supporting a modular building at a predetermined erection site . the building can be a factory built or site built building as discussed above . the method includes the steps of securing the support stand 30 to the light - weight concrete footer 20 as shown in the figures . the footer 20 and support stand 30 are then positioned at appropriate locations on a properly graded site for supporting the building . when secured on top of the support stand 30 , the building is supported against applied vertical and lateral loads . the position of these footers 20 and support stands 30 is determined by the building manufacturer &# 39 ; s instructions or engineer instructions . after the position of the footer 20 and support stand 30 have been approximately set , the course height adjustment of the support stand 30 is set for a given height . when each support stand 30 has been set to an appropriate height , the building is either lowered onto the support stands 30 ( for a factory built building ) or the assembly of the building begins on the support stands 30 ( for a site built building ). regardless of which type of building is supported , the clamp assembly embodiments 40 discussed above can be used to secure the building to the support stand 30 . for a factory built building , the ground level portions are either craned or in some other way lowered onto the support stands 30 . typically if the modules are crane set , one corner of the module is set on a support stand 30 and the module is lowered slowly in order to manipulate the module into the correct position in which it will remain permanently . the module is then lowered into its final resting position . additional modules are set in the same fashion and attached permanently to the modules that are already set . the support stands 30 can be moved in any direction as needed before the building modules are completely at rest in order to obtain the proper positioning . second - story modules of the building can then be added if applicable on top of the ground level modules . once the building is in its permanent resting position , the head assemblies are fully secured to the framing member 80 . the clamping assembly 40 illustrated in fig1 - 4a secures the framing member 80 of either the factory built building or the site built building to the support stand 30 . in this part of the method , the plate 42 is positioned under the framing member 80 of either the factory built or site built building so that it supports the framing member ( s ) 80 . the fasteners 41 , such as lag bolts , are advanced through the openings 59 in the plate 42 and into the framing member 80 ( see fig3 ). this is performed for each of the support stands 30 . in an alternative embodiment of the method , the fasteners 41 extended through the plate 42 are bolts that cooperate with nuts to secure the framing member 80 to the support stand 30 . in this embodiment ( fig2 ), the support stand 30 and framing member 80 are positioned so that the framing member 80 is supported by the plate 42 . then , the bolts are advanced through the openings 59 in the plate 42 . threaded fastening nuts are secured to the ends of the bolts on the opposite side of the framing member 80 from the plate 42 . in an embodiment , the framing member can include a recess that matches the shape of the nut and bolt head so that a wrench is not needed to hold the nut or bolt head as the nut and bolt are being tightened . in another embodiment , the clamping assembly 40 illustrated in fig1 is used to secure the framing member 80 to the support stand 30 . in this embodiment , the plate ( s ) 43 is positioned on the opposite side of the framing member from the plate 42 . as a result , after the support stand and framing member are in the proper vertical and horizontal position , the plate 43 is positioned on the top surface of the framing member 80 and bolts are advanced through the plates 42 , 43 and the framing member 80 . in this embodiment , it may be necessary to have access to the upper surface of the framing member 80 at the time that the nut and bolt are tightened . alternatively , the plate 43 can include a recess that matches the shape of the nut and bolt head so that a wrench is not needed to hold the nut or bolt head as the nut and bolt are being tightened . after the clamping assemblies 40 have secured the framing member ( s ) 80 to their respective support stands 20 , the final height of the building can be adjusted , where needed , by manipulating the height adjustment mechanisms 50 , 60 . also , for the site built buildings , the remainder of the building can be constructed on top of the framing members 80 . for example , if just the floor of the building was constructed above the framing members 80 prior to securing the framing members 80 to the support stands 30 , the remainder of the building would be framed and completed . after the height of the building is set and the building is level , skirting panels can be positioned against the supports and / or the building to hide the support stands 30 and increase the aesthetic appearance of the building . skirting panels that can be used in the method are disclosed in u . s . patent application ser . nos . 10 / 821 , 837 ; 10 / 821 , 873 and 10 / 821 , 874 . all of these applications were filed on apr . 12 , 2004 and are hereby incorporated in this application by reference . after the skirting panels are in place , the area around the panels can be backfilled for support . in another embodiment , the support plates 42 positioned at the corners of the buildings could include vertical sidewalls on both their outer and inner edges . in such an embodiment , the framing member 80 could be secured to the support stand 30 using both vertically and horizontally positioned fasteners . different sized building frames can be accommodated by the present invention merely by changing the size of the clamping assembly 40 . numerous characteristics , advantages and embodiments of the invention have been described in detail in the foregoing description with reference to the accompanying drawings . however , the disclosure is illustrative only and the invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments . it will be apparent to persons ordinarily skilled in the art that modifications may be made thereof within the scope of the invention , which scope is to be accorded the broadest interpretation of the claims such as to encompass all equivalents , devices , and methods . therefore , various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention .	4
as discussed above , fig1 illustrates a prior art unicast technique for distributing an information source such as video channel to multiple destinations . also as discussed above , fig2 illustrates a prior art multicast ( igmp technique for distributing an information source such as video channel to multiple destinations . in the network architecture of fig3 , item 300 represents a plurality of information sources , such as a source of plural channels of video information for distribution over a network 310 to digital subscriber line access multiplexers ( dslam &# 39 ; s ) 320 . each dslam services one or more network ports to which are connected networks 330 . the networks include a plurality of hosts , such as set top boxes 335 for receiving selected channels of video information and providing the selected channel of information to a subscriber terminal 340 such as a television set . fig4 shows a network architecture in accordance with one aspect of the invention which constitutes a portion of the architecture illustrated in fig3 . the incoming streams of information from network 310 are received at dslam 320 . dslam 320 then provides selected ones of the information streams from different sources to the network interfaces that it services so that the selected channels of information can be available as needed at the set top boxes . the principal difference between fig4 and fig3 lies in the use of the network interface list 400 . the network interface list 400 contains a channel - host list for each of the network interfaces serviced by the dslam 320 . fig5 a illustrates an exemplary channel - host list in accordance with one aspect of the invention . in fig5 a , three hosts are shown watching channel 2 , namely host 7 , host 24 and host 32 . one host , host number 28 , is watching channel 15 , no other hosts are active on that network . although the lists as illustrated shows numeric identification for each of the hosts , it maybe preferred to utilize network addresses such as a media access control address , a url or other identifier for the hosts , and an igmp group address for the channel . as set forth in igmp version 2 , when a channel desires to leave a particular channel and switches to another channel , the host will receive a command from a subscriber terminal directing the channel change . for example , if host 24 , as shown in fig5 a , desired to change from channel 2 to channel 15 , the subscriber would utilize the remote control to initiate the transfer at the host set top box 335 . the host set top box would then initiate an igmp leave command directing the dslam that host 24 no longer desires to be connected to channel 2 . that will be followed in close order , by a join command whereby host 24 desires connection to channel 15 . alternatively , a combined leave / join message could be recognized and acted thereon . in one form of the prior art , when the channel 2 leave command is sent by host 24 , there will be a 2 second delay before the dslam stops providing channel 2 information to host 24 . during this 2 seconds , host 24 may be already connected to channel 15 which may result in a temporary excess of bandwidth utilization resulting in undesirable pixelized video . in a second prior art approach , when host 24 , request to switch from channel 2 to channel 15 , the dslam will stop sending channel 2 information at the same time that it starts sending channel 15 information to host 24 . in this version , the bandwidth limits are not exceeded , but there is a short - term interruption of programming to hosts 7 and 32 shown in fig5 a and 5b , both of which are watching channel 2 . thus , either the prior art techniques for switching the sources to a host may result in undesirable adverse effects . both of these problems described in the preceding two paragraphs are solved by using the techniques of the invention described in provisional application no . 60 / 867 , 635 which is now u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 947 , 355 filed nov . 29 , 2007 , by inventor jared lee bell . this technique utilizes a channel - host list appropriate for the network which is found within the network interface list 400 shown in fig4 . specifically , upon receiving a leave request , the dslam will check the list of hosts connected to channel 2 . if no other hosts are connected to the channel 2 group , then the immediate leave technique of the prior art will be executed . if there are in fact other hosts connected to the channel 2 group as reflected in the channel - host list , then the dslam will continue sending the channel 2 group to the network . then , the join request for , in this example , host 24 to receive information from channel 15 will be executed . paragraph 6 in the provisional application ser . no . 60 / 867 , 635 that is identified above discusses the additional benefit and function of bandwidth analysis with regard to dropping and not dropping the host , e . g ., multicast group . although this may temporarily produce pixelized video , bandwidth oversubscription , etc . it will avoid dropping the to - be - dropped multicast group to other igmp host ip addresses currently using it — hence , the phrase “ smart ” immediate leave . in a non - limiting implementation , bandwidth analysis may be conducted to determine how much bandwidth is available to handle the newly added multicast group along with the still used multicast group ( s ). when host 24 sends an igmp leave command indicating it desires to leave the channel 2 igmp group , it will be received by the dslam or proxy . the dslam or proxy needs to know if there are other hosts subscribed to the channel 2 multicast group . using igmp version 2 , the host would normally send an igmp group specific query inquiring of the hosts connected to the network interface to report whether or not they are connected to channel 2 . if each of the hosts connected to the network had fully and properly implemented version 2 of the igmp protocol , each host would then respond if it were connected to the channel 2 multicast group . however , a number of problems can keep that from happening . specifically , if the network includes hosts that are only version 1 compatible , they will not recognize igmp group specific query . that query was not part of igmp version 1 . rather , it was introduced in igmp version 2 . further , even if all of the hosts on the network serviced by the network interface were advertised as igmp version 2 compatible , the functionality for implementing the igmp group specific query may not have been implemented as part of the implementation used by a specific manufacturer . therefore , the host may not properly report when receiving an igmp group specific query . it may also be the case that a particular manufacturer did implement the igmp group specific query , but did so in a way that is incompatible with the implementation utilized by the router or dslam proxy . any of these circumstances might cause a host on a network to fail to respond to an igmp group specific query . fig6 is a flow chart of a technique for circumventing a specific query response failure in accordance with one aspect of the invention . the technique of fig6 can be utilized whenever a router or proxy needs knowledge of the status of host connected to a channel on a particular network . such a circumstance might occur when the proxy or the router receives a leave command on a network associated with the proxy or router . when the proxy or router has the need to know the status of host with respect to a particular channel , the host or router would normally send a channel specific query to the network asking identification of hosts that are connected to a particular channel ( 600 ). the proxy or router then checks to see if a response has been received from each host listed as connected to the channel ( 610 ). if it has a response from each host listed as connected to the channel ( 610 — y ), the host or router will jump to step 640 and update the host - channel list accordingly . if however , responses are not received from each host listed as connected to the channel ( 610 — n ) the host or router will send a general query to the network 620 asking all hosts on the network to report all channels to which they are connected . all hosts will then respond ( 630 ) and the host channel list will be updated for the host connected to the network over that network interface . thus , even if one of the hosts fails to respond to a version 2 channel specific query , that response failure can be overcome by the use of a general query to the network . in this way , a failure to respond to a channel specific query can be overcome . fig7 is a flow chart of a process of implementing an igmp protocol on a router or proxy . in the technique shown in fig7 , the implementation of the igmp protocols are expanded by allowing an igmp router or proxy to be selectively controlled to utilize either the channel specific query 710 or a general query 720 . the selection can be made using a hardware switch , a software switch , a compilation parameter or an express command ( 700 ). if one knows that one is operating in a heterogeneous environment , where the likelihoods are high that some host will not manage properly a channel specific query , then one could set the software switch 700 to send the general query 720 in all instances . alternatively a specific configuration parameter set during compilation of the igmp software on the proxy or the router . alternatively , the software switch can be commanded by a network administrator to select one or the other of the modes . regardless of which mode is selected , once the response to a channel specific query or general query has been received , the response will be processed to result in a correct response to the query permitting full use of the particular igmp protocol version in use . the specific formats for the message exchange between the host terminals and the dslam &# 39 ; s are set forth in the igmp versions 1 , 2 and 3 attached hereto as appendix a , appendix b and appendix c , respectively . while various embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated herein in detail , it should be apparent that modifications and adaptations to those embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth in the following claims .	7
fig1 depicts a foundation assembly 100 in a building , exemplary of an embodiment of the present invention . assembly 100 includes a foundation wall 102 ( also referred to as stem wall ), a footing 104 ( also referred to as a footer ) for supporting foundation wall 102 , and a moisture barrier 106 ( also referred to as footing barrier ) sandwiched between foundation wall 102 and footing 104 for isolating them , exemplary of an embodiment of the present invention . footing 104 may be disposed directly on soil 107 . soil 107 and other unreferenced parts in fig1 are depicted to provide context , but do not form part of assembly 100 . in different embodiments , assembly 100 may include other components ( either shown or not shown in fig1 ) that may be used in a building construction as can be understood by those skilled in the art , such as flooring components , ceiling components , structural reinforcing components , thermal insulation components , finishes , or the like . foundation wall 102 has a side 108 and a bottom 110 . a key 112 may protrude from bottom 110 for engaging footing 104 . key 112 may extend along a longitudinal central portion of the bottom surface of bottom 110 . foundation wall 102 may be made of any suitable material for foundation walls or stem walls . typically , foundation wall 102 is formed mainly of poured concrete . in different embodiments , foundation wall may also be formed of wood , a concrete block , synthetic or composite materials , or the like . foundation wall 102 may have any dimension , shape , or structure . additional features and structures , such as reinforcing materials , panels , studs , layers including thermal insulation layers and moisture / vapor barriers , drywalls , pipes , finishing , proofing , or the like ( not shown ) may be included in , or attached to , foundation wall 102 , as may be appropriate depending on the particular application . for example , foundation wall 102 may form part of a basement wall ( not shown in fig1 , but see fig9 ). foundation wall 102 may be pre - fabricated or constructed at the building site as further described below . footing 104 has a top surface 114 for supporting moisture barrier 106 and , indirectly , foundation wall 102 . a keyway 116 may be provided at top surface 114 of footing 104 . key 112 and keyway 116 are aligned and complementary in shape to tightly engage each other , to provide positional stability during construction and in the assembled structure . footing 104 may be made of any suitable footing material . for example , footing 104 may include concrete . additional features , rebars , reinforcements , or the like ( not shown ) may be included in or attached to footing 104 . footing may be pre - fabricated or constructed at the building site , as will be further described below . typically , footing 104 is formed of poured concrete on site . footing 104 may be exposed to water such as moisture during normal use after construction , for example , by capillary wicking . for example , footing 104 may be directly placed on the underlying soil , which can be wet for prolonged periods during use . some footing materials , such as concrete , can potentially allow passage of water , such as by capillary action . it has been recognized that , if foundation wall 102 is in direct contact with footing 104 , a possible cause of water damage in the building wall that includes foundation wall 102 is water accumulation around foundation wall 102 near footing 104 due to capillary wicking through footing 104 . for example , when footing 104 is made of concrete , small pores and fissures ( not separately depicted in fig1 ) present in the concrete can serve as capillary conduits and water can pass ( rise up ) through these pores and fissures of the concrete due to capillary action ( also referred to as wicking ). when the soil 107 surrounding footing 104 is wet , water from the wet soil 107 can continuously pass through footing 104 and reach the interface region between foundation wall 102 and footing 104 . in the absence of a moisture barrier ( such as moisture barrier 106 ) disposed between foundation wall 102 and footing 104 , water can come into contact with , and accumulate around , foundation wall 102 near footing 104 . the water can further rise up along foundation wall 102 , for example , when foundation wall 102 is made of concrete or another material that can itself transport water by capillary action . when a vapor barrier ( not shown in fig1 , but see fig9 ) is applied to an entire side of foundation wall 102 , the moisture rising from footing 102 can be trapped by the vapor barrier . as a result , the building wall or certain wall structures in the building wall around foundation wall 102 can become damaged , or even fail , due to prolonged exposure to water . as can be understood by those skilled in the art , installing a drainage system , such as the drainage system described in read , near foundation wall 102 and footing 104 will not eliminate capillary action in footing 104 , and will not prevent water from reaching foundation wall 102 through footing 104 by capillary action , when water is available in the soil 107 surrounding footing 104 . conveniently , the potential damage and failure of the building wall caused by capillary wicking of water through footing 104 can be eliminated by isolating foundation wall 102 and footing 104 with moisture barrier 106 , as illustrated in fig1 . moisture barrier 106 blocks ( breaks ) the capillary path to foundation wall 102 , thus preventing water from reaching foundation wall 102 by capillary wicking through footing 104 . fig2 and 3 illustrate a moisture barrier 200 , exemplary of an embodiment of the present invention that can be used to form moisture barrier 106 . moisture barrier 200 includes a flexible , multi - layered sheet , which has a bottom layer 202 , a top layer 204 and a middle layer 206 sandwiched between bottom layer 202 and top layer 204 . bottom layer 202 has a bottom surface 208 and a top surface 210 , and is adapted for reliable attachment , or binding , to footing 104 . bottom layer 202 may be attached and bonded to footing 104 through any suitable binding mechanism , including physical or chemical binding . for example , bottom layer 202 may be made of a material that attracts water and binds to cement . the material may be permeable to a fluid mixture of water and cement so that it can absorb water and cement from the wet concrete used to form footing 104 . bottom layer 202 may be formed of a needle - punched fabric . bottom surface 208 of bottom layer 202 may also be adhesive to top surface 114 of footing 104 . bottom layer 202 may be formed from a suitable hydrophilic material , such as polyethylene terephthalate ( pet ), and may be provided as a fabric , either woven or non - woven . in one embodiment , a pet needle - punched fabric may be used to form bottom layer 202 . in other embodiments , other geotextiles may be used . a suitable polyester material may be used . the geotextile material may include a needle - punched , heat bonded , or woven fabric . the thickness of bottom layer 202 may be from about 0 . 2 mm to about 5 mm . top layer 204 has a bottom surface 212 and a top surface 214 . top layer 204 is formed of a material selected to provide sufficient friction ( traction ) on the top surface 214 to prevent slippage ( anti - slip ). when the top surface 214 of layer 204 provides sufficient friction or traction to reduce or prevent slippage on the surface , it allows the workers to safely walk or stand on moisture barrier 200 during construction of the building . top surface 214 of top layer 204 may also provide sufficient traction for conveniently writing thereon with a chalk , as the chalk is unlikely to slip on an anti - slip surface . this can allow a worker to conveniently make marks on the moisture barrier , for example , to draw lines to mark positions and directions of keyways , or placement of concrete or formwork for pouring concrete . the material for top layer 204 may also be selected so that it can withstand the rough working conditions on a construction site . top layer 204 may be formed of polypropylene ( pp ) or another suitable polymer such as pet , and may be in the form of a spun - bonded fabric . top layer may also be formed of a needle - punched , chemically - bonded , thermally ( heat )- bonded , or woven fabric . while different types of fabric materials may be used , spun - bonded fabric may be relatively inexpensive to produce , and can still provide sufficient strength , durability , and anti - slip properties appropriate or required for the intended use . spun - bonded fabric can conveniently allow marking thereon with a chalk and can provide an anti - slip surface . the thickness of top layer 204 may be from about 0 . 2 mm to about 5 mm . middle layer 206 is formed of a flexible waterproof material that blocks passage of both liquid water and water vapor by capillary wicking . the waterproof material has a permeability rating that is considered suitable for use as a vapor barrier or vapor retarder according to industry standards . for example , the permeability rating of the middle layer may be less than 57 ng / s · m 2 · pa based on the astm - e96 water vapor transmission test . a suitable waterproof material is polyethylene . other suitable polymer materials may include polyvinyl chloride ( pvc ), polypropylene , polyester , polystyrene , polyamide , ethylene vinyl acetate ( eva ), or the like . a combination of different materials may also be used in middle layer 206 . the thickness of middle layer 206 may be from about 0 . 1 mm to about 3 mm . layers 202 , 204 , 206 of moisture barrier 200 may be bonded to each other in any suitable manner . for example , the layers may be chemically bonded or physically bonded , such as being thermally bonded , glued , stitched or stapled together . in this embodiment , moisture barrier 200 is pliable , adhesive to concrete , and can prevent capillary wicking therethrough . moisture barrier 200 may be sufficiently flexible so that it can be rolled to form a roll , and can conform to the top surface of footing 104 and bottom surface of foundation wall 102 , which may not be perfectly flat . for example , when key 112 and keyway 116 are to be provided on foundation wall 102 and footing 104 respectively , a corresponding central section 220 ( referred to as keyway section 220 ) of moisture barrier 200 should be sufficiently flexible to conform to the shapes of key 112 and keyway 116 to allow reliable engagement therebetween . keyway section 220 may have a width similar to , or greater than , the width of keyway 116 . alternatively , moisture barrier 200 may be made of the same materials across its width and is sufficiently flexible to allow keyway formation and key / keyway engagement . to assist keyway formation and alignment of foundation wall 102 and footing 104 during construction or installation , physical markings may be provided on moisture barrier 200 to mark the intended key / keyway lines . such markings may be provided by inked lines , different colors , different material surface textures , or any other suitable indicia . for convenient use , moisture barrier 200 may have a substantially rectangular shape , as depicted in fig3 , and may be sized to cover the full width of a section of surface 114 of footing 104 . for example , the moisture barrier 200 may have a width of about 0 . 45 m . moisture barrier 200 may be provided in a roll with a length of , for example , about 25 m . the width of moisture barrier 200 may be selected to match the width of footing 104 , or to be at least as wide as the thickness of foundation wall 102 . however , in different applications , the size and shape of moisture barrier 200 may vary and may be different from those depicted in the drawings . for convenient use , the top and bottom surfaces of moisture barrier 200 may have different , identifiable colors or readily noticeable labels or markings to assist users to readily determine which side is the top side and which side is the bottom side . for example , the top side may have a blue color and the bottom side may have a grey color . a side may also have printed indicia that indicate whether it is a top side or bottom side . foundation assembly 100 may be constructed as part of a building , as illustrated in fig4 to 8 , according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . as shown in fig4 , a body of poured concrete 300 for forming footing 102 is initially formed directly on underlying soil ( not shown ). formwork or another suitable type of mold may be provided to define the shape of poured concrete 300 . wet concrete , which includes cement and water , may be poured into the formwork or mold . suitable concrete and cement materials may be selected depending on the particular application . additional materials such as reinforcing materials ( not shown ) may be included in poured concrete 300 . for example , steel wires or rebars may be embedded in poured concrete 300 . the top surface 302 of poured concrete 300 is exposed and may be leveled and treated as appropriate , as can be understood by those skilled in the art . while it is not necessary for the top surface of poured concrete 300 to be completely flat before applying moisture barrier 200 , it may be convenient for later processing if top surface 302 is generally flat . as illustrated in fig5 , while the concrete material in poured concrete 300 is still wet and deformable ( i . e . before it is cured ), moisture barrier 200 is applied to top surface 302 of poured concrete 300 with bottom layer 202 in contact with poured concrete 300 . in some applications , installation of moisture barrier 200 may begin as soon as poured concrete 300 has been poured and leveled . when bottom layer 202 of moisture barrier 200 is in contact with wet concrete , it can attract and absorb water , with some dissolved cement material or suspended cement particles . thus , as the concrete is cured , bottom layer 202 will be securely attached to ( bonded to or even partially embedded in ) the resulting solid concrete . while only one piece of moisture barrier 200 is depicted in fig5 , multiple pieces of moisture barriers may be used to cover a section of the footing concrete , or the entire footing concrete . for example , multiple pieces of moisture barrier 200 may be placed side by side or head to toe . the edges of adjacent moisture barriers 200 may overlap by a sufficient length to prevent leakage of water through the gaps between the pieces . for example , in one embodiment , the adjacent pieces may overlap by about 1 to about 2 cm . further , while as depicted , the entire top surface 302 is covered , in different applications , only a portion of the top surface of the footing may be covered with a moisture barrier , as long as the footing and the foundation wall is isolated from each other by the moisture barrier . in such cases , moisture barrier ( s ) 200 may be applied to cover the portions of poured concrete 300 that is to be directly underneath , or in proximity to , foundation wall 102 . for example , when a keyway will be used , moisture barrier 200 may be applied along the desired keyway line . at the end of application of moisture barrier 200 , any extra portion of moisture barrier 200 may be conveniently cut with a cutting tool , such as a utility knife . sometimes , a projection , such as a rebar ( not shown ), may project from top surface 302 of poured concrete 300 . in such a case , an opening may be provided in moisture barrier 200 to allow the projection to pass through during installation . the opening may be conveniently provided , for example , by forming an “ x ” shaped cut in moisture barrier 200 at the location where the projection is to pass through . as the bottom surface of moisture barrier 200 can bind or adhere to wet concrete surface , it is not necessary to hold down the moisture barrier with weight during installation . further , bottom layer 202 of moisture barrier 200 is permeable to and can absorb fluid footing materials , such as water and small cement particles suspended in water , from poured concrete 300 , and the absorbed materials will facilitate binding between poured concrete 300 and moisture barrier 200 when the concrete is dried and cured , as discussed earlier . conveniently , the absorbed material also helps to stabilize moisture barrier 200 on top of poured concrete 300 by increasing its weight . as can be appreciated , as moisture barrier 200 can securely attach to , or bond with , footing 104 , it will not be easily displaced during subsequent construction process , such as during gravel placement , which may involve throwing gravel or crushed - rock at high speeds towards footing 104 with a “ stone slinger ” machine . in the present embodiment shown in fig4 to 8 , a keyway is to be formed in poured concrete 300 . as illustrated in fig6 , the keyway may be formed by applying downward pressure along markings that indicate the keyway section 220 on moisture barrier 200 . the pressure may be applied using any suitable technique . for example , a block of solid material ( not shown ) with a suitable size may be used . in some cases , a 2 × 4 wooden bar may be conveniently used to apply the pressure . in some applications , the keyway section 220 marked on moisture barrier 200 may conveniently assist the user to determine the position and direction of the keyway line . for example , the side edges of moisture barrier 200 may be aligned with fixed markers and the keyway is then formed based on the direction and position of the keyway section 220 . as shown in fig7 , the resulting concrete body forms footing 104 with keyway 116 . moisture barrier 200 adheres to the wet concrete surface of footing 104 and conforms to the shape of keyway 116 , thus forming moisture barrier 106 . in the present embodiment , the concrete in footing 104 is fully cured only after attachment of moisture barrier 200 to poured concrete 300 and formation of keyway 116 . as illustrated in fig8 , foundation wall 102 is next disposed on top of moisture barrier 106 . foundation wall 102 may be fabricated off - site and installed after footing 104 is cured . alternatively , foundation wall 102 may be built on - site and construction of foundation wall 102 may begin before or after footing 104 is fully cured . for example , when foundation wall 102 is made of concrete , a formwork ( not shown ) for forming foundation wall 102 may be constructed or installed , and the concrete for foundation wall 102 may be poured in to the formwork after keyway 116 has been formed , and while the concrete in footing 102 is still curing . a foundation assembly described herein , such as foundation assembly 100 of fig1 , may be used , as illustrated in fig9 , to form a part of a building 400 , which may be a residential , public , or commercial building . building 400 may include a basement 402 , and assembly 100 may form a part of basement 402 , as depicted in fig9 . basement 402 is partially underground and has a side wall 404 , which includes foundation wall 102 , damp proofing 406 attached to the exterior side of foundation wall 102 , an interior insulation layer 408 and a vapor barrier 409 attached to the interior side of foundation wall 102 , and frame / stud 410 . damp proofing 406 may include any suitable material for damp proof , such as in the form of a water proof sheet or tar . insulation layer 408 provides thermal insulation . vapor barrier 409 may be formed of any suitable waterproof material . basement 402 also has a floor 412 , which includes a concrete floor slab 414 . foundation wall 102 is supported on footing 104 indirectly and is isolated from footing 104 by moisture barrier 106 . a drainage system 416 may also be provided as part of basement wall 404 . as can be appreciated , damp proofing 406 , vapor barrier 409 , and drainage system 416 can reduce the risk of water damage in basement wall 404 , by preventing water from entering into wall 404 through the sides and by collecting water from surrounding soil 418 and interior moisture from inside wall 404 . as depicted in fig9 , a large portion of side wall 404 may be in contact with surrounding soil 418 . to fully protect foundation wall 102 from water attack from surrounding soil 418 , damp proofing 406 may need to extend over the full height of foundation wall 102 . in such cases , the risk of water accumulation and water damage within side wall 404 can be significantly further reduced by the presence of moisture barrier 106 , as moisture barrier 106 between foundation wall 102 and footing 104 can conveniently prevent water accumulation in the foundation wall 102 through footing 104 by way of capillary wicking . if moisture barrier 106 is absent , water may pass from soil 418 to foundation wall 102 through footing 104 and any water accumulated around foundation wall 102 between damp proofing 406 and vapor barrier 409 will not be able to escape and will be likely trapped inside side wall 404 for a long period of time , due to blockage by damp proofing 406 and vapor barrier 409 . building 400 may be constructed and may include parts and components as described in the literature or as used in known practices , with the modifications necessary to implement features of the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein . for example , the following literature references may be consulted for constructing building 400 : best practice guide : full height basement insulation , by ministry of municipal affairs and housing , 2008 , available online at & lt ; http :// www . ontario . ca / buildingcode & gt ; under menu item “ publications ”; “ builder &# 39 ; s guide to cold climates ” by joseph lstiburek , building science corporation , 2006 ; “ builder &# 39 ; s guide to mixed - humid climates ,” by joseph lstiburek , building science corporation , 2005 ; “ builder &# 39 ; s guide to hot - dry & amp ; mixed - dry climates ,” by joseph lstiburek , building science corporation , 2004 ; “ builder &# 39 ; s guide to hot - humid climates ,” by joseph lstiburek , building science corporation , 2005 ; “ performance guidelines for basement envelope systems and materials ,” by michael c . swinton and ted kesik , national research council of canada , 2005 ; and “ builder &# 39 ; s foundation handbook ,” by john carmody and jeffery christian , kenneth labs , oak ridge national laboratory , 1991 . as now can be understood , the embodiments described herein may be modified to suit the needs in different applications , as long as an effective moisture barrier is placed between the footing and the foundation wall supported by the footing to break the capillary path from the footing to the foundation wall . embodiments of the present invention may have applications in various buildings or construction processes where water damage to the foundation wall is of concern . embodiments of the present invention are further illustrated by the following non - limiting examples . working embodiments of moisture barrier 200 were produced in mass production . the produced sample moisture barriers were three - layer sheets , where the bottom layer was a needle - punched fabric made of polyethylene terephthalate ; the top layer was a spun - bonded fabric made of polypropylene ; and the middle waterproof layer was made of polyethylene . the roll size for the production sheet is 0 . 45 m by 25 m . the expected lifetime of the sheet in soil at temperatures below 20 ° c . is 25 years or more . sample moisture barriers were tested for water vapor transmission based on astm e96 / e96m - 05 procedure a . the test conditions were : procedure a ( desiccant method at 23 ° c . ); relative humidity , 50 %; container material , aluminum ; exposed area , 63 . 62 cm 2 ; composition of sealant , microcrystalline wax ; testing period , one week . representative test results are listed in table i . sample moisture barriers were also tested for tensile properties based on astm d882 - 02 . the test conditions were : samples conditioned at 21 ° c ., 65 % r . h ; apparatus used : dynamometer , with constant rate of extension ( cre ) speed ; 5 test specimens per direction cut with a die ; type of grips , hydraulic grips ( rubber coated ); crosshead speed , 50 mm / min ; grip separation ( initial ), 100 mm ; test specimen width and length , 25 . 4 mm × 152 . 4 mm . representative test results for tensile strength in machine direction are listed in table ii . representative test results for tensile strength in cross direction are listed in table iii . sample moisture barriers were tested for impact resistance by the free - falling dart method , based on astm d1709 - 02 , method b . the test conditions were : samples conditioned at 23 ° c ., 50 % r . h ; method b , staircase testing technique with a dart of 50 . 8 mm diameter head ; weight used , 1348 g , 1396 g , 1444 g , 1492 . 7 g , 1541 . 1 g , 1589 . 5 g and 1638 g . a failure was recorded when the dart completely went through the sample sheet . a total of 20 specimens were tested . the weight increment was 48 . 3 g . the observed results were : impact failure weight , 1497 g ; lowest weight with failure , 1396 g ; and highest weight without failure , 1590 g . sample moisture barriers were tested to determine their resistance to water penetration based on the hydrostatic pressure test of iso 811 - 1981 . the test conditions were : samples conditioned at 21 ° c ., 65 % r . h ; apparatus used , textest ™ hydrostatic head tester , model fx 30000 ; water pressure applied from below the test specimen ; 5 test specimens per product ; temperature of distilled water , 20 ° c . ; increment speed of water pressure , 60 cm water / min ; side of fabric tested , coated . representative test results are listed in table iv . sample moisture barriers were tested to determine the stiffness of fabrics , based on astm d1388 - 07a . the test conditions were : samples conditioned at 23 ± 1 ° c ., 50 ± 2 % r . h ; apparatus used , stiffness tester ; option a , cantilever test ; 5 test specimens per direction and 4 measurements per specimen . representative test results for tests in machine direction are listed in table v . representative test results for tests in cross direction are listed in table vi . sample moisture barriers were tested for water vapor transmission based on astm e96 / e96m - 05 procedure b . the test conditions were : procedure b ( water method at 23 ° c . ); relative humidity , 50 %; container material , aluminum ; exposed area , 63 . 62 cm 2 ; composition of sealant , microcrystalline wax ; testing period , 3 days . representative test results are listed in table vii . of course , the above described embodiments are intended to be illustrative only and in no way limiting . the described embodiments are susceptible to many modifications of form , arrangement of parts , details and order of operation . the invention , rather , is intended to encompass all such modification within its scope , as defined by the claims .	4
fig1 shows a conventional variable pressure diffuser 10 comprising a generally upright , liquid tight , pressurized vessel 11 . within the vessel is a first annular chamber 12 for comminuted cellulosic fibrous material ( cellulosic pulp ) to be treated under pressure . the pulp inlet 13 is typically at the bottom of the vessel and the pulp outlet 14 is typically at the top of the vessel . an internal screen assembly 15 includes a cylindrical screen extending the vertical length of the vessel . the screen defines an inner wall of the first annular chamber 12 . the wall of the vessel 11 defines an outer wall of the first annular volume . exemplary pressure diffusers are shown in the u . s . pat . no . 5 , 567 , 279 and u . s . patent application publication 2003 / 0217822 , both of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety . wash water or liquor is injected to the first annular volume through an array of injectors 9 arranged outside of the wall of the pressure vessel 11 and supplied with liquid through a network of wash liquid conduits 8 . the water is injected into the pulp in the first annular chamber 12 . wash filtrate is extracted through slots in the cylindrical screen of the screen assembly and collected in a large center chamber 20 . the filtrate is discharged from the chamber 20 through a filtrate output 21 in the bottom of the vessel . fig2 is a cross - sectional view of a lower portion of the pressure diffuser vessel 11 . the screen assembly 15 includes a lower spider support 27 that includes radial support arms extending between the screen cylinder and a collar that is fixed to a center shaft 28 . the center shaft drives the reciprocal movement ( see double headed line ) of the screen assembly . this reciprocal movement is preferably about 24 to 30 inches . a cylindrical bearing 33 is attached to an outer surface of a lower region of the screen assembly . the cylindrical bearing 33 is sandwiched between the lower region of the screen assembly and a cylindrical bearing cylinder 32 . preferably , the cylindrical bearing 33 fills the gap between a surface of the screen assembly and a surface of the bearing cylinder 32 . by filling the gap , the cylindrical bearing seals the gap and prevents the passage of pulp fibers from the annular chamber 12 , through the gap and into the center chamber 20 of the screen assembly . in one embodiment , the cylindrical bearing may be three - quarters of an inch thick ( 20 millimeters ) and seven inches ( 178 mm ) in height . fig3 is an enlarged cross - sectional view of the cylindrical bearing 33 , the lower region of the screen assembly 15 and the bearing cylinder 32 . the cylindrical bearing 33 may fit in an annular groove 34 in a surface of the lower region of the screen assembly 15 . an annular array of clips 36 fit into recesses in the screen assembly and secures the sections of the bearing cylinder 32 in the groove 34 . the metallic clips may be attached to the screen assembly by screws or bolts 37 that extend through the clip and into the screen assembly . the clips are removed to allow the cylindrical bearing to be removed from and replaced on the screen assembly . fig4 , 5 and 6 are front , top and cross - sectional views , respectively of a section 38 of the cylindrical bearing 33 . each section 38 of the bearing is an arc . the sections are arranged side by side to form the cylindrical bearing . in some embodiments , eight to twelve sections 38 are arranged side - by - side to form the cylindrical bearing . conventional sections of cylindrical bearings were formed entirely of a uniform material , such as rulon ™. in contrast , the sections 38 of the bearings disclosed herein are formed of two materials . the first material has a hardness sufficient to resist damage due to sand , rocks and other impurity particles that may become caught between the surface of the first material and the opposing bearing surfaces of the screen assembly and bearing cylinder . the hardness of the first material should be sufficient such that sand , rock and other impurity particles do not embed in the surface of the material . for example , the first material may be a non - ferrous material , such as molybdenum , a carbon or glass filled thermoplastic material , such as polytetrafluoroethylene ( ptfe ), a graphite , a composite of graphite and a metal , and a ceramic . u . s . pat . no . 6 , 834 , 862 discloses examples of materials that may be suitable for the first material . an example of the first material is a pack ryt ™ material sold by seal ryt corporation of easthampton , mass . the second material is a softer material , such as rulon ™, that has a thermal expansion coefficient several times , e . g ., ten times , the thermal expansion coefficient of the metal forming the screen assembly and bearing cylinder . as the second material expands under the heat of the operation of the pressure diffuser , the material expands to tightly fill the gap between the screen assembly and bearing cylinder and the material deforms to conform to the bearing surfaces of the screen assembly and bearing cylinder . the first material preferably has a thermal expansion coefficient less than the thermal expansion coefficient of the second material used to form the cylindrical . for example , the thermal expansion coefficient of the second material may be twice the thermal expansion coefficient of the first material . similarly , the thermal expansion coefficients of the first and second material may be several orders of magnitude , e . g ., ten orders , of the thermal expansion coefficient of the material , e . g ., stainless steel , forming the screen assembly . each section 38 of the cylindrical bearing has a first panel 40 and a second panel 42 . one panel is preferably formed of the first material which is hard and does not allow sand , rocks or other impurities to embed in its surface , and the other panel is formed of the second material which is softer , has a high thermal expansion coefficient and deforms to conform to the bearing surfaces opposite to the second material . the panel formed of the first material is arranged proximal to the annular volume for pulp 15 ( fig2 ) in the gap for the cylindrical bearing 33 between the screen assembly and the bearing cylinder . the panel formed of the second material is distal of the annular volume for pulp . preferably , the panel , e . g ., panel 42 , formed of the first ( harder ) material has a shorter height ( h ) than the height of the panel , e . g ., 40 , formed of the second ( softer ) material . the cylindrical bearing in the upper region of the pressure diffuser is above the pulp volume 15 and the cylindrical bearing in the lower region of the pressure diffuser is below the pulp volume . accordingly , the lower panel of the cylindrical bearing in the upper region of the pressure diffuser is preferably formed of the first material . the upper panel of the cylindrical bearing in the lower region of the pressure diffuser is preferably formed of the first material . the thickness of the first panel may be slightly greater than that of the second panel . in one embodiment , the thickness of the first ( harder ) panel may be 0 . 75 inches and the thickness of the second ( softer ) panel , when at ambient temperature , may be 0 . 72 inches thick . the greater thickness of the first ( harder ) panel ensures that the first panel will tightly seal in the gap between the screen assembly and the bearing cylinder , when the bearing is at ambient temperature . the tight seal form by the first panel ensures that sand and other impurity particles do not migrate onto the surfaces of the cylindrical bearing . as the cylindrical bearing is heated to the operating temperature of the pressure vessel , the thickness of the second panel expands , fills the gap between the screen assembly and the bearing cylinder and forms a tight seal in the gap that prevents the passage of fibers . to attach the first and second panels 40 , 42 , the opposing longitudinal edges of the panels may be glued and pins 44 extend from an edge of one panel 42 may seat in holes on an opposite edge of the other panel 40 . alternatively , the opposing longitudinal edges of the panels may respectively have a tongue and groove or dovetail arrangement that seat together when the panels are attached . further , at least one of the longitudinal edges 46 of the panels , which do not abut another panel , may have a bevel or slant adapted to fit into an overhanging edge of the annular groove in a side wall of the screen assembly . the sections 38 of the cylindrical bearing are arranged side - by - side to for the bearing . in one section 38 , the length ( l ) an upper panel 40 may be longer than the length of the lower panel 42 . in an adjacent section 38 , the length of the upper panel is shorter than the length of the lower pane . when the sections are side - by - side , the differences in lengths of the panels avoid a straight vertical line extending all the way through the height of the cylindrical bearing , which would allow pulp to flow past the cylindrical bearing and into the chamber 20 for the filtrate . fig7 shows a front view of several sections of the bearing cylinder arranged side - by - side on a screen assembly 15 . to assemble the cylindrical bearing , the sections 38 of the cylindrical bearing are sequentially placed in the annular groove 34 of the screen assembly . as each section is inserted , a clip ( s ) 36 is also mounted in the screen assembly to overlap an edge of the section . the clip is fixed to the screen assembly , such as by inserting a bolt through the clip and into the screen assembly . the clip holds the section 38 in the groove . the sides of the sections abut against the sides of adjacent sections . the abutting sides form an irregular , i . e ., non - vertical , joint between the sections 38 . the irregular joint avoids creating a path through which fibers may flow . further , the irregular joint provides structural support for the sections . the sections are arranged side - by - side in the groove to form the cylindrical bearing that extends around the circumference of the annular groove 34 of the screen assembly . the operational life of the cylindrical bearing 33 is extended because sand and other impurity particles are prevented from entering the gap between the screen assembly and the bearing cylinder while the bearing is at ambient temperature and at the hot operating temperatures . the hard material of the panels 42 adjacent the pulp filled annular region ensures that sand and other impurities do not migrate onto the surfaces of the bearing and particularly onto the soft surfaces of the other panels 40 of the cylindrical bearing . by preventing sand and other impurity particles from reaching the bearing surfaces , these particles are less likely to damage the surfaces of the bearing and the operational life of the bearing is not degraded by such damage . while the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment , but on the contrary , is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims .	3
fig1 is a block diagram of a sigma delta modulator 10 . sigma delta modulator 10 receives an analog signal v in at summing node 12 . the output of summing node 12 enters a first order of sigma delta modulator 10 comprising amplifier 14 and sample data integrator 16 . a summing node 18 receives the resultant signal from sample data integrator 16 . the output of summing node 18 enters a second order of sigma delta modulator 10 comprising amplifier 20 and sample data integrator 22 . an analog to digital converter 24 receives the resultant signal from sample data integrator 22 and generates a digital output signal d out . a digital to analog converter 26 receives digital output signal d out and provides a feedback analog signal to summing nodes 12 and 18 . a decimation filter 27 removes unwanted high level noise from the digital output signal d out . fig2 is a simplified schematic diagram of digital to analog converter 26 including summing node 12 and amplifier 14 . digital to analog converter 26 includes switches 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 , 36 , 38 , 40 , and 42 connected to corresponding capacitors 44 , 46 , 48 , 50 , 52 , 54 , 56 , and 58 , respectively . the output of this switched capacitor network connects to summing node 12 . analog input signal v in couples to summing node 12 through clock signal switches 60 and 62 and input capacitor 64 . summing node 12 provides the resultant signal to amplifier 14 through clock switching signals 66 and 68 . a feedback capacitor 70 controls the gain of amplifier 14 . the actual implementation of digital to analog converter 26 is in the form of a switched capacitor network that feeds into summing node 12 of amplifier 14 and into sample data integrator 16 . in operation , input capacitor 64 is charged with the analog input signal v in when clocking signal switches 60 and 66 are closed during clock phase φ 1 . digital output signal d out from analog to digital converter 24 selectively controls switches s1 to s8 depending upon the particular binary three bit number being encoded . for those switches that activate , their corresponding capacitor charges to reference signal v ref . upon the closing of clocking signal switches 62 and 68 during clock phase φ 2 clocking signal switches 60 and 66 open and the total charge stored in input capacitor 64 and selected capacitors c1 to c8 enter summing node 12 and amplifier 14 . the total charge is then integrated onto feedback capacitor 70 as amplifier 14 settles back to the equilibrium state where the summing node 12 voltage is zero . for a second order sigma delta modulator , two of the switched capacitor networks are needed , one each to drive summing node 12 and summing node 18 of sample data integrators 16 and 22 , respectively . the second switched capacitor network provides an analog signal for the second order of sigma delta modulator 10 comprising summing node 18 , amplifier 20 , and sampled data integrator 22 in the same manner as described above . the linearity of multi - bit digital to analog converter 26 implementing such a switched capacitor network is dependent on the accuracy with which all the capacitor values match . with the present state of the art integrated circuit technology , an array of monolithic capacitors can be built with about one part per thousand , or ten bit , matching . if the second order modulator were built using this technology and run at an oversampled ratio of 256 to 1 , then the total signal to noise ratio will be limited by the generation of harmonics at about - 80 db due to the nonlinearity of the digital to analog converter . to improve linearity and negate the effect of component mismatching , dynamic element matching is performed wherein capacitors c1 to c8 are randomly selected instead of always using a fixed set of capacitors for each digital signal received by digital to analog converter 26 . fig3 is a simplified schematic diagram of a dynamic element matching circuit for digital to analog converter 26 . dynamic element matching circuit 72 comprises a randomizer network having a series of three butterfly structures coupling digital signal d out to the control lines for switches s1 through s8 . a pseudo random number generator 74 determines 1 of 4 , 096 possible rerouting configurations of randomizer switches b0 to b11 for a twelve bit pseudo random number generator . dynamic element matching circuit 72 varies which particular capacitor is chosen to be charged for each of the eight possible digital signals received by digital to analog converter 26 . preferably , pseudo random number generator 74 clock rate f rand is run at the same clock rate as digital to analog converter 26 to provide a new routing configuration for every clock period . dynamic element matching circuit 72 removes the mechanism by which capacitor mismatch causes a systematic digital to analog converter nonlinearity and instead allows the mismatch to be a mechanism by which white noise is added to the modulator . the mismatch between the capacitors is converted into a white noise signal which is subsequently filtered out through the decimation filter . the addition of this randomizer network would yield a modulator with insignificant harmonic distortion , but with an increased noise floor of about - 90 db as compared to the modulator without the randomizer network . though dynamic element matching circuit 72 eliminates some of the mismatch of the main capacitor c1 through c8 , capacitor mismatch still prevents sigma delta modulator 10 from achieving the 98 to 100 db level required for high performance systems . to achieve the additional level of performance in sigma delta modulator 10 , the main capacitors c1 to c8 are self calibrated using the random generator clock signal f rand . fig4 is a simplified schematic diagram of a self calibration circuit 80 for calibrating each of the main capacitors c1 to c8 . each of the main capacitors c1 to c8 corresponds to a separate self calibration circuit 80 for trimming and controlling the value of the respective main capacitors c1 to c8 . self calibration circuit 80 includes binary weighted capacitors 82 , 84 , 86 , and 88 for the most significant four bits of the trim capacitance , and capacitors 90 , 92 , 94 , and 96 implementing the least significant four bits . these capacitors coupled to one of the main capacitors c j , where j equals 1 to 8 , through capacitors 98 and 100 . voltage reference signal v ref , thru switches s j of fig2 where j equals 1 to 8 , selectively couples to the binary weighted capacitors through switches r7 to r0 that are controlled by a calibration register 102 . self calibration circuit 80 allows the self calibration algorithm , running on a separate processor during test or power up , to load into the calibration registers the appropriate value that compensates for the random capacitance mismatch in the main capacitors c j . the calibration value loaded into calibration register 102 determines which of the switches r7 to r0 activates to connect appropriate binary weighted capacitors to voltage reference signal v ref . capacitor 98 is a coupling capacitor that keeps a total capacitance ratio that must be realized at 16 instead of 256 for a completely binary weighted eight bit array in order to keep chip area reasonable . capacitor 100 is an attenuation capacitor that allows the array capacitance , selected by the digital calibration value , to trim capacitor c j slightly around its nominal value . with the main capacitor c j calibrated , digital to analog converter 26 will closely approximate the ideal case where all main capacitors have exactly the same value . however , due to electronic device noise in sigma delta modulator 10 circuitry , there is always an inherent limit to how precisely the mismatch errors in the main capacitors may be corrected . typically , capacitors may be calibrated down to the point where there are residual errors in the 14 to 16 bit range . in the situation described above , calibrating the main capacitors down to fourteen bit mismatch will allow the random dynamic element matching technique to eliminate significant harmonic distortion yet keep the white noise level in the pass band of the decimation filter to about - 100 db . a sixteen bit calibration leaves a noise level below - 120 db . thus , the combination of random capacitor selection and self calibration allows a second order modulator to achieve high performance requirements with ten bit capacitor manufacturing variability . in order for the proper compensation value to be loaded into each of the capacitor calibration registers , the inherent mismatch of each capacitor must be measured . with dynamic element matching circuit 72 running and the analog input signal grounded , the digital output from the decimation filter will be a sequence of values whose mean will be zero and whose statistical variance is the noise floor of the oversampled analog to digital converter . with perfect capacitor matching , this noise floor will be below about - 120 db , but in practice will be limited considerably above this level due to device noise . in principle , a self calibration algorithm may calculate the statistical variance in the sequence of digital values when no input is applied and adjust the value in each of the calibration registers until this variance value is at a minimum . this adjustment may be accomplished by any number of multi - variable nonlinear function minimization algorithms . in practice , however , the presence of device noise will tend to mask the white noise injected by dynamic element matching circuit 72 when the capacitors are close to their proper calibration points , rendering the algorithm ineffective . to make the self calibration algorithm effective , the frequency of the clock signal f rand to pseudo random numbered generator 74 must be changed . for calibration purposes only , clock signal f rand is lowered from the clock rate for sigma delta modulator 10 to a frequency that is half the cutoff frequency of the decimation frequency . the noise inserted by the randomizer network and proportional to the level of capacitor mismatches will have a large amount of its energy in the band of frequencies passed by the decimation filter . the statistical variance in the digital output stream due to mismatch will be amplified by 10 or 20 db relative to keeping clock signal f rand at the sigma delta modulator 10 clock rate . this will raise much of the mismatch noise above the noise floor established by device noise and allow the self calibration algorithm to make an accurate determination of the proper values to load into each calibration register . once self calibration has been performed , clock signal f rand is set back to the modulator clock frequency . though the circuits have been shown and described using three bits of quantization , the present invention may employ various levels of resolution for digital to analog converter 26 . further , the exemplary modulator circuit has been shown and described for a single ended system , but may also be implemented with a fully differential system . to be fully differential , the switch capacitor networks are duplicated and two analog input signals v in + and v in - and two reference voltages v ref + and v ref - are required . the circuit nodes connected to ground in the singled ended system will either go to an opposite phase input or reference line or to a common mode bias voltage . the same system operation principles described above apply for the fully differential system . also , simulations show that only the main capacitors that feed charge to the first amplifier 14 and sample integrated 16 need be calibrated . mismatch errors in the second order portion of sigma delta modulator 10 do not contribute significant noise or distortion in the operation of the modulator . in summary , a second order sigma delta modulator incorporates a digital to analog converter implementing dynamic element matching to reduce the effect of mismatch between the main capacitor elements . a self calibration circuit for each main capacitor element trims the capacitor values of the main capacitor elements so that the digital to analog converter will have matching main capacitor elements . a clock signal driving a pseudo random number generator for the dynamic element matching circuit is reduced during calibration to allow effective performance of the self calibration algorithm . thus , is it apparent that there has been provided , in accordance with the present invention , a digital to analog converter for a second order sigma delta modulator that satisfies the objects , aims , and advantages set forth above . although the preferred embodiment has been described in detail , it should be understood that various changes , substitutions , and alterations may be made herein . for example , many of the direct connections illustrated herein could be altered by one skilled in the art such that two elements are merely coupled to one another through an intermediate element or elements without being directly connected as illustrated in the preferred embodiment . other examples are readily ascertainable by one skilled in the art and could be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims .	7
embodiments of the present invention provide for minimally invasive removal of obstructing material , such as a clot or embolism , disposed in a patient &# 39 ; s ( human or otherwise ) vascular system . certain embodiments of the present invention are particularly applicable for extraction of material in small , tortuous and highly branching segments of the neurovascular system . in a general embodiment , the endovascular device of the present invention includes two opposing capture members that are slidably coupled to each other . each capture member preferably comprises an open end and a tapered end , where the open end of each capture member faces one another . in one embodiment , the endovascular device can be delivered to the site of the material deposit using a catheter . the capture members can be placed on each side of the material deposit with the open ends facing the material deposit . in one embodiment , the open end of each capture member is supported by a frame component . in another embodiment , the capture members are slidably coupled to one another to allow the capture members to move in the distal and proximal directions to facilitate in dislodging the clot from the arterial wall . in a preferred embodiment , the majority of the material deposit is moved into the capture members at the site of lodging when the capture members encloses the clot as they progress toward one another . in one closed configuration , the open end of the capture members meet one another to form an enclosure to capture and retain the material deposit contained therein . the capture members can be withdrawn in this closed configuration and / or be pulled into a catheter , thereby removing the material deposit . embodiments of the present invention provide for clot removal without excessive force or compression of the clot , thereby minimizing fragmentation of the clot or squeezing of the clot into side branches that may exist at the site of obstruction , which can lead to further damage . fig1 - 3 show certain specific embodiments according to the aspects of the present invention . fig1 a - 1c show capture members 102 and 104 of endovascular device 100 in a fully expanded configuration . capture member 102 is the proximal capture member while capture member 104 is the distal member with respect to obstruction 114 . in one embodiment , capture members 102 and 104 substantially resemble each other , each comprising open end 106 , tapered end 108 , and body component 110 extending between open end 106 and tapered end 108 . open end 106 preferably comprises open end support member or frame component 112 defining the shape and size of open end 106 when capture members 102 and 104 are expanded . frame component 112 preferably has a circular shape that matches the shape of the target blood vessel . in other embodiments , however , frame component 112 can have any shape in the expanded configuration desired , such as circular , oval , rectangular or any other regular or irregular shapes that may be suitable to the particular application . in one embodiment , frame component 112 comprises a self - expanding material including , but not limited to , a metal , an alloy , a composite , a polymer , and the like . in one non - limiting example , frame component 112 comprises nitinol , stainless steel , cobalt chromium , platinum , titanium , plastic , or any combination thereof . in another embodiment , frame component 112 comprises a superelastic and / or self - expanding material with properties that allow it to have a deformed shape under one condition and to recover its original shape prior to deformation , which can also be referred to as an expanded configuration . a non - limiting example is a memory - shaped heated alloy such as nitinol , or nickel titanium , which is a metal alloy of nickel and titanium . nitinol alloys exhibit two closely related and unique properties : shape memory and superelasticity . shape memory refers to the ability of nitinol to undergo deformation at one temperature , then recover its original , un - deformed shape upon heating above its “ transformation temperature .” that is , nitinol alloy has a biased expanded condition and may be compressed into a collapsed or deformed condition before use . during use , it may be exposed to temperature above the transformation threshold , thereby causing it to revert back to its un - deformed and / or original shape . frame component 112 can also comprise any flexible and / or elastic material that allows frame component 112 to be compressed , or deformed by a radial force , to fit into a catheter , such as catheter 122 , without sustaining any damage and revert back to its original shape once released from the catheter . in one embodiment , such as that shown in fig8 a - 8b , frame component 112 has a deformed or compressed shape with a smaller diameter than the un - deformed , expanded shape shown in fig1 a - 1c . in one embodiment , the thickness of frame component 112 is in a range between about 10 microns to 500 microns . in a preferred embodiment , the thickness of frame component 112 is in a range between about 80 microns to about 120 microns . in another preferred embodiment , the thickness of frame component 112 is in a range between about 95 microns to about 105 microns . referring to fig1 a - 1c , in a preferred embodiment , the diameter across frame component 112 in an expanded configuration , and thus open end 106 , is configured to substantially match the diameter of the particular lumen or blood vessel of interest in which the obstruction , e . g ., clot 114 , is disposed . in such an expanded configuration , frame component 112 preferably contacts the inner wall of the target blood vessel gently , e . g ., without exerting significant force that can damage the blood vessel . this allows at least one capture member 102 or 104 to extend across the interior , or lumen , of the blood vessel where effectively most or all obstructing materials are directed through the respective extended capture member 102 or 104 . in one embodiment , the diameter of open end 106 is in a range of about 1 . 5 mm to about 6 mm , and preferably in a range of about 2 mm to about 4 . 5 mm . in another preferred embodiment , the diameter of open end 106 is between about 2 . 5 mm and about 3 mm . it is understood that other embodiments can include capture members 102 and 104 of different sizes and configurations . for instance , in one embodiment , one capture member has an open end with a smaller diameter than the other capture member so that one can be inserted into the other , providing an overlapping area . in another embodiment , endovascular device 100 is provided in various sizes and configuration depending on the location of the material deposit to be removed . referring to fig1 a - 1c , in a preferred embodiment , open end 106 further comprises one end of body component 110 coupled to frame component 112 . in such an embodiment , when the respective capture member , 102 or 104 , is released from catheter 112 , it expands into the configuration shown in fig1 a - 1c . in one embodiment , this is achieved with the expansion of frame component 112 , which opens body component 110 for material to enter . body component 110 is preferably formed of any material which is flexible and compatible with bodily tissues and fluids such as blood . in a preferred embodiment , body component 110 is devoid of any fenestration , i . e ., the material of body component 110 is impermeable to fluid . non - limiting examples of suitable materials include polymeric film or fabric - like materials , such as , but not limited to , polyurethane , polyolefin , polyester , plastic , silicone polymers , and any combination thereof . in one embodiment , the material of body component 110 has properties , such as being soft and flexible , that are configured to minimize friction and / or pressure placed on the wall upon contact of the capture members with the lining of the vessel during implementation of device 100 . in an alternative embodiment , tapered end 108 can further include at least one fenestration of sufficient size to allow fluids to flow through body component 110 while retaining the captured material deposit . in one embodiment , the material of body component 110 can comprise a material with self - expanding properties as described above , providing it a biased shape in the expanded configuration that allows body component 110 to remain open as it extends away from frame component 112 . body component 110 can be coupled to frame component 112 in any suitable manner . in one embodiment , body component 110 can be attached to frame component at or near the inner diameter or outer diameter of frame component 112 . in another embodiment , body component 110 surrounds at least a portion of frame component 112 . in such an embodiment , the material of body component 110 contacts the inner wall of the lumen in the expanded configuration instead of frame component 112 , which can help protect the inner wall from potential damage or injury resulting from contact with frame component 112 itself . alternatively , expansion of one capture member , 102 or 104 , when released from a catheter can be achieved through mechanical means known to those skilled in the art . in one embodiment , frame component 112 comprises an inflatable member comprising an enclosed fillable volume , such as a balloon , that expands when the member is filled with a fluid . in this embodiment , the inflatable member has the shape of frame component 112 as shown , e . g ., annular , and body component 110 is coupled to the inflatable frame component . when released from catheter 122 , frame component 112 can be expanded by filling the interior of the inflatable member with fluid using methods known to those skilled in the art . the diameter of the inflatable member , and thus , open end 106 , can be adjusted based on the amount of fluid provided to the inflatable member . in another embodiment , instead of forming frame component 112 with an inflatable member , frame component 112 is expanded through the expansion of an inflatable member . the inflatable member has a shape that corresponds to the shape of frame component 112 where it can be placed at or near the respective open end 106 so that the radial expansion of the inflatable member pushes against the respective frame component 112 to expand it . once the respective frame component is expanded , the inflated members can be deflated and removed as appropriate . it is understood that other ways of using an inflatable known to one of ordinary skill in the art can also be used . other ways can include the addition of self - expanding wire ( s ) coupled to the inner wall of at least one capture member in circular pattern , longitudinal pattern , helical pattern , or any combination thereof . referring to fig1 c , when capture members 102 , 104 unite to form one capture enclosure , the length of the capture enclosure preferably is longer than the length of the target obstruction , e . g ., clot 114 . in one embodiment , the total length of both capture members united is between about 5 mm and about 30 mm . in a preferred embodiment , the total length of both capture members united is between about 8 mm and about 20 . in another preferred embodiment , the total length of both capture members united is between about 10 mm and 12 mm . in yet another preferred embodiment , the total length of both capture members united is about 10 mm . referring to fig1 a - 1c , capture members 102 and 104 are slidably coupled to one another with the open ends facing each other , allowing them to be moved apart or unite to form one enclosure . in a preferred embodiment , distal capture member 104 is coupled to distal guide member 116 , and proximal capture member 102 is coupled to proximal guide member 118 . distal guide member 116 is preferably disposed in proximal guide member 118 . in this configuration , the relative position of capture members 102 and 104 can be adjusted in various manners . in one embodiment , a user can hold proximal guide member 118 constant , thereby keeping proximal capture member 102 in one position , while pushing or pulling distal guide member 116 to adjust the position of distal capture member 104 . in another embodiment , the user can hold distal guide member 116 constant , thereby keeping distal capture member 104 in one position , while pushing or pulling proximal guide member 118 to adjust the position of proximal capture member 102 . in yet another embodiment , both guide members 116 and 118 can be adjusted at the same time to achieve the desired positions of capture members 102 and 104 with respect to each other . once capture members 102 , 104 are in a desired position , that position can be maintained by attaching guide members 116 , 118 together , thereby stabilizing endovascular device 100 . in one embodiment , distal guide member 116 comprises a solid body , such as a wire ; alternative , it can comprise a body with an interior channel , such as a tube . in a preferred embodiment , proximal guide member 118 comprises a tube . in another embodiment , proximal guide member 118 is configured with suction capabilities to assist with bringing clot 114 into capture member 102 and / or 104 . in yet another embodiment , both guide members 116 , 118 comprise a body with a channel disposed therethrough having at least one aperture on the body , so guide members 116 , 118 can be used to provide a suctioning force . alternatively , or in addition to , the at least one aperture on the body of such guide members in such an embodiment is preferably located near ( e . g ., at or proximal ) clot 114 so that these guide members can also be used to deliver desired substances locally to the site of clot 114 . non - limiting examples of substances that can be delivered include medication configured to facilitate dislodging and removal of clot 114 , such as clot dissolving medication that softens and shrinks the clot . the body of either guide member 116 , 118 preferably has a length sufficient to extend through the vascular system of a patient to reach the target accumulation and place endovascular device 100 in the desired deployment location . in one embodiment , either guide member 116 , 118 has a length of between about 50 cm and about 250 cm , more preferably a length of about 125 cm and about 175 cm . the diameter of either guide member 116 , 118 may be constant or may vary along the length of the respective guide member 116 , 118 . for example , the diameter of one guide member toward the proximal end away from the user may be between about 0 . 2 mm and about 1 mm , and preferably about 0 . 3 mm and about 0 . 4 mm , while the diameter near the distal end near the clot may be between about 0 . 05 mm and about 1 mm , and more preferably about 0 . 1 mm and about 0 . 2 mm . accordingly , the diameter of either guide member 116 , 118 may taper from the proximal end to the distal end . referring to fig1 a - 1c , distal capture member 104 is preferably coupled to distal guide member 116 via frame component 112 . in a preferred embodiment , frame component 112 is preferably coupled to distal guide member 116 at an angle of about 90 degrees . in one embodiment , the angle between guide member 116 and frame component 112 can be further supported by at least one additional support arm 120 , preferably extending between distal guide member 116 and frame component 112 . in a preferred embodiment , one end of support arm 120 is coupled to the respective frame component 112 while the other end of support arm 120 a is coupled to guide member 116 . in another embodiment , one end of support arm 120 is coupled to the respective frame component 112 and the other end is coupled to a fastening component ( not shown ) slidably coupled to guide member 116 , allowing the coupling angle of the respective frame component 112 to be adjusted . in one embodiment , one end of support arm 120 is coupled to distal guide member 116 in a manner that allows it to extend in the proximal direction when capture member 102 is released from catheter 122 . in one embodiment , capture member 102 has more than one support arms 120 . in another preferred embodiment , body component 110 is attached to distal guide member 116 along at least a portion of the length of body component 110 or only tapered end 108 is coupled to distal guide member 116 . in yet another embodiment , body component 110 is coupled to distal guide member 116 from open end 106 to tapered end 108 , along the length of body component 110 . in a preferred embodiment , each guide member 116 , 118 has one attachment site to the outer circumference of its respective frame , thereby leaving substantially all of the respective frame component 112 and open end 106 available for engagement with clot 114 . such a configuration allows for easier transmission of the captured clot inside device 100 through the tortuous paths with minimal interference from guide members 116 , 118 or their attachment to frame components 112 . further , this configuration allows the segment of distal guide member 104 to act like a railing upon which clot 114 can move inside capture members 102 , 104 when distal capture member 104 is held constant and proximal capture member 102 is pushed . proximal capture member 102 is preferably coupled to proximal guide member 118 in a similar manner . in a preferred embodiment , frame component 112 of proximal capture member 102 is preferably coupled to proximal guide member 118 at an angle of about 90 degrees . in one embodiment , the angle between guide member 118 and capture member 104 can be further supported by at least one additional support arm 120 a , preferably extending between proximal guide member 118 and frame component 112 of proximal capture member 102 . in a preferred embodiment , one end of support arm 120 a is coupled to frame component 112 while the other end of support arm 120 a is coupled to guide member 118 . in another embodiment , one end of support arm 120 a is coupled to the respective frame component 112 and the other end is coupled to a fastening component ( not shown ) slidably coupled to guide member 118 , allowing the coupling angle of the respective frame component 112 to be adjusted . in one embodiment , one end of support arm 120 a is coupled to proximal guide member 118 in a manner that allows it to extend in the distal direction when proximal capture member 102 is released from catheter 122 . in another embodiment , capture member 104 has more than one support arms 120 a . in another embodiment , body component 110 is coupled to proximal guide member 118 along at least a portion of the length of body component 110 or only tapered end 108 is coupled to proximal guide member 118 . in yet another embodiment , body component 110 is attached to proximal guide member 118 from open end 106 to tapered end 108 , along the length of body component 110 . in a preferred embodiment , body component 110 of capture members 102 and 104 are configured to fully encapsulate clot 114 and prevent migration of clot 114 , thereby reducing the risk of clot 114 from unintentionally ending up at another location in the patient &# 39 ; s body . in one embodiment , this is achieved by forming body component 110 of suitable materials do not have any fenestration . in a preferred embodiment , endovascular device 100 includes at least one radiopaque portion to facilitate visualization using , for example , one or more of fluoroscopy , computer tomography ( ct ) fluoroscopy , or the like . the radiopaque portion can be a component of endovascular device 100 . in one embodiment , at least one frame component 112 comprises a radiopaque material . non - limiting examples of a radiopaque material include platinum or tantalum dft nitinol . referring to fig2 , in another embodiment , a separate radiopaque marker is provided , such as radiopaque component 124 coupled at the junction where frame component 112 is coupled to the respective guide member , e . g ., distal guide member 116 . endovascular device 100 can have one or more than one radiopaque marker coupled at various positions . for instance , each capture member 102 , 104 can have its own radiopaque component 124 . referring to fig2 - 3 , once all or substantially all of clot 114 is captured in the enclosure formed by capture members 102 , 104 , clot 114 can be removed by holding guide members 116 , 118 together so they can remain united with one another as a unit and be withdrawn together with clot 114 contained therein . referring to fig2 , capture members 102 , 104 can be pulled through a stretch of blood vessels as a unit containing clot 114 before device 100 enters catheter 126 , as shown in fig4 , for removal from the patient &# 39 ; s body . in the embodiment shown , catheter 126 has a diameter that is larger than the diameter of frame components 112 . fig4 a - 4d and 5 illustrate another embodiment of the endovascular device of the present invention , endovascular device 400 . in a preferred embodiment , endovascular device 400 is similar to endovascular device 100 , except open end 406 of distal capture member 404 is smaller than open end 406 of proximal capture member 402 . as shown , in one embodiment , the outer diameter of frame component 412 of distal capture member 404 is smaller than the outer diameter of frame component 412 of the proximal capture member 402 . this configuration can help to reduce any opening or gap that can form between both frame components 412 when they unite with one another . other features discussed herein with respect to endovascular device 100 , such as dimensions , materials , strand density , strand diameter , shape , position with respect to the blood vessel interior wall , coupling of guide members , radiopaque marker , etc ., are also applicable to endovascular device 400 , and thus need not be repeated . referring to fig5 , once all or substantially all of clot 414 is captured in the enclosure formed by capture members 402 , 404 , and clot 414 can be removed by holding guide members 416 , 418 together so they can remain united with one another as a unit and be withdrawn together with clot 114 contained therein . the united capture members 402 , 404 , along with clot 414 can be pulled into catheter 424 for removal . fig6 a - 6b , 7 , and 8a - 8f illustrate another embodiment of the endovascular device of the present invention , endovascular device 600 . in a preferred embodiment , endovascular device 600 is similar to endovascular device 100 , except for several features . in the embodiment shown in fig6 a - 6b , 7 , and 8a - 8f , tapered end 608 of capture members 602 , 604 are not coupled to the respective guide members 616 , 618 . referring to fig6 b , in another embodiment , body component 610 comprises polymeric net - like materials having a plurality of fenestrations throughout the material , such as , but not limited to , a woven mesh of polymeric material , metal , and / or other superelastic , self - expanding , and / or memory shape alloy such as nitinol . in certain embodiments , the woven mesh can comprise a combination of polymers , metals , and / or metal alloys . referring to fig7 , one end of support arm 620 is coupled to distal guide member 616 in a manner that allows it to extend in the distal direction when capture member 602 is released from catheter 122 . likewise , in the embodiment shown , one end of support arm 620 a is coupled to proximal guide member 618 in a manner that allows it to extend in the proximal direction when proximal capture member 604 is released from catheter 122 . endovascular device 600 can have any number of support arms 620 , 620 a . further , support arms 620 , 620 a can be slidably coupled to the respective guide members 616 , 618 as described above with respect to support arms 120 , 120 a . other features discussed herein with respect to endovascular device 100 , such as dimensions , materials , strand density , strand diameter , shape , position with respect to the blood vessel interior wall , coupling of guide members , radiopaque marker , etc ., are also applicable to endovascular device 600 , and thus need not be repeated . according to another aspect of the present disclosure , there is a method of removing one or more material deposits in a lumen , such as a clot in a blood vessel , using embodiments of the endovascular device of the present invention , such as device 100 , device 400 , or device 600 . while the disclosure may refer to numerical components of only one of device 100 , 400 , or 600 , it is understood that the discussion is applicable to other unmentioned device and its components . in one embodiment , an endovascular device according to aspects of the present invention , e . g ., device 100 , 400 , or 600 , configured to match the conditions , e . g ., dimensions and shape , of the material deposit to be removed and the corresponding lumen conditions is selected . referring to fig8 a , catheter 122 is provided to deliver endovascular device 100 , 400 , or 600 to the site of the obstruction , or clot 114 , in lumen 128 . catheter 122 can be referred to as a delivery catheter . in one embodiment , catheter 122 is a fluoroscopy microcatheter so visualization methods known to those skilled in the art , such as fluoroscopy , can be used to assist in delivering catheter 122 to the desired location . catheter 122 is inserted into a patient &# 39 ; s vessel and moved to clot 114 using means known to those skilled in the art , such as using another catheter , guide catheter 126 , as shown in fig1 a - 1c . in such an embodiment , catheter 122 containing the endovascular device is advanced through the patient &# 39 ; s body in guide catheter 126 . as catheter 122 approaches clot 114 , it naturally gravitates near the inner wall of lumen 128 . in a preferred embodiment , tip portion 130 of catheter 122 is moved distally through clot 114 to place tip portion 130 at a position distal to clot 114 . in a preferred embodiment , catheter 122 navigates to clot 114 without endovascular device 100 , 400 , or 600 therein ; however , catheter 122 with endovascular device 100 , 400 , or 600 can travel to clot 114 together . after catheter 122 is at a desired position , endovascular device 100 , 400 , or 600 is inserted into the lumen of catheter 122 in a compressed or collapsed configuration and can be moved through catheter 122 to arrive at clot 114 . in a preferred embodiment , endovascular device 100 , 400 , or 600 comprises flexible material that allows it to conform to catheter 122 as it makes its way through potentially tortuous paths without sustaining damage . in a preferred embodiment , when the distal end of endovascular device 100 , 400 , or 600 approaches tip portion 130 , device 100 , 400 , or 600 is stabilized or steadied by manipulating the respective guide members ( e . g ., 116 , 118 ) to place the respective capture members ( e . g ., 102 , 104 ) in the desired positions and holding the guide members ( e . g ., 116 , 118 ) together in place to maintain those positions . referring to fig4 a - 4b and 8b , catheter 122 is then slowly withdrawn to release or unsheathe the distal capture member ( e . g ., 102 , 402 , or 602 ) at a position distal to clot 114 . when released , the distal capture member ( e . g ., 102 , 402 , or 602 ) expands to gently touch the inner lining of the vessel wall to open the respective body member ( e . g ., 110 , 410 , or 610 ) to receive clot material . non - limiting exemplary manners of expansion , such as through self - expanding material or mechanical expansion , including using inflatable members , are described above . in a preferred embodiment , the expansion of the distal capture member ( e . g ., 102 , 402 , or 602 ) is preferably achieved with the expansion of its frame component ( e . g ., 112 412 , or 612 ), and / or body component ( e . g ., 110 , 410 , or 610 ) to the original or expanded configuration . the distal guide member ( e . g ., 116 , 416 , or 616 ) is preferably stabilized , steadied , or held in place to maintain the distal capture member ( e . g ., 102 , 402 , or 602 ) in the desired position distal to clot 114 . catheter 122 and the proximal guide wire ( e . g ., 118 , 418 , or 618 ) are then preferably held together so their movement are coupled to each other . catheter 122 and the proximal guide wire ( e . g ., 118 , 418 , or 618 ) are then preferably moved in the proximal position together as a unit to place the proximal capture member ( e . g ., 104 , 404 , or 604 ) at a location proximal to clot 114 . once the proximal capture member ( e . g ., 104 , 404 , or 604 ) is in a desired location , the proximal guide member ( e . g ., 118 , 418 , or 618 ) is then preferably coupled or held with the distal guide member ( e . g ., 116 , 416 , or 616 ) to stabilize both capture members , maintaining them at the respective positions distally and proximally to clot 114 . next , referring to fig1 a and 8c , catheter 122 is further withdrawn to unsheathe or release the proximal capture member ( e . g ., 104 , 404 , or 604 ), which expands in a similar manner as the distal capture member ( e . g ., 102 , 402 , or 602 ) as described above when released from the lumen of catheter 122 , to a position proximal to clot 114 . in one embodiment , the coupling angle between the frame component ( e . g ., 112 , 412 , or 612 ) and the respective guide member ( e . g ., 116 , 118 ; 416 , 418 ; or 616 , 618 ) can be increased and decreased by adjusting the position of the respective supporting arm ( e . g ., 120 , 120 a ; or 420 , 420 a ; or 620 , 620 a ). this can be achieved by applying force to the fastening member slidably coupled to the respective guide member as described above in the desired direction , i . e ., proximally or distally . referring to fig1 b , 4c , and 8d , both guide members ( e . g ., 116 , 118 ; 416 , 418 ; or 616 , 618 ) are manipulated to bring the capture members ( e . g . 102 , 104 ; 402 , 404 ; or 602 , 604 ) together . as shown in fig1 b , 4c , and 8d , frame components ( e . g ., 112 , 412 , or 612 ) of the capture members begin to engage the outer surface of the respective side of clot 114 . in one embodiment , the dislodging of clot 114 can be further aided by repetitively moving at least one capture member ( e . g . 102 , 104 ; 402 , 404 ; or 602 , 604 ) against clot 114 . this can be done by repetitive moving of the respective guide member itself and / or repetitive moving of the fastening member slidably coupled to that guide member . the effect is to gently separate clot 114 from the wall of lumen 128 before pulling the capture members over separated clot 114 , which allows for easier encapsulation of clot 114 . in one embodiment , proximal capture member ( e . g ., 104 , 404 , or 604 ) remains in one position while the distal capture member ( e . g ., 102 , 402 , or 602 ) is moved via manipulation of the distal guide member ( e . g ., 116 , 416 , or 616 ) to engage the distal end of clot 114 and bring clot 114 into both capture members ( e . g . 102 , 104 ; 402 , 404 ; or 602 , 604 ). the distal guide member ( e . g ., 116 , 416 , or 616 ) is preferably continued to be withdrawn or pulled until the frame component ( e . g ., 112 , 412 , or 612 ) of the distal capture member ( e . g ., 102 , 402 , or 602 ) unites or engages with the frame component ( e . g ., 112 , 412 , or 612 ) of the proximal capture member ( e . g ., 102 , 402 , or 602 ). alternatively , for embodiments using frame components ( e . g ., 112 , 412 , or 612 ) of different diameters , the distal guide member ( e . g ., 116 , 416 , or 616 ) is preferably continued to be withdrawn or pulled until the capture members ( e . g . 102 , 104 ; 402 , 404 ; or 602 , 604 ) join one another . in another embodiment , the distal capture member ( e . g ., 102 , 402 , or 602 ) is kept in place while the proximal capture member ( e . g ., 104 , 404 , or 604 ) is pushed in the distal direction toward the distal capture member ( e . g ., 102 , 402 , or 602 ) to engage the proximal end of clot 114 and bring clot 114 into both capture members ( e . g . 102 , 104 ; 402 , 404 ; or 602 , 604 ) through manipulation of the proximal guide member ( e . g ., 118 , 418 , or 618 ). in yet another embodiment , both capture members ( e . g . 102 , 104 ; 402 , 404 ; or 602 , 604 ) can be moved toward one another , through manipulations of both guide members ( e . g ., 116 , 118 ; 416 , 418 ; or 616 , 618 ) to engage the respective side of clot 114 . if equipped with suction capabilities , suctioning force can be applied when desired to further help direct clot 114 into either capture member ( e . g . 102 , 104 ; 402 , 404 ; or 602 , 604 ). referring to fig1 c , 4d , and 8e , once all or substantially all of clot 114 is captured in the enclosure formed by capture members ( e . g . 102 , 104 ; 402 , 404 ; or 602 , 604 ), clot 114 can be removed by holding guide members ( e . g ., 116 , 118 ; 416 , 418 ; or 616 , 618 ) together so they can remain united with one another as a unit and be withdrawn together with clot 114 contained therein . referring to fig2 , capture members ( e . g . 102 , 104 ; 402 , 404 ; or 602 , 604 ) can be pulled through a stretch of blood vessels as a unit containing clot 114 before device 100 , 400 , or 600 enters catheter 126 , as shown in fig3 and 5 , for removal from the patient &# 39 ; s body . as shown in fig2 , the flexibility of certain embodiments of the components according to certain aspects of the invention allow device 100 , 400 , or 600 to conform to tortuous paths in a patient &# 39 ; s body without inflicting additional damage as it is pulled out of the patient . alternatively or in addition to , referring to fig8 f , device 100 , 400 , or 600 , along with clot 114 , can be withdrawn into catheter 122 for removal , where catheter 122 has a diameter smaller than the diameter of frame component 112 in the expanded configuration , thereby compressing clot 114 . as described , certain embodiments of the present invention provide for an endovascular device containing less overall metal material , making the device more flexible with smaller profile , which is particularly applicable to ease of navigation in small and torturous brain circulation . certain embodiments with less metallic material also provide less trauma to the lining of the small and fragile brain blood vessels during insertion and removal . the shape and size of the capture members of certain embodiments allow for better entrapment of the obstruction without significant compression of deformation which mean less fragmentation or pushing into normal side branch . in certain embodiments , the coupling of the frame component to the respective guide member leaves the open end of the capture member unobstructed , giving more space for the clot material to enter the capture member . although the embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages have been described in detail , it should be understood that various changes , substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . moreover , the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process , machine , manufacture , composition of matter , means , methods and steps described in the specification . as one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the present disclosure , processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps , presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present disclosure . accordingly , the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps .	0
embodiments of the present invention are directed to a system and method for embedding diverse available electronic components and functions within panels . the panels may be made of non - conducting materials , but electrically conducting panels are possible in some applications . one purpose of the invention is to provide all the functions of modern electronics inside of and near such panels . systems incorporating aspects of this invention have diverse functions and numerous uses , including most broadly , the generation , manipulation , storage , communication and usage of information . such functions may be accomplished by sensing , computing and actuation of materials and energy within the panels or in the locale of the panels . the functions can be used for monitoring environments and people outdoors and indoors for the purposes of safety , for medical reasons , and for physical , information , homeland and national security , among many others . the panels that contain the electronics can serve many other functions in addition to those provided by the electronics . such functions include ( a ) structural support , ( b ) barriers to matter , energy and biological entities on all scales , including the exclusion or inclusion of humans in nearby spaces , ( c ) sound and impact absorbers , ( d ) windows for electromagnetic radiation , notably visible light and radio frequency waves , and ( e ) decorations , among others . the panels in embodiments of this invention can have widely varying properties . they might have dielectric properties such that they will transmit any form of radiant energy , especially radiation in the visible and radio - frequency ( including microwave ) regions of the electromagnetic spectrum . in addition or in distinction to such responses to electromagnetic radiation , the panels might also vary in response to mechanical stresses and , especially , transmit acoustic energy of any frequency . the panels might be transmissive to some of these forms of energy but opaque to others . these and other properties of the panels will depend on the specific applications . for example , transparent materials will be used for applications involving transmission of visible ( and nearby infrared or ultraviolet ) radiation . the panels can be made of any materials , natural or artificial . woods , leathers and other materials from nature of any type can be used . man - made materials including , but not limited to , all plastics ( polymers ), glasses , ceramics , papers and fabrics may be incorporated . panels that operate by using energy in the acoustic spectrum can be made of any of the above materials or metals or alloys . the panels can be made of one or more materials , that is , embodiments of the invention include composites of all types in addition to a single type of material . the composites might be homogeneous in nature or laminates of any type . these and other characteristics of the panels will depend on the specific application . plastics are expected to be major materials used for the panels for most functions . the panels can have any geometry . if the panels have six sides , any of the pairs of facing sides can have any geometry and separation ( distance apart ). facing sides will commonly be flat and parallel , but that is not a restriction . parallelism of flat sides is not a requirement . any of the sides can be curved in any manner . in general , the panels can be any three - dimensional shape of any size . most of the applications will employ panels that are rectangular solids , where two of the facing sides are at a separation considerably smaller than the other two pairs of facing sides . the shape of the two larger sides will commonly be square or rectangular , but it can also be circular , oval or other shapes . the electronics embedded in the panels can be of any material and type . conductors , semiconductors , resistors , glasses , polymers , liquid crystals or all other electronic materials are included in the invention . the electronics can range from individual components to partial or complete functional systems of any type and shape . the embedded electronics can include either or both active and passive components , and they can be any combination of analog or digital devices . the components can be solely electronics , or they can include micromechanical or micro - optical functionality . they can be bare or packaged in any manner . included in the embedded electronics may be ( a ) sensors of any type for any physical , chemical or biological entity , ( b ) computing devices of any type , notably microcontrollers , microprocessors , digital signal processors , field programmable gate arrays or combinations of computational devices , ( c ) memory chips of any kind , including flash and all other types of semiconductor memories , magnetic memories ( including disk drives ), ferroelectric memories or memories made of any other materials , or ( d ) application specific integrated circuits of any type , such as radio receivers , transmitters or transceivers . components ancillary to and supporting of the electronics and their functions , such as , but not limited to , ( a ) batteries or other energy storage devices , ( b ) energy sources such as photovoltaic devices , ( c ) light emitters and detectors , ( d ) antennas of all types ( including ceramic chip - scale antennas and antennas made of embedded wires or foils or conductors applied to laminates of the panels ), or ( e ) acoustic pickups or emitters , are included in the invention . the electronics for the panels need not be monolithic units , but can consist of separated components , modules or systems that are connected by any means to pass information or energy from one part of the electronics to another part . any means of connection , including electrical conductors , optical conductors and transmission of radiant or acoustic energy through the panel material , are included in the invention . input devices , such as devices sensitive to touch by humans or other objects , of any type and output devices , such as any flat panel displays ( including clocks ) are included in embodiments of the invention . all types and frequencies of carriers and all protocols for communication of information through solids , liquids and gasses may be incorporated in embodiments of the invention . examples include , but are not limited to all protocols for satellite communications , cell phones , wi - fi and related protocols , bluetooth , and zigbee . any of the panels can have embedded into them in any fashion anyone or more of the possible electronics . all combinations of panels and electronics are contemplated . the electronics can be embedded in the panels in any manner , by any means and at any time during the production of the panels . the electronics can be made separately and then embedded into the panels , or they can be produced as part of the process of manufacturing the panels . the embedding of the electronics can be partial or full . that is , embodiments of the invention include cases where the electronics are not entirely within the panel , but recessed into the panel to some degree and in some manner . cases where the electronics span any fraction or the entire thickness of a panel are included in the invention . the materials and means for affixing the electronics to the panels can be of any type , including adhesives and mechanical fasteners . loading of energy and information into the electronics can be done prior to embedding , after embedding and before use or during the useful lifetime of the panels . loading of either energy or information can be done once or multiple times , depending on the characteristics and uses of the panels . the panels can be used in any orientation and configuration , in combination with any other materials , structures and devices , including electronics , optics and acoustics exterior to the panels . they can be used vertically and incorporated into walls of any structure . the panels can be used as windows for light or any other radiant energy . they can be installed horizontally in the floor or ceiling , or other parts , of a structure . the table below describes potential uses of the invention ; it is not inclusive of all potential uses . fig1 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of the invention . the displayed container wall may include a polymer - based composite with embedded electronics , sensors , and communications filament wound plastics are one type of polymer - based composite that may be implemented . in embodiments of the invention , plastics may be used to provide a window approximately one - meter square in a steel box , a twenty - foot container . in other embodiments , the panel will be expanded to include a portion of the filament wound container , and contain embedded sensors and communication devices , including antennas and batteries . the concept is similar to today &# 39 ; s smart cards which see daily usage by the billions for a variety of purposes , including security . the smart cards contain varying levels of complexity and electronics , depending on their purpose . like smart cards , the panel concept involves electronics embedded in plastics . the panel can be viewed as a larger and more structurally sound smart card with different applications . an intermodal container constructed with the panels should pass handling , usefulness , and security tests including chem / bio protection . the “ smart ” intermodal shipping containers created in embodiments of the invention will be capable of being tracked , traced , scanned for inventory , and provided with chemical , biological and other sensors to meet the department of defense ( dod ) critical logistical requirements for providing in - transit visibility ( itv ) in operational theaters . an objective is to integrate off - the - shelf technology that can meet the chemical and biological agent detection requirements sought by the army and demonstrate use of an innovative material for the container , while maintaining many of the other “ smart ” properties that have been researched , developed and demonstrated . fig2 schematically shows the three - stage development process that includes three generations of containers . the third generation “ smart ” containers may be hybrids of metal and plastic with electronics embedded in the walls , both vertical and horizontal ( as shown ) this simple graphic shows the forty year first generation iso container cross - section ( left ), evolved in the 2002 - 2006 timeframe to a second generation system with added internal electronics ( sensors , batteries , communications capability ), shown in the center graphic . the right - hand schematic shows the panel inserted into the container wall that has had a window cut into the box ; the embedded electronics are within the panel . fig3 provides more detail regarding the structure of the third panel . the left - hand graphic shows the mounting within the panel of the functional electronics and antennas for radio frequency ( rf ) transception . the electronics include sensors , a controller , a transceiver chip , and batteries . the right - hand graphic is a through - the - wall cut , showing the location of components in the container , the sensors , and within the panel , the electronics and antennas . the left - panel shows the combination of electronics and antennas , which can be put in the central position , as shown , or elsewhere within the panel . the right figure shows a cross - section of the panel showing the electronics embedded within the polymer . sensors , including imagers , can be entirely embedded or attached to the interior surface . the latter approach permits the use of different sensor modules for different purposes . the container design is intended to be such that it will result in a lower cost manufacturing production system than exists at present and full integration into dod total asset visibility ( tav ) systems . it will meet dod - specified chemical and biological ( cb ) sensing and alerting requirements . in addition , the capabilities of the proposed electronic panel system enhance the overall capability of the army &# 39 ; s “ smart ” container system . in embodiments of the invention , a “ smart ” iso container design meets dod operational and functional requirements for a fieldable system . requirements include not only itv / atv operability and cb detection , but the analysis of the functional objectives of lowered cost ( a cost less than iso steel boxes ), feasibility of operation , and equivalent or improved mechanical capabilities ( to be confirmed through finite element analyses ) under all operational and environmental conditions . the embodiment will integrate known and existing technologies and materials . the embodiment will meet various objectives including integration into itv / atv systems , cb sensing and alerting , manufacturability , withstanding normal operating conditions , structural goals , and weight goals . integration into itv / atv systems — a goal is to support the army &# 39 ; s mission of providing timely , customer - focused global mobility through efficient , effective , and integrated transportation from origin to destination . a global track system may be integrated and embedded in the container both in its design ( in the e wall ™ demonstration ) and in prototype fabrication . cb sensing and alerting — an objective is to provide cb detection for iso intermodal containers through a program of material protection , sensing and alerting , where such defense does not currently exist . a multi - layer filament wound “ skin ” which with embedded electronic panel components will be investigated to replace the generally corrugated steel skin ( the steel sheet metal ) that forms the current box skin . ability to be manufactured [ manufacturability — an alternative material ( i . e ., the electronic panel and its surrounding material to replace the steel skin ) may be implemented with demonstrated manufacturability , to replace the current principally steel boxes employed in the industry . the feasibility of manufacturing and securing nominal size sheets may be demonstrated . withstanding normal operating conditions — the severe stresses imposed by the operating conditions a container must withstand through handling , stacking , imposed gloads , torque , compression loading , and others are addressed and handled . a high strength steel frame may be attached to the skin . the frame and the electronic panel box will be structurally designed to handle all anticipated conditions . finite element methods ( fem ) of analysis will be used to calculate the strength of the container under operating conditions . withstanding extremes of environmental conditions — the environment to which a sea container is exposed is severe , ranging from temperature extremes to severely corrosive sea air , heavy icing conditions , and pounding rain . the container must withstand this environment . modern materials may be implemented , capable of meeting all anticipated environmental conditions . structural goals - embodiments of the invention will equal or exceed the strength of a steel box . a modern steel frame and composite sheeting materials may be sized to provide the necessary structural response . finite element analyses ( fea ) can be conducted to study the box strength . weight goals — a fifty percent reduction in weight of the overall box versus steel can be provided to meet a highly desirable commercial goal . light weight high strength plastic composites may be implemented . light weight and ultra high strength composites tend to be very expensive , perhaps prohibitively , so an optimum strength versus cost in tradeoff analyses may be required for each application . the iso intermodal shipping container that has been developed over the last 40 years is a basic steel “ dumb ” box . the labor - intensive manufacturing fabrication method required to fabricate the box has been unchanged in virtually four decades ; manufacturing has been outsourced to foreign countries ( principally in asia ) to obtain lower prices . new and advanced manufacturing processes using polymer - based composite material , material co - mingling ( integration ), and dynamic structural design using finite element analysis can be used to investigate the manufacturing process to shift from its current labor intensive single unit fabrication to mass production . with possibly a 50 % reduction ( estimated ) in overall weight . a filament wound polymer may be used as a principal polymer - based material , integrated with either the existing steel skeleton or an augmented ( to obtain the necessary compressive strength ) skeleton for the basic container structural material , incorporating sensors that can detect unauthorized entry and chemical agents , biological agents , explosives , and possibly illegal drugs . the system may be designed to consider future fiber optic sensing systems . additionally , the container may be fabricated integrating a proprietary security and communication system , such as spc &# 39 ; s globaltrack ™ container security system . current steel containers are not hardened or integrated in any manner for survivability to a chemical or biological attack . the contents of the all - steel containers may be contaminated in a cb attack . the next generation of iso “ smart ” intermodal shipping containers must be cb hardened , which starts with cb detection , and rfid ( radio frequency identification device ) capable . active rfid interrogation is rapidly becoming a requirement . within an enclosed steel container , rfid interrogation is not easily performed because of the impossibility of radio wave propagation through steel walls our plastic walls , being transparent to rf waves and yet maintaining structural integrity , will allow penetration of the rfid signals . disposable low - cost rfid passive tags can be applied at the lowest levels ( individual item , case , pallet , etc .) to meet minimum tagging requirements for data acquisition . the features will allow dod to reach established goals and objectives through providing enhanced cb protection , total asset visibility , improved life cycle costs , accurate financial audits of inventory , and logistical tracking of container movements . to summarize , the features may include : ( a ) a gps transponder provided for real time tracking capability ; this is included with the globaltrak system today . ( b ) x - ray transparency ; x - rays will easily pass though a non - steel container e wall ™, thereby increasing homeland security . ( c ) the “ smart ” container incorporating spc &# 39 ; s globaltrak ™ system will allow for a single source logistical system capable of wireless encrypted data transmission to handheld as well as fixed data download stations ; centralized data retrieval will be possible . ( d ) commercial applications for this technology appear to be extensive and include commercial merchant shipping , dry and refrigerated cargos ( possibly using a foamed polymer shell ). ( e ) the “ smart ” container , particularly as it incorporates the globaltrak ™ system as its core , will meet department of homeland security directives regarding container security . since containers were first manufactured in the 1960 &# 39 ; s , many materials and processes have been used . large polymer containers have been investigated , and are currently fabricated and used for dod purposes such as large missile and rocket components . information concerning these uses and materials will be compiled . panel development may be assessed to optimize material usage . the state of high - strength polymer development and integration of the steel skeleton and polymer skin ( that is , combination of the filament wound plastic and steel structural members ) may be implemented . fig4 is a schematic indication of the variation of the mechanical strength and the electronic utility of a container shown as a function of the fraction of plastic making up the structure of the container . as polymer replaces metal , the strength will decrease , but the ability to build electronics into the structure of the container increases . thresholds for strength are known . the shapes of the variations in mechanical strength and electronic utility are merely suggestive . fig4 shows the diminished mechanical strength as a function of increased fraction of plastic , as well as increased electronic utility . the ewall ™ demonstration using the meter - square window will be located on this graphic at approximately the 2 % plastic fraction point . fig5 shows finite element analysis of stresses in container - like box parametric analysis may include finite element analyses ( fea ) of portions of the configuration to assist in estimating the mechanical strength of various designs . fig5 is an example of the finite element analysis of a container taken from http :// www . clfrl . ac . uk / facilities / astraweb / astrageminilntchamb . htm . it shows a configuration of a chamber similar to a container undergoing finite element analysis . electronic panel windows may include compound sheets approximately 1 meter by 1 meter and testing for rfid transmission into the container . the window will be mounted on the side of the container as shown earlier . the rfid tests will be performed as shown in fig6 . fig6 illustrates plan views of the demonstration container showing the location of the rf transmitter ( xmtr ) and receiver ( rcvr ) for demonstrating the bidirectional transmissibility of the ewall ™ to common rf frequencies for rfid and wireless sensors . the xmtr will be a frequency generator with an antenna , and the rcvr antenna feeding an rf spectrum analyzer . in embodiments of the invention , new and potential replacement material and fabrication technology may be implemented . while existing non - conventional materials are used for containers , the employment of such materials , e . g ., filament wound plastics and proven fabrication processes , offers exciting opportunities when coupled with globaltrack ™ system implementation . for example , the globaltrak ™ device and its communication network can be fabricated to be integral with the container , and certain elements of the system can be molded into the container , making it a totally secure and integrated ‘ smart container ’ as has been long sought by the usg and industry . as the adoption of “ smart cards ” has revolutionized personal security in terms of efficiency and additional security , so can the ewall ™ program and its enhancements to container technology . the container contents can be scanned very efficiently , and 100 % of the containers can be rapidly screened . this is a considerable improvement from the screening possible today . the possibility of providing an evolutionary new method for container inspection , and beyond that , it can offer the ground step of application of innovative materials in the modern container market . the smart container can help overcome the fears of many regarding security . costs can be reduced , transit time can be reduced , and labor - intensive human inspections can be basically eliminated . beyond serving its principal role as an intermodal shipping container , there are other roles suggested . these include providing emergency housing for fema emergency operations , providing refrigerated container use , and providing a means of carrying potable water . while such uses have been considered , they have not been found overly attractive . the use of a more fully polymerized container for such purposes may be advisable . while particular embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described in detail herein , it should be understood that various changes and modifications might be made to the invention without departing from the scope and intent of the invention . from the foregoing it will be seen that this invention is one well adapted to attain all the ends and objects set forth above , together with other advantages , which are obvious and inherent to the system and method . it will be understood that certain features and sub - combinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and sub - combinations . this is contemplated and within the scope of the appended claims .	6
as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art , aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system or computer program product . accordingly , aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment , and entirely software embodiment ( including firmware , resident software , micro - code , etc .) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as an “ apparatus ” “ module ” or “ system .” furthermore aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable storage mediums ( s ) having computer readable program code embodied thereon . a computer readable storage medium may be , for example , but not limited to , an electronic , magnetic , optical , electromagnetic , infrared , or semiconductor system , apparatus , or device , or any suitable combination of the foregoing . more specific examples ( a non - exhaustive list ) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following : an electrical connection having one or more wires , a portable computer diskette , a hard disk , a random access memory ( ram ), a read - only memory ( rom ), an erasable programmable read - only ( eprom or flash memory ), a portable compact disc read - only memory ( cd - rom ), an optical storage device , a magnetic storage device , or any suitable combination of the foregoing . in the context of this document , a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain , or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system , apparatus , or device . computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages , including an object oriented programming language such as java , smalltalk , c ++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages , such as the “ c ” programming language or similar programming languages . the program code 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 ). aspects of the present invention are described below 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 program instructions . these computer 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 program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer , other programmable data processing apparatus , or other devices to function in a particular manner , such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function / act specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . the computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer , other programmable data processing apparatus , or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer , other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . with reference now to the figures , and in particular to fig1 , there is depicted a block diagram of an exemplary computer 102 , which may be utilized by the present invention . note that some or all of the exemplary architecture , including both depicted hardware and software , shown for and within computer 102 may be utilized by software deploying server 150 . computer 102 includes a processor 104 that is coupled to a system bus 106 . processor 104 may utilize one or more processors , each of which has one or more processor cores . a video adapter 108 , which drives / supports a display 110 , is also coupled to system bus 106 . system bus 106 is coupled via a bus bridge 112 to an input / output ( i / o ) bus 114 . an i / o interface 116 is coupled to i / o bus 114 . i / o interface 116 affords communication with various i / o devices , including a keyboard 118 , a mouse 120 , a media tray 122 ( which may include storage devices such as cd - rom drives , multi - media interfaces , etc . ), a printer 124 , and external usb port ( s ) 126 . while the format of the ports connected to i / o interface 116 may be any known to those skilled in the art of computer architecture , in one embodiment some or all of these ports are universal serial bus ( usb ) ports . as depicted , computer 102 is able to communicate with a software deploying server 150 using a network interface 130 . network 128 may be an external network such as the internet , or an internal network such as an ethernet or a virtual private network ( vpn ). a hard drive interface 132 is also coupled to system bus 106 . hard drive interface 132 interfaces with a hard drive 134 . in one embodiment , hard drive 134 populates a system memory 136 , which is also coupled to system bus 106 . system memory is defined as a lowest level of volatile memory in computer 102 . this volatile memory includes additional higher levels of volatile memory ( not shown ), including , but not limited to , cache memory , registers and buffers . data that populates system memory 136 includes computer 102 &# 39 ; s operating system ( os ) 138 and application programs 144 . os 138 includes a shell 140 , for providing transparent user access to resources such as application programs 144 . generally , shell 140 is a program that provides an interpreter and an interface between the user and the operating system . more specifically , shell 140 executes commands that are entered into a command line user interface or from a file . thus , shell 140 , also called a command processor , is generally the highest level of the operating system software hierarchy and serves as a command interpreter . the shell provides a system prompt , interprets commands entered by keyboard , mouse , or other user input media , and sends the interpreted command ( s ) to the appropriate lower levels of the operating system ( e . g ., a kernel 142 ) for processing . note that while shell 140 is a text - based , line - oriented user interface , the present invention will equally well support other user interface modes , such as graphical , voice , gestural , etc . as depicted , os 138 also includes kernel 142 , which includes lower levels of functionality for os 138 , including providing essential services required by other parts of os 138 and application programs 144 , including memory management , process and task management , disk management , and mouse and keyboard management . application programs 144 include a renderer , shown in exemplary manner as a browser 146 . browser 146 includes program modules and instructions enabling a world wide web ( www ) client ( i . e ., computer 102 ) to send and receive network messages to the internet using hypertext transfer protocol ( http ) messaging , thus enabling communication with software deploying server 150 and other computer systems . application programs 144 in computer 102 &# 39 ; s system memory ( as well as software deploying server 150 &# 39 ; s system memory ) also include a portal 148 . portal 148 includes code for implementing the processes described below , including those described in fig2 - 3 . in one embodiment , computer 102 is able to download portal 148 from software deploying server 150 , including in an on - demand basis , wherein the code in portal 148 is not downloaded until needed for execution to define and / or implement the invention described herein . in other embodiments , the portal is a web based application that is accessed from a client computer over a network using a web browser . note further that , in one embodiment of the present invention , software deploying server 150 performs all of the functions associated with the present invention , thus freeing computer 102 from having to use its own internal computing resources to execute portal 148 . the hardware elements depicted in computer 102 are not intended to be exhaustive , but rather are representative to highlight essential components required by the present invention . for instance , computer 102 may include alternate memory storage devices such as magnetic cassettes , digital versatile disks ( dvds ), bernoulli cartridges , and the like . these and other variations are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention . in fig2 a , there is shown a block diagram depicting the progression of steps 210 - 222 performed during a challenge event . in step 210 a detailed description of a challenge event is posted on a portal . a challenge event is also referred to as a component herein , and the detailed description is also referred to as a specification herein . the specification may include use of certain reusable code assets from a catalog posted on the portal . the specification also includes the results of a pricing calculator described below from an event manager server . in step 212 , participants ( also referred to herein as vendor players ) propose their respective solutions and terms such as cost , schedule , or approaches to provide a design or code their solution or provide another outcome based on the selected event . participants may accept the price in the specification or propose a higher or lower price . other terms from the specification may also be changed in their proposal . a single participant is then chosen for each challenge event using a selector subsystem ( not shown ). an important consideration in making the selection is each potential participant &# 39 ; s digital reputation . in every previous event , participants are evaluated on reliability , i . e ., did they submit and submit on time ? they are scored on adherence to specifications using a standard scorecard with a 0 - 100 rating scale . additional elements are also scored , including frequency of reuse from the catalog , the type of events the participant is working on , and how recent their event history is . all of these elements become part of the participant &# 39 ; s digital reputation which is continuously maintained , updated , and available for use by the selector subsystem . reliability of both submissions and wins may be displayed by month as a time line graph in a digital reputation display . the digital reputation of participants may be stored in a database accessible by the challenge server layer . after producing the work , the chosen single participant then delivers his solution in step 214 . in step 216 , a challenge server layer in communication with the portal , evaluates submitted computer code . for example , a static analysis of submitted computer code may be performed . the code is validated for quality and evaluated using objective criteria , such as a published scorecard . if fixes are required , the participant applies the fixes in step 218 . this process can iterate . once the outcome ( the submitted design or code ) meets the specification and is validated for quality , it is accepted and is delivered to the client who originally requested the coding event . in step 220 , compensation is distributed to the participant . the submitted code is added to the catalog of reusable assets . compensation may be a payment in actual dollars ( green dollars ), a credit of billable hour , digital reputation credit , or any other type of compensation known in the art and agreed to by the participant at the time the participant is chosen for the challenge coding . the client is then billed for the challenge event in step 222 . in fig2 b , the steps of a competition event are shown . in step 250 , a detailed description ( specification ) of a competition event ( component ) is posted to the same portal used for challenge events as described above . the results from the same pricing calculator described above are included in the competition event specification . in step 252 , approved participants ( company staff ) register to provide their solutions to the specification . some or all of the approved participants may be the same individuals who participant in challenge event as described above . other limitations may be placed on who may be participants , for example , participant may be limited to employees of a particular company or employees who are temporarily unassigned to other projects . the approved participants deliver their solutions according to a time schedule in the specification , in step 254 . in step 256 , each of the submitted code solutions for a competition is evaluated by performing a static analysis of the submitted computer code . the quality is validated and each solution is scored using a published scorecard . a single best solution is selected as the winner of the competition . a second place winner may also be selected . other winners may also be selected according to the competition event description . if fixes are needed they are applied in step 258 and the winning software design or computer code is delivered to the client who requested the competition be held . compensation is distributed in step 260 . if more than one winner is selected , then more than one participant my receive compensation . as above , the compensation may be in the form of green dollars , billable hours credit , or any other form of compensation . the first place wining solution is added to the catalog of reusable assets . in step 262 , the client is billed for the outcome ( first place winning software design or computer code ). in fig3 , there is shown a system block diagram of the present invention . an engagement team 301 operates the system on behalf of one or more clients . the system includes an event manager server for creating the events . the engagement team uses block 303 to forecast demand for events and manage capacity by sourcing and supplying staff 304 for managing events . this may include procuring channel partners , as well as registering participants from suppliers 302 , for both challenge events and competition events in block 324 . outcomes are delivered to clients by engagement team 301 from block 318 . rules for event specifications are developed and event staff trained using blocks 305 and 306 respectively . a catalog of reusable assets is structured in block 307 . after each event , the delivered solution is added to the catalog in block 308 . other code assets may be added in block 309 . a project comprising one or more events is registered by block 310 . the event includes the results of pricing calculator 311 described below . the requirements in the specification of an event are validated in block 312 . however , block 312 may be bypassed by an event leader who is certified to operate events without assistance . an event proceeds by dispatching a work request in block 313 and is executed in block 314 by event manager 323 . in block 315 , solutions are executed , evaluated for quality , and scored . selector subsystem 316 selects a winner for competition events . final accounting , including compensating the participants ( s ) and billing the client , is preformed in block 317 . the solution is delivered to the client using block 318 by engagement team 301 . the performance of the entire system is continually improved by gathering market intelligence in block 319 and by monitoring event performance in block 320 . additional event types may be developed in block 321 . the event platforms , including the portal , the pricing calculator , and catalog , are managed in block 322 . in block 324 , overall performance of the system is analyzed and optimized . in block 325 , the community of participants is promoted . in block 326 , the reputation of the participants is managed and its various compensation methods reviewed for improvement . pricing calculator 311 is an integrated capability of the event manager server that allows the client or event sponsor to enter characteristics about the event , such as the number of components , use case scenarios , or screens , and receive recommendations for sizing the event based on analytics captured from previous events . pricing calculator 311 provides a total price for running the event based on size and components from reusable asset catalog 309 . correctly sizing an event is very important to getting participants to register to work on the event . as noted above , blocks 303 and 304 are important elements and are important features in managing events . a recommendation engine in the portal uses business analytics techniques to manage supply and demand , and to make recommendations for current and future events . some of the data elements which may be captured by the recommendation engine include : event type and technology platform event duration event value in points , hours , and dollars assets specified number of business rules , use cases , classes , or objects in event specification event registrants and digital reputations submission scores assets reused by participants scores of delivered solutions the recommendation engine uses this comprehensive outcome level data with business analytics techniques to provide : recommendations of participants who would be expected to perform well in an event recommendations for participants of events that they should consider registering for recommendations for participants of assets that may help them deliver an outcome more efficiently success prediction of likelihood of a successful outcome based on event parameters identifying changes to skills or resources 304 needed to meet forecasted demand for outcomes alerts for troubled events various business analytics techniques known in the art may be used such as , but not limited to , computer algorithms in which the parameters are continuously adjusted based on current outcomes , or static models developed from historical data . the present invention is also used to produce other types of outcomes to support the software development and support lifecycle . these other outcomes are required elements on projects where software code and design is being produced , and therefore , the computer system ( portal application ) supports the delivery of these additional accessory outcome types in order to assemble a working software system . the portal application allows for a selection on event type , with multiple choices for the different types of software project outcomes represented . the portal allows for outcomes to be requested in the areas of test case creation , test case execution , system architecture deliverables , graphic designs , software component assembly , and idea generation . the scoring method for these types of outcomes is consistent with coding and design events , but the scorecard used and the evaluation criteria are specific to the type of outcome . while there have been shown and described what are at present considered the preferred embodiments of the invention , it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . for example , it will be obvious that some steps shown sequentially may be performed in parallel .	0
in fig1 there is illustrated a quick - disconnect connector comprising a plug member 10 and a mating receptacle 12 shown secured together in electrical circuit transmitting capacity . the plug 10 has a housing 14 which includes a radial shoulder 16 and a threaded stem 18 , the housing stem being fitted through an opening 20 in a panel 22 until abutted against the shoulder 16 . a locking nut 24 is threaded onto the stem 18 and against the panel 20 . the plug 10 thereby is secured relative to the panel 22 . on one side of the panel 22 , the plug 10 has a plurality of exposed terminals 26 to which individual leads ( not shown ) of a cable or other electric conductor can be connected by a solder joint or the like . the other side of the plug 10 typically has a corresponding plurality of non - rigid spring - loaded contacts 30 which connect internally through the housing 14 to the terminals 26 . the specific means for accomplishing this internal circuitry is of no concern with this invention , since it is old and of conventional design . a known structure for the contacts 30 is illustrated , each contact including an elongated cylindrical nose end 32 and a shoulder 34 , where the smaller nose end 30 fits through an opening 36 on the housing 14 , and the larger shoulder fits in the larger housing bore 38 . a compression spring 40 in the bore 38 is seated against the shoulder 34 and forces the contact 30 to its outermost axially extended position where shoulder 34 butts up against the transverse wall or annular ledge 42 of the housing surrounding the opening 36 . the mating receptacle 12 has a housing 44 with a plurality of rigid contacts 46 supported therein in similar registry with the contacts 30 of plug 10 . the contacts 46 are connected by soldered joints or the like to conventional wire or conductor means ( not shown ) which are fed internally through the hollow housing 44 to exterior electrical components ( not shown ). the plug 10 and receptacle 12 typically telescope relative to one another as they are mated , and in this regard , the receptacle 12 has an annular wall 50 which is larger than and telescopes over the cylindrical wall 52 of the housing 14 of plug 10 . there further is typically provided in at least one of the walls ( shown herein in a groove in wall 50 ) an o - ring 54 or other form of seal adapted to cooperate in a weathertight sealing relationship with the inner cylindrical wall 52 of the plug 10 . the two cylindrical bodies 50 and 52 are adapted thereby to be biased axially relative to one another into a telescoped mating configuration where the contacts 46 and 30 engage one another and establish electrical continuity through the plug and receptacle elements of the quick - disconnect connector . the plug and receptacle 10 and 12 are secured together relative to one another by bayonet type locks illustrated generally at 56 . such a bayonet type lock includes a plurality of radial pins or projections 58 , commonly three being used as illustrated herein in fig2 and 3 at 120 ° spacings , which project radially inwardly in receptacle 12 and cooperate in respective j - grooves 60 provided on the cylindrical body of plug 10 . in the illustrated embodiment , the pins 58 project radially inwardly from the receptacle housing 44 and are adapted to fit within the outwardly facing j - grooves 60 formed on the cylindrical stem section 18 of the plug housing 14 . each j - groove 60 has an axial recess section 62 and a lateral or transverse recess section 64 , and a detent like projection or hump 66 separates the axial recess section from a seating area 68 formed at the remote end of the transverse recess section . in order to engage such a bayonet locking arrangement 56 , the plug and receptacle members 10 and 12 must be forced axially together relative to one another compressing the non - rigid plug contacts 30 in the plug 10 to move the locking pins 58 initially along the axial recesses 62 of the j - grooves until the pins reach the transverse recesses 64 , and the plug and receptacle must then be rotated relative to one another to ride the pins over the high detent humps 66 and then position the pins in the seating areas 68 . the spring biased contacts 30 permit such relative axial movement of the plug 10 and receptacle 10 , while the compression of springs 40 , with the contacts 30 and 46 bearing against one another , yieldingly maintains the locking pins 58 snugged in the seating areas 68 of the j - grooves 60 . the specific development to which this invention pertains relates to means provided on the connectors for positively maintaining the engaged bayonet locks 56 engaged . this includes an annular sleeve 70 which is fitted over the housing 44 of the receptacle 12 and cooperates therewith by means of a threaded connection . as illustrated , an annular ring 72 is seated onto the housing 44 of receptacle 12 , preferably being staked or secured thereto as by spot welds illustrated schematically at 74 , so that it can be considered an integral part of the receptacle housing 44 . formed on the exterior of the ring 72 are helical threads 76 , and formed internally of the sleeve 70 are cooperating threads 78 . the sleeve 70 thus can be rotated relative to the receptacle housing 44 and thereby moved axially along or relative to the receptacle 12 . in the preferred embodiment illustrated , sleeve 70 is larger than locking nut 24 and thereby can be rotated down until it bottoms against panel 22 . when this is done , locking pins 58 cannot be moved from the seating areas 68 , as the plug 10 and receptacle 12 must first be biased axially toward one another in order to have the pins 58 clear detent humps 66 . the annular sleeve 70 thus threaded onto one of the plug and receptacle members and bottomed against or relative to the opposite mating member positively maintains the connectors locked together without reliance on the contact springs 40 and avoids accidental separation of the plug and receptacle . in a preferred embodiment , the exterior surface of the sleeve 70 is knurled as at 80 to allow for the ready finger gripping by a person tightening down and / or loosening the sleeve 70 . while it is illustrated the sleeve 70 is larger in diameter than locking nut 24 and thereby completely fits over or encloses the nut , it would be possible to provide the sleeve with a diameter similar to or smaller than the nut so that the sleeve would bottom against the nut itself . similarly , although sleeve 70 is illustrated herein as cooperating with the larger or exterior cylindrical wall 50 of the telescoped plug and receptacle members , it could as well cooperate with the threaded stem ( as along 18 ) on the housing 14 of the plug 10 and be backed out and bottomed against the end 82 as noted on the annular wall 50 of the housing 44 . an important aspect of this invention is that the sleeve threaded on one connector element can be moved to bottom against the other connector element in a manner to hold the bayonet type pins 58 engaged in the seating areas 68 , which establishes thereby a positive mechanical securement of the plug and receptacle connector elements to one another even though a spring - actuated bayonet lock arrangement is incorporated .	7
referring now to fig1 there is shown a schematic plan view of a microwave gas - ionizing apparatus 10 in accordance with the present invention . the apparatus 10 comprises a housing 12 having walls which define a microwave cavity ( resonator ), a microwave guide 14 , a plasma tube 16 ( shown in dashed outline ) mounted within the housing 12 , an entrance block 18 , an exit block 20 , and an electric fan 22 . a microwave generator ( e . g ., magnetron , not shown ) applies power to the end of the wave guide 14 , as indicated by an arrow 24 , when the apparatus 10 is in operation . by way of example , the microwave generator tube applies 1 . 5 kilowatt ( kw ) of power at a frequency of about 2 . 45 gigahertz ( ghz ). this amount of power quickly heats ionized gas in the apparatus 10 to a very high temperature . some of this heat is transferred to walls of the plasma tube 16 and must be efficiently conducted away to protect sealing o - rings 46 ( shown in fig2 ) of the apparatus 10 . the microwave generator tube and its associated resonator and plasma tube within the housing 12 are well known in the art . cleaning gas , by way of example , flows through the plasma tube 16 at sub - atmospheric pressure at approximately 1000 standard cubic centimeters per minute ( sccm ). the entrance block 18 is fastened to , and removable from , an end boss 26 which is permanently affixed to an end wall 27 of the housing 12 . as will be explained in greater detail hereinafter , there is a circular opening in the boss 26 , and in the end wall 27 of the housing 12 , through which an end of the plasma tube 16 extends . the entrance block 18 has a passage 28 , indicated by dashed lines , through which cleaning gas ( e . g ., nf 3 ) passes into and through the plasma tube 16 . in similar fashion , the exit block 20 is fastened to and removable from an end boss 30 which is permanently affixed to another end wall 31 of the housing 12 . there is likewise a circular opening in this end wall 31 and in the boss 30 through which the other end of the plasma tube 16 extends . the exit block 20 has an internal passage 32 ( indicated by dashed lines ) through which hot dissociated cleaning gas passes out of the plasma tube 16 and from the apparatus 10 to a point of usage ( not shown ) as indicated by an arrow 36 . referring now specifically to fig2 there is shown not exactly to scale an end portion of the plasma tube 16 having a cylindrical wall 38 , a portion of the end wall 31 of the housing 12 , the boss 30 , the block 20 , a ring collar 40 , a thin layer 42 of thermally conductive elastomeric material , a metal face ring 44 , and a sealing o - ring 46 of heat resistant elastomeric material . the plasma tube 16 has a central axis 50 . the end of the tube 16 extends somewhat beyond the face ring 44 , the o - ring 46 , and into a thin circular recess or well , indicated at 52 , cut into the block 20 . a circular portion 54 of the block 20 fits closely within the end of the tube 16 and is coaxial with its axis 50 . this circular portion 54 being metal , and a similar structure ( not shown ) at the other end of the plasma tube 16 , help confine the electrical field and ionization of the cleaning gas to a central portion of the plasma tube 16 and away from its ends . this further helps protect both o - rings 42 ( only one shown here ) from heat damage . a flared opening 56 in the block portion 54 provides an entrance into the internal opening 32 in the block 20 for hot , highly reactive cleaning gas flowing out of the plasma tube 16 . the ring collar 40 comprises two identical interlocking semi - circular pieces ( also described hereinafter in connection with fig3 ) which form a complete circular clamp around the tube 16 and the thin , thermally conductive layer 42 . the ring collar 40 has an outer surface 58 which is tapered in the axial direction and which mates with a similarly tapered circular surface inside the boss 30 . the exit block 20 is fastened by screws ( not shown ) tightly against the boss 30 . the boss 30 is permanently affixed to the end wall 31 of the housing 12 . the block 20 , when thus assembled , pushes against the face ring 44 and wedges the ring collar 40 tightly into the boss 30 . when so wedged in place , the collar 40 , being two half sections , as will be explained hereinafter , squeezes radially against the elastomeric layer 42 of thermally conductive material and compresses it tightly against the outside wall 38 of the plasma tube 16 . the o - ring 46 is tightly compressed by the block 20 against the face ring 44 and the wall 38 of the plasma tube 16 , thereby forming a tight seal against atmospheric leakage into the apparatus 10 . the o - ring 46 is protected from damage by excessive heat from the plasma tube 16 by the high thermal conductivity of the elastomeric layer 42 , the collar 40 , the boss 30 , the wall 31 of the housing 12 , and the exit block 20 . these members act as a highly effective heat sink and are themselves cooled by air circulation from the fan 22 . it is to be understood that the other end ( not shown here ) of the plasma tube 16 is clamped in place and sealed by an o - ring in a substantially identical arrangement to that shown in fig2 and described above . by way of example , the plasma tube 16 is made of alumina and is about 8 inches long with an inner diameter of 1 . 65 inch a wall thickness of about one - eighth inch , and an outer diameter of 1 . 9 inch . referring now to fig3 there are shown in perspective view a broken - away part of the wall 38 of the plasma tube 16 , a half - portion of the ring collar 40 , and a portion of the elastomeric layer 42 between the ring collar 40 and the outside of the wall 38 of the plasma tube 16 . the ring collar 40 comprises two identical semi - circular parts 60 ( only one of which is shown here ) which together encircle the plasma tube 16 and when assembled as shown in fig2 wedge within the boss 30 ( or the boss 26 ) and tightly compress the elastomeric layer 42 against the plasma tube 16 . each semi - circular part 60 of the ring collar 40 has a tapered outer surface 58 ( see fig2 ) and has a cutout or notch 62 on one end 63 , and a corresponding tab 64 at by its other end 65 . when the two parts 60 of the ring collar 40 are put together the tab 64 on one part 60 fits into and meshes with the notch 62 on the other part 60 . this insures that the ring collar 40 fits as a single unit into the boss 30 ( or the boss 26 ) and wedges in place without misalignment of the two semi - circular parts 60 . the end 63 of one semi - circular part 60 is opposite and slightly spaced from an end 65 of the other part 60 . this slight spacing of the ends 63 and 65 of the two parts 60 of the ring collar 40 when it is assembled and surrounding the plasma tube 16 permits the collar 40 to squeeze the elastomeric layer 42 radially against the plasma tube 16 ( see fig2 ). this provides a path of high thermal conductivity through the elastomeric layer 42 from the plasma tube 16 to the surrounding parts ( not shown in fig3 but see fig2 ) of the apparatus 10 . the face ring 44 bridges the ends 63 and 65 of the two parts 60 of the ring collar 40 and prevents the o - ring 46 from being extruded into the spaces between these ends . the face ring 44 also helps insure that the two parts 60 of the ring collar 40 are evenly wedged into the boss 30 . because the heat conductive layer 42 is elastomeric , all minute voids or air pockets between the collar 40 and the plasma tube 16 are eliminated when it is squeezed radially by the ring collar 40 . it has been determined experimentally that when the layer 42 is instead made of thin copper foil , for example , a material with a higher unit thermal conductivity than the elastomeric material , but with little or no ability to fill in any minute voids or air pockets when squeezed between the ring collar 40 and the plasma tube 16 , the overall thermal conductivity using copper foil is substantially less than with the elastomeric material of the layer 42 . as a result , heat protection of the o - rings 46 is more effective using the special elastomeric material of the layer 42 than when using copper foil . by way of example , the elastomeric material for the layer 42 is advantageously made ( of suitable thickness , width and length ) from a strip of &# 34 ; gap pad vo soft &# 34 ; ( trademark ), made by the bergquist co ., minneapolis , minn . because this material is elastomeric , minor dimensional variations in the plasma tube 16 , ring collar 40 and other elements associated therewith are compensated for . the plasma tube 16 is firmly yet resiliently mounted within the housing 12 , and differential expansion of parts of the apparatus 10 when it is heated up can take place without damage . the o - rings 46 are made of a commercially available temperature and chemically resistant elastomeric material . the unique end - mounting arrangement illustrated in fig2 and 3 for the plasma tube 16 of the apparatus 10 has very high thermal conductivity and this provides excellent protection from heat damage for the sealing o - rings 46 . this arrangement also makes it easy to assemble and disassemble the apparatus 10 . the various parts of this unique arrangement are mechanically rugged yet inexpensive to make . referring now to fig4 there is shown a graph 70 having curves 72 ( representing a prior art apparatus ) and 80 ( representing apparatus 10 of the present invention ) with temperature along a vertical scale versus time along a horizontal scale . the graph 70 schematically illustrates temperature build - up in the vicinity of sealing o - rings ( e . g ., the o - rings 46 ) during operating cycles of prior art apparatus compared to the apparatus 10 embodying the present invention . the prior art apparatus was similar to the apparatus 10 but did not embody its unique end - mounting assembly for a plasma tube ( such as plasma tube 16 ). the curve 72 ( representing the prior art apparatus ) schematically illustrates rises in temperature ( in degrees centigrade ) for a 70 second clean - cycle and a 30 % duty ( power - on ) cycle . during a &# 34 ; clean &# 34 ; portion of a cycle of the prior art apparatus ( curve 72 ) when cleaning gas is being ionized and used to clean a wafer - processing chamber , temperature ( as measured in the vicinity of a sealing o - ring ) rises from a lower value to a higher value along up - going lines 74 , extending for example from about 90 ° c . to about 120 ° c . when the prior - art apparatus is turned off , the curve 72 shows temperature falling along down - going lines 76 . had the apparatus been left &# 34 ; on &# 34 ; for more than 70 seconds the temperature would in fact have risen to more than 130 ° c . and heat damage to the o - rings would be considerably accelerated . thus &# 34 ; cleaning &# 34 ; of a wafer - processing chamber of unwanted chemical residues is very much time - limited by this prior art apparatus . this in turn means that it is necessary to have more frequent cleaning cycles of a wafer - chamber or to limit the maximum allowable deposition thickness per wafer processed , an undesirable consequence of inadequate heat protection for the sealing o - rings of this prior art apparatus . the curve 80 ( representing the apparatus 10 of the present invention ) schematically illustrates rises in temperature for a 180 second clean - cycle and a 30 % duty ( power - on ) cycle of the apparatus 10 . here , temperature in the vicinity of a sealing o - ring 46 during a &# 34 ; clean &# 34 ; portion of a cycle rises along up - going lines 82 from a low of only about 50 ° c . to a high of only about 100 ° c . when the apparatus 10 is turned off , the temperature drops along down - going lines 84 . it is to be noted that the temperature rapidly drops from its top value of only about 100 ° c . to somewhat below 50 ° c . during power - off . this indicates the great effectiveness of the present invention in removing heat from the vicinity of the sealing o - rings 46 in the apparatus 10 . temperature measurements were made here in the vicinity of each of the o - rings 46 sealing the plasma tube 16 and were substantially the same at each end thereof . the much greater &# 34 ; clean &# 34 ; time made possible by the apparatus 10 compared to the prior art apparatus ( 180 seconds compared to 70 seconds ) means that cleaning of a wafer - chamber need be done less often , and each &# 34 ; clean &# 34 ; cycle is able to remove heavier build - ups of unwanted chemical residues . moreover , the top temperature reached here ( only 100 ° c . versus over 120 ° c . or more for the prior art ) means that the service life of the sealing o - rings 46 of the apparatus 10 is substantially improved compared to prior art apparatus . various modifications in the apparatus disclosed may occur to those skilled in the art and can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the accompanying claims . for example , the invention is not limited to particular dimensions or operating conditions for the apparatus 10 . moreover , other equivalent materials may be substituted for certain of the ones disclosed . in addition , the ring collar 40 is not limited in design to two semi - circular parts .	7
the skate 10 , shown in fig1 ( a ) and 1 ( b ), is composed of a series of interconnected skate units in aligned , sequential relationship , each unit comprising a pair of parallel rails 13 , each having a pair of rollers 12 which extend laterally outward . the rollers are rotatable on pins fixed to the rails , and the diameters of the cylindrical parts of the rollers are greater than the height of the rails . the rollers are provided with flanges at their outer ends , which keep the skate units aligned with the cable guide . the skate is sandwiched between opposed portions of a folded cable guide as depicted in fig5 . as the cable guide flexes during use , it flexes in a simple curve . that is , an imaginary centerline , extending longitudinally through the center of cable - accommodating channel within the guide , remains substantially in one imaginary plane , defined by the portions of the centerline in which the opposed portions of the cable guide lie . connecting blocks 15 , maintain a predetermined spacing between the parallel rails 13 , and also connect the skate units to one another . each of the connecting blocks 15 of the skate 10 shown in fig1 ( a ) is a steel plate having a u - shaped cross section , as shown in fig1 ( b ). connecting pins 14 are inserted through insertion holes provided in the rails 13 and in the connecting blocks 15 . the connecting pins are secured to the skate units and connecting blocks by screws 17 , which are threaded into the ends of the connecting pins as shown in the enlargement in fig1 ( a ), and washers 16 underneath the heads of the screws 17 engage the outer surfaces of the rails 13 . as an alternative to the screws and washers , the connecting pins can be secured to the skate units and blocks by cotter pins , wire hoops , or other suitable devices . the length of each of the pins 14 is preferably slightly greater than the sum of the width of the connecting block and the widths of the two opposite rails 13 . moreover , the diameters of the insertion holes in the connecting blocks or in the side rails is slightly greater than the diameters of the pins 14 on both end portions of the connecting pin 14 . as a result , the skate units of each pair of adjacent skate units are freely articulable relative to the connecting blocks and relative to each other about the pin axes through washers 16 , and are thus freely articulable in the plane defined by the portions of the guide centerline within the opposed portions of the guide . the second embodiment , depicted in fig2 ( a ) and 2 ( b ), is similar to the embodiment of fig1 ( a ) and 1 ( b ), and corresponding parts are identified by reference numbers that exceed , by 10 , the reference numbers in fig1 ( a ) and 1 ( b ). the rails 23 , forming the skate units of skate 20 , are held at a predetermined spacing by connecting blocks 25 . these connecting blocks , unlike the u - shaped blocks of the first embodiment , are rectangular prism - shaped blocks , having elongated insertion holes 28 , through which connecting pins 24 extend . the connecting pins 24 are secured in place by cotter pins 26 , and extend through the insertion holes 28 with a clearance , so that the individual skate units can articulate about the pin axes relative to the connecting blocks and relative to one another . in this embodiment , instead of using cotter pins , the connecting pins 24 can be held in place by wire hoops , or by means of screws and washers as in the first embodiment . in the third embodiment , depicted in fig3 , parts corresponding to parts in fig1 ( a ) are identified by reference numbers that exceed , by twenty , the reference numbers in fig1 ( a ). in fig3 each of the connecting blocks 35 in skate 30 is in the shape of a hollow rectangular frame , having side walls but lacking top and bottom walls . short connecting pins 34 extend through insertion holes in the rails 33 and insertion holes formed in walls of the connecting block 35 . cotter pins are provided at both ends of each of the short pins 34 . the adjacent skate units 30 are freely articulable about the pin axes relative to the connecting blocks and relative to one another . the connecting pins can be held in place by wire hoops , or other suitable securing means , instead of by cotter pins . in the fourth embodiment , depicted in fig4 , parts corresponding to parts in fig1 ( a ) are identified by reference numbers that exceed , by thirty , the reference numbers in fig1 ( a ). the units of skate 40 , shown in fig4 are composed of rails 43 having rollers 42 . the rails of each skate unit are maintained at a predetermined spacing from each other by rectangular prism - shaped connecting blocks 45 , and stepped bolts 44 threaded into screw holes in the connecting block 45 . each stepped bolt 44 comprises a head 44 a , a cylindrical portion 44 b , and a threaded portion 44 c as shown in the enlargement . insertion holes in the rails 43 are of a size such that they can receive the cylindrical portions 44 b of the stepped bolts 44 with a small radial clearance . the length of the cylindrical portion 44 b of each bolt is slightly greater than the thickness of the rail though which it extends . thus , when a rail 43 is bolted to the connecting block 45 , the rail is freely pivotable relative to the connecting block at least about the bolt axis so that the skate units are freely articulable relative to the connecting blocks and relative to one another . in each of the four embodiments , the connecting pins or bolts allow the adjacent skate units to articulate freely at least about the axes of the pins or bolts . thus , the skate units are free to articulate at least in a plane defined by the portions of a centerline of the guide within the opposed , facing parts of the guide . because the units articulate freely , even where both facing parts of the guide bend during use , the skate can be made sufficiently long to protect all parts of the guide that might otherwise come into frictional engagement with one another .	5
referring to fig1 and 3 , a frame 2 formed of a rigid material contains an opening . a membrane 4 is secured to the frame 2 so that the membrane 4 spans the opening , thereby to completely cover the opening in the frame 2 . the membrane is formed of any suitable thin film material such as mylar , kapton , or piezoelectric film , or an electret material . a clamping member 6 has a compliant support 8 connected thereto , the support 8 being formed of a synthetic or silicone rubber , foam tape , or other elastomeric material . referring now to fig2 and 4 , the support 8 is placed through the opening of frame 2 , thereby displacing and tensioning the membrane 4 in a direction normal to the original plane of the membrane which coincides with the plane containing an exterior surface of the frame to which the membrane is secured . the compliant attributes of the support 8 are essentially in the direction of the plane of the membrane 4 to allow the membrane to move in a direction normal to the original plane of the membrane when the membrane is activated . the clamping member 6 is connected with one side of the frame 2 by any suitable fastening devices such as nails , staples , tape , screws , or an adhesive , and the support 8 displaces the membrane 4 in a direction normal to the original plane of the membrane 4 . in this configuration , the membrane 4 has a direction of compliance both within the plane of the membrane and also in a direction normal thereto . in the embodiment of fig5 and 6 , a pair of clamping members 6 and supports 8 are connected with opposing ends of a frame 2 . the supports 8 tension the membrane 4 within the frame opening in a direction normal to the original plane of the membrane 4 . in this embodiment , the membrane 4 is tensioned on two opposing sides within the opening of frame 2 . referring now to the embodiment of fig7 - 9 , a clamping member 106 is connected to an angular rigid support 110 . the edge of the angular rigid support 110 opposite the clamping member 106 is tapered . a compliant support 112 is connected with the angular rigid support 110 along the tapered edge . the support 112 is formed of a compliant material . the compliant material and angular shape of the angular compliant support 112 when connected with the angular rigid support 110 provides a varying degree of compliance along the length of the support . as shown in fig8 and 9 , a membrane 104 is connected with the frame 102 and spans an opening therein . the clamping member 106 is connected with the frame and supports 110 , 112 thereby to apply tension to the membrane . the stiffness of the membrane suspension is inversely proportional to its compliance . greater stiffness ( lower compliance ) corresponds to a higher membrane resonance frequency , and lower stiffness ( higher compliance ) corresponds to a lower membrane resonance frequency . because the compliance of the support 112 varies along its length ; i . e ., the support is more compliant at the bottom and less compliant at the top , the resulting suspension stiffness which the angular compliant support 112 exerts on the membrane 104 varies from one end to the other . the variation in suspension stiffness across the membrane 104 allows the membrane to produce varying degrees of sound from low bass tones to high treble tones . a compliant support can also be used to apply varying tension to a membrane rather than varying only the suspension stiffness by deflecting different areas or portions of the edge of the membrane by different amounts . the smallest deflection from the smallest tension is suitable for the lowest frequency and the greatest deflection from the greatest tension is suitable for the highest frequency . this allows a membrane to produce varying degrees of sound from low bass tones to high treble tones . either a compliant material of uniform height or a tapered compliant material may be used . in either case , the edge of the support that deflects the membrane in a perpendicular direction to its original plane is mounted at an angle with respect to the original plane so that one end of the support perpendicularly deflects the membrane more than the other end . while the frame is illustrated and described as having a rectangular configuration , other shapes may be used as well including triangles , pentagons , circles and the like . similarly , tension can be applied at any location around the perimeter of the opening , including on adjacent sides , continuously , on opposite sides or the like . turning now to fig1 - 15 , alternate embodiments of the invention including a compliant tensioning roller will be described . in fig1 , a frame 202 has offset portions 202 a and 202 b which are offset but spaced to define an opening . a membrane 204 is connected with the frame and includes a portion spanning the opening . the membrane is connected with the frame portion 202 a via conventional fasteners ( not shown ) and with the frame portion 202 b via a cylindrical roller 214 . the roller is hollow and formed of a rigid material or a compliant material such as an elastomeric material , silicone , fluorosilicone , vinyl , foam , and the like . surrounding the roller is a fastener film 216 which has a first end 216 a connected with the frame portion 202 b , such as with an adhesive , and a tension end 216 b which overlaps the first end 216 a for connection with the first end as in fig1 or with the frame portion 202 b as in fig1 . the degree of tension is governed by the amount of overlap . the membrane 204 is connected with the film by any suitable fastener such as an adhesive . when the membrane 204 undergoes excursions out of the normal plane thereof , the roller 214 rolls to the left as shown by the arrow 218 to relieve additional tension in the membrane resulting from the excursions . in the embodiment of fig1 , the tensioning end 216 b of the fastener film 216 is connected with a separate portion 202 c of the frame so that the tensioning end and the first end of the film are arranged on opposite sides of the roller to improve the tension relief effect thereof . in fig1 , there is shown a fastener film connected with the roller and frame in a manner similar to that of fig1 , except that a spacer 220 is arranged between the roller and the fastener film . the spacer increases the torque applied by the tensioning end of the fastener film . the fastener film is shown as a single film . however , two film strips may be used to achieve the same result . in fig1 and 15 are shown a further embodiment of the invention wherein the frame 302 comprises offset portions 302 a and 302 b and the tensioning roller comprises a solid cylindrical roller 314 formed of a rigid or a compliant material . a membrane 304 passes around the roller and is connected with the portion 302 b via a clamp 310 ( fig1 ) or via an adhesive ( fig1 ). the membrane is also adhesively connected with the roller . as the membrane moves out of plane during excursion thereof , the roller is displaced along the frame portion 302 b to relieve tension . in the embodiments of fig1 - 15 , the diameter or height of the roller is selected so that the upper edge thereof is co - planar with the exterior surface of the frame first portion . the roller preferably has a cylindrical configuration for use in tensioning a membrane across a rectangular frame . other roller configurations are possible . for example , the roller may take the form of an o - ring if the membrane to which it is attached is round or oval . while the preferred forms and embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without deviating from the inventive concepts set forth above .	7
referring to the drawings and particularly fig1 there is shown an x - ray apparatus 1 comprising a collimator device 10 which is mounted upon and depends from an x - ray tube device 12 . x - ray device 12 is connected to a mounting arm 14 which in turn is fastened for rotation of 180 ° to stand 16 . x - ray device 12 is adapted to be rotated 180 ° which is desired in the instance where servicing of the collimator device 10 is required . shroud 18 is removed from device 10 by loosening shroud screws 20 whereby the elements of collimator unit 10 such as adjustable shutter elements 22 are exposed . it will be observed that the elements forming the collimator device are disposed upon a collimator unit base member 24 shown in fig2 ; however , these elements are shown removed from the base member 24 in fig3 so as to expose base member 24 . base member 24 is adapted to seat against the outer surface 25 of x - ray tube device frame base 26 . a movable subplate 28 is seated against the inner surface 27 of frame base 26 . a first mounting means in the form of screws 30 serve to lock collimator unit base member 24 on frame base 26 . screws 30 extend through corresponding openings 31 in frame base 26 and are threaded into threaded hole 32 in subplate 28 thereby locking collimator unit base member 24 on frame base 26 . when it is desired to remove collimator device 10 from unit x - ray device 12 , screws 30 are loosened and base member 24 is turned as indicated by the arrows &# 34 ; x &# 34 ; in fig3 so that openings 34 are aligned with the heads of screws 30 whereupon collimator device 10 can be lifted off of frame base 26 . the collimator device can be assembled upon the x - ray device merely by following the reverse of the disassembly procedure outlined above . upon reassembly of the collimator device following removal for servicing or the like , the collimator is reseated on frame base 26 in the same position that it was located prior to its removal from frame base 26 . this ability to replace the collimator device so that it will be in the same position as it was before removal from base 26 gives a desired repeatability within reasonable accuracy which is desirable and important with respect to the x - ray apparatus as disclosed in this application . utilizing this assembly and disassembly procedure offered by the present invention permits a service person to quickly and easily remove collimator device 10 from the x - ray tube device 12 . while the conventional , electrical connections between the devices 10 and 12 have not been shown , it has been found that conventional disconnects allow the wiring and other electrical connections to be readily connected and disconnected . inasmuch as electrical disconnects are readily available , they would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art and form no part of the present invention . in some instance it is desired to adjust the position of collimator device 10 relative to the normal center lines 36 of the x - ray beam emitted from x - ray device 12 . this adjustment can be achieved with the present device by moving subplate 28 relative to frame base 26 . referring to fig3 and 5 , it will be observed that a second mounting means in the form of threaded fasteners 40 are utilized to mount or seat subplate 28 on the inner surface 27 of base frame 26 . each fastener 40 passes through washer 41 . washer 41 , as shown in fig5 is seated on the outer surface of frame base 26 . fastener 40 extends through an opening 42 in frame base 26 and is threaded into a press nut 44 fixed to the outer surface of subplate 28 . when it is desired to adjust the position of collimator device 10 relative to x - ray tube device 12 , screws 40 are loosened and collimator device base member 24 can be moved in any desired direction as permitted by the size of the opening 39 in base member 24 which is larger in diameter than the diameter of washers 41 . further opening 42 in frame base 26 is larger than the diameter of fastener 40 to permit fastener 40 to move within the opening 42 . by moving the collimator device to a new location , the shutter elements 22 will be repositioned , as desired , relative to x - ray unit center lines 36 . once the desired adjustment has been made and subplate 28 has been moved relative to frame base 26 , screws 40 are tightened . when collimator device 12 then is fastened to subplate 28 by first mounting means 30 , the collimator device will be located and locked in its reoriented position relative to center lines 36 . it will be understood that the invention disclosed and claimed herein can be embodied in modified forms , and is not limited to the exact details as shown and described .	0
in order to achieve the objectives and avoid the drawbacks stated in the above section , the invention consists of a method for the dynamic management of resources in telecommunication systems , based on quality of service and type of services , in which there exists a plurality of user nodes communicated by means of links with different latency and bandwidth requirements , with a cell being a self - contained unit with a priority , a destination , a seniority and an associated packet ; and a queue being an ordered set of cells . the procedure is characterized in that the source node manages the traffic and the resources towards the destination nodes , it distributes the resources dynamically among the destination nodes , and it reserves a memory capacity in its queues depending on the class of service and the quality of service that are demanded ; and because one or more different configurations are used for insertion and extraction of cells of the ordered queues . it is also characterized in that the source node manages the quality of service of each destination node and selectively reserves a number of cells for itself , it shares a number of cells with a group of destination nodes , it shares a number of cells with all the destination nodes , or it carries out several of these actions at the same time . moreover , the source node manages the type of service associated with each packet , and configures the quality of service of each destination node which is selectively different for each destination node and different from the configuration in the opposite direction of transmission in a two - way communication between the destination and the source node , and it adjusts that quality of service dynamically . the source node configures the number of destination nodes and the number of cells and selectively modifies that configuration during the management process , or it keeps it fixed during the process , and said source node selectively uses the information relating to the priority , the number of cells used by each destination node or both in order to decide on the following destination node . these characteristics manage to guarantee a different quality of service for each destination node and to comply with the requirements of maximum latencies of different applications , and they permit different types of service to be combined . the invention provides for different queue management configurations based on different aspects selected from among : a queue management configuration based on the seniority of the cells in the queues , in other words , on the time spent by a cell in a queue ; in such a way that the cell that has spent most time in a queue is extracted from that queue so that the packet contained in that cell can be transmitted , and a cell is inserted in the queue , always provided that the queue is not full . a queue management configuration based on priority , in other words , based on the value of a certain field carried by the packets that are introduced into the cells ; in such a way that , defining p1 as the highest priority and p2 as the lowest priority among all the cells of the queue , one of the p1 priority cells ( being able to be any of the queued cells having the same priority equal to priority p1 ) is always extracted from the queue and a new cell ( which we will in general call cell x ) with priority px is inserted into a full queue only when px is greater than or equal to the priority p2 , with a cell of priority p2 having to be extracted in order to be able to insert the cell x . a queue management configuration based both on the priority and on the seniority of the cells of the queue ; in such a way that , defining p1 as the highest priority and p2 as the lowest priority among all the cells of the queue , the most senior cell of priority p1 is extracted from a queue and a new cell ( which we will in general call cell x ) with priority px is inserted into a full queue only when px is greater than priority p2 , with the cell with least seniority , in other words the one which has spent least time in the queue , of priority p2 having to be extracted in order to be able to insert the cell x . queue management configurations based both on priority and on novelty , for example , defining p1 as the highest priority and p2 as the lowest priority among all the cells of the queue , the most senior cell of priority p1 is extracted from a queue and a new cell ( which we will in general call cell x ) with priority px is inserted into a full queue only when px is greater than or equal to priority p2 , with the most senior cell , in other words the one which has spent most time in the queue , of priority p2 having to be extracted in order to be able to insert the cell x . for the management of queues , the procedure of the invention defines four global maximums : a maximum of cells of the system ( max ), a maximum of cells of a first type ( max_a ), a maximum of cells of a second type ( max_b ), a maximum of cells of a third type ( max_c ) and a maximum of cells of the set of the second and third type ( max_b_c ). these values follow a series of relations such as max is equal to the sum of max_a and max_b_c , that a cell of the first type is available when the number of free cells of the first type is less than max_a , that a cell of the second type is available when the number of free cells of the second type is less than max_b , and the number of free cells of the second type plus the number of free cells of the third type is less than max_b_c , that a cell of the third type is available when the number of free cells of the third type is less than max_c and the number of free cells of the second type plus the number of free cells of the third type is less than max_b_c , and that any of the maximums max_a , max_b or max_c can be zero provided that max_a and max_b_c are not zero at the same time . similarly , the procedure describes two maximums for each destination node ( max_a_node , max_b_node ), these maximums being different for each node and being able to have values greater than or equal to zero and the possibility is selectively indicated of the use of cells of the third type ( use_c ) and the non - use of said cells of the third type ( not_use_c ). the procedure is also characterized by certain values and certain relations among these values , such as max_a_node is the maximum number of cells of the first type which a certain destination node can have ; max_b_node is the maximum number of cells of the second type which this node can have , always provided there remain cells of the second type available ; that the sum of the max_a_node of all the destination nodes has to be less than or equal to max_a , that the sum of the max_b_node of all the destination nodes can be greater than max_b ; and that a node with the possibility of using cells of the third type ( use_c ) can use cells of the third type always provided there are cells of this type available . in order to be able to offer different types of traffic to the nodes , the procedure is also characterized in that , by using the configuration of maximums per node and global maximums , cbr traffic is guaranteed using the max_a_node , vbr traffic using the max_b_node , and ubr traffic using the use_c or not_use_c , finally , the procedure provides for the dynamic adjustment of the defined values , in such a way that the global and local maximums vary dynamically in order to be adjusted to the variations in the configuration of the destination nodes , to the bandwidth required by the applications , to the conditions of the channel used in the communication , and to the quality of service required by the applications or types of traffic which the applications require , such as cbr , vbr or ubr . the main advantage of the invention is the greater control over access to the packet queues . each user can use cells from different queues and have certain usable maximums of cells , individual and shared among sets of users . also , the configuration of the maximums of cells can be dynamically modified in order to be adjusted to changes in the channel or to the needs of the communication applications . below , in order to facilitate a better understanding of this specification and forming an integral part thereof , some figures are included in which the object of the invention has been represented in a manner that is illustrative rather than limiting . fig1 .— represents a system where a user node 1 wishes to transmit to other user nodes 2 , 3 , 4 and 5 . fig2 .— represents the instants of storage and transmission of new queues towards the different user nodes . given below is a description of an example of the invention , making reference to the numbering adopted in the figures . in this example of embodiment , a digital transmission system of data , multipoint to multipoint , two - way , is presented in which one user node communicates with various user nodes by means of a series of links . in this system , the packets are stored in cells prior to being transmitted . this example of embodiment can be seen in fig1 in which some nodes ( 1 ), ( 2 ), ( 3 ), ( 4 ) and ( 5 ) are any of the user nodes of the system , and a node ( 1 ) communicates with the rest of the nodes by means of a series of links ( 6 ), ( 7 ), ( 8 ) and ( 9 ). the procedure of the invention provides for certain global maximums , which were described in the section on description of the invention , and which are indicated below along with the values established for this example of embodiment : a maximum of cells of the first type ( max_a ) equal to 15 , a maximum of cells of the second type ( max_b ) equal to 5 , a joint maximum of cells of the second type plus the third type ( max_b_c ) equal to 32 , and a maximum of cells of the third type ( max_c ) equal to 30 . in the example of embodiment , the first type of cell is referred to as type a , the second type b and the third type c . the transmitter node ( 1 ) has a link configured with node ( 2 ) with cbr traffic ( 6 ), in other words , with traffic with a constant bandwidth and it is necessary to reserve a fixed number of cells which are always available for storing packets waiting to be sent from node ( 1 ) to node ( 2 ). in the example of embodiment the procedure defines two maximums for each destination node ( max_a_node ). so , node ( 2 ) has a max_a_node_ 2 equal to ten . this maximum has been set taking into account the bandwidth of the application with cbr traffic and taking into account the current conditions of the channel , and in this example of embodiment it is concluded that cbr traffic will be able to be supported with ten cells . a queue of cells is used for storing the traffic waiting to be transmitted from node ( 1 ) to node ( 2 ) and is administrated using a storage configuration based on seniority and priority , which was described in the section on description of the invention . the transmitter node ( 1 ) has the link configured with the node ( 3 ) with vbr traffic ( 7 ), in other words , with traffic with variable bandwidth in such a way that a maximum number of cells max_b_node_ 3 equal to five can be reserved for it , being able to share three of those five cells with node ( 4 ), in accordance with the maximums in this example of embodiment . the queue of packets waiting to be transmitted from node ( 1 ) to node ( 3 ) is administrated with a seniority configuration . the transmitter node ( 1 ) has the link configured with the node ( 4 ) with vbr traffic ( 6 ), assigning a max_b_node_ 4 equal to three . but , access to the link from node ( 1 ) to node ( 4 ) is also granted to those of the third type ( c ) in order to be able to support ubr traffic , in other words , traffic with an undefined bandwidth , being limited in this example of embodiment to values between 0 and 30 cells . the queue of packets waiting to be transmitted from node ( 1 ) to node ( 4 ) is administrated with a configuration by seniority . finally , the link ( 9 ) from node ( 1 ) to node ( 5 ) only has access to the cells of the third type ( c ), with the storage configuration used in this communication being by novelty and priority . the following table provides a summary of the arrangement of links and cells according to the example of embodiment . this configuration can be dynamically modified in time in order to follow the communication needs and changes in the communications channel . possibility possibility maximum maximum of use of type of type a type b of type c storage traffic cells cells cells in queues link cbr 10 0 no seniority ( 6 ) and priority link vbr 0 5 no seniority ( 7 ) link vbr + 0 3 yes seniority ( 8 ) ubr link ubr 0 0 yes novelty ( 9 ) and priority as shown in the time line of fig2 , representing the instants of time and use of the cells of the queues for the transmitter node ( 1 ), initially , all the queues are empty ( 10 ). at a certain instant ( 11 ), node ( 1 ) has to transmit a packet for node ( 2 ), with which a cell of the first type ( a ) is used for storing it , so that there remain 9 cells of the first type ( a ) available for transmissions to node ( 2 ), though there are a total of 14 cells of the first type ( a ) free altogether . if , at a certain instant ( 12 ), node ( 1 ) has now used 10 cells of the first type ( a ) and a new packet arrives for being stored destined for node ( 2 ), the information on the priority of the new packet will be examined using , for example , the field which indicates the type of traffic , in order to decide whether an already stored packet is to be eliminated in order to incorporate the new one or whether the new packet is to be eliminated . in this case , a search will be made among all the cells of the queue of packets towards node ( 2 ) to see whether any of the cells contains a packet of lower priority than the new packet . if there exist packets with lower priority , the packet of the cell which has spent least time in the queue and which has the lowest priority along all the cells will be eliminated . at the instant ( 13 ), node ( 1 ) has to transmit a packet to node ( 3 ), with which a cell of the second type ( b ) will be used for storing it , with 4 cells of type b remaining available to node ( 3 ). later , at a certain instant ( 14 ), a cell has to be stored for node ( 4 ), with which a cell of type b will be used , with just 3 cells of the second type ( b ) remaining available to node ( 3 ) and 2 cells of the second type ( b ) available to node ( 4 ), though node ( 4 ) can use all the cells of the third type ( c ) that are free . in this way , nodes ( 3 ) and ( 4 ) are sharing a number of cells taking into account that they have a variable bandwidth and they do not always need to have a fixed number of cells available to them . it has to be borne in mind that , if the type of application for the user node ( 4 ) or user node ( 3 ) changes and it requires a fixed bandwidth , cells of the first type ( a ) can be assigned to it in order to absorb that traffic . after that , packets for user nodes ( 4 ) and ( 3 ) continue to be stored , in such a way that at the instant ( 15 ) all the cells of type b are being used , for example , user node ( 4 ) has used 3 cells of the second type and user node ( 3 ) has used 2 cells of the second type , and then it is necessary to store a packet for user node ( 4 ) with storage configuration by seniority at the instant ( 16 ), with which that packet is eliminated due to there being no free cells of the second type ( b ) available . moreover , when the packets are transmitted to the user nodes ( 4 ) and ( 3 ) there will again be 5 cells of the second type ( b ) free , which occurs at the instant ( 17 ). at an instant ( 18 ), in the example of embodiment , 29 packets have to be sent for the user node ( 5 ) for which 29 cells of the third type ( c ) will be used . after that , three packets have to be transmitted for the user node ( 3 ) using three cells of the second type ( b ) ( 19 ). if , later on , at a certain instant ( 20 ), another packet has to be sent for the user node ( 5 ), taking into account that the total set of cells used of the second and third type is 32 , there is no cell where this packet can be stored . bearing in mind that the storage configuration of the user node ( 5 ) is by novelty and priority , all the cells with lowest priority in the queue of packets to node ( 5 ) will be searched and the information contained in the cell which has spent most time in the queue will be discarded in order to be able to store the new packet . it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the illustrations described and shown herein , which are deemed to be merely illustrative of the best modes of carrying out the invention , and which are susceptible of modification of form , size , arrangement of parts and details of operation . the invention rather is intended to encompass all such modifications which are within its spirit and scope as defined by the claims .	7
a passenger vehicle 1 ( see fig1 ), such as a station wagon or sport utility vehicle ( suv ), or the like , contains a vehicle rear 2 in the form of a windowed squareback , fastback or hatchback with a rear cargo space 3 which is bordered on the rear side by a rear hatch or cargo space door 4 . for purposes of generically encompassing all such vehicles with a windowed cargo space , the term “ passenger utility vehicle ” will be used herein and in the claims . thus , while a station wagon or sport utility vehicle is shown in the drawings , the invention is not intended to be limited thereto . in the illustrated passenger utility vehicle , the cargo space door 4 contains , as the top part , a rear window 5 which is movable supported on the bottom part 6 of the cargo space door 4 and can be lowered onto it or into it , so that the cargo space 3 with the rear window 5 lowered is accessible from the outside through the rear window opening and the motor vehicle interior can be ventilated . the rear window 5 is preferably guided only on the bottom part 6 of the cargo space door 4 , and thus , in its upper closed position it is not surrounded by a window frame of the cargo space door 4 . the closed rear window 5 , with its top edge 7 , borders the rear edge 8 of the rear roof part 9 which is movably supported on the motor vehicle roof 10 and which can be moved out of its closed position ( fig1 and 2 ), via intermediate positions , into its open position ( fig3 to 5 ), located forward over the front roof section 11 . the front roof section 11 can have a fixed or movable , and especially transparent , cover 12 which closes a front roof opening . the rear roof part 9 , when it is displaced forward , clears the rear roof opening 13 which is bordered by the lateral roof members 14 . however , since the motor vehicle roof 10 does not have a rear transverse roof frame on the back end of the rear roof opening 13 , the rear opening 13 passes without interruption through an intermediate part into the rear cargo space opening 15 when the rear window 5 is lowered or the cargo space door 4 is opened ( see fig3 , for example ). in its cargo space 3 , the passenger car 1 contains a movable cargo floor 16 which is movably supported via rails and rolling or sliding elements on the vehicle body and can be pushed or extended out of the cargo space 3 to the rear . the cargo floor 16 contains two opposed fixed side parts or side walls 17 , 18 which project upward from the cargo floor 16 . on the side wall 18 , which is the right wall with respect to the passenger vehicle 1 , the cargo space door 4 is pivotally attached by a joint or hinge means 19 so that it can be swung around an effective vertical axis 20 ( fig8 ) which is located , for example , laterally outward of the cargo space door 4 and behind a rear body part 21 , for example , the back end of the rear side part or fender . the hinge 19 contains , for example , an arcuate guide 22 in which a correspondingly formed bearing part 23 , which is attached to the cargo space door 4 , is movably guided . the cargo space door 4 projects laterally over the side walls 17 , 18 , so that the side edge 24 of the cargo space door 4 , when the cargo space door 4 is closed , adjoins a seal 25 which is attached to the body part 21 . the opposing side edge of the cargo space door 4 adjoins a corresponding door seal on the opposite side . on the left side wall 17 , which is opposite the hinge 19 , there is a closing means 26 for the cargo space door 4 , the lock 27 of the closing means being located , for example , on the side wall 17 and a latch pin 28 being located on the cargo space door 4 ( or also vice versa ). of course , the hinge 19 can also be attached to the left side wall 17 so that the cargo space door 4 which is supported to be able to swivel to the left swivels in the opposite swivel direction . the cargo space door 4 can thus be opened from its closed position ( fig1 ) in which it closes the rear cargo space opening 15 by swinging around its hinge 19 , and the rear window 5 can be closed or lowered . furthermore , the closed cargo space door 4 can be extended to the rear with the cargo floor 16 ( fig6 ), and here too , the rear window 5 can be closed or lowered . this position can be used to load the cargo space 3 with the cargo space door 4 closed with respect to the cargo floor 16 , but extended out to the rear with the cargo floor 16 . the rear roof part 9 can be moved forward both with the cargo space door 4 closed and adjoining the body , and also with the cargo floor 16 extended to the rear to open the rear roof opening 13 ( fig3 ). in this way , the cargo space 3 in the area of the roof opening 13 can be extended upward without limitation , and with the cargo floor 16 extended , the cargo space 3 is lengthened to the rear by the amount of extension . since the rear window 5 is removed from its closed position on the body , in this way , the enlarged cargo space 3 is free and unobstructed to the top . with the cargo floor 16 extended ( see fig4 & amp ; 6 ), the cargo space door 4 can be opened and closed with respect to the cargo floor 16 . in this way , the cargo floor 16 , in any extended position , can be closed to the rear and can still also be accessible from the rear . the cargo space door 4 which swings laterally makes it possible to directly approach the fixed cargo floor 16 ; this is not possible for a rear hatch or cargo space door which is coupled to pivot around a transverse axis at the rear edge of the cargo floor . the cargo floor 16 can have on its front , towards the vehicle interior , a boundary or front wall between the side walls . however , if it is formed without a border , with the cargo floor 16 extended to the rear , the lengthening towards the motor vehicle interior can also be used . in a simplified embodiment , the cargo floor 16 does not contain side walls and is thus formed only as a flat surface ( see fig9 & amp ; 10 ). the cargo space door 4 is mounted to be able to pivot around a transverse axis 29 on the rear edge 30 of the cargo floor 16 by a pivot bearing means ( not shown in fig9 ) and can be swung by means of lateral levers 31 ( fig1 ) which are supported to be able to move and pivot on the sides of the cargo floor 16 and which can be actuated by a drive means . the operating possibilities and possible applications correspond to those of the preceding embodiment . the roof 10 of the passenger utility vehicle 1 can be closed or also provided with a closable opening , such as , for example , as shown in fig1 to 6 , so that a continuous rear roof opening with an enlarged cargo space can likewise be formed . however , the cargo space door 4 can also be supported as in the first embodiment ( see , fig1 to 6 ) on the rear edge of the cargo floor 16 around a transverse pivot axis . the movable cargo floor 4 can also be used in a pickup or such a vehicle which has a rear cargo surface which is encompassed to the top or is bordered by a fixed roof or a roof which can be at least partially opened . the roof part 9 can also be manually moved by a conventional drive means , or in a simple configuration , in order to achieve an economical design . the rear roof part can also be made in other forms as a one - part or multiple part folding or sliding means . the embodiment of a passenger vehicle 1 which is shown in fig1 to 13 contains a cover means 32 which has been modified relative to the movable roof part 9 of the embodiment as shown in fig1 to 6 for selectively opening or closing the rear roof opening 13 . cover means 32 has a left cover 33 and a right cover 34 which extend in the lengthwise direction of the vehicle and are supported to be able to pivot around a respective pivot axis 33 ′, 34 ′ which is located on a respective one of the side roof members 14 . the covers 33 , 34 can be made of metal or plastic and also of transparent material ( glass cover ). a raising mechanism for the covers 33 and 34 contains a rear crossbar 35 which on its respective ends 36 , 37 ( fig2 ) is connected inside and toward the back of the doors by means of rolling or sliding elements in assigned guides 38 , 39 on the left cover 33 and the right cover 34 . there is a corresponding front crossbar 35 ′ with the same bearing and guide elements in the front area of the two covers 33 , 34 . to open the two covers 33 , 34 , the two crossbars 35 , 35 ′ are pressed manually upward after a closure for the two covers 33 , 34 has been unlocked , the ends 36 , 37 sliding along in the guides 38 and 39 and the two covers 33 , 34 swinging up around their pivot axes 33 ′, 34 ′ until the opened position is reached ( fig1 , 20 and 21 ), in which depending on the design they are roughly vertical or also tilted . the ends 36 , 37 can be locked in the guides 38 , 39 in the upper end position or also in the intermediate positions so that the open position of the covers 33 , 34 can be permanently adjusted and locked . the crossbars 35 , 35 ′ which are locked in the open position of the covers 33 , 34 can be used as load bearing means and can carry loads or articles 40 , such as a surfboard . in one simple version , the raising mechanism can also have only one crossbar . according to one version , the raising mechanism contains a drive means with which one or both crossbars are pushed along their guides on the covers 33 , 34 , and in doing so , swing the covers 33 , 34 open and closed . the cargo floor 16 and the cargo space door 4 and their operation and actuation capacity correspond to that of the initially described embodiment . another embodiment of the motor vehicle 1 contains the motor vehicle roof which is described using fig1 to 13 and 19 to 21 with two covers 33 , 34 and the run - out cargo floor 16 , but with a differently supported cargo space door 44 . the cargo space door 44 ( see fig1 ) can be actuated by means of a guide lever mechanism with two connecting rods 45 , 46 which parallelly swing out of their closed position in the cargo space opening 15 ( shown with the broken line ) and down into their lowered , open position ( solid lines ). the two connecting rods 45 , 46 are pivotably mounted on one end to pivot around a respective transverse pivot axis 45 ′, 46 ′, the rods and axes being spaced apart from one another . the other end of connecting rods 45 , 46 are pivotally connected to the cargo space door 44 in hinges with transverse pivot axes 45 ″, 46 ″ which are also spaced apart from one another . a drive means ( not shown ) swings the connecting rods 45 , 46 or the can be manually operated with or without pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder assistance . the cargo floor 16 is guided via a central lower guide rail 47 , for example , by means of a telescoping mechanism . the side walls 17 , 18 have wheels at a top edge thereof which are movably supported by a vehicle - mounted guide 48 . the cargo space door 44 contains a rear window 5 which can be lowered into the cargo space door 44 . the opened cargo space door 44 ( fig1 , 18 ) is located in a space saving manner in its swung out and lowered position so that direct rear access to the cargo space and to the cargo floor 16 is almost unobstructed . furthermore , a license plate 49 , which is attached externally to the cargo space door 44 , remains visible when the vehicle is being used with the cargo space door 44 swung out and down while driving . with the cargo space door 44 swung out and down , the cargo floor 16 can be pushed or extended to the rear ( see fig1 ), and the cargo floor 16 shown in fig1 can be formed both with and also without side walls 17 , 18 . the engine exhaust outlet 50 , with the cargo space door 44 swung out and down , is located laterally offset outward of the cargo space door so that the flow of exhaust is not routed against the cargo space door 44 , where it could flow into the cargo space , when the door is swung out and down . all features of the different embodiments can be utilized in various other combinations to for additional versions , as a supplement to the described examples .	1
now , referring to the drawings , embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail . the same component elements will be given with the same reference numerals and the descriptions thereof will be omitted . fig1 is a block diagram showing an x - ray imaging system including a phase information restoring apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention . this x - ray imaging system has an imaging unit 1 for irradiating the object with an x - ray so as to output detection data that represents image information of an object , a phase information restoring apparatus 2 for generating image data based on the detection data , a display unit 3 for displaying a visible image based on the image data , and an output unit 4 for printing out the visible image on a film etc . fig2 is a diagram showing a structure of the imaging unit 1 . as a x - ray source 11 , it is desirable to use a x - ray source generating a radiation beam that is highly coherent and monochromatic . here , the highly monochromatic beam indicates a beam that mainly has a single wavelength . for this purpose , in the embodiment , a synchrotron radiation source that generates x - rays is used as the x - ray source 11 . the synchrotron radiation is an electromagnetic wave that is generated by accelerating an electron or bending a traveling direction of an electron . the x - ray generated from the x - ray source 11 is transmitted through an object 10 and enters a sensor 12 . the sensor 12 detects the incident x - ray . as the sensor 12 , a two - dimensional sensor such as a ccd ( charge coupled device ) having a plurality of detecting elements that convert intensity of the applied x - ray into electric signals and output the signals is used . the detection signal output from the sensor 12 is amplified by an amplifier 15 , converted into a digital signal ( detection data ) by an a / d converter 16 , and output to the phase information restoring apparatus 2 . the sensor 12 is held by a holding portion 13 . the holding portion 13 is movably supported on a rail 14 . the position of the holding portion 13 is controlled by a control unit , which will be described later , of the phase information restoring apparatus 2 , and a distance between the object 10 and the sensor 12 is changed under the control of the control unit . note that the distance between the object 10 and the sensor 12 is referred to as an imaging distance hereinafter . referring to fig1 again , the phase information restoring apparatus 2 has a storage unit 21 for temporarily storing the detection data output from the imaging unit 1 , a differential processing unit 22 for obtaining a differential coefficient between detection data at different imaging distances and a differential coefficient between detection data at the same imaging distance , a laplacian processing unit 23 for calculating a value that corresponds to a laplacian of phase , an inverse laplacian processing unit 24 for performing inverse laplacian operation for phase restoration , an image processing unit 25 for generating image data on the basis of the restored phase information , and a control unit 26 for controlling the respective units 21 – 25 and the imaging distance in the imaging unit 1 . the phase information restoring apparatus 2 may be configured with a digital circuit or software and a cpu . with a cpu , the control unit 26 including the cpu processes the detection data on the basis of a phase information restoring program recorded on a recording medium 27 . as the recording medium 27 , a flexible disk , a hard disk , an mo , an mt , a ram , a cd - rom , a dvd - rom , etc . are applicable . the display unit 3 is a display device such as a crt , and displays a visible image based on image data that represents the phase information restored by the phase information restoring apparatus 2 . the output unit 4 is a laser printer , for example , and prints out the visible image on a film etc . on the basis of the image data . next , a principle of a phase information restoring method according to the present invention will be described . the phase information restoring method according to the present invention is a method of constructing a visible image by the phase - contrast method , and the phase restoration is performed on the basis of plural diffraction fringe images obtained with respect to an object by using the basic expression of phase restoration , tie ( transport of intensity equation ). tie expressed by the following expression ( 5 ) is transformed so as to obtain expression ( 6 ). - κ ⁢ ∂ i ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ z = ∇ · { i ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ⁢ ∇ ϕ ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) } ⁢ ( 5 ) - κ ⁢ ∂ i ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ z = i ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ⁢ ∇ 2 ⁢ ϕ ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) + ∇ i ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) · ∇ ϕ ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) = i ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ⁢ ∇ 2 ⁢ ϕ ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) + ∂ i ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ x ⁢ ∂ ϕ ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ x + ∂ i ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ y ⁢ ∂ ϕ ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ y ( 6 ) where i ( x , y ) is detection data representing intensity of diffracted x - ray at a position ( x , y ) on a plane at a distance of z from the object . in expression ( 6 ), the laplacian ∇ 2 φ ( x , y ) and the gradients (∂ φ ( x , y )∂ x ,∂ φ ( x , y )∂ y ) of the phase φ ( x , y ) to be obtained are unknown . if at least three gradients ∇ i =(∂ i /∂ x ,∂ i /∂ y ,∂ i /∂ z ) of the intensity of the diffracted x - ray can be obtained , expression ( 6 ) can be solved . substituting elements of the gradients ∇ i 1 to ∇ i 3 of the intensity of the diffracted x - ray into expression ( 6 ), it is expressed with matrices by expression ( 7 ). - κ ⁡ ( ∂ i 1 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ z ∂ i 2 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ z ∂ i 3 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ z ) = ( i 1 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ i 1 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ x ∂ i 1 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ y i 2 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ i 2 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ x ∂ i 2 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ y i 3 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ i 3 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ x ∂ i 3 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ y ) ⁢ ( ∇ 2 ⁢ ϕ ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ ϕ ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ x ∂ ϕ ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ y ) ( 7 ) expression ( 7 ) can be solved using an inverse matrix , for example . as described above , in the embodiment , approximation in tie is minimized to raise the accuracy of the phase restoration and the operation is simplified by using a matrix form . next , referring to fig1 – 3 , the phase information restoring method according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described . fig3 is a flowchart showing the phase information restoring method according to the first embodiment of the present invention . in the embodiment , a visible image is constructed by using detection data representing six diffraction fringe images taken while changing the imaging distance as shown in fig2 . first , at step s 1 , x - ray imaging is performed . the sensor 12 is positioned at the position where the imaging distance is z 1 as shown in fig2 and irradiating the object 10 with an x - ray so as to perform the x - ray imaging . then , the sensor 12 moved to the position where the imaging distance is ( z 1 + δz 1 ) and the x - ray imaging is performed . similarly , the x - ray imaging is repeated with the sensor positioned at the imaging distances of z 2 , ( z 2 + δz 2 ), z 3 , and ( z 3 + δz 3 ). thereby , the detection data representing diffraction fringe images are obtained . by the x - ray imaging at step s 1 , detection data i 1 ( x , y ), i 1 ′( x , y ), i 2 ( x , y ), i 2 ′( x , y ), i 3 ( x , y ), and i 3 ′( x , y ) are sequentially input to the phase information restoring apparatus 2 . here , the detection data i 1 ( x , y ) represents intensity of the diffracted x - ray at the position ( x , y ) on a plane at the imaging distance of z 1 . similarly , the detection data i 1 ′( x , y ), i 2 ( x , y ), i 2 ′( x , y ), i 3 ( x , y ), and i 3 ′( x , y ) represent intensity of the diffracted x - ray at the positions ( x , y ) on planes at the imaging distances of ( z 1 + δz 1 ), z 2 , ( z 2 + δz 2 ), z 3 , and ( z 3 + δz 3 ), respectively . the detection data sequentially stored in the storage unit 21 of the phase information restoring apparatus 2 . next , at steps s 2 – s 6 , the phase information restoring apparatus 2 restores a phase on the basis of the detection data stored in the storage unit 21 . first , at step s 2 , the differential processing unit 22 obtains a differential coefficient between detection data i n and detection data i n ′ using the following expression ( 8 ), where δz n = z n ′− z n and n = 1 , 2 , and 3 . then , at step s 3 , the laplacian processing unit 23 obtains the gradients ∂ i ( x , y )/∂ x and ∂ i ( x , y )/∂ y of the detection data at respective positions ( x , y ) on xy plane , and generates matrix a ( x , y ) with three rows and three columns as expressed by expression ( 9 ). further , the laplacian processing unit 23 generates vector d ( x , y ) expressed by expression ( 10 ) on the basis of the differential coefficient obtained by expression ( 8 ). next , at step s 4 , the laplacian processing unit 23 derives the relational expression of matrix ( 11 ) using the matrix a ( x , y ) and the vector d ( x , y ) obtained by expressions ( 9 ) and ( 10 ). further , at step s 5 , the laplacian processing unit 23 multiplies both sides of expression ( 11 ) by an inverse matrix of the matrix a ( x , y ) from the left side as expressed by expression ( 12 ) so as to obtain vector φ ( x , y ). the first element of the vector φ ( x , y ) corresponds to the laplacian ∇ 2 φ ( x , y ) of the phase . then , at step s 6 , the inverse laplacian processing unit 24 performs inverse laplacian operation on the laplacian f ( x , y )=∇ 2 φ ( x , y ) obtained at step s 5 so as to obtain phase φ ( x , y ). here , the inverse laplacian operation will be described in detail . a fourier transform of f ( x , y ) is expressed by the following expression ( 13 ). f [ f ( x , y )]= f [∇ 2 φ ( x , y )]=− 4π 2 ( u 2 + v 2 ) f [ φ ( x , y )] ( 13 ) where u and v are spatial frequencies that correspond to x and y . using expression ( 14 ), the inverse laplacian operation can be performed . that is , the restored phase φ ( x , y ) can be obtained by performing the fourier transform of f ( x , y ), multiplying by {− 4π 2 ( u 2 + v 2 )} − 1 and then performing an inverse fourier transform thereon . here , a value of {− 4 2 ( u 2 + v 2 )} − 1 may be calculated in advance within the range where \| u \| and \| v \| are not more than a predetermined value , and used when the operation expressed by expression ( 14 ) is performed . that is , in the case where the predetermined value “ const ” is set , for \| u \|, \| v \|≦ const , the value of the following expression is used in expression ( 14 ). {− 4π 2 ( u 2 + v 2 )} − 1 =( the value calculated in advance ) for \| u \|, \| v \|& gt ; const , the value of the following expression is used in expression ( 14 ). thereby , the inverse laplacian operation can be performed at high speed . next , at step s 7 , the image processing unit 25 generates image data on the basis of the restored phase φ ( x , y ). that is , the image processing unit 25 converts the phase φ ( x , y ) in each pixel into data representing brightness , and performs necessary image processing such as gradation processing and interpolation processing , etc . at step s 8 , the display unit 3 and the output unit 4 display a visible image on a screen , a film , etc . on the basis of the image data generated as described above . although , in the embodiment , the method of restoring phase by using three differential coefficients obtained from six interference fringe images taken while changing the imaging distance is described , the phase restoration may be performed by using four or more differential coefficients obtained from seven or more interference fringe images . alternatively , with respect to expression ( 11 ), the phase restoration may be performed on the basis of the vector φ ( x , y ) that is obtained by using the least - squares method as expressed by expression ( 15 ). { right arrow over ( φ )}=− κ ( a t a ) − 1 a t { right arrow over ( d )} ( 15 ) further , as expressed by the following expression ( 16 ), only the required part for obtaining ∇ 2 φ ( x , y ) among the components in expression ( 11 ) maybe calculated without using the inverse matrix . ∇ 2 ⁢ ϕ = - κ ⁢ k 1 ⁢ ∂ i 1 ∂ z + k 2 ⁢ ∂ i 2 ∂ z + k 3 ⁢ ∂ i 3 ∂ z k 1 ⁢ i 1 + k 2 ⁢ i 2 + k 3 ⁢ i 3 ( 16 ) next , a phase information restoring method according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described , referring to fig1 , 3 , and 4 . fig4 is an explanatory diagram of the phase information restoring method according to the embodiment of the present invention and shows a condition in which x - ray imaging is performed in the imaging unit . in the phase information restoring method according to the embodiment , a visible image is constructed on the basis of image information representing four diffraction fringe images taken with an imaging distance changed . first , at step s 1 , x - ray imaging is performed . the sensor 12 is positioned at the position where the imaging distance is z 1 and the object 10 is irradiated with an x - ray as shown in fig4 so as to perform the x - ray imaging . then , the sensor 12 moved to the position where the imaging distance is z 2 and the x - ray imaging is similarly performed . further , the x - ray imaging is repeated with the sensor positioned at the imaging distances of z 3 and z 4 . thereby , the image information representing diffraction fringe images are obtained . by the x - ray imaging at step s 1 , detection data i 1 ( x , y ), i 2 ( x , y ), i 3 ( x , y ), and i 4 ( x , y ) are sequentially input to the phase information restoring apparatus 2 and stored in the storage unit 21 . here , the detection data i 1 ( x , y ) represents intensity of the diffracted x - ray at the position ( x , y ) on a plane at the imaging distance of z 1 . the detection data i 2 ( x , y ) to i 4 ( x , y ) similarly represent intensity as above . next , at step s 2 , the differential processing unit 22 obtains a differential coefficient between detection data i n and detection data i n + 1 using the following expression ( 17 ), where n = 1 , 2 , and 3 . the processing at steps s 3 – s 8 are the same as that described in the first embodiment of the present invention . although , in the embodiment , phase restoration is performed by using three differential coefficients obtained from four interference fringe images taken while changing the imaging distance , the phase restoration may be performed on the basis of four or more differential coefficients by using five or more interference fringe images . next , a phase information restoring apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described . fig5 is a block diagram showing an x - ray imaging system including the phase : information restoring apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention . this x - ray imaging system has a phase information restoring apparatus 7 for generating image data on the basis of detection data output from the imaging unit 1 . other construction is the same as that of the x - ray imaging system shown in fig1 . the phase information restoring apparatus 7 has a first storage unit 31 for temporarily storing the detection data output from the imaging unit 1 , a differential processing unit 32 for obtaining a differential coefficient between detection data at different imaging distances , a laplacian processing unit 33 for calculating a value corresponding to a laplacian of phase , an inverse laplacian processing unit 34 for performing inverse laplacian operation for phase restoration , a back propagation processing unit 35 for obtaining phase information at a position of an object on the basis of the restored phase information , detection data , and an imaging distance , a second storage unit 36 for temporarily storing the phase information at the position of the object obtained in the back propagation processing unit 35 , an average processing unit 37 for averaging plural pieces of phase information at the position of the object , an image processing unit 38 for generating image data based on the averaged phase information , and a control unit 39 for controlling the above respective units 31 – 38 and the imaging distance in the imaging unit 1 . the phase information restoring apparatus 7 may be configured with a digital circuit or software and a cpu . in the latter case , the control unit 39 including the cpu processes the detection data on the basis of a phase information restoration program recorded on a recording medium 40 . as the recording medium 40 , a flexible disk , a hard disk , an mo , an mt , a ram , a cd - rom , a dvd - rom , etc . are applicable . next , a principle of a phase information restoring method according to the present invention will be described . the phase information restoring method according to the present invention is a method of constructing a visible image by the phase - contrast method , and the phase restoration is performed on the basis of plural diffraction fringe images obtained with respect to an object by using the basic expression of phase restoration , tie ( transport of intensity equation ). tie expressed by the following expression ( 18 ) is transformed so as to obtain expression ( 19 ). - κ ⁢ ∂ i ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ z = ∇ · { i ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ⁢ ∇ ϕ ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) } ( 18 ) - κ ⁢ ∂ i ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ z = i ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ⁢ ∇ 2 ⁢ ϕ ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) + ∇ i ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) · ∇ ϕ ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ( 19 ) where i ( x , y ) is detection data representing intensity of diffracted x - ray at a position ( x , y ) on a plane at a distance of z from the object . in expression ( 19 ), approximating the second term ∇ i ( x , y )·∇ φ ( x , y ) included in the right side to zero , the tie approximation expression ( 20 ) is obtained . the phase information restoring apparatus according to the embodiment is for obtaining the phase used for generating image data by restoring plural phases using the above tie approximation expression ( 20 ) and averaging the restored phases . next , referring to fig2 , 5 , and 6 , the phase information restoring method according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described . fig6 is a flowchart showing the phase information restoring method according to the third embodiment of the present invention . in the embodiment , a visible image is constructed by using detection data representing six diffraction fringe images taken while changing the imaging distance as shown in fig2 . first , at step s 10 , x - ray imaging is performed . the sensor 12 is positioned at the position where the imaging distance is z 1 and the object 10 is irradiated with an x - ray so as to perform the x - ray imaging . then , the sensor 12 moved to the position where the imaging distance is ( z 1 + δz 1 ) and the x - ray imaging is performed . similarly , the x - ray imaging is repeated with the sensor 12 positioned at the imaging distances of z 2 , ( z 2 + δz 2 ), z 3 , and ( z 3 + δz 3 ). thereby , the detection data representing diffraction fringe images are obtained . by the x - ray imaging at step 510 , the detection data i 1 ( x , y ), i 1 ′( x , y ), i 2 ( x , y ), i 2 ′( x , y ), i 3 ( x , y ), and i 3 ′( x , y ) are sequentially input to the phase information restoring apparatus 7 . here , the detection data i 1 ( x , y ) represents intensity of the diffracted x - ray at the position ( x , y ) on a plane at the imaging distance of z 1 . similarly , the detection data i 1 ′( x , y ), i 2 ( x , y ), i 2 ′( x , y ), i 3 ( x , y ), and i 3 ′( x , y ) represent intensity of the diffracted x - ray at the positions ( x , y ) on planes at the imaging distances of ( z 1 + δz 1 ), z 2 , ( z 2 + δz 2 ), z 3 , and ( z 3 + δz 3 ), respectively . the detection data are sequentially stored in the first storage unit 31 of the phase information restoring apparatus 7 . next , at steps s 11 – s 13 , the phase information restoring apparatus 7 restores a phase at the position of the sensor on the basis of the detection data stored in the first storage unit 31 . first , at step s 11 , the differential processing unit 32 obtains a differential coefficient between detection data i n and detection data i n ′ using the following expression ( 21 ), where δz n = z n ′− z n and n = 1 , 2 , and 3 . then , at step s 12 , the laplacian processing unit 33 obtains laplacian f ( x , y )=∇ 2 φ ( x , y ) of a phase on the basis of the differential coefficient obtained at step s 11 and the detection data stored in the first storage unit 31 , using the following expression ( 22 ). f ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) = - κ i n ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ⁢ ∂ i ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ∂ z ( 22 ) here , in expression ( 22 ), although the differential coefficient is divided by the detection data i n ( x , y ) at a shorter imaging distance , it may be divided by the detection data i n ′( x , y ) at a longer imaging distance or by different detection data from that used when obtaining the differential coefficient . alternatively , the differential coefficient may be divided by detection data performed with lpf ( low pass filter ) processing . further , at step s 13 , the inverse laplacian processing unit 34 performs inverse laplacian operation on the laplacian f ( x , y )=∇ 2 φ ( x , y ) of the phase obtained at step s 12 so as to obtain phase φ ( x , y ). note that the inverse laplacian operation in the inverse laplacian processing unit 34 is the same as that described using fig3 in the first embodiment of the present invention . next , at steps s 14 – s 16 , the back propagation processing unit 35 restores a phase of the x - ray just after transmitted through the object on the basis of the restored phase , the detection data i 1 , i 2 , and i 3 stored in the storage unit 31 , and the imaging distances z 1 , z 2 , and z 3 . hereinafter , a phase etc . of an x - ray just after transmitted through an object is referred to as a phase etc . at the position of the object in relation to a phase etc . of the x - ray at the imaging distance of z n . first , at step s 14 , the back propagation processing unit 35 obtains x - ray wave ψ n ( x , y ) at the imaging distance of z n on the basis of the phase φ n ( x , y ) restored at step s 13 and the detection data i n ( x , y ) stored in the first storage unit 31 , using the following expression ( 23 ). ψ n ( x , y )=√{ square root over ( i n ( x , y ))} exp [ iφ n ( x , y )] ( 23 ) next , at step s 15 , the back propagation processing unit 35 obtains x - ray wave ψ n → 0 ( x , y ) at the position of the object on the basis of the x - ray wave ψ n ( x , y ) obtained at step s 14 using the following expression ( 24 ). ψ n → 0 ( x , y )= h − zn ( x , y )* ψ n ( x , y ) ( 24 ) further , at step s 16 , the back propagation processing unit 35 calculates phase φ n → 0 ( x , y ) at the position of the object on the basis of the x - ray wave ψ n → 0 ( x , y ) at the position of the object obtained at step s 15 , using the following expression ( 25 ). the calculated phase φ n → 0 ( x , y ) is sequentially stored in the second storage unit 36 . ϕ n → 0 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) = tan - 1 ⁡ [ im ⁡ [ ψ n -& gt ; 0 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ] re [ ψ n -& gt ; 0 ⁡ ( x , ⁢ y ) ] ] ( 25 ) where re [ ] and im [ ] are functions for obtaining the real part and the imaginary part , respectively . next , at step s 17 , the average processing unit 37 calculates average phase φ 0 ( x , y ) at the position of the object on the basis of the phase φ 0 ( x , y ) at the position of the object stored in the second storage unit 36 using the following expression ( 26 ). then , at step s 18 , the image processing unit 38 generates image data on the basis of the average phase φ 0 ( x , y ). that is , the image processing unit 38 converts the average phase φ 0 ( x , y ) in each pixel into data representing brightness and performs necessary image processing such as gradation processing and interpolation processing . at step s 19 , the display unit 3 and the output unit 4 displays a visible image on a screen or a film on the basis of the image data generated as described above . although , in the embodiment , the method of restoring phase by using three differential coefficients obtained from six interference fringe images taken while changing the imaging distance is described , the phase restoration may be performed on the basis of two differential coefficients , or the images used when obtaining different differential coefficients may be duplicated . next , a phase information restoring apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described . fig7 is a block diagram showing an x - ray imaging system including the phase information restoring apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention . this x - ray imaging system includes a phase information restoring apparatus 8 instead of the phase information restoring apparatus 7 in fig5 . other construction is the same as that in fig5 . the phase information restoring apparatus 8 has a first storage unit 31 for temporarily storing the detection data output from the imaging unit 1 , a differential processing unit 32 for obtaining a differential coefficient between detection data at different imaging distances , a laplacian processing unit 33 for calculating a value corresponding to a laplacian of phase , an inverse laplacian processing unit 34 for performing an inverse laplacian operation for performing phase restoration , a second storage unit 36 for temporarily storing the phase information at the position of the sensor output from the inverse laplacian processing unit 34 , an average processing unit 37 for averaging plural pieces of phase information , an image processing unit 38 for generating image data based on the averaged phase information , and a control unit 39 for controlling the above respective units 31 – 38 and the imaging distance in the imaging unit 1 . the phase information restoring apparatus 8 may be configured with a digital circuit or software and a cpu . next , a phase information restoring method according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described , referring to fig2 , 7 , and 8 . fig8 is a flowchart showing the phase information restoring method according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention . in the embodiment , a visible image is constructed by using image information representing six diffraction fringe images taken while changing the imaging distance . the method is characterized by using tie approximation expression expressed by expression ( 20 ) and performing appropriate approximation when constructing an operation expression so as to perform operation easily and speedy . first , at step s 20 , x - ray imaging is performed . the sensor 12 is positioned at the position where the imaging distance is z 1 and the object 10 is irradiated with an x - ray as shown in fig2 so as to perform the x - ray imaging . subsequently , the sensor 12 moved to the position where the imaging distance is ( z 1 + δz 1 ) and the x - ray imaging is similarly performed . further , the x - ray imaging is repeated with the sensor 12 positioned at the imaging distances of z 2 , ( z 2 + δz 2 ), z 3 , and ( z 3 + δz 3 ). thereby , the image information representing diffraction fringe images are obtained . by the x - ray imaging at step s 20 , the detection data i 1 ( x , y ), i 1 ′( x , y ), i 2 ( x , y ), i 2 ′( x , y ), i 3 ( x , y ), and i 3 ′( x , y ) are sequentially input to the phase information restoring apparatus 8 . here , the detection data i 1 ( x , y ) represents intensity of the diffracted x - ray at the position ( x , y ) on a plane at the imaging distance of z 1 . similarly , the detection data i 1 ′( x , y ), i 2 ( x , y ), i 2 ′( x , y ), i 3 ( x , y ), and i 3 ′( x , y ) represent intensity of the diffracted x - ray at the positions ( x , y ) on planes at the imaging distances of ( z 1 + δz 1 ), z 2 , ( z 2 + δz 2 ), z 3 , and ( z 3 + δz 3 ), respectively . the detection data are sequentially stored in the first storage unit 31 of the phase information restoring apparatus 8 . next , at steps s 21 – s 23 , the phase information restoring apparatus 8 restores a phase at the position of the sensor on the basis of the detection data stored in the first storage unit 31 . first , at step s 21 , the differential processing unit 32 obtains a differential coefficient between detection data i n and detection data i n ′. then , at step s 22 , the laplacian processing unit 33 obtains laplacian f ( x , y )=∇ 2 φ ( x , y ) of a phase on the basis of the differential coefficient obtained at step s 21 and the detection data stored in the first storage unit 31 . further , at step s 23 , the inverse laplacian processing unit 34 performs an inverse laplacian operation on the laplacian f ( x , y )=∇ 2 φ ( x , y ) of the phase obtained at step s 22 so as to calculate phase φ ( x , y ). the calculated phase φ ( x , y ) is sequentially stored in the second storage unit 36 . next , at step s 24 , the average processing unit 37 calculates average phase φ 0 ( x , y ) based on the phase φ n ( x , y ) at the position of the sensor stored in the second storage unit 36 . further , at step s 25 , the image processing unit 38 generates image data based on the average phase φ 0 ( x , y ). that is , the image processing unit 38 converts the average phase φ 0 ( x , y ) in each pixel into data representing brightness and performs necessary image processing such as gradation processing and interpolation processing . at step s 26 , the display unit 3 and the output unit 4 display a visible image on a screen or a film on the basis of the image data generated as described above . in the embodiment , the phases φ 1 to φ 3 at different imaging distances are averaged as at step 524 . in the strict sense , these phases φ 1 to φ 3 include differences in accordance with the changes in the imaging distances in relation to the phase φ 0 at the position of the object . however , when a radiation source such as a synchrotron radiation source that generates a highly directional beam is used , these phases φ 1 , φ 2 , and φ 3 can be approximated equal to the phase φ 0 at the position of the object . further , averaging the phases φ 1 to φ 3 can cancel errors and bring the averaged phase closer to the real phase φ 0 . although , in the first to fourth embodiments of the present invention described above , x - rays are used when imaging is performed on an object , any beam other than x - rays that can be transmitted through the object and form diffraction images , such as particle beams including an electron beam , may be used . further , in the first to fourth embodiments of the present invention , although a synchrotron radiation source is used when imaging is performed on an object , a radiation source generating beams other than synchrotron radiation may be used . for example , an electron storage type high brightness hard x - ray generator , which has been developed by ritsumeikan university , can generate x - rays having as high brightness and directivity as synchrotron radiation despite of its tabletop size . x - rays generated by this generator have coherency , and even though the x - rays have plural wavelengths , they can be monochromatized by combining with monochromatizing crystal . furthermore , the radiation source developed by the femtosecond technology research association ( festa ) generates ultrashort pulse high - brightness x - rays based on a principle of backward compton scattering . this ray source is compact and portable , and can generate x - rays having not only coherency but also high directivity and monochromaticity . note that , if a point source of radiation is used as a radiation source , it is desirable to correct the detection data to include magnification when performing data processing in the phase information restoring apparatus . next , a modified example of the x - ray imaging system including the phase information restoring apparatus according to the first to fourth embodiments of the present invention will be described . the x - ray imaging system shown in fig9 has a reading unit 5 and an imaging unit 6 instead of the imaging unit 1 in the x - ray imaging system shown in fig1 . other construction is the same as that of the x - ray imaging system shown in fig1 . in the imaging unit 6 , as a screen used for recording image information , a photostimulable phosphor sheet ( recording sheet ) is used instead of the sensor 12 in the imaging unit 1 shown in fig2 . the photostimulable phosphor ( storage phosphor ) is a material that , when applied with radiation , a part of the radiation energy is stored therein , and when applied with excitation light such as visible light afterward , light is photostimulably emitted in accordance with the stored energy . when a radiation image of an object such as a human body is taken and recorded on the sheet applied with the photostimulable phosphor , and scanned by the excitation light such as laser light , stimulated fluorescent light is generated . therefore , detection data can be obtained by reading the light photoelectrically . after the detection data is appropriately processed , the radiation image can be displayed as a visible image by outputting to a display such as a crt or printing out on a film by a laser printer etc . the reading unit 5 shown in fig9 is used for reading the radiation image recorded on the recording sheet . here , referring to fig1 , construction and operation of the reading unit 5 will be described . the recording sheet 50 on which image information has been recorded is set in a predetermined position in the reading unit 5 . the recording sheet 50 is carried in y - direction by a sheet carrying means 52 driven by a motor 51 . on the other hand , a beam l 1 oscillating from the laser source 53 is reflected and deflected by a rotating polygon mirror 55 driven by a motor 54 and rotating at high speed in a direction of an arrow , and passes through a convergent lens 56 . then , the beam l 1 changes its optical path by the mirror 57 and scans the recording sheet 50 in x - direction . by the scanning , excitation light l 2 is applied to the recording sheet 50 , and stimulated fluorescent light l 3 having intensity in accordance with the stored and recorded radiation image information is emitted from the applied part . the stimulated fluorescent light l 3 is guided by the optical guide 58 and photoelectrically detected by a photomultiplier 59 . an analogue signal output from the photomultiplier 59 is amplified by an amplifier 60 and digitized by an a / d converter 61 . the detection data output from the a / d converter 61 is input to the phase information restoring apparatus 2 . image information representing plural interference fringe images obtained at different imaging distances can be obtained by performing radiation imaging with the imaging distance changed and using plural recording sheets in the imaging unit 6 , and reading image information from the respective recording sheets in the reading unit 5 . the phase information restoring apparatus 2 performs phase restoration based on the image information and generates image data . the processing in the phase information restoring apparatus 2 is the same as that described using fig3 . the x - ray imaging system shown in fig5 and 7 can also be modified into an x - ray imaging system using a photostimulable phosphor sheet similarly to that shown in fig9 . as described above , according to the present invention , a high - accuracy phase restoration can be easily performed by minimizing approximation in tie and performing operation using matrices . thus , a visible image of good quality can be obtained by the phase - contrast method . further , according to the present invention , phase information of high accuracy can be obtained by averaging the plural restored phases to obtain the phase used as image data . therefore , a visible image of good quality in which noise is cancelled can be obtained by using the above phase information .	6
referring to fig1 and 2 , the invention disclosed herein relates to a method and apparatus for controlling the air flow rate of compressed air , sometimes referred to as either pressurized air or as atomization air , to a tool . the method and apparatus are particularly useful for use in connection with a spray paint operation , in which the compressed air is mixed with a volume of liquid or powdered paint in order to atomize the paint fluid into minute particles and transfer the paint particles onto the surface of an item being painted . the invention disclosed herein is also adaptable for use with other types of pneumatically powered tools in which the optimal operation of the tool is dependent upon receiving a predetermined or desired flow rate of compressed air , such as , for example , air powered tools that require constant rpm or torque . fig1 illustrates a first embodiment of the present invention , which essentially comprises a mechanical flow rate control apparatus . fig2 illustrates a second embodiment of the invention , which essentially comprises an electromechanical flow rate control apparatus . both embodiments arc based on the principle that the flow rate of a fluid through a passageway of known dimension can be calculated by determining pressure differential between two points in the passage , and by comparing the measured pressure differential to a desired pressure differential , the actual flow rate can then be adjusted to reach and maintain a desired flow rate . both embodiments also provide a dual means for controlling the compressed air systems , that is , by monitoring and adjusting the air flow rate when the tool is activated and air is flowing through the system and also by monitoring and regulating the overall pressure in the system especially when the tool has been deactivated and there is no air flow through the system . referring to fig1 , a mechanical compressed air flow rate control apparatus 10 in accordance with the present invention includes an air inlet 11 for receiving compressed air from an air pressurizing source 12 , such as a compressor , and an air outlet 13 for transmitting the compressed air to a tool 14 , such as a paint spray gun . between the air inlet 11 and air outlet 13 is a first air flow path 15 , a second air flow path 16 , and a pilot air flow path 17 . two air flow diverter valves , namely , a first air diverter valve 18 and a second air diverter valve 19 , direct the flow of air from the inlet to the outlet through either the first air flow path 15 or second air flow path 16 . the diverter valves are each essentially a three - way valve which select the direction of air flow . specifically , the first air diverter valve 18 is connected adjacent to the air inlet 11 , and the first air diverter valve 18 directs the flow of air from the air inlet to either the first air flow path 15 or the second air flow path 16 . similarly , the second air diverter valve 19 is connected at or near the air outlet 13 , and the second diverter valve receives pressurized air from either the first air flow path 15 or second air flow path 16 , and directs it to the air outlet 13 and thus to the tool 14 . an air flow switch 20 located upstream from the first diverter valve 18 is used to actuate the pilot air flow path 17 , which in turn actuates the first and second air diverter valves ( discussed further below ). the first air flow path 18 is essentially a pipe or tube structure which provides a pneumatic passageway for the air to flow from the first diverter valve 18 to the second diverter valve 19 . the first air flow path includes an air flow controller 21 located between the first and second diverter valves . the air flow controller 21 includes a fixed orifice obstruction 22 for producing a pressure differential between a first point 23 and a second point 24 in the first air flow path 15 . the internal geometry of the obstruction in the orifice creates a resistance to the air flowing through the first air flow path . the resistance produces a pressure drop between the first point 23 and second point 24 , in the flow path . of course , the volume of air flowing through a passage of fixed dimension is dependent upon the pressure differential between two longitudinally spaced apart points in the air flow passageway . if the difference in pressure between the two points is zero , then obviously the flow rate is also zero . as the difference in pressure between the two points increases , the flow rate of the air likewise increases . thus , the pressure difference of air flowing through the orifice can be used to both monitor and control the flow rate . the air flow controller 21 further includes a spring 25 which biases a needle 26 , and a diaphragm 27 for controlling the position of the needle . the needle 26 is positioned laterally to the path of air flowing through the fixed orifice obstruction 22 . further , the needle 26 protrudes through an opening 28 in the center of the fixed orifice obstruction 22 , and the needle is slidable into and out of the fixed orifice . as a result , the position of the needle controls the amount of air flowing through the fix orifice obstruction . the needle 26 is normally biased by the spring 25 in the open position , meaning that the needle is fully retracted out of the opening 28 so that the air flow passageway in the orifice is completely clear . as the needle 26 gradually protrudes through the opening and into the orifice the flow of air through the orifice becomes partially or fully blocked , which consequently reduces the amount of air flowing through the device . the needle 26 , spring 25 and diaphragm 27 are contained within an air chamber 29 inside the air flow controller 21 , with the diaphragm 27 essentially dividing the air chamber 29 into a first subchamber 30 and a second subchamber 31 , the first subchamber 30 of course being on one side of the diaphragm 27 and the second subchamber 31 being on the other side of the diaphragm 27 . as mentioned , the fixed orifice obstruction 22 produces a pressure differential between a first point 23 and a second point 24 in the first air flow path . a first air portal tube 32 pneumatically connects the first point 23 to the first subchamber 30 . a second air portal tube 33 pneumatically connects the second point 24 in the fixed orifice obstruction to the second subchamber 31 . when the pressure differential between the first point and second point is zero , the spring 25 biases the needle 26 so that the fixed orifice is in the fully open position . as the air flow rate through the fixed orifice increases , a pressure differential will be created between the first point 23 and the second point 24 . the nominal pressure valve at the first point 23 in the flow path is transmitted through the first air portal tube 32 into the first subchamber 30 of the air flow controller 21 , and the nominal pressure valve at the second point 24 in the flow path is transmitted through the second air portal tube 33 to the second subchamber 31 in the air flow controller , so that substantially the same pressure differential that exists between the first and second points in the air flow path is reproduced between the first and second subchambers in the air flow controller . as a result , as the pressure differential between the first and second points in the air flow path becomes increased , the pressure in the first subchamber 30 of the flow controller 21 likewise becomes increased relative to the air pressure in the second subchamber 31 , thereby causing the diaphragm 27 to deflect and depress the needle 26 into the opening 28 in the fixed orifice and thereby balance the air flow . the desired flow rate of the compressed air is achieved when the pressure differential between the first subchamber 30 and second subchamber 31 in the flow controller 2 is balanced against the spring force of the needle 26 . the air flow rate can be manually adjusted by rotating a manual adjusting knob 34 on the flow controller 21 , which contains a counteracting spring 37 . the force of the counteracting spring 37 acts in the opposite direction of the force produced by spring 25 . thus , by tightening the knob 34 , the counteracting spring 37 urges the needle 26 toward the opening 28 in the orifice which in effect reduces the air flow rate . conversely , by untightening the knob 34 the spring force of the counteracting spring 37 is reduced which in turn allows the needle to retract from the opening 28 in the orifice and thereby effectively increase the flow rate . as mentioned , the second air flow path 16 is essentially comprised of a pneumatic conduit which extends from the first diverter valve 18 to the second diverter valve 19 . the second air flow path includes a pressure gauge 35 with a pressure relief valve located between the two diverter valves . the air flow controller illustrated in fig1 operates in substantially the following manner . when the spray gun or other tool 14 is not triggered , the air flow switch 20 located in the supply airline would not be activated and the pilot air path 17 from the air flow switch would not be pressurized . upon triggering the tool , the air flow switch 20 pressurizes the pilot air path 17 thereby causing the first and second three - way diverter valves 18 and 19 to switch so that the flow of air is directed through the first air flow path 15 . with the diverter valves activated the flow control valve 21 modulates the flow rate based on pressure differential between the first and second points 23 and 24 in the fixed orifice . the spring pressure on the needle 26 adjusts the flow rate through the flow control valve . with no flow , the flow control valve 21 would be wide open . as flow increases , the valve gradually closes based on the pressure drop between the first and second air portal tubes 32 and 33 in the flow controller 21 . the resultant flow rate is based on balancing the pressure differential force of the diaphragm 27 which is produced by the pressure drop across the valve and the force of the spring 25 urging the needle 26 valve open . when the spray gun or tool 14 is triggered off , the air flow of course stops . when the flow through the air flow switch 20 drops to zero , the pilot signal in the pilot air path 17 is exhausted out through the air flow switch 20 . as a result , the first and second air diverter valves 18 and 19 , which are spring biased , automatically switch back to divert the compressed air through the second air path 16 which provides for a pressure control . since the regulator 35 on the pressure loop 16 is self - relieving , any over pressurization of the system will be relieved . an electromechanical flow control apparatus 40 which produces substantially the same results is shown in fig2 . referring to fig2 , the electromechanical air flow controller 40 likewise includes an air supply inlet 41 for receiving compressed air from an air pressurizing source 42 , and an air outlet 43 for transmitting the compressed air to the tool 44 . between the air inlet and air outlet are a first air flow path 45 and a second air flow path 46 . also , at or near the air inlet is an air flow switch 47 . the air flow switch is electrically connected to an electronic microprocessor 48 which controls the opening and closing of a downstream solenoid valve 66 ( discussed further below ). on the electromechanical air flow controller shown in fig2 , the first air flow path 45 includes a pressure differential air flow control meter 49 and a flow control valve 50 . the pressure differential air flow control meter 49 similarly includes a fixed orifice obstruction 51 for producing a pressure differential between a first point 52 and a second point 53 in the first air flow path . at the first point 52 is a first pressure transducer 55 for measuring the nominal air pressure and for generating an electronic signal in response to the measured nominal air pressure at that first point 52 . at the second point 53 on the flow meter 49 is a second pressure transducer 55 for measuring the nominal air pressure and for generating a second electronic pressure signal responsive to the measured nominal air pressure at that second point 53 . as air flows through the flow meter 49 , the fixed orifice obstruction produces a difference in pressure between the first and second points 52 and 53 , which consequently produces an electronic pressure differential signal generated by the first and second pressure transducers 54 and 55 . the first and second pressure transducers 54 and 55 are each electrically connected to the microprocessor 48 . the flow control valve 50 is located upstream from the differential pressure flow meter 49 . the flow control valve 50 for the electromechanical flow controller likewise includes a diaphragm 56 , spring 57 and needle 58 combination for controlling the air flow through the first air flow path 45 . specifically , the flow control valve 50 comprises a needle 58 which extends laterally to a passageway 59 in the first air flow path 45 , the needle 58 being slidable through a lateral opening 60 in the passageway 59 . the needle 58 is normally in the fully retracted position , meaning that the passageway 59 is normally open . the air flow rate through the passageway 59 is controlled by sliding the needle 58 through the lateral opening 60 to partially or in some cases completely block the air flow through the passageway 59 . the flow control valve 50 further comprises an air chamber 61 subdivided by the diaphragm 56 into a first subchamber 62 and a second subchamber 63 . the position of the needle 58 is controlled by deflection of the diaphragm 56 . one of the subchambers 63 in the flow control valve 50 is pneumatically connected to a voltage to pneumatic converter 64 . the voltage to pneumatic converter 64 is also electrically connected to the microprocessor 48 . the flow control valve 50 is thus arranged to control the amount of compressed air flowing through the first air path 45 in response to the electronic signals produced by the first and second pressure transducers 54 and 55 . the second air flow path 46 further includes a pressure regulator 65 and a solenoid valve 66 for opening and closing the second air flow path . the electronic microprocessor 48 therefore receives electronic signals from the air flow switch 47 and receives further signals from the first and second pressure transducers 54 and 55 in the differential pressure flow meter 49 , and depending on the signals received , controls the opening and closing of the solenoid valve 66 in the second air flow path 46 , and controls the voltage to pneumatic converter 64 which in turn produces a pneumatic signal to control the position of the needle 58 in the flow control valve 50 in the first air flow path 45 . the electromechanical air flow controller 40 shown in fig2 operates substantially as follows . when the tool 44 has not yet been triggered , the system is pressurized , but in a static ready condition . the solenoid valve 66 is open , and system pressure is regulated by pressure regulator 65 . upon triggering the tool 44 , the air flow switch 47 at the air inlet 41 is activated , meaning that the flow of air through the air flow switch 47 produces an electronic signal to that effect which is transmitted to the microprocessor 48 , which in turn transmits a further electronic signal to close the solenoid valve 66 . thus , air now flows from the air inlet 41 to the air outlet 43 only through the first air path 45 . as air flows through the pressure differential flow meter 49 , a pressure differential between the first and second points 52 and 53 causes the first and second pressure transducers 54 and 55 to generate an electronic pressure differential signal which is sent to the microprocessor . the electronic pressure differential signal is compared to a desired signal , and depending upon the difference in value between the measured signal and the desired signal the microprocessor directs the voltage to pneumatic converter to produce and transmit a pneumatic signal which is sent to the air flow control 50 . the pneumatic signal sent to the air flow controller 50 causes a deflection in the diaphragm 56 to either open the flow control valve to permit a greater flow of pressurized air through the system , or close the air control valve in order to restrict the amount of air flowing through the system . when the tool 44 is triggered off , air flow through the pressure differential flow meter 49 stops . when there is no air flow through the pressure differential flow meter 49 , the electronic signal produced by the first and second pressure transducers 54 and 55 is equal , which causes the flow control processor 48 to open the solenoid valve 66 in the second air flow path 46 , and thereby revert the system back to pressure regulation status . fig3 - 10 illustrate additional embodiment of a device for controlling the flow rate of compressed air in accordance with the principles of the present invention . for comparison purposes fig3 details a typical pressure regulator . fig4 shows the modifications made to make it a flow control valve . essentially two signals are required for the device to function as a flow rate controller : flow on / off and flow / pressure rate . electronically this could be accomplished using one signal where 0 voltage would equal no flow and positive voltage pressure and negative voltage flow . fig5 illustrates a third embodiment of a device for controlling the flow rate of compressed air in accordance with the principles of the present invention . the device in fig5 adapts pneumatic circuitry to address slow deactivation signal in a high pressure system . in the static state , air enters at 12 into a primary pressure regulator 35 . due to the logic state of the air pressure selector 2 the bias for the primary regulator is from the static air regulator x 1 . the flow valve fv is fully open due to the pressure on the bias cylinder x 3 via the bias cylinder regulator x 4 . the output 17 is equal to the pressure set on the static air regulator x 1 . for dynamic adjusting of the flow rate , upon airflow , the pressure across the restriction x 5 develops a pressure drop that triggers the airflow switch 20 . the signal for the airflow switch 20 changes the state of the air pressure selector x 2 from static mode to dynamic mode , which in turn changes the control pressure from regulated to main line air . the main line air opens the regulator to a full open position . the airflow switch 20 also activates an airflow timer , x 6 which provides a adjustable delayed control signal . as the air starts to flow through the system to output 17 is flows through x 5 , which develops additional drop providing a feedback to the flow valve for controlling the airflow . the amount of airflow is a ratio between the diaphragm 27 area and the bias cylinder force . if the restriction x 5 is 5 psi at a max flow rate 20 cfm and the diaphragm is 3 ″ in diameter , the bias cylinder would require 35 psi for equilibrium . during this adjustment stage of the circuit , the flow valve fv will make the proper corrections in opening to obtain the correct flow rate . the output pressure required to provide the correct flow rate is piped into a holding reservoir for the hold mode . a third mode , referred to as hold mode , is proposed in this method . the hold mode traps the high - pressure feedback air into a reservoir . upon time out of the flow 20 control timer x 6 , the hold mode on / off valve x 8 is closed and the airflow control valve x 2 is selected to hold . the hold mode changes the bias to the pressure regulator to the current required pressure and holds the output of the flow rate at that pressure until the tool is turned off and back on again . fig6 is a pneumatic and electrical illustration of a fourth embodiment of a device for controlling the flow rate of compressed air . this device and method uses a pressure regulator for controlling both pressure and flow . this method provides feedback to pressure transducer 2 when controlling in the pressure mode , and to pressure transducers 2 and 3 in the flow mode . the pressure transducers provide a compression ratio for the air to allow for scfm control . during the static mode , a signal is received from a controller to signal that the pressure mode is desired . in this mode , the control matches the signal with the pressure on pressure transducer 2 . the match is obtained by pulsing the pressure and exhaust solenoid valves to hold the correct pressure in the pressure regulator cavity 61 . by monitoring the cavity and modulating the valves the pressure can be maintain . upon receiving a flow on signal , the pressure and exhaust solenoid valves are modulated to obtain the correct flow rate drop across pressure transducer 2 and pressure transducer 3 . fig7 illustrates a fifth embodiment of a device for controlling the flow rate of compressed air . this devise and method uses a single regulator for control of both pressure and flow . in comparison to the device illustrated in fig5 , which uses a single pressure regulator for both the pressure and flow rate control , the device and method shown in fig7 adds the bias cylinder to the pressure valve and changes the source of feedback based on the state of the flow rate . in the static mode , no pressure drop is across the restriction x 5 and the air flow switch 20 is in an off state . the off state of switch 20 selects the air flow selector x 2 to static mode and the bias regulator control valve x 9 to off . the output of the air control valve is directed to the pressure / flow regulator 35 control port which adjusts the output to the pressure on the port . the bias regulator valve x 9 is selected to off which vents the bias pressure cylinder to atmosphere . in the dynamic mode , upon air flow through the system , pressure drop occurs at the restriction x 5 which causes the air flow switch 20 to activate . the output signal of the air flow switch 20 changes the air control valve x 2 from static mode to dynamic mode . the output signal from the air control valve directs the low pressure feedback signal from the output side of the restriction x 5 back into the pilot port of the flow pressure regulator . concurrently , the bias air valve is activated which applies air to the blind end of the bias air cylinder x 3 applying a force on the diaphragm 27 forcing the air control valve 28 open . the amount that the valve will open is in proportion to the force applied on both sides of the diaphragm low pressure 29 and high pressure 31 , and the bias cylinder pressure . when the pressure drop decreases to a preset level the air flow switch 20 will reset the system to static . fig8 illustrates a sixth embodiment of a device for controlling the flow rate of compressed air . in static mode the air flow on and air flow off valves are modulated to control the pressure to the output . the only sensing element used is the pressure transducer 2 . in dynamic mode the controller monitors the interface for a flow / pressure signal and a start signal . upon receiving a valid interface the air flow on valve is modulated to provide the correct flow rate to the device via 17 . the flow rate to the devise is calculated from signals from pressure transducer 1 and pressure transducer 3 where pressure transducer 1 provides the compression ratio of the compressed air and pressure transducer 3 provides the pressure differential across a known orifice x 5 . it is to be understood that the embodiments disclosed above are merely exemplary of the invention which may be embodied in various forms . changes maybe made in the details of construction , arrangement and operation of various elements of the invention without departing from the spirit of the invention . for example , the function pressure differential flow meter 49 which includes two pressure transducers 54 and 55 as described above could be performed by a turbine flow meter or alternatively by a heat flow meter . as a further example , the flow rate control feature of particularly the electromechanical embodiment of the invention shown in fig2 might be activated by an electronic signal received from the tool rather than just a pneumatic signal . therefore , specific structural and functional details disclosed above are not to be interpreted as limiting the scope of the invention , but are presented merely as the basis for the claims and for teaching one skilled in the art to various employ the present invention in any appropriately detailed manner especially as defined in the following claims .	1
referring now to fig1 a winding head is depicted in which the traveling path of the yarn 2 from the delivery bobbin 3 to the winding bobbin , embodied as a cheese 4 , has been interrupted because of a yarn defect detected by a cleaning device 5 . the yarn interruption was performed by means of a cutting device 6 . the traveling path of the yarn 2 normally taken during the winding operation has been partially represented in dashed lines . in the course of the winding process , the yarn 2 drawn off the delivery bobbin 3 moves past the controlled yarn brake 31 , the cleaning device 5 , the cutting device 6 , as well as the yarn sensor , embodied as the measuring head 7 , and is wound in the winding device 34 on the winding body 8 of the cheese 4 , which in the representation of fig1 rotates clockwise . the drive roller 12 drives the winding bobbin 4 by means of friction , whereby in the representation of fig1 the drive roller 12 rotates in a counterclockwise direction for winding the yarn . the cheese 4 is supported by a bobbin holder 9 , which is pivotably seated on the machine frame 10 . a control device 11 comprises an evaluation device for the values measured by the measuring head 7 , as well as a running time correlator , and is equipped for adding together the yarn lengths which have passed . such a measuring head 7 in connection with a running time correlator is known , for example , from and is explained in greater detail in german patent publication de 42 25 842 a1 , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . the advantageous embodiment of the device for measuring the yarn speed in accordance with german patent publication de 42 25 842 a1 is employed at the winding head 1 . the control device 11 has a module for storing the preset yarn length and to compare the preset yarn length and the accumulated yarn length with each other . once the accumulated yarn length has reached the preset value , the winding process is terminated , the cheese 4 taken away and a new winding process is started . if an impermissible yarn defect is detected by the cleaning device 5 , the cutting device 6 is activated and the yarn 2 is severed . the yarn length which has been passed is determined from signals generated by the measuring head 7 only until the yarn end has reached the measuring head 7 . the severed yarn end of the so - called upper yarn is wound on the cheese 4 . following the cutting operation , the mouth 15 of an aspirating tube 16 is placed against the circumferential surface of the winding body 8 . a valve , not represented here for reasons of simplification , is actuated by the control device 11 , the aspirating tube 16 is charged with a vacuum and a suction flow is generated at the mouth 15 . in this case , the aspirating tube 16 is connected with the aspirating conduit 19 via the pivot hinge 17 and the line 18 , and via the aspirating conduit 19 with the central vacuum source 20 of the winding machine . the direction of the suction flow is indicated by the arrow 21 . the severed yarn end 22 resting on the circumferential surface of the winding body 8 is aspirated into the aspirating tube 16 . in the course of this operation , the cheese 4 is slowly turned counterclockwise thereby allowing the upper yarn end to be unwound from the cheese . if the cheese 4 takes up an angled position during this rotation , in which the yarn end 22 resting on the circumferential surface of the winding body 8 comes into the effective range of the mouth 15 of the aspirating tube 16 , the yarn end 22 is aspirated into the aspirating tube 16 if the aspiration attempt is successful . when the yarn end in the aspirating tube 16 reaches the yarn end sensor 23 in the course of this operation , only a defined yarn length is unwound from the cheese 4 and aspirated into the aspirating tube 16 . this length of yarn is detected , with the detection taking place in a known manner by means of the rotation of the drive roller 12 in the direction of the arrow 32 . the rotation of the drive roller 12 is measured by means of a magnet wheel 13 and an angle sensor 14 . the determination of actuating variables used for detecting the defined length of yarn to be pulled off can be performed in the manner described , for example , in german patent publication de 196 40 184 a1 , or in the corresponding u . s . pat . no . 5 , 862 , 660 , incorporated herein by reference . the length of the yarn end unwound from the cheese 4 and aspirated by the aspirating tube 16 is subtracted from the accumulated yarn length which has passed through the measuring head 7 . the distance of the yarn sensor 23 from the mouth 15 of the aspirating tube 16 , as well as the distance traveled in the course of the pivoting movement by the mouth 15 of the aspirating tube 16 , and the corresponding yarn length , are known and stored in the control device 11 , and are used in the determination of the eliminated yarn length . the lower yarn gripper tube 24 grasps the yarn end unwound from the delivery bobbin 3 , the so - called bottom yarn , by means of the aspirating opening 25 and , by performing a pivoting movement , inserts the yarn end into the yarn end connecting device , which is embodied as a splicing device 26 . the pivot hinge 27 around which the yarn gripper tube 24 can be pivoted is embodied as a connector of a line 28 , which terminates in the aspirating conduit 19 . following this situation represented in fig1 the aspirating tube is pivoted downwardly around the pivot joint 17 and places the upper yarn into the splicing device 26 . in the course of the pivot movement , the yarn end 22 is kept in place by means of a clamping device 29 . [ 0026 ] fig2 shows the aspirating tube 19 in the position it has assumed following the downward pivoting movement and prior to the severing of the yarn ends 22 and 33 by the cutting device 30 . the length of the yarn end 22 unwound again from the delivery bobbin 3 has been subtracted again by the evaluating device from the accumulated length of the wound yarn 2 . the yarn end 33 has not yet passed through the measuring head 7 and is therefore not contained in the accumulated length of the wound yarn . following the completion of the yarn connection , the winding process is continued . in the course of this process , the determination of the length of yarn which has passed through the measuring head 7 and the accumulation of the yarn which has run up on the cheese 4 is continued . once the accumulated length has reached a value preset for the cheese 4 , the winding process is terminated , the full cheese 4 taken away and a new winding process is started . following a bobbin change , as well as after a yarn break , the length of the yarn wound onto the cheese 4 during the start - up of the rotation of the cheese 4 is determined by means of the rotation of the drive roller 12 , and not from the evaluation of the values measured by the measuring head 7 . no later than the time at which the number of rotations of the drive roller 12 has reached the operating number of rotations are the values measured by the measuring head 7 again used as the basis for detecting the traveling length of the yarn . the grasping of the yarn and the yarn connecting process are known from german patent publication de 196 40 184 a1 , for example , which is incorporated herein by reference and from which further explanations can be obtained . the splicing device 26 comprises a cutting device 30 for severing the two yarn ends 22 and 33 aspirated by the aspirating tube 16 and the yarn gripper tube 24 . cutting devices of this type are known and customary and are therefore not represented here in detail for reasons of simplification . the two yarn ends 22 , 33 are severed by means of the cutting device 30 , wherein the severed yarn end 22 of the upper yarn contains the detected yarn defect . the invention is of course not limited to the embodiment represented in fig1 and 2 . to the extent they are not explained in detail here , the method of driving , the seating and the support of parts of the device , as well as the control and linkage , take place in accordance with the prior art , such as ensues from the cited publications and the prior art recited there , for example . it will therefore be readily understood by those persons skilled in the art that the present invention is susceptible of broad utility and application . many embodiments and adaptations of the present invention other than those herein described , as well as many variations , modifications and equivalent arrangements , will be apparent from or reasonably suggested by the present invention and the foregoing description thereof , without departing from the substance or scope of the present invention . accordingly , while the present invention has been described herein in detail in relation to its preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that this disclosure is only illustrative and exemplary of the present invention and is made merely for purposes of providing a full and enabling disclosure of the invention . the foregoing disclosure is not intended or to be construed to limit the present invention or otherwise to exclude any such other embodiments , adaptations , variations , modifications and equivalent arrangements , the present invention being limited only by the claims appended hereto and the equivalents thereof .	1
this invention comprises , in part , a passage through which is passed either fuel gas or oxidant gas . the passage divides the gas stream inside the passage from the other gas which is in a stream outside the passage . that is , if the gas stream inside the passage is oxidant gas , the stream outside the passage is fuel gas , and , if the stream inside the passage is fuel gas , that outside the passage is oxidant gas . when the stream inside the passage emerges from the discharge end , the two heretofore separated gas streams mix to form a combustible mixture . another element of this invention is a second passage spaced from the first passage such that the breakdown voltage between them is lowest at the discharge end . a third part of this invention is a means to apply an electrical potential across the passages . both the passages are conductive to electricity ; however , they are insulated from each other . thus , when an electrical potential is applied across the passages , the electricity travels through the walls of both the passages but does not pass from one to the other . however , when the potential applied across the passages is greater than the breakdown voltage at the discharge end which , as previously mentioned , is the lowest breakdown voltage between the passages at any point along their length , the electricity discharges across the passages at the discharge end . the arc , or spark , is thus created in an area or zone where there is substantially only either fuel gas or oxidant gas and where there is no significant mixing of the two gases . however , the fuel and oxidant gas mixture , or combustible mixture , in the combustion zone is ignited by the discharge of electricity between the two passages and thus the objects of this invention are achieved . the spark discharges essentially straight across the two conductors with no requirement for whirling or looping the spark and thus avoids the higher energy requirements of a system which requires such whirling or looping spark . reliable ignition is achieved at a relatively low level of energy consumption . as mentioned , one need apply a potential across the passages which only exceeds the lowest breakdown voltage between them at the discharge end . this results in discharge between these two conductors only at the discharge end . if one applied a greatly increased potential across the conductors , one might observe discharge between them at other points along their length if the increased potential exceeded the breakdown voltage at these points , or one might observe the looping of the spark outward into an area of good fuel - oxidant mixing . the reliable ignition one achieves at the relatively low power consumption required by this invention is one advantage of the process and apparatus of this invention . as mentioned above , the spark occurs in an area not characterized by good fuel - oxidant mixing and thus there does not occur a great deal of combustion , right around the spark generation points . thus , the wear and maintenance requirements of these portions of the burner are significantly reduced . this is particularly important in the continuous operating conditions characteristic of direct ignition systems . the ignition system comprises essentially only the burner parts . the ignition system of this invention thus avoids the need for a separate spark plug , or pilot flame , or additional electrodes , or deflectors , etc ., which form essential elements of many known ignition systems for post - mix burners . this is advantageous from several standpoints such as the reduced cost and maintenance of the system of this invention and reduced space requirements which may be very important in certain specific applications . one such specific application wherein space requirements are a significant consideration is the ignition of the burner which is described and claimed in u . s . ser . no . 138 , 759 , filed apr . 10 , 1980 , in the name of john e . anderson , entitled &# 34 ; oxygen aspirator burner and process for firing a furnace &# 34 ;. the direct ignition apparatus and process of this invention are particularly well suited for use in conjunction with such a burner . the passages of the ignition system of this invention are preferably tubes and may have any convenient cross - sectional geometry . they may be circular in cross - section , or semi - circular , rectangular , etc . a preferred cross - sectional shape for the passages is a circle , i . e ., the passages are preferably cylinders . as previously mentioned , the passages are conductive to electricity . it is not critical from what material the passage is constructed as long as the material is conductive to electricity . a preferred such material is iron when the oxidant gas is air ; the preferred material is copper when the oxidant gas contains higher concentrations of oxygen . by a fuel gas , it is meant any gas which will burn such as natural gas , methane , coke oven gas , producer gas , and the like . by an oxidant gas , it is meant air , oxygen - enriched air , or pure oxygen . a preferred oxidant gas will depend on the particular use to which the burner is put . the passages are electrically insulated from each other . as is well known to those skilled in the art , there are many ways to effect such insulation . when mechanical requirements mandate a joining of the passages to form a single connected structure , there is interposed between them electrically insulating material . any effective insulating material is adequate ; a preferred such insulating material is fluorocarbon insulation . an electrical potential is applied across the passages . the electrical potential is applied from any convenient source such as the secondary windings of a conventional high voltage ( typically from 5000 to 9000 volts ) transformer connected to a 120 volt alternating current power source . it is important that the breakdown voltage between the passages be at a minimum at the discharge end . there are many ways of achieving this . for example , one may have passages which are parallel to one another , i . e ., equi - distant at all points along their length . at the discharge end one may cut two slits in the wall of one passage so as to define a tab and then one can bend the tab toward the wall of the other passage such that the distance between the passages is smallest at the discharge end . another way of achieving the same result is to weld a small tab to one passage at the discharge end . of course , both slit tab and welded tab could be placed on either passage wall or on both passages so as to shorten the distance between the passages at the discharge end . still another way to effect the desired result , i . e ., breakdown voltage between the passages a minimum at the discharge end , is to place insulating material at all points between the passages except at the discharge end . those skilled in the art may probably devise several other ways of achieving this important aspect of this invention . the exact configuration of the passages can vary considerably and can take many forms . for illustrative purposes two such configurations will be discussed below . in one configuration one passage is a cylindrical tube and the other passage is a cylinder which surrounds the tube along its length ; thus , this configuration is two concentric cylinders . the passages are spaced apart as required by the claims . either fuel gas or oxidant gas flows through the center tube while the other gas flows through the space between the center cylinder and the outer cylinder . in another configuration , one passage is a cylindrical tube and the other passage is also a cylinder running side by side to the tube and spaced from the tube as required by the claims . either fuel gas or oxidant gas flows through the tube while the other gas flows through the space between the tube and the other cylinder . a description of one embodiment of the ignition system of this invention is provided with reference to fig1 and 2 . fig1 is a lengthwise cross - section of this embodiment . fig2 is a view of the fig1 embodiment sighting from the combustion zone . the passages 1 and 2 are each cylinders and arranged such that the one passage surrounds the other passage to effect a concentric cylinder arrangement . the distance between the outer passage and the wall 3 of the inner passage is substantially the same at all points along their length except at the discharge end 4 where this distance is shortened by tab 5 . the distance between the tab and the surface of the outer cylinder may thus be termed the spark gap 6 . the passages are at all points physically apart from one another except where mechanical connections are necessary . at these locations there is interposed fluorocarbon insulation 7 between their conductive surfaces . oxygen 8 is provided in the space between the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder and natural gas 9 is provided to the inside of the inner cylinder . both of these gases flow toward the discharge end 4 and are at all points along the tube separated by tube - wall 3 . as the gas streams flow past the discharge end 4 , they mix generally in area 10 to form a combustible mixture . this area 10 may be termed the combustion zone . an electrical potential is applied across the passages by means of the electrical circuit illustrated in schematic form . transformer 15 is connected at 11 and 12 to a 110 volt alternating current 60 hertz power supply such as normally supplies electricity to a household . transformer 15 is a conventional step - up transformer . the high voltage outputs 13 and 14 of the transformer are connected to the inner passage and the outer passage respectively . when the voltage applied across the passages exceeds the breakdown voltage across the spark gap , the electricity discharges between the passages at this point , i . e ., the discharge end , and , in so doing , ignites the combustible mixture in the combustion zone . this ignition is accomplished even though the spark traveled across an area which was filled essentially only with oxygen and did not contain a significant amount of a combustible mixture . another embodiment of the ignition system of this invention is described with reference to fig3 and 4 . fig3 is a lengthwise cross - section of this embodiment . fig4 is a view of the fig3 embodiment sighting from the combustion zone . the numerals used in fig3 and 4 correspond to those used in fig1 and 2 with the exception that the cut tabs of fig1 and 2 are not shown . instead , a welded tab 25 is illustrated . the tab is welded onto the outer cylinder in this illustration . in this manner , the breakdown voltage between the passages is minimized at the discharge end . still another embodiment of the ignition system of this invention is described with reference to fig5 which is a lengthwise cross - section of this embodiment . the numerals used in fig5 correspond to those used in the previous figures except that neither cut tabs nor welded tabs are illustrated . instead , there is illustrated electrical insulation 45 which runs between the passages for substantially their entire length except at the discharge end . in this manner , the breakdown voltage between the passages is minimized at the discharge end . the following examples serve to further illustrate the beneficial results obtainable by use of the ignition system of this invention . in these examples , the ignition system employed was similar to that illustrated in fig1 . the center tube had an outer diameter of 1 . 05 inches ( 2 . 67 cm ) and the outer tube had an inner diameter of 1 . 38 inches ( 3 . 51 cm ). thus , the distance between the passages at all points along their length except at the discharge end was at least 0 . 165 inch ( 0 . 42 cm ). two tabs were cut in the center tube at the discharge end and both were bent outward toward the surface of the outer tube such that the shortest distance from the passages at the discharge end , i . e ., the spark gap , was 0 . 063 inch ( 0 . 16 cm ). a conventional high voltage transformer with primary side ratings of 60 hertz 120 volt alternating current and 150 volt - amp and second voltage of 6000 volt was employed to apply an electrical potential , greater than the breakdown voltage at the aforementioned shortest distance at the discharge end across the passages , and thus to cause electricity to discharge across the spark gap . four examples were carried out . in example 1 , the gas in the center tube was natural gas having a gross heating value of about 1000 btu / sch ( 8600 kcal / nm 3 ) as fuel and the gas in the space between the center tube and outer tube was substantially pure oxygen as oxidant . in example 2 , the positions of the fuel and oxidant were reversed from those of example 1 . in example 3 , the gas in the center tube was natural gas as fuel and the gas in the space between the center tube and outer tube was air as oxidant . in example 4 , the positions of the fuel and oxidant were reversed from those of example 3 . each example was performed at several flow rates for the fuel and oxidant and the success or failure of ignition of the combustible mixture was noted . the results are shown in tables i - iv corresponding to examples 1 - 4 . in the tables , the flow rates are given in two measures , standard cubic feet per hour ( scfh ) and normal cubic meters per hour ( nm 3 / hr ). table i______________________________________ ( example 1 ) fuel flow rate oxidant flow rate ( scfh ), ( nm . sup . 3 / hr ) ( scfh ), ( nm . sup . 3 / hr ) ignition______________________________________ 400 , 11 . 7 340 , 10 yes 400 , 11 . 7 800 , 23 . 4 yes 400 , 11 . 7 1650 , 48 . 3 yes1000 , 29 . 3 2000 , 58 . 6 yes4300 , 126 . 0 800 , 23 . 4 yes8000 , 234 1600 , 46 . 9 yes______________________________________ table ii______________________________________ ( example 2 ) fuel flow rate oxidant flow rate ( scfh ), ( nm . sup . 3 / hr ) ( scfh ), ( nm . sup . 3 / hr ) ignition______________________________________ 340 , 10 400 , 11 . 7 yes 800 , 23 . 4 400 , 11 . 7 yes1650 , 48 . 3 400 , 11 . 7 yes1600 , 46 . 9 800 , 23 . 4 yes1600 , 46 . 9 8000 , 234 yes______________________________________ tables iii and iv include a column labeled blow - off rate . this term is used to mean the rate of air flow at the particular fuel flow rate wherein the air flow extinguishes the flame because the velocity exceeds the flame velocity . table iii______________________________________ ( example 3 ) oxidantfuel ( flow rate ) blow - off rate ( flow rate ) ( nm . sup . 3 / ( nm . sup . 3 / ( nm . sup . 3 / igni -( scfh ), hr ) ( scfh ), hr ) ( scfh ), hr ) tion______________________________________200 , 5 . 9 540 , 15 . 8 96 , 2 . 8 yes200 , 5 . 9 540 , 15 . 8 480 , 14 . 1 yes200 , 5 . 9 540 , 15 . 8 540 , 15 . 8 yes400 , 11 . 7 870 , 25 . 5 96 , 2 . 8 yes400 , 11 . 7 870 , 25 . 5 870 , 25 . 5 yes600 , 17 . 6 1270 , 37 . 2 96 , 2 . 8 yes600 , 17 . 6 1270 , 37 . 2 870 , 25 . 5 yes600 , 17 . 6 1270 , 37 . 2 1070 , 31 . 4 no800 , 23 . 4 1470 , 43 . 1 870 , 25 . 5 yes800 , 23 . 4 1470 , 43 . 1 1070 , 31 . 4 no800 , 23 . 4 1470 , 43 . 1 1270 , 37 . 2 no800 , 23 . 4 1470 , 43 . 1 1470 , 43 . 1 no1000 , 29 . 3 1570 , 46 . 0 870 , 25 . 5 yes1000 , 29 . 3 1570 , 46 . 0 1070 , 31 . 4 no1000 , 29 . 3 1570 , 4610 1370 , 40 . 1 no1000 , 29 . 3 1570 , 4610 1570 , 46 . 1 no______________________________________ table iv______________________________________ ( example 4 ) oxidantfuel ( flow rate ) blow - off rate ( flow rate ) ( nm . sup . 3 / ( nm . sup . 3 / ( nm . sup . 3 / igni -( scfh ), hr ) ( scfh ), hr ) ( scfh ), hr ) tion______________________________________200 , 5 . 9 1690 , 49 . 5 870 , 25 . 5 yes200 , 5 . 9 1690 , 49 . 5 1070 , 31 . 4 yes200 , 5 . 9 1690 , 49 . 5 1270 , 37 . 2 no400 , 11 . 7 1900 , 55 . 7 870 , 25 . 5 yes400 , 11 . 7 1900 , 55 . 7 1900 , 55 . 7 yes600 , 17 . 6 2360 , 69 . 1 1270 , 37 . 2 yes600 , 17 . 6 2360 , 69 . 1 1470 , 43 . 1 no800 , 23 . 4 1810 , 53 . 0 1070 , 31 . 4 yes800 , 23 . 4 1810 , 53 . 0 1270 , 37 . 2 no800 , 23 . 4 1810 , 53 . 0 1810 , 53 . 0 no1000 , 29 . 3 2020 , 59 . 2 870 , 25 . 5 no1000 , 29 . 3 2020 , 59 . 2 1070 , 31 . 4 no1000 , 29 . 3 2020 , 59 . 2 1270 , 37 . 2 no1000 , 29 . 3 2020 , 59 . 2 1810 , 53 . 0 no______________________________________ as is demonstrated in the examples , the apparatus and process of this invention provides reliable ignition for post - mixed burners at low levels of energy consumption , without the need for substantial modifications to the burner assembly , and without the need to provide spark to an area of good fuel - oxidant mixing . applicants believe that the lack of ignition at some of the high fuel flow rates when air was employed as the oxidant may be because the energy of the spark available to initiate ignition becomes rapidly dissipated . in such a situation , ignition can be achieved by igniting the burner at a lower flow rate and increasing the flow rate while burning continues . this procedure is the one often used in industrial applications to fire a burner at high rates , irrespective of the ignition system employed , since one wishes to avoid the large and dangerous presence of fuel in the combustion chamber if ignition does not occur . heretofore it has been assumed that reliable ignition of a fuel - oxidant mixture requires that the ignition source , i . e ., spark , be provided at a point characterized by good mixing of fuel and oxidant . as can be appreciated from the description , the ignition system of this invention provides spark to an area where there is not good mixing of fuel and oxidant . yet there is observed reliable ignition . this reliability was not expected . while applicants have described the ignition system of this invention in detail with reference to several embodiments , it can be appreciated that there are many other embodiments of this invention which are within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention .	5
one embodiment of the present invention to be described is illustrated in fig3 which is a block diagram . the same components of fig3 as those of fig1 are denoted by the same reference numerals as in fig1 . referring to fig3 ac bridge circuits are again indicated by numerals 1 , 2 and 3 , and the output signals v 1 , v 2 and v 3 from the circuits 1 , 2 and 3 , respectively , are coupled to a switching circuit 20 , which acts to deliver the output signals v 1 , v 2 and v 3 in succession in response to time - sharing signals q 1 - q 3 ( described later ). the circuit 20 consists of tc 4066bp quad bilateral switch manufactured by tokyo shibaura electric co ., ltd ., japan , for example . a differential amplifier 30 receives bridge output signals v 1 - v 3 from the switching circuit 20 at one input , and a reference signal from the terminal c of the bridge circuit 1 at the other input . a comparator 40 has a comparison input to which the output signal v 4 from the amplifer 30 is applied and a reference input to which voltages divided down to certain values by resistor r 1 and resistor r 2 , r 3 or r 4 are applied when time - sharing signals q 1 , q 2 and q 3 , respectively , are supplied to the input . a central processing unit cpu controls the coin sorting operation and a vending machine ( not shown ) and other operations in accordance with a program previously stored in a rom ( not shown ). the cpu delivers the time - sharing signals q 1 - q 3 to the switching circuit 20 and supplies the time - sharing signals q 1 - q 3 to the resistors r 1 - r 4 for producing reference voltages to be fed to the comparator 40 . in response to the time - sharing signals q 1 - q 3 , the circuit 20 supplies the output signals v 1 - v 3 from the bridge circuits 1 - 3 to the comparison input of the comparator 40 in succession via the amplifier 30 . at the same time , the voltages derived by the voltage - dividing action of either resistors r 1 and r 2 , resistors r 1 and r 3 , or resistors r 1 and r 4 are successively fed to the reference input of the comparator 40 in response to the time - sharing signals q 1 - e , ovs / q / 3 . this permits the bridge output signals v 1 - v 3 to be compared with different reference voltages . the output from the comparator 40 is supplied to the cpu as a sorting signal sg . the successive changes in the reference voltage of the comparator 40 by the use of the signals q 1 - q 3 are made to alter the permissible range for every denomination of coin to be accepted . for example , the range is made narrower for a coin of larger denomination , while the range is made broader for a coin of a smaller denomination . however , if the size of the permissible range is held constant for all kinds of coins to be accepted , then it is not necessary to change the reference voltage of the comparator 40 in response to the time - sharing signals q 1 - q 3 . in this way , the present invention is characterized by the successive changes in the bridge output signals v 1 - v 3 or the reference voltage of the comparator 40 using the time - sharing signals delivered by the cpu . the manner in which the time - sharing signals are delivered is next described with reference to the flow chart of fig4 illustrating a program for causing the cpu to deliver time - sharing signals . this program is controlled by coin sensors ( not shown ) which are respectively disposed in front and back of the detecting coil sc arranged along a coin passageway to sense passage of coins ( not shown ). such a coin sensor is well known as disclosed in japanese patent laid - open no . 2196 / 1979 already proposed by the present applicant . referring to fig4 after the power is turned on in step 101 , it is determined whether a coin is inserted , that is , whether a coin sensor positioned near a coin slot has sensed a coin . if a coin is sensed , the program proceeds to step 102 , in which the time - sharing signals q 1 and q 1 are delivered and a first timer for setting the durations of these signals is started . this operation of the timer will be described later in detail in connection with fig5 . then , in step 103 , it is determined whether the time period set for the timer has elapsed or not . if it has elapsed , the program proceeds to step 104 , where the delivery of the signals q 1 and q 1 is stopped and the timer is reset . then the program proceeds to step 105 , in which delivery of time - sharing signals q 2 and q 2 is initiated and a second timer similar to the first timer is started . thereafter , in step 106 , it is determined whether the period set for the second timer has elapsed . if it has elapsed , the program proceeds to step 107 , in which the delivery of the signals q 2 and q 2 is stopped and the second timer is reset . the program then proceeds to step 108 , in which delivery of time - sharing signals q 3 and q 3 is started and a third timer similar to the foregoing timers is set into motion . then in step 109 , it is determined whether the period set for the third timer has elapsed . if it has elapsed , the program proceeds to step 110 , in which the delivery of the signals q 3 and q 3 is stopped and the third timer is reset . then the program proceeds to step 111 , in which the coin sensor disposed at the back of the detecting coil sc attempts to sense an inserted coin and determines whether it has moved past the position of the coil sc . if it is determined that the sensor fails to detect any coin in step 111 , then the program returns to step 102 , where the time - sharing signals q 1 - q 3 and q 1 - q 3 are delivered in succession again in the manner as described above . if it is determined that the sensor has sensed a coin in step 111 , then the system is put into standby state ready for insertion of the next coin . the aforementioned period set for each of the timers to define the durations of the time - sharing signals q q 1 - q 3 and q 1 - q 3 will now be described with reference to the operating waveform chart of fig5 . for simplicity , ( a ) and ( b ) of fig5 show the signals obtained by directly amplifying the bridge output signals such as v 1 by the amplifier 30 and the output signal from the comparator 40 , irrespective of the time - sharing signals q 1 14 q 3 and q 1 - q 3 . as can be seen from fig5 ( a ), when no acceptable coin passes the coil sc , the amplifier produces a large unbalance voltage . if an acceptable coin is inserted and it approaches the position of the coil sc , the output from the amplifier begins to decrease gradually , and when it reaches the position of the coil sc , the output becomes substantially zero . then , as the coin moves away the position of the coil sc , the output from the amplifier increases gradually and eventually becomes a large unbalance voltage . if the reference voltage of the comparator is cv indicated by the dotted line in fig5 ( a ), the comparator produces logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; when the output from the amplifier does not reach the reference voltage and logic signal &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; when the output reaches the reference voltage as shown in fig5 ( b ). the period t 1 of the pulse signals of fig5 ( b ) is equivalent to the period of the oscillation frequency of oscillator 0 . as shown in fig5 ( a ) and ( b ), if an acceptable coin passes the coil sc and one bridge circuit is balanced , the output from the comparator remains in logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; state . consequently , whether the bridge circuit is balanced or not can be obtained by determining whether the output from the comparator assumes logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; state within one period of the oscillation frequency of the oscillator 0 . accordingly , each duration of the time - sharing signals q 1 - q 3 and q 1 - q 3 must be equal to or greater than one period t 1 of the oscillation frequency of the oscillator 0 . fig5 ( c ), ( d ), ( e ) and ( f ), ( g ), ( h ) respectively show the time - sharing signals q 1 - q 3 and q 1 - q 3 q 1 - q 3 in a situation where the coin sensor disposed in front of the coil sc senses a coin at time instant t 1 and the coin sensor disposed at the back of the coil sc senses the coin at instant t 2 . the duration t 2 of each time - sharing signal is equal to one period t 1 of the oscillation frequency of the oscillator 0 . fig5 ( j ) and ( k ) show the output signals which are derived from the amplifier 30 and the comparator 40 , respectively , by the time - sharing signals q 1 and q 1 shown in fig5 ( c ) and ( f ). referring next to the flowchart of fig6 the operation effected by the cpu for sorting coins is described , the figure showing the sorting program executed by the cpu . after the power supply is turned on , in step 201 , it is determined whether the sensor disposed in front of the coil sc has sensed a coin . if a coin is determined to be inserted in step 201 , the program proceeds to step 202 , in which it is determined whether the time - sharing signal q 1 is being delivered . if it is being delivered , the program proceeds to step 203 , in which it is determined whether output signal sg from the comparator 40 has changed from logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; state . if such change does not take place , the program proceeds to step 204 , where it is determined whether the delivery of the signal q 1 is stopped or not . if the delivery is not stopped , the program returns to step 203 . if the output signal sg from the comparator 40 does not make a transition from logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; state in step 203 while the program is circulating through the closed loop including the steps 203 and 204 , then it is concluded that the bridge circuit 1 is at balance . in this case , if the delivery of the time - sharing signal q 1 is stopped while the program is circulating through the closed loop including the steps 203 and 204 , the program proceeds to step 205 , in which 1 is added to a predetermined address , for example , address n ( hereinafter referred to &# 34 ; counter a &# 34 ;) of a ram . the program then proceeds to step 217 , in which it is determined whether the coin sensor disposed at the back of the coil sc has sensed a coin . if no coin is sensed by this sensor , then the program returns to step 202 . if it is determined that the time - sharing signal q 1 is not delivered in step 202 , or the output signal sg from the comparator 40 has made a transition from logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; ( that is , the bridge circuit 1 is unbalanced ) in step 203 , while the procedure is circulating through the closed loop including the steps 203 and 204 , then the program proceeds to step 206 . then , if the delivery of the signal q 1 is stopped , the program proceeds to step 207 , whereupon it is determined whether the time - sharing signal q 2 is delivered or not . if the time - sharing signal q 2 is delivered , the program proceeds to step 208 , where it is determined whether the output signal sg from the comparator 40 has experienced a transition from logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;. if the signal sg has not made such a transition , then the program proceeds to step 209 , in which it is determined whether the delivery of the time - sharing signal q 2 is stopped . if it is not stopped , the program returns to step 208 , in which the state of the output signal sg from the comparator 40 is determined . if the delivery of the time - sharing signal q 2 is stopped while the program is circulating through the closed loop including the steps 208 and 209 , it is concluded that the bridge circuit 2 is at balance . then the program moves from step 209 to step 210 , in which 1 is added to address ( n + 1 ) ( hereinafter referred to &# 34 ; counter b &# 34 ;) of the ram . then the program proceeds to step 217 , in which it is determined whether the coin sensor disposed at the back of the coil sc has sensed a coin . if no coin is sensed , the program returns to step 202 . if it is determined in step 202 that the time - sharing signal q 1 is not delivered , then the program proceeds to step 207 . if it is determined that the signal q 2 is not delivered or the output signal sg from the comparator 40 has changed from logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;, that is , the bridge circuit 2 is not balanced , while the program is circulating through the closed loop including the steps 208 and 209 , then the program proceeds to step 211 . then , if it is determined that the delivery of the signal q 2 is stopped , the program proceeds to step 212 , in which it is determined whether the time - sharing signal q 3 is delivered or not . if it is delivered , the program proceeds to step 213 , in which it is determined whether the output signal sg from the comparator 40 has made a transition from logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;. if such a transition is not made , the program proceeds to step 214 , in which it is determined whether the delivery of the signal q 3 is stopped . if the delivery is not stopped , the procedure returns to step 213 , in which the state of the output signal sg from the comparator 40 is ascertained . if the delivery of the signal q 3 is stopped while the program is circulating through the closed loop including the steps 213 and 214 , then it is concluded that the bridge circuit 3 is at balance . then the procedure proceeds to step 215 , in which 1 is added to address ( n + 2 ) ( hereinafter referred to &# 34 ; counter c &# 34 ;) of the ram . then the program proceeds to step 217 , in which it is determined whether the sensor disposed at the back of the coil sc has sensed a coin . if no coin is sensed , the program returns to step 202 . then , if it is determined that the signal q 1 is not delivered , the program proceeds to step 207 . if it is determined that the signal q 2 is not delivered , the program proceeds to step 212 . then , if it is determined that the signal q 3 is not delivered or the output signal sg from the comparator 40 has changed from logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;, ( that is , the bridge circuit 3 is not at balance ), while the program is circulating through the closed loop including the steps 213 and 214 , then the program proceeds to step 216 . on the other hand , if it is determined that the delivery of the signal q 3 is stopped , the program returns to step 202 . the time taken by a coin to pass the position of the detecting coil sc is on the order of several milliseconds , whereas the durations of the time - sharing signals q 1 - q 3 are on the order of microseconds , and therefore the operations from the step 202 to the step 217 are effected repeatedly while a coin is passing the position of the coil sc . as such , the counts in the counters a , b and c in steps 205 , 210 and 215 continue to increment as long as the associated bridge circuits 1 , 2 and 3 remain balanced . therefore , when an acceptable coin is inserted , the count of the associated one of the counters a , b and c exceeds n , for example . then , the coin sensor disposed at the back of the detecting coil sc will sense the coin in step 217 , and thereafter it is determined whether the count in the counter a corresponding to the time - sharing signal q 1 is greater than n , in step 218 . if the counter a count exceeds n , the program proceeds to step 219 , in which a signal indicating the insertion of the coin , for example a five cent coin , is delivered . all the counters are then cleared before the program returns to terminal ( i ). if it is determined that the counter a count corresponding to the signal q 1 is less than n , in step 218 , then the program proceeds to step 220 , in which it is determined whether the count in the counter b corresponding to the signal q 2 exceeds n . if the counter b count exceeds n , the program proceeds to step 221 , in which a signal indicating the insertion of a ten cent coin , for example , is delivered . at the same time , all the counters are cleared and the procedure returns to terminal ( i ). however , if it is determined that the count in the counter b corresponding to signal q 2 is less than n , in step 220 , then the program proceeds to step 222 , in which it is determined whether the count in the counter c corresponding to signal q 3 is greater than n or not . if the counter c count exceeds n , the program proceeds to step 223 , in which a signal indicating the insertion of a twenty - five cent coin , for example , is delivered . concurrently , all the counters are cleared and the program returns to terminal ( i ). if it is determined that the counts in the respective counters a , b and c are all less than n , in steps 218 , 220 and 222 , then the program moves from step 222 to step 224 , where all the counters are cleared and the program returns to terminal ( i ). although the embodiment shown in fig3 has an ac bridge circuit 1 to which semi - bridge circuits 2 and 3 are connected , the present invention is not limited to such ac bridge circuit configuration . instead , the invention can employ the ac bridge circuit configuration shown in fig7 for example . referring to fig7 another example of ac bridge circuit for sorting coins is shown . ac bridge circuit 1 consists of coin detecting coil sc disposed along a coin passage ( not shown ) through which coins roll on , fixed resistors r 1 , r 2 , and r 3 , reference resistor r and fixed reference coil l . the coil sc is shown consisting of an equivalent reactance l 0 and an equivalent resistance r 0 . oscillator o is connected between power terminals a and b to apply an ac voltage of a constant frequency to the bridge circuit 1 . differential amplifiers amp 1 and amp 2 have reference input terminals to which the voltage between terminals f and b is applied after being decreased by resistors r 1 and r 2 . voltages at terminals d and e between the successive resistors r 1 , r 2 , r 3 are applied to the other input terminals of the amplifiers via resistors r 12 and r 22 , respectively . feedback resistors r 11 and r 22 couple the respective output terminals of the amplifiers to said other input terminals . referring to the vector diagram of fig8 there is shown a voltage distribution relative to the voltage applied between terminals a and b . the potentials at terminals a through h of the figure are indicated by a 0 through h 0 , respectively . vector a composed of a 0 , f 0 and b 0 indicates a vector through terminals a , f and b . the potential at point f 0 always remains constant , because the resistance of the fixed resistor r and the reactance of the coil l are constant . g 0 on line segment f 0 b 0 indicates a potential at terminal g which is a fraction of the voltage between the terminals f and b by the dividing action of the resistors r 1 and r 2 . the line segments f 0 g 0 and b 0 g 0 correspond to the resistance ratios of the resistors r 1 and r 2 , respectively . vector b composed of line segments a 0 - h 0 - b 0 indicates a vector through terminals a , c and b in a standby state when no coin is present near the coin detecting coil sc . the potential at the junction h of the equivalent reactance l 0 and the equivalent resistance r 0 of the detecting coil sc is indicated by h 0 . vector c comprised of line segments a 0 - h 01 - b 0 indicates a vector through the terminals a , c and b when a coin of a first kind , such as a five cent coin , is present near the detecting coil sc and the reactance of the coil sc undergoes a change in response to the characteristics of the coin including the material , diameter and thickness . at this time , the potentials at the terminals c and h change to c 01 and h 01 , respectively . lastly , vector d comprised of line segments a 0 - h 02 - b 0 indicates a vector through the terminals a , c and b when a coin of a second kind , such as a ten cent coin , is present near the coil sc and the reactance changes to a value different from that obtained in the case of the first , or five cent , coin in response to the characteristics of this coin , thereby causing the potentials at the terminals c and h to change to c 02 and h 02 , respectively . the resistances of the resistors r 1 , r 2 and r 3 are selected so that the potential at the terminal d , corresponding to the voltage between the terminals b and d , and the potential at the terminal e , corresponding to the voltage between the terminals b and e are located at respective points d 0 and e 0 on the vector b shown in fig8 under a standby condition wherein no coin is present near the detecting coil sc . when a coin of the first kind is present near the coil sc , the potentials are shifted from the points d 0 and e 0 on the vector b to respective points d 01 and e 01 on the vector c . when a coin of the second kind is placed at the position of the coil sc , the potentials are moved from the points d 01 and e 01 on the vector b to respective points d 02 and e 02 on the vector d . as can be seen from fig8 both the potential at the terminal d when a coin of the first kind is near the coil sc ( that is , the point d 01 on the vector c ), and the potential at the terminal e when a coin of the second kind is near the coil ( that is , the point e 02 on the vector d ), lie on the line segment b 0 - f 0 on the vector a . this means that the voltage produced across the coil l and between the terminals b and f of fig3 the voltage set up between the terminals b and d and across the equivalent reactance l 0 of the detecting coil sc , and the voltage induced between the terminals b and e and across the reactance l 0 are all in phase , though these voltages have different amplitudes . accordingly , the voltages at points d 01 and e 02 on the respective vectors c and d intersecting the line segment b 0 - f 0 on the vector a produce no voltage difference attributable to phase difference . therefore , the output from the amplifier amp 1 is made nil by shifting the point d 01 on the vector c , when a coin of the first kind is near the coil sc , to the point g 0 on the line segment b 0 - f 0 wherein the point g 0 results from the voltage between the terminals b and f through the voltage - dividing action of the resistors r 1 and r 2 . also the output from the amplifier amp 2 is decreased to zero by moving the point e 02 on the vector d , which is derived when a coin of the second kind is near the coil sc , to the point g 0 on the line segment b 0 - f 0 . consequently , the first requirement of this embodiment is that the resistors r 1 , r 2 and r 3 are connected to the arm opposite to the reactor l and that the values of these resistors are so selected that the point d 0 on the vector b is moved to the point d 01 on the vector c when a coin of the first kind is near the coil sc , and the point e 0 on the vector b is shifted to the point e 02 on the vector d when a coin of the second kind is near the coil sc . the second requirement is that the points d 01 and e 02 on the vectors c and d , respectively , are shifted to the point g 0 . describing the first requirement in greater detail , it is first assumed that the total resistance of the resistors r 1 , r 2 and r 3 is the values of the resistors r 1 , r 2 and r 3 can be found by obtaining each ratio of these resistance of the total resistance r 4 namely : ## equ1 ## from formula ( 1 ) above , the ratio of the value of the resistor r 1 to the total value r 4 is ## equ2 ## similarly , from formula ( 2 ) above , the ratio of the value of the resistor r 3 to the total value r 4 is ## equ3 ## by substituting formula ( 3 ) into formula ( 4 ), the ratio of the value of the resistor r 2 to the total resistance r 4 is as follows : ## equ4 ## the resistance values of the resistors r 1 , r 2 and r 3 are found from formulae ( 4 ), ( 5 ) and ( 6 ) described above . thus , the potential at the fraction point d 01 of the voltage b 0 - f 0 between the terminals can be obtained in phase with the voltage across the coil l from the junction d of the resistors r 1 and r 2 when a coin of the first kind moves past the coil sc . also , the potential at the fraction point e 02 of the voltage b 0 - f 0 between the terminals can be obtained in phase with the voltage across the coil l when a coin of the second kind passes the coil sc . with respect to the second requirement , the voltage between the terminals a and c is reduced by the resistors r 1 , r 2 and r 3 and appears at the points d and e . then , the resultant voltages are applied to the respective comparison inputs of the amplifiers amp 1 and amp 2 via the resistor r 12 . the reference input terminals of the amplifiers amp 1 and amp 2 are supplied with potential g 0 which is obtained from the voltage between the terminals b and f by the voltagedividing action of the resistor r 1 and r 2 . at this time , the amplifiers amp 1 and amp 2 exhibit amplification factors of r 11 / r 12 and r 12 / r 22 , respectively . the ratio of the resistance r 11 to the resistance r 12 is given by and the ratio of the resistance r 21 to the resistance r 22 is given by as can be understood from the foregoing , when a coin of the first kind moves past the coil sc , the potential d 01 at the point d between the terminals a and c will be equal to the potential g 0 applied to the reference input terminal of the amplifier amp 1 by virtue of its amplification factor r 11 / r 12 , and the output from the amplifier will be zero . likewise , when a coin of the second kind passes the coil sc , the potential e 02 at the point e between the terminals a and c will be equal to the potential g 0 applied to the reference input terminal of the amplifier amp 2 on account of its amplification factor r 21 / r 22 , thus making the output of the amplifier amp 2 zero . on the other hand , when no coin exists near the coil sc , the phase of the voltages which are supplied to the comparison input terminals of the amplifiers amp 1 and amp 2 from the terminals d and e of the arm comprising the resistors r 1 , r 2 and r 3 is caused to lag the phase of the voltages fed to the reference input terminals of the amplifiers . as a result , a voltage difference is created between both input terminals of each amplifier , so that each amplifier will continue to deliver a nonzero voltage proportional to the difference . when a coin of the first kind moves past the coil sc , the voltages applied to both input terminals of the amplifier amp 1 are made equal in phase and magnitude , so that the output from the amplifier amp 1 crosses zero level only once . as such , insertion of a coin of the first kind can be determined from the output from the amplifier amp 1 . at this time , since the voltages applied to both input terminals of the amplifier amp 2 are out of phase , amplifier amp 2 continues to deliver a nonzero output voltage proportional to the phase difference . when a coin of the second kind passes the coil sc , the voltages applied to both input terminals of the amplifier amp 2 are rendered equal in phase and magnitude , and hence the output from the amplifier amp 2 becomes zero once . in this situation , the output of the amplifier amp 1 becomes zero twice . the first time is when the coin of the second kind approaches the coil sc and the reactance of the coil is decreasing . the second time is when the coin is just moving past the coil sc and the reactance is increasing . in this case , insertion of the coin of the second kind can be judged from the output of the amplifier amp 2 by providing a means which sets a coil sorting period to determine the genuineness of coins only when a zero value occurs once during the period , as disclosed in japanese patent laid - open no . 2196 / 1979 entitled &# 34 ; coin sorter .&# 34 ; in the ac bridge circuit shown in fig7 the resistance values of the feedback resistors r 11 and r 21 for the respective differential amplifiers amp 1 and amp 2 can be omitted by selectively connecting the output ends of the resistors r 12 and r 22 to the input of one amplifier amp 1 by means of the switching circuit 20 shown in fig3 . when the coin sorter according to the invention is checked , the sorter is operated as described below using a test switch tsw and a changeover switch rsw shown by the dotted lines in fig3 . first , the test switch tsw is actuated to place the control program for the cpu in test mode . this prevents the cpu from carrying out the program for delivering the time - sharing signals as shown in fig4 and so , even when a coin is introduced , no time - sharing signal is delivered . then the changeover switch rsw is actuated once to deliver the time - sharing signals q 1 and q 1 . thereafter , the switch rsw is actuated again to deliver time - sharing signals q 2 and q 2 after stopping the delivery of the signals q 1 and q 1 . then the switch rsw is actuated once more to deliver the time - sharing signals q 3 and q 3 after stopping the delivery of the signals q 2 and q 2 . switch rsw is actuated again to deliver the time - sharing signals q 1 and q 1 after stopping the delivery of the signals q 3 and q 3 . by actuating the test switch tsw in this manner , the time - sharing signals are successively delivered by the operation of the changeover switch rsw in test mode . then , while the time - sharing signals are delivered , a coin of the associated denomination is inserted to examine its acceptability . after completion of the test , the test switch tsw is actuated to cause the cpu to carry out the program for delivering the time - sharing signals as shown in fig4 . in the foregoing description , the special changeover switch rsw is provided to change one set of time - sharing signals with others in succession in the test mode . alternatively , this function may be performed by using a conventionally installed switch such as an adjustment switch . as described hereinbefore , the present invention provides a coin sorter which has an ac bridge circuit including one arm that comprises a detecting coil disposed along a coin passage to examine the genuineness of plural denominations of coins and sort them . the sorter requires only one amplifier means and one comparator to amplify the bridge output signals and compare the output signal from the amplifier means with the predetermined reference values , thus dispensing with the need for a plurality of some analog circuit components . further , since the sorter is designed so that the reference value of the comparator is changed in response to the time - sharing signals , the permissible range can be easily altered according to denomination of accepted coin . from the foregoing , it will be observed that numerous variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the true spirit and scope of the novel concept of the invention . it is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific embodiments illustrated here is intended or should be inferred . it is , of course , intended to cover by the appended claims all such modifications as fall within the scope of the claims .	6
with reference to fig3 a wafer 11 is shown having a linear region referred to in the art as a flat , 13 . flat 13 is used as a reference in the construction of electrical components , such as circuit element 12 , on wafer 11 . the orientation of flat 13 is identified using x - ray techniques known in the art . in the present example , flat 13 is aligned with plane ( 110 ), as is typical in the art . since circuit structures are typically aligned with the flat , of a wafer , circuit element 12 constructed on wafer 11 is likewise aligned with plane ( 110 ). plane ( 111 ) traverses the surface of wafer 11 , i . e . plane ( 110 ), at a 45 ° angle and is shown having a triangular shape for the purpose of this description . a symbolic line of interception 15 is used to represent the junction of plane ( 111 ) with the surface of wafer 11 as plane ( 111 ) extends beyond the boundaries of wafer 11 . since flat 13 is aligned with plane ( 110 ), line of interception 15 is also necessarily parallel to flat 13 . therefore , circuit element 12 is likewise parallel to interception line 15 . with reference to fig4 a perspective view of wafer 11 is shown . for illustrative purposes , circuit element 12 of fig3 is implemented as an exaggerated large trench region 17 . a trench is an initial process step in the construction of shallow trench isolation region , sti , used to isolate active areas of an integrated circuit . the sti isolation region would be completed by filling trench 17 with an insulative material , such as oxide . the sti isolation region limits charge leakage between active areas of a substrates . a trench structure is used in the present discussion since isolation regions are relatively large structures on integrated circuits and applicants have found that structural defects often concentrate along their path as their relative sizes are increased . specifically , they are prone to dislocation errors . applicants have further found that as device structure continue to decrease in size and modern process methods continue to increase thermal cycles , these dislocation errors can act as gettering points for impurities and create worm holes . in fig4 plane ( 111 ) is not shown , but its line of interception 15 with wafer 11 is shown parallel to flat 13 . plane ( 111 ) would traverse wafer 11 at 45 ° angle . line 5 — 5 indicates the orientation of a two dimensional cut - out view of trench 17 shown in fig5 . with reference to fig5 trench 17 is shown to cut into wafer 11 and form a valley having corner regions 25 , substantially vertical walls 23 , and a floor 27 . as explained above , walls 23 of trench 17 are aligned along plane ( 110 ). as a direct result , plane ( 111 ) aligns itself with corner regions 25 and along trench walls 23 . plane ( 111 ) forms a 45 ° angle with trench walls 23 and with the surface of wafer 11 . in fig6 a partial perspective view of wafer 11 shows it aligned in the ( 110 ) direction . trench region 17 is again shown having trench walls 23 , floor 27 and corner regions 25 . directional arrow h indicates the horizontal direction and directional v indicates the vertical direction . plane ( 111 ) is shown traversing wafer 11 at a 45 ° angle and forming a line of interception 15 . as explained above , trench walls 23 and floor 27 meet and form corner regions 25 along plane ( 111 ). the running junction edge 35 of walls 23 and floor 27 is therefore aligned with plane ( 111 ) in the horizontal direction h . since plane ( 111 ) represents stacks of planes define by the diamond cubic structure of silicon , walls 23 are also aligned with plane ( 111 ) in the vertical direction v . due to the structural properties of silicon , plane ( 111 ) has a high density of atoms packed very tightly . since plane ( 111 ) is aligned with running junction edge 35 , this running junction edge region , is susceptible to the formation of slip and other dislocation defects . referring to fig7 multiple lines of interception 15 on the surface of wafer 11 are shown . each line of interception 15 is indicative of the interception path a respective plane ( 111 ) would form if it were projected out of wafer 11 , as previously shown in fig3 to 6 . the horizontal direction of trench 17 is again identified by direction arrow h . as explained above , the horizontal direction h of trench walls 23 is aligned with line of interception 15 . this facilitates the propagation of structural defects along plane ( 111 ). in fig8 the flat 13 of wafer 11 is moved 45 ° from its initial position , which was along the ( 110 ) direction , previously showing in fig3 . this results in flat 13 being effective aligned along the ( 100 ) direction . as a result , new circuit element 22 is aligned with new flat 13 and is likewise aligned along plane ( 100 ) of wafer 11 . as in the previous case , plane ( 111 ) still traverses wafer 11 at 45 °, but it now also forms a 45 ° angle with flat 13 . thus , line of interception 15 between wafer 11 and plane ( 111 ) is no longer aligned with new circuit element 22 . circuit element 22 makes a 45 ° angle with line of interception 15 . with reference to fig9 flat 13 of wafer 11 is shown having the same orientation as in fig8 . circuit element 22 is implemented a new trench region 37 , which is aligned with flat 13 . the line of interception 15 between plane ( 111 ) and the surface of wafer 11 crosses trench 37 at a 45 ° angle . fig1 is a perspective view of wafer 11 showing trench 37 aligned in the ( 100 ) direction . as described above , wafer 11 has trench walls 23 , trench floor 27 and corner regions 25 . the horizontal and vertical directions are indicated as h and v , respectively . plane ( 111 ) is shown traversing wafer 11 at a 45 ° angle and forming a 45 ° angle with walls 23 . trench walls 23 and trench floor 27 meet and form running junction edge 35 aligned along the horizontal direction . as a result , running junction edge 35 and corner regions 25 are no longer aligned with plane ( 111 ). since trench 37 intercepts the ( 111 ) planes at a 45 ° angle , the slip planes formed by the ( 111 ) planes cannot align themselves within the trench region 37 and the formation of defects , especially along corner areas 35 , 25 are reduced or eliminated . a top view of this configuration , shown in fig1 , better illustrates the interception of trench region 37 and the ( 111 ) planes . fig1 shows multiple lines of interception 15 across wafer 11 . each line of interception 15 again represents the interception path of a series of ( 111 ) planes projecting out of wafer 11 . the relative orientation of trench 37 on wafer 11 is also shown . the horizontal direction h of trench walls 23 is not aligned with interception lines 15 . rather , trench 37 crosses lines of interception 15 at a 45 ° angle . this structure breaks the alignment of the slip planes produced by the ( 111 ) planes and thereby reduces dislocation defects .	8
in the following description , various embodiments of the present invention will be described . for purposes of explanation , specific configurations and details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments . however , it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without the specific details . furthermore , well - known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the embodiment being described . referring now to the drawings , in which like reference numerals represent like parts throughout the several views , fig1 shows a lantern 10 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . the lantern 10 includes a housing assembly 20 and a globe assembly 30 . the globe assembly comprises globe 32 , translucent top cap 34 , top cap sleeve 36 , top reflector 38 , bottom reflector 40 and light source 42 . most illumination from the lantern is generating using the light source 42 and the bottom reflector 40 in the conventional manner . light source 42 is located under bottom reflector 40 and projects illumination into the cavity created by globe 32 through the light source aperture 44 in bottom reflector . the majority of the illumination generated by light source 42 is projected radially outward through globe 32 . globe 32 is translucent and is preferably made of polycarbonate or a similar material known in the industry . globe 32 may comprise a texturized surface . bottom reflector 40 is preferably metalized for maximum reflectance and light output . bottom reflector 40 reflects the light generated from light source 42 outward through translucent globe 32 . top cap 34 is translucent and is preferably made of polycarbonate or a similar material known in the industry . top cap 34 comprises a curvilinear dome and has a cross sectional shape that compliments the shape of lantern globe 32 . as shown in fig1 , globe 32 is preferably generally cylindrical in shape . almost any other shape , however , such as square , triangular or the like would also fall within the scope of the present invention . in such case , the bottom reflector , and top cap would preferably be of a shape complimentary to the shape of the globe . as shown in fig3 and 4 , top reflector 38 is conical in shape to maximize reflectance of light generated from the light source 42 through the globe 32 . top reflector 38 is also metalized to maximize reflectance . as shown in fig2 and 3 , top reflector 38 also comprises through - cuts 50 which allow illumination to exit into the area between top reflector 38 and top cap 34 and to be projected outward through translucent top cap 34 . the apertures 50 in top reflector 38 operate to provide glow or illumination on the top side of lantern . top reflector 38 comprises three elongated slots 50 which are shaped to compliment the shape of top reflector 38 . although three slots 50 are depicted herein , it is within the scope of the present invention for top reflector 38 to comprise any number of apertures in any size , shape , location and / or orientation on top reflector provided that the overall surface area of top reflector is sufficiently maintained so as to provide adequate reflectance for the generated light . by way of a non - limiting examples , it is within the scope of the present invention for apertures 50 to comprise a multitude of circular apertures in a repeating pattern over the top surface of top reflector or for apertures 50 to comprise slots radiating outward from the center of top reflector like the spokes of a wheel . housing assembly 20 comprises base 22 , base sleeve 24 , upper base sleeve 26 and battery power meter 28 . the lantern 10 also includes internal wiring ( not shown ) and a power switch 80 to allow a user to turn the light off and on using the switch . base 22 includes bail hook 70 that is pivotally attached to the underside of base 22 to enable lantern 10 to be hung in an upside down orientation . receptacle 54 is located on the underside of housing assembly 20 defining a cavity for receiving an interchangeable power pack 55 , as shown in fig7 . preferably , the power pack 55 may be powered with batteries , rechargeable batteries , fuel cells and the like . it is also within the scope of the present invention for receptacle 54 to receive batteries ( not shown ) that may be mounted therein and secured with a bottom cap ( not shown ). light source 42 may include any form of lamp , including a light emitting diode ( led ), halogen lamp , an incandescent lamp , a fluorescent lamp , or other lamps or lights . the use of the terms “ a ” and “ an ” and “ the ” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention ( especially in the context of the following claims ) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural , unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context . the terms “ comprising ,” “ having ,” “ including ,” and “ containing ” are to be construed as open - ended terms ( i . e ., meaning “ including , but not limited to ,”) unless otherwise noted . the term “ connected ” is to be construed as partly or wholly contained within , attached to , or joined together , even if there is something intervening . recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range , unless otherwise indicated herein , and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein . all methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context . the use of any and all examples , or exemplary language ( e . g ., “ such as ”) provided herein , is intended merely to better illuminate embodiments of the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed . no language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non - claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention . preferred embodiments of this invention are described herein , including the best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention . variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description . the inventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations as appropriate , and the inventors intend for the invention to be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein . accordingly , this invention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law . moreover , any combination of the above - described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the invention unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context .	5
embodiments of present invention will now be described in detail . as it should be noted in present application , when the term “ distal part / end ” is used , this refers to the part / end of the delivery device , or the parts / ends of the members thereof , which is / are located the furthest away from the medicament delivery site of the patient . correspondingly , when the term “ proximal part / end ” is used , this refers to the part / end of the delivery device , or the parts / ends of the members thereof , which , is / are located closest to the medicament delivery site of the patient . according to the main aspect of the invention , a medicament delivery device comprises a tubular housing having a proximal and an opposite distal end ; an actuator member movably arranged in relation to said tubular housing for triggering a medicament delivery ; a medicament container arranged within the tubular housing and having a delivery member protruding through the proximal end of the tubular housing ; a cap releasably connected to the proximal end of the tubular housing and covering the delivery member ; and interlocking means arranged to interact with both the actuator member and the cap such that the actuator member can only be manually actuated when the cap is removed . according to a further aspect of the invention , the interlocking means is a longitudinal actuator interlocking member , movably arranged within the tubular housing and arranged to interactively co - act with both the actuator member and the cap for avoiding unintentional actuation of the actuator member . according to another aspect of the invention , the actuator interlocking member and the cap are connectable to each other by a first co - acting means and wherein the actuator interlocking member and the actuator member are connectable to each other by a second co - acting means . an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown in the fig1 - 10 . the exemplary embodiment shown in the figures is a medicament injector but is not restricted to it . fig1 is a perspective view of exemplary components of a complete medicament delivery device 100 according to the invention . in fig1 is illustrated the pre - assembled medicament delivery device 100 having the cap 140 interactively mounted to the tubular housing 120 , 130 and the medicament container 170 , arranged within the tubular housing and having the delivery member as e . g . a needle , a nozzle , a mouth piece or the like protruding through the proximal end of the tubular housing . the cap is arranged to cover the delivery member when the cap is connected to the proximal end 308 of the tubular housing 120 , 130 . in the exemplary embodiment of the invention , the tubular actuator member 110 is axially slidable and coaxially arranged within a distal end 309 portion of the tubular housing 120 , 130 , but not restricted to it . the medicament delivery device 100 further comprises drive means arranged within said tubular housing adapted to , upon activation , act on a slidable stopper 162 inside the medicament container 170 to expell a dose of medicament ; and hold - release means interactively connected to the drive means to hold said drive means in a pre - loaded state , as well as to the actuator member 110 to release the drive means form the pre - loaded state , such that when the cap 140 is removed from the tubular housing , the actuator member may be enabled to act with the hold - release means and thereby release the drive means from the pre - loaded state . the drive means comprises a plunger rod 161 and an energy accumulating means 160 interactively connected to each other . in the exemplary embodiment of the invention , as shown in fig6 c , the plunger rod 161 comprises a plunger rod head 612 for pushing the slidable stopper 162 and a plunger rod coupling member 611 . the tubular housing 120 , 130 comprises cut - outs 303 , 304 , fig3 a , adapted to receive a third co - acting means 201 , fig2 b , of the actuator member 110 , for interactively and fixedly attaching the actuator member 110 to the tubular housing 120 , 130 . in an exemplary embodiment of the invention the further cut - out 303 , 304 comprises two openings adapted to receive the third co - acting means 201 of the actuator member 110 in two steps , a first cut - out 303 for releaseably attaching the actuator member 110 to the tubular housing 120 , 130 in a first inactivated position , and a second cut - out 304 , whereby the actuator member 110 is fixedly attached to the tubular housing 120 , 130 in a second activated position after the actuator member has been moved towards the proximal end . the actuator member 110 also comprises guiding means 203 arranged to interact with corresponding guiding means on the inner surface of the tubular housing , which in the exemplary embodiment of the invention are groove tracks ; and the corresponding guiding means of the tubular member are longitudinally extending ledges which guide the axial movement of the actuator member 110 within the tubular housing 120 , 130 . the hold - release means comprises flexible co - acting means 202 arranged on the actuator member , and flexible coupling means 312 arranged to the tubular housing , whereby said flexible co - acting means 202 and said flexible coupling means 312 are arranged to interact with each other to release the drive means from the pre - loaded state . in the exemplary embodiment of the invention , the flexible co - acting means 202 are two flexible tongues , fig2 b , extending in a proximal direction from the actuator member , and the flexible coupling means 312 are two flexible tongues extending in a distal direction from an inner distal end transversal wall 311 of the tubular housing , fig3 b , whereby said flexible co - acting means 202 and said flexible coupling means 312 are arranged to interact with each other as will be explained below . fig3 a illustrates a perspective view of the tubular housing 120 , 130 . a distal part 120 of the tubular housing 120 , 130 comprises a recess , an opening or a cut - out 301 adapted to receive a corresponding fastening means 302 of a proximal part 130 of the tubular housing 120 , 130 for fixedly attaching the distal part 120 to the proximal part 130 of the tubular housing 120 , 130 during the manufacturing process of the medicament delivery device 100 . in an exemplary embodiment of the invention , the corresponding fastening means 302 of the proximal part 130 of the tubular housing 120 , 130 comprises two radial outward extending flexible tongues which are adapted to lock into the cut - out 301 which is adapted to receive said corresponding fastening means 302 . the proximal part 130 of the tubular housing 120 , 130 also comprises a coupling means 305 in the shape of radial outward extensions , i . e . an outward extending thread , adapted to interact and engage with a corresponding coupling means 401 , i . e . an inner thread , of the cap 140 . the proximal part 130 of the tubular housing 120 , 130 further comprises a recess , or a track groove , adapted to guide the actuator interlocking member 150 . fig3 b illustrates , in a perspective cross - sectional view of the tubular housing 120 , 130 . the distal end 309 part of the tubular housing 120 , 130 comprises a housing compartment 310 for housing the energy accumulating means 160 . in the most distal part of the tubular housing 120 , 130 is situated the coupling means 312 for interactively coupling the plunger rod 161 to the tubular housing 120 , 130 . fig4 a shows a perspective view of an exemplary cap 140 and fig4 b illustrates a perspective , exploded view of the cap 140 comprising a coupling means 401 , e . g . in the form of threads on an inner surface of the cap 140 , adapted to be interactively connected to a corresponding coupling means 305 of the tubular housing 120 , 130 . fig4 c illustrates a distal view of the cap 140 , showing a longitudinal recess 402 adapted to receive and contain a proximal portion of the actuator interlocking member 150 . the cap 140 also comprises the coupling means 401 , e . g . in the shape of internal threads , interactively connected to corresponding coupling means 305 of the tubular housing 120 , 130 . preferably , the pitches of the threads are chosen such that there is a major longitudinal movement of the cap 140 in the proximal direction for a small turning angle , in order to avoid the user needing to turn the cap 140 more than about half a turn when performing the operation , so as to avoid them having to change grip to finish the operation of removing the cap 140 . in the exemplary embodiment , the second co - acting means comprises a proximal annular ledge 204 , fig2 a , of the actuator member 110 and at least one distally extending tongue 501 , fig5 , of the actuator interlocking member 150 . also the first co - acting means comprises a partial outer thread 503 on the outer proximal end surface of at least one proximally extending tongue 502 of the actuator interlocking member 150 , fig5 , and the coupling means 401 , e . g . in the shape of internal threads , on the inner circumferential surface of the cap 140 . in the exemplary embodiment of the invention the partial outer thread 503 has the same thread pitch as the threads of the outer thread of the tubular housing 120 , 130 ; i . e . the co - acting means 305 of the tubular housing 120 , 130 . fig6 a illustrates a cross - sectional side view of the energy accumulating means 160 and fig6 b illustrates the same energy accumulating means 160 but now in a cross - sectional side view . in the exemplary embodiment , the energy accumulating means is a volute spring but a spiral compression spring or a torsion spring can be used as well . fig6 c illustrates a perspective side view of the plunger rod 161 and the slidable stopper 162 . the plunger rod comprises the plunger rod coupling member 611 , and the plunger rod head 612 . fig7 illustrates the interior components of the medicament delivery device 100 including the plunger rod 161 having the plunger rod head 612 , the energy accumulating member 160 , the slidable stopper 162 , the medicament container 170 and the delivery member as e . g . a needle 710 . fig8 a illustrates a cross - sectional perspective view , of the distal part of the tubular housing 120 , 130 and of the actuator member 110 in the first inactivated position wherein the plunger rod 161 and the energy accumulating means 160 are in a pre - loaded state i . e . the plunger rod coupling member 611 is releasably connected to the flexible coupling means 312 and a distal end of the energy accumulating means 160 is pre - loaded and arranged between the proximal annular surface of the inner distal end wall 311 of the tubular housing 120 , 130 and the annular distal surface of the plunger rod head 612 fig8 b illustrates in a cross - sectional perspective view , of the distal part of the tubular housing 120 , 130 and of the actuator member 110 in the second activated position wherein the actuator 110 has been pressed down in a proximal direction , thus forcing the flexible co - acting means 202 in a proximal direction to enable the flexible coupling means 312 to expand in a radial outward direction and thereby allow the plunger rod coupling member 611 to be released from said flexible coupling means 312 . fig9 a illustrates , in perspective , an exemplary medicament delivery device 100 having the actuator member 110 in the first inactivated position , coaxially arranged at the distal end 309 of the tubular housing 120 , 130 and the cap 140 releasably connected , i . e . detachable , to the proximal end 308 of the tubular housing 120 , 130 . in the exemplary embodiment , the longitudinal actuator interlocking member 150 is axially slidable within the tubular housing between a locked position in which the proximal first co - acting means 503 are connected to the corresponding first co - acting means 401 of the cap 140 and the distal second co - acting means 501 are abutting to the corresponding second co - acting means 204 of the actuator member 110 such that the actuator member is prevented from being actuated , and an unlocked position in which the proximal first co - acting means 503 are disconnected from the corresponding first co - acting means 401 of the cap 140 and the distal second co - acting means 501 are abutting to a corresponding second co - acting means 204 of the actuator member 110 such that the actuator member is allowed to be actuated . fig9 b illustrates , in perspective , an exemplary medicament delivery device 100 wherein the actuator member 110 is in the second activated position and wherein the longitudinal actuator interlocking member 150 has been moved from the locked position to the unlocked position . further , the first co - acting means 503 of the interlocking member 150 which in the exemplary embodiment is illustrated as a partial outer thread , corresponds to the outer thread 305 of the tubular housing both when the interlocking member is in the locked position and in the unlocked position . fig1 a and fig1 b illustrate also a perspective cross - sectional view of the operations described in fig9 a and fig9 b the present invention is not limited to the above - described preferred embodiment . various alternatives , modifications and equivalents may be used . therefore , the above embodiment should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention , which is defined by the appended claims .	0
in fig1 a liquid crystal display 10 includes a liquid crystal cell 12 with means 14 positioned adjacent the cell for illuminating the cell in transmission for a viewer 16 through means 17 for diffusing the transmitted light . means 18 for applying a pattern of electrical signals to modulate the transmitted light corresponding to an image to be displayed thereon are attached to the cell 12 . in fig2 the cell 12 includes a first substrate 20 having first and second major surfaces 22 and 24 , respectively , and a second substrate 26 having first and second major surfaces 28 and 30 , respectively . a first electrode structure 32 overlies the first major surface 22 of the first substrate 20 and a first alignment layer 38 overlies the structure 32 . a second electrode structure 36 overlies the first major surface 28 of the second substrate 26 and a second alignment layer 38 overlies the structure 36 . a liquid crystal 40 fills the space between the alignment layers 34 and 38 and a sealant 42 contains the liquid crystal between the substrates 20 and 26 . means 44 for polarizing light incident on the second major surface 24 of the first substrate 20 and means 46 for analyzing the polarized light transmitted through the second substrate 26 are attached to the second major surfaces 24 and 30 , respectively . the means 44 and 46 are typically sheet polarizers . spacers typically used to maintain a uniform spacing between the substrates are not shown . in fig3 the orientation of the director between the substrates 20 and 26 varies along an optical axis 50 which is collinear with a normal 52 to the second major surface 30 . typically the directors 54 and 56 adjacent the first and second substrates 20 and 26 , respectively , are oriented at 90 ° to one another with the midpoint director 58 being oriented halfway between the orientation of the directors 54 and 56 adjacent the surfaces . the principal viewing plane is defined as the plane containing the midpoint director 58 and the normal 52 . the plane of constant electro - optic response is orthogonal to the principal viewing plane and is defined as the plane containing the normal 52 and a line perpendicular to both the midpoint director 58 and the normal 52 . the illumination means 14 is positioned so that the light incident on the second major surface 24 is substantially collimated in the principal viewing plane and is substantially uncollimated in the plane of constant electro - optic response . light incident on the second major surface 24 is preferably polarized either parallel or perpendicular to the director 54 adjacent the first substrate 20 and the analyzing means 46 are preferably oriented to transmit light polarized at 0 ° or 90 ° to the polarization of the incident light . the substrates 20 and 26 are typically composed of a material such as glass which is substantially transparent in the visible wavelength spectrum . the electrode structures 32 and 36 are well - known in the art and are typically composed of tin oxide or indium tin oxide about 100 nanometers ( nm ) thick which are transparent in the visible wavelength spectrum and which may be deposited by evaporation , sputtering or chemical vapor deposition . these layers are patterned to form the electrodes of individual pixels . the structures 32 and 36 include any associated conductive lines necessary to address the individual pixels and may also include active elements such as diodes , transistors and capacitors used in active addressing of a pixel as disclosed , for example , by mao in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 653 , 745 and by marlowe et al . in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 654 , 606 , both of which are incorporated herein by reference . preferably these active elements are small so as to maintain a high optical transmission through the display . the first and second electrode structures 32 and 36 comprise means for modulating the transmission of the liquid crystal 40 in response to a pattern of electrical signals applied thereto . the alignment layers 34 and 38 are preferably composed of a polyimide material about 100 nm thick deposited by spin coating followed by thermal curing . this material is typically treated by rubbing with a cloth in the desired alignment direction . the liquid crystal is typically a nematic material having a positive dielectric anisotropy and containing a small amount of a cholesteric liquid crystal to insure uniform twist . preferably a material such as type no . zli - 1800 - 000 or zli - 2293 nematic material , manufactured by e . merck , inc ., darmstadt , republic of germany , is used . the liquid crystal is loaded into the cell and the director adjacent the substrate surfaces aligned using techniques well known in the art . the transmission t , through a cell with a 90 ° twist angle and parallel polarizers , as disclosed , for example , by gooch et al . in electronics letters , 10 , 2 ( 1974 ) is : ## equ1 ## where x = 2dδn / λ , d is the material thickness , δn is the difference in the principal refractive indices and λ is the wavelength . the transmission of the cell is an oscillatory function of the liquid crystal thickness . this thickness is typically chosen to correspond to a minimum in the transmission of light through the cell . in particular , i have found that a thickness corresponding to the first gooch - tarry minimum in the transmission is preferred . this preferred thickness d is 0 . 87 λ / δn . typically the thickness is chosen to correspond to the first minimum for a wavelength between 400 and 700 nm . for illumination with a band of wavelengths the wavelength at about the center of the band is preferably used to determine the thickness . alternatively , the different elements of a pixel corresponding to the different primary colors may have different thicknesses corresponding to the first gooch - tarry minimum at the wavelength of the particular primary color . the means for illuminating the cell 12 provides a beam of light which is substantially collimated , typically having a divergence half - angle of about 30 ° or less and preferably less than 15 ° in one plane , and substantially uncollimated , typically having a divergence half - angle greater than about 45 ° and preferably approximating a distribution , defined by lambert &# 39 ; s law in the orthogonal plane . the divergence half - angle is defined as the angle from the center of symmetry of the light beam to its half intensity point . in fig4 a suitable means 14 for illuminating the cell 12 includes a light source 62 mounted in a parabolic reflector 64 . the light source 62 is typically a line source such as a fluorescent tube . the parabolic reflector 64 is shaped such that the emitted light is substantially collimated in the plane of fig4 and substantially uncollimated in the orthogonal plane . the means 17 for diverging the substantially collimated light in the principal viewing plane is typically a cylindrical lenticular screen typically having a pitch of about 50 micrometers ( μm ) and a full half - circle depth . the closer the screen is placed to the cell 12 , the less it will degrade the resolution of the display 10 . i have found that , when the incident light is substantially collimated in the principal viewing plane and substantially uncollimated in the orthogonal plane , as described with reference to fig3 the electro - optic curve is substantially constant over a wide range of viewing angles in this orthogonal plane . in fig5 the viewing angles θ and φ for a light ray 70 are defined relative to a normal 52 and the orientation of a midpoint director 58 . preferably the collimated light beam in the principal viewing plane is substantially perpendicular to the light entry surface but may be at an angle to this surface . the effect of a non - normal incidence is to shift the electro - optic curve in voltage . the electro - optic curves were measured on a cell with a merck zli - 1800 - 000 nematic liquid crystal having a refractive index anisotropy δn = 0 . 08 with a 90 ° twist angle and a thickness of 6 or 13 . 5 μm corresponding approximately to the first and second gooch - tarry minima , respectively , at a wavelength of 550 nm . the transmission through crossed polarizers of an incandescent light source was measured at different viewing angles using a detector having an angular resolution less than ± 2 °. in fig6 the electro - optic curve in the orthogonal plane ( φ equal to 90 ° and 270 ° as defined in fig5 ) is substantially the same up to a polar angle θ of about 45 ° for a cell having a thickness of 6 μm . at polar angles θ of 60 ° and 70 ° the curves are displaced to slightly lower voltages . for all viewing angles the electro - optic curve is symmetrical about the principal viewing plane . in fig7 the electro - optic curve for the same cell in the principal viewing plane ( φ equal to 0 ° and 180 ° as defined in fig5 ) changes markedly with the polar angle θ , exhibiting a greater variation for a 15 ° change in polar angle θ than a 70 ° change produced in the orthogonal plane and is also assymmetrical about the orthogonal plane . in fig8 the electro - optic curve for a cell having a thickness of 13 . 5 μm shows a variation with polar angle θ which is significantly greater than that for a first minimum cell in the orthogonal direction but which is still much less than that observed in the principal viewing plane for a first gooch - tarry minimum cell . while the principles of the invention have been described in terms of particular embodiments , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the details contained therein . in particular the principles of the invention are applicable to twist angles other than 90 ° and to polarizer orientations other than parallel or perpendicular to the director adjacent the light entry surface . for example , a cell having a 0 ° twist with the polarizers oriented at 45 ° to the director is useful .	6
reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings , wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout . fig1 shows a block schematic of the most important components of a radio communication system for packet data transmission . the 3gpp organization already mentioned at the start basically specifies methods designed to allow efficient packet data transmission to user equipment . one component of the methods is for example an adaptive modulation and a time - based scheduling of physical resources in a base station ( also referred to within the framework of a packet data transmission as nodeb , cf . fig1 ), that is in a device of the lowest hierarchy of a radio communication system for packet data transmission . the methods are also referred to as “ high speed downlink packet access ( hsdpa )” where downlink indicates the transmission of packet data in the downstream direction from a base station to a ue ( user equipment ). there is provision within the framework of 3gpp for expanding the area of responsibility and the task area of a base station nodeb in comparison to normal radio communication systems . in this case the base stations nodeb are given the sole responsibility of controlling the transmission capacities , i . e . physical resources assigned to them , for a packet data transmission to user equipment ue on common channels . in this case there can also be signaling between user equipment ue and a base station nodeb for the case of an error in the transmission of packet data on the basis of which the base station nodeb undertakes a retransmission of the incorrectly transmitted data packet . to this end data packets are requested by the base stations nodeb from hierarchically higher devices in the network architecture and stored in first buffers , known as scheduling queues until the transmission of the data packets over the air interface to the user equipment ue is completed . data packets sent are stored in second data memories , known as retransmission buffers , until such time as the receipt of the data packet from the corresponding user equipment has been positively acknowledged or until a defined send time has been exceeded . a device of a higher hierarchy of the network architecture of the radio communication system is also shown in fig1 , namely as a network node embodied as a switching and control device , a so - called controlling radio network controller crnc . this network node crnc in particular basically has control of transmission capacities — that is over physical resources — of the base stations nodeb 1 , nodeb 2 which are subordinate to it in the hierarchy . in a radio communication system there is provision as a rule for a plurality of such network nodes crnc which may be subordinate to further devices with higher hierarchies in their turn . thus the network nodes crnc and the base stations nodeb 1 , nodeb 2 connected to them in the data system form a hierarchical network architecture of a radio communication system . the radio communication system is embodied in the case of fig1 as a cellular radio communication system . the base station nodeb 1 serves a cell a and a cell b , the base station nodeb 2 serves a cell c and a cell d . in the example according to fig1 there is exactly one user terminal ue 1 in the cell b , two terminals ue 2 , ue 3 are in the cell c . for the methods proposed in 3gpp the base stations nodeb 1 , nodeb 2 are given the functionality to plan and suitably assign the physical resources for the transmission of data packets to user equipment ue 1 , ue 2 , ue 3 . this planning and assignment of resources can be undertaken by the base stations on the basis of values for the transmission quality or quality of service ( qos ) for specific current applications in the cell , on the basis of the data rates at the radio interface and / or on the basis of the interference and load situation in the relevant radio cell at that moment . thus certain control functions are transferred to the base stations which would usually be fulfilled in the centralized network architecture ( utran ) by the higher ranking network - nodes crnc . this leads to the problem that the hierarchically higher ranking network node crnc has only conditional information or no information at all about the current load situation at the base stations nodeb 1 , nodeb 2 assigned to it . thus a network node crnc could not effectively execute certain checking and control functions which would also be sensible in a hierarchical network architecture , for example admission control and load control . the above - mentioned problems can , as just shown , occur in a radio communication system for packet data transmission operating in accordance with the hsdpa principle . basically however comparable considerations can also apply to other hierarchical radio communication systems , as has already been shown at the start of this document . when the hspda principle is used in a radio communication system for packet data transmission there is provision on the one hand for the crnc , when a radio connection to user equipment is established , to release physical resources at the base stations nodeb administered by it ( resource allocation for hsdpa , abbreviated in fig1 to ra hsdpa ). without the measures of the invention however the crnc would not obtain any knowledge about the actual use of the physical resources by the base stations nodeb since a scheduling of the data packets to be transmitted is undertaken in the base stations nodeb . without the measures of the invention the crnc would thus have no control over the actual use of the allocated resources in the cells of the radio communication systems subordinate to it . this is where the invention can help . as shown in fig1 , the current load state in the relevant cell a , b , c , d of the base stations nodeb 1 , nodeb 2 is reported to the crnc ( cell load reporting clr for cell a , b or for cell c , d ). the load states in the relevant base stations nodeb or in at the relevant cells of the last transmitted directly as cell load reporting . this ensures that even with the use of hsdpa — or basically with comparable problems in hierarchical radio communication systems — the crnc as a device of a higher hierarchy can continue to exercise sufficient checking and control functions for nodeb devices subordinate to it of the lower hierarchy . such checking and control functions can for example be an admission control ( ac ) or a load control ( lc ). the cell load reporting clr of the load states for the cells a , b , c , d can for example be undertaken periodically or event - driven , e . g . if a specific threshold value is exceeded or undershot . the current load states for the cells a , b , c , d can be transmitted as values which represent average values over time for the average usage of signaling or can also represent physical resources which have been assigned for hsdpa . thus for example the average utilization of the number of code channels , the average use of specific types of modulation , the average occupancy of scheduling queues or the average number of acknowledgement signals ( such as harq acq and nack ) can be included for forming the values for the current load states . in addition the reported load information can also be used by the crnc to give another network node srnc ( serving rnc ) a handover indication ( hoi ) for the purposes of optimizing load distribution in the radio communication system . each network node crnc can become a serving rnc ( srnc ) for a specific user equipment , if this network node is the first to exercise specific checking functions over specific user equipment ue , since this user equipment ue is currently located in the area of this specific rnc . if the user equipment ue now moves and , in doing so , leaves the area of the srnc and enters the area of another crnc , the srnc retains control over the user equipment ue and the new crnc merely serves to forward the control actions of the srnc . the new crnc is therefore referred to as the drift rnc ( drnc ) for these control actions . thus if resources are to be allocated for data connections for example to user equipment ue in such a case , the srnc can no longer control this itself since the user equipment ue is in the area of a drnc . the srnc must then request the drnc to release corresponding resources . two srncs are shown in fig1 let us assume that srnc 1 is responsible for controlling user equipment ue 1 and srnc 2 for controlling user equipment ue 2 , ue 3 . the user equipment ue 1 , ue 2 , ue 3 however is now located in the area of the crnc also shown in fig1 , which now acts as a drnc for the user equipment ue 1 , ue 2 , ue 3 and for the srnc 1 and srnc 2 and the administers the physical resources of the nodebs assigned to it . the crnc acting as drnc can however , as a result of its knowledge of the load circumstances in the cells a , b , c , d or at nodeb 1 and nodeb 2 , transfer recommendations to the srnc 1 and srnc 2 in each case such as handover indications ( hoi ) for example . there is provision in hsdpa for the most recent handover decisions to be made by the corresponding srnc . basically handover decisions are made on the basis of the transmission quality for a radio connection to user equipment ue . the load - based handover decision here offers a further opportunity for optimizing the operation of a radio communication system and is of course also applicable in other types of hierarchical radio communication system . an additional option is thus created for making a radio connection ( serving high - speed downlink shared channel hs - dsch radio link ) from a first cell into a second cell . thus , in the example of fig1 the crnc , on the basis of the transferred load information clr of the base station nodeb 2 , can send the srnc 2 a handover indication hoi on the basis of which a handover of the radio connection to the user equipment ue 3 from cell c into cell d can take place , if in cell c the average usage of certain resources exceeds a defined threshold value . as a further requirement for the execution of such a handover there is usefully provision for this only to occur if , in the new cell , here in the cell d , there are also adequate reception conditions for the terminal ue 3 . furthermore the crnc can also use the load information from the other device of the radio communication system known to it as a basis for rejecting or accepting the desired handover , if this serves to optimize the load situation in the radio communication system . the following functionalities of the crnc can also be especially supported by the invention : a dynamic adaptation of the allocated resources for a transmission of data packets with hsdpa , for example a reduction or increase in the number of codes ( channelization codes ) used for the transmission , accepting or rejecting incoming packet data connections accepting or rejecting a handover transfer of handover recommendations to srncs for optimizing the load situation or using the physical resources in the cells administered by the crnc . the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof and examples , but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention covered by the claims which may include the phrase “ at least one of a , b and c ” as an alternative expression that means one or more of a , b and c may be used , contrary to the holding in superguide v . directv , 69 uspq2d 1865 ( fed . cir . 2004 ).	7
referring now more specifically to the drawings , the numeral 10 generally designates a reciprocating piston internal combustion engine including a block 12 defining four piston bores or cylinders 14 closed at their upper ends by a cylinder head 16 journalling a cam shaft 18 therefrom . the head 16 includes intake and exhaust valves 20 and 22 of the spring closed poppet type with which lobes 24 and 26 of the cam shaft 18 are operatively engaged for opening the valves 20 and 22 . of course , the intake and exhaust valves control the flow of intake and exhaust gases into and from the cylinders 14 through corresponding intake and exhaust passages ( not shown ) formed in the head 16 . the block 12 journals crankshaft structure referred to in general by the reference numeral 27 from the lower end thereof and the crankshaft structure 27 includes a pair of opposite end crankshaft sections 28 and 30 independently rotatable relative to the block 12 . the lower end of the block is closed by the usual pan 32 and the engine further journals a countershaft 34 therefrom . the forward end of the countershaft 34 has a toothed pulley 36 mounted thereon and the forward end of the cam shaft 18 has a toothed pulley 38 mounted thereon whose circumference is twice the circumference of the pulley 36 . an endless flexible toothed belt ( or chain ) 40 drivingly connects the pulley 36 to the pulley 38 . front and rear driven gears 42 and 44 are journalled from the block 12 by bearings 46 and 48 and the front and rear ends of the front and rear crankshaft sections 28 and 30 include gear wheels 50 and 52 mounted thereon meshed with the gears 42 and 44 . the gears 44 rotatably receive the opposite ends of the countershaft 34 therethrough and the gears 42 and 44 include clutch assemblies 54 and 56 which are remotely operable and of any suitable type . the clutch assemblies 54 and 56 may be actuated to clutch or drivingly connect the gears 42 and 44 to the shaft 34 or deactuated to allow relative rotation between the gears 42 and 44 and the shaft 34 . the cylinder portions 58 and 60 of a pair of double acting hydraulic cylinders 62 and 64 are stationarily mounted from the block 12 and include piston sleeves 66 and 68 extending therethrough equipped with piston portions 70 and 72 as well as spool portions 74 and 76 . the cylinder portions 58 and 60 include seals 78 establishing fluid - tight seals between the cylinder portions 58 and 60 and the piston sleeves 66 and 68 and the shaft 34 is rotatably received through the piston sleeves 66 and 68 and has opposite end splines 80 and 82 thereon . as may best be seen from fig3 the gears 42 and 44 include inner end recesses which are provided with inner gear teeth as at 84 and 86 and the gears 42 and 44 are splined to the shaft 34 as at 88 and 90 . a pair of slide gears 92 and 94 are internally splined and slidably engaged with the splines 80 and 82 on the shaft 34 . the slide gears are connected to the piston sleeves 66 and 68 through thrust bearings 96 and 98 and are axially displaceable into meshed engagement with the gear teeth 84 and 86 . in addition , the inner ends of the gears 42 and 44 include ramp surfaces 100 and 102 and the gears 42 and 44 include outer keyways 104 and 106 which open outwardly through the ramp surfaces 100 and 102 and in which key lugs 108 and 110 carried by the gears 42 and 44 are receivable . combined fluid pressure inlet and fluid pressure return lines 112 and 114 open into opposite ends of each of the cylinder portions 58 and 60 and a fluid pressure bleed line 116 opens outwardly of each cylinder portion 58 . the lines 112 , 114 and 116 extend to any suitable source of hydraulic fluid under pressure and an associated hydraulic fluid reservoir ( not shown ). in addition , the clutch assemblies 54 and 56 may be of any suitable type that may be remotely actuated . in operation , and assuming the previously described moving parts of the engine 10 are as illustrated in fig3 of the drawings , the engine 10 is being operated only by the two rear cylinders or bores 14 and the pistons 118 disposed therein are connected to the rear crankshaft section 30 by connecting rods 120 . each front and rear pair of cylinders or bores 14 is provided with its own air and fuel induction system ( not shown ) and its own exhaust gas system ( not shown ). when it is desired to operate the engine 10 by all four cylinders or bores 14 , the valves 20 and 22 for the front cylinders are held open by remotely operable hydraulic thrusters 124 , see fig2 operatively associated therewith . the front clutch assembly 54 is actuated to cause the front gear 42 to rotate at the same speed as the counter shaft 34 . then , the hydraulic cylinder 62 is actuated by admitting fluid under pressure into the cylinder portion 58 through line 114 . the piston 70 moves to the left as viewed in fig3 and thereby causes the key lug 108 to engage the ramp surface 110 . as the key lug 108 engage the ramp surface 110 excess fluid pressure is bled off by bleed line 116 and the clutch assembly 54 is released to allow key 108 to align with keyway 104 . as the key 108 enters keyway 104 bleed line 116 is covered by spool portion 74 and full fluid pressure is available to cause final movement of the piston portion 70 to the left and full meshed engagement of the gear 94 with the gear teeth 84 . then , fluid pressure to the cylinder portion 58 and the thrusters 124 is relieved and the fuel injectors for the front cylinders 14 may be actuated . the engine 10 may be provided with a mini computer ( not shown ) for proper timed sequential control over fluid pressure to the cylinder portions 58 and 60 , the clutch assemblies 54 and 56 , the thrusters 124 and the fuel injection ( if provided ) for the front and rear cylinders . if it is then desired to disable one pair of the cylinders or bores 14 , either clutch assembly 54 and 56 may be engaged and the corresponding cylinder 62 and 64 may be actuated to withdraw the corresponding slide gear 92 or 94 from engagement with the associated gear 42 or 44 . with attention now invited more specifically to fig6 of the drawings , it may be seen that the remote ends of the crankshaft sections 28 and 30 may be drivingly coupled to the corresponding ends of the countershaft 34 at a 2 : 1 ratio through the utilization of an endless flexible belt 128 and that the forward end of the countershaft 34 may be drivingly connected to the forward end of the cam shaft 18 by an endless flexible belt 130 at a ratio of 1 : 1 . on the other hand , with attention now invited more specifically to fig7 the remote ends of the crankshaft sections 28 and 32 may be drivingly connected to the opposite ends of the countershaft 34 through the utilization of small and large gear wheels 132 and 134 mounted thereon at a 2 : 1 ratio and the forward end of the countershaft 34 may be drivingly connected to the forward end of the cam shaft 18 by an endless flexible belt 136 at a 1 : 1 ratio . from fig4 of the drawings , it may be seen that the ramp surface 100 extends approximately 90 ° about the corresponding gear . however , the ramp surface could extend 180 °, 270 ° or substantially 360 ° about the gear . also , it is important to note that the path of power transmission from each crankshaft section to the countershaft 34 is first through the corresponding clutch and then through the corresponding sliding gear which is in fixed angular displacement relative to the countershaft 34 and that the camshaft 18 is constantly driven from the countershaft 34 . accordingly , the camshaft is maintained in proper &# 34 ; time &# 34 ; with the crankshaft . the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention . further , since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art , it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described , and accordingly , all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to , falling within the scope of the invention .	8
a method and apparatus for storing disks or other forms of data storage is described . in the following description numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention . it will be apparent , however , to one skilled in the art , that the present invention may be practiced without incorporating all aspects of the specific details described herein . in other instances , well - known features have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the invention . the storage apparatus described herein is designed to house a disk ( e . g ., a compact disk ) of any size or shape in a functional manner . an embodiment of the invention comprises an apparatus for holding disks without a jewel case in a manner that displays the non - play side of the disk to the user . in one or more instances the apparatus embodying the invention comprises an open - faced housing having a plurality of grooves recessed into a portion of the housing . any conventional or unconventional compact disk ( cd ), cd - rom , cdr , cdr - w , or dvd containing , for example , any audio or visual information including music , movies , software or any combination thereof can be stored by embodiments of the invention . the term “ disk ” is utilized to represent circular disk 120 for the sake of convenience only ; the term is not meant to be limited solely to compact disks , but may represent any data storage solution . disk 120 may , for example , represent a cd - rom , cdr , dvd , cdr - w , or computer readable objects having other shapes . thus , the storage apparatus may be adapted for use with square , rectangular , or any other angled or non - angularly shaped data storage solution . [ 0026 ] fig1 shows an example of an open - faced housing configured in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . the apparatus is designed to provide the user with a place for quickly accessing disks . thus disks placed in the apparatus are inserted without a jewel case or any other form of packaging material . grooves 102 - 112 are recessed into a portion of open - faced housing 100 and each groove is configured to hold disk 120 in an upright position . each groove is configured to hold disk 120 so that the user may insert disk 120 ( e . g ., a cd , dvd , and / or any other type of data storage media into the grooves ). the invention contemplates the inclusion of grooves 102 - 112 of varying size and depth into open - faced housing 100 . thus , grooves 102 - 112 may comprise any type of indentation or depression adapted to hold disk 120 in an upright position . open - faced housing 100 may comprise a uniform piece that is formed via an injection mold process . in this instance the open - faced housing is made of plastic or some other type of polymer based compound . however , the invention contemplates the use of any substance that can be molded to form a shape having recessed grooves ( e . g ., wood , metal , etc . . . ). in one embodiment of the invention the uniform piece that forms the open - faced housing is a single piece molded into a shape that contains recessed grooves although it is important to note that the invention is not limited to instances where one uniform piece forms the open - faced housing . any number of pieces may be coupled together to form a shape that has a plurality of grooves recessed into a portion of the structure . however , a single piece may also form open - faced housing . for instance , a single piece of plastic could be shaped to form the apparatus embodying aspects of the invention . in some instances the open - faced housing is integrated into devices having a purpose other than the storage of disks . for example , the open - faced housing may be part of any other type of device or housing adaptable to contain recessed grooves for holding data storage solutions without inhibiting the function of the housing . a computer monitor , computer case , desk , computer printer , or any other item where it would be convenient for a user to store disks may be adapted to become an open - faced housing having recessed grooves configured to hold a disk in an extended position . it should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that open - faced housing 100 may take on any size and shape , as well as house any number of cd &# 39 ; s to be stored vertically , horizontally , or in any other position . in each instance , open - faced housing may hold any form of digital media without requiring any additional storage solutions . for instance , a jewel case or any other form of cd packaging is not required in order to hold the data storage solutions . in one embodiment of the invention open - faced housing 100 is designed to look “ sleek ” and “ high - tech ” by rounding the edges to enhance consumer appeal and encourage impulse buying . however , the invention may take other forms or shapes that incorporate the functionality described herein . in the event that the open - faced housing is configured with multiple grooves , each groove 102 - 112 may be separated from the other by a distance greater than the thickness of the disks the apparatus is designed to hold . if , for instance , the apparatus embodying the invention is configured to hold disk 120 and disk 120 represents a cd , the second groove is proximally located a distance from the first that is greater than the thickness of the cd . thus , the distance between groove 102 and groove 104 is typically greater than the thickness of disk 120 . however , the invention is not limited to spacing the grooves at any particular distance and may contain grooves that are separated by more or less than the thickness of the medium the apparatus is intended to hold . in one embodiment of the invention , each groove 102 - 112 acts as a receptacle for holding disk 120 in a specific position . a groove that is recessed into the top portion of the housing may , for example , be configured to hold cd - roms , dvds , or cdrs in an upright or extended position ( see e . g ., groove 102 ). in other instances grooves 102 - 112 are configured to hold disks in alternative positions . if the open - faced housing is positioned upright ( e . g ., where groove 112 is located closet to the portion of the housing that is in contact with a physical surface ) grooves 102 - 112 are considered recessed into the top portion of the housing . however , grooves may be adapted to hold disks in a sideways or other angled position . open - faced housing 100 may have a portion 122 designed to display identifying information such as a company logo or other graphic image . identifying information may be attached to the area in the form of a sticker , engraving , or other printing method . it should also be noted that any company could use this area to brand the product by placing their company logo in its place . it is important to note that although the term open - faced housing is used for illustrative purposes , an embodiment of the invention also contemplates the use of housings that may be covered so as to provide further protection for disks held within the recessed grooves of the housing . thus , for example , open - faced housing 100 may be configured to also include a cover that protects the surface of the disks placed in grooves 102 - 112 . open - face housing 100 is typically positioned so that the user can view the front portion ( non - play side ) of disk 120 . the top portion of the open - faced housing may be positioned at an angle that allows the user to see a front portion of each disk . the apparatus may , for instance , sit at an angle that positions each groove on a plane that is approximately 30 degrees different from the surface upon which the apparatus is placed . however , the invention contemplates embodiments using various other positions and may , for example , be adapted so that the plane each groove sits at is any angle . embodiments of the invention may sit vertically , horizontally , upside down , or at any position in - between . [ 0032 ] fig2 provides an example of the interior portion of each groove in accordance with one embodiment of the invention . each groove 210 - 216 is configured to hold disk 218 in position by frictionally engaging a disk placed into the groove . groove 208 , for example , may comprise an insert 200 that holds the disk in place without damaging the surface of disk 218 . open - faced housing 220 may have any number of grooves and may be adapted to contain more or less than the number of grooves illustrated in fig1 . insert 200 may be made felt , rubber , foam , or any other substance that can be utilized to provide a protective layer between disk 218 and housing 220 in which disk 218 may be placed . in one embodiment of the invention inserts 200 keep disk 218 or other form of digital media secure by keeping the front or back of the item placed within the insert from touching the open - faced housing to avoid scratching the disk surface . inserts 200 may also be configured to hold disk 218 snuggly in place . the width of each insert 200 depends upon the type of disk 218 the apparatus is intended to hold . in one embodiment of the invention , each insert 200 is minimally greater than the thickness of the disk the insert will frictionally engage . if disk 218 is , for example , a dvd or cd - rom , insert 200 comprises an opening large enough to allow the disk to be easily removed , but narrow enough to firmly hold the disk in place . grooves 200 - 206 may be recessed at varying depths . for example , groove 206 located toward the back portion of open - faced housing 220 has a depth less than groove 200 . in some instances however , each groove is approximately the same depth but open - faced housing is positioned at an angle so that the top portion of each disk sits above the preceding disk . referring back to fig1 for example , a disk placed in groove 102 sits at a lower position than a disk placed in groove 112 . the invention contemplates the use of any type mechanism designed to position open - faced housing 100 at an incline . for example , stand 122 moves open - faced housing 100 into an inclined position so that the disks are arranged in a plane that slants upwards . thus , the back portion of open - faced housing 100 is typically higher than front portion 124 . the stand may comprise a wire frame or some other type of substance ( e . g ., plastic , wood , or any other solid substance ). when a wire frame is utilized , the wire frame may be inserted into open - faced housing 100 in hole 25 . fig7 illustrates an enlarged version of housing stand 700 and its shape . however , frame stand is optional and the housing may be formed in such a way that is has it own stand integrated into the housing . stand 700 can be made of any solid material that can support open - faced housing 100 and force it to stand so that the front is flush and touching any flat surface . thus stand 700 enables front portion 124 to lie flat on the surface when the stand 700 is attached . it is important to note that the purpose of stand 700 is used to help lift the open - faced housing into an inclined position to provide easier viewing and access to disks held within the grooves . however , it is not imperative to have stand 700 attached to effectively use open - faced housing 100 . the housing can still be configured to reside at an incline without stand 700 . [ 0034 ] fig3 a illustrates an alternative configuration for each groove in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . one or more of the grooves illustrated in fig1 for example , may be configured to hold disk 300 in a cradle portion 302 that provides the disk with a place to rest . cradle portion 302 need not frictionally engage the disk , but may contain a buffer that prevents the disk from damage . however , in one embodiment of the invention no such buffer is present and disk 300 sits in cradle 302 . fig3 b shows a side view of cradle 302 as it is integrated into open - faced housing 304 . in this instance groove 305 does not contain any protective insert , but is instead configured in to hold a disk without a jewel case . grooves 305 may , for instance , have a base that utilizes a step or concave shape to hold circular objects and / or other shaped objects of varying size . this concave portion is referred to in one embodiment of the invention as cradle 302 . however , cradle 302 need not always to be concave . rather cradle 302 comprises a center portion ( 302 ) lower than the two side portions ( 310 and 308 ). as used in this description , the terms “ up ”, “ down ”, “ top ”, “ bottom ”, etc ., refer to housing 100 when in the orientation illustrated in fig1 . fig4 shows an embodiment of the invention from a bottom view perspective . grooves 102 - 112 are recessed into open - faced housing and disk 120 may be positioned in each groove . center portion 150 represents cradle 302 . however , center portion 150 may also provide a location for placement of inserts 200 - 206 . center portion 150 is not required in order to properly hold disk 120 in position nut may be optionally included so as to provide the manufacture with design flexibility . [ 0036 ] fig5 illustrates a side view of the open - faced housing in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . inserts 200 - 206 may protrude from grooves 102 - 112 and can therefore be removed from open - faced housing 100 for purposes of replacement or design flexibility . inserts 200 - 206 may have beveled edges in front and back of each groove to increase ease of disk access to and from the groove . however , grooves may also be configured to hold digital media without any insert . in one embodiment of the invention inserts 200 - 204 are not removable and are part of the housing itself . however , in other instances inserts 200 - 204 are incorporated into a removable portion that snugly sits in open - faced housing 100 within portion 150 . an example of a removable set of inserts 600 is shown in fig6 . removable set of inserts 600 may comprise multiple slots adaptably configured to hold the digital media . in one embodiment of the invention , each slot is approximately 1 . 5 times the width of the digital media the slot is intended to store . however , the invention contemplates the use of slots having any width that snuggly holds a disk . the slots are typically centered in grooves 102 - 112 but may be located in other positions . the removable set of inserts may be comprised of closed cell foam , rubber , or some other type of substance that will hold a disk in an extended position , but still allow the user to pull the disk from the slot . [ 0038 ] fig8 and 9 illustrate a top view and back view in accordance with one embodiment of the invention . fig1 comprises a rear view of the open - faced housing in accordance with one embodiment of the invention . in the embodiment illustrated open - faced housing 100 comprises grooves 102 - 112 and lacks center portion 150 ( see e . g ., fig1 ). thus , fig1 illustrates that center portion 150 is not required for purposes of holding disks . grooves 102 - 112 may be recessed directly into open - faced housing 100 , such that center portion 150 is optional . for instance , referring now to fig1 that illustrates a top view with focus on a front portion and set of removable inserts in accordance with an embodiment of the invention , center portion 150 is shown in a manner that is integrated uniformly into housing 100 . thus , housing 100 is a single piece in one embodiment of the invention , but may also be separated into two or more pieces . fig1 comprises an example of a side view of the open - faced housing configured as a single piece and showing recessed grooves for disk storage in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . grooves 201 - 206 may optionally include a non - abrasive substances such a rubber or foam to hold disks into place . fig1 comprises an example of an angled view of the front and top of the disk storage device in accordance with one embodiment of the invention . the device is configured as one piece in this embodiment illustrated in fig1 . fig1 comprises an example of an angled view of the bottom of the open - faced housing showing recessed central portion in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . the bottom portion of grooves 102 - 112 are recessed into housing 100 such that the grooves become part of the housing . thus , grooves become part of a recessed central portion couple to or part of housing 100 . the means and method for storing disks should be apparent to those skilled in the art after reading this disclosure . it should be understood that the foregoing is illustrative and not limiting and that obvious modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention . accordingly , reference should be made primarily to the accompanying claims and the full scope of their equivalents , rather than the foregoing specification , to determine the scope of the invention . thus an apparatus for storing disks and a method relating thereto has been described .	6
referring to the figures , the modular printhead ( 1 ) includes a plurality of printhead modules ( 2 ) mounted to a metal chassis ( 3 ) which acts as a support frame . the modules ( 2 ) are sealed units with four independent ink chambers that feed the inkjet nozzles in a printhead chip ( 8 ). as best seen in fig2 each printhead module ( 2 ) is plugged into a reservoir moulding ( 11 ) that supplies the ink through a self sealing elastomeric strip ( 12 ). the entire modular printhead ( 1 ) may itself be a module of a larger printhead having two levels of modularity . accordingly , the length of the overall printhead is arbitrary . referring to fig7 to 9 , the printhead modules ( 2 ) each comprise a printhead chip ( 8 ) bonded to a tab ( tape automated bond ) film ( 6 ) accommodated and supported by a micro moulding ( 5 ), which is in turn adapted to mate with the cover moulding ( 4 ). the printhead chip ( 8 ) is typically a micro electro mechanical system ( s ) ( mems ) device . the present invention will now be described with particular reference to the applicant &# 39 ; s memjet ™ technology , various aspects of which are described in detail in the cross referenced documents . it will be appreciated that memjet ™ is only one embodiment of the invention and used here for the purposes of illustration only . it is not to be construed as restrictive or limiting in any way on the extent of the broad inventive concept . a memjet ™ printhead is composed of a number of identical printhead modules ( 2 ) described in greater detail below . a memjet ™ printhead is a drop - on - demand 1600 dpi inkjet printer that produces bi - level dots in up to 6 colors to produce a printed page of a particular width . since the printhead prints dots at 1600 dpi ( dots per inch ), each dot is approximately 22 . 5 μm in diameter , and the dots are spaced 15 . 875 μm apart . because the printing is bi - level , the input image is typically dithered or error - diffused for best results . the modules ( 2 ) are designed such that the printhead chips ( 8 ) of adjacent modules can exactly abut one another so that there are no gaps or overlap in the printing produced . to achieve this , the modules ( 2 ) must be precisely aligned with each other after being mounted on the metal chassis ( 1 ). aligning the modules ( 2 ) using digital control of the chips ( 8 ) is possible but relatively difficult and costly given the complex manipulation of the print data necessary to seamlessly join the printing from adjacent modules . the required degree of alignment can be cost effectively provided by the mechanical adjustment mechanism of the present invention . referring to fig3 and 4 , the apertures ( 20 ) in the module engagement plate ( 19 ) receive the ink funnels for each module ( 2 ). the engagement plate ( 19 ) is integrally formed with the metal chassis ( 3 ) via hinged arms ( 15 , 16 , 17 & amp ; 18 ). input lever ( 13 ) is fulcrumed against the metal chassis ( 3 ) to act on the engagement plate ( 19 ) via the hinged link arm ( 16 ). movement of the input lever ( 13 ) is reduced by the lever arms to produce a minute movement of the engagement plate ( 19 ). by careful configuration of the input lever ( 13 ) and the hinged link arms ( 15 , 16 , 17 & amp ; 18 ), the resultant movement in the engagement plate ( 19 ) is substantially linear and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the metal chassis ( 3 ). the skilled artisan will readily appreciate that it is convenient to configure the input lever ( 13 ) and the hinged link arms ( 15 , 16 , 17 & amp ; 18 ) such that input movement is substantially normal to the resultant movement for ease of access to the input lever ( 13 ). the apertures ( 21 , 22 ) in each of the input levers ( 13 ) are used to fit any convenient intermediate integer ( not shown ) selected for applying the input force to their respective input lever ( 13 ). referring to fig2 the intermediate integers chosen for the present embodiment are a series of adjuster blocks ( 10 ) individually fixed to each of the input levers . grub screws ( 9 ) threadedly engaged with the metal chassis ( 3 ) to bear against each of the adjuster block ( 10 ). this arrangement allows precise alignment of the modules ( 2 ) by reducing the axial input motion of the grub screw ( 9 ) by ratio of about 1000 to 1 to produce minute movement of the engagement plate ( 19 ) with respect to the metal chassis ( 3 ). the invention has been described herein by way of example only . skilled workers in this field will readily recognise many variations and modifications that do not depart from the spirit and scope of the broad inventive concept .	1
many of the functional units described in this specification have been labeled as modules , in order to more particularly emphasize their implementation independence . for example , a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom vlsi circuits or gate arrays , off - the - shelf semiconductors such as logic chips , transistors , or other discrete components . a module may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays , programmable array logic , programmable logic devices or the like . modules may also be implemented in software for execution by various types of processors . an identified module or component of executable code may , for instance , comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computer instructions which may , for instance , be organized as an object , procedure , or function . nevertheless , the executables of an identified module need not be physically located together , but may comprise disparate instructions stored in different locations which , when joined logically together , comprise the module and achieve the stated purpose for the module . further , a module of executable code could be a single instruction , or many instructions , and may even be distributed over several different code segments , among different programs , and across several memory devices . similarly , operational data may be identified and illustrated herein within modules , and may be embodied in any suitable form and organized within any suitable type of data structure . the operational data may be collected as a single data set , or may be distributed over different locations including over different storage devices , over disparate memory devices , and may exist , at least partially , merely as electronic signals on a system or network . furthermore , modules may also be implemented as a combination of software and one or more hardware devices . for instance , a module may be embodied in the combination of a software executable code stored on a memory device . in a further example , a module may be the combination of a processor that operates on a set of operational data . still further , a module may be implemented in the combination of an electronic signal communicated via transmission circuitry . reference throughout this specification to “ one embodiment ,” “ an embodiment ,” or similar language means that a particular feature , structure , or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention . thus , appearances of the phrases “ in one embodiment ,” “ in an embodiment ,” and similar language throughout this specification may , but do not necessarily , all refer to the same embodiment . moreover , the described features , structures , or characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . thus , it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents . reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the invention . reference is now made to fig1 and 2 , reference numeral 100 and 200 , respectively , which schematically illustrate different embodiments of a system for performing a method of triggering the automatic transmission and communication of relevant information pertaining to the occurrence of an emergency at the time of the emergency , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . turning to fig1 , fig1 depicts a system 100 for triggering the automatic transmission and communication of relevant emergency information pertaining to the occurrence of an emergency at a location , for instance , a home , where the home owner or occupant triggers communication of the relevant emergency information pertaining to the occurrence of the emergency from within the location , namely , the home itself . it is understood by one skilled in the art that the invention may be used in a home , an office or a business , such as , a hotel , etc . in fig1 and 2 , the emergency location described is that of an emergency occurring at a home , thus , the remainder of the discussion in fig1 and 2 will be with reference to a home and the home owner or occupant of the home . in particular , the home owner or occupant has installed an emergency planning and coordination tool or program on a home computer system that is connected to a communications network , which in an embodiment , is a voip ( voice over internet protocol ) network . further , the owner of the computer system has configured the emergency planning and coordination tool or program by entering and inputting emergency information and / or data , such as , emergency phone numbers for 911 , the police department , the fire department , ems ( emergency medical services ), digital or electronic addresses of one or more parties to be contacted in the case of an emergency , etc ., which , in an embodiment , is stored in a local database coupled to the owner &# 39 ; s computer system . in an embodiment , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool enables a home owner to create a floor plan for the home that can be used during an emergency . the emergency planning and coordination tool or program is configured to trigger , transmit and communicate relevant emergency information stored in a local database , including emergency information , such as , a created floor plan and any other emergency information pertaining to the occurrence of an emergency at the home , which is discussed further herein below with respect to fig4 and 5 . as shown in fig1 , when an emergency occurs ( reference numeral 102 ) at a location , for instance , a house , the occupant or home owner dials an emergency number ( reference numeral 104 ) provided in the emergency planning and coordination tool . in an embodiment , the home owner dials the emergency number from within the location , the house in this case , either using a voip phone ( reference numeral 106 ) that is connected to a voice over ip ( voip ) communications network or uses a regular phone ( reference numeral 106 ) that is coupled to a voip adapter ( reference numeral 108 ) for communicating with the voice over ip ( voip ) communications network . the emergency planning and coordination tool installed on the home computer system checks ( reference numeral 109 ) a local database ( reference numeral 110 ) coupled to the home computer system to determine ( reference numeral 112 ) whether or not the number dialed by the home owner is an emergency number stored within the local database . if the emergency planning and coordination tool or program determines in step 112 that the emergency number dialed is not an emergency number listed or stored in the local database 110 , then the emergency planning and coordination tool makes or connects the call made ( reference numeral 114 ) in a “ business as usual ” fashion , that is , without triggering transmission of the emergency data and / or information stored on the computer system . the home owner &# 39 ; s voice is converted into a digital signal that is transmitted over the internet ( reference numeral 116 ) to a destination phone ( reference numeral 118 ), ending the process at 119 . it is understood that if the destination phone 118 is a regular phone , then the digital signal is converted to a regular telephone signal before it is transmitted to the destination phone , reference numeral 118 . going back to step 112 , if the emergency planning and coordination tool or program determines that the emergency number dialed is an emergency number listed or stored in the local database 110 , then the emergency planning and coordination tool obtains ( reference numeral 120 ) the relevant emergency information , including any floor plans , created and stored in the home owner &# 39 ; s computer system and sends the relevant emergency information to one or more digital or electronic addresses specified by the owner and makes or connects the call to the emergency number dialed ( reference numeral 122 ). the home owner &# 39 ; s voice is converted into a digital signal that is transmitted over the internet ( reference numeral 124 ) to a destination phone ( reference numeral 126 ) or device , such as , an emergency service provider , ending the process at 134 . further , the emergency planning and coordination tool sends or transmits over the internet ( reference numeral 130 ) emergency information and / or data ( reference numeral 128 ) obtained or retrieved from the database 110 coupled to the home computer system . the emergency information and / or data is transmitted over the internet ( reference numeral 130 ) to another computer system 132 , for instance , a computer system owned by an emergency service provider who handles the emergency , ending the process at 134 . turning to fig2 , fig2 depicts another system 200 for performing a method of triggering the automatic transmission and communication of relevant emergency information pertaining to the occurrence of an emergency at a location , for instance , a home , where the home owner or occupant triggers communication of the relevant emergency information pertaining to the occurrence of the emergency from outside the location of the emergency , namely , from outside the home itself . as shown in fig2 , when an emergency occurs ( reference numeral 202 ) at a location , for instance , a house , the occupant or home owner may have to leave the location of the emergency ( reference numeral 203 ), in this case , a house , in order to trigger the automatic transmission and communication of the emergency data and / or relevant emergency information . in particular , the home owner or occupant may use a personal cell phone ( reference numeral 206 ) to dial a special emergency number ( reference numeral 204 ) in order to connect to the home computer system for retrieving and automatically transmitting relevant information that is stored on the local database 210 of the home computer system . similarly , the home owner or occupant may use a friend &# 39 ; s or neighbor &# 39 ; s phone or cell phone to dial the special emergency number for connecting to the home computer system for retrieving and automatically sending all relevant information that is stored on the local database 210 of the home computer system to an emergency service provider dialed . in an embodiment , the special number called or dialed from the cell phone or neighbor &# 39 ; s phone is routed via a voip adapter ( reference numeral 208 ) connected to the home computer system using the voice over ip ( voip ) communications network . upon connection to the home computer system , the emergency planning and coordination tool installed on the home computer system checks ( reference numeral 209 ) a local database ( reference numeral 210 ) coupled to the home computer system to determine ( reference numeral 212 ) whether or not the number dialed by the home owner is a special emergency number stored within the local database . if the emergency planning and coordination tool or program determines in step 212 that the special emergency number dialed is not an emergency number listed or stored in the local database 210 , that is , the emergency number is not an emergency number , then the emergency planning and coordination tool receives the call ( reference numeral 214 ) connects the call received to the device corresponding to the regular phone number dialed ( reference numeral 216 ) in a “ business as usual ” fashion , that is , without triggering transmission of the emergency data and / or information stored in the computer system , ending the process . going back to step 212 , if the emergency planning and coordination tool or program determines that the emergency number dialed is an emergency number listed or stored in the local database 210 , then the emergency planning and coordination tool obtains ( reference numeral 218 ) the relevant emergency information or data , including a floor plan , stored in the home owner &# 39 ; s computer system and automatically sends the relevant emergency information to one or more digital or electronic addresses specified by the owner ( reference numeral 220 ). the relevant emergency information is transmitted over the internet ( reference numeral 222 ) to a destination device ( reference numeral 224 ) or device , such as , a computer system of an emergency service provider , ending the process at 226 . in an embodiment , the special number dialed by a home owner could be the home owner &# 39 ; s regular phone number , such that , when the home owner &# 39 ; s voice mail system picks up , in an embodiment , the home owner may be prompted to enter a special code to connect the call to the appropriate emergency service provider and to send the relevant emergency information from the home owner &# 39 ; s database to the emergency service provider . alternatively , the special number could be a special telephone number that is only used in emergency situations , such that , when a home owner dials the special telephone number , the call is connected to the home owner &# 39 ; s voip network and , upon verification , the computer system automatically sends the emergency data to the appropriate emergency service provider . for example , if the home owner &# 39 ; s house is on fire , the home owner may run outside the house with or without a cell phone . if the home owner has a cell phone with him or her , the home owner uses the cell phone to call a special emergency number that is only used in emergencies or may call the home phone number on the cell phone . similarly , if the home owner does not have a cell phone , the home owner may use any other phone outside the house to make a call to the special emergency number or to the home phone number . further , once the home owner is connected to the home &# 39 ; s voip network , the home owner may be prompted to enter a series of keys to further specify what the home owner wants the computer system to do . for instance , the network may prompt the home owner to “ press 1 for the fire department ” or to “ press 2 for the police department ” or to “ press 3 for emergency medical services ”, etc . given that the home owner &# 39 ; s house is on fire , the home owner presses or enters 1 and the computer system connected to the voip network understands that the home owner wishes to be connected to the fire department and , thus , connects the call received from either the home owner &# 39 ; s cell phone or another phone being used and , further , the computer system sends all relevant data pertaining to the fire emergency to the fire department . accordingly , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool that is used to create the floor plan , enter emergency information , enter emergency electronic addresses , and telephone numbers can also be used to configure when and what information should be sent to the emergency services personnel . for example , if 911 is called , the homeowner may wish to pre - configure the software to send all emergency information . on the other hand , if for example , the number for the police department is called , the homeowner may only want floor plan information to be sent . although , while the invention is described in terms of emergency service providers as the recipients of this emergency data and / or information , it is understood that the home or business owner may want the emergency data and / or information sent to neighbors or family members when a call is made to an emergency number . for example , if a home owner calls 911 , the home owner &# 39 ; s emergency data and / or information is sent to 911 and to other people specified , such as , various family members , neighbors , etc . in an embodiment , the user can configure the emergency planning and coordination program or tool to specify multiple digital or electronic addresses inputted into the computer system , such that , the emergency data and / or information is sent to the specified addresses in case of an emergency . alternatively , or in conjunction , an automated informational voice message could be sent to , for instance , family members . for example , a home or business owner can configure the emergency planning and coordination program or tool in such a manner that if the home or business owner calls 911 , the emergency data and / or information inputted into the system is sent to one or more emergency services providers and , in addition , an informational voice message is sent to the telephone numbers listed for various family members , alerting them of the emergency . the informational voice message may be in a computer voice or the home owner &# 39 ; s own recorded voice . further , the emergency data and / or information transmitted to the emergency service provider &# 39 ; s computer system may be forwarded by the emergency service provider to one or more devices used by emergency responders , such as , cellular phones , pdas ( personal digital assistants ), etc . that are connected to the emergency service provider &# 39 ; s network . reference is now made to fig3 , reference numeral 300 which depicts an embodiment of a computer system having deployed thereon a computer program product , namely , an emergency planning and coordination program or tool for triggering the automatic transmission and communication of relevant emergency information pertaining to the occurrence of an emergency , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . in an embodiment , the emergency planning and coordination tool or program 320 is stored within a main memory 310 of the home or office or business computer system or server 300 . preferably , the computer system 300 is a computer system or server that includes a central processing unit ( cpu ) 304 , a local storage device 302 , a user interface 306 , a network interface 308 , and a memory 310 . the cpu 304 is configured generally to execute operations within the system / server 300 . the user interface 306 , in one embodiment , is configured to allow a user or owner to interact with the computer system or server 300 , including allowing input of emergency data and information from a user or owner and communicating the emergency data and / or information to relevant individuals , such as , family and friends and / or emergency service personnel or emergency responders . the network interface 308 is configured , in one embodiment , to facilitate network communications of the system or server 300 over a communications channel of an ip - enabled network , preferably , a voice over ip ( voip ) communications network . in an embodiment , the local memory 310 is configured to store a voip software application 312 for facilitating network communications of the system or server 300 over a communications channel of the voice over ip ( voip ) communications network . in addition , the memory 310 is configured to store one or more applications or programs 314 , such as , word processing application ( s ), spreadsheet application ( s ), etc . further , as shown , in an embodiment , the emergency data and information 316 inputted by an owner or user , using the emergency planning and coordination tool or program 320 installed on the computer system or server 300 , is stored within a local storage system 302 coupled to the computer system or server 300 . alternatively , the emergency data and / or information 316 may be stored in memory 310 or in a separate storage within or coupled to the system or server 300 . in one embodiment , as shown in fig3 , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool 320 which runs on the server or system 300 comprises a logic unit that contains a plurality of modules configured to functionally execute the necessary steps of triggering the automatic transmission and communication of relevant emergency information pertaining to the occurrence of an emergency , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . in an embodiment , shown in fig3 , the emergency planning and coordination tool or program 320 includes an input module 322 , a configuration module 324 , a storage module 326 , an update module 328 , a data receiving module 330 , a data verification module 332 , a data retrieving module 334 , a data transmission module 336 and a communication module 338 . the input module 322 is configured to receive input from an owner or user for inputting emergency data and / or information into the computer system or server 300 , such as , floor plans , emergency numbers , phone numbers of family and friends , e - mail or digital addresses of people to contact , etc . the configuration module 324 enables an owner or user to configure the emergency data and / or information inputted into the computer system or server 300 for facilitating distribution of the emergency data and / or information stored therein . for instance , an owner may configure the emergency planning and coordination program or tool to send certain information or data based on a type of emergency that has occurred , such as , a fire emergency or a police emergency , etc ., as further discussed herein below with respect to fig5 . the storage module 326 is configured to store the emergency data and / or information entered or inputted into the computer system or server 300 . in an embodiment , the storage module 326 stores the emergency data and / or information in a local storage , such as , storage 302 within computer system or server 300 . in an embodiment , the update module 328 is configured to update any emergency data and / or information stored within the computer system or server 300 . further , the data receiving module 330 is configured to receive an emergency call made by an owner or user of the computer system or server 300 during an emergency . the data verification module 332 is configured to verify or check whether or not the emergency call made by an owner or user of the computer system or server 300 is in fact an emergency number that is part of the emergency data and / or information stored within the local storage 302 . further , the data retrieving module 334 is configured to retrieve the emergency data and / or information upon confirmation or verification that the emergency call is in fact an emergency number stored within the local storage 302 of the computer system or server 300 . the data transmission module 336 is configured to transmit or send the emergency data and / or information to the parties as specified by the owner or user in the emergency data and / or information provided to the configuration module 324 of the computer system or server 300 . the communication module 338 is configured to connect or establish a connection for making a call when an emergency call is received by the emergency planning and coordination program or tool 320 . further , the communication module 338 is configured to permit communication between the various modules of the emergency planning and coordination program or tool and other computer systems or servers , such as , a computer system employed by one or more emergency service providers , which is discussed further herein below with respect to fig4 . reference is now made to fig4 , reference numeral 400 , which depicts a computer infrastructure for triggering the transmission and communication of relevant information pertaining to the occurrence of an emergency , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . in an embodiment , the computer infrastructure 400 includes a first computer system 404 , such as , a home , office or a business computer system or server , that has stored within a local memory 412 , a computer program product , namely , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool 414 , configured to trigger the automatic transmission and communication of emergency data and / or information to a second computer system 434 , such as , a computer system or server used by an emergency service provider . further , the computer system 404 has deployed thereon another computer program product , namely , voip software or application 415 that enables voip communications between computer system 404 and another system 434 . the computer program product comprises a computer readable or computer - usable storage medium , which provides program code or instructions , such as , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool 414 , for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system . the emergency planning and coordination program or tool 414 and / or the voip software 415 can be loaded into computer system 404 from computer readable storage media 416 , such as , a magnetic tape or disk , optical media , dvd , memory stick , semiconductor memory , etc . or downloaded from the internet via a voip adapter card 418 . as depicted in fig4 , the home or office or business computer system 404 resides within computer infrastructure 402 , which is intended to represent any type of computer architecture that is maintained in a secure environment ( i . e ., for which access control is enforced ) by the owner . it should be understood , however , that although not shown , other hardware and software components ( e . g ., additional computer systems , routers , firewalls , etc .) could be included in infrastructure 402 . in general , a home or business occupant or owner 1 ( reference numeral 426 ) through home or business occupant n ( reference numeral 428 ) may access the computer system or server 404 , which has deployed thereon a voip software 415 and the emergency planning and coordination program or tool 414 , which implements the invention . the voip software 415 enables network communications over a voice over ip ( voip ) communications network . for instance , a home or business occupant or owner 1 ( reference numeral 426 ) through home or business occupant n ( reference numeral 428 ) may access the computer server or system 404 that has installed thereon the emergency planning and coordination program 414 via a voip network adapter card 418 coupled to the computer system or server 404 . further , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool 414 running on the system or server 404 triggers the automatic transmission of emergency data and / or information 424 stored within a local storage 422 to another computer system 434 , over a network connection , such as , the internet 430 during an emergency . the computer system or server 404 is shown to include a cpu ( hereinafter “ processing unit 406 ”), a memory 412 , a bus 410 , and input / output ( i / o ) interfaces 408 . further , the server 404 is shown in communication with external i / o devices / resources 420 and storage system 422 . in general , processing unit 406 executes computer program code , such as the emergency planning and coordination program or tool 414 . while executing computer program code , the processing unit 406 can read and / or write data to / from memory 412 , storage system 422 , and / or i / o interfaces 408 . for instance , in one embodiment , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool 414 stores emergency data and / or information inputted by an owner in storage 422 coupled to the computer system 404 . bus 410 provides a communication link between each of the components in computer system 404 , such that information can be communicated within the infrastructure 402 . external devices 420 can comprise any devices ( e . g ., keyboard , pointing device , display , etc .) that enable a user to interact with computer system 404 and / or any devices ( e . g ., network card , modem , etc .) that enable system or server 404 to communicate with one or more other computing devices . computer infrastructure 402 is only illustrative of various types of computer infrastructures for implementing the invention . for example , in an embodiment shown , computer infrastructure 402 comprises three or more computing devices ( e . g ., a server cluster ) that communicate over a network to perform the various process steps of the invention . moreover , computer infrastructure 402 is only representative of various possible computer systems that can include numerous combinations of hardware . to this extent , in other embodiments , computer infrastructure 402 can comprise any specific purpose computing article of manufacture comprising hardware and / or computer program code for performing specific functions , any computing article of manufacture that comprises a combination of specific purpose and general purpose hardware / software , or the like . in each case , the program code and hardware can be created using standard programming and engineering techniques , respectively . moreover , processing unit 406 may comprise a single processing unit , or be distributed across one or more processing units in one or more locations , e . g ., on a client and server . similarly , memory 412 and / or storage system 422 can comprise any combination of various types of data storage that reside at one or more physical locations . further , i / o interfaces 408 can comprise any system for exchanging information with one or more external devices 420 . still further , it is understood that one or more additional components ( e . g ., system software , math co - processing unit , etc .) not shown in fig4 can be included in computer system 404 . storage system 422 can be any type of system ( e . g ., a database ) capable of providing storage for information under the present invention , such as , the emergency data and / or information 424 to be retrieved from the system 404 during an emergency . to this extent , storage system 422 could include one or more storage devices , such as a magnetic disk drive or an optical disk drive . in another embodiment , storage system 422 includes data distributed across , for example , an ip - enabled network . although not shown , additional components , such as cache memory , communication systems , system software , etc ., may be incorporated into computer infrastructure 402 . in addition , as shown in fig4 , the emergency data and / or information 424 retrieved from the home or office computer system or server 404 during an emergency is automatically transmitted to another computer system 434 , preferably , an emergency service provider computer system that resides within another infrastructure 432 . in an embodiment , as shown in fig4 , the emergency service provider computer system or server 434 residing within infrastructure 432 has deployed thereon one or more application ( s ) 444 . in an embodiment , as shown , the application ( s ) 444 are stored within local memory 442 . further , the emergency service provider computer system or server 434 is shown to include a cpu ( hereinafter “ processing unit 436 ”), a memory 442 , a bus 440 , and input / output ( i / o ) interfaces 438 . further , the emergency service provider server 434 is shown in communication with external i / o devices / resources 450 and storage system 452 . in general , processing unit 436 executes computer program code , such as , the one or more application ( s ) 444 for distributing emergency data and / or information obtained from the home or business computer system 404 to a team of emergency responders and / or other personnel and / or people to be notified of the emergency . in an embodiment , the emergency data 456 retrieved from the home or business computer system 404 can be loaded into the emergency service provider computer system 434 from computer readable storage media 447 , such as , a magnetic tape or disk , optical media , dvd , memory stick , semiconductor memory , etc . or downloaded from the internet via a tcp / ip adapter card 448 . while executing computer program code , the processing unit 436 can read and / or write data to / from memory 442 , storage system 452 , and / or i / o interfaces 438 . also , as shown in fig4 , the storage system 452 has stored thereon a list of emergency responders 454 that are available to respond to the emergency . further , bus 440 provides a communication link between each of the components in computer system 434 , such that , information can be communicated within the infrastructure 432 . external devices 450 can comprise any devices ( e . g ., keyboard , pointing device , display , etc .) that enable an emergency service provider to interact with computer system 434 and / or any devices ( e . g ., network card , modem , etc .) that enable system or server 434 to communicate with one or more other computing devices . in general , an emergency responder 1 ( reference numeral 456 ) through emergency responder n ( reference numeral 458 ) may access the computer system or server 434 , which has deployed thereon applications 444 for facilitating or handling different emergencies . the system or server 434 facilitates distribution of the emergency data and / or information 456 obtained or retrieved from the home or business computer system 404 and stored in a storage 452 local to the emergency service provider computer server 434 to a team of emergency responders and / or other personnel to be notified of the emergency , by using a network connection , such as , the internet . in another embodiment , the invention provides a method for triggering the automatic transmission of emergency data and / or information during an emergency , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . reference is now made to fig5 , reference numeral 500 , which outlines the initial steps performed by a home owner or business owner for triggering the automatic transmission and communication of relevant emergency information during the occurrence of an emergency , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . in step 502 , the home owner or business owner loads an emergency planning and coordination program or tool provided for triggering the automatic transmission and communication of relevant emergency information to friends , family and / or an emergency service provider during an emergency . in an embodiment , the computer system is a voice over ip ( voip ) enabled computer system that can connect to and is configured to distribute emergency information over a voice over ip ( voip ) communications network . further , the home owner or business owner inputs in step 504 emergency data and / or information for the location , such that , emergency data and / or information can be automatically transmitted and communicated during an emergency . in an embodiment , the emergency data and / or information inputted by a home owner or business owner may include one or more of the following : one or more predefined emergency responder telephone numbers to be dialed in case of an occurrence of the emergency situation at the location , one or more predefined emergency responder e - mail addresses for sending electronic mail in case of an occurrence of the emergency situation at the location , one or more predefined emergency responder ip ( internet protocol ) addresses for sending electronic mail in case of an occurrence of the emergency situation at the location , a detailed floor plan of the location of the computer system , room - specific information for the location , names of each occupant residing at the location , age of each occupant residing at the location , a respective location of a room occupied by a child , a respective location of a room occupied by an elderly person , a respective location of a room occupied by a disabled person , allergy - related information for each occupant residing at the location , any medical conditions relevant to each occupant residing at the location , respective e - mail addresses of one or more persons to be contacted in case of the occurrence of the emergency situation , respective telephone numbers of one or more persons to be contacted in case of the occurrence of the emergency situation , respective e - mail addresses of one or more emergency responders to be contacted who service the location , respective locations of any flammables kept at the location , respective locations of any poisonous chemicals kept at the location and / or any other emergency - type information . further , the home owner or business owner may configure the emergency data and / or information according to a type of emergency , such that , only a subset of the emergency data and / or information is transmitted and communicated . finally , referring to step 506 , the emergency data and / or information inputted by a home owner or business owner is stored within a local database in the computer system or coupled to the computer system , ending the process . reference is now made to fig6 , reference numeral 600 , which outlines the method steps performed by the emergency planning and coordination program or tool deployed on a home owner &# 39 ; s or business owner &# 39 ; s computer system , in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . turning to fig6 , reference numeral 600 , depicts a flowchart outlining one embodiment of the steps performed by the emergency planning and coordination program or tool installed on a home or business computer system for triggering , transmitting and communicating relevant information pertaining to the occurrence of an emergency , in accordance with respective embodiments of the present invention . in particular , reference numeral 600 outlines the method steps performed by the emergency planning and coordination program or tool deployed on a home owner &# 39 ; s or business owner &# 39 ; s computer system when the trigger is received from within the location itself , as described herein above with respect to fig1 . during the emergency , the home owner or business owner dials an emergency number , using a voip phone or a regular phone connected to a voip adapter . the emergency planning and coordination program or tool loaded on the home or business computer system , receives in step 602 the request to connect a call , as dialed , to a device corresponding to the phone number dialed . the emergency planning and coordination program or tool checks in step 604 the local database or storage connected to the home or business computer system to determine whether or not the phone number dialed is an emergency number stored within the local storage or database . if the emergency planning and coordination program or tool determines in step 606 that the phone number dialed is an emergency number stored in the local storage or database , then the emergency planning and coordination program or tool connects in step 608 the call to a respective device corresponding to the phone number dialed and in step 610 , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool obtains the emergency data and / or information stored in the local storage or database . further , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool sends or transmits in step 612 the emergency data and / or information retrieved from the local database or storage to a remote database or storage coupled to an emergency service provider network . furthermore , in step 614 , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool distributes the emergency data and / or information obtained or retrieved using one or more digital or electronic addresses corresponding to devices of one or more emergency responders responding to the emergency . moreover , in step 616 , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool distributes the emergency data and / or information obtained or retrieved using one or more digital or electronic addresses corresponding to devices of persons ( family , friends and / or neighbors , etc .) to be notified regarding the emergency . going back to step 606 , if the emergency planning and coordination program or tool determines that the phone number dialed is not an emergency number stored in the local storage or database , then the emergency planning and coordination program or tool connects the call to a respective device corresponding to the phone number dialed without obtaining emergency data and / or information from the computer system , ending the process . turning to fig7 , reference numeral 700 outlines the method steps performed by the emergency planning and coordination program or tool deployed on a home owner &# 39 ; s or business owner &# 39 ; s computer system when the trigger is received from outside the location of the emergency , as described herein above with respect to fig2 . turning to fig7 , reference numeral 700 , depicts a flowchart outlining one embodiment of the steps performed by the emergency planning and coordination program or tool installed on a home or business computer system for triggering , transmitting and communicating relevant information pertaining to the occurrence of an emergency , in accordance with respective embodiments of the present invention . during the emergency , the home owner or business owner leaves the house or place of business and dials a special emergency number from outside the location of the emergency to connect to the home or business computer system network , using either a cell phone or a neighbor &# 39 ; s phone , etc . the home owner dials the special emergency number and the call is routed via the voip adapter connected to the home computer system connected to the voip network . the voip software or program receives in step 702 the request to connect to the home or business computer system for obtaining emergency data and / or information . the emergency planning and coordination program or tool loaded on the computer system checks in step 704 the local database or storage connected to the home or business computer system to determine whether or not the special phone number dialed is a special emergency number stored within the local storage or database . if the emergency planning and coordination program or tool determines in step 706 that the special phone number dialed is an emergency number stored in the local storage or database , then the emergency planning and coordination program or tool connects in step 708 the call to a respective device corresponding to the special phone number dialed and , in step 710 , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool obtains the emergency data and / or information stored in the local storage or database . further , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool automatically sends or transmits in step 712 the emergency data and / or information retrieved from the local database or storage to a computer system corresponding to the emergency service number dialed . furthermore , in step 714 , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool distributes the emergency data and / or information obtained or retrieved using one or more digital or electronic addresses corresponding to devices of one or more emergency responders responding to the emergency . moreover , in step 716 , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool distributes the emergency data and / or information obtained or retrieved using one or more digital or electronic addresses corresponding to devices of persons ( family , friends and / or neighbors , etc .) to be notified regarding the emergency . going back to step 706 , if the emergency planning and coordination program or tool determines that the phone number dialed is not an emergency number stored in the local storage or database , then the emergency planning and coordination program or tool connects the call to a respective device corresponding to the phone number dialed without obtaining emergency data and / or information from the computer system , ending the process . accordingly , the invention provides transmission of the relevant emergency data and / or information to emergency personnel at the time of the emergency , such that , the information is quickly available and can be used by the emergency personnel responding to the home or business emergency . further , the emergency planning and coordination program or tool enables the prompt dissemination or communication of the occurrence of the emergency to family members and friends . the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the present invention have been presented for the purpose of illustration and description . they are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed , and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application , to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents .	7
[ 0024 ] fig1 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of a conventional aspect - oriented programming environment 100 . fig1 specifically illustrates how programming elements are converted into executable software modules using conventional aspect - oriented programming languages . as shown in fig1 one or more high - level computer programming elements 120 are provided to an aspect - oriented weaver 110 . the aspect - oriented weaver 110 in the aspect - oriented programming environment 100 compiles each of the high level computer program elements 120 into one or more executable modules . the aspect - oriented weaver 110 can either be static or dynamic . an automatic aspect - oriented weaver 110 implements a static weaving process . a static weaving process modifies the high - level programming elements 120 , such as class source code , by inserting aspect - specific statements at join points in such high - level programming elements 120 . essentially , the aspect - oriented weaver 110 in - lines the desired aspect code into the classes . this results in highly - optimized woven code . [ 0025 ] fig1 shows one or high - level programming elements 120 that are input into the aspect - oriented weaver 110 of the general purpose aspect - oriented programming language environment 100 . in a first stage , the aspect - oriented weaver 110 creates the woven , or intermingled , code . as shown in fig1 a programming block 122 from one of the high level computer programming elements 120 is broken down into variables 123 , and one or more processes or methods 124 that act on one or more of the variables 123 . then , the aspect - oriented weaver 110 examines that programming block 122 and determines where the one or more variables 123 overlap within the one or more various processes 124 of that programming block 122 . then , the aspect - oriented weaver 110 combines , or “ weaves ”, the code to create an intermingled source code block 130 . in the second stage of the weaving process , the combined , or woven , program code block 130 is compiled into one or more executable modules 140 . as shown in fig1 in this second stage , the aspect - oriented weaver 110 takes one of the woven code blocks 130 . the aspect - oriented weaver 110 compiles the woven variables 131 and the woven processes 133 of that woven code block 130 into one or more executable modules 140 . in various exemplary embodiments , the systems and methods according to this invention operate on a language based on the lambda calculus , such as the scheme language , described in “ the structure and interpretation of computer programs ”, by ableson , sussman and sussman . in this language , the fundamental operations are function creation and function application . a function is created with a lambda expression , typically of the form “ lambda ( var ) exp ”. for example , the expression “ lambda ( x y )(+( 2 x ) y )” defines the function which doubles its first argument and then adds the doubled first argument to its second argument . the “ exp ” portion is called the body of the lambda expression , and the var ” portions are called its arguments . a function is applied with an application expression , of the form “ fn arg ”, where “ fn ” denotes the function to be applied , and “ arg ” is its arguments . the “ fn ” portion can either be a lambda expression , as in “( lambda ( x y )(+( 2 x ) y )) 3 4 ”, or it can be any expression that evaluates to a function . computation proceeds by reducing the applications of lambda expressions . reducing lambda expressions generally occurs by substituting their arguments for the occurrences of their variables . for example , the above expression reduces to “+(* 2 3 ) 4 )”. this reduction operation is also known as unfolding . programming languages are built around the idea of an expression &# 39 ; s value . program modules execute essentially by converting expressions to values , because values can be passed around during execution of the program modules but the expressions can not . for example , a procedure call transmits the values of the arguments of the calling module to the formals of the procedure . similarly , a variable assignment binds the variable to the value of the right hand side of the assignment . in any case , variables get bound to values , not to the expressions that gave rise to those values . the expression gets evaluated before the variable gets bound and subsequent references to the variable are able to access only the value . taking the value of an expression is an abstraction operation . that is , taking the value of an expression throws away information about how the expression gave rise to the value , leaving just the value . however , the inventors have discovered that , in aspect - oriented programming , sometimes some other emergent entity related to how the value was computed or determined , and not just the determined or computed value , is a critical element of information . for example , in the case of loop fusion , for a fusible function , the critical information is how the function &# 39 ; s arguments are described in terms of loops . when this critical information is available , the opportunity to create a fused loop is present . in short , the inventors have recognized that it is not always enough to provide a function of a programming element with just the value of the arguments of the function , because some emergent entities , that are thrown away by the value abstraction , may be critical information . one alternative is to bind variables to expressions , instead of to values . however , this goes too far in the opposite direction , to what is effectively a macro system . at this point , the programming language execution is not licensed to do anything . in this model , a variable does not even denote the expression it is bound to because the variable itself is an expression , which must not be evaluated in such a model . this model thus fails in two ways . first , the programmer must explicitly request values whenever such values are wanted . second , when the programmer does want more information than the value , the programmer is provided with the entire expression , which often buries the desirable critical information in obscuring detail . the inventors of this invention have determined that what is needed is a programming language , or programming language environment , that preserves just the right kind of information for a program block , and simplifies the rest of the information for that program block . of course , according to this invention , what is “ just right ” will vary depending on what program element is using the information . for example , one procedure might need just the values of its arguments , while another procedure needs more information . when more information than just the value is needed , the systems , methods and aspect - oriented programming environments according to this invention should only provide the information that is needed . the systems , methods and aspect - oriented programming environments according to this invention should not provide unnecessary information that could cause unnecessary distinctions . the systems , methods and aspect - oriented programming environments according to this invention should provide something resembling a value as much as possible , while the “ something ” that is provided contains the desired additional information . sometimes , when evaluating an expression , only the value is wanted , but other times more information is needed . for example , sometimes only an array that is the result of a loop is wanted , while at other times it may be significant to know that the array is a result from a particular loop or function . in other words , sometimes the expression means an array , and sometimes it means something more than just an array . in the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention , each of these possible meanings is called a significance of the expression . the value of an expression is the least informative significance . any others significances will capture more information than the information captured by the value . the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention turns the notion of significance into something that computations can operate over . in the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention , the computational process can be viewed as simplifying an expression until the expression has been reduced to a canonical representation of its significance . for example , determining the value of “( 1 + 2 )* 4 ” simplifies first to “ 3 * 4 ”, and then to “ 12 ”, which is the canonical representation of the number twelve , the value of the expression . of course , efficient implementations avoid explicitly constructing each intermediate expression , but the work such implementations do is analogous to the work of going between successive intermediate expressions . each step of the computation is valid because it preserves the final significance of the result . the difference between two significances is that the two significances will not authorize the same simplification steps . based on this observation , this invention implements systems , methods and programming environments that recognize that the only difference between any two significances is which computational simplification steps are authorized by those two significances . this means that determining an expression &# 39 ; s significance is equivalent to performing the computational simplifications authorized by that significance . furthermore , if a number of significances are ordered from more informative to less informative , then one can determine those significances in sequence . this involves first performing those simplifications authorized by the most informative significance , then performing the simplifications authorized by the next most informative significances , and so on . it should be appreciated that this assumes that the requested significances of any particular expression will be totally ordered . it should be appreciated that a total order on all significances is not required , because allowing independently written libraries to introduce their own significances and being able to use these introduced significances in that program , is desirable . as a result , every significance will have a corresponding stage of processing . accordingly , a computation will correspond to simplifying an expression through successive stages , each stage being a canonical representation of the expression for a successive significance . the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention also need language constructs that specify which simplifications should be done for any significance , as well as to access the information available at a significance . moreover , determining which simplifications should be done comprises determining which function calls should be expanded . as will be described below , the systems and methods according to this invention introduce a programming form that specifies at what stage a function should be reduced . essentially , a lambda expression acts like a data object until the stage where the lambda expression is reduced . at that point , the lambda expression acts like a function . on the other side , the additional information provided by a significance is contained in the unreduced function calls . this information is accessed by a form that allows a program to test whether an expression &# 39 ; s significance is a particular function &# 39 ; s application . the expression &# 39 ; s significance acts like an accessor to the function &# 39 ; s data .] an expression &# 39 ; s significance always contains at least as much information as the value of the expression , because the significance is a stage toward determining the value . however , there can also be a use for other information about an expression , which is not on the line toward determining the value of the expression . this is the kind of information that typically results from flow analysis , such as data type information , whether this is the only reference to a value , and loop fusion decisions . to support this , the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention use projections to encapsulate such information . a projection is defined relative to a significance and gives additional information , typically about the role of that significance in the rest of a given computation . the result of projection can be a value . however , the result can also be a significance of the stage the projection is on . this means that projections can remember snippets of a computation that can later be incorporated into the total computation . unlike a significance of an expression , which is basically local to the expression , a projection reflects that expression &# 39 ; s role in the larger computation . this means that projections generally are not computed locally . rather , the projections are computed using a technique akin to flow analysis . to support this , the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention provide a mechanism called a “ propagator ”. a propagator is run when a particular program element has been simplified to a suitable stage . the propagator will run on each matching significance and may examine and update one or more projections of such a matching significance and the arguments of any such matching significance . for example , a projection can be designed to count how many times an expression is used . the projection initially starts with a value of 0 . then , a propagator could be written for the application that takes the application , goes to each argument and increments the use count projection . propagators can do both upward and downward data flow . upward propagators examine argument projections and update projections of the whole expression . in contrast , downward propagators examine projections of the entirety of a given expression and update the argument projections . a first propagator will be re - invoked should some other propagator update the projection that the first propagator has examined . propagators expose the sense of identity embedded in a particular significance because the propagators perform updates . when a propagator updates a projection of a given significance , that update will be seen only by other references to the same significance . since propagators are defined on significances , the identity of a significance is what matters . the identity of the corresponding significance can change between successive significances by unfolding . that is , every time a function is unfolded , the significances in the body of the function are copied to the site of the application of the function . as shown in fig2 in the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention , the weaving process is done through several stages . a given program element is simplified through successive stages of significance , of which many are done at compilation . the different degrees of processing are represented by the various stages , with the simplest weaving generating only two stages , i . e ., a first stage and a final stage . as shown in fig2 in various exemplary embodiments , the first stage is a syntax stage 210 . in this syntax stage 210 , no local information from a given high - level code block 122 has been discarded and no contextual information is available . this corresponds to the original syntax of that high - level code block 122 . in the systems , methods and aspect - oriented programming environments according to this invention , the aspect - oriented weaver 110 “ weaves ” the syntax stage 210 from the high - level code block 122 . the syntax stage 210 includes a woven code block 220 . the syntax stage 220 then outputs the woven code block 220 generated in the syntax stage 210 to a next intermediary stage 230 . the next intermediate stage 230 is woven by the aspect - oriented weaver 110 from the woven code block 220 . after each stage 210 , 230 , 250 and 270 , one or more propagators , that have been defined in a corresponding woven code block 220 , 240 , or 260 relative to that stage 210 , 230 or 250 , are run to determine the projections defined in that stage 210 , 230 or 250 . these projections are then available during the following stages 230 , 250 and 270 , respectively . as shown in fig2 after the first stage 210 is woven , a first intermediate stage 230 is then woven . this tends to further optimize the program code contained in the high - level code block 122 . as before , the woven code block 240 of this first intermediate stage 230 is input to a next intermediate stage . this repetitively occurs until a last intermediate stage 250 receives a woven code block 245 from the preceding intermediate stage ( not shown ). it should be appreciated that all parts of a given program or set of program elements must move through each implemented stage 210 , 230 , 250 and 270 in unison . if some parts of the program or set of program elements are delayed , then the propagators that are doing the flow analysis will not have the required global access to the stages associated with the particular propagators . likewise , if some parts of the program or set of program elements are accelerated , the accelerated parts will not have access to the propagator results of earlier stages . as shown in fig2 at the last intermediate stage 250 , all optimization weaving is completed . the woven code block 260 output by this last intermediate stage 250 is input to the final weaving stage 270 . it should be appreciated that the final weaving stage 270 is often the processed value stage . then , the woven code 280 output by from the final weaves stage 270 is compiled into an executable program module or set of executable program modules . there are several challenges presented by staged execution . in particular , first class functions present one challenge because whether an application should be simplified for a given stage depends on whether the function that ends up in the function position is supposed to be reduced at that stage . however , that depends on the value of the expression . the expression may not be computed at the current stage . often , there is no problem because the expression has been reduced to a value , i . e ., a lambda expression , during an earlier stage of processing . for example , after the forms of some stages are reduced , what may be left is a lambda expression . the extreme case occurs when the functions are not first class functions . the references to these functions start out as values . when an expression has not been reduced to a value , and the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention need to know whether an application of that expression should be reduced , the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention presume that the expression should not be reduced during the current stage . in fact , the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention generally cannot reduce an application of that expression if they do not have the value of that expression . when the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention later do enough processing to determine the value of the expression , and the result turns out to be an expression that should have been reduced earlier , the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention can report an error . in other words , in some exemplary embodiments the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention enforce the requirement that a first class expression reduce to lambdas by the time the corresponding applications are supposed to be reduced . it should be appreciated that it is most convenient if the code for the propagator is written in the same language as the program elements it is analyzing . that way , the propagator can take advantage of standard language constructs to examine the program elements , such as all of the routines that have been defined and computing results that are at intermediate significances . since propagators are written in the same language as the underlying program , the propagator can be executed in stages as well . however , in this case , relating the stages of the propagator to the stages of the underlying program or set of program elements becomes problematic . since the intent is that a propagator runs when the underlying program or set of program elements reaches the appropriate stage , a propagator does not start running until the underlying program reaches the stage the propagator is working on . then , in general , the propagator fully executes all of its stages . for the propagator to be fully executed , while the program or set of program elements is at an intermediate stage , the propagator maintains an arms - length relationship to the program or set of program elements . the propagator will have variables that are bound to significances from the program or set of program elements . however , the propagator can only use those variables in restricted ways . first , the propagator is logically executed up to the stage that the propagator operates at , but without having access to the bindings of those variables . that is , such variables are essentially treated as unbound variables . then , from the program or set of program elements , each of the variables is bound to the appropriate significance and the propagator finishes its execution . however , the propagator generally cannot request later significances from the variables bound to the program or set of program elements . any attempt to access a later significance will , again , see such a variable as unbound . to allow the propagator to output significances as its result , the propagator can use a special form described below to surround code that should not be simplified beyond the significance the propagator is accessing . suppose that a programmer wants to write code that performs various operations on arrays . typically , a programmer will write code that loops over arrays to produce new arrays . the programmer defines routines to do various primitive operations , and then builds higher level operations using the defined primitive operations . frequently , the programmer uses the output array of one routine as the input array for another . in that case , the programmer would like to use a fused loop to do the combined operation . this avoids the high computational or resource cost of writing and then reading the intermediate array . this cannot be done in ordinary functional programming , because the first operation will have to be run before the second operation can be allowed run . some optimizers might do the loop fusion automatically , but optimizers are typically opaque . that is , it becomes a matter of trial and error to get the code to optimize as intended . unfortunately , the code then cannot be ported to other optimizers . one conventional approach to creating routines that can fuse together uses macro systems , reflective systems or c ++ style templates to write library code which outputs a program with fused loops . however , this approach has serious shortcomings . it forces the library programmer to work in terms of operations on program text , instead of operations on arrays . this “ level shift ” is difficult to implement , that is , program , is error prone and is difficult to debug . worse yet , by operating at the program text level , the library code sees only the immediate textual use context of a library construct . simplifications or global information that would naturally be provided by the language information are either unavailable or are available at a great inconvenience . all the burden for analyzing the use context falls on the library programmer . another conventional approach uses a delayed evaluation mechanism , so that a library routine , that would normally have returned an array , instead returns a description of how to compute the array . library routines can then take these descriptions as arguments , yielding descriptions for the outputs of the libraries that compute with fused loops . when an actual array value is required , the description of the actual array is executed . if this approach is combined with a partial evaluator , the fusing may happen at partial evaluation time and only the loops are executed at run time . this second conventional approach is awkward in its handling of the distinction between arrays and array descriptions and when to go from one to the other . it has the added disadvantage of relying on a potentially opaque partial evaluator to make sure that loop fusion decisions actually do occur before run time . however , it does do a better job of providing a library routine with information about its use context than the first conventional technique , because the second conventional technique passes along information about how a value can be computed . unfortunately , if a routine also needs information about how the result of that routine will be used , then this second approach needs to be modified to pass continuation descriptions . in this case , this second conventional approach becomes very complicated to use . if the programmer cares about when the loops are fused , the programmer will want to be able to direct the loop fusion . then , the loop fusion will occur when and where the programmer intends it to . the programmer will also generally want to keep the program modular . in particular , the programmer will want to keep the code that handles the details of loop fusion separate from the code that describes the higher level computations . thus , in various exemplary embodiments , the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments outlined above can be used to create a library of primitive operations in which the operations know how to fuse with each other and the fusion occurs when the library routines are used in combination . the resultant code that uses the library routines might provide some instructions about fusion , but it should not be occupied with doing the fusion itself . in fact , it should be possible for the library code to be written by one programmer and the higher level code written by another programmer with the higher level code reusable across several applications . thus , in various exemplary embodiments , the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments outlined above allows a library programmer to define routines so that they fuse together . in various exemplary embodiments , the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments outlined above can be applied to loop fusion by asking what minimum facilities a library routine needs to be able to do loop fusion . roughly , a potential loop needs to be able to ask , “ if my input would have been computed by a loop , then give me the inside operation of that loop and the array it would have worked on , and i &# 39 ; ll use that in my loop .” an example of pseudo - code that says this is : ( define pointwise ( lambda ( fn arg ) ( case arg (( ptw - loop inner - fn inner - arg ) ( inner - fn inner - arg ) ( ptw - loop ( lambda ( x ) ( fn ( inner - fn x ))) inner - arg )) ( else ( ptw - loop fn arg ))))) here , “ pointwise ” is a function that maps a function over an array , but “ pointwise ” knows about loop fusion . the case form says , “ would ‘ arg ’ have been computed by an expression of the form ‘( ptw - loop inner - fn inner - arg )’?” the syntax “( inner - fn inner - arg )” indicates that “ inner - fn ” and “ inner - arg ” are pattern variables versus “ ptw - loop ”, which is a pattern constant . if the argument matches , then the function of the inner loop should be composed with the function from “ pointwise ”. then a single loop should be performed using the composed function . otherwise , a simple loop is used . in particular , as indicated below “ ptw - loop ” can be defined to do the actual loop : ( define ptw - loop ( lambda ( fn input ) ( let (( result ( new - array ))) ( dotimes (( i 0 99 )) ( setf ( elt output i ) ( fn ( elt input i )))) output ))) if this library code is used with the expression : ( define double ( lambda ( array ) ( pointwise ( lambda ( x ) (* x2 )) array ))) ( define double - plus ( lambda ( array ) ( pointwise ( lambda ( x ) (+ x1 )) ( double array )))) then the implementation of “ double - plus ” should be a single loop that doubles each element and then adds one . the key to the definition of “ pointwise ” is the “ would ” in the case statement &# 39 ; s meaning , “ would ‘ arg ’ have been computed by . . . ” the case needs to test the loop that would have computed the argument . it is no good for the case to test the array that is the value of “ arg ”. that is what would happen if “ pointwise ” were a function . however , this would also mean that “ arg ” has been processed too far . it is also no good for the case to test the syntactic argument of “ pointwise ”, such as “ array ” or “ double array ”. this is what would happen if “ pointwise ” were a macro . however , this would mean that “ arg ” has not been processed enough . in particular , “ pointwise ” wants to see through the superficial structure of its argument to the interesting information that is computed by a loop , without seeing all the way through to the resulting array . thus , “ pointwise ” needs to be something in between a function and a macro . in particular , “ pointwise ” needs its arguments to be partially processed so that “ pointwise ” can see the information that “ pointwise ” is concerned about . however , “ pointwise ” does not want its arguments fully evaluated , which tends to eliminate the very information “ pointwise ” cares about . thus , in various exemplary embodiments , the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments outlined above recognize levels of processing between those extremes and provide access to those recognized levels of processing . the basic forms , or statements and / or constructs , of the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention are set forth below . the general form of the “ case ” statement of the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention is : in the “ case ” statement , each model is an expression . the variables are free in the model and are bound in the expression . the value is compared to each model in succession . the first model that matches the value has its expression chosen as the value of the case . the expression can access the variables of the model , which are bound to make the match . the comparison is logically done between the specified significance of the value and the model . the comparison will be done no later than the specified processing stage . however , the comparison may be done earlier , if an earlier stage causes the value and the model to simplify to the specified stage , so that the significances of the value and of the model can be compared . also , the simplifications of the expressions are done lazily . that is , the value and the model will not be simplified to a given stage if the value and the model are discarded at that stage . the “ if ” statement , set forth below , provides additional syntactic structure for the statement “ case value exp1 ( nil ( ) exp3 ) ( else exp 2 ))”: the “ deconstruct ” statement , set forth below , provides additional syntactic structure for the statement “ case stage value ( model ( var ) exp ) ( else ( error ))”: the statement “ reduction stage ” specifies that a call of the value of “ exp ” should be reduced at the specified stage : the application statement states that the function &# 39 ; s body is reduced when its reduction stage is reached . this statement has no keyword , but simply starts with the expression that denotes the function “ fn ”: it is an error if the function does not simplify to a lambda expression by the time its reduction stage is reached . the form “=& gt ; var ” is used to bind the stated variable to the result of the defined function . of course , the result of the current stage is not available , but the result of the previous stage is available . the projections of the previous stage may be consulted . the statement “ stage ” declares a stage , and defines the declared stage to be later than the given stage . the statement “ projection ” declares a projection that gives information about a stage : the declared projection will be defined on all terms normalized relative to that stage or to a later stage . the initial value of the projection is nil . the value of the declared projection can be updated by propagators . the statement “ propagator ” operates to declare a function that produces propagators once terms have been reduced to normal form with respect to the stage , the declared function will be run on each term . the declared function can update projections defined on the stage or the stage itself , if the stage is constrained . generally , a propagator will examine projections of some terms and update others . the operation of the projector is assumed to depend on the projections that propagator examined , but did not update . if those projections are changed by other propagators operating on this stage , then this propagator is rerun . the hints “: bottom - up ” and “: top - down ” identify the most efficient order to execute the propagators in order to minimize the need for recomputation . a practical system will probably need other hints . such other hints can include a hint about which projections a propagator examines and which that propagator updates . such a hint would help ordering among propagators operating on the same stage . another such hint can identify guaranteed bounds on which sub - terms might be updated . such a hint would allow propagators to be run lazily , computing projections only as such projections are requested . this would speed up library compilation times that introduce projections , but only require propagators to run in the vicinity of calls to the libraries . the terms that the propagator sees are lambda definitions , lambda variables , applications and case forms . if a lambda expression has been reduced , the propagator will see the result of the reduction . this effectively turns the program tree into a directed graph . in particular , at each point in the lambda body that referenced a lambda variable , the actual argument will appear , shared among what had been all variable uses . it should be appreciated that variables bound to significances are never seen by propagators , only the significances . the statement “ update ” defines a form that may appear only during the execution of a propagator : this statement updates the “ old ” value , which must evaluate to a term projection at the stage the propagator applies to , with the “ new ” value . the statement “ same frequency ” defines a form that can occur only during execution of a propagator : this statement returns true if the frequency of expression evaluation is the same as that of the term that the propagator is handling . for an example of what this means , consider the following expression : it should be appreciated that the “ lets ” commands or operations are expanded in the earliest stage of processing . here , one argument of the multiplication term is the addition operation . the addition operation will not be executed the same number of times as the multiplication operation because of the intervening lambda . propagators may need to be sensitive to this . the other case where the execution frequency is different occurs when a term in one case branch references a variable outside the case . another perspective is that because propagators execute before run - time , one invocation of a propagator may correspond to many invocations of the significance it processes . it is not an issue as long as all the sub - terms that the propagator processes are invoked once per invocation of the main term . however , as the example illustrates , that is not always the case . the propagator may need to be careful in updating information associated with a significance of a different frequency . the “ same frequency ” statement provides a way for propagators to detect this situation . fig3 a - 3 c set forth a sample code segment for performing loop fusion . this sample code handles many , but not all , cases where the result of one loop is used by several other loops . lines 1 - 3 describe the different information that flow processing can work on . this information includes three different significances of expressions and a unique identifier for the terms at the least simplified level . line 2 defines the key for getting this value from a hash table . line 3 defines the loop that will compute this value , among possibly others . to allow sharing , the projection defined in line 3 will only holds the loop for one of the values computed by the loop . the projection on the other values will hold ( loop - reference value ) for some other value computed by the loop . following that chain will eventually lead to the value that holds the loop . lines 4 - 6 define the top level function . lines 7 -( end ) define the subroutine library that defines reduced pointwise operations . line 8 allows reduction of the lambda expressions at the top level , effectively making the definition of and ! a macro . lines 11 - 39 define a propagator that decorates each form with the loop that will compute its value . line 37 , when executed , indicates that the case is not “ pointwise ”, allowing that the outputs are needed to be noted . lines 39 - 46 return a pointwise loop that computes the value , and included making up a trivial loop if necessary . lines 43 and 44 make the reduction reducible after loop fusion . lines 47 - 50 indicate that , given that the value is computed by a loop , return that loop . lines 51 - 57 return the value whose computing - loop holds the loop for computing the argument . lines 58 - 69 record the form &# 39 ; s demands for results . lines 70 - 79 indicate that the actual array for the argument is required . in lines 80 - 100 , the structure of a pointwise loop , i . e ., “ ptw - loop ”, is designed to facilitate fusion , including generating loops with multiple values . to enable this , inputs and outputs are named with keys , so that the naming won &# 39 ; t have to change under fusion . these keys exist only during loop fusion time . that is , these keys will be simplified away by run time . in line 93 , the statement “ fn ” takes a list of key / value pairs to an augmented list of key / value pairs . the “ inputs ” is a list of key / array pairs , including the ids expected by “ fn ”. the “ outputs ” is a list of keys , which must be among the keys fn outputs . the loop maps the function over corresponding elements of the arrays and returns a list of key / array pairs , with an entry for each key in output - ids . lines 101 - 103 define the pointwise operation to return the proper result from the loop , constructed by the propagator in the previous stage , that computes its result . lines 104 - 117 return a loop that does the combined work of two pointwise loops , and combines their inputs and outputs . line 115 indicates that the function defined inside is reducible after loop fusion . lines 118 - 125 lookup a key in a list of pairs , assuming the key is there . line 119 indicates that this is done before run - time . lines 126 and 127 indicate that the operation to merge two lists is coded in a similar style to the operation to find an id in a list . the basic operation of the weaver is : start with the program . simplify the program until all parts of the program have reached the first stage . run the propagators for that stage to decorate the simplified program with projections . now , simplify the program some more until all parts of the program have reached the next stage . during this simplification , the simplified program from the previous stage and the decorations added by the propagators are the data available to determine what the further simplified program will look like . this process is repeated until the final stage of the program is reached . each part of the program has a significance at each stage . the question is whether any such part must be reduced from one stage to the next so that that part of the program will properly denote the significance of that part of the program at that next stage . [ 0108 ] fig4 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of the relationships between the stages illustrated in fig2 during program compilation , or weaving , using the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments according to this invention . as shown fig4 a set of one or more programming elements 120 are input into the aspect - oriented weaver 110 to be compiled . the aspect - oriented weaver 110 examines the set of one or more programming elements 120 for common variables and operations and gives instructions 310 to reduce the set of one or more programming elements 120 to the appropriate significances . as shown in fig4 three significances , a , b and c , are identified in the set of one or more programming elements 120 . the three significances a , b and c are incorporated in the first - stage woven code block 320 generated as a result of a first stage analysis , corresponding to the first stage 210 outlined above with respect to fig2 . next , the aspect - oriented weaver 110 invokes a projector 330 , by sending an instruction along an inter - propagator visibility path 325 . the projector 330 examines the first - stage woven code block 320 and determines which of the significances a , b and c are susceptible to updating during further weaving . for example , in the exemplary embodiment shown in fig4 the projector 330 identifies significances a and b as susceptible to updating . the projector 330 creates a propagator 335 , along a projector / propagator path 327 , to carry out any future updates on the significances a and b . the aspect - oriented weaver 110 then proceeds to the next stage of weaving . in a second stage of weaving , the aspect - oriented weaver 110 uses the first - stage woven code block 320 as an input to a second or intermediate stage analysis , as outlined above with respect to fig2 . the aspect - oriented weaver 110 examines the first - stage woven code block 320 to identify any common variables and / or operations , and sends instructions 332 to reduce the first - stage woven code block 320 to the appropriate significances . as shown in fig4 three significances , d , e and f , are identified in the first - stage woven code block 320 . these three significances d , e and f are incorporated in a second - stage woven code block 340 generated as a result of the second - stage analysis , corresponding to the intermediate stage 230 outlined above with respect to fig2 . again , the aspect - oriented weaver 110 invokes a projector 350 by sending an instruction along an inter - propagator visibility path 345 . the projector 350 examines the second - stage woven code block 340 for significances that may be effected by future weaving . for example , in the exemplary embodiment shown in fig3 the projector 350 determines that the significance e fits this criteria . the projector 350 creates a propagator 355 , using a projector / propagator path 347 , for the significance e . then , the propagator 355 communicates with the propagator 335 using an inter - propagator visibility path 337 , to determine if anything needs to be updated . in this particular example , there are no significances in common . that is , there is no significance that is continued in both of the first and second stage woven code blocks 320 and 340 . therefore , no updating is needed . subsequently , in a third stage of weaving , the aspect - oriented weaver 110 uses the second - stage woven code block 340 as an input to a last stage analysis . as above , the aspect - oriented weaver 110 examines the second - stage woven code block 340 to identify any common variables and / or operations and sends instructions 342 to reduce the second - stage woven code block 340 to the appropriate significances . as shown in fig4 three significances a , g and h , are identified in the second - stage woven code block 340 . the three significances a , g and h are incorporated in a third - stage woven code block 360 generated as a result of the third stage analysis , corresponding to the final stage 270 outlined above with respect to fig2 . then , the aspect - oriented weaver 110 invokes a third projector 370 by sending an instruction along an inter - operability visibility path 365 . the projector 370 determines that the significances a and h are susceptible to updating . a propagator 375 for the significances a and h is created by the projector 370 , along a projector / propagator path 367 . then , the propagator 375 communicates with the propagator 355 along an inter - propagator visibility path 357 . the propagator 375 determines there are no significances in common between the second - stage and third - stage woven code blocks 340 and 360 and that no updating is needed . the propagator 375 also communicates with the propagator 335 along another inter - propagator visibility path 377 , and determines that the significance a is common to the first - stage and third stage woven code blocks 320 and 360 . then , the propagator 375 updates all references to the significance a in the first - stage and third - stage woven code blocks 320 and 360 . this ensures proper execution of the woven code later on . this process continues as discussed above until all of the code is fully woven and , therefore , fully optimized . [ 0115 ] fig5 illustrates the weaving process for the loop fusion example . the aspect - oriented weaver 110 provides instructions 410 to a syntax stage 430 to read in a high - level program code block 420 . this high - level program code block 420 is provided to be used as the first stage code block in a first stage of the weaving process , i . e ., the syntax stage 430 . the aspect - oriented weaver 110 then examines first stage code block 420 in the syntax stage 430 to identify common variables and operations throughout the first stage code block 420 . the aspect - oriented weaver 110 controls the syntax stage 430 using instructions 435 . in this example , there are two intermediate stages between the syntax stage 430 and the final stage 480 . the woven code block 440 output from the syntax stage 430 is input to a first intermediate stage 450 , which in this exemplary embodiment can be referred to as a loop - structure stage . next , the aspect - oriented weaver 110 examines the first stage woven code block 440 and provides instructions 455 to the loop - structure stage 450 . during the loop - structure stage 450 , processing exposes the candidate loop structure of any arrays computed by the loops of the first stage code block 420 . the loop - structure stage outputs a second stage woven code block 460 . unfortunately , the value of a particular loop is not directly computable from the loop - structure stage 450 because the loop structure performs explicit mapping functions over the arrays . in this situation , it is more desirable for the inner loop functions to be reduced before run time . therefore , the loop structures need to be transformed to reduced loops . this transformation is provided by the computation stage 470 . subsequently , the aspect - oriented weaver 110 provides instructions 475 to the computation stage 470 to reduce the loop structures contained in the second stage woven code block 460 . in response , the computation stage 470 outputs the third stage woven code block 480 , which is the final , fully woven stage . this final stage code block 480 is also called the value stage code block 480 . the final stage code block 480 is then output to a compiler 490 . the compiler 490 , under control of the aspect - oriented weaver 110 over the signal channel 495 , compiles the fully woven value stage block 480 to form an executable code block 500 . the executable code block 500 is output from the compiler 490 . in the loop fusion example outlined above , for each function definition , the programmer needs to determine at what stage the function definition should be processed . similarly , for each case , the programmer can say at what stage that case expects to examine the term of that case . expressing this in corresponding pseudo - code yields : ( define pointwise ( reduction - stage loop - structure ( lambda ( fn arg ) ( case loop - structure arg (( ptw - loop inner - fn inner - arg ) ( inner - fn inner - arg ) ( ptw - loop ( reduction - stage compilation ( lambda ( x ) ( fn ( inner - fn x )))) inner - arg )) ( else ( ptw - loop fn arg1 )))))) ( define ptw - loop ( reduction - stage computation ( lambda ( fn input ) ( let (( result ( new - array ))) ( dotimes (( i 0 99 )) ( setf ( elt output i ) ( fn ( elt input i )))) output )))) ( define double ( reduction - stage loop - structure ( lambda ( array ) ( pointwise ( reduction - stage compilation ( lambda ( x ) (* x2 ))) array )))) ( define double - plus ( reduction - stage loop - structure ( lambda ( array ) ( pointwise ( reduction - stage compilation ( lambda ( x ) (+ x1 ))) ( double array ))))) here the “( reduction - stage loop - structure . . . )” forms indicate which library routines should be reduced during the loop - structure stage . reducing a routine during a stage does not mean fully evaluating the routine during that stage . it only means that calls to the routine should be logically replaced by copies of the body of that routine , so that the actual arguments of each call becomes visible inside the copy of the body and the routine &# 39 ; s results become visible at each call site . each form inside a routine determines its own reduction stage . thus , the case operation in “ pointwise ” must indicate that it wants to examine its argument after the result of loop - structure stage reductions . meanwhile , all the functions intended to execute inside loops need to indicate that these functions should be unfolded at the compilation stage , so that these functions will be reduced before run time . the arithmetic operations inside those routines have no associated declaration and , therefore , will run at runtime . it is up to the programmer to make sure that information is available when it is needed . this is why the definition of “ ptw - loop ” indicates that this routine should also be reduced at the computation stage . with no declaration , this routine would not have logically unfolded until runtime . in that case , the value of “ fn ” would not have been known until runtime . consequently , it would have been impossible to reduce the inside functions at compile time as requested . subsequently , this would have led to an error . however , there is a problem with the library outlined above . consider the following pseudo - code written against the library : ( define misc ( reduction - stage loop - structure ( lambda ( array ) ( let (( temp ( double array ))) ( let (( p1 ( pointwise ( reduction - stage compilation ( lambda ( x ) (+ x1 ))) temp )) ( p2 ( pointwise ( reduction - stage compilation ( lambda ( x ) (+ x2 ))) temp ))) . . .))))) in this pseudo - code , “ temp ”, the result of “ double ”, is used as the argument to calls to two instances of “ pointwise ”. as the library is written , each of those calls to “ pointwise ” will generate its own loop . the net result will be two loops , one for the call labeled “ p1 ” and one for the call labeled “ p2 ”, of which both will do their doubling . if “ temp ” is used elsewhere below , there could even be a third loop that computes just “ temp ”. the best situation would be a single loop that computes both the p1 array and the p2 array . the problem here is that each time the “ pointwise ” library fuses a loop , “ pointwise ” calls for a new work execution of its argument &# 39 ; s loop . if the argument is shared , the result is a duplicated computation . one solution to this is not to fuse loops if the argument is shared . another is to make a single loop that accounts for all uses of the shared argument , one that would produce both the p1 array and the p2 array . adopting either of the above solutions requires knowing information about how the argument is used elsewhere in the program . that means that the library code needs access to some information about the broader context than just its immediate arguments . it needs some kind of data flow information concerning its arguments . this requires more language facilities . to implement the simpler answer , where it does not fuse if the argument is shared , the library code needs to ask something like , “ is the argument that i &# 39 ; m being passed is it also being used elsewhere ?” it should be appreciated that this question cannot be answered by simply looking at the code that computes the argument , no matter at what stage . the answer to this question lies in how the argument is used , not how it is computed . further , the answer to this question relies on a sense of argument identity , that is , of what it means for the same argument to be used elsewhere . to support this , thus , in various exemplary embodiments , the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environments outlined above support the notion of term projection . a projection provides information about a term , typically information that is not available from the term itself , but from the context of its use . thus , in various exemplary embodiments , the semantic - based aspect - oriented programming systems , methods and programming environment outlined above introduce another construct , the propagator described above , to calculate projection context information . the propagator is a form that is matched against the terms of an appropriate stage and then allowed to post information about projections of the term or sub - terms of the term . initially , the value of a projection is set to a default that indicates that the term occurs in an empty context . as propagators run , they fill in the picture of the context . thus , while a propagator is coded imperatively , it acts to incrementally raise the bound on the context of a term . the following pseudo - code computes whether a term is used more than once : ( projection uses : defined - on operations ) ( propagator operations ( lambda ( value ) ( case operations value (( fn . args ) ( fn args ) ( increment - count fn ) ( map ( lambda ( arg ) ( increment - count arg )) args )))))) ( define increment - count ( lambda ( value ) ( update ( uses value ) (+ 1 ( or ( uses value ) 0 ))))) to make this example work , it is necessary to introduce a new stage , an operations stage , that occurs before the loop fusion stage . definitions , like “ double ” that are combinations of loops , are reduced at this stage , so that the uses of loop results become visible . that way , there is no need for long range flow analysis . a form does not have to be followed through several procedures , because the only things that matter are the procedures that the programmer cares about . those are the procedures that have access to the form structure at the loop - structure determination time which are the procedures that directly receive it . however , this mechanism can perform long range flow analysis . it does this by accumulating information along the way and propagating it . in fact , this mechanism is enough to express the second approach to sharing , the generation of a single large fused loop , as discussed above with respect to fig2 and 3 . while the invention has been described in conjunction with the exemplary embodiments outlined above , it is evident that many alternatives , modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art . accordingly , the exemplary embodiments of the invention , as set forth above , are intended to be illustrative , not limiting . various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	6
the invention is to provide a method for predicting k o3 at different temperatures . the method should have these features : conciseness , rapidness , low - cost and wide applicability . ( 1 ) to ensure the accuracy of the data for qsar model development , assessment and analysis of the experimental values assembled from literatures are needed . therefore , several experimental k o3 values of one chemical were firstly evaluated by statistics , in order to remove the large deviation value from the average . secondly , the plotting of the logk o3 of one chemical at different temperatures against 1 / t was analyzed to delete the large deviation value from the linear relationship . finally , 264 logk o3 values for 129 organic compounds at different temperatures ( 178k ˜ 364k ) were comprised in the model . the classes of molecular descriptors in this model included 26 quantum chemical descriptors , 1481 dragon descriptors and 12 molecular fragments . in addition , 1 / t was added as a predictor variable in this model . the compounds include alkenes , cycloalkenes , haloalkenes , alkynes , oxygen - containing compounds , nitrogen - containing compounds ( except primary amines ) and aromatic compounds . the data were randomly divided into a training set and a validation set with a ratio of 4 : 1 . ( 2 ) mlr and pls analysis methods were used to select optimal descriptors for the training set and build qsar models . the following procedures were followed : firstly , stepwise mlr analysis was employed to select the significant descriptors . the mlr model was obtained with each descriptor having the variable inflation factor ( vif )& lt ; 10 . secondly , we performed a pls regression analysis that manually eliminated the redundant descriptors and constructed an optimal model . each descriptor was removed from the model development , respectively . the model with the maximum coefficient of determination r 2 and cumulative cross - validation coefficient q 2 cum was selected for further eliminating the redundant descriptors in the next step . here , q 2 cum is the cumulative variance of the dependent variable that can be explained by the extracted pls components . the optimum model was selected by repeating the above process until the r 2 and q 2 cum do not increased . if the statistics r 2 and q 2 cum of several models were at similar level , the model with the maximum adjusted coefficient of determination r 2 adj was selected . logk o3 =− 12 . 542 − 493 . 3 ( 1 / t )+ 0 . 41722 e homo + 0 . 4443 electrophility + 0 . 66971 n c ═ c − 0 . 26128 qc max + 0 . 74783 belm 2 + 4 . 8412 mor 32 v + 0 . 35198 h 3 u + 0 . 38372 n ═ chr − 1 . 7438 n nh2 + 0 . 4576 n — cr2 − 1 . 1235 n bm + 0 . 28542 n circle where , 1 / t is the reciprocal of absolute temperature ; e homo is the energy of highest occupied molecular orbital ; electrophility is the electrophilicity index ; n c ═ c is the number of carbon - carbon double bonds ; qc max is the most positive charge of carbon ; belm2 is lowest eigenvalue n . 2 of burden matrix / weighted by atomic masses ; mor32v is 3d - morse - signal 32 / weighted by atomic van der waals volumes ; h3u is h autocorrelation of lag 3 / unweighted ; n ═ chr is the number of ═ chr ( r represents non - cyclic alkyl substitutions , c represents the carbon atom of carbon - carbon double bonds ); n nh2 is the number of — nh 2 ; n = cr2 is the number of ═ cr 2 ( r represents non - cyclic alkyl substitutions , c represents the carbon atom of carbon - carbon double bonds ); n bm is the number of methyl - substituents on the benzene rings ; n circle is the cyclic number of molecule ( exclude conjugated rings ). the robustness and predictive ability of the k o3 model were evaluated by internal and external validations . the goodness of fit was characterized by adjusted determination coefficient and the root mean square error rmse . the robustness was evaluated by internal cross - validation squared correlation coefficient q 2 cum . the predictive ability of the model was evaluated by 50 external data , which were not used to develop the model . and the external validation coefficient q 2 ext was used to describe predictive ability . where ŷ i and y i are the predicted value and observed value for the ith compound , respectively ; y is the response mean of the observed values in the training set ; y ext is the response mean of the observed values in the validation set ; n is the number of the objects in training set and p is the number of descriptors ; n ext is the number of the objects in validation set . the model statistics parameters , adjusted determination coefficient r 2 adj of 0 . 849 , the root mean square error rmse of 0 . 562 , the leave - group - out cross - validation squared correlation coefficient q 2 cum of 0 . 838 , the external validation coefficient q 2 ext of 0 . 878 were obtained , which indicate satisfactory goodness of fit , robustness and predictive ability . applicability domain of the model was characterized by the leverage approach using the williams plot . the abscissa of the plot expresses the leverage ( h i ) of each chemical and the standardized residual ( σ ) is on the vertical . the warning leverage ( h ) of the developed model is 0 . 196 . if σ of a compound is greater than 3 times the standard deviation units (± 3 . 0 ), the compound will be treated as outliers . this invention offered a low - cost , simple and rapid way to predict the k o3 values of various chemicals at different temperature . model establishment and evaluation was performed according to the oecd guidelines . thus , the k o3 values predicted by the model can be used to evaluate the persistence of the organic chemicals . the developed k o3 predictive model in this invention is of several advantages : ( 1 ) the k o3 at different temperatures can be used for estimating the lifetime of pollutants in the troposphere . ( 2 ) the molecular descriptors in the k o3 predictive model can be obtained by simple calculating . ( 3 ) the built model possesses a great robustness and predictability . ( 4 ) the applicability domain of the model was characterized . fig1 a . plot of predicted versus experimental logk o3 values in the training set . the training set includes 214 logk o3 values of 110 compounds . fig1 b . plot of predicted versus experimental logk o3 values in the validation set . the validation set includes 50 logk o3 values of 33 compounds . fig2 . williams plot of standardized residuals versus leverages for characterizing the application domain of the k o3 model . 1 - heptylene : according to the calculated h ( 0 . 0576 & lt ; h ) and σ ( 0 . 2838 & lt ; 3 ), the compound was considered to belong to the domain as defined by the williams plot . 13 molecular descriptors in the predictive model were calculated by using the pm6 method embedded in mopac 2009 and drgan software ( version 2 . 1 ) and considering the molecular fragments . the experimental logk o3 value of 1 - heptylene at 296k is − 16 . 76 cm 3 molecule − 1 s − 1 . the logk o3 value predicted by the qsar model is : 1 , 1 - dichloroethylene : according to the calculated h ( 0 . 0616 & lt ; h ) and σ (− 3 . 12 & lt ;− 3 ), the compound was considered to be out of the domain as defined by the williams plot . 13 molecular descriptors in the predictive model were calculated by using the pm6 method embedded in mopac 2009 and drgan software ( version 2 . 1 ) and considering the molecular fragments . the experimental logk o3 value of 1 , 1 - dichloroethylene at 298k is − 20 . 43 cm 3 molecule − 1 s − 1 . the logk o3 value predicted by the qsar model is : camphene : according to the calculated h ( 0 . 213 & gt ; h ) and σ (− 2 . 78 & gt ;− 3 ), the compound was considered to be out of the domain as defined by the williams plot . 13 molecular descriptors in the predictive model were calculated by using the pm6 method embedded in mopac 2009 and drgan software ( version 2 . 1 ) and considering the molecular fragments . the experimental logk o3 value of camphene at 298k is − 18 . 05 cm 3 molecule − 1 s − 1 . the logk o3 value predicted by the qsar model is : according to the calculated h ( 1 . 0115 & gt ; h ) and σ (− 0 . 54 & gt ;− 3 ), the compound was considered to be out of the domain as defined by the williams plot . 13 molecular descriptors in the predictive model were calculated by using the pm6 method embedded in mopac 2009 and drgan software ( version 2 . 1 ) and considering the molecular fragments . the experimental logk o3 value of methylamine at 296k is − 19 . 67 cm 3 molecule − 1 s − 1 . the logk o3 value predicted by the qsar model is : according to the calculated h ( 0 . 0658 & lt ; h ) and σ ( 0 . 2707 & lt ;− 3 ), the compound was considered to belong to the domain as defined by the williams plot . 13 molecular descriptors in the predictive model were calculated by using the pm6 method embedded in mopac 2009 and drgan software ( version 2 . 1 ) and considering the molecular fragments . the experimental logk o3 value of ethyl nitrite at 310k is − 18 . 80 cm 3 molecule − 1 s − 1 . the logk o3 value predicted by the qsar model is :	6
the spectral remission curves of the printing inks cyan ( c ), magenta ( m ) and yellow ( y ) and of an unprinted white paper ( pw ) are illustrated graphically in fig2 . the curves show for white paper a virtually uniformly high remission of above approximately 0 . 8 in the entire wavelength region above approximately 430 nm . by contrast therewith , the spectral remission curves of the colored inks cyan , magenta or yellow exhibit rising , and also falling , sections over the illustrated wavelength region . in order respectively to provide density measurements with a high information content in the case of the remission of printing inks that is illustrated in such a way , as already mentioned at the beginning the density measurements are respectively undertaken in the low remission range of the colored inks . the measurements are therefore made specifically in comparatively restricted wavelength regions of the spectral remission curves . as illustrated in fig1 , in the case of customary density measurements , an individual red filter is inserted upstream of a photoelement sensitive to white light and in each case filters out from the remission curves of cyan only a wavelength section around approximately 600 nm for the photoelement . depending on color density , correspondingly strong deviations result in light intensity for the photoelement . according to the invention , by contrast , the use of a customary multicolor camera , in particular a red , green , blue camera is proposed which comprises on a flat image sensor a multiplicity of sensor points for different colors , in this case a multiplicity of blue , green and red sensor points or pixels . a diagram in the right - hand area of fig3 shows the two - dimensional arrangement of such blue ( b ), green ( g ) and red ( r ) pixels or sensor points on such a color camera . furthermore , the left - hand area of fig3 illustrates the typical sensitivity of the individual pixels with the aid of their standardized sensitivity . it is clearly to be seen from fig3 that the blue pixels have a sensitivity maximum at approximately 460 nm , the green pixels have a sensitivity maximum at approximately 520 nm to 540 nm , and the red pixels have a sensitivity maximum at approximately 620 to 630 nm . the pixels of such type are preferably produced from silicon and therefore act as individual photosensitive elements whose sensor signal can correspondingly also be evaluated individually . inserted upstream of the multicolor camera of such sensitivity is a filter device that is fashioned as a multiple bandpass filter , in particular as a triple bandpass filter or a so - called triple filter . such a filter device has three respectively restricted transmission ranges . with as high a relative transmission as possible ( ideally approximately 1 ), a first transmission range is restricted to a wavelength region between approximately 430 nm and approximately 450 nm . with as high a relative transmission as possible ( ideally approximately 1 ), a second transmission range is restricted to the wavelength section between approximately 520 nm and approximately 540 nm . finally , with as high a relative transmission as possible ( ideally approximately 1 ), the third transmission range comprises only the wavelength region between approximately 620 nm and approximately 640 nm . the color density measuring device 10 fashioned in such a way is illustrated in fig5 once again with its camera 12 acting as multicolor image sensor , as well as the upstream triple filter 14 acting as filter device . during operation , the color density measuring device 10 is directed , for example inside a further printing apparatus ( not illustrated ) for multicolor printing , onto a printing material 22 that is provided with an ink layer and is , therefore , colored . the color density measuring device 10 is , moreover , coupled operationally to a control and evaluation circuit 18 via lines 16 . furthermore , the color density measuring device 10 is supported such that it can be displaced on a cross member 20 by a motor . the multicolor camera 12 arranged in such a way is then used not , for example , to take customary color photographs , but color density measurements are carried out that have at least the same measurement quality as do measurements with the aid of customary densitometers . such color density measurements are possible because a particular standardized sensitivity of the individual pixels of the multicolor camera 12 results ( see left - hand area of fig6 ) over the entire wavelength region owing to the inventive combination of the triple bandpass filter 14 ( see fig4 ) with a multicolor camera 12 ( see fig3 ). a high standardized sensitivity thus remains for the blue pixel only in the wavelength region between approximately 430 nm and approximately 450 nm . for the green pixel , a high standardized sensitivity is restricted to the wavelength region between approximately 520 nm and 540 nm . the red pixel is particularly sensitive only in the wavelength region between approximately 620 nm and approximately 640 nm . if this sensitivity resulting in the case of the multicolor camera 12 provided with the triple bandpass filter 14 ( see left - hand area of fig6 ) is covered with spectral remission curves of the colored inks cyan , magenta and yellow as well as of the unprinted white paper ( see fig2 ), it is to be seen that a densitometer for cyan ( c ) has been provided with the aid of the filtered “ red ” pixel ( cf . also fig1 ), a densitometer has been provided for magenta ( m ) with the aid of the “ green ” pixel , and a densitometer has been provided for yellow ( y ) with the aid of the “ blue ” pixel . this functionality of the multicolor camera 12 used in accordance with the invention is illustrated once more in the right - hand area of fig6 with the sensor points correspondingly designated ( see , in particular , by comparison with the right - hand area of fig3 ). it is therefore possible to use the color density measuring device 10 to undertake a total of three density measurements in only a single recording and , furthermore , to carry out a comparison with an unprinted white paper surface , if appropriate . a second exemplary embodiment of a color density measuring device 10 is illustrated in fig7 ; it is fashioned like the example illustrated in fig5 with regard to the multicolor camera 12 , the triple bandpass filter 14 and the printing material 22 . in the exemplary embodiment in accordance with fig7 , however , the multicolor camera 12 cannot be moved , but is fastened on a stand ( not illustrated ) in a stationary fashion . a light source 24 in the form of a luminaire emitting light over the entire visible wavelength spectrum is , moreover , provided on the color density measuring device 10 in accordance with fig7 . this luminaire is arranged at a principal irradiation angle of approximately 45 ° to the plane of the printing material 22 . in the case of the exemplary embodiment in accordance with fig7 , the triple bandpass filter 14 is likewise inserted into the beam path of the light remitted by the printing material 22 directly upstream of a lens of the multicolor camera 12 . fig8 shows an exemplary embodiment of a color density measuring device 10 in which the triple bandpass filter 14 is inserted not upstream of the multicolor camera 12 , but is inserted , directly downstream of the light source 24 , into the beam path of the light emitted by the light source 24 . such an arrangement of the triple bandpass filter 14 already restricts the light directed onto the printing material 22 to the desired wavelength bands named above . fig9 illustrates an exemplary embodiment in which instead of a single light source 24 and a triple bandpass filter 14 a total of three light sources 24 are provided upstream of which a single bandpass filter 26 is inserted in each case . furthermore , the illumination means of such a type are assigned a light mixing system 28 in the form of color interference filters , said light mixing system being used to unite the beam paths of the three light sources 24 to form one beam path . finally , fig1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment in which a total of four light sources 30 are provided . these light sources 30 are arranged next to one another and directed individually in each case onto the printing material 22 , a principal irradiation angle of approximately 45 ° to the plane of the printing material again being observed in each case ( by contrast with the illustration , which is purely schematic ). of these four light sources 30 , three are fashioned as light emitting diodes or laser luminaries with specific wavelength spectra , restricted in accordance with the invention , in the region of blue , green and red light . the fourth light source 30 is an infrared luminaire and its wavelength band is likewise restricted . as explained above , this light source 30 from the infrared region can then be used in cooperation with the multicolor camera 12 to measure the density of the printing ink black .	6
reference will now be made in detail to the first and second embodiment of the present invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . in explaining the present invention , the same names and reference numerals will be given to the same components , and explanations in the same will be omitted . the first embodiment of the present invention will be explained referring to fig5 to fig9 . fig5 is an exploded perspective view showing a structure of a spine supporting system according to the first embodiment of the present invention , and fig6 is a sectional view showing a functional principle of a spine supporting system according to the first embodiment of the present invention . generally in the spine supporting system , a screw 10 is a rigid screw in which a body 14 is integrated with a head 12 or a polyaxial screw , which could rotates at certain angle relative to a the head 12 by forming a sphere on an upper end of a body 14 . the first embodiment will be explained , with regard to the rigid screw . in the drawings according the present embodiment the same numerals are given to the same components , and only differences to the prior art will be described in the followings . a boundary of cap assembled surface 13 and an upper surface 13 b , and a step portion between the cap assembled surface 13 and a head block 17 is formed as a round surface 13 a , 19 and is strengthened so that the shearing and breakage by the external force is prevented or the insertion of an outer cap 30 is archived smoothly . an inner bolt 20 has a head part 26 , which extends and projects outwardly from an upper end thereof . the outer cap 30 has a seat recess 33 , in which the head part 26 of the inner bolt 20 could be inserted , a guide female thread 35 is formed at an inner end of the seat recess 33 , and the inner bolt 20 is screwed in the guide female thread 35 . the guide female thread 35 is formed to permit only 1 . 5 turns , i . e . 540 degrees and the inner bolt 20 is joined loosely , so that the centering is not interfered with when a female thread 11 of the screw 10 and the inner bolt 20 are joined together . that is , with this guide female thread 35 , the inner bolt 20 is only joined with the outer cap 30 preliminarily . additionally , the outer cap 30 has a round cut part 36 of semicircle having a depth of 2 mm such that the rod 40 does not interfere with the insertion of the outer cap 30 in the operation . also , to cover the entire head 12 , i . e . the entire cap assembled surface 13 and a part of the head block 17 , an inner cavity 37 comprises a first step surface 37 a and a second step surface 37 b . further , to ensure the easy and smooth insertion with the round surface 13 a , 19 of the head 12 , a portion between the first step surface 37 a and the second step surface 37 b and an inner portion of the lower end is rounded . the function and effectiveness of the first embodiment of the present invention will be explained referring to fig7 . fig7 is a sectional view showing an operation sequence by a spine supporting system according to the first embodiment of the present invention , and fig8 is a perspective view showing an example of operation by a spine supporting system according to the first embodiment of the present invention . referring to these drawings , the general operation procedure described in the above is omitted , and only the function of the mechanism according to the present embodiment will be explained in detail . firstly as illustrated in fig7 ( a ), the rod 40 is mounted normal to be lifted slightly . in this state , the outer cap 30 of the present invention is joined with the female thread 11 , and as the first step , the inner bolt 20 is joined preliminarily with the guide female thread 35 . in this step , as the inner bolt 20 is caught in the guide female thread 35 by only rotation of 540 degrees , it could move to both side slightly . this is for that no interference with regard to the centering of the inner bolt 20 to the female thread 11 occurs in a ‘ pre - assembling step ’, which the inner bolt 20 is joined with the female thread 11 . more specifically , when the inner bolt 20 is only caught in the guide female thread 35 and thus simply joined with the outer cap 30 preliminarily , the centering of the inner bolt 20 center easily to the female thread 11 and the sliding and pitching during the insertion is removed such that the insertion of the inner bolt 20 is to be accurate and swift , only by mounting the outer cap 30 to the head 12 in the initial entry of the inner bolt 20 . when the preliminary joining of the inner bolt 20 and outer cap 30 is completed , the outer cap 30 is inserted to the head 12 . in the insertion , with the round surface 13 a , 19 , the round surface 38 between the first and second step surface 37 a , 37 b of the inner surface of the outer cap 30 , and the round surface 39 in the inner portion of the lower end of the outer cap 30 , the insertion is achieved easily as follows . in the initial insertion of the outer cap 30 to the head 12 of the screw 10 , the first and second step surfaces 37 a , 37 b are in contact with the cap assembled surface 13 and an outer surface of the head block 17 respectively , and the round surfaces 38 , 39 are in contact with the round surfaces 13 a , 19 individually , and thereby the outer cap 30 is inserted to the head 12 smoothly . that is , each round surfaces 13 a , 19 , 38 , 39 functions as an insertion guide . also , these functions naturally and automatically as the insertion guide due to the harmony with a wider diameter and a narrower diameter . when the outer cap 30 is completely inserted to the head 12 of the screw 10 as above , the first and second step surfaces 37 a , 37 b is to cover the entire cap assembled surface 13 of the head 12 and a part of the head block 17 . after the outer cap 30 is inserted to the head 12 as above , as joining the inner bolt 20 using the tool 100 as can be seen in fig7 ( b ), the inner bolt 20 guided in the outer cap 30 is joined automatically in the female thread 11 of the screw 10 , and the rod 40 is inserted in the groove 16 of the screw 10 by the fixing force of the inner bolt 20 . and , as the inner bolt is joined further as shown in fig7 ( c ), the bottom surface of the inner bolt 20 fixes the rod 20 in the head 12 of the screw 10 by pushing it , and at the same time the head part 26 of the inner bolt 20 is inserted and seated in the seat recess 33 of the outer cap 30 . in such a complete joining of the inner bolt 20 , since the inner bolt 20 is inserted in the female thread 11 of the head 12 in the screw 10 and the head 12 covered with the head 12 maintains the integrated state which the seat recess 33 is fastened to the head part 26 of the inner bolt 20 , the rod 40 is fixed in the rod 40 rigidly . as described above , the present invention fixes the rod 40 in the screw 10 by rotating and inserting the inner bolt 20 automatically in the female thread 11 of the head 12 . fig9 is a sectional view showing another function of a spine supporting system according to the first embodiment of the present invention . it is often a case that the actual operation is not the same as that in the textbook according to the state of the patient . fig9 illustrates the state that the inner bolt 20 is joined , as the rod 40 is not mounted accurately in the groove 16 , in other words the rod 40 is not in the well fitting . the rod 40 is lifted excessively to the upper part of the groove 16 . in this state , as the outer cap 30 of the present invention is inserted to the head 12 , the outer cap 30 is inserted to the head 12 of the screw 10 preliminarily with the rod 40 is inserted in the round cut part 36 formed in the outer cap 30 . subsequently , as the inner bolt 20 is fastened , the inner bolt 20 guided in the outer cap 30 is joined in the female thread 11 and this inserts the outer cap 30 to the head 12 , and thereby the rod 40 in the head 12 of the screw 10 is fixes as the above . fig1 is an exploded perspective view showing a structure of a spine supporting system according to the second embodiment of the present invention , fig1 is a sectional view showing a double structure of an outer cap and a reinforcement ring applied to a spine supporting system according to the second embodiment of the present invention , fig1 is an exploded perspective view showing a double structure of an outer cap and a reinforcement ring applied to a spine supporting system according to the second embodiment of the present invention , fig1 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of operation using a spine supporting system according to the second embodiment of the present invention , and fig1 is a sectional view showing a function of a spine supporting system according to the second embodiment of the present invention . fig1 illustrates the spine support system that is suitable to apply to the patient who needs to reduce the spine to the normal position by a reaction from which the rod 40 connected to the plurality of the spine supporting system is tightened as the inner bolt 20 is joined where a cutting segment 51 is formed at an upper end of the head 12 of the screw 10 . this supporting system is applied to the operation , in which restores an abnormal fixed spine 202 to the normal position relatively the spine supporting system , and then cut the unnecessary cutting segment 51 along a cutting line 55 , while the rod 40 is forced to be pressed downwardly in the state that the rod 40 is lifted excessively in the groove 16 . in the second embodiment , the same names and reference numerals will be given to the same components of the first embodiment , and in the drawings the numerals will be given to characterized part so as to give the explanation more apparently . the inner bolt 20 and outer cap 30 are integrated , and a reinforcement ring 50 is joined in the outer cap 30 in the spine supporting system of the second embodiment the inner bolt 20 is formed with a fastening part 23 at the upper part thereof and a fastening groove 25 at the lower part thereof . the outer cap 30 is formed at the upper part thereof with a supporting segment 30 d having a supporting end 30 c , which has the curvature corresponding an outer diameter of a fastening part 23 of the inner bolt 20 , and is formed with a punching point 30 b at the predetermined part of both sides . also , the lower part of outer cap 30 is formed with a round cut part 30 f at a contact part with the rod 40 in the insertion . the reinforcement ring 50 has an outer diameter to be fitted tightly in an inner diameter of the outer cap , and is formed with a fixing opening 50 c fastened at the punching point 30 b , at an outer surface corresponding to the punching point 32 b of the outer cap 30 . in addition , at the lower part thereof , a supporting segment 50 a having a supporting end 50 b which has the curvature corresponding an outer diameter of the fastening groove 25 of the inner bolt 20 , is formed . in such a structure , the reinforcement ring 50 is inserted in the outer cap 30 , and the fastening part 23 and fastening groove 25 of the inner bolt 20 are inserted rotatively in the supporting segment 30 d of the outer cap 30 and the supporting segment 50 a of the reinforcement ring 50 respectively . with respect to the function of the second embodiment according to the present invention , the explanation will be given referring fig1 and fig1 . the patient , to whom the present embodiment is applied , is in the state that the spine is separated and dislocated from the normal position so that it touches or presses the nerve system . as the cutting segment 51 extending from the upper part of a cap assembled surface 13 in the spine supporting system of the present embodiment , in case of separation of the spine , the rod 40 could be inserted in a groove 16 without any difficulties . referring to the fig1 , using the spine supporting system ( a ), ( b ), ( c ), a dislocated abnormal spine 202 and an adjacent normal spine 200 are connected with the curved rod 40 . in the state that the spine supporting system ( c ) in the normal spine 200 is fixed , the rod 40 is pressed by joining the inner bolt 20 tightly . the abnormal spine 202 is pulled up and restored to the normal position , as the spine supporting system ( a ),( b ) fixed in the abnormal spine 202 moves up as a reaction . after that , the cutting segment 51 is cut and disposed using a proper operation tool and the cutting line 55 . while the inner bolt 20 is joined by external force capable of restoring the abnormal spine 202 in fastening the inner bolt 20 tightly , the joining is not achieved and the initial centering is not easy , and thereby the operation becomes difficult , since the spine supporting system of the prior art supports the inner bolt 20 only in the lower part as the single outer cap 30 . however , since the present invention comprises a double structure of the outer cap and reinforcement ring 30 , 50 and supports the upper and lower part of the inner bolt 20 rotatively , only by covering the head 12 with the outer cap 30 , the initial centering is achieved easily . also , since the outer circumference of the head is supported rigidly by the double structure of the outer cap and reinforcement ring 30 , 50 in the state that the inner bolt 20 is inserted completely in the head 12 , the head part is supported rigidly . while the application of a rigid screw in which the body 14 and head 12 are integrated is described in the first and second embodiment , the a polyaxial screw in which the body 14 and the head 12 could rotate could be adapted to the present invention , and it is apparent that this falls into the scope of the present invention . the effects of the present invention could be summarized as follows . in the present invention , after the small inner bolt is joined with the outer cap preliminarily in the outer circumstance of operation part , the outer cap larger than the inner bolt covers the head of the screw , and then the inner bolt guided by the outer cap is joined with the female thread . therefore , the initial setting of the inner bolt and the female thread of the head and the insertion of the outer cap and head become very easy . additionally , in the complete joining of the inner bolt , the inner bolt and the head of the screw is joined , and the seat recess of the outer cap is fastened to the head part of the inner bolt , so that the screw , inner bolt , and outer cap are integrated with each other and exert the rigid fixation . further , since the lower part of the inner cavity in the outer cap is formed large and main contacting part of the outer cap and head of the screw is round , the outer cap could be inserted in the head without any difficulties . also , when the outer cap is inserted to the head , the inner bolt is inserted accurately in the female thread of the head automatically only by rotating the inner bolt , so that the rapid and accurate operation could be schemed . furthermore , since the outer cap covers and supports the entire head part , the fixation is strengthened and the life of the supporting system is extended . in the spine supporting system which the inner bolt and outer cap is integrated , since the upper and lower part of the inner bolt is supported by the double structure of the outer cap and reinforcement ring , steady and forceful rotation is ensured and the head part is supported rigidly . although a number of embodiment have described in the above specification , it should be apparent that the present invention could be embodied in many other specific mode included within the sprit and scope of the present invention . thus , the present embodiments should be considered as illustrative , and the present invention could be modified within the scope of claims and the equivalent thereof .	0
embodiments of the present disclosure provide a time temperature monitoring system that is integrated with a device such as a microchip to provide localized time temperature information . aspects of the time temperature monitoring system may be fabricated directly on a device or on a dummy package that can be adhered to a device . accordingly , for the purposes of this disclosure , the term “ device ” refers to any package that can incorporate micro - electronic features and an active dopant region . the time temperature information may be used for any purpose including , e . g ., to provide real - time data for system diagnosis of a device , to evaluate packaging processes , to establish reliability standards , etc . in general , time temperature history is captured by periodically monitoring changes in the resistance of a highly doped resistive (“ active ”) region . more particularly , a structure is provided to track resistivity changes that occur due to diffusion of a dopant source , such as copper , through an active region of a silicon substrate , which is time and temperature dependent . as the dopant source diffuses through the active region , resistivity of the active region breaks down , which is monitored and analyzed to provide time temperature information . the structure incorporates a set of spatially distributed electrodes that can be periodically monitored to detect a distance that the diffusion has travelled . in the examples that follow , an array of field effect transistors ( fets ) is utilized to provide electrodes that can sense resistivity breakdown beyond a predetermined contamination limit in a substrate in which the fet is imbedded . namely , resistivity breakdown will result in a detectable short circuit between selected ones of the fet &# 39 ; s gate , source and drain nodes . it is recognized that other electrical structures ( e . g ., a fuse ) for sensing resistivity , or lack thereof , could likewise be utilized . fig1 depicts a generalized schematic of a microchip 10 that incorporates a time temperature monitoring system . in this example , a set of localized sensors 12 are placed throughout the microchip 10 . each sensor 12 includes an array of fets that are probed periodically via an interrogation system 14 to collect , analyze and output time temperature information 20 . as described in more detail herein , fets within each sensor 12 are strategically designed to fail in response to known time and temperature exposure profiles . interface logic 15 includes the necessary circuitry and logic to allow interrogation system 14 to interface with each sensor 12 . in this embodiment , interrogation system 14 includes a data collector 16 to periodically check to see which fets within each sensor 12 remain operational , and which fets are inoperable . based on the collected data , a time temperature analyzer 18 will determine and output time temperature information 20 for each sensor 12 . also included in interrogation system 14 is an initialization system 22 that triggers the interrogation process to begin . depending on the application , interrogation system 14 may be integrated into the microchip 10 , be externally implemented , or be implemented as a combination of internal and external components . fig2 and 3 depict a top view and a cross - sectional view , respectively , of an illustrative sensor 12 . as shown in fig2 , each fet in an array of fets 30 are placed at predetermined distances from a copper substrate contact 32 , or ground terminal , which acts a dopant source . each fet 30 resides within a nitride spacer 36 and sits on top of active layer 38 , as shown in fig3 . a silicon based substrate 40 ( e . g ., sicoh ) resides below the active layer 38 . an activation system for the sensor 12 is provided with an application of current between copper substrate contact 32 and v - terminal 34 . once activated , the copper ( cu ) will begin to diffuse away from the copper substrate contact 32 . the rate of diffusion will depend on time and temperature , and as the copper diffuses , fets 30 will be short circuited (“ shorted ”) rendering them inoperable . accordingly , fet1 will be the first fet to fail at some point after copper is diffused into the channel of the fet1 device , followed by fet2 and so on . accordingly , by strategically placing fets 30 at known distances away from the dopant source , a time temperature history of the sensor 12 and surrounding circuits can be assessed by probing electrical readouts of the fets 30 . sensors 12 may be fabricated with standard feol ( front end of the line ) processes , thus incurring no additional costs . a copper beol ( back end of the line ) contact can be placed near each sensor 12 , with no additional cost . the interrogation process is initialized by bias - stressing the copper into the silicon contact 35 . this initialization can be done at any time , e . g ., at chip burn - in , or at a later time . although this embodiment uses copper , any controllable diffusive source may be utilized , e . g ., aluminum , chromium , gallium , etc . once initialized , each sensor 12 is periodically tested to see which fets 30 have failed , i . e ., are shorted . as noted , a short would indicate that the copper has diffused into the channel of the device . because the diffusion process is known to depend on time and temperature , time temperature information can be ascertained based on the location of the different fets , and which fets have failed . diffusion rates in silicon have been studied and behave in predictable manners . for example , fig4 shows a graph of copper diffusion in silicon for the fets 30 shown in fig2 and 3 , based on diffused distance . each solid line curve in the graph depicts a copper diffusion profile for a given time . for instance , it can be seen that , based on a cu profile at one month 41 , the location of fet1 will be at the contamination limit and therefore likely fail ; based on the cu profile at one year 42 , the locations of fet1 and fet2 will be at or above the contamination limit and likely fail ; based on the cu profile at five years 44 , the locations of fet1 , fet2 , and fet3 will be at or above the contamination limit and likely fail ; and based on the cu profile at 10 years 46 , the locations of fet1 , fet2 , fet3 and fet4 will be at or above the contamination limit and likely fail . also shown as a dashed line is the cu profile at one month at an elevated temperature 48 ( i . e ., above a predefined operating temperature threshold ). in this case , with the elevated temperature , fet1 and fet2 will be at or above the contamination limit and likely fail . similar elevated temperature curves for the other time periods , although not shown , can likewise be ascertained . furthermore , although only a single elevated temperature curve is shown at one month , different curves could be utilized based on an amount or range of the elevated temperature for each time period . for instance , a first set of curves could be utilized for an elevated temperature at a range of 10 - 30 degrees celsius , and a second set of curves could be utilized for an elevated temperature at a range of 31 - 60 degrees celsius , and so on . regardless , the time temperature analyzer 18 ( fig1 ) is implemented to take advantage of these known diffusion rate behaviors . fig5 depicts illustrative expected time temperature information based on a readout of the sensor 12 operating under normal conditions . namely , as shown , fet1 is expected to fail at one month , fet2 is expected to fail at one year , etc . fig6 depicts an illustrative expected read out at one month under both normal and elevated temperatures . as shown , fet2 is expected to fail at one month under elevated temperatures . accordingly , by probing the fets periodically , and comparing the results to expected results , time temperature information can be readily determined to indicate whether a chip , or an area on a chip , has experienced elevated temperatures over a period of time . fig7 depicts a flow diagram of the process . at s 1 , a microchip is provided with one or more sensors 12 ( as shown in fig1 - 3 ). at s 2 , each sensor 12 is initialized to enable the migration / injection of the copper from a dopant source into an active silicon region . initialization is for example done by placing a current between the copper substrate contact 32 and v - terminal 34 shown in fig1 . next , at s 3 , each sensor 12 is periodically probed to determine which fets are operational and which have failed . at s 4 , the probing results are analyzed relative to known or expected diffusion behaviors to provide time temperature information , and at s 5 , the time temperature information is outputted . the time temperature monitoring system described herein may be employed for any number of purposes . for example , such a system could be employed to gauge wafer finishing and module building in which thermal processes can vary , thus detecting potential reliability issues . in other cases , such a system could be used to monitor an application environment , e . g ., to determine whether a device has been operated inside or outside temperature specs . along the same lines , the actual “ stress age ” of devices in the field can be calculated in order to schedule service calls . in cases where a device has been overly stressed , the device may for example be set to a “ limp - along ” mode in which clocks are slowed using standard techniques to allow continued operation . such as system could also be used for calibration purposes , e . g ., to calibrate or correlate on chip thermal sensors and digital thermal sensor structures by comparing such sensors to the time temperature information generated by the present system . further features include the fact that such a system does not require the use of log files or processing elements on the package die to function . it is also noted that the distal range of diffusion is generally immobile in sio2 , i . e ., it is limited to about 220 nm , under extremely accelerated thermal aging . accordingly , the described process will not impact any surrounding circuitry on a chip . the corresponding structures , materials , acts , and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure , material , or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed . the description of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description , but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the disclosure in the form disclosed . many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure . the embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the disclosure and the practical application , and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosure for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated .	7
fig1 shows in diagram a circulating oil supply system as applied to an engine , with added components required for the controlled removal of used oil , primary blending with fuel , mixing with additional fuel and delivery for consumption by the engine . the system of fig1 employs two electrically driven pumps in a single pumping unit 20 ; pump 1 , which runs continuously and transfers oil or air from the engine sump 11 to reserve supply tank or reservoir 6 , depending upon the running level of oil in the sump ; and pump 2 , which returns oil from tank 6 to the sump , the operation of which is controlled by pump 1 . pump 1 draws from sump 11 at control level 100 , which is the installed level of the open end 12 of withdrawal tube 13 . this tube is carried by sump adapter 14 , which permits entry of the withdrawal tube 13 through an inspection plate 15 on crankcase 101 . delivery from sump adapter 14 passes through line 141 to the junction 142 between line 141 , line 143 to the intake 21 of pump 1 and to separator 145 . the greater part of the oil and all of the air which enters junction 142 is delivered to pump 1 at its intake 21 . this pump delivers through its outlet 210 to line 26 , which delivers to tank 6 through port 62 . when the running level of oil in the sump 11 is above control level 100 , oil is drawn by pump 1 and the running level goes down until the control level is reached ; after which air is drawn . when this air reaches pump 1 an air sensing signal is generated and pump 2 is activated . pump 2 draws oil from tank 6 at port 66 , through line 67 to port 711 in filter adapter 71 , through oil system filter 72 , outlet 712 and line 720 to inlet port 221 of pump 2 in pumping unit 20 ; passing through pump 2 to outlet 222 , line 206 and inlet port 631 of air relief valve 63 , through outlet port 632 to line 616 and thereafter to port 16 in plate 15 on the side of crankcase 101 and to sump 11 . air relief valve 63 incorporates check valve 630 , the purpose of which is to vent air received at tank 6 from pump 1 . this air returns with oil from pump 2 through line 616 to a return port 16 on plate 15 . tank 6 may be serviced with new oil by removing closure 601 from filler neck 602 and may be drained through bottom port 60 . to this point our description has been of a circulating oil supply system only , except for the connection of line 141 to junction 142 . in the absence of a metering and blending system , line 141 would be routed directly to the inlet 21 of pump 1 and neither junction 142 nor separator 145 would be used . separator 145 receives oil from junction 142 as already described and rejects air , which is delivered to pump 1 through line 143 with oil not taken by separator 145 . separator 145 also serves as an accumulator of used oil for metering . oil from separator 145 passes through elbow fitting 146 and into the intake m1 of metering pump m , which is incorporated into metering and blending unit 40 . this pump , to be described more fully later , delivers used oil in timed and measured increments at its exit m2 and through line 501 to the inlet 502 of filter mounting head 50 , which delivers to and carries filter 51 . filter 51 removes particulates originating in the engine 10 from the used oil passing through it and is for the protection of fuel system components of the engine in which this oil will later be consumed in blended form . oil leaving filter head 50 passes through loaded check valve 52 , the purpose of which is to prevent entry of air when filter 51 is removed for changing during operation , and which may be loaded to a pressure drop of approximately one atmosphere . check valve 52 delivers oil through line 53 to junction fitting 54 and to blending pump b at b1 . junction fitting 54 also receives engine fuel through line 740 from junction fitting 741 at the outlet of engine fuel filter head 70 , drawn by blending pump b , which blends this fuel with oil received from metering pump m to create a primary blend containing a limited proportion of fuel . this blend is then delivered through line 742 to inlet junction fitting 743 of fuel filter head 70 , where it combines with fuel received from an engine fuel tank 80 ( not shown in this figure ) through line 81 . the simultaneous introduction into the fuel filter 71 of the primary blend of oil and fuel from the blending pump b and incoming fuel from the fuel tank through line 81 results in a final blend at a reduced oil concentration for delivery through line 780 to the engine for consumption . final mixing of the primary blend with fuel occurs in the junction fitting 743 and within filter head 70 and filter 71 . fig2 shows an oil removal , metering and blending system which takes used oil directly from the sump of the engine or other power equipment served . instead of receiving oil from the withdrawal line 141 of a circulating system at junction 142 as in fig1 metering pump m draws oil through in - line screen 140 and line 141r from sump adapter 14r , which incorporates a tube 13r having an open end 12r at draft level 120 . for removal to be effective under all conditions of operation , the draft level must not be above the lowest running level 122 of oil in the engine , whether serviced manually or maintained by automatic oil supply means ; but must be high enough to avoid depletion of the sump in the event that the supply of oil is not replenished when needed . the remaining system components , including the metering and blending unit 40 , filter 51 , filter 71 and fuel connections are equivalent to those of fig1 . in our u . s . pat . no . 4 , 376 , 449 , to which reference has already been made , we show and describe circuits which are equivalent to those used to control the operation of circulating system pumps 1 and 2 of unit 20 , shown in fig1 . the metering and blending pumps m and b of this invention operate under the control of circuits employing similar elements . we show in fig3 - 1 the basic circuit which is used for pumps m and b . in fig3 - 1 , power from a dc source at an optional working voltage , commonly 12 or 24 volts , is supplied at terminals v + and v 0 ( negative ). voltage regulator 31 supplies positive control voltage v cc to external terminal 310 and to terminal t8 of a 555 timer 30 , which connects to v 0 through terminal t1 . terminal t7 connects with junction 32 . resistor 33 controls current through terminal 32 , diode d1 and terminal 34 , which connects to terminals t2 and t6 of timer 30 and to the positive side of capacitor c1 . this current charges capacitor c1 , which affects both on and off times of timer 30 . variable resistor 300 , in series with resistors 35 and 36 between terminals 32 and 34 , adjusts the discharge current of capacitor c1 through terminal t7 of timer 30 and thereby the off time of timer 30 . this is the adjustment which determines the rate of repetition of the operating cycle of metering pump m . output terminal t3 of timer 30 delivers through resistor 301 to base b of npn power transistor 302 ( darlington ), the emitter e of which connects to v 0 and collector c to junction 303 , which powers coil 441 of metering pump m or blending pump b ( fig4 ). coil 441 connects at its opposite end with v + at terminal 360 . clamping diode d2 across coil 441 suppresses spikes at turnoff . terminal 303 also delivers through resistor 304 and terminal 305 , which delivers through diode d3 and resistor 306 to signal output terminal s , which is available to supply an operating signal and provide a logic output for additional control circuits to be shown . zener diode z1 connects between terminal 305 and v 0 to limit the signal voltage at terminal s . typical cycles of operation of metering and blending pumps m and b , under control of basic circuits as in fig3 - 1 , are shown graphically in fig3 - 2 , which gives for both pumps operating pulses on the same time scale . the on time of the metering pump as determined by resistor 33 is normally fixed at a value appropriate for operation of this pump under the least favorable condition of external temperature and the highest viscosity of the used oil to be metered . when it is desired to make this time adjustable , a variable resistor may replace fixed resistor 33 . the basic rate of repetition of metering pump m in this circuit may be adjusted by means of variable resistor 300 . this adjustment , which determines the off time of metering pump m , is usually based on an hourly or daily planned oil removal appropriate to the engine or other equipment served . because the blending pump cycle is normally predetermined , variable resistor 300 is usually replaced in this circuit as applied to blending pump b with one of fixed value . on the same time scale as that of the metering pump , both on and off times of the blending pump are shorter . this results in a faster rate of repetition which , in conjunction with the greater delivery of the blending pump per stroke , gives a substantially greater rate of delivery of blending pump b than of metering pump m . this gives a pumping capacity of blending pump b sufficient to draw fuel in the amounts needed for primary blending . as already shown , the rate of repetition of the metering pump may be adjusted by means of the variable resistor 300 of fig3 - 1 . in the same figure , terminals are shown which provide for optional connection to external circuits which may suspend metering or modify its rate in response to varying conditions of operation of an engine or other equipment served , or of an engine in which a blend of oil and fuel is consumed , or both . these include terminal a , which provides a common input from such circuits ; terminals v + and 310 , which provide sources of stable positive voltage ; the v 0 terminal ; and terminal s , which provides a cycle - based reference voltage for other control circuits and may be used to power a signal which indicates the on or off condition of the circuit of fig3 - 1 . we will show several circuits which may be used to suspend operation of the metering pump or modify its rate in response to variables in the operation of the engine or other equipment served , to be described with reference to an engine . these circuits are illustrative of a range of methods which may be employed to control the operation of the metering pump m . in fig3 -- 3 we show a circuit for the purpose of suspending operation of the metering pump m under a low power or idling condition . in this circuit switch 331 could be responsive to functions such as fuel or rail pressure , oil pressure , engine speed , mechanical or electrical power output , rate of fuel consumption , level of fuel remaining in a tank or position of a control . in the following example , fuel or rail pressure will be taken as the operative variable , as used in a pt fuel system applied to a cummins engine . in a circuit to respond to rail pressure , a source of positive voltage such as v cc ( 310 ) connects through a resistor 332 with junction 333 , which connects through diode d4 to terminal a of fig3 - 1 . when pressure switch 331 is open , a positive blocking voltage input to terminal a holds the control voltage of capacitor c1 and of timer input terminals t2 and t6 above the level required to begin an on period of metering pump m and thereby prevents metering . this is a condition appropriate to operation during idling or at low power , when rail pressure is insufficient to close pressure switch 331 , and is useful as a means for preventing metering and delivery of used oil to the fuel system at a time when delivery at a normal rate would result in an excessive concentration of oil in the fuel . in this application switch 331 is preadjusted to a closing pressure above which metering at a normal rate is intended , as during operation within a normal range of power . with increasing pressure switch 331 closes , connecting junction 333 to v 0 . this prevents injection of positive blocking voltage at terminal a and permits normal operation of metering pump m . fig3 - 4 shows a circuit in which a pressure switch 342 , equivalent to switch 331 of fig3 -- 3 , operates at a similar closing pressure , but permits two separately controllable levels of metering . the emitter e of npn signal transistor 344 sinks to v 0 through diode d5 ; while the collector c connects to terminal a through a variable resistor 345 . at low power , when switch 342 is open , the base b of transistor 344 is not driven and transistor 344 isolates terminal a ; so that the circuit of fig3 - 1 operates normally . under this condition variable resistor 300 is in control of metering under low power and can be adjusted to permit delivery at a rate appropriate to low power operation . voltage at signal terminal s is high when the circuit of fig1 is in the off mode . when pressure switch 342 is closed in response to operation of the engine under power , the base b of transistor 344 is driven during the off period ; thereby completing a circuit through diode d5 to sink the voltage at collector c to v 0 . variable resistor 345 then determines the drain which adds to the existing drain of capacitor c1 through variable resistor 300 . this permits adjustment of the metering rate under power . fig3 - 5 shows a circuit incorporating variable control of the metering rate , which may be done continuously or in steps by automatic means responsive to any of the functions already enumerated . in fig3 - 5 , npn transistor 355 , the base b of which is driven during an off period of metering pump m from terminal s through resistor 356 , activates a variable control circuit from terminal a through variable resistor 357 , transistor 355 and resistor 358 to v 0 . this circuit defines a maximum rate of metering as adjusted by variable resistor 357 . this rate may be modified in response to an operating function by variable control resistor 360 , which receives a positive voltage v cc from terminal 310 and determines the current passing through resistor 311 to junction 359 and through resistor 358 . when this current is low , the voltage drop through resistor 358 to v 0 is at a minimum and the maximum metering rate set by variable resistor 357 prevails . when this current is high , current through resistor 358 increases its voltage drop and reduces the current through transistor 355 . this slows the metering rate . other devices of prior art capable of an equivalent output could be used in place of variable resistor 360 . the circuit of fig3 - 5 could also be replaced with another appropriate to the use of devices having other output characteristics . unit 40 of fig1 incorporates the metering pump m and blending pump b in a single package , serving both metering and blending functions . fig4 is a section of unit 40 , taken through metering pump m , and is shown for the purpose of description as a vertical section , base down ,; although unit 40 may be mounted in a number of possible orientations . this section of metering pump m will also apply to blending pump b , which is equivalent except for dimensional differences and the addition of an orifice restriction in the magnetic plunger , which will be treated later . each of these pumps operates ; independently of the other . principal structural elements of unit 40 comprise a center section or body 41 and two end plates : inlet end plate 42 and outlet end plate 43 . bolts 401 or other fastening means pass through both end plates 42 and 43 and center section or body 41 to draw these elements together . inlet end plate 42 is bent at 420 and outlet end plate 43 at 430 to provide a base for mounting unit 40 . inlet body 420 is secured to inlet end plate 42 by upsetting at 421 ; outlet body 430 is secured to outlet end plate 43 by upsetting at 431 . inlet body 420 is provided with inlet port m1 of pump m or inlet port b1 of pump b , as in fig1 . barrel 44 , which is thin - walled and of a non - magnetic material such as 18 - 8 stainless steel , is installed at the time of assembly of the principal structural elements of unit 40 . it is positioned between a shoulder 434 in outlet body 430 and return impact ring 421 in inlet body 420 , which bears against return buffer spring 422 . barrel 44 is sealed by o - ring 042 between inlet body 420 and ring 442 ; and by o - ring 043 between outlet body 430 and ring 443 . frame 410 in body 41 receives an electronic circuit board 411 , which carries power and control circuitry for pumps m and b and is potted or encapsulated in electrically insulating material . power and control cable means enter through a port ( not shown ) which may optionally be in plate 42 , plate 43 or body 41 . connections to be made within body 41 after assembly are accessible through port 402 , normally closed by cover 403 . drive coil 441 is carried on barrel 44 and maintains a dimensional separation between rings 442 and 443 . when coil 441 is energized , a magnetic circuit is set up through drive plunger 45 and surrounding stationary elements which include center section or body 41 , end plates 42 and 43 , inlet and outlet bodies 420 and 430 , barrel 44 and rings 442 and 443 . all of these elements are ferro - magnetic except for barrel 44 . when drive plunger 45 is at rest as shown , a magnetic gap exists between the forward end 451 of this plunger and ring 443 , which is closed by forward motion of the plunger under a driving force generated when the magnetic circuit is energized by coil 441 . this is the forward stroke of pump m or pump b . mechanical elements of pump m or pump b are installed through outlet body 430 . in addition to drive plunger 45 , principal mechanical elements include drive spring 46 , which transmits the forward force of plunger 45 , pumping plunger 47 , pumping cylinder or body 48 and return spring 478 . pumping body 48 is secured in place by retainer 49 and sealed by o - ring 048 . fitted to the bore 480 of body 48 is pumping plunger 47 . when driven forward , plunger 47 covers side ports 482 in body 48 at a travel determined by the relative position of these ports and the leading edge 470 of the full diameter of plunger 47 . as the travel of pumping plunger 47 continues , most of the oil present in bore 480 is displaced and delivered from bore 480 by opening of check valve ball 485 , which seats at the forward end 481 of bore 480 . this valve is loaded by spring 486 , held in place by spring retainer 487 . after completion of a forward stroke , pumping plunger 47 is returned to its initial position and oil may enter bore 480 through side ports 482 in preparation for the next stroke . retainer 49 serves several purposes : ( 1 ) to complete the assembly of pump m or pump b ; ( 2 ) to seal at o - ring 049 against leakage of oil ; ( 3 ) to align pumping body 48 ; ( 4 ) to provide a redundant ball check valve 492 , with ring seat 491 , spring 493 and spring retainer 494 ; and to provide outlet port m2 of pump m or b2 of pump b , as in fig1 . because of the importance of a precise fit between pumping plunger 47 and bore 480 of body 48 , no part of the length of plunger 47 is made greater in diameter than the portion which fits bore 480 . this permits the use of the most economical and effective production methods for insuring precision and finish of pumping plunger 47 . for durability , both pumping plunger 47 and body 48 may be of carburized or carbonitrided carbon steel or equivalent material . swaged or otherwise secured over end 473 of plunger 47 is plunger head 474 , which serves several functions : ( 1 ) to receive the forward thrust of magnetic plunger 45 , acting through drive spring 46 and spring end caps 461 and 462 ; ( 2 ) as a base for return spring 478 , which is oppositely based against shoulder 488 on body 48 ; ( 3 ) as a stop of forward motion of pumping plunger 47 , by striking against the end 489 of barrel 48 ; ( 4 ) to allow drive spring 46 to buffer the impact of magnetic plunger 45 when the forward motion of piston 47 is terminated by contact between plunger head 474 and end 489 of barrel 48 ; and ( 5 ), with drive spring 46 and spring end caps 461 and 462 , to compensate for possible misalignment between pumping plunger 47 and the forward end 451 of magnetic plunger 45 ; thereby to avoid binding between magnetic plunger 45 and pumping plunger 47 when these parts are not completely in alignment . the possible forward motion of plunger 47 , as determined by the starting distance between pumping plunger head 474 and the end 489 of barrel 48 , is made greater than the corresponding starting distance between the forward end 472 of plunger 47 and check valve ball 485 ; so that ball 485 will always be upset from its seat 481 by a small amount at the end of each forward stroke of plunger 47 . the purposes of this are ( 1 ) to relieve the pressure of air within bore 480 in initial operation , when this pressure may not be sufficient to open valve ball 485 ; and ( 2 ), in normal operation , to clear foreign matter which might otherwise accumulate between ball 485 and seat 481 . drive spring 46 must be stiff enough to transmit the forward motion of drive plunger 45 to pumping plunger 47 ; but must also act as a buffer to limit the force generated by the mass of drive plunger 45 in stopping after impact of pumping plunger head 473 upon the end 489 of barrel 48 . a spring rate which will meet this requirement without substantial loss of motion of plunger 47 may be determined by trial . when coil 441 is de - energized after a pumping stroke , spring 478 returns pumping plunger 47 and oil enters bore 480 through ports 482 in preparation for a succeeding stroke . force transmitted through spring 46 also returns drive plunger 45 , which is stopped by striking impact ring 421 . this momentarily compresses return buffer spring 422 , which thereafter restores ring 421 and drive plunger 45 to the rest positions shown . as previously shown in fig1 used oil from metering pump m is delivered after passing through filter 51 to junction fitting 54 , which also receives fuel through line 740 from the engine fuel filter 71 . oil and fuel then enter pump b at b1 for primary blending of oil with a limited amount of fuel . the primary blend is thereafter delivered to the fuel system of an engine for mixing with additional fuel ; in this case to filter 71 . primary blending of oil and fuel occurs in blending pump b , in a sequence of operations which include ( 1 ) first mixing of incoming oil and fuel in the entering space generally designated as 424 , which begins at junction fitting 54 and continues during entry at port b1 and delivery to the space inside spring 422 and impact ring 421 , augmented by rearward jetting action of oil and fuel delivered from passage 450 in plunger 45 ; preferably through a restrictive orifice 454 ( fig4 b ); ( 2 ) repetitive flow through plunger 45 in both directions during successive strokes , with absorption of heat from the driving coil 441 ; and ( 3 ) dispersion of oil into fuel by passage of the oil / fuel mixture through an opening created by movement of ball 485 away from its seat 481 . jetting action from delivery of mixed oil and fuel into entering space 424 occurs during a forward stroke of plunger 45 . the displacement per stroke of the magnetic plunger 45 is always greater than that of pumping plunger 47 ; so that only a minor portion of the fluid displacement of plunger 45 is taken up by plunger 47 . the remainder of the fluid displaced by plunger 45 is forced to return through passage 450 and orifice 454 into the entering flow of oil and fuel into space 424 . an orifice of small diameter delivers a jet of fluid at a velocity sufficient to create strong turbulence in space 424 , which promotes mixing of oil and fuel . mixing also occurs by flow through passage 450 in plunger 45 , during which a mixture of fuel and oil may be driven through plunger 45 repeatedly before passing on to the delivery pumping elements 47 and 48 . following mixing of oil and fuel in the entering space 424 and by repetitive flow through drive plunger 45 , blending is completed by dispersion of drops of oil which may remain in the oil / fuel mixture by delivery under pressure through an opening created by lifting of valve ball 485 from its seat 481 . this pressure is generated by forward displacement of pumping plunger 47 into bore 480 of pumping barrel 48 , and is opposed by the force of spring 486 , which loads valve ball 485 and defines both the pressure of delivery and the area of opening . the rate of used oil removal from the engine or other power equipment served is determined as a product of the volume of oil delivered on a single stroke of the metering pump m , which is fixed , and the rate of repetition of pump m , which can be varied to control the rate of removal . the volume delivered per stroke is usually greater in the blending pump than in the metering pump and the rate of repetition of the blending pump is normally higher than the highest rate of the metering pump ; so that the overall rate of delivery of the blending pump is greater . this is necessary because the blending pump must not only pass the oil received from the metering pump , but must add to this the volume of fuel required for blending . experience with these systems on large engines indicates that oil concentration in the primary blend may be as much as 25 percent and possibly higher , without impairing the ability of this blend to mix with more fuel to create a final blend for use in an engine . the average concentration of oil in the final blend over a given operating period is determinable from the total removal of used oil from the equipment served and total fuel consumption of the engine over the same period , and is independent of the proportion of fuel which passes through the primary blending process .	5
reference will now be in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention . referring to fig1 , an cable connector assembly 1 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a cable end connector 3 adapted for connecting with a docking connector ( not shown ) which is provided on a notebook and a cable 2 provided with one end for connecting with the cable end connector 3 and the other end for connecting with periphery equipments , such as a printer or a scanner . referring to fig1 in conjunction with fig2 , the cable end connector 3 is provided with an insulative cover 40 consisting of a pair of substantially symmetric cover - halves 40 . after the cover - halves 40 engage with each other to form the whole insulative cover 4 , chambers defined in inner faces of the cover - halves will confine together to form a receiving cavity 41 . the insulative cover 40 is provided with a pair of openings 42 , 43 respectively on front and rear ends thereof communicating with the receiving cavity 41 . referring to fig2 in conjunction with fig5 , the cable end connector 3 comprises a terminal module 5 which comprises an insulative housing 50 and a plurality of terminals 51 retained in the insulative housing 50 , and a printed circuit board ( pcb ) 6 receiving in the receiving cavity 4 . a rear end of the insulative housing 50 is retained in the receiving cavity defined by the insulative cover 4 . a front end of the insulative housing 50 passes through the opening 42 to serve as a mating port 500 . each terminal 51 has a contacting portion ( not shown ) extending forwardly into the mating port 500 for electrically connecting with the docking connector and a tail portion 510 extending backwardly out of the housing for electrically soldering on a front end of the pcb 6 . the cable 2 comprises a plurality of wires 20 electrically soldering on a rear end of the pcb 6 with one end thereof passing through the opening 43 of the insulative cover 4 , thereby the terminal module 5 is electrically connecting with the cable 2 by the pcb . in order to ensure the reliable signal transmission in the cable connector assembly 3 , the cable end connector 3 is provided with a shielding system for avoiding electronic magnetic interference ( emi ). the shielding system includes a first shielding frame 70 enclosing the insulative housing 50 and a second shielding frame 71 enclosing a rear end of the terminal module 5 and the whole pcb 6 . a rear end of the first shielding frame 70 is overlapped with a front end of the second shielding frame 71 . the first and the second shielding frames 71 are formed and stamped from metallic material . the second shielding frame 71 consists of a pair of cover - halves and is provided with an opening 74 through which the cable 2 passes . in order to ensure the engagement between the cable connector assembly 1 and the docking connector , the cable connector assembly 1 is provided with a pair of locking arms 8 serving as a locking device , referring to fig5 . the locking arms 8 are disposed at opposite side of the insulative cover 4 . each locking arm 8 has a main portion 80 disposed in a corresponding slit between the second shielding frame 71 and the insulative cover 4 , a locking portion 81 extending forwardly from the main body 80 beyond the insulative cover 4 for latching with corresponding portion of the docking connector , and a button 82 extending backwardly out of the insulative cover 4 from the main body 80 . a resilient finger 83 extends inwardly and forwardly from the button 82 to abut against the second shielding frame 71 . the main body 80 is formed with a projection 800 abutting against the second shielding frame 71 . the operation of the locking device 8 is described as follow . referring to fig2 , firstly pressing inwardly the button 82 and driving the button 82 to deflect inwardly around the projection 800 , whereby the locking portion 81 deflects outwardly for latching with corresponding portion of the docking connector and the resilient portion 83 is deformed . secondly releasing the button 82 , the locking portion 81 return to original position to latch with corresponding portion of the docking connector due to the resilience of the resilient portion 83 , whereby the cable connector assembly 1 is engaged with the docking connector . apparently , the cable connector assembly 1 is disengaged from the docking connector according to similar operation . referring to fig2 , the cable end connector 3 is further provided with an anti - disengagement device 9 for preventing an untimely disengagement of the cable connector assembly 1 from the docking connector . the anti - disengagement device 9 has two embodiments , one of which is an electromagnetic type , referring to fig4 - 7 , and the other of which is an electromotor type , referring to fig8 - 11 . the electromagnetic anti - disengagement device 9 is disposed in the receiving cavity 41 and located at back of the locking arm 8 . the electromagnetic anti - disengagement device 9 comprises an electromagnetic component 90 and a holding component 91 . the electromagnetic component 90 has a main body 900 being immobile relative to the insulative cover 4 and a moveable portion 901 moveable relative to the main body . the moveable portion 901 connects with the holding component 91 with a distal head 903 thereof retained in a t - shaped cutout 910 of the holding component 91 , whereby the holding component 91 is able to move along with the moveable portion 901 . the holding component 91 defines a guiding channel 912 for guiding purpose when moving . when the power for the electromagnetic component 90 turns on , the moveable portion 901 moves forwardly and pushes the holding portion 91 to a holding position , referring to fig6 . at this time , the holding portion 91 abut against an inner face of the button 82 so that the button 82 is not able to deflect inwardly after being pressed , whereby the locking portion 82 can &# 39 ; t unlock from the docking connector in this status . in this status , turning off the power for the electromagnetic component 90 , the moveable portion 901 will return and pull the holding portion 91 to a releasing position , referring to fig5 . at this time , the holding portion 91 make a room for an inward deflection of the button 82 , whereby the locking portion 82 can normally unlock from the docking connector in this status . referring to fig7 , the terminals 51 comprises a controlling signal terminal 55 , a power terminal 56 for supplying power for the electromagnetic component 90 . the cable end connector 3 is provided with a controlling element 10 disposed on the pcb 6 . the controlling signal terminal 55 and the power terminal 56 electrically connects corresponding inputs of the controlling element 10 . an output of the controlling element 10 electrically connects with a power input of the electromagnetic component 90 for power supply . in conjunction with fig5 - 6 , plugging the cable connector assembly 1 in the notebook computer which is already in use or turning on the notebook computer after the cable connector assembly is plug in , a locking signal from the notebook computer will be transmit into the controlling element 10 by the controlling signal terminal 55 , then the controlling element 10 switch on and the power in the power terminal 56 is supplied for the electromagnetic component 90 by the controlling element 10 . at this time , the holding portion 91 is pushed to the locking position shown as fig6 , whereby the cable connector assembly can &# 39 ; t disengaged from the notebook computer because the button 82 is held in it position . in this status , turning off the notebook computer or carrying out a program in the notebook computer , an unlocking signal from the notebook computer will be transmit into the controlling element 10 by the controlling signal terminal 55 , then the controlling element 10 switch off and the power in the power terminal 56 for the electromagnetic component 90 turns off . at this time , the holding portion 91 return the releasing position shown as fig5 , whereby the cable connector assembly can normally disengaged from the notebook computer because the button 82 is released . referring to fig8 - 11 , the electromotor anti - disengagement device 9 comprises an electromotor 92 and a holding component 91 ′. the electromotor 92 has a stator 920 being immobile relative to the insulative cover 4 and a rotor 921 . the rotor 921 connects with the holding component 91 ′ with a screw distal end thereof retained in a screw hole 913 , whereby the holding component 91 is able to move along a front - to - back direction when the rotor 921 rotates . the holding component 91 ′ also defines a guiding channel 912 for guiding purpose when moving . when the power is positively supplied for the electromotor 92 , the rotor 921 positive and pushes the holding portion 91 to a holding position , referring to fig1 . at this time , the holding portion 91 ′ abut against an inner face of the button 82 so that the button 82 is not able to deflect inwardly after being pressed , whereby the locking portion 82 can &# 39 ; t unlock from the docking connector in this status . in this status , negatively supplying power for the electromotor 92 , the rotor 901 reverses and pull the holding portion 91 to a releasing position , referring to fig9 . at this time , the holding portion 91 make a room for an inward deflection of the button 82 , whereby the locking portion 82 can normally unlock from the docking connector in this status . referring to fig1 , the terminals 51 comprises a pair of power terminals 58 for supplying power for the electromotor 92 . the controlling signal terminal 55 and the power terminals 58 electrically connects corresponding inputs of the controlling element 10 . outputs of the controlling element 10 electrically connect with power inputs of the electromotor 92 for power supply . in conjunction with fig9 - 10 , plugging the cable connector assembly 1 in the notebook computer which is already in use or turning on the notebook computer after the cable connector assembly 1 is plug in , a locking signal from the notebook computer will be transmit into the controlling element 10 by the controlling signal terminal 55 , then the controlling element 10 switch on and the power in the power terminal 56 is positively supplied for the electromotor 92 by the controlling element 10 . at this time , the holding portion 91 ′ is pushed to the locking position shown as fig1 , whereby the cable connector assembly can &# 39 ; t disengaged from the notebook computer because the button 82 is held in it position . in this status , carrying out a program in the notebook computer , an unlocking signal from the notebook computer will be transmit into the controlling element 10 by the controlling signal terminal 55 , then the controlling element 10 reverse and the power in the power terminal 56 is negatively supplied for the electromotor 92 . at this time , the holding portion 91 ′ return the releasing position shown as fig9 , whereby the cable connector assembly 1 can normally disengaged from the notebook computer because the button 82 is released . while the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments , the description is illustrative of the invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention . various modifications to the present invention can be made to the preferred embodiments by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .	7
the present invention consists of correcting the horizontal scan speed based on both the first derivative and the second derivative of the luminance signal . it is then especially possible to correct the horizontal scan speed to avoid modifying the position on screen of the pixel associated with the luminance value for which the first derivative of luminance signal y is non - zero and the second derivative is zero , which point corresponds to the inflexion point and generally to the position of the pixel associated with a luminance value approximately equal to half the high level . deformations of the displayed image are thus limited . fig4 a shows a first embodiment according to the present invention of control circuit 16 . control circuit 16 comprises an adder 30 ( σ ) receiving low - voltage modulation signals r 0 , g 0 , b 0 and providing a previous luminance signal y 0 corresponding to a weighted sum of signals r 0 , g 0 , b 0 . a filtering and delay circuit 32 receives primary luminance signal y 0 and provides luminance signal y . filtering and delay circuit 32 behaves as a low - pass filter and brings a delay to primary luminance signal y 0 to simulate the operating characteristics of power amplifier 13 . a first derivator 34 ( d / dt ) receives luminance signal y and provides a signal y ′ corresponding to the first derivative of luminance signal y . a second derivator 36 ( d / dt ) receives signal y ′ and provides a signal y ″ corresponding to the second derivative of luminance signal y . a multiplier 38 ( k , x ) receives first derivative signal y ′ and second derivative signal y ″ and provides a signal corr corresponding to the product of first derivative signal y ′, of second derivative signal y ″, and of an amplification gain k . a treatment unit 39 receives signal corr and provides a signal corr which corresponds to signal corr “ expanded ” along to the time axis and modified . in the first embodiment , additional horizontal deflection coil 17 is controlled by a voltage applied thereacross . the control circuit then comprises a third derivator 40 ( d / dt ) receiving signal corr and providing a signal corr ′ to a voltage amplifier 41 ( a v ) which provides the control voltage s c applied across coil 17 . fig4 b shows a second embodiment in which control and amplification circuit 16 comprises , instead of third derivator 40 and voltage amplifier 41 of the first embodiment , a transconductance amplifier 42 receiving correction signal corr and providing a control signal s c corresponding to a current directly supplying additional horizontal deflection coil 17 . in the first and second embodiments , the current flowing through additional horizontal deflection coil 17 is obtained by an affine function of signal corr , that is , an function of the product of the first and second derivatives of luminance signal y . gain k is set according to the maximum value of the variation speed of luminance signal y . the higher the maximum speed , the lower gain k . control circuit 16 according to the present invention may be formed in digital or analog form . in particular , the control circuit may be completely integrated to video processing unit 12 and directly receive digital signals provided by video processor 12 . fig5 shows curves 42 , 44 , 45 , 46 , and 47 illustrating the principle of the correction method according to the present invention . curves 43 , 44 , and 45 respectively show the variation of luminance signal y , of first derivative y ′ of the luminance signal , and of signal corr upon transition of luminance signal y between the low level and the high level . according to the first and second embodiments of the correction method according to the present invention , a processing is performed on signal corr to provide a signal corr * shown by curve 46 which corresponds to signal corr “ expanded ” along to the time axis . as an example , the expansion factor may be substantially on the order of 2 , that is , if δt1 corresponds to the duration of the transition of luminance signal y , duration δt2 of variation of signal corr * is equal to twice δt1 . the synchronization of signal corr * with respect to signal corr can be obtained from the time when signal y ′ reaches a local maximum , which corresponds to the time when signal corr becomes zero . it is thus sufficient to impose for the time at which signal corr * becomes zero to correspond to the time when signal y ′ reaches a local maximum . curve 47 corresponds to signal corr ** obtained by an additional processing of signal corr . as an example , signal corr * comprises a decreasing ramp substantially linear for duration δt1 and is identical to signal corr * otherwise ( possibly multiplied by an adapted amplification coefficient ). the ramp is such that the sum of the magnetomotive force provided by additional deflection coil 17 and of the magnetomotive force provided by the main deflection coil ( provided from an ascending linear ramp , as described previously ) is constant at each time for duration δt1 . fig6 shows curves similar to the curves shown in fig3 obtained with a variation curve of luminance signal y similar to curve 23 of fig3 and for a correction performed with signal corr . for low - level plateaus 23 a , 23 e and high - level plateau 23 c , there is no contribution of additional horizontal deflection coil 17 , except slightly before and little after a transition 23 b , 23 d between plateaus . only the main horizontal deflection coil then contributes to the scan speed which , in the present example , is equal to a constant speed called the base speed . curve 52 representative of corrected abscissa x corr then corresponds to portions 52 a , 52 c , 52 e of a linear ramp . during a variation of luminance signal y and during a period preceding and a period following such a variation , signal corr varies and additional horizontal deflection coil 17 provides an additional magnetomotive force which algebraically adds to the magnetomotive force provided by the main horizontal deflection coil . signal corr ** is such that , for the duration ( δt2 − δt1 )/ 2 preceding a transition 23 b of luminance signal y between the low level and the high level , the scan speed abruptly increases up to a speed greater than the base speed , then exhibits a deceleration phase 52 b from the greater speed to a substantially zero speed . during transition 23 b , the scan speed exhibits a phase 52 b ′ where it remains substantially zero . during time ( δt2 − δt1 )/ 2 following transition 23 b of luminance signal y between the low level and the high level , the scan speed exhibits an acceleration phase 52 b ″ from the zero speed to a speed greater than the base speed . for a transition 23 d between the high level and the low level of luminance signal y , the scan speed exhibits successive phases 52 d , 52 d ′, 52 d ″ of deceleration , maintaining at zero speed , and acceleration respectively similar to phases 52 b , 52 b ′, 52 b ″. curve 54 shows the variation of luminance signal y according to corrected abscissa x corr . the electron beam scanning the screen is substantially motionless with respect to the screen during transitions 23 b , 23 d of luminance signal y since corrected abscissa x corr is constant . curve 54 representative of luminance signal y according to corrected abscissa x corr thus exhibits a very abrupt rising edge 54 b and falling edge 54 d . widths w and w ′ are then substantially identical . the corrected image is sensed by a viewer with a better clearness without for the image dimensions to appear to be modified . signal corr , very close to signal corr , may be directly used instead of signal corr . an advantage is that signal corr is relatively simple to obtain from signal corr . corrected abscissa x corr obtained by directly using signal corr * is very close to curve 52 . however , the rising and falling edges of the curve representative of luminance signal y according to corrected abscissa x corr are slightly less abrupt than edges 54 b and 54 d . when signals corr and corr * are obtained by digital processing , an example of a method for obtaining digital data representative of signal corr * consists of performing an oversampling of signal corr ( for example , by providing additional data by linear extrapolation of the digital data representative of signal corr ). of course , the present invention is likely to have various alterations , modifications , and improvements which will readily occur to those skilled in the art . in particular , in the third embodiment , derivators 34 , 36 , 40 may implement various algorithms to calculate the derivation , especially by using several values , successive or not , of the input signal . fig7 schematically shows a third embodiment of control circuit 16 according to the present invention adapted to digital signal processing . elements common with the first or second embodiments bear the same reference numerals . adder 30 receives signals r 0 , g 0 , b 0 in digital form and provides primary digital luminance signal y 0 to a low - pass digital filter 60 which simulates the passband of video amplifier 13 . digital filter 60 provides an intermediary luminance signal y 1 to a decimator 62 . digital filter 60 for example is a digital filter with programmable coefficients , the coefficient programming being performed according to the nature of the video amplifier 13 used . decimator 62 determines luminance signal y by only choosing some of the digital values of intermediary luminance signal y 1 ( for example , one digital value out of two , three out of five , etc .) provided by digital filter 60 . first derivator 34 receives luminance signal y and provides first derivative signal y ′ to second derivator 36 . the decimation ratio is set especially according to the algorithm chosen for the derivation calculation by derivators 34 , 36 . first derivative digital signal y ′ and second derivative digital signal y ″ are multiplied by a first multiplier 64 to provide corrected signal corr 1 , which is multiplied by gain k by a second multiplier 66 to form signal corr 2 . the treatment unit 39 receives signal corr 2 and provides signal corr as previously described . third derivator 40 receives signal corr 2 and provides a signal corr 3 . a multiplexer 68 receives signals corr and corr 3 . according to the value of a selection signal s 1 , multiplexer 68 provides a delay unit 70 with a signal corr 4 equal to signal corr 3 or to signal corr . delay unit 70 supplies an amplifier 71 ( amp ) which provides control signal s c . digital filter 60 and delay unit 70 behave as previously - mentioned filtering and delay circuit 32 . when signal corr 3 is selected by multiplexer 68 , amplifier 71 corresponds to a voltage amplifier and the third embodiment is equivalent to the first embodiment . when signal corr is selected by multiplexer 68 , amplifier 71 then is a transconductance amplifier and the third embodiment corresponds to the second embodiment . gain k is provided by a third multiplier 72 and corresponds to the product of a nominal gain k nom and of a corrective gain k corr . nominal gain k nom is provided by a multiplexer 74 and corresponds , according to the value of a selection signal s 2 , to a first or a second gain value k vid or k gfx . first gain value k vid is used when the image to be displayed corresponds to a conventional image extracted from the video signal received by the display terminal . second gain value k gfx is used when the image to be displayed corresponds to display elements which are added to the conventional image . these may for example be display elements generated directed by video processor 12 and corresponding to text displayed on screen upon setting operating parameters of the display terminal or information contained in the video signal , displayed after a voluntary action of the viewer ( for example , information of “ teletext ” type ). corrective gain k corr is provided by a multiplexer 76 and , according to a selection signal s 3 , is equal to : a first corrective gain value provided by a position gain unit 78 ( position gain ) which depends on the position of the electron beam with respect to the screen ; a second corrective gain value provided by a contextual correction unit 80 ( context gain ). the second corrective gain value varies according to the graphical elements to be displayed on screen . it may be , for example , a correction performed when the graphism to be displayed has a specific shape , for example , circular , for which it is preferable for transitions to be relatively smooth so that the contours of the displayed image do not appear as being too stepped to the viewer . for this purpose , gain context unit 80 can receive the digital values of luminance signal y over several consecutive lines to be displayed to determine the second value of the correction gain ; and no correction , that is , a corrective gain equal to “ 1 ”. such alterations , modifications , and improvements are intended to be part of this disclosure , and are intended to be within the spirit and the scope of the present invention . accordingly , the foregoing description is by way of example only and is not intended to be limiting . the present invention is limited only as defined in the following claims and the equivalents thereto .	7
reference is made to fig3 a , which is a block diagram of the first embodiment of a frequency synchronization apparatus in accordance with the present invention . as shown in the figure , the present invention includes pre - filters 3011 , 3031 , 3051 , power measurement units 3111 , 3131 , 3151 , 3171 , moving averagers 3211 , 3231 , 3251 , 3271 , a maximum signal selector 3301 , a power normalizer 3401 and a signal processor 3501 . in practice , the present invention can have multiple signal power generators ( each one has a pre - filter , a power measurement unit and a moving averager ), and the number of the generators is unlimited . in the present invention , more signal power generators result in more exact the estimated frequency offset . furthermore , in the present invention , the input signals of the frequency synchronization apparatus is obtained by sampling the baseband signal , which is formed by demodulating the signal received from the fcch . first , the frequency synchronization apparatus of the present invention uses the pre - filters 3011 , 3031 and 3051 to filter the input signals . then , the frequency synchronization apparatus uses the power measurement units 3131 , 3151 and 3171 to measure the power of the signals presenting ht signal quality output from the pre - filters , respectively . after that , the frequency synchronization apparatus uses the moving averagers 3231 , 3251 and 3271 to obtain the moving averages of the power of the signals . meanwhile , the frequency synchronization apparatus uses another power measurement unit 3111 to further measure the power of the input baseband signals . the power especially indicates the signal quality . another moving averager 3211 is also used to obtain the moving average of the power of the input baseband signals . the power measurement units 3111 , 3131 , 3151 and 3171 can be implemented in various ways . the present invention is not limited in the implementation structures of these power measurement units . in order to further clarify the present invention , reference is made to fig4 a - c , which are the possible embodiments of the power measurement unit in the present invention . fig4 a is an internal block diagram of the first embodiment of the power measurement unit in accordance with the present invention . the power measurement unit has a square unit 401 , an adder 403 and a downsampler 405 . the square unit 401 is used to calculate the square values of the input signals . the adder 403 is used to add up two consecutive square values at a time . the downsampler 405 is used to perform a downsampling process for reducing calculation . in this embodiment , every two input signals can be used to provide an instantaneous power estimation value . fig4 b is an internal block diagram of the second embodiment of the power measurement unit in accordance with the present invention . the power measurement unit has a downsampler 411 and a square unit 413 . the downsampler 411 is used to perform a downsampling process for reducing calculation . the square unit 413 is used to calculate the square values of the downsampled signals to provide instantaneous power estimation values . fig4 c is an internal block diagram of the third embodiment of the power measurement unit in accordance with the present invention . therein , the power measurement unit has an adder 421 , a downsampler 423 and a square unit 425 . the adder 421 is used to add up two consecutive input signals at a time . the downsampler 423 is used to perform a downsampling process for reducing calculation . the square unit 425 is used to calculate the square values of the downsampled signals to provide instantaneous power estimation values . it should be noted that the implements of the power measurement unit in the present invention are not limited to the designs shown in fig4 a - 4c . after obtaining the instantaneous power estimation values and the moving averages , the frequency synchronization apparatus of the present invention employs the maximum signal selector 3301 to find the maximum moving average of quality value by comparison and send it to the power normalizer 3401 . then , the power normalizer 3401 further normalizes the maximum moving average . in this way , the power normalizer 3401 can produce a first detection value p n for detecting the frequency correction burst , that is the synchronization signal . taking a gsm system as an example , various logical channels are used to transmit user data and control signals . the frequency correction channel is one of these logical channels and used to transmit the frequency correction burst for frequency synchronization . for example , gaussian minimal shift keying ( gmsk ) is used in gsm system and all the symbols conveyed in the frequency correction burst are “ zeros ”, and the baseband signal obtained by demodulating the frequency correction burst forms a sinusoidal wave , i . e . the pilot tone , whose frequency is around 66 . 7 khz . in addition , due to the cost , the mobile station , such as cellular phone , of gsm system usually has an imperfect frequency synthesizer . for example , since the frequency synthesizer can be easily affected by temperature , its local frequency may change as the temperature changes . compared with the carrier frequency of the base station , the local frequency of the mobile station usually has a frequency offset , e . g . 20 khz . hence , when the mobile station is activated or performing a hand - over process , it needs to use the frequency correction channel for time and frequency synchronization . however , due to the frequency offset , the baseband frequency of the frequency correction burst demodulated by the mobile station may be shifted from 66 . 7 khz . here , the present invention uses the pre - filters 3011 , 3031 and 3051 with different central frequencies to filter the baseband signal of the demodulated frequency correction burst . thereby , the present invention can detect the frequency correction burst and the related synchronization signal , and find the frequency offset . since all of the pre - filters 3011 , 3031 and 3051 have an exclusive pass - band , the present invention can have a wide band detection area including the bands of these pre - filters . if the number of the pre - filters is increased , it can further increase the detection area or improve the detection resolution . hence , increasing the number of the pre - filters can improve the fcch detection and frequency correction capabilities . in practice , a designer can increase or reduce the pre - filters according to the cost . furthermore , since the center frequency of the pre - filters doesn &# 39 ; t need to be changed according to the location or input signals , the present invention doesn &# 39 ; t have the problem of time delay or signal missing caused by using adaptive filters . in practice , the pre - filters 3011 , 3031 and 3051 can be infinite impulse response ( iir ) or finite impulse response ( fir ) filters . in the embodiment of the present invention , the pre - filters 3011 , 3031 and 3051 are first - order iir filters . in order to further clarify the present invention , reference is made to fig5 , which is a frequency response diagram of the pre - filters in accordance with the present invention . therein , the frequency responses of the pre - filters 3011 , 3031 and 3051 are designated as h 0 , h 1 , and h 2 , respectively . in this embodiment , the baseband frequency of the demodulated frequency correction burst is assumed to be located mainly inside the pass - band h 0 of the pre - filter 3011 . ( it should be understood that the baseband frequency of the demodulated frequency correction burst may also be located in the pass - band of the pre - filter 3031 or 3051 .) the baseband frequency of the demodulated frequency correction burst is represented by an arrow . it is clear that , in this embodiment , the power of the signal output from the pre - filter 3011 is larger than the output from the pre - filter 3031 or 3051 . hence , after being processed by the power measurement units 3131 , 3151 , 3171 and the moving averagers 3231 , 3251 , 3271 , the signal output from the moving averager 3231 is selected as the largest signal output by the maximum signal selector 3301 . furthermore , in order to provide a reference value for the power normalizer 3401 to perform the normalization process , the present invention uses the power measurement unit 3111 to measure the power of the baseband signal directly and uses the moving averager 3211 to calculate its moving average , which is sent to the power normalizer 3401 as the reference value . subsequently , by using the reference value , the power normalizer 3401 normalizes the magnitude of the signal output from the moving averager 3231 between 0 and 1 and obtains the first detection value p n . in the present invention , the power normalizer 3401 performs the normalization process via dividing the power average of the signal sent from the moving averager 3231 by the power average of the signal sent from the moving averager 3211 . the power average represents the average of the quality values . since no pre - filter is used before calculated by the moving averager 3211 ( in general , the pre - filter reduces the power of input signals ), the average output power of the moving averager 3211 must be larger than that of other moving averagers . hence , power normalizer 3401 can cause the magnitude of the output signal to be located between 0 - 1 . in practice , the power normalizer 3401 is not limited to normalizing the magnitude of the output signal to be located between 0 and 1 . it only needs to cause the magnitude of the output signal to be located within a fixed range . in some embodiments , using the power normalizer 3401 can reduce the impact of the fading effect in the wireless channel . via the normalization process , the first detection value p n is restricted in a fixed range . besides , the first detection value p n will not be affected as the location of the mobile station is changed . furthermore , the present invention performs the normalization process via dividing the power average of the signal sent from the moving averager 3231 by the power average of the signal sent from the moving averager 3211 . this means that in the normalization process , the present invention doesn &# 39 ; t need to use a memory with a great capacity to store the additional lookup table . hence , compared with the prior art , the present invention can greatly reduce costs . after obtaining the first detection value p n , the power normalization 3401 passes the value p n to the signal processor 3501 . then , the signal processor 3501 uses the first detection value p n to determine whether a frequency correction burst ( or the synchronization signal ) is transmitted in the fcch . if the first detection value p n is larger than a first threshold , the present invention can roughly determine that there is possibility that a frequency correction burst is transmitted in the fcch . otherwise , the present invention can determine that no frequency correction burst is transmitted in the fcch . in practice , the first threshold is located within 0 . 75 - 0 . 8 . however , the present invention is not limited to this range . besides , the first threshold can be adjusted according to the practical requirements . when the signal processor 3501 determines that the frequency correction burst is transmitted in the fcch , it uses the signals output from the maximum signal selector 3301 via the power normalizer 3401 to further calculate the frequency offset . as shown in fig5 , since the baseband frequency of the frequency correction burst is located in the pass - band h 0 , the signal output from the pre - filter 3011 has the maximum power . hence , the maximum signal selector 3301 then informs the signal processor 3501 that the signal output from the pre - filter 3011 is the maximum one . thereby , the signal processor 3501 can be aware that the baseband frequency of the frequency correction burst is located in the pass - band h 0 . then , the signal processor 3501 can calculate the difference between the local frequency of the frequency synchronization apparatus and the central frequency of the pre - filter 3011 to obtain the frequency offset . reference is made to fig3 b , which is a block diagram of the second embodiment of the frequency synchronization apparatus in accordance with the present invention . as shown in the figure , the present invention includes pre - filters 3012 , 3032 , 3052 , power measurement units 3132 , 3152 , 3172 , moving averagers 3232 , 3252 , 3272 , a maximum signal selector 3302 and a signal processor 3502 . the components mentioned above , such as the pre - filters 3012 , 3032 , 3052 , the power measurement units 3132 , 3152 , 3172 , the moving averagers 3232 , 3252 , 3272 , and the maximum signal selector 3302 , have the same functions as those described in the first embodiment . the main difference between the first and second embodiments is that the signal processor 3502 samples the baseband signal at different time points and then compares these samples . during operation , the signal processor 3502 uses a predetermined mathematical function to calculate a second detection value q n . where w n is the sample of environment noise , s n is the sample of the original baseband signal , v n is the received power , θ is the phase offset of the local oscillator , and φ is the phase offset caused by the wireless channel . fig6 shows four successive samples of the baseband signal . as shown in the figure , it is noted that the difference between the s n and s n + 2 or between the s n + 1 and s n + 3 is the largest . hence , to obtain a larger detection value , the predetermined mathematical function of the signal processor 3502 is defined as : a n =( r n + 2 − r n )×( r n + 3 − r n + 1 ) where “×” is an operation symbol for cross product . it should be noted that the symbols r n ˜ n + 3 could be either sampled from the received baseband signals , from the output of one of the frequency pre - filters , or from the output of the maximum signal selector . in the present invention , the results obtained by using the predetermined mathematical function are added up and normalized to produce the second detection value q n . for example , the signal processor 3502 can obtain the summation of the results by one of the following functions : where k is an odd number ( this embodiment sets k = 1 to reduce the calculation ), and n is the size of a predetermined moving window , i . e . the total number for adding at a time . subsequently , the signal processor 3502 performs a normalization function as follows to produce the second detection value q n . the second detection value q n is also located within 0 - 1 . the signal processor 3502 uses the second detection value q n to determine whether a frequency correction burst is transmitted in the fcch . when the second detection value q n is larger than a second threshold , the signal processor 3502 determines that a frequency correction burst is transmitted . otherwise , the signal processor 3502 determines that no frequency correction burst is transmitted . in general , the second threshold is set within 0 . 75 - 0 . 8 . however , the present invention is not limited thereto . the second threshold can be changed according to the practical requirements . after the signal processor 3502 determines that a frequency correction burst is transmitted , it uses the signal output from the maximum signal selector 3302 to calculate the frequency offset . for example , if the baseband frequency of the frequency correction burst is located in the pass - band h 0 as shown in fig5 , the signal output from the pre - filter 3012 has the maximum power . hence , the maximum signal selector 3302 sends a signal to inform the signal processor 3502 that the signal output from the pre - filter 3012 is the maximum . thereby , the signal processor 3502 can be aware that the baseband frequency of the frequency correction burst is located in the pass - band of the pre - filter 3012 . then , the signal processor 3502 calculates the difference between the local frequency of the frequency synchronization apparatus and the central frequency of the pre - filter 3012 to obtain the frequency offset . reference is made to fig3 c , which is a block diagram of the third embodiment of the frequency synchronization apparatus in accordance with the present invention . as shown in the figure , the present invention includes pre - filters 3013 , 3033 , 3053 , power measurement units 3113 , 3133 , 3153 , 3173 , moving averagers 3213 , 3233 , 3253 , 3273 , a maximum signal selector 3303 , a power normalizer 3403 and a signal processor 3503 . since the components mentioned above , such as the pre - filters 3013 , 3033 , 3053 , the power measurement units 3113 , 3133 , 3153 , 3173 , the moving averagers 3213 , 3233 , 3253 , 3273 , the maximum signal selector 3303 and the power normalizer 3403 , have the same functions as those described in the first embodiment . similar to the first embodiment , the maximum signal selector 3303 is used to compare the average powers of the signals sent from the moving averagers 3233 , 3253 and 3273 to find the signal with the maximum power and pass it to the power normalizer 3403 . then , the power normalizer 3403 performs a normalization process and produces the first detection value p n . therein , the present invention can determine whether a frequency correction burst is transmitted in the fcch according to the first detection value p n . after obtaining the first detection value p n , the power normalization 3403 passes it to the signal processor 3503 . then , the signal processor 3503 uses the first detection value p n to determine whether a frequency correction burst is transmitted in the fcch . if the first detection value p n is larger than the first threshold , the present invention determines that there is possibility that a frequency correction burst is transmitted in the fcch . otherwise , the present invention determines that no frequency correction burst is transmitted in the fcch . similar to the second embodiment , the signal processor 3503 is used to sample the baseband signal at different time points and compares these samples . the signal processor 3503 uses a predetermined mathematical function to produce the second detection value q n . the present invention can use the second detection value q n to ascertain whether a frequency correction burst is transmitted in the fcch . if the second detection value q n is larger than a second threshold , it ascertains that a frequency correction burst is transmitted . otherwise , it ascertains that no frequency correction burst is transmitted . in this embodiment , the signal processor 3503 can use the first detection value p n or the second detection value q n singly or together to determine whether a frequency correction burst is transmitted in the fcch . when the first detection value p n or the second detection value q n is larger than the first threshold or the second threshold , the present invention can determine that a frequency correction burst has been transmitted in the fcch . at this moment , the signal processor 3503 can find the baseband location of the frequency correction burst according to the information provided by the maximum signal selector 3303 , i . e . the information about the pre - filter having an output signal with the maximum power . in the third embodiment , the signal processor 3503 uses the first detection value p n together with the second detection value q n to determine whether a frequency correction burst is transmitted in the fcch . the signal processor 3503 can define a third detection value r n as follows to combine the first detection value p n with the second detection value q n : where λ is set between 0 - 1 according to the practical requirements . thereby , the third detection value r n is also located between 0 and 1 . since the first detection value p n is derived from the powers of the signals , it is insensitive to the phase offset . however , the baseband signal needs to be processed by the pre - filters in advance and then the calculation for the first detection value p n is performed . this causes part of the power to be lost in the filtering process . hence , in general , the peak value of the first detection value p n is lower than that of the second detection value q n . furthermore , the second detection value q n is derived from the samples of the baseband signal at different time points , and it is sensitive to the phase offset . however , since the signal processor directly uses the samples of the baseband signal to calculate the second detection value q n , the detection value q n have a higher peak value . therefore , by combining the combine the first detection value p n with the second detection value q n , the present invention minimizes the instability caused by the power loss and phase offsets . it should be noted that r n = p n as λ = 0 and r n = q n as λ = 1 . reference is made to fig7 , which is a schematic diagram of the third detection value versus time . therein , the horizontal axis represents time and the vertical axis represents the magnitude of the third detection value r n . the first and second thresholds are designated as th 1 and th 2 , respectively . as shown in the figure , at the beginning of receiving the frequency correction burst , the third detection value r n increases with time . on the contrary , at the end of receiving the frequency correction burst , the third detection value r n decreases with time . this is because the first detection value p n is derived from the power summation of the received signal and the second detection value r n is derived from the summation of the results obtained by using the mathematical function of the signal processor . at the beginning of receiving the frequency correction burst , the received portion of the burst is gradually increased . hence , the third detection value r n is increased . however , at the end of receiving the frequency correction burst , the received portion of the burst is gradually decreased . hence , the third detection value r n is decreased . based on the variation of the third detection value r n , the present invention can detect the frequency correction burst . when the first detection value p n exceeds the first threshold , the present invention preliminary determines that a frequency correction burst is received . and , when the third detection value r n exceeds the second threshold and the third detection value r n is rising and then falling for more than m consecutive symbols , the present invention confirms that a frequency correction burst is received . in this embodiment , the first threshold is 0 . 75 and the second threshold is 0 . 8 . however , the present invention is not limited thereto . the first and second thresholds can be changed according to practical requirements . the only limitation is that the second threshold be larger than the first threshold . when the frequency synchronization apparatus confirms that the frequency correction burst has been received , it can find the pre - filter that outputs the signal with maximum power . thereby , the frequency synchronization apparatus can calculate the frequency offset of itself . furthermore , by observing variation of the third detection value r n , the frequency synchronization apparatus can also use the occurrence time of the peak value of the third detection value r n to calculate its time offset . therefore , when the signal processor 3503 determines that the frequency correction burst is received , it uses the signal sent from the maximum signal selector 3303 via the power normalizer 3403 to calculate the frequency offset . as shown in fig5 , since the baseband frequency of the frequency correction burst is located in the pass - band h 0 , the signal output from the pre - filter 3013 has the maximum power . hence , the maximum signal selector 3303 sends a signal to inform the signal processor 3503 that the signal output from the pre - filter 3013 is the maximum one . thereby , the signal processor 3503 can be aware that the baseband frequency of the frequency correction burst is located in the pass - band of the pre - filter 3013 . then , the signal processor 3503 can calculate the difference between the local frequency of the frequency synchronization apparatus and the central frequency of the pre - filter 3013 to obtain the frequency offset . in order to further clarify the present invention , reference is made to fig8 a , which is a flowchart of the first preferred embodiment of the frequency synchronization method in accordance with the present invention . it includes : step 8031 : calculating the first detection value p n ; step 8051 : determining whether there are n consecutive symbols that make the first detection value p n larger than the first threshold th 1 ; if yes , perform step 8111 ; otherwise , jump to step 8131 ; step 8111 : calculating the time offset and the frequency offset , and determining whether these offsets are located within predetermined ranges ; if yes , go to step 8151 ; otherwise , jump to step 8131 ; step 8131 : determining whether the rx window is exceeded ; if yes , go to step 8011 ; otherwise , perform step 8031 ; and therein , as shown in fig9 , the step 8031 further includes : step 901 : using multiple pre - filters to filter the baseband signal of the frequency correction burst ; step 902 : using a first power measurement unit to measure the power of the baseband signal to form a first power value , and using multiple second power measurement units to measure the powers of the signals output from the pre - filters respectively to form multiple second power values ; therein , the number of the second power measurement units is the same as that of the pre - filters and the second power measurement units is one - to - one matched to the pre - filters ; and step 903 : using a first moving averager to calculate the average value of the first power values to produce the first power average , and using multiple second moving averagers to calculate the average values of the second power values respectively ; using the maximum signal selector to find the largest one of the average values output from the second moving averagers to produce the second power average ; and using a power normalizer to divide the second power average by the first power average to perform the normalization process and thereby produce the first detection value p n ; therein , the number of the second moving averagers is the same as that of the second power measurement units and the second moving averagers are one - to - one matched to the second power measurement units . in order to further clarify the present invention , reference is made to fig8 b , which is a flowchart of the second preferred embodiment of the frequency synchronization method in accordance with the present invention . it includes : step 8072 : calculating the second detection value q n as mentioned above ; step 8092 : determining whether there are m consecutive symbols that make second detection value q n larger than the second threshold th 2 ; if yes , perform step 8112 ; otherwise , jump to step 8132 ; step 8112 : calculating the time offset and the frequency offset , and determining whether these offsets are located within predetermined ranges ; if yes , go to step 8152 ; otherwise , jump to step 8132 ; step 8132 : determining whether the rx window is exceeded ; if yes , go to step 8012 ; otherwise , perform step 8072 ; and in order to further clarify the present invention , reference is made to fig8 c , which is a flowchart of the third preferred embodiment of the frequency synchronization method in accordance with the present invention . it includes : step 8033 : calculating the first detection value p n ; step 8053 : determining whether there are n consecutive symbols that make the first detection value p n larger than the first threshold th 1 ; if yes , perform step 8073 ; otherwise , jump to step 8133 ; step 8073 : calculating the second detection value q , and combing the first detection value p n with the second detection value q n to produce the third detection value r n as mentioned above ; step 8093 : determining whether there are m consecutive symbols that make the third detection value r n larger than the second threshold th 2 , in which the third detection value r n is increased first and then decreased ; if yes , perform step 8113 ; otherwise , jump to step 8133 ; step 8113 : calculating the time offset and the frequency offset , and determining whether these offsets are located within predetermined ranges ; if yes , go to step 8153 ; otherwise , jump to step 8133 ; step 8133 : determining whether the rx window is exceeded ; if yes , go to step 8053 ; otherwise , perform step 8133 ; and likewise , step 8033 also has the steps shown in fig9 and these steps are not described again . ( 1 ) in the normalization process , the present invention doesn &# 39 ; t need to use a memory unit with a large capacity to store an additional lookup table . hence , compared to the prior art , the present invention can greatly reduce the cost . ( 2 ) in the present invention , the pre - filters do not need to be adjusted dynamically as the location or the received signal is changed . hence , compared to the prior art using adaptive filters , the present invention doesn &# 39 ; t have the problem of time delay or missing signal . although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof , it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof . various substitutions and modifications have been suggested in the foregoing description , and other will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art . therefore , all such substitutions and modifications are embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims .	7
reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . common elements of the embodiments and the conventional apparatus as shown in fig1 , have the same reference numerals , and their explanations are omitted . a control circuit 71 is output coupled to a charging power source switch 22 . the switch 22 connects a charger 21 to a charging power source 23 in response to a signal from the control circuit 71 . the control circuit 71 is also coupled for output to a motor 62 for driving the photosensitive drum 1 and the transfer roller 61 , and to a transfer power source switch 63 for alternatively connecting the transfer roller 61 to the positive and negative power sources 64 , 65 . the control circuit 71 is additionally output coupled to a motor 51 for driving the developing roller 44 , and a developing roller power source switch 53 for connecting the developing roller 44 to a negative power source 55 in response to a signal from the control circuit 71 . the control circuit 71 is further coupled for input from an image forming apparatus cover open / close sensor 57 for checking whether the cover of the image forming apparatus , including the process unit 100 , is closed or opened . the control circuit 71 is coupled for output to and input from a timer 72 , and for output to an lcd driver 73 for driving an lcd 74 . the control circuit 71 further coupled for output to and input from a paper passing sensor 75 including a radiator 75a and a receiver 75b . if the receiver 75b receives the light from the radiator 75a , the receiver 75b outputs a signal indicating that there is not a sheet of paper between the radiator 75a and the receiver 75b . the sensor 75 is provided between a pair of first paper feed rollers 76 and a pair of second paper feed rollers 77 . the second paper feed rollers 77 are rotated by the driving motor 51 in response to a control signal from the control circuit 71 . fig2 shows a structure of the transfer roller 61 such as that shown in fig1 . the transfer roller 61 includes a metal shaft 61a , a conductive sponge layer 61b including carbon . the conductive sponge layer 61b is preferably less than 10 5 ω . the transfer roller 61 further includes a resistance layer 61c . fig3 and 4 show a control sequence for a first embodiment of the invention , including steps for detecting a paper jam occurring between the first and second feed rollers 76 , 77 of fig1 and for informing the user that the paper jam has occurred . after the first paper feed roller 76 starts feeding a sheet of paper ( step 102 ), the sensor 75 detects whether the tip of the paper passes between the radiator 75a and the receiver 75b ( step 104 ). if the tip of the paper interrupts the light from the radiator 75a , the sensor 75 is set to be off . if the sensor 75 is set to be off , the timer 72 is set ( step 106 ). otherwise , this check is repeated . after that , the sensor 75 indicates whether the end of the paper passes through the sensor 75 ( step 108 ). if the receiver 75b receives the light from the radiator 75a , the sensor 75 is set to be on . if the sensor 75 is set to be on , the control circuit 71 performs a normal sequence ( step 110 ). if the sensor 75 remains off at the expiration of a predetermined time period counted by the timer 72 and detected by the control circuit 71 ( step 112 ), the control circuit 71 recognizes that a paper jam has occurred in the region of the sensor 75 . the control circuit 71 then drives the lcd driver 73 for displaying information on the lcd 74 , indicating the occurrence of the paper jam , and prompting the user to remove the jammed paper ( step 114a ). simultaneously , the control circuit 71 stops driving the photosensitive drum 1 , the developing roller 44 , and the transfer roller 61 , and stops the voltage supply to the charger 21 and the developing roller 44 ( step 114b , 114c ). prior to the expiration of the predetermined time period initiated at step 106 , steps 108 and 112 are repeated . after that time period has expired , the control circuit 71 checks whether the jammed paper is removed by again determining whether the sensor 75 is set to be on ( step 116 ). if the sensor 75 is not set to be on , the control circuit 71 maintains the display prompt and repeats step 116 . after the sensor 75 is set to be on in step 116 , the control circuit 71 determines whether the cover of the apparatus is closed by input from the sensor 57 ( step 118 ). if the cover is closed , the control circuit 71 initiates a transfer roller cleaning sequence explained hereinafter . in connection with the cleaning sequence to be described , it is to be noted that when the jammed paper is removed , and as shown in fig6 the photosensitive drum 1 contacts the developing roller 44 at a first contact portion n1 and contacts the transfer roller 61 at a second contact portion n2 . the surface from the portions n1 to n2 is referred to as an arc n1 , n2 hereinafter . in this state , toner having negative charge and toner having positive charge , remain on the arc n1 , n2 . further , toner having negative charge adheres onto the surface of the transfer roller 61 because the transfer roller 61 is supplied with the positive voltage during a printing operation and therefore attracts the toner , having the negative charge , from the drum 1 during the occurrence of the paper jam . also , the top surface portion of the drum 1 between the cleaner 8 and the contact portion n1 , approximately 180 ° or one half of the drum circumference , is cleansed of toner , regardless of polarity , due to travel of that top surface portion past and in contact with the cleaner 8 . the distance of the arc n1 , n2 is approximately a quarter of the circumference of the photosensitive drum 1 , representing an angular displacement of approximately 90 °. the arc n1 , n2 also may be expressed by 1 / 4 πr , where r is a diameter of the photosensitive drum 1 . on the other hand , the diameter of the transfer roller 61 is 2 / 3 times as long as that of the photosensitive drum 1 in this case . therefore , the circumference of the transfer roller 61 is 2 / 3 πr . also , one complete revolution of the transfer roller 61 through 360 ° corresponds to rotation of the photosensitive drum through 240 °. in this case , if the arc n1 , n2 ( 1 / 4 πr ) equals x times as long as the circumference of the transfer roller 61 ( 2 / 3 πr ), the value x is expressed by a following expression . that is , the arc n1 , n2 equals 3 / 8 times as long as the circumference of the transfer roller 61 . as represented in fig4 when the jammed paper is removed and the cover of the apparatus is closed , the control circuit 71 sets the timer 72 to count a new time period ( step 120 ). after that , the control circuit 71 starts rotating the photosensitive drum 1 and the transfer roller 61 ( step 122a ). simultaneously , the control circuit 71 starts the voltage supply to the charger 21 and the developing roller 44 ( step 122b ). however , the control circuit maintains non - rotation of the developing roller 44 so that toner in the developing device 4 is not supplied to the photosensitive drum 1 . the conditions of the developing roller 44 , the drum 1 and transfer roller , as well as the respective voltage supplies to be described , are shown at the time t1 in fig5 . simultaneously , the control circuit 71 causes the switch 63 to be connected to the negative power source 65 during a time period ta set by the control circuit 71 to be the time required for one revolution of the transfer roller 61 ( steps 122c , 124 in fig4 ). as a result , the control circuit 71 causes the circumference of the transfer roller 61 , being longer than the arc n1 , n2 as described above , to contact the photosensitive drum 1 in a first state during which the circumference of the transfer roller 61 is supplied with negative voltage . therefore , the toner having negative charge remaining on the arc n1 , n2 is repelled against the transfer roller 61 since the potential of the transfer roller 61 (- 1350 v ) is more negative than that of the arc n1 , n2 of the photosensitive drum 1 (- 600 v ) due to the active state of the charger 21 . further , the toner on the surface of the transfer roller 61 having negative charge is transferred to the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 between the portion n2 and the cleaning blade 82 and the transferred toner is removed by the cleaning blade 82 . although the toner having positive charge remaining on the arc n1 , n2 is attracted to the transfer roller 61 , the attracted toner having positive charge is transferred to the photosensitive drum 1 in a following manner . in step 124 , if the period ta expires , the control circuit 71 actuates the switch 63 so that the transfer roller 61 is supplied with positive voltage of the power source 64 ( step 126 ). as long as the period 2ta does not expire ( step 128 ), the positive voltage is supplied to the transfer roller 61 . as a result , the control circuit 71 causes the circumference of the transfer roller 61 to contact the photosensitive drum 1 in a second state that the circumference of the transfer roller 61 is supplied with positive voltage ( 1350 v ). therefore , since the potential at the transfer roller ( 1350 v ) is more positive than that at the photosensitive drum 1 (- 600 v ), the attracted toner having positive charge , attracted on the circumference of the transfer roller 61 during the first period ta , is transferred to the photosensitive drum 1 during a second period ending at the start of a processing operation t2 as shown in fig5 . if the period 2ta expires from the starting time , the control circuit stops driving photosensitive drum 1 and the transfer roller 61 ( step 130a ). simultaneously , the control circuit stops supplying voltage to the charger 21 and the developing roller 44 ( step 130b ) and stops supplying voltage to the transfer roller 61 ( step 130c ). after that , the control circuit 71 is set to be in a standby state . according to the first embodiment , the control circuit 71 causes the circumference of the transfer roller 61 to contact the photosensitive drum 1 in the first state in which the circumference of the transfer roller 61 is supplied with negative voltage being more negative than the potential of the photosensitive drum 1 and in the second state in which the circumference of the transfer roller 61 is supplied with the positive voltage being more positive than the potential of the photosensitive drum 1 . therefore , at the end of the sequence of the first embodiment , the toner having negative charge and positive charge on the arc n1 , n2 of the photosensitive drum 1 , is not attracted to the transfer roller 61 . further , the toner having negative charge remaining on the transfer roller 61 when the jammed paper is removed is attracted to the photosensitive drum 1 . as a result , it prevents the surface of the paper opposite to the recorded surface used in a next recording operation from being dirty due to toner remaining on the transfer roller 61 as occurred in the conventional apparatus . although in the first embodiment described , during the second time period , the positive voltage is supplied to the transfer roller 61 , a negative voltage , for example , - 300 v , more positive than the potential of the photosensitive drum 1 ( e . g ., - 600 v ), may be supplied to the transfer roller 61 . fig7 shows a time chart illustrating a second embodiment of the present invention . the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment with respect to a predetermined period for which the negative and positive voltage is alternatively supplied to the transfer roller 61 . the transfer roller 61 is alternatively supplied with negative and positive voltage for the predetermined period which is 2 / 3 times as long as the period ta during which the transfer roller 61 rotates once . fig8 shows a transferring cleaning sequence of the second embodiment . after the jammed paper is removed , and the cover is closed in step 118 of fig3 the control circuit 71 sets a value n to &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; ( step 140 ) and the timer 72 ( step 142 ). thereafter , the control circuit 71 starts driving the photosensitive drum 1 and the transfer roller 61 ( step 144a ) and starts the voltage supply to the charger 21 and the developing roller 44 ( step 144b ). simultaneously , the control circuit 71 supplies the negative voltage to the transfer roller 61 ( step 144c ). if the period 2 / 3 ta expires ( step 146 ), the control circuit 71 actuates the switch 63 to be connected to the positive transfer power source 64 to supply the positive voltage to the transfer roller ( step 148 ). in step 146 , if the 2 / 3 ta does not expire , the negative voltage continues being supplied to the transfer roller 61 . after the step 148 , if the period 4 / 3 ta expires ( step 150 ), the control circuit 71 adds &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to the value n ( step 152 ). otherwise , the transfer roller 61 is supplied with the positive voltage . after the step 152 , if the value &# 34 ; n &# 34 ; does not match &# 34 ; 4 &# 34 ; ( step 154 ), the above steps from the step 144c to the step 152 are repeated . if the value &# 34 ; n &# 34 ; matches &# 34 ; 4 &# 34 ; , the control circuit 71 stops driving the photosensitive drum 1 and the transfer roller 61 ( step 156a ), and stops the voltage supply to the charger 21 and the developing roller ( step 156b ) and the transfer roller ( step 156c ). after that , the control circuit 71 is set to be in the standby state . fig9 shows a state in which the negative and positive voltage is respectively supplied to the transfer roller 61 according to the second embodiment , where the real line shows the area to which the negative voltage is supplied and the dot line shows the area to which the positive voltage is supplied . the photosensitive drum 1 and the transfer roller 61 rotates for a first period corresponding to 2 / 3 ta period . as a result , an area from a portion ch1 of the transfer roller 61 to a portion ch2 of the transfer roller 61 in a counterclockwise direction corresponding to 2 / 3 times as long as the circumference of the transfer roller 61 , contacts the photosensitive drum 1 in a state in which the area is supplied with negative voltage . subsequently , for a second period corresponding to 2 / 3 ta , an area , from the portion ch2 to a portion ch3 of the transfer roller 61 corresponding to 2 / 3 times as long as the circumference of the transfer roller 61 , contacts the photosensitive drum 1 in a state in which the area is supplied with positive voltage . after 8 / 3 ta passes from the time t1 , that is , after a fourth period , the circumference of the transfer roller 61 contacts the photosensitive drum 1 in a state in which the circumference of the transfer roller 61 is supplied with negative voltage and positive voltage . for the first period , referring again to fig6 and 9 , all toner having negative charge remaining on the arc n1 , n2 of the photosensitive drum 1 passes the transfer roller 61 since the potential at the photosensitive drum (- 600 v ) is less negative than the potential at the transfer roller 61 (- 1350 v ) the distance of the arc n1 , n2 corresponding to 3 / 8 times as long as the circumference of the transfer roller 61 is shorter than the distance corresponding to 2 / 3 times as long as the circumference of the transfer roller 61 . similarly , the toner having negative charge on the area from the portion ch1 to the portion ch2 of the transfer roller 61 is transferred to the photosensitive drum 1 . although the toner having the positive charge remaining on the arc n1 , n2 is attracted to the area from the portion ch1 to the portion ch2 of the transfer roller 61 for the first period , the attracted toner having positive charge , referring again to fig8 is transferred to the photosensitive drum 1 during the second and fourth periods since the area from the portion ch1 to the portion ch2 is supplied with positive voltage for the remaining periods . furthermore , the toner having negative charge remaining on the transfer roller 61 when the jammed paper is removed , is attracted to the photosensitive drum 1 during the whole periods since the circumference of the transfer roller 61 contacts the photosensitive drum 1 in a state in which the circumference of the transfer roller 61 is supplied with the negative voltage (- 1350 v ) more negative than the potential of the photosensitive drum 1 (- 600 v ). according to the second embodiment , the toner may be removed from the transfer roller 61 at the end of the fourth period . however , to be sure that all toner is completely removed from the transfer roller 61 , the alternating negative and positive voltage supply is continued to the start of a processing operation ( t2 ) as shown in fig7 . although in the first and second embodiments , the negative voltage and the positive voltage in turn is alternatively supplied to the transfer roller 61 during the period from the time t1 to t2 , the positive voltage and the negative voltage in turn may be alternatively supplied to the transfer roller 61 . the foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed , and modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to enable one skilled in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto , and their equivalents .	6
with reference to fig3 , the present invention is a portable , water - inflatable barrier 300 that has a structure similar to a sandbag dike or wall 100 and functions in a similar manner , but does not require delivery of large quantities of heavy materials to the construction site , does not require large amounts of labor to assemble , and is simple and inexpensive to remove when no longer needed . the barrier 300 is made of a light , flexible material , such as a heavy plastic for nanofiber , and can be transported to the construction site in a deflated state , after which it is positioned and filled with locally available water . in embodiments , the barrier material is coated with a material such as tyvec or liquid rubber that will tend to seal any puncture of the material that may occur . fig3 illustrates an embodiment of a first general aspect of the present invention in which the barrier is a single unit 300 that includes shaping and internal partitions which create an overall structure similar to a sandbag wall . the interior of the barrier is divided into a plurality of approximately rectangular cells 302 . with reference to fig4 a , passages 400 between the tops and bottoms of the cells 302 allow the entire barrier 300 to be filled from a single water inlet 402 . a separate water outlet 404 is provided at the base of the structure 300 . with reference to fig4 b , in some embodiments a separate water outlet 404 is not included , and instead water is both added and removed through a common port 406 at or near the top of the barrier . this allows water to be removed from the barrier without introducing air , so that removing the water causes the barrier to be collapsed in preparation for packing and transport . in various embodiments , lateral passages ( not shown ) are provided at least between adjoining cells in the bottom rear row , so that a single outlet can drain all of the cells 302 in the barrier 300 . with reference to fig5 , in some embodiments 500 the cells 302 include passive automatic valves 500 that seal the passages 400 after the cells 302 are filled with water , so that deflation of one cell due to a puncture or some other cause will not cause the cells beneath it to deflate . in the embodiment 500 of fig5 , the valves 502 are flaps of elastic material joined to the upper surfaces of the cells 302 by living hinges 504 . a small air bladder 506 is included in the region of the valve 502 that is positioned to cover the passage 400 . when the cell 302 is empty , gravity causes the valve 502 to fall away from the passage 400 , so that the cell 302 can fill with water . however , once the cell 302 is full of water , the air bladder 506 lifts the valve 502 into place and closes the passage 400 . once the valves 502 are closed , if a cell should develop a leak and deflate , only the cells directly above it will be affected . in addition , the embodiment 500 of fig5 includes lateral passages 508 between neighboring cells at the lowest level of the barrier , so that the entire barrier can be emptied through a single water outlet 404 located at the lower rear of the structure 500 . these lateral passages 508 include automatic valves 510 that will allow water to flow toward the rear as the cells empty from back to front , but will prevent water flowing from rear to front if one of the front cells is damaged . typically , the cells in the front row 302 , 302 a will be the cells that are directly exposed to threats such as debris carried by flood waters . the front cells 302 , 302 a are therefore the ones most likely to be damaged or punctured . in the embodiment of fig5 , if a cell 302 a in the bottom front row is punctured , the lateral valve 510 will prevent water from flowing out of the cell next to it 302 b and into the damaged cell 302 a . however , if the rear cells 302 b are drained first during the normal drainage process , then the lateral valves 510 will open and water from the front cells 302 a will flow out . with reference to fig6 , in some embodiments the outer shell is made of a much thicker material than the internal cell walls 608 , so as to better resist puncture by exterior threats . in similar embodiments , the outer shell 606 is a double layer of material , so that penetration of the outer layer does not affect the adjacent cell , so long as the inner layer remains intact . in various embodiments , only the portion of the outer shell 606 that will face the flood or other threat is thicker , double - walled , or otherwise reinforced . in embodiments , the internal cell walls enable the barrier 300 to maintain its shape when it is subjected to externally applied lateral forces , such as pressure from flood waters . as illustrated in fig6 , in some embodiments , the shape of the barrier 600 is made even more rigid by including within the cells 302 stiff , lightweight rods 602 or panels made of plastic , bamboo , or a similar material . in certain embodiments , the shape of the barrier is supported by external reinforcing structures . the embodiment of fig6 includes a plurality of bent metal rods 608 that can be located at intervals along the rear side of the barrier 600 . the rods 608 include vertical sections 610 that can be placed against the back sides of cells at the rear of the barrier 600 so as to provide further resistance to horizontal forces applied to the front of the barrier . in various embodiments , the barrier 600 can be initially inflated with air , so that the barrier 600 can be easily positioned while it is in its inflated configuration . the barrier 600 can then be filled with water , while the displaced air is released through a pressure valve 604 at the top of the barrier 600 . with reference to fig7 , in further embodiments , additional rows 702 of cells extend below the base of the inflatable barrier 700 so that they can be placed in a trench 200 prepared at the construction site , thereby further resisting dislodgement of the barrier 700 by flood waters or other forces . in circumstances where a long wall or dike is required , a plurality of barriers of the present invention can be placed side - by - side . with reference to fig8 , in some embodiments the barriers 800 have interlocking ends that provide structural cooperation and a water - tight seal between adjacent barriers . in the embodiment of fig8 , alternate rows of cells 802 extend from the end by a length of one cell , while the interleaved rows 804 do not . the opposite pattern is provided on the other end of the barrier 800 . it can be seen that a second barrier of the same configuration can be positioned so that its extended cells fit between the extended cells 802 of the adjacent barrier 800 . in some of these embodiments , as mentioned above , the barrier 800 can be initially filled with air , and then positioned with the ends interlocking , after which the barriers are filled with water while the displaced air is allowed to escape through pressure valves provided at the tops of the barriers 800 . with reference to fig9 a and 9b , in a second general aspect of the present invention the barrier is assembled from individual , water - inflatable modules 900 that include attachment mechanisms 902 such as ties , hook - and - loop , or some other attachment mechanism known in the art . in the embodiment of fig9 a and 9b , the modules have a triangular cross - sectional shape . as illustrated in fig9 b , this enables them to be assembled to form a barrier having a desired overall shape , such as a pyramid . while the base of the barrier is only slightly wider than the height in fig9 b , in other embodiments the base is at least six times as wide as the height . in the embodiment of fig9 b , the sloping shape of the water - facing surface causes the water pressure to press the barrier against the ground and thereby increases friction and helps the barrier to resist being shifted horizontally by the water . the embodiment of fig9 b further includes an anchoring sheet 904 that is attached to the barrier and extends in front of the barrier , where it is pressed against the ground by the water 906 in front of the barrier , so that there is a high friction between the anchoring sheet 904 and the ground that further inhibits lateral movement of the barrier by the water 906 . the anchoring sheet in the embodiment of fig9 b is wrapped around the forward - located modules of the barrier , thereby attaching the anchoring sheet 904 to the barrier . in similar embodiments , the anchoring sheet 904 is wrapped around the entire barrier , or is attached to the barrier by some other means known in the art . in some embodiments , the anchoring sheet 904 is sufficiently flexible to allow it to conform closely with the underlying shape of the water - facing surface . and in some of these embodiments , the anchoring sheet 904 is made from a material that naturally clings to the water - facing surface of the barrier due to static electrical attraction . in embodiments , the flexible material of the barrier allows the base of the barrier to form a seal with ground even if the ground is rough . the embodiment of fig9 b further includes a flexible underlying sheet 908 that increases resistance to puncture of the barrier from beneath , and which forms a seal with the ground so as to further resist penetration of water beneath the barrier . in some of these embodiments , the underlying sheet 908 includes a cushioning layer such as foam or a puncture - proof air bag that enables the underlying sheet to form a seal with very rough ground , and also further helps to avoid puncture of the barrier from beneath . in certain of these embodiments , the underlying sheet 908 is filled with dry sand , foam or some other compliant material that will not get wet from the flood water . with reference to fig1 , some embodiments include a ladder 1000 that provides a convenient means for crossing the barrier 300 . the ladder 1000 is configured to be free - standing , but to conform somewhat closely to the outer shape of the barrier 300 , so as to provide additional structural support to the barrier 300 by inhibiting changes to the barrier &# 39 ; s shape . in the embodiment of fig1 , the ladder 1000 further provides vertical support to the barrier 300 by including coupling features 1002 on the ladder 1000 that can be attached to complementary coupling features 1004 provided on the top of the barrier 300 . fig1 is a cross - sectional view of the embodiment of fig1 , where the relationship between the ladder 1000 and the barrier 300 can be more clearly seen . a vertical offset between the ladder 1000 and the barrier 300 is included in fig1 , which simplifies the illustration of the coupling mechanisms 1002 , 1004 . in other embodiments , such as the embodiment of fig1 , the ladder 1000 includes little or no vertical offset from the top of the barrier 300 , and in some of these embodiments the ladder applies a small vertically downward pressure to the top of the barrier 300 . fig1 is a close - up view of the top of the embodiment of fig1 , wherein the coupling features 1002 , 1004 can be more clearly seen . in fig1 - 12 , a strap 1004 is attached to the top of the barrier 300 , and is looped through and buckled to a rigid loop 1002 that extends from the side of the ladder 1000 . while fig1 - 12 present a specific example of coupling features , it will be understood that the scope of the invention includes all coupling mechanisms known in the art , such as hooks , clamps , bolted brackets , nuts and horseshoe bolts , and such like . with reference to fig1 , it will also be understood that some embodiments do not include coupling of the ladder 1000 to the barrier 300 . the foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed . many modifications and variations are possible in light of this disclosure . it is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description , but rather by the claims appended hereto .	4
although efficient in treating obesity and diseases associated with it , the classic gastric bypass procedures often result in several characteristic complications , each of which may require additional treatment . among these complications is the dilation of the gastric pouch constructed during the bypass procedure . it has been noted that even when a 30 cc gastric pouch was used in the standard roux - en - y bypass , as many as one third of the patients developed significant dilation of the micropouch . in an attempt to avoid this problem , the surgeons attempted to limit the pouch ( micropouch ) to the cardia of the stomach because it was found that it is the elastic fundus incorporated into the pouch that primarily dilates after surgery . the use of the cardia in constructing the micropouch has the advantage that it is relatively inelastic and thus it not prone to dilation and it contains no acid producing cells which could give rise to marginal ulceration . despite the attempts to limit the pouch to cardia , several patients even dilated the micropouch after surgery . upon reexamination , it was determined that a portion of the fundus was hiding under the left pheno - esophageal ligament . therefore , this ligament must be divided in order to place the staple gun used in constructing the micropouch across the cardia , excluding all fundal tissue from the micropouch . the present invention provides a technique by which to exclude the gastric fundus from the micropouch , thereby minimizing or eliminating the complications associated with inclusion of the gastric fundus in the micropouch . the method of the present invention allows the identification of the true junction between the esophagus and the stomach and therefore allows the construction of a micropouch which excludes the fundus and as a result is limited to the cardia of the stomach . the basic approach to accomplish this goal involves dissecting the left phrenoesophageal ligament off of the cardia of stomach thereby allowing identification of the true junction between the esophagus and the stomach . the identification of this true junction allows construction of a micropouch free of excess fundal tissue . in certain embodiment of the present invention , the anastomosis between the micropouch and the intestine is sealed with a fibrin glue ( e . g ., hemaseel glue [ hemaecure corp .]). in earlier methods of gastric bypass surgery , the apex of the micropouch was connected with an inverted staple line . however , in one embodiment of the present invention an inverted staple line is not used ( uninverted staple line ). the elimination of the inverted staple line and the use of the fibrin glue allow the fast and efficient empting of the esophageal and micropouch contents into the intestine . the example set out below is presented by way of illustration and is not entitled to limit the invention as set out in the appended claims . certain modifications to the method will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art and are encompassed by the appended claims . in the micropouch gastric bypass operation of the present invention , a midline incision is made from the xiphostemum to the umbilicus . a dissection is carried down through the subcutaneous tissues to the level of the linea alba . a window is then opened in the peritoneum lateral to the midline incision and the abdominal cavity is entered . this allows placement of the self - retaining retractor system which gives access to the left upper quadrangle of the abdomen . the gastrocolic omentum is then taken down from the watershed to the gastroesophageal junction , completely mobilizing the gastric fundus and obliterating the angle of his . preferably most of this mobilization is accomplished utilizing a harmonic scalpel ( ethicon corp .). on occasion , large short gastric vessels are individually ligated using fine silk sutures . the left phrenoesophageal ligament is then transected enabling the identification of the junction between the esophagus proximally and the serosa of the stomach distally . ultimately , the stomach will be divided at the cardiofundic junction , 1 to 2 centimeters below the lower esophageal sphincter . an incision is then developed through the transverse mesocolon , large enough to accommodate a roux - en - y jejunal limb with its associated mesentery ( see , e . g ., sapala et al ., obes . surg ., 1998 ; 8 : 505 - 516 ). this window is 3 - 4 cm in diameter . the roux - en - y limb and biliopancreatic limb are measured at 200 and 150 centimeters , respectively ( fig1 ). this leaves a 200 to 400 centimeter common conduit consisting of both distal jejunum and the entire ileum . the proximal jejunum is then divided preferably with a u . s . surgical corp . tlc 55 or similar device ( e . g ., multifire endo gia , u . s . surgical corp .). the mesentery is then immobilized by dividing two vascular arcades , ensuring an adequate limb length from the proximal anastomosis with the micropouch ( fig1 ). the transected ends of the divided small bowel are connected with sutures of lambert 3 - 0 silk . this is necessary to avoid either a small bowel obstruction or a leak from a staple line itself . the roux - en - y limb of jejunum is then delivered through the opening in transverse mesocolon to lie alongside of the micropouch for the greater curvature gastrojejunostomy . the proximal stomach is then divided at the cardiofundic junction 1 to 2 centimeters below the cardia junction preferably using a staple gun ( ila 100 mm stapler , u . s . surgical corp .). care is taken to identify and preserve the nerves along the lesser curvature of the stomach . the proximal limb of jejunum is then attached to the esophagus using a basting suture of 2 - 0 silk . a second basting suture is used at the apex of the micropouch ( fig1 ). gastrotomy and jejunotomy openings are made to accommodate the jaws of a stapler , preferably a gia 52 - mm stapler ( u . s . surgical corp .) and a retrocolic side to side roux - en - y cardiojejunostomy is made along the greater curvature . the anastomosis has an internal diameter of about 10 mm to about 12 mm . the anastomosis is neither reinforced nor banded . the enterostomy ( cardiojejunostomy ) incisions are closed by approximating the jejunal serosa to the gastric serosa . since the stoma opening is small , this closure is done using a single layer of lambert silk sutures . the micropouch is now completed with the esophagus proximal to the micropouch . the jejunum lies to its greater curvature side . the bypassed stomach , or a distal gastric remnant , lies inferiorly ( fig1 ). constructing the micropouch in this manner prevents inclusion of fundal tissue in the micropouch which may result in dilation of the pouch and avoids inclusion of acid producing cells along the lesser curvature which could lead to marginal ulceration . following closure of the enterotomy incisions , the anastomosis is reinforced with fibrin glue preferably heemaseel ™ ( hemaecure corp .). the glue polymerizes in 3 to 7 minutes creating a seal along the suture line . the use of fibrin glue in this part of the procedure prevents leaks from the anastomosis which may result in peritonitis . the seal will be absorbed in 5 to 7 days following surgery . the roux - en - y jejunum is then anchored to the transverse mesocolon to prevent an internal hernia which can be lethal . the biliopancreatic conduit is then connected to the common conduit using stapled anastomosis with ( preferably ) a 2 . 5 - cm lumen ( fig1 ). specifically , the distal side - to - side jejuno - jejunostomy is made with a gia 52 stapler . again , the enterotomy incisions are closed in one layer using 3 - 0 silk sutures . no fibrin flue is applied over the anastomosis . the small bowel is placed in its normal intracolic position and covered with omentum . the linea alba and skin are closed with staples ( sapala et al ., surg gynecol obstet 1986 ; 153 : 179 - 180 ), and the subcutaneous tissues are drained with a closed hemovac suction system ( arrow corp ., norwalk , conn , usa ). the references cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety .	0

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